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    • Iowa domestic crime victim’s family loses lawsuit against police
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    Iowa domestic crime victim’s family loses lawsuit against police

    Online Niel Posted on

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    A small-town police department cannot be held liable for its allegedly poor response to a woman’s complaints about repeated threats and harassment by her estranged husband, who eventually killed her, a judge has ruled. federal court.

    Angela Prichard, 55, was shot in October 2022 by her husband, Christopher, who was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In the weeks leading up to her death, Christopher Prichard made several threats against her and her business, vandalized her property and repeatedly violated a temporary restraining order against him.

    After her death, her family sued the city of Bellevue and his police department, alleging that officers’ kindness to her husband contributed to their failure to take action in response to her reports against him.

    On October 21, the court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the officers’ “inaction” did not create a danger to Prichard and that an Iowa law that requires officers to arrest those who violate restraining orders does not give victims the right to sue if they do not I succeed. to do this.

    Attorney Dave O’Brien, who represents the plaintiffs, said in an email that the family disagreed with the decision and filed a motion for Chief Justice CJ Williams to reconsider his ruling. He said he is also asking the Iowa Supreme Court to consider the correct interpretation of the state statute.

    City attorneys cited the ongoing litigation in declining to comment on the lawsuit, including whether the city has disciplined any officers or updated training or policies since Angela Prichard’s death.

    The police allegedly ignored the warning signs

    According to the lawsuit, it was not difficult to conclude that Christopher Prichard posed a threat to his wife. He was accused of domestic violence against her six months before her death, and she found hidden surveillance devices and cameras in her car and home.

    In the two months before her death, he texted her threatening to “get really ugly” and “destroy (her) business”, filed false police reports against her and vandalized her home. with paint and dog feces, as well as leaving guns visibly scattered around.

    In September 2022, a court issued a restraining order and specifically ordered that if Christopher Prichard violated the terms by approaching his wife, he “shall be arrested forthwith.” This is in addition to an Iowa statute that requires that if an officer has reason to believe someone is violating a protective order, “the peace officer shall take the person into custody.”

    Iowa Capital Dispatch: The City argues that the police had no duty to protect the crime victim

    But the lawsuit says Prichard made dozens of reports that her husband violated the order, to little effect. The police arrested him only once, keeping him overnight in jail, and did not arrest him after further reports, even after he failed to appear in court and was sentenced to another five days for trespassing.

    The complaint accused the police of favoritism toward Christopher Prichard, noting that he performed free or discounted electrical work for some of them. He claimed that by signaling that they could act with impunity, the police left Angela Prichard in danger.

    Do officers have a duty to protect?

    The court rejected this argument. While government officials can be held liable for the so-called “state-created danger,” the charges suggest only that Bellevue police failed to adequately respond to a danger posed by Prichard’s husband, Williams, the judge wrote.

    “The court does not necessarily uphold the officers’ alleged actions — or, more specifically, inaction — here,” Williams wrote. “This does not mean, however, that the defendants’ conduct rises to the level (of violating Prichard’s rights).”

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    And while the officers may have violated Iowa law by not arresting Christopher Prichard for each violation, that law does not give victims the right to sue them for failing to do so, the judge found.

    In their latest filings, the plaintiffs asked the court to send that question to the Iowa Supreme Court for interpretation. They’re also asking the court to reconsider in light of evidence they say the state intended to create a cause of action when officers fail to arrest abusers and claim the officers involved lied in statements about accepting low-cost services from to the couple’s business. .

    Would a more vigorous enforcement have saved Angela Prichard?

    In a footnote, Williams notes that while the police could have more aggressively investigated and prosecuted Christopher Prichard’s reported violations of the protective order, that does not mean he would have guaranteed his wife’s safety.

    “Plaintiffs speculate that if the officers had arrested Christopher more often, they would have prevented Angela’s murder,” the judge wrote. “No doubt, one could equally speculate that the officers’ arrest of Christopher for violating the no-contact order enraged him enough to kill Angela. His failure to appear for a hearing and failure to surrender for a prison sentence undoubtedly suggests that he was upset at being held accountable for violating the no-contact order.”

    Even if he had been arrested immediately after skipping court, the maximum time he would have spent in jail was six days, Williams wrote.

    “If he wanted to kill Angela, he only had to wait those six days,” he wrote. “This illustrates the dire situation facing victims of domestic violence, as no contact order, even when enforced, hardly carries the weight of punishment that serves as a deterrent to a violent person.”

    William Morris covers the courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at [email protected] or 715-573-8166.

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