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.
"i just bet these police officers 3/4 inch penis's were just fully erect i mean you gotta be one hell of a tough bad ass to shoot a woman in the back with a tazer when she is on the ground with a broken arm and hand cuffed and then laugh about it..."
Wait a minute here....we've only heard one side of the story. You've already judged and convicted them when all of the facts haven't even been presented.
Reading this little sordid tale - I would have to side with ms. Felicia Bradley. The city can start counting all it's parking meter quarters and get ready to do some really big apologizing ($$$$) This story sounds very plausible.
And those jack-boots can go to the pen and see what some big bubba can do with their fair skins.
That's just wrong. I can't imagine how painful that must have been for her.
It's a good thing you won't be sitting on the jury! You've convicted these cops already and you haven't even heard their side of the story. If it turns out that these cops are indeed guilty....then punish them....but not until all of the facts are out!
Pithy, very pithy.
Didn't know you were in South Bend, freepatriot32. I moved away last year - away down South.............FRegards
I've had costrochondritis before, and I can tell you it's extremely painful. Every breath hurts. I can't say much about the rest of the article. Not much info is presented.
im not in south bend i live in elkhart but im in south bend about every other weekend
I'm tellin' ya, steroids and a badge are a bad mix.
Strange that they have decided not to tell their side of the story. Could it be that they're working on their "story" to try and come up with a plausable lie? Oh I forgot. law enforcement can do no wrong.
Nobody will be sitting on the jury because these "peace" officers will not ever be charged with a crime that will go to a jury. Because they are cops and in the first couple of paragraphs of the story the chief is as much as addmitting that hes doing all he can to cover this up these officers committed about 4 felonys to this woman and the cheif said after reading the report he cant find any fault with what they did if you or i were to do this to some random stranger on the street we would be looking at 20 years in prison and possibly a couple of federal civil rights charges and hate crimes but these guy will probably get a raise and promotion in the next couple of weeks for instilling fear of the police in the populous thus making them much easier to control
Isn't it amazing that these frequent incidents NEVER involve any wrongdoing on the part of the police, EVER. You would think that just once that they would screw up and actually do something wrong, but no they never do. It's ALWAYS the victims fault.
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.
Read this as: He can't talk about it because the police haven't come up with their story yet, but are being given a chance to make sure that they all say the same thing. Probably being coached about what to say by the police leadership or the city attorneys.
Who knew South Bend had after hours clubs?
She arrived at 2:30 am????
Where was she before? Was she drunk?
This whole article stinks. These two (likely) whores were waiting outside at closing time, (likely) looking to hook up with a couple of johns. freepatriot should change to the screen name "henny penny."
Oops......I actually meant to type "chicken little." (So busy watching my cat torture a mouse, I got off track.)
This woman is a moron. She makes it sound like she was under strict orders from proper authority to not depart the scene no matter what. I guess she really had to get her drink on, didn't she ? Notice how the paper said "early Sunday morning" instead of "late Saturday night", making it sound like she was going out to brunch instead of partying the night away. And since it was late enough to technically be called Sunday morning, I wonder how drunk she was already by that time ?
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