By Chris Courogen
Patriot News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
HARRISBURG, Penn. — When Ryan Westover was brought before District Judge Joseph S. Solomon after his May 18 arrest on drunken-driving charges, Westover’s face was so bloody Solomon thought he’d been in a crash.
“I can recall other incidents where someone was brought before me all bloodied up,” Solomon said. “This was about the worst-looking one I’ve seen.”
The injuries were not the result of a car crash or other accident, Westover said. He said they resulted from a beating by three Harrisburg police officers while he was in a holding cell awaiting arraignment.
The incident is under investigation by the city’s Internal Affairs staff. Dauphin County detectives also are looking into Westover’s allegations.
“We apparently have a rogue police officer in the Harrisburg Bureau of Police,” Solomon said. “Not the kind of officer the city wants to have out there on the streets.”
Because the charges filed against Westover included spitting blood on a police officer, Solomon originally set bail at $5,000. Westover was charged with driving under the influence, aggravated harassment and possession of drug paraphernalia after police said he had a marijuana pipe, and summary traffic offenses.
During a break a short time later, Solomon reviewed the paper work and noticed no mention of any crash, he said. When he checked other police paper work in the case, he said he found a notation stating Westover did not have injuries when he was brought into the police station.
“That sort of indicates to me some officers there when it occurred were taken aback by what transpired in the booking room when the injuries occurred,” said Solomon, who released Westover on his own recognizance.
Westover, 22, of Steelton, said the incident began when he was stopped by police after running a red light at Front and Forster streets as he was driving home from a West Shore bar. After his arrest, he was taken to police headquarters, where he was shackled, handcuffed and placed in a holding cell, he said.
“A short time later, three officers came in the cell. As soon as I stood up, one of them punched me in the face,” Westover said.
Westover said he fell to the floor and tried to protect himself as best he could as the officers “punched, choked, stomped and kicked” him.
Photos taken by his family and by Dauphin County chief detective John Goshert show blood and bruises on Westover’s face and finger marks on his neck. In one photo, taken by Goshert, a boot or shoe sole print is evident in the pattern of a bruise on Westover’s side.
Solomon said that nothing in any of the reports indicated that Westover was combative or resisted arrest.
“Even if he did act up a little, he is not a very large person. There was enough manpower and other means to control a person other than punching him or making contact with his face to cause that level of injury,” Solomon said.
Westover said one of the officers later identified himself as Justin R. Wells. Wells told Westover he was the one who punched him, Westover said. Westover said he could not identify the other two who entered the cell behind Wells.
Wells could not be reached for comment. On Monday and Tuesday, no one answered the door at the address at which records show he last lived, and multiple phone messages left for him Friday, Monday and Tuesday went unreturned. Sean Welby, an attorney for the Harrisburg police union, wouldn’t comment on the case, including whether Wells has an attorney.
City police Chief Charles Kellar said Wells is one of the officers being investigated by Internal Affairs. Kellar refused to comment on Wells’ duty status. City spokesman Matthew Coulter also had no comment, calling Wells’ status “a personnel issue which, due to confidentiality laws and practices, is not discussed.”
Efforts to reach Mayor Stephen R. Reed through Coulter were unsuccessful.
Westover’s attorney, Alan M. Ross of Harrisburg, said the public should know if Wells remains on the street. No lawsuit has been filed.
“I don’t expect them to pull an officer off the streets just because of an allegation of abuse during booking,” Ross said. “But when you see an actual boot mark on a person’s side, what appears to be finger marks on his neck and a swollen face, we would think an officer would be pulled off the streets pending an investigation.”
Kellar said that if the department’s internal investigation warrants disciplinary action or criminal charges, they will be filed. “If [Wells] has done something wrong, he will be disciplined. If he hasn’t, he will be exonerated,” he said.
District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. would not comment on the case. But Marsico said the fact that Goshert referred the case to Harrisburg’s Internal Affairs staff does not mean Goshert is not also pursuing the case.
“A lot of times we do parallel investigations. One doesn’t preclude the other,” Marsico said.
City police receive a lot of brutality complaints. Most are “unfounded,” Kellar said. Kellar said he was not aware of any similar complaints about Wells.
Andy Hoover of the Harrisburg branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said the ACLU receives about one report a month of abuse by the 150-member Harrisburg police. Of 20 complaints lodged between April 2006 and November 2007, 10 involved charges of excessive force.
None of the complaints ended up in court, though, Hoover said.
“Approaching a single incident is tough,” he said. “We have to establish a pattern of behavior until we can bring [a case] forward.”
Without citing specific statistics, Hoover said the ACLU receives more abuse complaints about Harrisburg police than just about any other municipal police department in Dauphin County.
“Harrisburg is one of the municipalities that regularly gets complaints,” he said. “It’s noticeable.”
Copyright 2008 The Patriot News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)