Christina West

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City Releases Details on DUI / Use of Force Incident

At 2:10 a.m. on Saturday, August 10, Tallahassee Police Department patrol officers were called to the area of Delaney Drive and Kilkenny Way in northeast Tallahassee, regarding a vehicle crashing into a house at 3501 Kilkenny Drive. Responding officers located the driver – Ms. Christina West – who stated she was returning from Panama City, FL. While turning onto Limerick Drive from Delaney Drive, Ms. West appeared to have accelerated, missing the right turn at Kilkenny Drive. The vehicle continued straight striking a light pole, stop sign, and continued forward into the yard of 3501 Kilkenny Drive, finally striking the house. Ms. West had three students in her vehicle (all under the age of 18) at the time of the crash. Ms. West said the three were foreign exchange students.

The vehicle came to rest inside the master bedroom of the residence. The owners were not home at the time of the incident. A City of Tallahassee utility crew responded to secure live wires from the light pole. During the subsequent investigation of the crash, Ms. West failed a sobriety test and she reported she had been taking prescription medication while drinking alcoholic beverages prior to the accident. Ms. West was initially arrested without incident, but was removed from the car when it was discovered she had slipped her hands out of the handcuffs. At that time, she resisted arrest, and a struggle ensued in which Ms. West was restrained on the ground in order to facilitate the placement of handcuffs. Ms. West was taken to Leon County Jail where she was recommended for medical treatment. She was then transported to the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH) for medical clearance, which she received before being transported back to jail for processing. Ms. West sustained a broken orbital bone along with scrapes and bruises to her body.

At TMH, while being cared for by the hospital staff, Ms. West continued disruptive behavior that resulted in charges for assault being filed against her by the nurse on duty.

The officers completed a use of force report documenting the incident, per department policy.

“We are concerned any time an individual is injured while in police custody,” said Tallahassee Police Chief Dennis Jones. “Our job is to serve and protect, and that includes victims and suspects. We regret that Ms. West was injured.

“We train our officers in appropriate use of force procedures and my job as Chief is to gather all the facts to determine the appropriateness in this case,” Jones said.

Chief Jones has called for an internal investigation, which will include interviews with all the individuals on the scene that night and at the hospital. It will also include reviewing the video to better determine exactly what happened. From a law enforcement perspective, the purpose is to have all the facts of the case so that the chief can take the appropriate action.

The case was sent to the State Attorney, which is standard procedure. In this case, the State Attorney’s office made the decision to dismiss the charges of assault on a police officer(s) as well as charges for assault filed against Ms. West by the nurse at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The remaining charge of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is awaiting toxicology results.

“We understand that the video is disturbing to watch and it is for us too. We use cameras to help capture events such as this and are making the entire video available as we continue our internal investigation,” said Jones.

The city has posted the 45-minute video of the incident, the Probable Cause Affidavit and the Use of Force Report on the city’s website talgov.com/TPD. The probable cause affidavit and use of force report are also attached and the video may also be accessed on the Police Department YouTube site .

UPDATED by Julie Montanaro
September 10, 2013

A woman claims Tallahassee Police officers slammed her into a patrol car and onto the ground during a drunk driving stop.

Dash cam video of the arrest was released today. Her attorney calls it “brutal.”

Christina West was arrested for drunk driving and assaulting an officer on August 10th.

West says officers slammed her face into the patrol car and threw her onto the ground … breaking her cheek bone, bloodying her nose and more. She’s had two surgeries so far.

The video shows officers getting Christina West out of the patrol car and then an officer yelling “Don’t ****ing touch me.” The video shows officers then pushing West onto the back of a patrol car and then to the ground. The video shows officers putting a knee to her neck and proceeding to handcuff her. You can hear West screaming for the men to stop.

“I had a physical reaction to that tape the first time I saw that video. It’s bad,” West’s attorney Fred Conrad said.

Christina West was ultimately put back in the patrol car and taken to the hospital. Her injuries were photographed there. West was brusied on her shoulders, legs and back. Photos show she had a black eye that was swollen shut.

“I don’t care if she was drunker than cooter brown and took a breath test and blew through the moon … that’s not warranted. That’s not okay,” Conrad said.

It happened just after 3am on August 10th. Arrest reports say West plowed through the front wall of a house in Killearn – at the corner of Kilkenny West and Limerick Drive.

The Sawner’s say luckily they were not home that weekend, because the SUV came right through the wall of their bedroom.

“It pushed our bed all the way to the back side of the house…and tore it all to pieces,” homeowner Bobbie Sawner said. She said she’s glad to be alive and glad the woman and the teens with her survived the crash too.

When officers Ormerod and Smidt arrived on scene, they put West through a series of field sobriety tests. They say she was slurring her words and had trouble keeping her balance. The video was all captured by a camera in Officer Smidt’s car.

The confrontation started when officers asked West to get out of the car to sign a breath test consent form. You can hear her say “Yes,sir” on the tape, but she continued to ask about her husband and her childrens’ car seats.

Here’s how Officer Chris Ormerod described what happened when he tried to place her in handcuffs.

He wrote in his incident report: “West was placed on the ground where she began to thrash and kick wildly. West kicked me in the groin area and kicked officer Schmidt in the leg.” He goes on to write, “West was placed in a thigh lock on the ground as I secured her hands. While handcuffing West’s hands, she continued to violently make attempts to grab for my groin area with her hands.”

West was charged with driving under the influence, battery on a law enforcement offier and aggravated assault on an officer.

“It was a very disturbing video to me,” State Attorney Willie Meggs said.

Meggs says the DUI case is still pending, but he has dropped the battery and assault charges and is still trying to figure out what to do next.

“I didn’t see anything in the video that would cause me to believe that this woman needed anybody to use any type of force or restraint on her,” Meggs said.

We have asked both Tallahassee Police and the city attorney for comment. They have not yet responded.

The video shows West did consent to a breathalyzer test on scene, but it never happened because of the scuffle. In their reports, officers say, she refused a blood test at the hospital.

You can see a portion of the video tape on our web site. We warn you some of the language is graphic.

By: Julie Montanaro
September 10, 2013

Tallahassee, FL – A Tallahassee woman claims Tallahassee Police Officers slammed her against a patrol car and then to the pavement when she was arrested for DUI.

44-year-old Christina West was arrested August 10th after she ran off the road and struck a house in Killearn.

The state attorney calls the dash cam video of the arrest one of the most disturbing videos he’s ever seen.

Eyewitness News has a copy of that video. A copy of that video will be posted online shortly.

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UPDATE: City responds to video of Tallahassee arrest causing concern