Kalispell police face civil-rights lawsuit

Claim is second filed against department, two officers during the past five months

A Kalispell man who alleges that city police officers used excessive force during his January 2006 arrest is suing the department for violating his civil rights.

Officers twice used a Taser to subdue Timothy Perry before beating the handcuffed man on the back with police-issue batons, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

The lawsuit is the second civil-rights case filed against the Kalispell Police Department and officers Nathan A. Vannoy and Steve Hoover during the past five months.

Kalispell police Chief Roger Nasset, however, said last week that allegations Perry was beaten during his arrest are "absolutely not true."

An internal investigation conducted by the department after Perry's allegations initially came to light cleared the officers involved of any wrongdoing.

It found that "appropriate force to make the arrest was used in this case," said Adjutant Kalispell City Attorney Richard M. Hickel, who called Perry's lawsuit "without merit."

According to the complaint, Perry was outside the Sawbuck Saloon and Casino on Jan. 2, 2006, when a passing officer noticed he was holding an open container of beer and asked for identification.

The initial officer on scene was neither Vannoy nor Hoover, who only arrived later to assist, according to police records.

Perry refused to identify himself until officers told him why he was being detained and then, fearing he would be pepper-sprayed, turned his back to Vannoy and Hoover, the complaint alleges.

Officers twice used a Taser to incapacitate Perry before beating him on the back with police-issued batons while he "was handcuffed laying face down on the pavement and unable to defend himself," the complaint claims.

Perry further claims that Vannoy and Hoover, after dealing with an intervening witness, again assaulted him when he got to his feet "by tackling him and taking him to the ground."

He was later taken to the hospital with cuts on his face, a separated shoulder and other injuries.

The lawsuit - filed against the Kalispell Police Department, the city of Kalispell, Vannoy, Hoover, and several unnamed officers - alleges a violation of civil rights, use of excessive force, negligence, emotional distress, and assault and battery.

"The officers' misconduct … was objectionably unreasonable, and was undertaken intentionally with willful indifference to Perry's constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure," according to the complaint.

Perry claims he received permanently disabling injuries in the incident and is seeking damages.

Perry's attorney, Scott G. Hilderman of the Kalispell law firm Johnson, Berg, McEvoy and Bostock, declined to comment on the case.

But Nasset said he is convinced the "officers and department did everything appropriately given the circumstances."

Perry, who according to department records refused several requests to stop walking away as officers approached, and tried to run at least once, was "fairly violent" in resisting officers, Hickel said.

"He was trying to get away when the officer was trying to make an arrest," said Hickel, adding that officers "acted properly" and that no beating occurred.

"We take issue with that characterization," he said.

Nasset confirmed that Perry, who is about 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 250 pounds, was shocked twice with the Taser, but added that the officers "acted within [the department's' policy."

"The Taser has an internal computer that records how many times and the duration for which it is used," Nasset said. "You cannot use that tool without it being documented."

Nasset, who said Perry's story has "no credibility whatsoever," declined to provide additional details of the arrest, citing the pending litigation.

Perry later pleaded no contest in Kalispell Municipal Court to resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, in connection with the incident, Hickel said.

Perry's lawsuit is the second civil rights lawsuit Hilderman has filed against the Kalispell Police Department and officers Vannoy and Hoover since October 2008.

Another Kalispell man, Jesse Ray Perry (who is no relation to Timothy Perry) filed suit alleging that the officers used excessive force during his arrest, causing him a permanently disabling brain injury.

That case is scheduled for a March 2010 trial in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

Jesse Perry was arrested outside the Sawbuck Saloon and Casino on Oct. 26, 2006. Vannoy and Hoover were dealing with a fight outside the bar when Perry, who was not involved in the altercation, approached the scene, according to Nasset.

Jesse Perry was taken into custody after officers told him repeatedly to back away and he failed to do so. He was uncooperative and taken to the ground during the arrest.

Hickel has said that after Jesse Perry's arrest, the city found no indication there were sufficient grounds for a lawsuit.

He pleaded no contest in Kalispell Municipal Court to obstructing a police officer in May 2007.

But Jesse Perry's lawsuit against the Kalispell Police Department, the city of Kalispell, the two arresting officers and four unnamed individuals, alleges a violation of civil rights, assault and battery, deprivation of necessary medical care, failure to provide necessary medical treatment, emotional distress and negligence.

He claims he was injured by the arresting officers "without justification or provocation" and that the officers' use of excessive force was undertaken with "willful indifference" to his constitutional rights, according to the complaint.

City officials, who called the two incidents completely separate events, denied that the use of excessive force is a trend with officers or that a culture of violence exists inside the Kalispell Police Department.

"The only trend that I see is that the same attorney is representing the plaintiffs," Hickel said.

That Vannoy and Hoover are named in both lawsuits is a matter of circumstance and both are upstanding officers, said Nasset, who added that he believed other officers in their place would likely have acted in a similar manner.

The Montana Municipal Insurance Authority, a pool created by the state's cities and towns to manage municipal risk and liability, has hired attorneys for the city, department and individual officers in both pending cases, Hickel said.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com