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.
One is an admitted drug addict that steals to support his habit. Of course, in your world, that equates to 'upstanding citizen'.
Of course not. All police are jack-booted thugs on FR except those shot in the line of duty.
If this cop had been killed he would be a hero. Now he is only a goat.
I just wondered what point (if any) you were trying to make with that jibberish.
You come across much better in your second post.
One hand typing with a on screen keyboard after working all night.
Theres a NEWS FLASH for ya, ActionNewsBill. LOL
You and the others posting to you sounded like immature lil boys.
I can tell you about the author of the article nancy sulok. She has been notoriously anti-police from the get go and always takes the side of the criminal. These girls drove 20 miles to a club to visit it at 2:30 in the morning. Not good behaviour for an outstanding citizen. The location in general has been a huge problem for the police every saturday night for the police. There are basically 3 bars that all empty at the same time saturday night leaving 2,000 people on the streets in a one block radius. The people are out of control and the mayor wont let the police do their job. Right now the head of the NAACP is threatning riots like the ones in benton harbor last summer unless justice is done. It reminds me of the LA watts riots from OJ.
BTW What you call jibberish is my condensing of all the stupid remarks being made and things taken out of context.
Man those are some humongous bars! 2000/3 = 666 people per bar. Y'all take your drinking seriously.
And what were you doing with the other hand? LOL!
You and the others posting to you sounded like immature lil boys.
I know you are, but what am I?
In actuallity they are nightclubs or danceclubs that serve alchohol, but since I dont frequent such establishments I call them all bars. I am sure someone here will correct me and take offense.
And btw "oceanperch" I didn't have a clue as to what point you were trying to make in original comment to "ActionNewsBill" other than flaming him which really adds lots to the discussion.
We get the same type of problems in Portland Oregon. Except the Officers shoot first ask questions later.
But people do stupid things like the one gal high on Cocaine having been pulled over and she jumps into the front seat and tries to escape with the PO attached to the car. Then the community praises that they lost a loving mother. She currently did not have custody, was suspended for DUI, had priors for her crack induced behavior.
If a cop acts like a rude idiot then most civil minded people don't get in their face they file a complaint.
I think it depends on the area the officers work in.
Our county the PO are good men and will put up with stupidity and resolve a situation in the least restrictive way.
wack and stack
Interesting link...Thanks.
No call NAACP.
Up here in the PNW seems some teens had behavior and mouthy attitudes in school and the Security was well aware of them and didn't put up with their crap.
One of the teens just so happen to be the daughter of the local NAACP Chapter.
He has all the girls choreographed their stories live on a news conference and states the NAACP is going to sue for racism for 10million.
Victems oh my. One of the girls slipped up and admitted she had a long record of disobediance and was a in your face attitude teen to school security and personel.
I wish I could remember the # of PO who died in the line of duty last year but it seemed like thousands.
There are jerks in EVERY profession.
If a nurse kills patients as in angel of death cases....we'll you get my drift.
Same here in Oregon we have Taverns or Lounges. Taverns only serve beer/wine and Lounge as they are called serve hard stuff.
We are to small to have danceclubs, one just opened up last month.
I guess the biggest booze drinkers go to the Elks or Legion Hall in our area.
Do you really want serious conversation? I think not. It shows where the thread is when the #1 post is removed by the moderator.
I guess that would be too much to hope for around here. It's just that flame gets so boring so fast.
Not only that the first post was pulled but the abuse button starts going off like crazy.
Reminds me of the domestic calls that come into LinCom.
It has been years since FR has had a good non name calling Flame war.
You misread that portion of the article.
The Columbus police officer's car was involved, somehow, in a hit-and-run accident. It doesn't say that he was a suspect.
It says, "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."
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