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Trooper who arrested journalist was subject of previous complaints Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - An Arkansas State Police trooper who arrested a newspaper journalist in Maumelle in December has been the subject of nine formal complaints since becoming a trooper in November 2004, according to documents released Tuesday by state police in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Trooper Tom Weindruch, 33, arrested and handcuffed Bill Lawson, 59, a reporter and photographer for the Maumelle Monitor and other Stephens Media newspapers, while Lawson was trying to take pictures of a house fire on Dec. 10. Weindruch released Lawson at the scene with a citation for obstructing governmental operations, which was later dismissed. Lawson filed a complaint against Weindruch on Dec. 13. State police said they would investigate the incident. As of Tuesday, no action had been taken as a result of the probe. The Arkansas News Bureau, which is owned by Stephens Media, submitted a request under the FOIA for the release of Weindruch's personnel file on Dec. 11. In response, state police released a file that contained three complimentary letters about Weindruch but no complaints. On Feb. 7, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued an opinion in an unrelated matter stating that, in McDaniel's view, citizen complaints about a public employee are subject to public disclosure. The following day the Arkansas News Bureau submitted a second FOIA request to the Arkansas State Police, citing the new attorney general's opinion and asking for any complaints by the public regarding Weindruch. State police released documentation Tuesday of nine complaints filed between June 2005 and last December. Eight of the complaints contain allegations of angry or violent behavior by the trooper. Agency spokesman Bill Sadler said the complaints were not released in response to the Dec. 11 request because they were never made a part of the trooper's file. "We are revisiting that practice, now that the AG has issued a new opinion on that matter," Sadler said. Weindruch has been reassigned to non-enforcement duties pending the outcome of the investigation. He declined a request for comment Tuesday. In the earliest of the complaints, a man told state police officials that on Nov. 11, 2004 - eight days before Weindruch was commissioned as a trooper - an ambulance swerved in front of his vehicle and slammed on its brakes, forcing him to stop. Weindruch, a passenger in he vehicle, then jumped out of the ambulance and pounded his fist on the hood of the man's vehicle, denting it, and yanked open the man's car door, injuring his left rotator cup, the man claimed. The man told officials he later learned Weindruch's fiancee was driving the ambulance. Weindruch displayed a "raging temperament" in the incident, he wrote. The next complaint was from a woman who said Weindruch yelled at her throughout a traffic stop in June 2005, though she was never disrespectful toward him. In April 2006, two motorcyclists said Weindruch made accusatory statements toward them after a motorcycle accident, even though they were not involved in the accident, and displayed a "lack of any common courtesy" and an "elevated temper." One man told state police officials that in July 2006 an unmarked sport utility vehicle began following him, and the driver, Weindruch, who was not wearing a uniform, began waving and yelling at him. The man said he saw the SUV force another vehicle off the road and became frightened, fearing a confrontation with an "enraged psychotic." The man said he later was pulled over by a marked state police vehicle. Weindruch then jerked him out of his vehicle, pulling him dangerously close to passing traffic, and handcuffed him in a violent manner, he claimed. Weindruch "exhibited classic road rage" and endangered everyone on the highway, the man wrote. Another man complained that during a traffic stop and arrest in August 2006, Weindruch twisted his leg, causing injury to his knee, and pushed him onto the hood of a car, even though he was cooperating fully. One man claimed Weindruch used abusive, intimidating and accusatory language toward him after a vehicle accident in August 2006. Lawson claimed Weindruch was rude, abusive and threatening toward him and had no cause to arrest him at the scene of the fire. Weindruch wrote in an arrest report that he arrested Lawson after Lawson's camera flash temporarily impaired his vision. "I think he (Weindruch) has anger management issues that need to be addressed," Lawson said Tuesday. None of the previous complaints about Weindruch resulted in suspension or termination, Sadler said. He would not say whether other types of disciplinary action were taken. It is not unusual for an officer to be the subject of complaints, Sadler noted. "Somebody that's been in the field three to five years, if he's doing his job, somebody's going to complain about it," he said. Three people have written to state police to praise Weindruch. His personnel file contains letters from a wrecker service owner who said Weindruch went out of his way to assist the company's drivers during a February 2006 storm; a woman who said Weindruch "acted heroically" to stop her mother's vehicle after her mother had a medical problem while driving in September 2006; and another woman who said Weindruch rescued her daughters after they ran out of gas in August 2007. "I am so thankful that there are still great people left in this world," the mother of the stranded girls wrote. Weindruch also has been commended by his superiors at least four times for good police work, including a March 2006 car chase in which he safely halted the vehicle of a suspect in a Little Rock bank robbery. |
