On the night of March 17, a Navajo man named Donovan Tanner, age 22, was walking home from the Three Rivers Brewery with his brother Myron in Farmington, N.M. when words were exchanged between the brothers and a group of Anglo men. San Juan County Sheriff’s Deputy Dale Frazier was nearby and ordered the Tanners to stand by his patrol car. Frazier then struck Donovan Tanner’s head with a flashlight, hit him several more times on the head and neck and slammed his head onto the patrol car. The incident was captured on the patrolman’s in-car video camera. The video is on several Internet sites including Youtube. After reviewing the case and seeing the tape, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Department fired Frazier. He was terminated as a result of a violation of the Use of Force Policy, according to a Media Release from the San Juan County Sheriff’s Department. Frazier has ten days to file a grievance against the decision. Beth Utley, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Department said she could not comment on the case because it is a personnel matter that is in litigation. Soon after the incident Donovan Tanner hired Farmington Attorney Arlon Stoker who filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Albuquerque on April 21 charging numerous civil rights violations including unlawful detention and arrest, and assault and battery. Myron Tanner was not arrested. Stoker’s complaint states that Frazier and other officers at the scene “choked him and struck him with a flashlight.” “The unlawful detention and arrest and the assault and battery were motivated by discrimination based upon (Tanner’s) ethnicity and appearance,” Stoker charges in the court document. It charges that the San Juan county Sheriff’s Office “failed to properly train the deputies in the proper use of force and was deliberately indifferent to the rights of Tanner and other citizens who were similarly situated.” Tanner was not drunk, said Stoker in a phone interview. “He had a few beers and was playing pool with his brother. There was a dispute in the bar. The bartender shot mace into the air so Donovan couldn’t see.” After the argument, several patrons were asked to leave, the court document continues. Tanner and his brother “were walking at a steady pace down the street. They were not attempting to flee from any crime or wrongdoing.” “There was no reason for Deputy Frazier to believe that Tanner was involved in any crime or misdeed at the bar. Other persons who had been in the bar were leaving, but Frazier detained only the Native Americans,” the suit alleges. After stopping Tanner, Frazier “applied an armlock and grabbed the back of his neck, grabbed his throat and threw him over the hood of the patrol car, and used his flashlight against his throat, choking and suffocating him.” Tanner was then handcuffed and the handcuffs “were twisted in a savage and sadistic manner torturing Tanner until he screamed in pain and fear.” Also named in the lawsuit are Deputy Sheriff Terry McCoy and Farmington Police Officer Misty Taylor. They arrived on the scene soon after Frazier arrested Tanner. McCoy “did nothing and said nothing to stop the brutal treatment” Stoker charges in the suit. He “joined in the sadistic game and started to strangle” Tanner, “until he realized that the dash camera in the patrol car was recording the events and started looking around as if to see if there were any witnesses to his brutality.” Misty Taylor “was an accessory to the criminal actions of Frazier by suggesting that Tanner could be charged with disarming a police officer, a charge that was fabricated and unfounded.” Stoker adds that all officers involved in the arrest are Anglo Americans. Tanner was taken to the county detention center where he was charged with attempting to flee, resisting arrest and attempting to disarm a police officer. These, charges were later dismissed. The suit goes on by saying, “There were Anglo patrons of the bar who were involved in the disturbance and who were permitted to leave without being detained or arrested, and only Native Americans were detained by Frazier for questioning.” The suit alleges that Frazier denied Tanner due process of law “by his racial profiling and discriminatory conduct toward Tanner and by filing false charges against him.” The booking sheet for the arrest indicates that Tanner “had been drinking alcohol but was not drunk and that he had not resisted arrest” says Stoker. Stoker asks the Court for damages for deprivation of civil rights, personal injury and pain, emotional distress, punitive damages, costs and attorney fees. “There exists a custom and practice within the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office that permits the selection of Native Americans for unreasonable physical abuse and unreasonable detention and arrest,” the suit continues. Stoker’s suit charges that the Sheriff’s Department “has failed to take adequate measures to curb the activities of its deputies in the proper use of force and has failed to instruct its deputies not to apply force to a person’s larynx and the front of the neck where there is a substantial risk of suffocation, serious injury or death and to not strike a person in the head with metal objects.” “The Department has failed to properly instruct and train its deputies and there is a pattern of neglect in training deputies to refrain from the discriminatory customs and practices in regard to the treatment of Native Americans,” he continues. The complaint also alleges that the San Juan county Sheriff’s Office “permits the selection of Native Americans for unreasonable physical abuse and unreasonable detention and arrest.” It “has failed to take adequate measures to curb the activities of its deputies and to train them in their responsibilities to minorities.” And it “has failed to properly train its officers in use of force techniques, detaining people for questioning and their responsibilities to minorities. “ Stoker charges that Frazier and McCoy “acted in an intentional depraved and outrageous manner and their actions shock the conscience.” Stoker, who grew up in Farmington, said in a telephone interview that “there is a deeply entrenched prejudice in the Four Corners area and it’s not getting any better. I grew up here and I was aware of it. I’ve handled other cases like this and there are very few times when it has been put on tape. That’s what’s different about this case. The Sheriff’s Department denies prejudice but it’s always a white officer doing the beating against Native Americans. They deny it. They try to ignore it. They don’t admit it but it goes on all the time.” “I moved here when I was in first grade. There’s institutional prejudice and it’s not going away,” Tanner continued. “They’re just good at covering it up I’ve filed several cases like this. It’s getting kind of old. We will try to make it hurt so bad that it has to be investigated instead of covered up. We’ve got a good case. It’s on tape. They usually lie. Hopefully something will change. It’s on tape.” In this case, the Tanner brothers were trying to leave with Donovan’s girlfriend who had not been drinking and was the designated driver Stoker said when a group of Anglos began harassing the Tanners. “There were five or seven white guys. They were not questioned,” he added. Donovan Tanner is gainfully employed and highly respected, Stoker said. As to the firing of Sheriff’s deputy Frazier, Stoker said “they had it on tape. They had no choice.” “This was a deplorable, despicable act. This culture is not changing until there’s a huge damage award,” from a jury. (Kate Saltzetein can be reached at salty223@aol.com)
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