Off-duty deputy is accused of drunken arrest

ATV rider’s lawyer challenges assault charge in St. James area

Friday, May 16, 2008

Shane R. Weasenforth, 25, of Lexington Park was released on personal recognizance after his arrest Tuesday night on charges of a second-degree assault on sheriff’s deputy David Goff and resisting arrest.

No charges were reported against Goff, a patrol officer with the agency, but Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said a portable breath test administered near the scene indicated Goff had a blood-alcohol level of more than .14 percent. An evidentiary blood-alcohol test later was done at sheriff’s headquarters, where the three-year veteran agency had been scheduled to go on duty that evening. Instead, he was suspended, with pay.

‘‘The law dictates that it’s with pay unless it’s a felony,” the sheriff said. ‘‘There haven’t been any criminal or administrative charges preferred yet.”

Goff was traveling with his wife and a child in a truck on Route 235 at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the St. James area when he confronted Weasenforth, who was riding an all-terrain vehicle on the highway’s shoulder to get from a trail to his nearby residence, Weasenforth’s lawyer David Weiskopf said.

Goff was ‘‘just ranting at him” and threatening to impound the ATV, and flashed a badge, Weiskopf said.

Weasenforth sensed ‘‘something wasn’t right,” the lawyer said, ‘‘so he drove off, and this guy took a swing at him and hit him on the elbow.”

Weasenforth turned the ATV around in a cousin’s driveway, the lawyer said, and encountered a police cruiser driven by sheriff’s deputy Dale Reppel, also in civilian clothes, with Goff in the passenger seat.

Weasenforth obeyed Reppel’s order that he get on the ground, the lawyer said, but Goff started cursing at Weasenforth and ‘‘beating his head into the gravel.”

Weasenforth, accompanied by his fiancee, could smell an alcoholic beverage on Goff’s breath, the lawyer said, and Weasenforth wanted other officers to give Goff a breath test. ‘‘The alcohol was just reeking off him,” Weiskopf said. ‘‘A crowd showed up, and according to my client’s fiancee, [Goff] tried to pick a fight with a member of the crowd.”

Goff reported that he identified himself as a sheriff’s deputy when he first confronted Weasenforth at the highway, and that Weasenforth spit on the deputy’s shirt, according to charging papers.

‘‘He says he didn’t,” Weiskopf said of his client’s account of the incident. ‘‘Whose word am I believing, a drunk deputy or a sober client? At this point, my client.”

Reppel reported that Weasenforth spit at Goff again and tried to punch Goff before they put Weasenforth on the ground and eventually took him into custody as he resisted commands that he put his hands behind his back, according to the statement of probable cause filed by sheriff’s deputy John Kirkner, who took Weasenforth to the county jail.

Weasenforth denied spitting on Goff or attempting to hit him, court papers state, and acknowledged that Goff had indentified himself as a ‘‘sheriff” and displayed the badge.

Weasenforth said Thursday that he suffered a ‘‘swollen head” from the beating, but was physically all right.

‘‘It hurt my feelings more than anything, plus my 6-year-old daughter witnessed it,” he said. ‘‘It was just totally unnecessary. They knew the guy was wrong. They let me call Weiskopf from the back of the police car on the way up the road.”

Goff’s preliminary blood-alcohol reading was twice the legal limit to drive, but Cameron said Reppel never saw Goff driving and was flagged down by Goff no more than 20 feet from the driveway where they arrested Weasenforth. Other higher-ranking officers including the agency’s chief detective arrived at the scene and took command.

The primary ‘‘allegation of misconduct” against Goff involves his use of force and sobriety, the sheriff said, and the matter will be investigated and referred to St. Mary’s State’s Attorney Richard Fritz, who also responded to the sheriff’s office Tuesday night.

‘‘We want to be thorough,” Cameron said. ‘‘We’ll look at it in its totality.”

The sheriff said ‘‘the activities of all personnel at the scene are being reviewed as part of the investigation,” and that no administrative action has been taken against any other officer.