Police brutality alleged in Shiprock incident

Navajo Nation police are investigating a complaint by a Shiprock family who claim an arresting officer deliberately brutalized two family members during an arrest for domestic violence.

The complaint was filed by Louise John, 57, who claims that Officer Everett Gilbert of the Shiprock Police District is out to get her family because her daughter, Kristina, refused to go out with him.

Gilbert has denied any improper behavior to police supervisors. He did not respond to calls from the Navajo Times.

According to the supervisors, who asked to remain anonymous, the complaint stems from a Jan. 13 incident in which Gilbert and other officers arrested three of John's children who were involved in a domestic violence dispute.

Last week Gilbert filed a restraining order against John, claiming that she's been following him around. John said her family may seek a restraining order against him, as well as other legal relief.

"We're also looking for an attorney who will file a lawsuit against him for harassing us and hurting my son," she said.

The son is Jeffrey Williams, 30, who says tribal police and corrections officers caused a serious injury to his knee while arresting him and then refused to take him to the hospital for medical care.

Johns' daughter, Loretta Williams, 32, made a similar complaint against police and correction officers, saying police refused to let her get medical treatment after she was hit in the face during the family fight leading up to her arrest.

Police were called to the John residence about 4 a.m. on Jan. 13 by a family member who reported that drinking had led to a fight.

Loretta Williams said police were called because her brothers, Jeffrey Williams and Clarence Curley, 26, were attacking her.

She said she was in the back yard fighting off Curley, who was going after her with a bat, when Officer Gilbert and another officer arrived and ordered her brother, "Get off her and step away."

Curley complied and was handcuffed. The other officer, Harold Moses, then handcuffed Loretta Williams. At that point Jeffrey Williams came out of the house and he was arrested as well.

However, Jeffrey Williams, in a statement about the incident, said, "Gilbert ran at me, pushed me forcefully while I was face down, jumped to my back and cuffed me."

Gilbert then stood him up and left him alone while checking with Officer Moses. Williams saw an opportunity to get away, and says he ran to the front of the house.

"That is when Gilbert jumped on me with his whole weight and I hit my knee on the concrete scalloping on the edge of the walkway," Williams said, adding that he could tell something was wrong with his knee because it began hurting terribly.

As for trying to escape, Williams said the reason he took off was "that I have seen how the prisoners are treated in the Shiprock jail and it isn't very well."

All three were arrested and taken to the Shiprock jail.

Humiliation and pain

Loretta Williams said that while she was being transported to the jail, she asked Gilbert why she was being arrested since all she had done was defend herself.

She said he replied, "I will let you know when we get to the police department. Your sister's a b****."

She said she looked at him and asked what her sister had to do with it and that Gilbert replied, "I'm getting back at her for..." and then stopped.

Loretta Williams said that as they were heading to the jail, she asked to stop at Northern Navajo Medical Center so she could have doctors look at her head because it was hurting from the injuries she received at the hands of her brothers.

"No, you don't need to go. Just shut up," Gilbert reportedly said.

"I kept asking for medical attention because my head and right ear were throbbing," Loretta Williams said. She said she finally told Gilbert he did not care if she had a head injury, and that he admitted he didn't care.

Jeffrey Williams, who was also being transported in the police unit, also was complaining about his injuries. Gilbert's response, he said, was that this wasn't his problem.

The Williams siblings were hoping that when they got to the jail, someone there would see that they were in pain and would have them taken to the hospital. But the situation became even worse, they said.

"My brother had to help me to the cell," said Jeffrey Williams, and as they were going, he claims that Gilbert came up behind them and yelled, "Hurry up and get in the cell before I drag you in there myself."

"He then left. Then we heard our sister, Loretta, screaming and yelling for help and saying she needed to be taken to the hospital. I don't know what they were doing to her but it sounded bad," Jeffrey Williams said.

When a detention officer approached, Jeffrey Williams said he again asked to be taken to the hospital only to be told, "You can walk you're a** up there yourself when you get out."

Loretta Williams said Gilbert first took her brothers into the jail to be admitted, and then returned accompanied by a female officer. Williams said she begged the female officer to take her to the hospital.

The female officer then asked Gilbert if she should take Williams to the hospital and Williams says he replied, "She's lying. There's nothing wrong with her."

Williams said that as she sat in the police unit awaiting processing, two female detention officers were observing the scene as they sat by the station door. They were laughing, she claims, and one said, "Let's Taser her. We haven't used it!"

Williams said she began crying even more.

"As I was listening to what they were saying, I began to feel more afraid than I have ever been in my entire life."

She then asked them if she had any rights, and one officer said, "Yes, that's what we're saying, B****, you have no rights here."

Loretta Williams alleges that Gilbert then pulled her out of the police unit and dragged her the 100 yards to the police station.

She said Gilbert kicked her, causing her to urinate on herself, which triggered more laughter from the onlooking jailers. One of them then began repeatedly kicking Williams on the right shin, she alleges.

"The pain that I was experiencing was so intense," Williams said. "Being grabbed so hard and jerked around made me feel like a ragdoll given to a pack of wolves."

The same officer then pulled the barrette from her hair, Williams alleges, adding that she could feel the hair being pulled out of her scalp.

"My heart was beating so fast that I felt like this was it. I'm going to die here and they don't care about the pain they are causing me," she said, adding that she was screaming and yelling for help.

Williams said the jailers told her it did no good to scream because they had done this before to other prisoners and always got away with it.

She said she was then dragged to a cell and left alone. Thirty minutes later, another detention officer came by and again refused her request for medical attention. A few more hours passed and another detention officer - a male - came by and taunted her, saying she looked ugly.

Shattered kneecap

Loretta Williams was released from jail about 2 p.m., some 90 minutes after her brothers. The police furnished Jeffrey Williams with a set of crutches.

According to their mother, family members then took the two brothers to the hospital, where Jeffrey Williams was immediately scheduled for surgery to repair a shattered kneecap. Two weeks later doctors operated on the knee again, she said.

Jeffrey Williams is now on crutches and may never be able to walk normally again, John said.

"He was told to go to the Social Security office and apply for disability," she said.

In his statement about the incident, Clarence Curley said he was shocked at what happened to the family that night.

"I know that even though you are in jail, you have rights," he said. "Something has to be done about the abuse within the Shiprock District jail."

Loretta Williams, in a separate statement, said she believes what happened to her and her brother at the jail is not unusual. "They think no one will believe (those who claim to be mistreated)."

John said she believes Gilbert acted as he did out of hurt pride. She said he tried to date her other daughter, but Kristina turned him down because he is married.

John said she has spent the last two weeks meeting with officials in the president's office, the speaker's office and the Public Safety Committee.

All of them referred her back to the Division of Public Safety and told her she should ask for an internal investigation, which she has done.

"But I am worried that all they will do is cover this up," John said.

DPS Director Samson Cowboy said the matter is under investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Division.

"We don't do cover-ups under my administration," Cowboy said, adding that the investigators will check medical records and talk to as many people as possible to get at the truth.

John said she is still dealing with the restraining order Gilbert filed against her claiming she was following her.

"I'm spending all of my time trying to get someone to deal with him. I don't have time to follow him around," she said.

As for Officer Gilbert, he remains on duty but Cowboy said if the investigation finds some validity to the accusations, he will face disciplinary action, which could include termination.

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