Posted on 06/03/2004 6:18:45 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Tanya Smith is sporting a broken left arm, and she says a South Bend police officer is to blame.
Police Chief Thomas Fautz said he has been reading reports of the incident, and so far he hasn't found any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the officers involved.
He said he cannot provide many details about the incident since it is an open investigation, and police policy keeps him from talking about it. He did confirm that the officer injured the woman.
Smith, a 25-year-old Elkhart resident, said she and a friend, Felicia Bradley, had gone to Benchwarmers early Sunday morning to join some friends.
They were met at the door by the owner and a security guard for Benchwarmers, Smith said. The men told them to wait outside for a few minutes while they dealt with an incident inside.
So that's what they did. They waited on the sidewalk outside of Benchwarmers. They said they have visited the bar before and been made to wait outside on other occasions, too.
Cpl. Jess Elliott, a South Bend police officer, was working in the downtown area that night. Smith said he approached and ordered her and Bradley to leave. He told them nobody else was going to be allowed inside the bar, she said.
Smith said she tried to explain that the men from Benchwarmers had instructed them to wait outside, but the officer didn't want to hear it. He ordered them again to leave.
"He was talking kind of rough to us,'' she said. "We asked what his problem was, and he said 'you're my (obscenity) problem.' ''
Bradley said she told the officer he didn't have to talk that way to them, but "he had a horrible attitude.'' She said she went to the door of Benchwarmers to see if the owner would come out to tell the officer that he had given the women permission to wait outside.
At that point, Bradley said, Elliott allegedly grabbed Smith and "was really roughing her up.'' She said she started to holler at the officer to let Smith go, but another officer came up and body-slammed her, knocking her down. Fautz identified that officer as Cpl. Keith Walker.
Smith, meanwhile, said she already had placed her arms behind her back to be handcuffed when Elliott grabbed her left arm and twisted it.
The humerus, the bone that connects the elbow to the shoulder, broke in two places, she said.
Smith said she was facedown on the ground with her hands cuffed behind her back when an officer fired a Taser weapon at her. The Taser delivers an electric shock that momentarily immobilizes a person. Smith has marks on her back where the Taser darts hit.
Roger Sartin Jr., a 25-year-old South Bend man, said he was downtown and witnessed the incident. He corroborated the women's story, saying he heard the men from Benchwarmers when they told Smith and Bradley to wait outside.
He said Smith was walking away when the officer grabbed her and yanked her arm behind her back. He said he heard a loud popping noise when the bone broke, and he saw the officer throw her to the ground. He said an officer fired a Taser gun at her while she already was handcuffed on the ground.
Sartin said none of the police officers talked to any witnesses, but instead tried to shoo the crowd away from the scene.
"They're going to cover for each other,'' Sartin said. "That's why they didn't take a report (from witnesses), because they knew he did wrong.''
Doneisha Jones, 20, of South Bend, also witnessed the incident.
She said Smith and Bradley were not doing anything wrong when the officer suddenly grabbed Smith and broke her arm.
"That was so wrong,'' Jones said. "We heard her bone pop out when they did it."
After the arm broke, Jones said, the officer threw Smith on the ground and someone fired a Taser at her.
"The police were laughing like it was a joke, like she was faking her arm being broke,'' Jones said.
Neither Sartin nor Jones had ever met Smith or Bradley before.
Jones said she thinks the incident was racist. Smith and Bradley are black, and the officers are white. Jones said officers tend to police Benchwarmers, which draws a mostly black crowd, more heavily than the nearby State Theatre, which draws a mostly white crowd.
After Smith was hurt, Jones said, it seemed to take a long time for the ambulance to arrive.
Smith claimed she lay on the ground for almost a half-hour before an ambulance arrived. Ambulance records show a dispatch time of 2:16 a.m., but Smith thinks that is wrong. She said she didn't even arrive at Benchwarmers until around 2:30 a.m.
Smith went to Memorial Hospital, where her arm was treated, then put in a sling. It was too swollen to set the bone, she said. That is to be done next week.
Police took her to jail after her treatment at the hospital, Smith said. Bradley had been taken to jail earlier. The women bonded out later that day.
Bradley went to a doctor on Tuesday for treatment of the injuries she said she suffered when she was knocked down by Cpl. Walker. A doctor's report refers to neck strain and costochondritis, an inflammation of the junction between the cartilage and ribs in her chest.
Chief Fautz acknowledged that Smith was injured while being arrested but said "there appears to be a logical explanation of how this injury occurred."
He would not elaborate, except to say the police reports indicate that Smith had some culpability in what happened to her. He was unaware of the witnesses' accounts of the incident.
"Right now the only version I have is what's on the police reports,'' the chief said.
If Smith and Bradley want to contest the reports, they can file a complaint with internal affairs, he said.
"We're certainly willing to hear her side of the story,'' Fautz said.
Smith is to appear June 10 in traffic and misdemeanor court, while Bradley has a June 17 court date. They were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
In the meantime, Smith said, she will be off work for at least three months while her arm heals. She said she works as a caulker for a recreational vehicle plant in Goshen.
She is talking to an attorney about possibly filing a lawsuit against the police.
Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.
Felicia Bradley, left, and Tanya Smith, roommates from Elkhart, claim they were roughed up by police officers early Sunday morning in downtown South Bend. Smith's left arm is in a sling because it was broken in two places.
I don't know who is telling the truth but here is a photo of the women in the article.
Fine. It was a mistake.
I accept your apolgy.
Dittoes for me.
That's the centerpiece of this story. I'd expect the demeanor displayed by the cop from someone in the bar, but not from the police outside the bar. The fact is that the cops didn't close the bar. That's what you do in sits. like this. Just announce the bars closed folks and that's it. You tell the barkeep and the bouncer to clear the place, lock the doors and tell eveyone go home.
You don't arbitrarily pick out at random folks waiting in line and tell them to go home w/o closing the bar. Then get irritated if they say they don't want to. That's like picking out folks standing in line for a sale at the mall and telling them to go home while the rest get to shop. They won't care if there was a recent struggle over some item and the cop claims it's for their own safety.
This cop got into a personel dispute with 2 women patrons that were being served by the establishment and had a legal right to be there. The "safety" claim is bogus. The cop couldn't handle the sit, blew his top, went after the woman and broke her arm. IOWs he turned it into something personel. Nothing admirable, or professional in that.
Who knows what the chief thinks. I suspect he might have used the f word when he heard about this, or during a quiz of the officers involved though.
What a total hypocrite you are. In the best Nazi fashion you try to supress those who disagree with your jackboot licking attitudewhen you said
"Oh give it a rest already."
If the cops are so innocent, let them follow the same procedures that would apply to the rest of us. You know, tell their stories individually to investigators without having several days of coaching to fabricate a combined work of fiction.
Hey Hitler....wait for the facts to come out before convicting these cops okay!
No need for a trial. All police are jack-booted thugs and should be thrown in with the prisoners they have falsely arrested so that they can be the candy for some 6'5", 250# who was falsely arrested for killing a guy with a hatchet.
"All police are jack-booted thugs..."
There we have it folks....a confessed cop hater! You couldn't even hide your own hatred for ALL cops....it eats you up inside and now you have outed yourself.
Well, I'm married to a police officer and although I would really love to speak my mind, I'm going to hold back....because you have already made an ass out of yourself. No need for me to continue kicking you while you are down. I will leave you with a little advice however....get yourself some help immediately.
Cool down. I think you missed the sarcasm.
:-}
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SOUTH BEND -- The South Bend police officer who broke a woman's arm last weekend was involved in another incident several days earlier that also resulted in a suspect's broken bone.
Cpl. Jess Elliott reportedly has had three allegations of excessive force made against him since February. He also had been investigated, then exonerated, for using excessive force in the arrest of an off-duty police officer from Columbus, Ind., who was visiting here in September 2002.
Elliott could not be reached for comment Friday.
Police Chief Thomas Fautz said Friday that department policy keeps him from talking about specific cases while they are pending, but he did confirm that the department is looking into a complaint filed by Derry Vaughn, a 43-year-old South Bend resident. Vaughn has a broken left wrist suffered while Elliott was arresting him May 23 on the northwest side of the city.
Vaughn said the way his arm was injured was similar to the way an Elkhart woman's arm was broken on May 30. Tanya Smith, 25, said Elliott used excessive force while arresting her in front of Benchwarmers, a downtown bar. She was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Vaughn said he had been released from jail on May 23 after posting bond on a driving-while-suspended charge.
An admitted cocaine and marijuana addict, he is a frequent inmate in the county jail and well known to South Bend police.
After returning home from jail, Vaughn said, he went to the Martin's store at Portage and Elwood avenues and shoplifted some cartons of cigarettes.
Elliott was off duty and working as a security guard at the store. The police report he filed later said he saw Vaughn outside the store and started to chase him, with Vaughn on foot and Elliott in a car.
When the officer caught up to the suspect, Vaughn surrendered the stolen cigarettes to him. Elliott wrote in his report that he told Vaughn he would not charge him with the theft if Vaughn would return to the store with him to receive a no-trespass order for Martin's properties.
Elliott wanted Vaughn to put his arms behind his back to be handcuffed for the transport back to the store, but Vaughn balked. He said he thought he was carrying marijuana and didn't want to be arrested for that.
So he ran, with Elliott in pursuit. Vaughn said they ran across yards and he jumped three fences in his effort to escape.
The third fence, a wooden one, fell when Vaughn tried to vault over it, and Vaughn sprawled on the ground, face down.
Elliott's report said the officer jumped the fence and landed on Vaughn's back. He said Vaughn continued to struggle and to use his left elbow to strike Elliott in the face and neck. He said Vaughn refused to cooperate.
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Vaughn said he was lying with his face pressed into the ground and Elliott's full weight pressing on him, and he couldn't breathe. That is why he was struggling, he said.
Elliott struck him in the face. Elliott's report says he used "a hammer fist'' to the right side of Vaughn's face, then to the left side. Vaughn claimed Elliott hit him with a police radio or cell phone. A police report says Elliott did not have a radio with him.
The officer finally managed to pull Vaughn's arms behind him to be cuffed. Vaughn said that is when his wrist was broken. He said Elliott pulled his arm behind him, then jerked it upward.
He said he complained that he might be having a heart attack. He was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery on his broken wrist. He also suffered an injury in his left eye, which remained bloody on Friday.
"He was trying to hurt me bad,'' Vaughn said of Elliott.
Vaughn is charged with two counts of resisting law enforcement. He is to appear in court on June 16.
He said he has filed a complaint against Elliott with the internal affairs department of the South Bend Police Department.
Fautz said an investigation has been started, but he could not comment further. Vaughn said police photographed his injuries as part of their investigation.
The internal affairs department reportedly is considering another complaint against Elliott filed in February by David Franklin, 20, who now lives in Indianapolis.
Tom Bush, police liaison for the NAACP, said Franklin had entered the Martin's store on Portage on Feb. 18 to look for a magazine. He left the store without buying anything, Bush said.
Elliott, who was working as a security guard at the store, reportedly followed Franklin out of the store and became verbally abusive while searching him and his truck. The officer reportedly did not find anything on Franklin, Bush said, and eventually let him go.
Fautz said he could not confirm whether Franklin has a complaint pending.
On Sept. 29, 2002, Elliott was involved in the arrest of Roderick Ivory, a former South Bend resident who now is a police officer in Columbus, Ind. Officers had gone to the 200 block of North Chicago Street to investigate a hit-and-run accident involving a car that belonged to Ivory.
Words were exchanged, and Ivory was grabbed, handcuffed and thrown to the pavement. The South Bend officers, including Elliott, apparently did not realize that Ivory was a policeman.
Police concluded months later that the South Bend officers had not done anything wrong, but suspicions of a cover-up persist in the black community. Ivory is black, and the other officers involved, including Elliott, were white.
Vaughn, Smith and Franklin all are black, too.
Staff writer Nancy J. Sulok:
(574) 235-6234
One complaint ends in exoneration; others are pending
I look in my crystal ball. I see... The officer is exonerated in all complaints (as usual)
What a surprise!! Hah!
It would probably be a good idea to lay off the booze before you post.
Let's see. One complainant is an admitted cocaine and marijuana addict caught stealing and resists arrests then flees and the two of them go down in a pile as the fence collapses as they go over it.
The other is a possible hit and run suspect.
All are black, the policeman is white. Call Jesse Jackson.
Funny that is exactly what I was thinking of all of you!
I have read some really good arguments on FR.
But this has to be the all time hissies of name calling and I know more than you threads.
Knowing how journalists can totally screw up stories I can't see blaming either parties exclusively at this point.
You are just as guilty as those posting back at you with the childish name calling or temper tantrums.
Like I said dumbest FR hissie fit I have ever seen here.
And the best you all can come up with is accusing other posters of drinking or not taking "meds".
Damn if you are gonna sling mud at least come up with some new lines and make it interesting/entertaining.
Only a few posters made any sense at all.
Please call the ACLU.
Yawn
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