How Officers Lie and Twist the Narrative that Prosecutors and UJC Take at Face Value
Below I take the transcribed police reports (they won't give them to you, you have to pay a lawyer) and rewrite them in red based on what actually happened using video, sound, and document records
That these reports could pass muster in an IA investigation is extremely disturbing; UVA refuses to release the report
Satiric Truth Fiction Compare QuotableReporting Officer Narrative
[My paragraph breaks since the original was one hard-to-read blob]
On 7/9/17 I was dispatched to the area of the main entrance of the UVA ER for a medical assist. Officer Oke of the UVA Police Department arrived on location before I did. When I arrived on Lee Street I observed Officer Oke in front of the UVA Primary Care Center with two females later identified as Nelson and friend. I observed both females on a bench in front of the Primary Care Center, Ms. Nelson was lying on her side vomiting and had fecal matter between her legs and on her pants. Officer Oke had requested rescue to the location. Ms. Nelson was awake and disoriented.
On 7/9/17 I was dispatched to the area of the main entrance of the UVA ER for a medical assist. Officer Oke of the UVA Police Department arrived on location before I did. When I arrived on Lee Street I observed Officer Oke in front of the UVA Primary Care Center with two females later identified as Nelson and friend. I observed both females on a bench in front of the Primary Care Center, Ms. Nelson was lying on her side and had fecal matter between her legs and on her pants. Her condition should have tipped me off immediately that this was a very serious case of alcohol poisoning that needed treatment quickly. Officer Oke had requested rescue to the location. Ms. Nelson appeared to be unconscious.
As Officer Oke tried to identify Ms. Nelson Nelson's friend kept interfering talking over Officer Oke and telling Ms. Nelson she didn't need to identify herself. I advised Nelson's friend to stop interfering; the identification was only for rescue squad and our paperwork. Ms. Nelson jumped up two or three times attempting to run from the area, each time I would place her back down on the bench. Ms. Nelson wasn't happy about being placed on the bench, calling me an asshole each time. Nelson's friend was interruptive all during the initial contact. As she spoke I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from her breath, see she had red, glassy eyes and a slur to her speech. I advised Nelson's friend she either needed to stop interfering or leave. She ignored me and continued interfering.
At this point, since I arrested the friend and need to focus on her transgressions, I'll just skip over half of what happened (not to mention it doesn't make me look good). To hit the key points, as Officer Oke tried to engage the friend in conversation, I stepped in to stop wasting time and yelled at the friend to check Nelson's pockets for ID. She replied with an expletive and started crying. Oke then gave her a good old talk about respecting police officers which made her cry harder. At this point, Nelson woke up in response to her friend sobbing. We grilled her for ID even though she was barely responsive and the friend kept asking for medical help. Ms. Nelson tried to get up and leave several times waving in a disoriented fashion and muttering stuff, but I blocked her and shoved her back down on the bench forcefully. Ms Nelson queried as to why we were being so mean to her, and why there were cops like me after being treated like this. At one point, she called me an asshole. The friend was generally helpful trying to comfort Nelson, provide information and get her to cooperate, but there was one time where after I yelled loudly for her real ID and Nelson could not respond, her friend said she was not answering any more questions until they got medical help. At that point I told her no one is talking to her and she could leave. She responded that I was crazy if I thought she was leaving her friend--man was she disorderly. She refused to leave her friend alone or go off into the night by herself. I'm inserting the standard probable cause language here to cover myself even though we knew she had called this in to get help for her friend (oh and she wasn't slurring her speech... that's just how she talks).
Medical 5 personnel arrived on location, on foot. They placed Ms. Nelson onto a wheelchair and started pushing her towards the ER. I separated from Officer Oke and Ms. Nelson at this time. I went to check on Officer Oke's patrol vehicle to be sure it was secured. It was. As I was getting into my patrol vehicle I could hear shouting coming from the area of the hospital main entrance. I drove my vehicle to the area. When I arrived I could see Ms. Nelson lying on ground, Officer Oke beside her. Nelson's friend was standing behind Officer Oke; yelling at him, being disorderly. I stepped between them and ordered Nelson's friend to step back. She did not approach Officer Oke any further, however; she did not comply.
Medical 5 personnel arrived on location, on foot. As they placed Ms. Nelson onto a wheelchair she called me an asshole several times. Medic V then started pushing her towards the ER. I separated from Officer Oke and Ms. Nelson at this time. I went to check on Officer Oke's patrol vehicle to be sure it was secured. It was. As I was getting into my patrol vehicle I could hear shouting coming from the area of the hospital main entrance. I drove my vehicle to the area. When I arrived I could see Ms. Nelson lying on ground face down on the concrete, Officer Oke beside her with her in an arm bar. Nelson's friend was standing behind Officer Oke yelling why did he tackle her friend and throw her on the ground when she needs medical help? I stepped up to Oke who had just picked Nelson and told her that she was going to the ER. I nipped that in the bud and suggested instead that he arrest her for sober enough to run, sober enough to go to jail. He was still breathless from the run and said huh? I repeated sober enough to run sober enough to go to jail and he answered for? clearly confused. After the third time I repeated it, he said OK. Nelson's friend became agitated after hearing this insisting to Medic V that she go to the hospital. I walked around to assist with putting on cuffs and also got between Oke and Nelson's friend. I ordered Nelson's friend to step back. She did not approach Officer Oke any further, however; she did not comply, probably because her back was against the glass of the hospital and there was nowhere for her to go.
Officer Oke placed Ms. Nelson in custody and walked her to the transport vehicle. As he did this; Nelson's friend followed yelling and being disruptive. I told Nelson's friend to step back. Hospital Security Officer Turner arrived on location at this time. I requested he stay with Officer Oke as I went to get a couple sheets, to cover the back seat of the transport vehicle (due to the fecal matter). I left the area. When I returned; I could hear Nelson's friend's voice as she yelled as Officer Turner, as I got closer; I could see Nelson's friend standing in front of Officer Turner being confrontational. I went to Nelson's friend, I advised her two or three separate times to either leave or I would arrest her because she was drunk. She refused to leave, she continued being disorderly. I arrested her. Nelson's friend was not compliant; she refused to be handcuffed and struggled to get away. I placed her in custody at 0048 hours.
Officer Oke placed Ms. Nelson in custody and walked her to the transport vehicle. As he did this; Nelson's friend followed yelling and insisting that she needed care and what were we doing arresting her. Hospital Security Officer Turner arrived on location at this time. I requested he stay with Officer Oke as I went to get a couple sheets, to cover the back seat of the transport vehicle (due to the fecal matter which still didn't ring a bell that this was a serious case of what I had previously diagnosed as alcohol poisoning). I left the area. When I returned; I could hear Nelson's friend's voice as she yelled at Officer Turner, as I got closer; I could see Nelson's friend standing in front of Officer Turner being confrontational and insisting she did nothing wrong and needed medical help. I went to Nelson's friend, I advised her multiple times to either leave or I would arrest her because she was drunk. It didn't really occur to me to offer her a ride or that she might be in danger if I left her drunk on the street in the middle of the night. She refused to leave, insisting over and over that her friend needed medical help and had done nothing wrong. I arrested her. Nelson's friend was not compliant, again insisting on help for her friend; she refused to be handcuffed insisting that she had done nothing wrong either. I backed her up against the hospital glass and handcuffed the person who had come to the hospital trying to save her friend's life. While I had her wait at the car when I requested an additional officer, a passing ambulance caused her to yell wait, there are the people we called for help! She then asked if she could talk to me as a professional and asked me if her friend needed medical help. Based on my top flight medical credentials, I said no and placed her in custody at 0048 hours.
Both women were transported to the complex. At the complex; Nelson's friend continued to be disruptive. She refused to provide her information; she interfered with a city officer as he was processing his arrestee. She refused to sit on the bench. She demanded the use of her telephone and when told to step back and I barred her approach to the phone, Nelson's friend walked backwards and acted as if she was pushed violently into the Plexiglas. She did this twice, before I handcuffed her to the cuff rail. This prevented her from interfering physically with the performance of the other officers.
Both women were transported to the complex. Somehow I broke department protocol by turning off my bodycam on the way. At the complex Nelson's friend immediately asked for a lawyer and to use her phone to call one. I told her she wasn't using the phone now and she could use the phone once she was in the back (could have made that a bit clearer that phone calls were only allowed after booking). She refused to provide her information insisting that she did not want to say anything until her lawyer came and that was her right; she repeated this dozens of times. I asked Oke if he wanted to go to UJC and see what they do there and he answered the affirmative. She continued to ask to access her phone or friend's and we said no. She refused to sit down without her phone call. Finally I pushed her across the room so that she smacked up against the wall, but I covered myself on that one by telling her to stop pretending like I shoved her. After we made small talk about her life story, we talked about the magistrate and she said she got a call even before seeing the magistrate--I said that must have been Albemarle County. I confirmed that I did not read her her Miranda rights when she pointed this out, which I think is our standard policy since we don't really do interrogations--just throw 'em in jail to sober up. I did advise her she was going before the UJC.
I observed Nelson falling over and told Oke to check his girl. We then called the nurse to check on her as she kept falling over. This agitated Nelson's friend who said she told us all along that she needed help. At this point Oke and I moved her to the bar and handcuffed her there so that the nurses could look at Nelson without interference. I described how she had gotten away from us (guess she should have been on a stretcher), assaulted an officer, and refused to go to the hospital and that we just wanted to hear that she was OK since we removed her from medical care being sought for her. The nurse observed her through a locked door window and said she was fine. The KKK came up as we waited forever for the magistrate thinking she might be dealing with them (from the march earlier), and I asserted that we did not support the KKK in any manner. Nelson's friend responded that yeah, you couldn't arrest KKKers because of their rights but you stopped me from taking my friend to the hospital--I set her straight that we were ASSISTING her and she was one drunk honey who had a skewed view of things (like thinking she had a right to medical care when asking for it).
Oke called for the door to be opened again and made Nelson stand up. I indicated to a jail officer that if Nelson was sober enough try to escape and to fight, she was sober enough to come here, repeating department policy to reassure myself for taking her away from the hospital. Since I wasn't really listening, it never occured to me that Nelson was running from the hospital. Nelson's friend engaged in conversation with a city officer arrestee... neither responded to requests to stop talking, insisting they had the right to talk. I asked her to show the city officer some respect and she replied that why should she since neither of us had showed her any. I then then explained how UJC was gonna work, that her not cooperating was going to be used against her and that we'll see if you come back to UVA next year--that's what you get for helping your friend!
During the search incident to arrest, a fake Rhode Island driver's license was located in a card case attached to Nelson's friend's phone. The phone was in Nelson's friend's rear shorts pocket.
I didn't bother to write whether I put the video in evidence or not like my junior colleague. We're pretty haphazard about standards and process around here.
Warrants and arrest and a summons for DIP, under-age possession of alcohol and possession of fake I.D. were obtained.
Nelson's friend's first appearance is scheduled before the Charlottesville General District Court on July 10, 2017.
A dean's referral has been made. End of the reporting officer narrative.
One hell of a medical assist