), First published on January 27, 2021 / 4:46 PM. While the witness was being uncooperative, the IA (internal affairs) reports that there was not probable cause to arrest Sowl, aFriday news release from the city of Loveland stated. Loveland Police Department officers Jeremiah Wood and Evan Dunlap arrest a 14-year-old girl in Loveland in June of 2020. 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. 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. RM D5WCP3 - A police officer stops cars at a special checkpoint in Berlin, Germany, 09 April 2013. "Being a defendant in civil rights litigation is stressful, time-consuming, and especially in the case of law enforcement, detracts from everyday duties to the public," lawyers for the defendants wrote. Officers Wood and Dunlap, who had asked for backup, arrived outside Mr. Sierss home later that day and asked to speak with his daughter. The city of Loveland and Loveland Police Department settled the lawsuit with Sowl in January for nearly $300,000. I appreciate the difficult, challenging, and often dangerous roles that LPD officers undertake to keep our community safe, and I want to express my gratitude to the men and women of LPD for taking on this important work and for continuing in our larger efforts to improve community policing to best serve our community, Adams said in the release. View this page in Standard (full site) format. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. This is not a bad apples event, it is the whole tree.. The city said Ashe violated three department policies and procedures: limits of authority and exercise discretion; search and seizure; and use of force. One of them, a Jack Russell terrier, started barking at the officers when they were trying to get the daughter into handcuffs. The arrest startled her father, Jon Siers, who repeatedly told the officers that what they were doing was completely wrong, the lawsuit states. Philip Metzler and the City of Loveland of excessive force and violation of the Americans With . He called his daughter out of the house, and according to the lawsuit, Officer Wood started to arrest his daughter as soon as she admitted to slapping the 18-year-old, which the suit says went against LPD policy of not arresting children 14 and under unless they are believed to have committed a dangerous felony.. Use the 'Report' link on The Loveland Police Department has also suspended Officer Austin Hopp, who initially handcuffed Garner; two others who were on the scene, Officer Daria Jalali and Sgt. No wonder why you guys get a bad rap, Siers can be heard saying when Sychla returns to him on the ground. Two officers Dunlap and Wood responded and spoke to the girl and young man, as well as other witnesses. City of Loveland via YouTube/ lovgov.org On September 7, the City. This includes several pictures of Facebook posts showing Gates or Hill being awarded for their DUI enforcement work. The release added the findings from this review will be made public when the investigation is completed. I bet at this point Loveland wishes each of these events could involve the same officers, she said. The lawsuit alleges officers injured Garner when they arrested her in June 2020 for alleged petty theft. And that starts with getting rid of every supervisor at LPD who approved of the violence in this video, she said. 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. Mr. Siers was later charged with resisting arrest; his daughter was charged with harassment, domestic violence, obstruction and resisting arrest. Sowl was cited with obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest, but the charges were later dropped. 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. Ashe twisted Sowls arm behind his back and pushed his face into the ground, according to a civil rights lawsuit. Reach him at afleskes@prairiemountainmedia.com or on Twitter @Austinfleskes07. 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. Eventually, Sychla deployed his Taser on Siers and continued to shock him for over five seconds, the lawsuit claims. Following this, the suit claims that Sychla shoved Siers backward several times, with Siers eventually scrambling away into a parking space in front of the residence. The city, in response, said it will conduct an independent review and maintained that it is committed to accountability. 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. Schielke, of the Life and Liberty Law Office, filed the original complaint in January, claiming Fort Collins resident Harris Elias was wrongfully arrested by LPD officer William Gates in early 2020 for DUI. But the fact that it doesnt tells the whole story. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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.. The roommate then exited the house and Talmadge soon received a call from police asking him to step outside. In Talmadge's narrative of events, he attempted to eject his roommate from his Loveland home on July 6, 2019, but the roommate refused and instead called police to the home. The three officers named in the lawsuit Matt Sychla, Jeremiah Wood and Evan Dunlap still arrested S.S. outside her home that day. To always use Standard format on my mobile device: Go to My Account, About | Copyright | Privacy | Terms of service | Contact. Schielkeis alsorepresenting Karen Garner and her family in an ongoing civil rights lawsuit against Loveland police. Excessive force lawsuit filed against Loveland police settled for $290K 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 goes on to say that Ticer and the LPD had a history of giving awards and recognition for high DUI arrests, including reporting the arrest numbers to agencies like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The lawsuit also claims Wood and Dunlap unreasonably seized, committed a warrantless arrest against, and used excessive force against Siers daughter, who was not named in the complaint because she is a juvenile. Phil Metzler, have been. I'm not talking to nobody.". 2001 - 2023 Democratic Underground, LLC. Officers Dunlap and Wood the suit claims Dunlap was field-training Wood at the time responded to the scene where they located and interviewed Hall. A screen capture from body-worn camera video of Karen Garner's 2020 arrest and a portrait of Loveland Police Chief Bob Ticer. 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. Last year, the city of Loveland paid a $3 million settlement to the woman, Karen Garner. It was unclear if the officers had lawyers, and the Loveland Police Department did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on Thursday. Police were . 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. Want the real scoop? accounts, the history behind an article. Police. He also claimed the encounter demonstrated a "serious training issue" with the Loveland Police Department. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. While all cases referred to each person only with initials and no full names, stories mirrored what Elias went through in early 2020. COLORADO DOCUMENTARY PROJECT Speak out! A federal judge has dismissed a man's lawsuit against the city of Loveland and multiple police officers that alleged excessive force and unlawful arrest. "The settlement ends the continuation of lengthy and expensive litigation, and resolution is deemed to be in the best interest of all parties,"Schielke said in the release. In the suit, Schielke is asking for declaratory and injunctive relief, compensatory, punitive or exemplary damages, and attorneys fees and costs. The 18-year-old man declined twice to press charges against the girl and said the slap caused him no pain, according to the lawsuit. Skippy can be seen in the video trying to pull its way over to him. Colorado Supreme Court ruling makes more police internal investigations accessible. A lawsuit filed by a Fort Collins man accuses a Loveland police officer of wrongfully arresting him on suspicion of driving under the influence in January 2020. Beyond excessive use of force incidents, the department has faced scrutiny for several other incidents, including the shooting and killing of a 19-year-old boy in 2021 and a dog in 2019, as well as criticism over alleged wrongful DUI arrests. Mr. Siers and his lawyer said they would not accept a settlement and expected to take the case to a jury. Schielke and Sowl were not able to answer any additional questions about the settlementdue to the agreement with Loveland, according to the news release. Schielke said she filed Elias original complaint quickly as to avoid the statute of limitations closing. person will not be tolerated. There was a problem saving your notification. "Any complaint leveled against our personnel is taken seriously," the department said in a statement. Chief Ticer and Sergeant Hill did not care about these poor innocent people Gates was victimizing without consequence, the complaint said. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday. Following the footage of the arrest the video stated that the event was reviewed by LPD chain of command and deemed reasonable and justified.. The charges against them were eventually dismissed, Ms. Schielke said. Police said the witness then said he had not pulled the motorcycle off the rider and refused to answer any more questions, saying it was his constitutional right not to talk. After S.S. came out and began talking with the officers, she eventually admitted to slapping Hall earlier that day the video accompanying the suit claims their body-worn cameras were muted for much of this discussion. 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. Talmadge's roommate reported that Talmadge assaulted him and Talmadge resisted when officers told him he was under arrest. Austin Hopp, the officer who threw Ms. Garner, pleaded guilty to assaulting her in March and was sentenced to five years in prison. Loveland Police Department, via The Life & Liberty Law Office. Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. You can send your story ideas to her at sswanson@coloradoan.com or on Twitter at @sadyswan. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. The. In Ticer's presentation to the. Body camera footage then shows an officer yanking Skippys collar and pulling him off the ground as Mr. Siers yells, Dont choke my dog!, Im not choking, the officer says. This included slamming her body and limbs down into concrete multiples times, the lawsuit says. We'd love to hear eyewitness 2023 www.coloradoan.com. Hill said she could smell alcohol in Dutkas vehicle, which Dutka explained was due to a drunk friend whom she had driven home. Siers had his two dogs outside on leashes at the home, according to the suit. The complaint also claims that around this time Hill and Ticer learned that some of Gates DUI arrests were wrongful arrests because blood and breath results were coming back showing people were not impaired. Anyone can read what you share. Loveland Police Officer Resorts to Excessive Force They were both also making their very own wrongful DUI arrests during this time. Thank you for your interest in the Loveland Police Department. So, I didn't know quite how to react.. In an image taken from police body camera video, a 14-year-old girl is arrested at her home in Loveland, Colo., in 2020. Subscribe to Colorado Politics today! And it claims that Dunlap and Wood arrested the girl without a warrant and used excessive force. 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. The city did not pay the demanded amount and the attorney subsequently released an edited version of the body-camera video to the public, the city said in a news release. arrested him for refusing to answer questions as a witness about a motorcycle crash outside a Loveland bar Sept. 22,2019. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. When the officers arrived, the suit says, Siers was found in front of the house working on S.S.s bike. S.S. can be heard crying and yelling in the background. S.S. can then be heard yelling that she needs to get a tampon, body camera footage shows. 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.