“He feels he was roughed up and illegally tasered,” said Jim Ledbetter, attorney for Roy Collum. “Once he was at the jail, the officer should have backed off.”
Bill Thompson, attorney for the City of Fairmount said the officer, Michael D. Conner, resigned from the department following the incident.
“Right now, there is no lawsuit,” said Thompson.
According to Mayor Harry Pierce, the city’s insurance company is negotiating with Collum to settle the matter, which happened at the old jail in downtown Calhoun.
Ledbetter said he was hopeful that it would be settled with the insurance company.
According to the incident report filed by Conner, Collum was arrested on several charges, including terroristic threats and acts, two counts of obstruction of law enforcement, disorderly conduct, and a disorderly house after complaints about a loud party at his home.
In the narrative of the report, Conner states that Collum repeatedly threatened him, saying “he would come up behind (Conner) at Wal-Mart and kill him and anyone with him.”
“He also kept saying that he was (going) to fight with me as soon as the jail staff took off his handcuffs,” Conner stated in the report.
Collum repeatedly refused to cooperate and would not walk into the jail from the sally-port.
“Deputy Silvers told (Collum) to have a seat on a stool and Collum ignored him. I told him to have a seat on a stool and when he again refused, I pushed him onto the stool. We were both very wet from the walk down the driveway and Collum slipped off the stool and landed on the floor.”
While jail staff began preparing a cell for Collum, he allegedly stood and moved in “very close to” Conner “in an attempt to threaten (him).”
“Collum was still making threats and stating that he was going to fight when uncuffed,” the report stated.
Once in the cell, Collum refused to calm down, the reports said.
“He was still close to the door and refusing to sit down and Deputies Cooper and Silvers stepped back. I stepped forward with my Taser drawn and told Collum twice to sit on the bench.
“He refused and his body appeared to tense up as if to move forward. I activated the Taser, hit Collum in the chest and stomach with the two probes and released the trigger. . . While the trigger was energized, Collum stepped back and ended up sitting on the bench.”
The report states that when the Taser shut off, five seconds later, Collum removed the probes himself and appeared unhurt. A jail nurse checked him and “found (him) to not be in need of any treatment.”
Reports from the jail offer a different scenario.
According to B. Cooper:
“When Officer Cooper entered C2 door, he heard the Inmate state ‘I’m gonna whoop your (expletative).’ When officer Cooper entered the Holding cells he observed Officer Silvers picking the inmate up off the floor. The inmate was complying with the jail officers … Sgt. Bradford was taking the handcuffs off … Deputy Conner … started yelling at the inmate to sit down. Officer Cooper observed Deputy Conner with the Taser in his Jacket pocket. Deputy Conner moved Sgt. Bradford to the side then shot the inmate with the Taser.”
In the report by A. Silvers:
“After entering the search area the inmate was still questioning the officer on why he was arrested. Conner told the inmate to sit and he didn’t so Conner pushed him down and the inmate fell off the chair to the floor between two chairs. Silvers then asked the inmate to get up and sit in the chair, the inmate told Silvers he would have to help him up. Officer Silvers then assisted the inmate up to the chair. Sgt. Bradford enters the search area … to put Collum in holding cell 3. Sgt. Bradford instructed Collum to go into … the cell. Collum entered with no problems. Sgt. Bradford removed the inmate’s cuffs. Officer Conner told Collum to sit down and the inmate didn’t. Officer Conner stepped around Sgt. Bradford and shot the inmate with a Taser.”
A report by Sgt. Bradford is similar to those made by the jail officers.
The arrest came after complaints about a loud party at Collum’s house at 121 Gillespie Rd., Fairmount, where, according to the report, several threats against responding officers were made on March 28, 2009 at approximately 11:17 p.m.
To read the complete police report and narrative and to see video of the incident at the jail, visit www.calhountimes.com
Two wrongs does not make a right.
Hey, Fairblow is this another HATS OFF to the Mayor of Fairmount. Smart man that Mayor of yours, he states "the insurance of Fairmount is negotiating with Collumn to settle this.."
WAY TO GO LET THE TAX PAYERS PAY FOR IT!!
Why can't it just go to court? Surely this fairmount officer is innocent. Surely he didn't wrongfully taser this man. Surely he doesn't have a past history of being agressive with anyone. OK, I confess, I know the answer to that. Just ask anyone in Fairmount, they know the answer too. But we need not ask the Mayor cause I'm sure he doesn't know.
You think maybe the Mayor is quick to settle this because HE has something to hide. Maybe he doesn't want you to know what this case is really all about. As, his greatest fan, Fairblow would put it, 'ONE WOULD HAVE TO WONDER"