Charge dismissed against elderly man hurt in police stop

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

A Boulder City Municipal Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a misdemeanor charge against an elderly man who sustained broken ribs and other injuries during a felony traffic stop in August.

Municipal Judge Randall H. Pike dismissed a single charge of resisting a police officer because a court-appointed doctor stated that 73-year-old Robert E. Parker suffers from a disease similar to Alzheimer's and is not competent to stand trial.

Parker's attorney, Cal Potter, requested the court-approved medical report in October. An exam was conducted Oct. 30.

Potter said he and the American Civil Liberties Union plan to file a federal lawsuit in January against the Boulder City Police. The lawsuit will allege excessive use of force, among other charges, if the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division does not issue a ruling on the incident before that date.

"Normally an individual doesn't receive broken ribs when normal force is used," Potter said. "There appears to have been a failure by officers to follow their own policies and procedures." Parker, who did not attend Tuesday's hearing, was one of two elderly men injured during traffic stops in the span of a month earlier this summer. The FBI investigated both incidents and sent reports to the Justice Department in Washington.

Parker was pulled over in August for questioning about a felony hit-and-run accident and refused police orders to drop a cigarette as he got out of a late-1980s Chevrolet Suburban, police said. During a struggle that ensued, three of Parker's ribs were broken and he suffered cuts and bruises. He was hospitalized for six days.

A Boulder City panel of police and citizens unanimously ruled later that police used appropriate force during the arrest.

In July, 84-year-old Charles Walker sustained five broken ribs, a fractured hip and other injuries after a July traffic stop in a downtown Henderson casino parking lot.

Police approached Walker while he was stopped on a downtown side street waiting for a parking space to open up, according to police reports. After Walker parked his vehicle, he got out, yelling at police, police said. After he ignored orders, police said, they pepper-sprayed him and then used an arm-bar to pin him to the ground.

Walker is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 30 in Henderson Municipal Court for three misdemeanor charges of stopping at an intersection, resisting an officer and obstructing an officer.

In mid-November, Walker filed a federal lawsuit against Henderson Police, claiming excessive use of force and battery, among other allegations.