It was the hip pivot that broke the law, say witnesses in Fort Worth officer’s trial
Defense witnesses characterized the rationale for arresting a man who claims he was attacked by a Fort Worth police officer as the hip pivot that broke the law.
Henry Newson, 20, was arrested at Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital in November 2016 by Fort Worth Police Officer Jon Preston Romer Jr. and charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespass.
Those charges were dismissed in March 2017 at prosecutorial discretion.
Romer, who was employed by the hospital’s parent company to enforce state laws while off duty, is on trial this week in State District Judge David Hagerman’s court on a charge of aggravated perjury. The state rested its case against Romer on Thursday morning.
Romer also faces charges of official oppression and making a false report to a police officer, but this trial focuses only on the aggravated perjury charge. If convicted, Romer could face up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Defense witnesses testified Thursday that Romer followed training approved by Fort Worth police, and that Newson was breaking the law prior to his arrest.
How he allegedly broke the law
When Romer approached Newson and put his hand on his chest and shoulder to escort him out of the building, Sgt. Scott Sykes testified, he was using an escort hold, a low-level control technique taught in the academy and approved by the department.
“Our goal is to use the least amount of force needed,” Sykes said.
As he was using the escort hold, Romer told Newson to get off the phone he was using and said, “Let’s go.” Those words should have been sufficient notice to alert Newson that he was being removed from the building, Sykes testified.
Up to that point Newson had broken no laws that Sykes could see from reviewing the video footage of the incident, Sykes said. That would happen two seconds later.
Newson pivoted toward Romer and tensed his muscles, which Sykes said he would call active resistance. Newson’s body posture did not indicate that he was leaving the building, Sykes said. Tensing your muscles is sufficient cause to suspect someone of resisting arrest, Sykes said.
“I could articulate a criminal trespass,” Sykes testified.
Fort Worth Police Capt. Shawn Stone, who testified directly after Sykes, said Romer may have placed his hand on Newson’s chest in order to get “his full and undivided attention.”
Apparently, hospital dispatchers had been watching Newson for some time on security cameras, and they called hospital security to assess the situation, according to Romer’s attorney, Lance Wyatt.
“Mr. Newson pivoted 180 degrees and planted his feet firmly and was in a position to strike,” Stone said. “All indications of active resistance.”
Once Newson makes the 180-degree spin, he is resisting arrest, Stone said. The distractionary strikes, such as the punch in the face, the arm bar to take Newson down to the ground, and the punches to the midsection that Romer and two hospital security officers delivered while Newson was on the ground, were intermediate uses of force, according to Stone.
During his cross-examination of Sykes, the special prosecutor for the case, Russell Wilson, asked how much time does a person have to respond to a request to leave the building communicated by a hand to the chest and orders to shut up and get off the phone.
Sykes said there was no time limit specified.
“So all you have to do is tense your muscles?” Wilson asked.
Sykes replied “yes,” that tensing your muscles was enough to indicate resistance. Sykes also added that the Fort Worth Police Department has policies and procedures in place to protest what a person perceives as an unlawful arrest, but protesting the circumstances of an arrest should never be done while the arrest is taking place.
“You do not have a right to resist arrest even if the arrest is unlawful, according to the resisting arrest statute in the penal code,” Sykes said.
Officers sometimes make mistakes
Sherry Kelly, the detective investigating the case, said she never heard Romer tell Newson that he needed to leave the premises before Romer punched the suspect in his face and midsection and pinned him to the ground.
Kelly, who reviewed video of the arrest, said she heard Romer tell Newson, ‘Let’s go,” which does not necessarily translate into, “You must leave the premises.”
Kelly also said she never heard Romer tell Newson that he was under arrest before hitting him.
The trial comes down to whether Romer lied to investigators and the grand jury about the arrest of Newson, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors read excerpts of grand jury testimony to the jury Thursday in which Romer said he did tell Newson that he was under arrest for resisting before he punched him. Grand jurors, part of an investigative body trying to determine if probable cause existed to pursue criminal charges in the case, asked Romer repeatedly why they could not hear him say that in the video recordings they reviewed.
Romer told the grand jurors who questioned him that he was 100 percent sure that he said it and that he could not help the grand jurors understand why they did not hear it
The grand jurors said they heard Romer say, ”Come on, get off the phone. Let’s go,” and they asked Romer if he was screaming when he said that. Romer replied that he told Newson that he was under arrest in about the same voice, according to the transcript of grand jury testimony read into the record.
Tim Choy, Romer’s attorney, asked Kelly if officers sometimes make mistakes on reports and affidavits and they are not considered lies by their superiors, and she said that is true.
Kelly also said during Choy’s cross-examination that the video showed conversations between Newson; Jeremy Flores, a security officer for Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth; and a man who loaned Newson a cell phone, but that no audio of their conversation was captured.
The Fort Worth Police Department placed Romer on restricted duty pending the outcome of the trial. Romer cannot carry a gun or badge, nor does he have any police authority, according to Lt. Michael B. O’Neil, a Fort Worth police spokesman.
Testimony in the trial is expected to resume Tuesday.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 2:35 PM.
