MORGANTON --
A 75-year-old man arrested on Jan. 30 made an appearance before the Morganton City Council on Monday and accused Morganton Department of Public Safety officers of “police brutality.”
Joe Eddy Roper said he was falsely arrested following an argument in the parking lot of Mighty Dollar on Fleming Drive. He wants to see arresting officer Kim Davis and back-up officers fired.
“I am the victim, but I got beat up, arrested and was taken to jail for no reason,” said Roper. “I hadn’t done anything.”
Officers charged Roper with going armed to the terror of the public, simple assault and resisting an officer. His son, Edward Allen Roper, 48, was also charged with communicating threats.
Roper also disputed information police provided to The News Herald in last Wednesday’s police blotter.
Someone called the police alerting them of a “heated argument” in the parking lot and a second call indicated a man in a brown van had a handgun, according to Morganton Public Safety.
Roper said he never followed Eric Eugene Nichols into Mighty Dollar nor did he take a gun out.
Nichols approached him and his son, said Roper, and threatened the pair.
Roper initially reached for a can of mace, but chose to get in his van and leave, he said.
By that time, public safety officers had arrived on the scene.
Roper said he didn’t resist the officers, but may have appeared to because he can’t raise his left arm above his head due to a rotator cuff injury.
“I did not jerk away from officer Davis. I might have flinched…It means that you draw away from pain,” Roper told the council.
He was in the pain at the time, and officers exacerbated that pain by forcefully handcuffing him, said Roper.
“She put the handcuffs on me so tight that both my wrists were cut and bleeding,” said Roper.
The 75-year-old said he never pulled his gun out to approach Nichols or the police. He said an officer pulled out Roper’s handgun from the van while Roper was handcuffed.
Roper said he has 20 years of law enforcement experience, but has had issues with police officers in the past.
And he’s not the only person who has had bad experiences with public safety, said Roper.
He said there are two reasons no one in the community has stood up yet: “One is they’re afraid of the establishment. The other, they have no money.”
Roper said the issue won’t go away unless the council does something.
“You’re elected to serve the people…fire these officers that make up your rough neck team,” Roper told the council.
City attorney Steve Settlemyer said Roper could pursue the matter in court, “where disputes of this nature ought to be resolved.”
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