Nitro resident sues St. Albans patrolman

St Albans Police Dept will not take CITIZEN COMPLAINTS or for that matter FORMAL COMPLAINTS against their police officers. I have tried four times to make a Citizens Complaint and was just blown off by Police Chief Joe Crawford and St Albans Mayor Dick Callaway. I did make a FORMAL COMPLAINT with Vice Mayor Helen Warren in Jan 15 2009, still waiting to hear back on that.

The dates are Nov. 11, 2007, Nov 14, 2007, Jan, 14, 2008, Feb, 4, 2008. Saint Albans Police Chief Joe Crawford did state that he hadn’t handled this complaint very well and expressed his regret. He did say at this time that he and the mayor thought this seemed to be a “pissing match” between Captain Hanshaw and myself.”

Sounds like we as citizens need to take a very hard look at the leadership within St Albans Police Force and Government.

Tagayun never should have been given a job to start with !!!!

QUOTE FROM wvgazette.com
“St. Albans Police Chief Joe Crawford said he was aware of the incident, but his office never conducted an internal investigation because a formal complaint was never filed.”

"Obviously, had a complaint been filed, we would have investigated," he said.
You don’t speak the truth Mr. Crawford

Looks like the code of blue is getting in the way of responsible government and till St Albans Mayor Dick Callaway gets a little backbone and stands up to wrong doing in this town we will have to put up with official misconduct, incompetence, neglect of duty, and gross immorality.

Just some more people that like to talk about things they have no idea about. You get hired on and try to do better at breaking up fights with weapons

You obviously don't know what you are talking about either. You weren't there and if you were, you'd know the 'fight' was 'verbal' and the guy that took the beating had a soft velcro cast and was not part of the 5 boys who were trading words and knew each other. Check out the pics on www.wvrecord.com to view the cast. And if you try to say there was a physical altercation that Tagayun had to split up, then we know you are one the infamous SPD crew.

I agress %100 with "To St. Albans Justice"" I know there's more to the story then what the St. Albans police are telling. In due time I'm sure they will pay in the end.

How many time is St Albans Tagayun going to rewrite his complaint, I have seen two different versions so far?

“Prosecutors dropped the brandishing and resisting arrest charges against Botkins in Kanawha Magistrate Court on July 10. Magistrate Kim Aaron dismissed the assault charge on the same day because the complaint was defective.”

Complaint was defective anyone have any ideal what that means?

Apparently it took him a few times. If you check out the WV Record mentioned above, it lists all civil action numbers. The assigned civil action numbers were not assigned consecutively meaning that one charge was written and then he went back and wrote two more at a later date. Each charge is a seperate complaint. The PA dropped the brandishing and resisting charges because they were unfounded - he had no weapon and he wasn't under arrest in order for him to 'resist arrest'. The 'assault' charge was defective because there was no victim. When Crawford states they are looking to refile charges, he is just blowing smoke.

Thanks for the info, Bad Police work at its finest, refiling would be retaliation if you ask me. My family knows all about the retaliation don’t we Joe, just blow the dust off my complaint because that was one of the things listed.

C,mon, I'm sure tagayun could have handled things better, but the so-called victim put him in an awkward situation acting like an ass.I mean how illiterate are you to think he would beat a man with his gun in a public place if there was no choice. The jackass had to have been fighting him from the beginnig. I'm sick of everybody crying about police officers and relying on them when the shit hits the fan. For the record, I'm not a cop, but a citizen that wants change for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.

modernsociety wrote:

C,mon, I'm sure tagayun could have handled things better, but the so-called victim put him in an awkward situation acting like an ass.I mean how illiterate are you to think he would beat a man with his gun in a public place if there was no choice. The jackass had to have been fighting him from the beginnig. I'm sick of everybody crying about police officers and relying on them when the shit hits the fan. For the record, I'm not a cop, but a citizen that wants change for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.

The charges against this man were dropped because the victim gave him no reason to do what he done. You should follow the story a little better for making uneducated comments. There were witnesses to this officer's actions. The cop has issues...ask some of the business owners in that area.

well, i saw a state trooper pull a woman by the back of her head by the hair, when he answered a call to break up a fight at a dept store parking lot,...i thought that was wrong

a state trooper also smacked my someone i know in the face before and they turned a canine loose on sombody and then beat him at the head quarters so bad that he was in a wheel chair and on crutches

Was your someone you know resisting arrest maybe?

To Vanilli...around here, probably not. Have you not seen all of the news about all of the officers....deputys, troopers and city cops that are or have been in trouble for these kind of actions or for raping someone? It's ridiculous! Obviously, they aren't as choosy as they used to be when hiring.

vanilli wrote:

Was your someone you know resisting arrest maybe?

no, the first one i was ref to was my dad,...his brothers son was adopted by their mother and he had been mistreating her,..and my dad went there to talk to them about having him arrested,...i dont know what all happ., b/c i was not in the room, but all i know is he said that one of them slapped him in the face,,....he tried to file a complaint w/ the state about it and nothing was done,...but no, my dad was not arrested, nor had he done anything to be arrested,..he got slapped and walked out of there free,..but slapped..lol

WVeer wrote:

To Vanilli...around here, probably not. Have you not seen all of the news about all of the officers....deputys, troopers and city cops that are or have been in trouble for these kind of actions or for raping someone? It's ridiculous! Obviously, they aren't as choosy as they used to be when hiring.

that's right, they are always hiring, and anybody that can pass that test will prob. get hired,..and once they get that badge they think they can get away w/ anything

another thing that happ to me,...i was pulled over once by a state trooper when i was like 18 yrs. old, for having a break light out,....the trooper started screaming for me to put my hands up, as he was walking up to my vehicle,..i didnt even have tinted wdws,...as he was walking up to my vehicle he had his hand on his gun the entire time,,...not your norm. traffic stop.....he told me he pulled me over for a break light out,...and then searched my vehicle...for no reason,...i was an 18 yr. old female,..and he searched for what reason i dont know,..i didnt have anything,..and had no crim. record at all.....i always thought that was uncalled for to this day....

another true story, i was driving up around south ridge,...a state trooper had followed me from 119 around oakwood 7-11,...he had actually been in front of me..and pulled off the road,..waited until i passed and got directly behind me.....he foll. me all the way to south ridge and when i sig. to pull in the first ex. to go to pets mart...he waited until we got past the KFC and put his lights on,..then when he walked up to my car...he told me that i didnt sig. w/ in 100 ft when i took the ex....which is bs.....i did sig. in time,....he's using that as a reason to pull me....then he checked everythign and told me that they are just looking for DUI's.....this was at 12 in the afternoon,...i was not driving like i would have been under the influ.....i was on my way to petsmart and had two children in the car w/ me,,,..ages 6 and 4 yrs old....this was so unnec..

two other incidents w/ police,...my bf and i were driving back from columbus from vis. w/ fam...and had pulled off the interstate to switch drivers,..this was about 11 pm, and i was getting tired...we still had another hour drive to go to get home,..the police pulled over behind us,..and asked us what we were doing,..where we were coming from....and when we told them that we were switching drivers...they're words were that "they did not "beleive" us......i thought this was so rude to say to somebody to call them a liar....they event. let us go, and went on about their way........second incident,...my sister and i were on our way to columbus to visit w/ fam one wknd...and went on 35 throught winfield...i was speeding and got pulled over,..the cop asked where we were going and i said to columbus, oh,..and again,...i was told that "he did not beleive that's where we were actually going".....what is us w/ cops here thinking ppl dont travel out of town.....lmao.....

oh, another time, i had set my cruise control to the speed limit, which was 45 and went down a hill so my speed went up to about 50ish going down hill,....well a city cop was sitting at the bottom of the hill, and wrote me like a 100 ticket for speeding,...i told him i had my cruise set to the speed limit and i was going down a hill and he ignored me..and wrote it anyway...that was bs..