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Trooper who arrested journalist suspended, reassigned Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A state trooper who arrested a Stephens Media reporter in December at the scene of a Maumelle house fire has been suspended for two days and transferred out of the Highway Patrol Division of the Arkansas State Police, a state police spokesman said Wednesday. Trooper Tom Weindruch, 33, was suspended without pay Friday and Monday and was transferred to the Administrative Services Division in Little Rock, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said. Weindruch, who had been assigned to the Highway Patrol Division's Troop A in Little Rock, will also be ineligible to compete for a promotion or receive special assignments for one year. He did not appeal the disciplinary action, Sadler said. A phone message left for Weindruch at state police headquarters was not immediately returned Wednesday. Weindruch arrested Bill Lawson, 59, a reporter and photographer for Central Arkansas newspapers owned by Stephens Media, while Lawson was attempting to take pictures of a house fire for the Maumelle Monitor on Dec. 10. Stephens Media also owns the Arkansas News Bureau. Weindruch wrote in his arrest report that Lawson took flash pictures of him, temporarily impairing his vision, after Weindruch told him to return to his vehicle. Weindruch placed Lawson in handcuffs and later released him at the scene with a citation for obstructing governmental operations. A judge dismissed the citation four days later after a prosecutor decided not to pursue the charge. Lawson filed a complaint over his arrest, alleging Weindruch physically roughed him up; would not let him sit down while he was in handcuffs even though he has health problems; yelled and screamed at him; and was rude, abusive and threatening. Lawson said he was trying to photograph the fire, with Weindruch in the foreground, when Weindruch became belligerent toward him. A three-person review board investigated the complaint and reported to State Police Director Col. Winford Phillips in January that it found Lawson's complaint to be unsubstantiated, although it said Weindruch showed poor judgment in the incident. Specifically, the review board said Weindruch showed poor judgment in responding to the fire scene when no one requested his assistance; failing to advise state police dispatchers of his location and intent; engaging in unnecessary verbal exchanges with Lawson; arresting Lawson; and failing to notify his supervisor of the incident. The review board based its findings on interviews with witnesses and a videotape from Weindruch's state police vehicle, though the panel noted that Weindruch's video camera was not activated until after Lawson was in handcuffs, and there was no radio log to indicate when Weindruch first made contact with Lawson. Phillips chose to take disciplinary action despite the board's recommendation, stating in a March 10 letter to Weindruch that the incident "has adversely affected the reputation of the Arkansas State Police for professionalism." Phillips also noted that Weindruch has received three letters of reprimand and a letter of warning because of previous incidents. The incidents included a traffic stop Weindruch made in 2004, eight days before he graduated from recruit school, and his pursuit of a traffic violator in his personal vehicle in 2006. "The above history does not lend itself towards not imposing some disciplinary action in the immediate matter," Phillips wrote. Those letters of reprimand and warning were not released when the Arkansas News Bureau submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Weindruch's personnel file in December. Sadler said Wednesday the letters were placed in a "job performance file," not in Weindruch's personnel file. "We believe those letters are exempt from release under the FOIA" if they do not pertain to termination or suspension, Sadler said. Weindruch's personnel file also did not include eight previous complaints citizens have filed against him. The Arkansas News Bureau obtained those complaints under a second FOIA request in February, after Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued an opinion - in an unrelated matter - that citizens' complaints against law officers are subject to the FOIA. All but one of the previous complaints accused Weindruch of angry or violent behavior. Lawson said Wednesday he was disappointed that state police officials apparently did not believe him, but he said it was "obviously positive" that Weindruch will no longer be patrolling state highways. "I think he not only exercised poor judgment, I think he has an anger management problem," Lawson said. |
