Rough Justice

March 1, 2006

Ray Brandt is a tall, friendly looking guy -- a regular Joe, you might say. He runs Tall Timbers Portable Sawmill Service, making house visits like a doctor, taking down trees and sawing them into boards. He regularly goes to church with his wife, Rhonda, a beloved aerobics instructor, and both of them often say good-bye with a “Have a blessed day.” He never thought about it much, but his police record was so clean it gleamed.
Like Brandt, Les Bowman also had a clean police record, save for a few speeding tickets. He and his wife Shirley, both in their early 70s, have not exactly experienced “golden” years. They raised an orphaned granddaughter in their 50s and 60s, and are now helping to raise their granddaughter’s son. They’ve also had battles with Shirley’s two brothers over the care of Shirley’s mother, who suffers from advanced dementia.
Problems with the police were the last thing either of these two men expected, yet they both crossed the wrong side of the law. Bowman got into a shoving match with his 56-year-old brother-in-law. Brandt trespassed onto his neighbor’s property and blocked the end of a dead-end road with his sawmill equipment.
Here are their stories with a cautionary message that should hit you like a police baton: if you are ever arrested, put your hands up or behind your back and cooperate… or prepare to be unpleasantly surprised.

TRESPASSING
Ray Brandt, 50, lives on a dirt road that winds along a small lake in Interlochen. His log home is situated at the end of a dead-end road that rolls into a private drive. Across the street are pine and hardwoods thickly frosted with snow.
Brandt said that when he moved in seven years ago, the owner of the woods gave him permission to take fallen trees out of the woods, as he saw fit. The neighbor was friendly and they got on well. But the owner left to serve in the military, and his brother, Shannon McMillan, moved into the house with his wife and baby. It really bugged McMillan that Brandt put apple bait in the woods last summer and left a pile of logs on the edge of his woods.
Things turned sour between the two men; bitter words were exchanged, and McMillan began calling the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department. Brandt took the logs off the property in July as McMillan demanded, but that didn’t end the conflict.
On Nov. 30, Brandt was operating his portable saw at the end of the road. Brandt felt he was justified since he blocked only a private road and had the permission of the owners, who winter downstate. McMillan called Grand Traverse County Deputy Randy Woods who was by now fed up with the calls.
Brandt, with the sawmill running and earplugs in, loudly argued with Deputy Woods that he was legally parked because he was blocking a private road. Woods called for back-up. He then saw that Brandt’s truck and trailer were parked on a small driveway that people used for a turn-around, but actually belonged to the McMillans. Woods cited him for trespassing, a misdemeanor. Brandt apologized for trespassing and said he knew he had violated the trespass warning he had been given in July, according to the deputy’s report.
Brandt, who had never been in trouble with the law, knew he’d have to pay a fine and thought that was the end of it.
He was shocked, when two weeks later two deputies, pounding at the door, wakening him from a light sleep. He padded downstairs, opened the door and the let them in. They ordered him to get his wallet and leave immediately.
Brandt asked them for time to brush his teeth. The answer was no. Brandt said he had to go upstairs for his wallet. Do you have guns up there? a deputy asked. Yes, I do have a gun. So the deputies followed him upstairs, hands poised over their handguns.
“Look,” Brandt said. “I’m a normal guy like you. I’m too big to crawl through the windows. “
Brandt returned downstairs and told the deputies, their hands still poised over their guns, that he needed to use the bathroom. They stood outside the door and waited, “like one of those Western movies like they’re going to draw on you.” He then asked the deputies if he could get his medicine, which he needed for chronic neck pain.
“That’s it!” said the deputy, his hand still over the gun. “You’ve pushed us too far! You’ve already done more than anyone else would have done.”
But Brandt grabbed his pills and called his wife on the cell phone to let her know that he had been arrested. He had no time to turn off his lights or let his three dogs out.
“It was actually scary,” he said. “I felt like it was like the Nazis storming into the homes of the Jews and taking them. You have no rights. You’re nothing.”
The deputies handcuffed Brandt’s hands behind him, but it caused so much pain, that they consented to handcuff his hands in the front of his body. Brandt said he stuffed his 6’6” frame into the backseat of the cruiser and layed down sideways because pain stabbed through his neck. He was taken to jail for processing and released several hours later on a $50 bond.
Brandt pled guilty to trespassing in January. His infraction cost him $2,000 in legal fees and eight court appearances. He was sentenced to six months probation plus a $600 fine.” If I had been working for someone else, I would have been fired. It’s crazy!”

PROTOCOL
Convictions, Brandt pointed out, are largely based on police reports, but there is no way to review a report and the suspect is often not interviewed, as was the case here.
“If the deputy’s pissed off at you, he can write the report any way he wants to get even, and it’s your word against his.”
In fact, Sheriff Scott Fewins said, the deputies acted within protocol.
“Deputies don’t know which house they’re going in; they can’t assume someone is going to be a nice guy. There are people who say, ‘I am not going to jail’ and they’ll fight us. If we know the person is in there, we have the right to go in there and get them. We don’t need a warrant. There are some people who don’t like police to begin with and an arrest can bring out the worst in people.”
Deputies also have to be vigilant because some people will try to run away. They typically do go with the arrestee into the bathroom, and it’s standard practice to keep their hands poised over their handguns. Arrestees have arrived at jail in their pajamas, even in the nude, although deputies try to grab a jacket on the way out, he said.
“I’m sure we are overcautious, but that’s why we’ve only had two officers shot and killed. Medicine is important, but a person can be processed in an hour and released on bond.”
Fewins said that if someone feels they’ve been treated unprofessionally or disrespectfully, his door is always open.
“It’s very rare I take a complaint like that, but sooner or later a deputy can have a bad day. I’ve had bad days when nothing seems to come out right and people feel that you’re demeaning them.”
Brandt said he could accept Fewins’ explanation: “If I was a cop standing in someone else’s house, well, you don’t know what they’re capable of. I have total respect for police, which is what I said them when we were standing at the door. But it just didn’t have to happen this way. Neighbors should be able to talk things out. They could have sent me a letter; they didn’t have to send two deputies out. And why did it take eight court appearances? They didn’t even have the paperwork ready for the first one.”

A REALLY BAD DAY
Les Bowman showed up with his wife Shirley at the Northern Express office. In hand were color photos of the bruises and stitches he suffered after a Michigan State Police trooper beat him with a baton after Bowman resisted arrest a year ago. He said he was a victim of police brutality, but his complaints had gone nowhere.
The story leading up to the confrontation--like most--isn’t simple. Les retired as a school bus driver 20 years ago, while Shirley was laid off from H Block last year. Although retirement age, they’ve had a lot on their plate. They raised a granddaughter in their Traverse City home and are now helping raise her 6-year-old son. On top of that stress, they cared for Shirley’s mother, Marie Dean, who has advanced dementia. About 10 years ago, anticipating the worst, they had their names put on a quit claim deed on Marie’s house in Kingsley with full rights of survivorship.
Marie was unpredictable, combative, and needed constant supervision. She’d get up at night and wander around, put a tea kettle on the stove without water, and needed someone to give her meals and medication. To help with Marie, Les and Shirley asked Shirley’s brother, Simon “George” Dean, to move in with her at Marie’s house. He did so in late 2001, and his girlfriend soon joined him.
The Bowmans were unhappy with George Dean, in part, because he grew marijuana in the garden, smoked it, and sold it out of Marie’s house. Dean was convicted in April 2004 on drug charges and guardianship was immediately awarded to his brother William, who moved into the house. Bowman also stayed off and on at the house.
In early December, Social Services became involved after Marie was left alone and became ill; the Probate Court appointed an independent guardian, and Marie, 93, was placed in Birchwood Nursing Home.
During the summer and fall, there were constant arguments; Les and Shirley accused William of stealing money and giving away Marie’s food. Now with his guardianship terminated, Les and Shirley wanted William out of the house and drew up eviction papers. He refused to leave. One day after Christmas in 2004, Les went to the house around 2 a.m.; William and Les began fighting. Deputies were called and suggested that Les go to his Traverse City house, which he did.
The next night, Les went to the house and found the locks had been changed. Les kicked the door in to enter. This is when the two stories differ. William, who in his mid 50s, told deputies that Les attacked him, pushed him against the banister, and tried to physically throw him out of his mother’s house. The state trooper did not take a written statement from Les, but he said William attacked him and they fought each other. Both apparently cooled down, and Les moved his TV back to his bedroom and took a few sips of beer.
After the fight, Les called his brother, George, who was now out of jail; George called 911 and then drove over to the house. Deputies showed up around a little after 7 p.m., more than an hour after the fight. Les said he was watching “Wheel of Fortune.” They first interviewed William and George and then talked to Les. The trooper’s report showed that William had some scratches on his face and left triceps. George Dean made a statement that his brother had been drinking and was “out of control.” In fact, Bowman’s blood alcohol level was tested at 0.02% at the scene.
They then called Les out in the kitchen and talked to him for a short time. Les was unable to produce eviction papers, the report said. The trooper, Travis Peterson, told Les he was going to arrest him on charges of assault and battery and take him to jail.
Les, a big man, said he was not going because he had done nothing wrong. Peterson reached out to handcuff him, Les pulled back and away, and the two deputies each grabbed an arm to pull him down. Les fought going down.
This again is when the accounts differ. Les said that after he was pulled to the floor, he became submissive, and yet Peterson shouted at him, and hit him eight times with a baton.
“Even when they had me face down, he kept on beating me. It was all over in about 30 seconds and they handcuffed me,” he said.
The deputies, the trooper, and the two brothers testified in a jury trial that Bowman tried to grab the deputy in the area of his CS gas, baton and gun. (Les said that was impossible because the two deputies were holding his arms). The trooper’s report said Bowman continued to struggle, so he used “forward fluid shock wave,” in which a trooper strikes the person with a prolonged stroke in order to cause more pain. The report said he struck Bowman five times, including the back of his thigh.
The officers took Bowman to the emergency room where he received two stitches in his shin. He spent two nights in jail; the pictures shown on these pages were taken after he was released.

BRUTALITY?
Bowman is convinced that not only was he a victim of police brutality and that the stress played into a major heart attack he suffered in February. A jury found him guilty on resisting an arrest and assaulting a police officer in late July.
The incident has cost him plenty: He had to pay fines of $595 and attorney fees of $5,500. He was also sentenced to 84 hours of community service and anger management classes. He admits he hasn’t cooperated because he doesn’t think he has a problem.
“The problem was the police beating me up. I’m not really an angry person, and I can’t stand going to some class. I was not responsible at all and I was victimized.”
Shirley and Les successfully evicted William on February 19th, the same day that Les suffered his heart attack. The Kingsley house now sits empty, and the Bowmans no longer speak to Shirley’s two brothers. They celebrated Marie’s 93rd birthday last week without them.
Lt. Bill Elliott, commander of the Traverse City State Police Post, said he has no doubt that Peterson is an “excellent officer” and acted with proper force. In fact, Peterson, is a defensive tactics instructor.
Elliott said the assault was in progress when the officers arrived (this is at odds with the statements made for the police report). He said there was no time to check the police records of the three men involved to help assess credibility. Bowman, he said, admitted to the deputies that he had assaulted his brother-in-law, and the domestic abuse statute requires that the suspect be removed. “There is no question that an assault occurred,” Elliott said.
Bowman filed a formal complaint with the State Police, and “all complaints are taken seriously.” But a determination was made in Lansing not to investigate, Elliott said.
“Mr. Bowman was convicted by a jury, and yet he maintains that everything in the report was a lie. Everyone is conspiring against this poor man. The deputies, in my opinion, would be truthful. These are professional officers. In his mind, he’s a victim, but he is not a victim. He is not a victim.”