Keller goes against review board

Keith Paul

Monday, April 16, 2001 | 11:31 a.m.

In his first action on a Citizen Review Board recommendation, Sheriff Jerry Keller ruled against the board and cleared two officers of an excessive force complaint.

In a split decision last month, the review board sustained complaints that Officers Richard Ramirez and Michael Laythrope used excessive force and exhibited uncourteous behavior during a traffic stop.

The board recommended the officers, who had been exonerated by a Metro Police internal affairs investigation, be given written reprimands.

But Keller said in a memo dated April 5 that the complainant, Katherine Marie Brobeck, escalated the incident.

"In reviewing the details, I find that the officers, while effecting a lawful arrest, used the necessary force to control, contain, subdue and handcuff Miss Brobeck, who was resistive, combative and verbally abusive during the actual arrest procedure," Keller wrote.

On the issue of courtesy, Keller wrote he agreed with the internal affairs report and the minority opinion of the review board.

"The CRB also sustained a charge of 'conduct unbecoming - courtesy' based on their interpretation of a comment, which was simply an immediate repeat of a comment made by Ms. Brobeck and which cannot be construed to be sarcastic, insolent or insulting in any manner, means or form," Keller wrote.

Keller spent several days reviewing materials before reaching a decision, Undersheriff Richard Winget said.

"The facts of the case do not support a sustain finding," Winget said. "People are commonly going to see things differently."

The board voted 3-2 to sustain the excessive force complaint and 4-1 to sustain the courtesy complaint.

"Of course I don't agree with his decision, but all we do is make recommendations," said James Wetterling, a review board member who voted to sustain the complaints. "He is the final authority to make the decision on discipline."

Wetterling said the case was not a clear-cut situation, adding Brobeck had "her degree of fault in the matter."

Ramirez said he wasn't worried about how the sheriff was going to rule, because "we both knew that we did nothing wrong."

Brobeck could not be reached for comment.

Keller reviewed the internal affairs report, the review board findings and a tape of the arrest.

"The tape clearly demonstrates that Ms. Brobeck was the aggressor both verbally and physically in this unfortunate confrontation," Keller wrote. "She was illegally resistive to a lawful arrest and, unfortunately, her actions left the officers no lawful choice in these circumstances."

The incident stemmed from a traffic stop about 2:30 p.m. Aug. 19 on South Third Street. Brobeck asked the officers why she had been singled out to get a ticket, then signed it with an "X" before signing her name, according to the review board report and board officials.

Police claim she swore at them and sped off in a manner the officers deemed was another violation, so they stopped her again. Brobeck then allegedly refused to sign the second ticket and was eventually arrested for not signing.

"The panel finds that the officers involved allowed the situation to escalate and used excessive force to restrain the complainant," according to the review board report released last month.

The majority noted the officers then escalated the situation by refusing to respond to "numerous pleas by the complainant to be told what she did wrong" until she was arrested.

However, a contrasting view was expressed by two of the five-member hearing panel.

"The minority finds that the officers used that degree of force necessary to best de-escalate the situation and were authorized in the use of this force to restrain or subdue a resistant suspect and bring an unlawful situation safely and effectively under control," according to the report.

Neither of the officers testified at the review board hearing. Without their testimony, the board relied on the internal affairs investigation, testimony of a couple of witnesses and Brobeck's account.

"It is (Keller's) prerogative to make the final decisions, and he is within his statutory right," the board's executive director, Andrea Beckman, said. "The review board merely makes recommendations. I think he had to make the call and made it the way he saw it."

In his memo, Keller said he considers "this matter concluded."

However, it is not over for Brobeck. She still faces a charge of battery on a police officer -- a gross misdemeanor -- and several misdemeanor charges stemming from the incident.