By Rupert Howell

The City of Batesville has agreed to a judgement entered Tuesday in U.S. Federal Court by Judge Michael Mills totaling approximately $53,000 in a lawsuit brought against the city and BPD Patrolman Greg Jones and  BPD Sgt. Shawn Dalton by parents of a minor claiming their child was wrongly arrested on Halloween last year at Walgreens in Batesville.

Plaintiff parents Sally and Stacy Simmerman claimed their child’s Constitutional rights had been violated by the arrest and there was no probable cause in papers filed in U.S. Federal Court in Oxford last year.
The incident came about while the Simmermans’ teenage child was buying toilet paper at Walgreens while accompanied by adults during a curfew. He was taken into custody, handcuffed and taken to BPD headquarters.

Following the incident, Batesville Police Chief Tony Jones said that an internal investigation conducted revealed that the patrolman was within the law when making the arrest.

Not so says the judgment which holds the city liable as well as Jones for arresting without probable cause and Dalton for use of unnecessary, unjustified force, false imprisonment and unlawful warrantless search of the minor’s cell phone.

The teenager was later released without charges after being taken to the police station.

Approximately $5,400 of the total settlement is for attorney fees and costs.

In a letter to the editor published November 18 last year, the Simmermans called for officer Jones and Dalton’s dismissal stating, “ … poor representation of the law enforcement profession should qualify them for a permanent ban from ever holding such a position.”

The Simmermans were represented by Attorney Ron Lewis of Oxford who wrote in an email Wednesday, “I like to think that with each court challenge to law enforcement officers and other public officials, who abuse their office, or simply don’t consider the consequences of indifference, they and their colleagues will learn from the experience and become better at public service.”

Lewis noted that since the defendants agreed to the judgment, there will be no appeal.