City settles suit
The city of Nevada has paid an El Dorado Springs woman $15,000 for release of her claim that her civil rights were violated in a Jan. 15, 2011, incident.
According to a press release from attorney Kendall Vickers, his client, Jessica Houts complained in a statement to Nevada Police Chief Graham Burnley, who took the reigns of the department in January, that she was threatened with being Tasered and then arrested and held at the Vernon County Jail for three hours, because she could not produce identification.
Houts was a passenger in her fiance's vehicle which had been stopped for having a missing license plate.
The police report notes the woman said she didn't have her identification and refused to identify herself when asked to do so by the officer, telling the officer she wasn't required to do so. In the report, the officer states "advised her if she did not ID herself, she would be taken to Vernon County Jail and held until we found out who she was and if she had any warrants."
The report says Houts was told she was being arrested but did not get out of the vehicle until a second officer drew his Taser and said she would be Tased if she did not comply. She was handcuffed and transported to the Vernon County Sheriff's Office where she later identified herself and was issued a citation. The charge was "failure to obey the reasonable request of a police officer." The charge was later dismissed, Vickers' news release said.
In the settlement agreement dated July 20, the city denies any liability on the part of its officers, but agrees to pay Houts $15,000 for the release from liability of the city, Burnley and officers Timothy Wallace and David Henley.
According to the release from Vickers, the police chief has advised Houts that he cannot comment on the status of personnel, but that after an internal investigation, appropriate disciplinary action has been taken against the officers involved.
Vickers said, "Police officers have no right to demand an identification from any citizen, other than the driver of a vehicle, or to detain a citizen while warrant checks are run, unless they have probable cause to believe that the citizen is a fugitive or that a crime has been committed.
"Citizens should be aware of their constitutional rights against unlawful searches, and they should demand that those rights be respected ... However, Police Chief Burnley is to be commended for taking decisive disciplinary action in this case."
Vickers said he thought the settlement was fair in the Houts case.