CROWN POINT -- Charges were dismissed Tuesday against a man whose videotaped arrest during a traffic stop in Hammond resulted in the suspension of the arresting officer.
Attorney Ben Murphy said all charges against his client, Anthony O'Connor, including operating while intoxicated, reckless driving, resisting arrest and improper use of a turn signal, were dismissed by Lake Superior Judge Sheila Moss for failure to bring O'Connor to a speedy trial.
"I know he's very happy with the result," Murphy said of his client.
He advised O'Connor not to comment on the case because he has a civil suit pending against the city of Hammond and the Police Department.
O'Connor was stopped behind his home in the 4900 block of Ash Avenue in August 1999 by Hammond police Officer Gerald Doughty for allegedly failing to use a turn signal. Twelve days later, O'Connor filed a complaint against the Police Department alleging Doughty used excessive force during the arrest. The arrest was captured by a video camera mounted in Doughty's patrol car.
After a three-day disciplinary hearing last April
the Hammond Board of Public Works and Safety placed
Doughty on a 90-day suspension without pay for beating O'Connor with a metal baton and kicking him in the stomach. Prior to the hearing, Hammond Police Chief John Cory recommended to the board that Doughty be fired, but the Board of Captains, a police disciplinary board, exonerated Doughty of any wrongdoing after reviewing the videotape.
Murphy said Doughty's failure to appear at two hearings and a deposition "might have affected the delay."
O'Connor's mother, Kathy LeBlanc, speaking by phone from Watertown, N.Y., said her son called her Tuesday with the good news.
"When he called me this afternoon I was jumping up and down like a whirling dervish," LeBlanc said. "Tomorrow's my birthday; it couldn't get any better, not even red roses could do it."
Doughty is currently on administrative leave without pay while he appeals a second case to the Hammond Board of Public Works and Safety. The case involving the arrest of an East Chicago man during which Doughty allegedly beat the man occurred five days prior to O'Connor's arrest. That incident was not videotaped.
Elizabeth Eaken can be reached at eeaken@howpubs.com or (219) 933-3318.
