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DANGEROUS OFFICERS * USA - Iowa DOT officers accused of overstepping authority
Two Iowa DOT officers have been accused of over-aggressively investigating some vehicles following complaints by Iowa residents involved in two separate incidents
Iowa,USA -Land Line Magazine -13 April 2009: -- Roger Chism, 65, a farmer from Cylinder, IA, was pulled over for a seat belt violation in September 2007 while driving his late 1970s grain truck to an ethanol plant... Chism told Land Line the officer, DOT Officer Keith Truog, has been after him for years... Truog allegedly detained Chism for about 90 minutes, Chism said the officer told him to get his truck out of the ethanol plant... “He pulls the gun, says, ‘alright – you did it now.’ He grabbed me out of the truck while the gun was to my head, cuffed me and took me to jail.”... In November, Chism filed a civil lawsuit alleging that he was deprived of his constitutional rights, falsely arrested, arrested without probable cause, assaulted during the arrest and maliciously prosecuted by Truog. The suit seeks an unspecified monetary judgment for injuries and damages and punitive damages... The officer charged Chism for felony assault on a police officer, but the state later dropped the charge... The other case is being investigated after a driver filed a complaint with the Iowa DOT’s Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement... Carl Schneider, 66, was ordered to pull his converted recreational vehicle over on March 27 while traveling on U.S. 61 in Lee County, IA, by state DOT Officer Darrell Weigand. Schneider told the Des Moines Register that he and his wife felt like they were treated like drug dealers even though they were never charged with a crime or written a warning... In the officer’s report of the traffic stop, the officer stated he smelled an odor that reminded him of burning marijuana coming from the vehicle, which was outfitted to transport carnival equipment. Schneider consented to a search, and the officer found no drugs. The officer did find a rifle and two handguns, though some weapons weren’t in the locations where Schneider said they were. Schneider did have concealed weapons permits for the rifle and guns he carried... Weigand said he told Schneider not to carry a concealed weapon into Missouri, saying, “You might not want to do that.”... Weigand then allowed the couple to leave...
Labels: dangerous officers
posted by Unknown @ 10:37 AM
1 Comments:
There is now a third case involving IDOT law enforcement overstepping authority. Seventy-one-year-old trucker David Howard of Sioux Falls SD has filed suit in Henry County IA against IDOT and IDOT Officer Darrell Wiegand (the same officer the Schneiders complained about.) Howard's lawsuit stems from an incident in 2005 when he was lost after dark trying to make a delivery and was questioned by Wiegand.
According to Mr. Howard, Wiegand lost his temper and pistol whipped Howard (luckily for Mr. Howard there were witnesses and even one with a video camera) and took him to jail. The next morning the judge took one look at Mr. Howard and dismissed the charges (insulting an officer.)
Mr. Howard brought a lawsuit four years ago but the Henry County Attorney refused to prosecute. Now Mr. Howard is trying again but now the Iowa ATTORNEY GENERAL has filed to dismiss the case with a motion that seems to indicate pistol whipping is in fact one of an IDOT officer's assigned duties, or some such nonsense.
Mr. Howard has had over $40,000 worth of medical bills and is now looking at many attorney's fees and court costs.
Letters of support and donations in Mr. Howard's name may be made at
FRIENDS OF DAVID HOWARD
P.O. Box 204
Ft Madison, IA
52627
Additional information and discussion may be found at http://www.friendsofdavidhoward.wordpress.com
DON'T WORRY, NOT A COMMERCIAL WEBSITE
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