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Troopers cleared in excessive force case Indiana County man charged he was beaten during trailer park arrest Thursday, January 25, 2001 By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Samuel Shupe said the two state troopers smashed his face into the side of his van, bloodying his nose and loosening his teeth.
The troopers said Shupe did that damage to himself when he tried to brace his foot against a jailhouse wall and, to keep from being taken inside, pushed off and fell face-first onto some bricks.
The conflicting stories were central to a civil trial in U.S. District Court this week.
After deliberating about an hour and a half yesterday, the jury sided with troopers George Goodrich and Stephen Colo of the Indiana barracks.
Shupe, 50, of Armstrong Township in Indiana County, admitted he was drunk when he was arrested Aug. 14, 1996, but he claimed the troopers used excessive force when they took him into custody during a struggle in the trailer park where he lived.
The troopers said Shupe was "severely intoxicated" and so belligerent that they had to use pepper spray on him, but they denied hitting him or causing his injuries.
In testimony Tuesday, Goodrich said he used the spray to subdue Shupe while trying to arrest him for public drunkenness in the trailer park, where Shupe had been driving a van through residents' yards.
But Goodrich said he only used enough force to control Shupe long enough to get him handcuffed and into his patrol car.
Police officers are trained in what they call the "escalation of force," in which they are supposed to increase the level one notch higher than the violence they are facing so they can control a suspect without injuring him.
Goodrich said that's what he did when Shupe resisted arrest.
"Pain is better than an injury," he said. "I didn't want to strike him. ... Using pepper spray, he's only in pain for a short period of time."
Goodrich said all of Shupe's injuries occurred when he fell on his face at the jail while handcuffed, which the troopers said was his own fault.
Eugene Reinbold, Shupe's lawyer, said that story wasn't as plausible as Shupe's version of events.
"Obviously, he shouldn't have been drinking as much as he was, but that doesn't matter," he told the jury. "In this case, it's our position that they went too far. ... He's entitled to be paid."
The incident began at 2 a.m. when a woman living at the S Enterprise Trailer Court in Armstrong called police and said someone was driving through her yard in a van and yelling obscenities and racial slurs.
When Goodrich and Colo showed up, according to their statements in court records, they saw Shupe in the van and noticed the vehicle had fresh grass and dirt on the wheels.
When Goodrich questioned Shupe, the trooper said he smelled alcohol on Shupe's breath and decided to write two citations for disorderly conduct and harassment. He said Shupe threw the tickets out the window and told the troopers he would keep driving because the trailer park was private property.
Goodrich then placed him under arrest for public drunkenness and ordered him out of the van. That's when, Shupe said, Goodrich and Colo slammed him face-first against the van, damaging and loosening his teeth.
Shupe said the Indiana County Jail wouldn't accept him because he was injured, but the troopers insisted he injured himself.
On the stand, Goodrich said he couldn't be sure if Shupe fell once or twice, a memory lapse Reinbold seized on to discredit the defense. But Goodrich said he couldn't remember the details because he was preoccupied with his own safety.
"My concern after he fell was getting his bodily fluids off my bare arm," he said.
Either way, Shupe was treated at Indiana Hospital and returned to the jail at about 5 a.m.
A few hours later, he pleaded guilty to all charges.
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