FL - Police Accused of Brutality After Violent Arrest

[Reader]

from wctv.com
Press Release: Tallahassee Police Department
City Releases Details on DUI / Use of Force Incident
At 2:10 a.m. on Saturday, August 10, Tallahassee Police Department patrol officers were called to the area of Delaney Drive and Kilkenny Way in northeast Tallahassee, regarding a vehicle crashing into a house at 3501 Kilkenny Drive. Responding officers located the driver - Ms. Christina West - who stated she was returning from Panama City, FL. While turning onto Limerick Drive from Delaney Drive, Ms. West appeared to have accelerated, missing the right turn at Kilkenny Drive. The vehicle continued straight striking a light pole, stop sign, and continued forward into the yard of 3501 Kilkenny Drive, finally striking the house. Ms. West had three students in her vehicle (all under the age of 18) at the time of the crash. Ms. West said the three were foreign exchange students.
The vehicle came to rest inside the master bedroom of the residence. The owners were not home at the time of the incident. A City of Tallahassee utility crew responded to secure live wires from the light pole. During the subsequent investigation of the crash, Ms. West failed a sobriety test and she reported she had been taking prescription medication while drinking alcoholic beverages prior to the accident. Ms. West was initially arrested without incident, but was removed from the car when it was discovered she had slipped her hands out of the handcuffs. At that time, she resisted arrest, and a struggle ensued in which Ms. West was restrained on the ground in order to facilitate the placement of handcuffs. Ms. West was taken to Leon County Jail where she was recommended for medical treatment. She was then transported to the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH) for medical clearance, which she received before being transported back to jail for processing. Ms. West sustained a broken orbital bone along with scrapes and bruises to her body.
At TMH, while being cared for by the hospital staff, Ms. West continued disruptive behavior that resulted in charges for assault being filed against her by the nurse on duty.
The officers completed a use of force report documenting the incident, per department policy."
BBM

What do we make of this?
-3 others in car,
-car hitting light pole, stop sign, and crashing into house and pushing bed to other side of room,
-her taking Rx and drinking
-failing sobriety test
none of that justifies LE excessive force (if it was excessive).

But her slipping out of handcuffs?
I saw, imo, her kicking LE, pulling away from LE, even on the ground still kicking LE.
Her actions = resisting arrest = justify LE using force to restrain her, imo.
LE officers are forced to decide and to act and react in nano-seconds.
They did not use batons, tazers, guns on her.
Others have the luxury of Monday morning quarterbacking, hours, days, and weeks later.

Her actions re ER nurse, presumably shortly post-arrest, are also telling.
If a person w. those injuries assaults a health care provider,
I can believe her earlier actions justified LE's use of force, short of batons, tazers, or guns or or deadly force.

JM:twocents: and I could be wrong.

That is the original LE press release but there is more info at that link also.
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/223161391.html

The confrontation started when officers asked West to get out of the car to sign a breath test consent form. You can hear her say "Yes,sir" on the tape, but she continued to ask about her husband and her childrens' car seats.

Here's how Officer Chris Ormerod described what happened when he tried to place her in handcuffs.

He wrote in his incident report: "West was placed on the ground where she began to thrash and kick wildly. West kicked me in the groin area and kicked officer Schmidt in the leg." He goes on to write, "West was placed in a thigh lock on the ground as I secured her hands. While handcuffing West's hands, she continued to violently make attempts to grab for my groin area with her hands."

West was charged with driving under the influence, battery on a law enforcement offier and aggravated assault on an officer.

I've watched the 14+ min. video 3 times now and do not see her kicking anyone in the 'groin area'. Even behind the car door her feet stay on the ground. When she is on the ground I don't see her "violently make attempts to grab for my groin area with her hands'. One officer has his leg over her legs and has her right hand behind her back putting the cuffs on. The other officer has one hand on her head and his other hand holding her left hand down.

"It was a very disturbing video to me," State Attorney Willie Meggs said.

Meggs says the DUI case is still pending, but he has dropped the battery and assault charges and is still trying to figure out what to do next.

"I didn't see anything in the video that would cause me to believe that this woman needed anybody to use any type of force or restraint on her," Meggs said.........

The case was sent to the State Attorney, which is standard procedure. In this case, the State Attorney's office made the decision to dismiss the charges of assault on a police officer(s) as well as charges for assault filed against Ms. West by the nurse at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The remaining charge of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is awaiting toxicology results.

Both of the assault charges have been dismissed by the SA, who states he sees nothing in the video that she needed to be restrained. One of the city commissioners also was concerned about how she was treated:

"It made me nauseous," city commissioner Scott Maddox said about the first time he saw the video. Maddox was the first to send up a red flag at city hall.

"We need to do the investigation, have an open mind and if we get results back, act on those results and if we did wrong we need to say we did wrong and if we didn't do wrong, the investigation will bear that out," Maddox said.

Maddox sent an email to fellow commissioners September 4th describing what he called a "DISTURBING use of force" and warned them the city could soon face a "substantial liability lawsuit."

I personally had no question that she needed to be arrested for running into the house and DUI, but the breath analysis has still not returned. The question is how she was treated by these officers after her arrest.

 

[Reader]

More from this link:

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/223161391.html

Earlier in the day, Coe [new police chief] said he is changing the department's policy for arrests that result in injury.

"Anytime there's a serious injury, and there's a video tape, for example, from the patrol car videos, we'll pull that video and look at that tape too, to make sure the written report corresponds with the video tape," Coe said.

Why was there a need to change policy if the officers' reports matched the video?

The city has posted the 45-minute video of the incident, the Probable Cause Affidavit and the Use of Force Report on the city's website talgov.com/TPD. The probable cause affidavit and use of force report are also attached and the video may also be accessed on the Police Department YouTube site .

Probable Cause Affidavit:
http://www.talgov.com/uploads/public/documents/assets/news/tpd-pca-130910.pdf

I noticed reading this document the officers do not mention taking her out of the car at all. It is written as though the incident of 'placing her on the ground' occurred immediately after she was handcuffed the first time.

The report states that by the time she was cleared at the hospital at 7:55am, it was decided a breath analysis would not be any good. No DUI charge was made pending a subpoena of the analysis of the blood test taken at the hospital. She was then charged with the 3 assault charges (2 officers and nurse) which have all been dismissed by the SA.

45 min. video: (haven't watched this yet but will)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt2DjhZ8rnE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUJ76qqB6603PZxIeuks36Ig"]DUI Investigation/Use of Force - YouTube[/ame]

Use of Force report:

http://www.talgov.com/uploads/public/documents/assets/news/tpd-uofr-130910.pdf

Again, I don't see this happening the way he describes on the 14 min. video.


Mrs. West's notice of suit to the city:

http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/Christina+West+-+Notice+of+Claim.pdf

 

[noZme]

The Grand Jury results:
"We find that there is a need for more strict adherence and compliance to existing training and procedures at TPD."

"... conclude that the Officers escalated this encounter when they had the opportunity to deescalate as required." It went on to say that "procedures and policies should be more than words on a paper."
"...There were four recommendations made in all. They included T.P.D. following their own policies, retraining and continually educating officers, preserving original police reports, and installing a procedure with the Chief of Police that enables him to assure the public that police reports are factual and in-line with videos."

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/West-Arresting-Officer-Has-Disciplinary-History-230114791.html

 

[Reader]

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20131113/POLITICSPOLICY/311130017/?nclick_check=1

For the third time in five years, a Leon County grand jury has found fault within the Tallahassee Police Department, this time over its handling of a DUI arrest that was caught on dramatic dash-cam video......

The presentment, citing two previous grand jury reports critical of the police department, said TPD once again failed to follow its own policies and procedures during the West arrest. It also issued several recommendations, including more training for officers in the use of force......

“While we would have preferred that the officers who battered Ms. West had been indicted, this is clearly an indictment of the Tallahassee Police Department and their failure to follow their own policies,” Conrad said. “And that to me is damning. While Ms. West may not get justice in criminal court, I guess it will be up to me to make sure she gets justice in civil court. And at the end of the day, I’ll make sure she does.”........more......