PRAIRIE GROVE -- Prairie Grove District Judge Graham Nations found in favor of a motion to suppress physical and verbal evidence in a misdemeanor case involving a Prairie Grove man, who, along with his wife, has filed a civil lawsuit again Prairie Grove Police Department and the city of Prairie Grove.
Because of the ruling, misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and second-degree assault against Pendarvis Williams will be nolle prossed or not prosecuted, according to Stephen Parker, city prosecuting attorney.
Pendarvis and Joy Williams sued the city in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville on Feb. 2, claiming their civil rights were violated when they were assaulted, battered and Pendarvis Williams was illegally arrested in their home on Jan. 30, 2014.
A police report filed after the incident states that a neighbor called, concerned because she had not heard from her friend Joy Williams in three days and that she thought there was a protection order issued against Pendarvis Williams. Police officers Travis Stills and Stephanie Baugher went to the Williams' home on Colonel Salomon Drive and Pendarvis Williams answered the door.
He told officers his wife was not feeling well and did not want to see anyone.
The report said Stills explained to Williams at the door that police wanted to see and talk to his wife. According to the police report, "Mr. Williams stated 'OK' and left the door ajar." Joy Williams told officers she did not want to come out of her bedroom because she was sick. She also said she did not have an order of protection against her husband.
As police continued to question Pendarvis Williams, he then started to get agitated and started yelling, the police report said.
The report says Stills was concerned about everyone's safety in the residence. Multiple times he asked Pendarvis Williams to comply with orders and Williams continued to argue and yell at police. When Baugher attempted to place handcuffs on Williams, the suspect pushed Baugher away and Stills stunned Williams on the torso, according to the report. As Williams continued to resist arrest, Stills reported that he stunned Williams again on the upper back.
Stills walked Williams to the patrol vehicle and checked with dispatch to see if an order of protection had been filed against Williams. Dispatch relayed that a temporary order of protection from November 2013 had expired.
Nation's ruling, which was filed with the court March 9, said evidence supported the fact that police had authority under state law to the initial entry into the Williams' home.
Upon entry into the home, Joy Williams was found to be "audible, ambulatory and indicated she was OK," the ruling says. At that point, officers' entry into the house was extinguished, Nations wrote.
"That from the time the officers saw and heard Mrs. Williams their presence in the house was no longer authorized by state or federal law," he wrote in the ruling, and the officers did not have probable cause or reasonable suspicion to continue any inquiry.
The ruling concludes that all physical and verbal evidence from that point forward is suppressed and excluded from trial, should one take place.
The federal lawsuit says that the officers' reason for coming to the residence "could have been accomplished by simply checking with the dispatcher regarding an order of protection, and had nothing to do with any alleged violation of law, and the entry was therefore improper without plaintiff's consent. Mr. Williams' statement that his wife, Joy Williams, was ill and did not want to see anyone did not create a basis or legal justification for defendants Stills and Baugher to enter the residence without the plaintiff's consent."
General News on 03/25/2015