FAYETTEVILLE — A federal appeals court on Thursday reversed and remanded part of a case involving a man who sued Benton County Jail deputies claiming they used excessive force and denied him due process.
Bradley Bolin was arrested in Rogers and booked into the Benton County Jail around 1 a.m. April 1, 2020, on suspicion of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, public intoxication and battery. After an initial encounter in the booking area turned violent, he was taken at 1:12 a.m. to the back of the booking cell, according to a judge’s order filed in a civil suit brought by Bolin.
Bolin contends he was then beaten, shot with pepper spray and shocked with a stun gun in the jail.
Bolin filed a federal lawsuit against 17 deputies and a Rogers police officer, claiming they violated his constitutional rights.
Attorneys for deputies Joshua Loya, Landon Wilkins, Reeve Koehler and Sgt. Levi Franks filed motions for summary judgment saying they were entitled to qualified immunity. Qualified immunity shields government officials from suit unless the detainee shows “the deprivation of a constitutional or statutory right” and the officials’ conduct violated a clearly established right.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks denied their motions, and the deputies appealed.
On Thursday, the appeals court reversed the denial of qualified immunity to Loya for his use of a Taser in the booking lobby, but otherwise affirmed Brooks’ order.
“Because Bolin refused to comply with the deputies’ orders, the use of the taser did not deprive him of a constitutional right,” the appeals court ruling states. “The district court’s denial of qualified immunity to Deputy Loya for the use of a taser in the Booking Lobby is reversed.”
The court let stand Brooks’ denial of qualified immunity as to Wilkins, Koehler and Franks, meaning the lawsuit against them can continue.
John Baureis, Bolin’s attorney, did not provide comment on the appeals court’s decision by late Thursday afternoon.
NINE HOURS IN COUNTY
The information that follows is from Brooks’ ruling:
The first incident happened at 1 a.m. in the booking area. It led to a chain of events that lasted nearly nine hours.
Two deputies escorted Bolin through the booking lobby to the intake area, and a Rogers officer followed.
Bolin followed the deputies’ instructions through the booking process until he was told to sign a property sheet. Bolin did not sign the sheet.
More deputies entered the lobby. Six deputies and the officer were now present with Bolin.
One of the officers told Bolin to turn around, and Bolin turned to face the wall and placed his hands behind his back.
The deputies who were behind Bolin started pushing him into the corner, and three of them then pulled Bolin out of the corner and swung him around, taking him to the middle of the room.
The deputies crowded around Bolin and took him to the ground. Bolin’s body was completely covered by four deputies. A fifth deputy stood near Bolin’s feet, and a sixth deputy was crouched near Bolin’s head or upper body while the officer was nearby on the floor.
Loya shocked Bolin with a taser twice during the encounter.
Bolin was then handcuffed while prone on his stomach and at 1:12 a.m. escorted to the booking cell, where he was pepper sprayed.
SCUFFLE IN THE CELL
Four deputies wearing gas masks entered the cell at 2:14 a.m. and ordered Bolin to go to the back wall and place his hands against it. Bolin complied.
Deputies escorted him to the booking area restroom where he showered and changed into jail attire. He was handcuffed and taken to another booking cell.
“The deputies contend that Mr. Bolin started resisting their commands almost immediately and refused to enter the cell — which is not apparent from the video,” Brooks wrote.
“Five deputies followed Mr. Bolin into Booking Cell 4 at 2:21:51. Due to the camera angle and the fact that so many deputies were in the cell, Mr. Bolin’s body was completely obscured from view.”
Loya admitted he struck the back of Bolin’s thigh with his knee and another deputy punched Bolin’s lower back because they say Bolin refused to lie on the ground.
Bolin claims Loya and the other deputy simply beat him without provocation because they were angry at him.
“The video footage neither confirms nor refutes either party’s version of events,” according to Brooks.
The five deputies left the cell at 2:24 a.m, at which point Bolin can be seen lying on the floor before standing and walking to the door.
Deputies later took Bolin to the jail nurse who determined he didn’t need to be hospitalized.
INCIDENT AWAITING RELEASE
Bolin, who was unshackled and wearing jail attire, walked at 9:25 a.m. by himself down the hallway located by E-Pod. He maintains his parents had bailed him out, and he was about to be released, and Brooks wrote he could not find evidence to the contrary.
Wilkins approached Bolin at 9:27 a.m. and pointed to the wall. The deputy maintains he told Bolin to place his belongings on the ground and his hands on the wall.
Bolin put his right hand on the wall, but not his left hand, so Wilkins said he took control of Bolin’s left hand and put it on the wall.
Wilkins stood behind Bolin, leaning his chest slightly against Bolin’s back while grasping his left wrist.
“Then at 9:28:02, with his left hand on Mr. Bolin’s left forearm and his right hand on Mr. Bolin’s right shoulder, Deputy Wilkins spun Mr. Bolin around and hurled him to the floor,” Brooks wrote.
“Deputy Wilkins explains in his report that he performed this maneuver because Mr. Bolin ‘tensed up and began to straighten his arms,’ and Deputy Wilkins believed he needed to ‘gain control of Inmate Bolin’s left arm’ by ‘(placing) him on the ground,’” according to the order.
“However, the report also states that Deputy Wilkins was ‘in control’ of Mr. Bolin’s left arm just before the blow, and the recording does not show Mr. Bolin tensing up and straightening his arms. Further, Deputy Wilkins clearly did not ‘place’ Mr. Bolin on the ground, but instead threw him to the ground, causing Mr. Bolin’s head to hit the opposite wall at 9:28:04,” the order says.
The two men struggled on the ground, and Wilkins claims Bolin bit his finger. Bolin denies biting the deputy. Wilkins punched Bolin 12 times in the head and torso.
Three other deputies ran down the hall to assist Wilkins, including Koehler. As the scuffle continued, Franks came on the scene and used his taser on Bolin twice. By 9:29 Bolin was handcuffed, and at 9:32, he was taken back to the nurse’s station.
‘GO AHEAD AND KILL ME’
While being treated, Bolin said, “I wish you guys would go ahead and kill me to get it over with,” according to a document referenced in the judge’s order.
The nursing staff interpreted his comment as a desire for self-harm, so they ordered him to dress in a tamper-resistant smock.
At 9:40 a.m., four deputies led Bolin to a cell with his hands cuffed behind his back. A two-minute section of the video is missing once he and the deputies enter the cell.
When the video resumes, multiple deputies inside the cell are seen hitting, punching and kicking Bolin, who is on the ground, but not visible.
A second gap in the video lasts for a minute and a half. The conflict has ended when the video resumes. Five deputies, who were tasked with placing Bolin in the smock, were involved in the incident.
The first, who was granted immunity by the judge, stated in his incident report Bolin was resisting deputies.
The second deputy, Koehler, claimed in his report Bolin attempted to stand up once deputies removed the handcuffs, which prompted Koehler to knee him in the body and place him on the floor.
Wilkins’ report says he had to take control of Bolin’s left leg when Bolin started to fight, and the fourth deputy, who was also granted immunity, said he used his own body weight to apply pressure to Bolin’s upper body.
The fifth deputy, Franks, reported Bolin did comply with deputies’ command to drop to his knees and place his hands on the wall. Bolin started to stand up, which caused Franks to use his stun gun on him twice.
Franks can be seen in the video handling his Taser and collecting the spent prongs.
Bolin has no specific memories of what occurred in the incidents and what each deputy did in particular, but denies disobeying any commands.
After the final encounter, Bolin was escorted naked and in handcuffs from his cell. His face was bloody, and the nurse ordered him to the hospital, where he received sutures for a laceration on his face and treatment for his other injuries.
Ron Wood can be reached by email at [email protected]. Report Tracy Neal contributed to this report.
Ron Wood has been a professional journalist in Arkansas for about 40 years. He has covered state and federal courts in Northwest Arkansas since 1995. Over the course of his award-winning career, he has covered a wide range of beats including city and county governments, police and fire, regional planning and transportation, education and business.