STATEMENT OF EVENTS AS PER MARK E. BYRGE, SR. April 18, 2012 My name is Mark E. Byrge, Sr. and I own and operate a delivery service using a box van in northern Utah headquartered in American Fork City, Utah. I was driving south on First East (100 East) at approximately Tenth North in American Fork at approximately 9:00 a.m. I was on my way to my friend Jason Wildes home at 953 North First East. As I approached this address I had slowed down in anticipation of pulling off the road to the parking strip that runs along that road. I slowed and saw in my mirrors that there was a line of traffic behind me. As I neared Jasons house I thought it best and safest to ease over a house ahead to allow for the traffic to continue flowing past me as I prepared to stop. I moved to the right toward the curb, watching in my left mirror to insure that I had provided enough room for traffic to continue around my truck. There was an overhanging branch of a tree that was located on the city-owned easement between the curb and the sidewalk. The tree protruded over the curb and over the roadway. I felt my truck strike this overhanging branch so I stopped, waited until it was safe, and moved out into the traffic lane away from the tree and pulled down to my friends house about ten yards away. I later learned that the American Fork City trimming crew had not yet reached this block. The contact with the overhanging tree branch caused a gaping gash to the right side of my truck. . I went to Jasons house and got the phone number for Utah County Dispatch and placed a call requesting an officer to respond to the scene and make a proper report of the accident. The incident report showed the time of my call as 9:03 on April 18, 2012. A short time later, two American Fork Police Department officers responded to the scene, one male and one female. The male police officer was a Trainer named who I later identified as Officer A. Gianfelice (no first name in the Incident Report or other documents). The female police officer was a Trainee named Officer Jennifer Nakai. Officer Gianfelice asked me to explain the accident and I believe he asked for my drivers license at this time. I proceeded to explain in detail what had occurred. I pointed out how the tree protruded past the curb and into the parking lane of the street. I also stated that I believed the lack of trimming by the City of American Fork may have contributed to, and perhaps was the main cause of the accident. At this point Officer Gianfelices demeanor changed radically. He became standoffish and quite defensive, obviously seeking to protect his employer, American Fork City. He commented, to the best of my recollection, You sound like a person who is afraid of taking responsibility, afraid of telling the boss that you wrecked the company truck. I was taken aback and a little offended. I explained to Officer Gianfelice that I was the boss, in fact that I was the owner of the company. I assured him that I was neither afraid to take responsibility nor worried about my job. I then responded to Officer Gianfelices offensive tone and manner, saying that he sounded like a city employee afraid to find his employer at fault, and said something to the effect that he feared a lawsuit against his employer, American Fork City. After that comment Officer Gianfelice became angrier and seemed quite agitated, ordering me to find my insurance information. I went to the cab of the van and began to look for the insurance card. Since my wifeTina Lee Byrge is the registered owner, I called her asking if she knew where the insurance card was in the vehicle. Officer Gianfelice then approached me and ordered me to stop looking for the insurance document. He instructed me to proceed to the rear of the vehicle, so I followed him whereupon he informed me that I was being placed under arrest for an unrelated warrant on a simple speeding ticket. At that time I was still on the phone with my wife. Officer Gianfelice ordered me to put the phone away. I placed the phone in my shirt pocket but did not terminate the call as I had only been instructed to put the phone away. My wife listened to the rest of the incident, sharing the phone with my brother Josh Byrge. Officer Gianfelice told me to place my hands on top of my head and instructed Officer Nakai to take me into custody. Officer Nakai did a pat-down and began to place my hands behind my back. At this point I informed both officers that I had a medical device implanted in my back. I spoke slowly and loudly enough to insure both officers could hear me as I lifted my shirt to show them the scar where the implanted device was located just beneath the skin. I wanted to move slowly so they didnt think I was reaching for a weapon. I showed the scars from my four (4) surgeries and stretched the skin slightly to show the outline of the SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR (SCS) which was the name of the implanted medical device designed to keep my disability and my nerve damage from getting worse. I said that placing the handcuffs behind my back would put pressure on this delicate medical device and possibly result in damage to the device and possibly further nerve damage. Officer Nakai raised concerns to Officer Gianfelice but he instructed her to continue to place the handcuffs behind my back. He spoke to me saying, Dont tell us how to do our jobs. They continued against my warning but I didnt resist. I continued to explain that this was a damning action since I was disabled with chronic back pain. At this time a third American Fork City police officer arrived on the scene. According to the Incident Report I later obtained, this officer was a supervisor named Sergeant J. Bevard. I began explaining to him and the others that the medical device cost $50,000.00 and was essential to my health and well-being; it controlled the pain; lessened my disability; and kept my condition from worsening. Officer Nakai instructed me to be quiet while they spoke. I responded that I had a Constitutional right to speak and that this was important, possibly a life-threatening event. The two men then instructed her to cuff me behind my back. Officer Nakai then apologized to me and began to place the cuffs behind my back, apologizing numerous times. At this time the gentleman who owned the home the tree was in front of stepped forward and spoke up, asking the police officers, Is this really necessary? Officer Gianfelice told this gentleman that it was not his concern and to go about his business. At this it was apparent to me that Officer Gianfelice was in charge, not the supervisor. I thanked the neighbor for his words and he went back to his house as he was instructed. I was then led to the police cars open right side back door and was instructed to be seated. I looked down into the car and noticed that the back seat was constructed of a hard plastic shell. I again voiced my concern about the cuffs behind my back and the pain that was already being produced just from the pressure of my arms being pulled against the medical device implanted in my back. The rubbing and pressure on the electrical stimulating device was already causing tingling and pain to shoot down my back. Officer Nakai again apologized, this time in a much quieter voice, possibly to keep the male officers from hearing her. Officer Gianfelice again discounted my complaints and concerns and told me to take a seat. I did my best to stoop down and place my buttocks in the car and slide back against the hard plastic seat. The more I attempted to move in, the more I twisted, and more pressure was placed directly against the SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR. Only now the device was being squeezed between the hard plastic seat and my upper body. I am five feet six inches (5 6) tall and have a heavy frame. My disability leaves me in a not-so-agile condition so bending and twisting are difficult for me even without handcuffs. I weighed almost 200 pounds at the time, so the pressure against the SCS was intense. Once I reached the place where I could no longer force myself to turn and pull my legs in, my right leg and foot were still partially hanging outside the door. At this point I could not get completely into the car so I complained again and pleaded for them to use some common sense to protect the SCS from the male officers, but instead one of them (my head was inside the car so I couldnt see which one) lifted my leg and pushed it into the vehicle. That sudden move cause me great pain and intense tingling down my leg. Next the officer leaned into the car and pressed against me, putting pressure on my cuffed hands which were stuck between the hard plastic seat with no give, and my back -- directly over my implanted medical device. The other male officer was reaching in to pull the seat belt against me. As he pressed against me the metal of the handcuffs pressed directly into my injured back and the hardware in it. This, added to the weight of my large frame pressing back against the metal cuffs compounded by the weight of the police officer forcing himself against me, laying against me as they pulled the seat belt across me, added even more strain. Finally the officer leaning against me forced my shoulder back hard against the rigid seat. With the CLICK of the seat belt it was too much for me to bear. I was now in EXCRUCIATING PAIN. My legs were beginning to turn numb and I cried out in pain because the pain was no longer being blocked by the SCS! The pain was shooting down my leg and a stabbing, excruciating pain set upon me. I yelled out, YOU BROKE IT! YOU JUST RUINED MY LIFE! Even now my leg was still partially protruding from the open car door but one of the officers pressed against it, closing the door and pushing me in and back at the same time. I screamed even louder and at some point, Im not exactly sure when, I became oblivious to anything but the blinding pain. Since Im not sure what happened next its possible that I passed out. I believe that the officers took me back out of the vehicle, and ONLY THEN DID THEY MOVE THE HANDCUFFS TO PLACE THEM IN FRONT OF ME. As I regained my faculties I wondered why now, all of a sudden, they were allowed to move the cuffs to the front as they SHOULD have done from the start to accomodate what was clearly my disability, an acute medical condition, an implanted medical device, and now an injury with painful consequences that were finally obvious to these two officers, especially the one who had manhandled me from the start. I was kind of out of it for a while but the next thing I remember Officer Gianfelice keyed his microphone and told someone, probably Dispatch, that he would be in transport to the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork, Utah. I was now starting to regain my faculties so I spoke up as he finished and informed him that I was now in extreme pain, something that should have been obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense, and that I would require a trip to the hospital emergency room before continuing to jail. Upon hearing this, Officer Gianfelice got very angry and refused, telling me that I was fine and he would not be taking me for any medical assistance. At this point I wondered where he had gone to medical school to become a doctor. I could not believe the way he was acting. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT I HAD BEEN TREATED IN THIS MANNER BY OFFICERS SWORN TO SERVE AND PROTECT! I COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT I WAS NOW BEING REFUSED MEDICAL CARE! I insisted that whether we went now or whether we went after the jail refused to take me because of my obviously severe medical condition, I WOULD be going to the hospital. Officer Gianfelice then picked up his microphone and keyed into Dispatch that he would be enroute to the hospital. Upon arrival at the American Fork Hospital, Officer Gianfelice drove to the Emergency Entrance but rather than pulling into the driveway by the Emergency Room door, he pulled over to the side approximately fifty (50) yards down the way. He came around to the passenger side of the vehicle and ordered me from the car and PULLED ME BY THE ARM as I complied. Once out of the car Officer Gianfelice began roughly pulling me toward the hospital entrance. The excruciating pain, WHICH HE HAD CAUSED, slowed me down so I could not keep up due to numbness and tingling in my lower extremities. My slowness seemed to anger the officer because at this point he pulled me harder and tripped me, throwing me to the ground. Then he jumped on top of me and said that I was resisting him. Resisting him? I was the one who needed medical care. I was the one who requested the trip to the hospital, so I had no reason to resist. I wanted to get into that Emergency Room as quickly as possible. I believe that Officer Gianfelice was using the last few yards he had me under his control in order to punish me for daring to ask for medical help before he was allowed to toss me in jail. As things turned out, I never went to jail that day. Unfortunately, it took this assault by a police officer who refused to listen to the pleas of a person in pain to produce this result. Eventually, Officer Gianfelice helped me up and continued to drag me by the arm. When we entered the hospital I informed the Emergency Room personnel that I was just assaulted in their parking lot by Officer Gianfelice and I requested that the County Sheriffs Office be called to the scene to investigate. I was taken to a room, placed on a gurney, and when the ER staff requested it I was uncuffed. A third male American Fork City Police Officer came to the hospital. This man was identified as a supervisor of the Training Officer. This officer called me a couple of names, pointed to the microphone on his hand-held radio, and said that these are video recorders and that everything was on videotape! I told him that if that was true I was happy and that I was making a request for said video. This supervisor then called me another name and turned to leave. I asked for his name and badge number but he refused. However, the Incident Report contained one more officers name, which was K. Skeem. Shortly after this supervisor left, Officer Gianfelice returned, handed me a citation, and informed me that I was no longer under arrest. I wondered at what point I had ceased being a dangerous criminal. At this point I still didnt know his name (I only found out after receiving a copy of the Incident Report) so I asked for HIS name and badge number. He also refused to give me this information. About this time my wife and brother arrived at the hospital to check up on me because they had both heard Officer Gianfelice assault me over the open phone line from the cell phone in my pocket. This ended the incident with the police. My wife and I waited for the results of the scan. We wanted to make sure that my implanted medical device was still intact and that the leads were not moved. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing at this point whether the leads were moved or if the device was damaged as a result of this assault by officers of The American Fork City Police Department. The way to discover if there was damage to this device would be by malfunction of the device causing deterioration of my back and foot. Over the last year and a half since this assault, I have suffered more and more as I have watched my toes, beginning with the big toe, start to die and spread across the foot to include my entire foot. signed Mark E. Byrge, Sr. Feel free to call anytime (801)709-8169 or email me at nomorebadcops911@gmail amaninavan11@gmail facebook group page Justan Othervictim Any and all help will be greatly appreciate by not Just Mark Byrge Sr. but his wife and 3 children
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 21:08:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015