Posted: Monday, March 31, 2014 2:47 pm |
CHRISTIAN SHECKLER South Bend Tribune
csheckler@sbtinfo.com
Christian Sheckler
SOUTH BEND -- Tom Stevens' lawyer says the local golfer never tried to hit a South Bend police officer during an arrest that left Stevens hospitalized last week.
Stevens, 55, was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest and battery to a police officer late on the night of March 25 after the officer stopped him for a traffic violation in the 1500 block of Sunnymede Avenue, just east of Twyckenham Drive.
Attorney Jeff Kimmell, who is representing Stevens and his mother, Suzanne Stevens, said he could not discuss details about what led to the altercation, but he said his client never struck the officer, Aaron Knepper.
"He never struck the police officer at all during this entire altercation, but he himself was struck repeatedly," Kimmell said this afternoon.
Suzanne Stevens, 76, who also was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest and battery to an officer, has said Knepper beat her son excessively, punching him in the jaw, neck, chest and ribs.
Police, however, have cautioned against jumping to conclusions about Knepper's actions and said all the facts will come to light when an investigation into the incident is finished.
"Once the officer's version of the story is made known, it will be a lot clearer what happened," police Capt. Phil Trent said last week.
Knepper was accused of misconduct in two previous cases, including an August 2012 incident in which a local 7-Eleven clerk said Knepper and two other officers challenged him to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon and videotaped the stunt, sometimes known as the "cinnamon challenge."
Then-police chief Chuck Hurley suspended Knepper without pay for two days. Knepper had stopped in the store to meet other officers for coffee when they challenged the employee to perform the cinnamon stunt, according to personnel records obtained by The Tribune through a public records request. The officers then challenged him to eat 10 crackers in one minute, which he started to do but did not finish, records show.
Knepper apologized for taking part in the stunt.
"I would like to apologize for my actions," Knepper wrote in a report to Hurley. "I never intended to act unprofessionally or attract any unwanted media attention to the department."
Knepper and two other officers -- Eric Mentz and Michael Stuk -- were named in a lawsuit in which the clerk claimed they humiliated him and violated his civil rights.
The same three officers were also named in a lawsuit by a family who claimed the officers burst into their home without a warrant and beat DeSawn Franklin, then 17, and falsely arrested him. Both lawsuits are still pending.
The St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit is investigating the Stevens case, which is the standard procedure when a person is seriously injured during an arrest or while in police custody. Prosecutors have not filed charges against Stevens or his mother, saying they are awaiting the results of the investigation.
Stevens has been released from the hospital and is staying with a friend, his family said.
Stevens has spoken openly in the past about his struggles with cocaine addiciton, which resulted in jail stints after convictions in 2001 and 2006.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/cr ... f6878.html
