Ex-detainee files suit on sheriff, police chief over prompt hearing

— A former Phillips County jail inmate is suing the county’s sheriff and the Helena-West Helena police chief, saying in a federal lawsuit that they and their officers violated his constitutional rights last year.

In a four-page complaint, Gary Covington accuses Sheriff Ronnie White of failing to assure that Covington received a prompt first appearance in court after he was jailed at an unspecified time in 2011.

In particular, the lawsuit accuses White in his official capacity of having an unconstitutional “will call policy” at the jail regarding court appearances.

“As a result of this will call policy, Plaintiff, as well as other pre-trial detainees, have been denied their right to a prompt first appearance in violation of the United States Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution,” according to the complaint.

In an interview Wednesday, Luther Sutter, Covington’s attorney, said White’s will-call policy wasn’t written down but is just “how it’s handled” in Phillips County.

“Basically, you go into the Phillips County jail, and you drop into a black hole,” Sutter said.

“They don’t have a system where the sheriff rotates people through for their first appearances,” he said.

Instead, the sheriff has waited on the district court to “call” for defendants to appear, but in many cases, the court didn’t know that defendants had been arrested and needed initial court appearances, commonly referred to as Rule 8 hearings, Sutter said.

“They wait on the court to call, but the court doesn’t know to call,” Sutter said.

A detailed message left for the sheriff at his office seeking comment Wednesday afternoon wasn’t returned.

Covington’s complaint seeks certification as a class action for “all persons, who within three years prior to the filing of this lawsuit, have been denied prompt first appearance by the Defendants.”

The complaint estimates that the number of people affected could exceed 100.

Covington seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as an order requiring that he and “the class” be provided with a prompt first court appearance, be paid for reasonable attorney fees and other costs, and “other proper relief.”

The lawsuit, filed Friday, came two days after a judge instructed prosecutors and police to investigate why documentation concerning nearly 70 initial court appearances in Helena-West Helena District Court hadn’t been filed in Phillips County Circuit Court.

The judge also freed four men who had been jailed for more than 60 days without being formally charged, a violation of the rules governing Arkansas’ criminal procedure.

COPIES NOW GO TO CLERK

Helena-West Helena police, who handled the courtappearance documentation in those cases, have since begun providing copies of Rule 8 hearing paperwork directly to the circuit clerk. In the past, the city had provided copies only to prosecutors, police officials have said.

In addition to the allegations regarding the jail, Covington’s complaint names Police Chief Uless Wallace in his official capacity and accuses the Helena-West Helena Police Department of not properly training its officers in the use of force and failing to implement policies “to prevent the use of reasonable foreseeable force.”

The lawsuit names five other defendants individually and in their official capacities, identifying each as “John Doe.” They include two unidentified Helena-West Helena police officers, whom Covington accuses of beating him during the traffic stop that led to his incarceration in Phillips County jail. The lawsuit doesn’t provide the date of the traffic stop, indicating only that it occurred in 2011.

During the stop, the lawsuit says, Covington obeyed the officers’ instruction, but when the officers asked him to exit the car, “they began to beat him severely.”

The officers then took Covington to Phillips County jail where “one or more John Does, with the approval of Ronnie White, delayed medical care for the Plaintiff, instead isolating him and subjecting him to Cruel and Unusual Punishment in violation of the 14thAmendment,” the suit alleges.

Once in jail, Covington “did not see a judge for several weeks,” according to the complaint.

A Phillips County jailer said records regarding Covington’s incarceration in 2011 weren’t available Wednesday because a call from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette came after the jail’s administrative office had closed. The jailer confirmed that Covington wasn’t currently in the jail.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Wallace said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit but was aware of the traffic stop involving Covington and his officers.

In response to a summary by the Democrat-Gazette of the lawsuit’s allegations, Wallace disputed that his officers weren’t properly trained.

“The officers have all been to the academy, and they have been trained in the use of force and deadly force,” he said. The department also has a use-offorce policy in its manual, he said.

Neither of the officers involved in Covington’s arrest were disciplined in the case, Wallace said.

A police report on the arrest differs from the lawsuit’s description.

According to the police report, Covington was pulled over for having a broken taillight at 2:04 a.m. Oct. 20 at the U.S. 49 bypass and Arkansas 242 in Helena-West Helena.

‘WHY DID YOU STOP ME’

Covington’s radio wasplaying when an officer approached his vehicle, and when asked to turn the volume down, Covington asked “why and why did you stop me,” the report said.

After being told about the taillight, Covington asked, “Why you stopped me for that s*,” according to the report.

The officer then went back to his vehicle to run Covington’s driver’s license information through the Arkansas Crime Information Center’s database. In the meantime, the officer’s supervisor arrived and began talking with Covington.

Covington then became loud and refused “all commands” given by the supervisor, the report said. The two officers then asked Covington to exit his vehicle, a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup, but he refused,the report said.

The officers then tried to pull Covington out of the vehicle, but he became combative and a struggle ensued, the report said. One officer used pepper spray on Covington, but he continued to fight the officers, at one point using his elbow to hit the supervisor in the face, the report said.

The officers were able to wrestle Covington to the ground, where he continued to fight them and attempted “several times” to reach for the supervisor’s gun, the report said.

Covington was handcuffed once a third officer arrived. The report noted that he suffered several small cuts on his face, hands and elbow caused by coming into contact with the street surface during thefight. The two officers also received cuts on their hands and knees, and their uniforms were torn, the report said.

The report said that Covington received medical treatment but refused to be taken to a hospital. He was arrested on two counts of second-degree battery of a police officer, disorderly conduct, carrying a knife as a weapon and defective equipment, the report said. The weapon charge was related to a machete that officers found in the driver’s-side front door of Covington’s vehicle after his arrest, the report said.

The federal lawsuit, Covington v. White et al, was filed in the Helena Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. It has been assigned to U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/28/2012

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