Players given Kratom by Colorado coach, police say, Skier Shiffrin's quest for 86th win extended after downhill, 77 inches of snow fall at Colorado ski area in 9 days, City of Loveland chooses firm to conduct independent review after arrest of Karen Garner, Former Loveland officer faces assault charge, accused of writing inaccurate reports related to Karen Garner's arrest, Karen Garner's family feels more 'concern than relief' after charges announced against officers, Policy 1.02: Limits of Authority and Exercise of Discretion. It was unclear if the officers had lawyers, and the Loveland Police Department did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on Thursday. I was helpless. RELATED: City of Loveland chooses firm to conduct independent review after arrest of Karen Garner, RELATED: Former Loveland officer faces assault charge, accused of writing inaccurate reports related to Karen Garner's arrest, RELATED: Karen Garner's family feels more 'concern than relief' after charges announced against officers. When the officers arrived, the suit says, Siers was found in front of the house working on S.S.s bike. The arrest startled her father, Jon Siers, who repeatedly told the officers that what they were doing was completely wrong, the lawsuit states. Ashe twisted Sowls arm behind his back and pushed his face into the ground, according to a civil rights lawsuit. The release did not state what disciplinary or corrective action would be taken as a result of this internal investigation, just that any disciplinary actions would be taken in accordance with the conclusion and outcome of the IA., More:Colorado Supreme Court ruling makes more police internal investigations accessible. I felt helpless just watching them manhandle my daughter the way they did.. Ashe detained Sowl for not answering his questions, twisting his arm behind his back and pushing his face into the ground. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. While four officers responded to the Siers home and waited 20 minutes, they were unable to come in contact with S.S. or her father. U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak noted that Talmadge had failed to allege which officers did what, meaning his excessive force claim was not viable under the law. S.S. can then be heard yelling that she needs to get a tampon, body camera footage shows. The lawsuit names three officers who were involved in the arrests of Siers and his daughter as defendants: Officers Matt Sychla, Jeremiah Wood and Evan Dunlap. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Officer Paul Ashe detained Preston Sowl after Sowl refused to answer his questions about a motorcycle crash Sowl witnessed outside a Loveland bar Sept. 22, 2019. The lawsuit alleges officers injured Garner when they arrested her in June 2020 for alleged petty theft. At one point in the interaction, Sowl can be heard telling Ashe, "I don't know what happened. A Loveland police officer violated department policy when he forcefully arrested a witness of a motorcycle crash for refusing to answer questions, the city announced in a news release last week. The city said the findings of the latest review will be made public once it is complete. She pretty much sticks to herself, stays at home, stays out of trouble, he said. Shes a good kid.. The video below is police bodycam footage from the incident. It also included information on timed DUI arrest competitions put on by MADD that LPD is a part of. 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The back-to-back violent arrests point to a toxic cultural problem that cant be resolved by cherry-picking off the officer, Ms. Schielke said. The lawsuit alleged officers violated Sowl's constitutional rights when they arrested him for refusing to answer questions as a witness about a motorcycle crash outside a Loveland bar Sept. 22, 2019. The complaint also touches on results from the Jensen Hughes report that came out following the release of information on the 2020 arrest of Karen Garner, specifically what investigators heard in regard to the departments Data Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety methods. ), First published on January 27, 2021 / 4:46 PM. Share with Us. each comment to let us know of abusive posts. It claims Sychla unreasonably and wrongfully arrested Siers and used excessive force against him and his dog, and also that Sychla committed malicious prosecution in arresting and forwarding charges against Siers to prosecutors. According to the lawsuit, the girl had confronted an 18-year-old she had been dating in the parking lot of a Safeway over him allegedly cheating on her with another girl or woman. Updated: 4:50 PM MDT June 15, 2022 LOVELAND, Colo. The City of Loveland announced Wednesday the independent review of the 2020 arrest of a 14-year-old girl and tasing of her father after a. There was a problem saving your notification. Watch the body camera footage here According. Police are strengthening their checks of motorcycles and mopeds at the start of spring. They hurt families and destroy lives, Schielke said in a statement. Schielke and Sowl were not able to answer any additional questions about the settlementdue to the agreement with Loveland, according to the news release. That complaint, which only named Loveland and Gates as defendants, alleged three claims in connection to the arrest two years ago: unlawful arrest without probable cause, arrest without probable cause violating the Colorado constitution Article II Section 7 and malicious prosecution under the Fourth Amendment. The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports Preston Sowl claimed the officers violated his constitutional rights by detaining and injuring him after he declined to talk to them while at the scene of an accident in September 2019. Last year, the city of Loveland paid a $3 million settlement to the woman, Karen Garner. Siers then can be seen complying with Sychla as he handcuffs him, but asks him to put the dogs away, stating he doesnt want the officers to shoot them. As with previous cases Schielke has brought forth, the newest case against the department came not only with a written description in the lawsuit itself but also with a YouTube video providing both body-worn camera and security camera footage of the incident. Ashe arrested Sowl for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, but the 8th Judicial District Attorneys Office dismissed the charges, according to the lawsuit. The citys statement that it was hiring the consulting firm came after attorney Sarah Schielke filed a lawsuit against the city over the ordeal involving the girl, her father and their dog. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. Schielke indeed did release the video on YouTube, as well as the lawsuit she said was filed Wednesday in Larimer County District Court on behalf of Jon Siers and his daughter. According to the Associated Press, Garcia said the settlement states the city and officers do not admit any guilt in this case. The lawsuit alleges officers injured Garner when they arrested her in June 2020 for alleged petty theft. had 6 out of 6 clues of impairment and he blew a 0.042% on a preliminary breath test; he was arrested for DUI. Example video title will go here for this video. An excessive force lawsuit filed against the Loveland Police Department has been settled for nearly $300,000. The lawsuit claims that a man and his 14-year-old daughter were arrested by officers who used excessive force during the encounter in 2020. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. They have used this funding to buy themselves more equipment and hire more officers. The official filing of the amended complaint comes quickly after the LPD announced that it would be launching an outside, professional review of its DUI enforcement program; Schielke said she had informed the department of the amended complaint two weeks ago. According to the complaint, Emily Dutka, who had previously gone public about her arrest, was pulled over by Hill in May of 2020. According to the lawsuit, Siers was aware an LPD officer had shot and killed a familys dog in the past year (which Schielke also filed suit over) and wanted to take the dog inside so it was not shot if it bit one of the officers. The defendants asked Varholak to dismiss the lawsuit because of Talmadge's successful criminal prosecution and because he neglected to describe the actions each officer took to allegedly harm him. Mr. Siers was later charged with resisting arrest; his daughter was charged with harassment, domestic violence, obstruction and resisting arrest. The city of Loveland said Schielke had requested a settlement with the city more than a month ago and had given the city a four-day window to pay the settlement lest she release body camera video from the incident. Living at Kimberly Court can seem like living in the most convenient location in Boulder. All rights reserved. Motorcycles can be very heavy and can cause severe damage even when just tipping over while stopped. Don't knowingly lie about anyone I've never been in a situation quite like that before, Siers said. The city said Ashe violated three department policies and procedures:. 3 min read. Most notably the department became the center of international attention when Schielke released information on the June 2020 arrest of Karen Garner, a case that resulted in a $3 million settlement from the city of Loveland and a five-year prison sentence for Garners arresting officer. In a news release and in discussions with the Reporter-Herald, Schielke described the arrest as senseless and needless violence. The Loveland Police Department was hit with many negative headlines related to the rough arrest of Karen Garner, a 73-year-old suffering from dementia who's only five feet tall and weighs. The complaint also includes 20 instances from other residents claiming that they were wrongfully arrested; the complaint adds the ones listed were just some of arrests made by Hill and Gates. As S.S. watched this from a few feet away, she began having a panic attack, the lawsuit states. She had been dating 18-year-old Elijah Hall and, around lunchtime on June 20, 2020, she rode her bike to the nearby Safeway where she found Hall with another woman. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The state's second-highest court on Thursday overturned a man's conviction for disarming a police officer, determining that Colorado law does . Philip Metzler and the City of Loveland of excessive force and violation of the Americans With . The city of Loveland and Loveland Police Department settled the lawsuit with Sowl in January for nearly $300,000. According to the suit, S.S., who was 14 years old at the time, lived with Siers at their home in Loveland. Loveland City Manager Steve Adams said the city was also releasing its own video from the ordeal and that while the city initially reviewed and deemed appropriate at the time the actions of the officers, but was now taking a second outside look at the incident in our efforts to ensure we are policing in a respectful and proper manner., As we move forward on our accountability efforts launched in 2021, best practices in law enforcement will be maintained and we are committed to accountability if those standards are not upheld.. but it can also be stressful. The department also faced an excessive use of force suit for the 2019 arrest of Preston Sowl, which was settled by the city for $290,000. When they discovered that neither Siers nor his daughter were home, they left. When the arrest begins, Siers can be seen in the video yelling at Sychla and the other officers that they cant arrest his daughter; all the while the familys two dogs can be heard barking continuously in the background. She said that without someone standing up to call out the pattern of violent conduct and complete disrespect for this community, nothing is going to change. Secure your subscription to Colorados premier political news journal, in continuous publication since 1898. She said, at the time, her records requests were not being fulfilled quickly enough to file before time ran out. The suit, filed in the 8th Judicial District Court on Wednesday morning, lists three claims for relief: unreasonable seizure and excessive force resulting in the abuse of their dog Skippy and wrongful arrest of Siers by Sychla; violation of due process and malicious prosecution of Siers by Sychla; and unreasonable seizure and excessive force with an arrest of S.S. by Wood and Dunlap. Our interviews with LPD staff revealed that they would like to be more involved with community members and community organizations, but do not have time to engage in these activities or problem solving because of the Departments emphasis on its data-driven strategies and the need to produce daily numbers of enforcement actions, the complaint quotes from the report. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. During a press conference held Monday, Deputy Chief and soon-to-be Interim Chief Eric Stewart said that decision came after the department received criticism of former DUI cases, adding the critics are members of a defense bar who represent drivers who were charged and some who ultimately passed blood tests following DUI arrests; he did not say exactly who the critics were and said he could not comment on specific incidents. Schielke also said she wanted to ensure the officers who were involved were held accountable and forced to change.. The father of a teenage girl filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against three police officers in Loveland, Colo., who arrested her in 2020, saying the men used excessive force when they slammed the 14-year-old onto concrete, fired a Taser at him and choked the familys Jack Russell terrier. Nicole Yost, a spokeswoman for the city of Loveland, said she did not know who was representing the officers. Police were . Create new account | My Profile | My Account | My Bookmarks | My Inbox | Help | Log in, Back to top Alert Link here All the investigation and work we were putting in to get a peek at the tip of the iceberg was taking forever, she said. The departments statement reiterated the outside review it will undergo will includes policies and procedures, overall strategy as well as status, outcomes and claims of current and recent enforcement efforts. The complaint adds that the LPD often posted about their victories in these absurd arrest competitions on social media, continually reaffirming to all Loveland police officers that DUI arrests are valued over all else, especially citizens constitutional rights., LPD has obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars of grant funding for themselves as a result of their DUI arrest numbers, the complaint said. The lawsuit claims the dog did eventually nip at some of the officers, and that Sychla eventually picked the dog up by his leach and held him into the air by his throat while taking him to the front door of the home and putting him inside. The attorney representing Karen Garner and her family released a video Monday of officers discussing and joking about injuring Garner after her arrest. We ask the public to keep an open mind as we deal with claims that will ultimately be addressed in a court of law., The statement added that this is too important an issue for the health and safety of our community to ignore.. June 17, 2022 The father of a teenage girl filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against three police officers in Loveland, Colo., who arrested her in 2020, saying the men used excessive force when. And that starts with getting rid of every supervisor at LPD who approved of the violence in this video, she said. He began to place handcuffs on her, which were too large for the 14-year-olds small wrists, making it easy to slip out of, Ms. Schielke said. On June 20, 2020, S.S. bicycled back to her fathers home, heartbroken over the confrontation she had with the boy hours earlier. The city also released its own video with footage from the incident from Sychlas body-worn camera, which includes the incident itself as well as Siers arrest and discussion with Sychla. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism He first blew a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.000%, the complaint says, and later that night Elias was given a blood test that eventually came back negative. The incidents were initially reviewed and deemed appropriate at the time of the event, but the city is taking a second outside look at the incident in our efforts to ensure we are policing in a respectful and proper manner, City Manager Steve Adams said in the release. They had yelled at each other, which caused someone to call the police, according to the lawsuit. He told her they were not in a relationship, according to the suit, and the girl got upset and slapped him. Sowl said he needed shoulder replacement surgery after the incident, according to the lawsuit. Schielke said this incident along with others in the past show that there is a theme of issues within department leadership. "Indeed, the Amended Complaint lacks even a single allegation of how any specific officer touched Mr. Talmadge or engaged in force that was in excess of what was required to arrest him.". The ordeal was enough for someone to call Loveland police to the scene, according to the lawsuit. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. According to the suit, the event caused emotional and physical trauma to not only Siers and S.S. but also Skippy. Both videos can be found on the Life and Liberty Law Office YouTube page. We hope you will find useful information in the links on the left. The amended complaint, which Schielke filed to the United States District Court in Denver Thursday, has the same three claims but comes with several notable additions, including naming Sgt. By law, if I see an OSHA violation and fail to act,I can be held personally responsible. Whether movers in Fort Collins are helping you Austin Fleskes joined the Reporter-Herald team in August 2020 as the newsroom's public safety reporter. It also included that 1,352 of the drivers he pulled over 84% of his stops were let off with just a warning. The city said Ashe violated three department policies and procedures: limits of authority and exercise discretion; search and seizure; and use of force. The complaint claims Gates said he could smell alcohol coming from the vehicle and that K.S. Without intervention, this self-serving scam will continue and the wake of innocent citizens whose lives are destroyed by it will continue to grow.. Both the Garner and Sowl cases were brought to light through Schielke and the Life and Liberty Law Office. The report said Ashe and two other officers took the man to the ground and arrested him for obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest, injuring his shoulder. The city, in turn, has announced it will re-hire consulting company Jensen Hughes to investigate the incident. Sowls arrest in September 2019 was capturedon body camera footage, released by Sowls attorney Sarah Schielke. I was helpless watching my daughter getting manhandled by three other police officers. Were not (going to) shoot your dog; knock it off, Sychla can be heard saying. At the Safeway parking lot, Officers Wood and Dunlap were collecting witness statements and asking the boy to fill out a form describing the slap, the lawsuit states. He also added that Skippy had bitten one of the officers involved. The city announced Tuesday it was again bringing in Jensen Hughes to review the latest incident, which happened on June 20, 2020, and involved a 14-year-old Loveland girl who was accused by police of domestic violence after she slapped her boyfriend, as well as the girls father, who was tased by an officer while trying to remove his dog from the scene. Dutka, an active duty military member, was driving a rental car and did not realize a headlight was out. The three officers named in the lawsuit Matt Sychla, Jeremiah Wood and Evan Dunlap still arrested S.S. outside her home that day. In Ticer's presentation to the. She was on her period that day and felt scared by the thought of bleeding all over a police car or jail cell, the lawsuit states. https://www.reporterherald.com/2020/06/22/man-sues-loveland-police-department-alleging-excessive-force/?fbclid=IwAR1nA4PCQglIk6_WZnOrE2Hy6S3zGZ5L5-sxQFW2_D4aHA1QedY48JlaYu0, https://pmatep5f7b.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ProdStage. ( Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) - An excessive force lawsuit filed against the city of Loveland and four of its police officers has been settled for $290,000. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Ashe twisted Sowls arm behind his back and pushed his face into the ground, according to a civil rights lawsuit. One of them, a Jack Russell terrier, started barking at the officers when they were trying to get the daughter into handcuffs. Mr. Siers said his daughter had nightmares for months. Local attorney Sarah Schielke has filed an amended lawsuit against members of the Loveland Police Department and the city of Loveland regarding an alleged wrongful DUI arrest in early 2020. The Loveland Police Department officers had searched for the daughter, who is identified in the lawsuit only as S.S., after she slapped a boy in a Safeway supermarket parking lot because she believed he had been cheating on her with another girl, the lawsuit states. According to the report of an internal. The dog was later taken to live with a family out of state because he became extremely aggressive with every stranger after the police encounter, according to the lawsuit. The suit claims that Siers and S.S. are seeking declaratory relief and economic damages as well as compensatory damages, among other things, through a jury trial. His two dogs Montana, a chihuahua, and Skippy, a Jack Russell terrier were on long leashes outside the house. It is important to stress that this process is not an acknowledgement as to the validity or accuracy of the specific complaints made by certain individuals about our DUI program, the statement said. The city, in response, said it will conduct an independent review and maintained that it is committed to accountability. Schielke said the names used in the suit were gained from a records request made to the LPD and, out of respect for each persons privacy, she did not include their full names with the exception of one person. I am confident that a thorough and impartial process was undertaken and appreciate the time and attention spent to review this matter, Adams said in the news release. That night Gates pulled Elias over in Fort Collins and, ultimately, Gates arrested Elias for DUI. Ashe arrested Sowl for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, but the 8th Judicial District Attorney's Office dismissed the charges, according to the lawsuit. Before coming to Loveland, he graduated from Colorado State University in May 2020 with two bachelor's degrees, one in journalism and media communications and one in history. Defund the police was the wrong slogan. The report said Officer Paul Ashe asked a witness what happened, and the witness told him where the motorcycle was and said he had helped pull the motorcycle off the rider. Emergency medical personnel arrived, along with police officers from the Loveland Police Department. A civil lawsuit was filed against the Loveland Police Department and City of Loveland after a police officer shot a couple's 14-month-old dog. The city of Loveland and Loveland Police Department settled the lawsuit with Sowl in January for nearly $300,000. The suit claims that during this, S.S. hit her head more than once, ultimately causing a concussion. The first third of the complaint retells Elias story with much of the restgoing into more detail on what the complaint describes as Chief Bob Ticer and the LPDs obsession with DUI arrests.. In police station surveillance video released on Monday by an attorney for Karen Garner's family, three Loveland police officers can be seen reviewing body-cam film of the arrest - footage. She added that while she is focusing on the LPD with this lawsuit, as it pertains to this specific department, she has heard from other attorneys that this is a problem across the country. Get on the ground, an officer yells, pointing a Taser at Mr. Siers and then firing it. Use the 'Report' link on No wonder why you guys get a bad rap, Siers can be heard saying when Sychla returns to him on the ground. Siers had his two dogs outside on leashes at the home, according to the suit. Karen Garner suffered a dislocated shoulder, fractured arm and sprained wrist after she was slammed to the ground and hogtied during a June 26 arrest, according to a federal lawsuit. Talmadge's roommate reported that Talmadge assaulted him and Talmadge resisted when officers told him he was under arrest. "Accordingly, Plaintiffs illegal arrest claim is barred by Heck.". 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