CORRECTION: Former Pope County sheriff's Deputy Kristopher Stevens ordered Dover teenager Matthew Robinson out of another deputy's patrol car in order to search the teen during a 2011 encounter and used a Taser on the teen when he wouldn't comply, according to testimony in a federal trial. The article below that appeared in Tuesday's editions incorrectly identifies the deputy who took those actions.
A federal jury began deliberating Monday on whether two Pope County sheriff's deputies should be held liable for physical and emotional trauma that a family says it suffered as a result of a 2011 encounter.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, who has been presiding over the civil trial that began last week in his Little Rock courtroom, sent jurors home at day's end with instructions to return this morning for further deliberations.
The jury of eight women and four men spent more than four hours Monday morning listening to closing arguments in the case, which stemmed from a 2012 lawsuit filed by Eva and Ron Robinson and their son, Matthew. They said deputies Steven Payton and Kristopher Stevens used excessive force in questioning, restraining and ultimately arresting the mother and son while they were on a nighttime dog walk on a Dover street near their home.
Matthew Robinson, now 20, was 16 at the time. His sister, Sarah, who just turned 16, was 12 at the time and was in the house with her father when the encounter began shortly after 9 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2011. The family had just gotten home from watching America's Got Talent at Ron Robinson's parents' house, and Eva Robinson left to take their miniature schnauzer, Jake, on his nightly walk before all retired for the night.
As Matthew Robinson crossed the street to join his mother, who had started out without him, a Dover police car passed by. It was driven by Payton, who was working as a part-time Dover deputy marshal that night to earn extra money aside from his regular duties with the sheriff's office.
Payton told jurors that he slowed down to make sure the woman wasn't in danger as he saw what appeared to be a large man walking toward her. He said that he turned onto a side street, and in his rear-view mirror he could see the "man," who he didn't realize was a tall boy, appear to put something in his pocket, reach down and throw something. He said the totality of circumstances aroused suspicion, so he returned to the pair, pulled up at a Methodist church, flipped on his blue lights and got out.
He said that as he walked toward the pair, he asked Matthew Robinson what was going on. On a recording heard by jurors, Matthew Robinson can be heard exclaiming, "I didn't do nothing!"
Payton contends that before he could figure out who the two were, or that Matthew Robinson was a juvenile, both became defiant about being questioned, refusing to give their names and telling him only that the police chief, known as the town marshal, was their good friend. Payton radioed for back-up officers and said that when he couldn't get the two to calm down and tell him their names, he ordered Matthew Robinson to get into his patrol car -- and his mother followed, with dog in tow, saying her son wasn't going to jail without her.
When Stevens arrived, Payton ordered Matthew Robinson out of the patrol car to search him for weapons or contraband, and he said he fired a dart from a Taser gun into Matthew's side only when he wouldn't comply. Eva Robinson, thinking her son was being shot with a real gun, threw her body across him and tried to prevent the two officers from dragging Matthew out, all agree. Matthew Robinson contends his size-16 boot was stuck under the front seat of the mid-size car, preventing him from obeying Stevens' orders to get out of the car, but the officers insist he was engaging in "passive resistance."
Cpl. Stewart Condley of the Arkansas State Police, who also patrolled the area regularly, arrived as the officers pulled the tall boy out of the car and onto the ground. Officers say Condley grabbed Eva Robinison, trying to hold onto her as she flailed her arms and cried out, trying to stay near her son. The officers contend that both mother and son had by this time committed the misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct by being uncooperative and yelling, and that both were also then resisting arrest, leading Stevens to use the Taser on Matthew four or five more times until he stopped resisting.
Half a block away, Ron Robinson had just stepped out of the shower and was getting ready for bed when, he testified, he heard his wife screaming for help outside. He said he quickly pulled on pants and shoes and hurried down the street, shirtless. Stevens, seeing a third person coming, ordered him to stop and get on the ground. Ron Robinson complied.
Officers said they didn't know until mother and son were en route to the Pope County Detention Center that Matthew was only 16. Stevens acknowledged that a Taser handbook prohibits the device's use on minors or inside vehicles.
The Robinsons say the incident stripped them of their respect for police and made them jumpy in their daily lives. They contend the use of the Taser caused or exacerbated a wound near Matthew Robinson's tail bone that developed into a cyst and required three surgeries to fix. However, no medical testimony was offered, and the defendants introduced medical records showing the boy had a history of skin problems and indicating that the cyst was caused by ingrown hairs, which necessitated the surgery.
In closing arguments, the Robinsons' attorney, Pat James of Little Rock, told jurors that Payton and Stevens "were amped up -- they were out of control," and asked jurors to order them to pay about $64,000 in medical bills for Matthew and $1 million in punitive damages to Eva Robinson and her son to deter other officers from making similar "pretextual" stops.
"Whatever you do is not enough," James told jurors. "They have lost their innocence."
Defense attorneys Keith Wren of Little Rock, representing Payton, and Burt Newell of Hot Springs, representing Stevens, told jurors it was the Robinsons who were out of control.
"If you live in a civilized society, now and then you've got to put up with some minimal intrusions by police, and if you just use your common sense, it's over in a matter of minutes," Wren said. "This case is not about police officers running amok. It's about some people who have skewed views of reality and who have blown everything out of proportion."
Metro on 10/06/2015