UPDATE – Gary Traffic Stop Ends with Chipped Tooth and Kidnapping
In the early morning of April 18th, 2019 a vehicle allegedly was driven by Marvin Thompson of Gary was seen driving at a high rate of speed down 5th avenue toward Miller. After the Gary Police Officer called in the silver impala the vehicle allegedly ran the red light at 5th and hwy 65 according to what the officer called in on his radio. The silver impala then allegedly ran the light on 5th at the GoLo gas station. The officer then caught up to the vehicle on Clay street and performed the traffic stop.
Marvin Thompson was placed under arrest for allegedly reckless driving and failure to stop for a traffic signal according to Gary City Court docket number 45H03-1904-CM-000348. He was then later released by the court under his own recognizance and scheduled to appear on 5/9/2019 at 9 am for court.
Officers then asked the female passenger (Waynenasha Cardwell) for ID and she refused to give it. Under Indiana law, she would not be required to provide ID in this situation. Officers asked her to exit the vehicle so they could tow the car since they could not turn it over to a licensed driver. After getting the female passenger out of the vehicle she asked to get her keys so she could get into her house. Due to being non-compliant with her ID officers would not allow her to get her keys. Instead, they asked if she would like to go to jail. She then responded by saying she just wanted to get her stuff.
Up to this point, she had not committed a crime. At that time then Officer Peck instructed her to turn around. The video is unclear if he told her to put her hands behind her back and reach for her arm to spin her around or if he reached forward to push her away to get her to walk away. Either way, she asked him why he was touching her and then asked for his name. At that time then he placed her under arrest and threw her to the ground.
In the video, you can see that he then stomps her head and uses excessive force while cuffing her. A source close to Cardwell has stated this is when she got a chipped tooth during the altercation. They then pick her up and take her the transport car. While taking her to the transport car they aggravate the situation by accusing her of spitting on officers in an effort to get her to continue to be loud. According to the Probable Cause affidavit filed with the court, as seen below, you will see that she was not charged with battery with bodily fluids, Instead, she was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and failure to ID. Failure to ID and resisting are both secondary charges and disorderly conduct is not to have said to happen until after the arrest.
In Indiana, a person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest. Since she had not committed a crime before the arrest she could reasonably assume the arrest was unlawful. Since the arrest was unlawful a reasonable person would then determine that they were being kidnapped and would make noise to alert others of the situation. In addition, a person does have the right to redress their government and cussing is protected speech under the first amendment so long as they are not fighting words that would insue a physical altercation. A police officer cannot be a victim of disorderly conduct and a physical altercation had already ensued when the officer placed his hands on her unlawfully in an angry manner. For any reader that is unaware an individual only is required in Indiana to ID for an infraction or ordinance violation. Since all charges were misdemeanors she was not required to identify.
Waynenasha Cardwell bonded out on a $200 cash bond and is scheduled to appear before the Gary City Court. Gary Police public information officer was contacted for a statement and she never returned our call.
excellent work, I’m jealous.