Trooper accused of using excessive force

PALMER -- Defense attorneys for a Wasilla woman and a Palmer man have asked the court to look at allegations that an Alaska State Trooper used excessive force against their clients and in eight other Valley arrests.

Attorneys for Tammy Barile, 35, filed a motion Jan. 16 charging that Alaska State Trooper Eric Spitzer "has engaged in a pattern of aggressive and abusive behavior toward other persons while on duty."

Trooper supervisors have said they have checked into Spitzer's actions and there is no truth to the allegations.

Barile was arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and fourth-degree assault Feb. 26, 2001, after Spitzer contacted her and a friend, Milton Peery, on a downtown Palmer street. In his report, Spitzer said he stopped because "the two were fighting."

Barile said she had been visiting with friends and drinking at the Palmer Bar. She and Peery were walking near Everson and Cobb streets, looking at the ground to locate an expensive watch band Barile said she believed she had lost there earlier that night. The two were not fighting, they said, and they told the officer this.

Spitzer pulled over in his patrol car to find out what they were doing, Barile said. After she told him she did not require his help, he asked for her name and proceeded to question her and Peery. Barile said she insisted she did not need his help and the situation escalated from there.

"I told him we didn't do anything wrong, that we didn't need him there," Barile said. Spitzer, in his report, confirmed she said this and that he told them he would "arrest them for disorderly conduct if they did not calm down."

Before the night was over, Barile and Peery were pepper-sprayed and Barile was taken to the Valley Hospital to be treated for a bleeding head wound. Peery also had various bruises. Both spent the night at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. Neither of them have any police record or prior arrests, they said, and a statewide computer search showed Peery has only minor traffic violations.

In his report, Spitzer alleged that Barile caused her own injuries through her disorderly conduct. "I took her to the ground to handcuff her. Barile refused to stand up, I picked her up, and she threw herself onto the pavement, which resulted in a one-inch cut approximately half an inch from her left eye, near the end of her eyebrow."

Multiple bruises photographed on Barile's body after she was released from jail were not mentioned in charging documents filed Feb. 27. Photos taken at Valley Hospital and at Mat-Su Pre-Trial showed Barile had a black eye and bruised neck where Barile contended Spitzer tried to choke her. Several photos, taken by the troopers, showed profuse bleeding prior to when she received stitches in the emergency room.

Barile said she could not have caused her own injuries, particularly a black eye.

Spitzer also contended in his report that Peery said, "I'm gonna take you out." A couple of people nearby stated they saw what was going on and decided to offer to help the officer, according to Spitzer's affidavit accompanying Barile's charging documents. Witness Devin Melton described Barile and Peery as "aggressive" in arguing with the trooper.

"He (Peery) kept saying he was gonna protect her and get you (Spitzer)," Melton said, according to the affidavit. "You asked her (Barile) to lean against the trunk a couple of times and she kept going down to the ground to worm away from you."

Barile said she was frightened in the encounter, and believed that since she committed no crime, the trooper didn't have a right to question her. Peery, a lifelong friend of Barile's, "saved my life," she said.

Spitzer is more than six feet tall, and the 120-pound Barile said she wanted to get away from him and crawled on the hood of the car to defend herself. Spitzer said Barile refused to obey his "direct verbal commands to wait at the rear of my car, and in protest climbed onto the center of the hood of my patrol car."

When he tried to get her off the car, she allegedly kicked him and caused him to bite his tongue, which resulted in a cut, he said.

Defense attorney Nancy Driscoll filed the motion asking Magistrate David Zwink to allow her to admit evidence from other cases in which Spitzer allegedly roughed up people he was arresting. At a Friday morning trial call, Zwink still had not ruled on that motion.

Driscoll is asking to be able to bring in about eight others to testify at Barile and Peery's trial "for the purpose of showing that [Spitzer] has engaged in a pattern of aggressive and abusive behavior toward other persons while on duty as an Alaska State Trooper." She is arguing that Barile and Peery's actions on the night in question were made in self defense.

One man, Michael Allen, who is mentioned in the motion, told defense investigators that he suffered head lacerations from being hit with a gun by Spitzer and had to be treated at Valley Hospital prior to being put in jail.

Sam Fuller alleged he suffered injuries to his neck and head after being grabbed by Spitzer. John Day said he "suffered a broken bone in his wrist after he was already handcuffed." Robert Norris, an 18-year-old, was booked into Mat-Su Pre-Trial with two black eyes, a swollen, almost broken nose and cut lip, reportedly at the hands of Spitzer.

Driscoll wrote in her motion that "it appears that Trooper Spitzer has an agenda other than protecting the public. In incident after incident, persons placed under arrest by Trooper Spitzer have been treated very roughly and/or injured."

Palmer B Detachment supervisors have said there is no truth to these allegations. Lt. Rick Roberts said that neither he nor Spitzer can comment on the Barile case, but that public complaints are taken seriously and investigated. Spitzer is an outstanding officer, Roberts said.

Phone calls to Spitzer were not returned.

Assistant District Attorney Bob Collins, who filed a motion in opposition of allowing those arrested and convicted to testify, said none of these other people brought forth any complaints prior to this case.

Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said a trooper review of the case shows that "Trooper Spitzer's actions were all within policy."

"Troopers are trained to use minimum force necessary. They are taught to use as little force as necessary to accomplish the goals in individual cases. We are confident that Trooper Spitzer has followed that," Wilkinson said.

In cases where officers go beyond what is acceptable, they are removed from their jobs, Wilkinson said.