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.
If that were the case, the cops would have tacked on "public drunkenness" just for good measure.
You must be another one of those "cops can do no wrong" sycophants.
Oh give it a rest already. All cops are guilty in your eyes and I see the hatred that some freepers have for cops.
You haven't even heard the cops side yet but you've already convicted them. I don't even know why I bother getting into debates like this, because it's obvious how hated the cops are by so many freepers. I'm letting this argument go....it's not worth it!
This is a stupid thread. Most here are cop haters, and truly WANT the cops to be at fault. A thread not worth the bandwidth.
I am so sick of this line of argument.
WOW! What a killer argument. I suggest that you continue to leave your head exactly where it is and go back to listening to your Nuremburg rally tapes and licking your jackboot flavored suckers.
I reject your racist call to violence against the police.
I guess cops can do nothing wrong in your view.
What a shame.
No, but thanks for the ignorant generalization, just the same.
Where is the racism in wanting bad cops to be punished for their misdeeds?
Maybe you feel they should get a medal intead.
I never said cops could do no wrong....now did I? Stick to the facts and quit painting me with your one sided brush!
Thanks for proving my point.
It is you who practices Nazi behavior....you convict before all facts are out. Hitler would be proud of you!
I'm starting to see a trend here. Everyone who disagrees with ActionNewsBill is a blindly obedient subject of the evil establishment, while ANB himself is looking out for us simpletons by making war with the evil jack boot thugs.
I've seen you in action on similar threads, you always stick up for the cops no matter what.
I'd say my generalization is right n the money in your case.
I agree. These cop haters aren't worth my time. I'd like to hear all the facts before I make a final judgement on anyone....including cops.
2) When a cop tells you to beat feet, do it. Don't argue with a cop, you will lose. Don't fight with a cop, you will lose worse.
3) Cop outranks bouncer, every time.
4)When there is an "incident" happening at a bar, get the heck away. Don't stand around waiting for the shootout, or pick a fight with the cops showing up to deal with the incident.
5) While it is certainly possible that a cop might torture a suspect, when that suspect has admitting doing a whole series of egregiously stupid things, their credibility is awefully low to begin with.
Oh, I see. Just go ahead and reply to this post too without regard for anything previously said. Al Franken must be your hero.
Careful there. You're about to be thrown in with us blind cop lovers.
Hey, it's a (somewhat) free country...you can say anything you like.
However, the police officers in this case were wrong, and you are the one defending their actions by attempting to paint the victim of their gestapo tactics as a drunk.
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