OLYMPIA, WA (June 10, 2008) – A partially-finished report police shared with editors at The Olympian on Monday tells a story that differs in some detail from the account given by staff photographer Tony Overman of his arrest – and injury – at a fatal fire scene last Friday in Lacey, WA, the newspaper says today.
The report by Lacey police detective David Miller claims that Overman hit him in the nose with his forehead, and then resisted arrest and continued to resist arrest after being told to cooperate.
By Overman's account, an angry and yelling detective Miller was "in my face" and the two men were nose to nose, separated by police crime scene tape, when their noses brushed ever so slightly.
Overman says that Miller responded by recoiling and then stepping forward and shoving Overman hard with two hands to the the photographer's chest, knocking him over and backwards, and then wrenching the photographer's right arm up hard behind his back while yelling, "Arrest him! He hit me!"
Four other Lacey police officers who were at the scene make no mention in their reports of seeing any physical contact between Overman and Miller that could have led up to Overman's arrest.
Overman has been cited with simple assault and obstruction. Both charges are misdemeanors. Police say it will be up to the Lacey city prosecutor to decide whether to charge Overman after reviewing their final reports.
The incident started last Friday when Overman was photographing a fatal fire scene in the 5300 block of 22nd Avenue Southeast in Lacey, about five miles northeast of Olympia, around 2 p.m. in the afternoon.
Overman said he was photographing the general fire scene when he saw a uniformed Lacey police sergeant walk up to a woman from the neighborhood and tell her to leave the scene. Police were putting up tape at the time to cordon off the area. Overman says the sergeant then called him over and told him to go outside the police tape, which he did immediately.
As the photographer was walking away he heard plain clothes police detective Miller tell the other policemen, "If he crosses that line again, arrest him immediately."
Overman, who says he had never crossed a line or gone over the police tape to begin with, turned and asked the detective, "What did you say?" Overman said at that point detective Miller was inside the tape, and that he was outside of the tape. The photographer says that Miller said, "If you come back inside the rope again you'll be arrested immediately."
Overman then said to Miller, "They asked me to leave, and I left. So why are you threatening me with arrest?" The photographer says that Miller got up "in his face" and that their noses were nearly touching as Miller screamed at him, "I'm a police officer. When I tell you to do something, you do it."
Overman said the detective's face was right up against his face, literally nose to nose, when the photographer said "Can I ask your name?" At that point their noses slightly touched, Overman says. And that's when Miller stepped back, then stepped forward and slammed Overman fully in the chest with two hands, knocking him backwards.
Overman says as he fell to the ground, trying to land on his knees in the grass, Miller came under the tape and grabbed his arm, pulling it behind his back, and yelled to other police, "Arrest him! He hit me!"
Miller's police report claims that Overman was about 15 to 20 feet away from Miller when Miller told other police officers that Overman was to be arrested if he came inside the crime scene taped area, and that Overman "had an angry look on his face" and he was "walking quickly toward me."
Miller wrote in his report, "He [Overman] was yelling 'What did you say?' I was standing inside the taped area and Overman walked right up to me. He appeared to be very upset. He yelled again, 'What did you say?" I responded, 'If you cross the taped area again you will be arrested' Overman got inches from my face and yelled, 'I left didn't I?' Overman then hit me in the nose with his forehead."
Overman says Miller's version of what happened is not true.
The photographer says that as he stood outside the crime scene tape, Miller continued to approach him and then "put his face literally half an inch from my face. I didn't move. He instigated the contact. He touched his nose to my nose."
Overman says that after their noses touched, that's when Miller slammed him in the chest with two hands and knocked him down.
Miller's written report says that Overman did not comply with his commands while he was trying to arrest him and that "during this struggle I stated to Overman several times to stop resisting."
Overman, 45, who has worked as a photojournalist for almost three decades, including a tour embedded in Iraq covering a Stryker brigade based at nearby Fort Lewis, says the idea that he would assault an officer or resist arrest "is ludicrous." Overman says, "I never tried to get up off the ground."
When officers were trying to figure out how to remove Overman's digital cameras from his shoulder, they removed one handcuff to take the straps off his arm. Overman says that's when Miller wrenched his right arm up hard against the photographer's back, and cinched the handcuff down too tightly, injuring his right wrist.
Overman was examined by a medic at the scene at some point during the time he was held in custody by Lacey police (about 30 minutes). But later he was treated and released at the Capital Medical Center emergency room where doctors told him that his right wrist had been sprained and that the numbness he's experiencing in his thumb and fingertips is from nerve damage done when Miller wrenched his arm or put the right handcuff on too tightly.
Overman is continuing to work, but is wearing a brace on his right wrist. His right biceps show the bruises where Miller dug his fingers into Overman's arm during the arrest.
By contrast detective Miller – who claims that Overman struck him in the nose with his forehead – had no injuries and reported no injuries to himself in his report.
The photographer said today in a report in his newspaper, The Olympian, "This was two stubborn, emotional people having a discussion and one pulling out his trump card."
Overman has filed a complaint with the Lacey police department over his arrest and treatment. Lacey police Commander John Suessman said the department is conducting an internal investigation of the matter.
Lacey police say the reason their external investigation of Overman's arrest is still ongoing is that there are witnesses they still need to interview, including firefighters who work 24-shifts with the next 48-hours off duty who have not yet been asked to recount what they saw at the scene on Friday.
Overman, an 11-year veteran of The Olympian and the immediate past president of the National Press Photographers Association, is a respected and experienced photojournalist and a a two-time Regional Photographer of the Year. In December 2007 he testified before a Congressional Committee on Natural Resources on Capitol Hill about proposed new park rules governing photography as they relate to press freedoms, and in 2006 he was embedded with troops from Washington state who were stationed in Baghdad and Mosul in the war in Iraq.
