A lawsuit was filed recently against two former and one current Monroe Police Department officers stemming from an arrest two years ago, which has since been dismissed.
Brandy Wilcoxson and her son, Demetri, have filed a civil suit against Brian Mathews, Vince Barfield and Charles Banks, each MPD officers at the time of the alleged incident which took place June 17, 2013, at an apartment complex on Pine Park Street in Monroe. The lawsuit is filed against the officers, but not the department itself and there may be some question to its validity, as there is generally a two-year statute of limitations for filing such claims. In addition, the “factual allegations” listed in the lawsuit are at odds with a document signed by Brandy Wilcoxson consenting that there was probable cause in her arrest.
The lawsuit claims there was an intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as federal and state claims of malicious prosecution. The allegations stem from the arrest of Reginald Elder, reportedly the boyfriend of Brandy Wilcoxson. He was arrested for obstruction of law enforcement, discharging a firearm near a highway/street and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
During his arrest, according to the lawsuit, two officers “ran” into her apartment. Brandy Wilcoxson alleges she was not allowed into her apartment but could see two officers restraining her son. She reportedly pushed past the officers and began screaming. Two officers then allegedly threw Demetri, who was 16 at the time, onto the floor. The suit alleges the officers hit the young man in the mouth and that soon after, while Brandy Wilcoxson continued yelling, one officer drew his weapon and pointed it at her. She was then handcuffed and thrown to the floor where a Taser was reportedly used on her. Both were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped against both in October 2013.
According to the court filing, the defendants seek “compensatory damages and punitive damages” in excess of $100,000 for each of the three alleged violations as well as attorney fees and other costs.
Attempts to reach the attorney, C. Victor Long, for clarification and additional information regarding the suit were not immediately returned.
The incident report filed by each of the officers tells a different story.
Banks in statements made in the incident report stated he reportedly heard a shot in the area while patrolling Pine Park Street and Lacy Street. The officer reported seeing a man with no shirt on with “his right arm in the air and a dark colored object in his right hand.” The man was identified as Elder, who turned and ran into what was later determined as the same apartment as the Wilcoxsons were residing in. Elder came out of the apartment shortly afterward and according to reports resisted arrest and officers eventually used a Taser to subdue him.
The incident report notes Brandy Wilcoxson as continually yelling throughout the incident and, having been told “numerous times” to move away, eventually went toward the apartment. Officers reported getting into a scuffle with Demetri Wilcoxson inside the apartment, alleging he was resisting arrest and it took several attempts to place handcuffs on him. The incident report does reflect that Demetri Wilcoxson was thrown to the ground by an officer. Reports also indicate that a Taser was used against Brandy Wilcoxson during her arrest, because she was “resisting arrest and refused to bring her arm out from under herself. Not know if she had a weapon concealed under her, I removed the cartridge from my Taser and proceeded to tase her in the back of her upper left shoulder,” according to the report filed by Barfield.
Though there was no audio or video of the incident, a search of the apartment did find a weapon.
On Oct. 24, 2013, Brandy Wilcoxson signed a joint consent of finding of probable cause in municipal court that stated, “the facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the arresting officer(s) were sufficient to make it more likely than not that the defendant committed or was about to commit a crime. Based on a totality of the circumstances, probable cause existed at the time of the arrest because the officers had knowledge and reasonable trustworthy information about facts and circumstances sufficient to warrant a prudent person in believing the defendant committed a criminal offense.” Legal proceedings would be needed to determine if signing this document would discredit the allegations of false prosecution at the federal and state level.
MPD Chief Keith Glass said while the department is not named in the lawsuit, he has reviewed the matter.
“I thought as a whole the officers did what any reasonable officer would do,” he said, adding since it was pending litigation “there’s not a lot I can say.”
Attempts to serve Barfield and Mathews with the lawsuit at the MPD revealed that they are no longer with the department. Both resigned from the department earlier this year prior to any knowledge of the lawsuit.