Two Newburgh Heights police officers and a dispatcher are standing trial on charges they used tasers to brutalize a woman they arrested.
Kim Bankhead was pulled over by the two officers in november 2007 on suspicion of drunk driving. During her testimony on Monday, Bankhead admitted that she did not cooperate with Officer Joseph Szelenyi, but claims he used excessive force.
Bankhead told the jury, "he forced me around, slammed my head on the car to handcuff me." On the opening day of the felonious assault trial of Patrolman Szeleyni, fellow officer Bobby Hoover and Newburgh Heights dispatcher Christopher Minek, Bankhead testified that Officer Szelenyi tasered her multiple times after she was handcuffed.
When asked by assistant county prosecutor David Zimmerman why she was screaming "help me", Bankhead said "they were hurting me, I was scared to death and I was hurt."
Bankhead says after she was taken to the Newburgh Heights police station, she was chained to a bench and then tasered by Officer Bobby Hoover following an angry exchange of words.
When asked by Zimmerman how many time she was tasered while she was on the floor handcuffed, Bankhead said "it was just one after another."
But on cross examination, defense attorneys pointed out that Kim Bankhead later pleaded no contest to driving while intoxicated, and on the night she was arrested, was confrontational with the officers.
Attorney Mike Conway asked Bankhead "you're asked to get out of the vehicle and you said 'I'm not (bleep) going with you guys anywhere', right? Bankhead responded "I did say that."
Conway got Bankhead to admit that after she was taken to the police station, she tried to get away. Conway asked "you did escape from a handcuff, and what are the police officers supposed to do when you escape from a handcuff, just let you walk away?"
After prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday, the defense asked the judge to immediately find the three men not guilty, and in the case of the dispatcher, the judge granted their request.
Judge Brendan Sheehan ruled that there was no evidence or testimony that Christopher Minek had done anything wrong.
The dismissal of the charges lifts a cloud of suspicion that has followed Minek for the past year and a half.
Minek says "rough, we lost almost everything, now I can continue my career and go on, proves that we were right and we did the best that we can do."
Judge Sheehan will decide on Tuesday if Joseph Szelenyi and Bobby Hoover should be exonerated as well, or if their trial should continue.
No comments:
Post a Comment