FORT SMITH -- Charges of conspiracy to falsify a police report and of aiding and abetting in the preparation of the report were added this week to a federal charge of excessive use of force against the Bull Shoals police chief for reportedly beating a handcuffed man last year.
A federal grand jury issued an amended indictment Wednesday against Daniel Sutterfield, who is scheduled to go on trial July 15 on the three-count indictment. He is to be arraigned on the amended indictment July 8 in Harrison before U.S. Magistrate James R. Marschewski, according to court records.
The initial indictment filed against Sutterfield on May 7 charged him with depriving Bull Shoals resident Nicholas Dore of his rights against being subjected to unreasonable force. The indictment said Sutterfield kicked and stomped Dore, struck him with the butt of a shotgun, threw him into a fireplace and a wall and repeatedly used a stun gun on him, all while Dore was handcuffed.
After an initial appearance in Fort Smith after his April 7 arrest on a criminal complaint, Marschewski ordered Sutterfield's release and allowed him to go back to work. However, shortly after, Sutterfield was suspended from the police force pending the outcome of his case.
According to court records, Sutterfield and two other officers responded to a domestic dispute call July 9, 2013, at Dore's apartment, which he shared with a girlfriend.
When Dore refused to admit the officers into the apartment, Sutterfield ordered a forced entry, according to the criminal complaint affidavit. Inside the apartment, Dore resisted being handcuffed and Sutterfield hit him twice with a stun gun before he complied.
Officers with Sutterfield told an FBI investigator that Sutterfield beat Dore after he was handcuffed.
After Dore's arrest, according to the amended indictment, Sutterfield ordered officers to write their reports omitting Sutterfield's beating of Dore while he was handcuffed and writing the reports so it appeared he was justified in using the stun gun against Dore while he was in handcuffs.
Metro on 06/28/2014