Originally Posted by
Bringthetruth
Falls woman claims police abuse
By Nancy A. Fischer - NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 03/10/08 6:56 AM
NIAGARA FALLS — A city woman claims city police brutalized her last month when she tried to intervene in a domestic violence call involving her sister.
Jaquinda L. Coleman, 31, of Hyde Park Boulevard, spent 10 days in Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, before she was released Wednesday. She was arraigned a day later in City Court on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration.
She pleaded not guilty before Judge Robert Merino, who released her on $1,000 bail.
Coleman told The Buffalo News she was treated for a fractured skull and continues to suffer from numbness, headaches and dizziness.
Police said the 6-foot-2-inch, 225-pound Coleman refused orders not to interfere during the domestic incident and was hit in the head with a flashlight after a full can of Mace had been used on her.
Coleman told The News that she has contacted a lawyer.
“I don’t want to see this swept under the rug,” she said. “Police will say what they have to say, but they don’t tell the truth. There is a code of blue.”
Coleman has yet to file a complaint against police but has 90 days to do so, city officials said.
Her trouble with officers started Feb. 24, just after 8 p.m., as police were responding to a domestic incident at an apartment building at 4600 Hyde Park Blvd. The incident involved her sister, Lasheda Perry, and her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Steven D. Newkirk Sr. Both sisters live in the same building.
Police said they found Newkirk bleeding on the forehead and on the arm with a nearly 5- inch gash when they responded to a domestic violence complaint. He said he had been hit in the head with some type of bat and cut with a knife as he was defending himself against a female friend who came to the aid of Perry. He said the woman ran off when police arrived.
Perry, who is seven months’ pregnant with Newkirk’s child, confirmed that the two had an argument but said she did not want to press charges.
In his report, Officer Kenneth E. Redmond said that when police told Coleman they would not charge Newkirk but were looking for the woman with the knife, Coleman “became hysterical.”
Redmond said when Coleman refused to leave, he tried to arrest her but then she took her glasses off, put up her fists and said, “It’s on.”
Redmond said Coleman only was stopped for a brief moment by the Mace. He said he feared being tackled and having his gun taken away, and was able to retrieve a flashlight from his gun belt. He said he tried to swing downward to knock her off balance, but because of her charge, she was hit in the head.
Coleman vehemently disputed that account. She said she took her glasses off because she had been Maced.
Perry said Newkirk started the domestic dispute.
Newkirk, 37,of Domedion Avenue, Buffalo, was charged last Monday with criminal mischief, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and aggravated harassment.
Police Superintendent John Chella said the department always investigates citizen complaints, but Coleman has yet to file one.