American Police State [Archive] - The Diamond David Lee Roth Army

Dr. Love

03-30-2005, 05:42 PM

At least put the article in your post... jesus.

Tackled by cop, 77-year-old cries foul
Crockett man cut, bruised in case of mistaken identity
By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN
Times-Herald staff writer

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - An elderly Crockett man who was roughly tackled by police as he strolled across the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge filed formal complaints against the officers on Monday.

Melvin Ainsworth, 77, said he was blindsided by Vallejo police officer Jeremie Patzer while he was walking alone across the bridge at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Police say the incident began with a call that a much younger man was dangling a baby over the bridge railing.

Ainsworth said he suffered a cracked rib and knee and wrist injuries. He had a cut lip and a blackened eye, and six stitches were required to close a gash along his eyebrow. He said he's been getting dizzy, has been vomiting and has visited a doctor twice since Saturday. He appeared Monday at the Vallejo Police Department's Amador Street headquarters to file a complaint.

Ainsworth said he may have been the unwitting subject of a new officer's training exercise, though police Lt. Kevin Kelley said Patzer has at least five years of law enforcement experience.

Kelley denied that anyone would be used as a training subject without his or her knowledge. He said the action was a "tactical decision" on the officers' part.

"We had a cell phone call from a motorist on the bridge, saying there was a man in his 20s or 30s dangling a baby over the railing," Kelley said.

"It was not an anonymous call and, unfortunately, Vallejo has a history of babies and waterways. It seemed like a legitimate call."

In January 2004, Cheauvon Latrice Brown of Vallejo was sentenced to nine years in prison for throwing her 3-year-old son, Robert Harris III, into the Mare Island Strait the previous April. The child was rescued by passerby Alejandro Martinez of Vallejo, who jumped in after the boy despite his own inability to swim.

Kelley said Patzer called out to Ainsworth to stop and got no response. "The officer observed the man and noticed his gait was consistent with a mentally unstable person," Kelley said. "He determined that he needed to use the element of surprise to his advantage rather than allow the officer or the man to be in peril of going over the edge."

Ainsworth said he was taking his semi-regular early morning walk across the bridge with his camera, when he suddenly found himself face down on the pavement.

"I had already walked from the Crockett side to the Vallejo side, and was about halfway back when I was slammed face down on the bridge," Ainsworth said Monday on the police headquarters' front steps. "They ruined my 227th trip across the bridge. I only got 22612. The second half of the trip, I rode in an ambulance."

Ainsworth said that after he was tackled, he was ordered to put his hands behind his back as he lay face down on the bridge, and officers did not believe him when he said he couldn't free the arm he was lying on until the officer got off him. He said Patzer didn't seem to take seriously his complaints of difficulty breathing, either.

"When they finally handcuffed me and let me up, I saw there were seven or eight other cops there," Ainsworth said. "The cop asked me, Didn't you hear me asking you to stop?' And I said, No. I have a knit cap pulled down over my ears, and there's traffic.'"

Kelley said the incident involved only four Vallejo officers, three of whom arrived after the fact. The California Highway Patrol was probably also represented after the fact, since it shares jurisdiction of the bridge with Vallejo police, Kelley said.

A CHP spokesman said Monday that since no report was taken and no arrest made, the CHP has no record of the incident.

Ainsworth said he was told about the report of the man with the baby, but he doesn't understand how protecting a baby would involve tackling from behind the person thought to be holding it. He said it would have made better sense for the officer to get a look at him from the front before acting - with his gun drawn, if that was deemed necessary, he said.

"I have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and I would never endanger a baby," Ainsworth said, adding the previous worst trouble he's ever been in with the law was a speeding ticket.

Kelley said Patzer never imagined the man he was watching was elderly, and the officer decided to take him down after observing that Ainsworth wasn't holding a baby. It then seemed possible to Patzer that a baby had already been thrown off the bridge or that the man was suicidal, the lieutenant said.

The Coast Guard was even called to check for a baby, Kelley said, adding that he can think of nothing Ainsworth or Patzer could have done differently under the circumstances. An internal investigation will be conducted, Kelley said.

Bay Area Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Branner confirmed his agency was contacted Saturday morning, prompting the dispatch of a helicopter and several rescue boats. The nature of the mistake was eventually discovered, he said.

"It's a terribly unfortunate set of circumstances that led to this poor, innocent gentleman getting injured," Kelley said.

"In my 29 years on the job, I can't recall anything like this happening before, and I happen to know the officer involved feels absolutely awful about it."

Ainsworth said that once he realized the situation, Patzer knelt down as they waited for an ambulance to arrive, and apologized.

"He said, I'm sorry I had to do that to you, sir,'" Ainsworth said. "I told him he was going to be a lot sorrier by the time I was through with him. He walked away, then. He didn't want to talk to me any more."

Vallejo police said Patzer is off duty for the next couple of days as part of his regular schedule. He could not be reached for comment.

Ainsworth said he hopes his official complaint will produce monetary compensation. He's also considering a lawsuit, he said.

Ainsworth said he won't let the incident keep him off the bridge. "I've walked across the Oakland Bay Bridge twice, and across the Golden Gate Bridge five times, and I'll continue walking across the (Zampa bridge) again as soon as I'm able," he said.

- E-mail Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at RachelZ@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6824.