Charges dropped in party arrests

The Columbia city prosecutor dropped charges Wednesday against five people arrested during a break-up of a house party, said George Batek, an attorney for some of the partygoers. The move came after the Columbia Police Department conceded that officers did not have a valid reason to enter the house.

Police Chief Randy Boehm said Tuesday that disciplinary action was taken against Officer Alan Mitchell after an investigation found he used “poor judgment” in breaking up a party in the 1000 block of Rogers Street on Feb. 12.

The three-month investigation was prompted by complaints filed by 20 partygoers who said police — some with weapons drawn — stormed the house, sprayed a man with Mace, tackled a woman to the ground and forcibly removed some partygoers.

Boehm declined to provide any details about the type of disciplinary action taken and denied partygoers’ statements that officers used unnecessary force to make arrests at the house party.

Patrick Kopine, 21, Giavanna Accurso, 24, Elihu Isele, 28, Rita Bacon, 24, Taylor McGraw, 22, and Sheena Coffee, 20, had been charged with interfering with a government operation.

Police also charged Coffee with interfering with an arrest and Brett Ruether, 22, with littering after he threw his hat, cell phone and book bag on the ground.

Batek said state charges against Kopine and city charges against Ruether had been already been dropped.

Batek’s clients argue that the investigation hasn’t gone far enough. McGraw disputes the finding that no unnecessary force was used and while Kopine said while he was happy having the charges dropped against him, he is still upset that he was sprayed with Mace by police.

“Several other officers should have been disciplined,” Kopine said. “Not all of them were going crazy, but there were four or five of them out of control.”

Kopine and other party goers said the police’s abusive manner may have stemmed from stress created by the death of Columbia police Officer Molly Bowden two days earlier.

Boehm acknowledged on Tuesday that officers were under stress but said the department didn’t hold itself to a “different standard” the week after Bowden’s death.

Most supervisory reviews are completed within 30 days, but the number of explanations of the incident lengthened the review process, Boehm said.

Despite receiving a May 18 letter of apology signed by Columbia police Capt. Brad L. Nelson, McGraw said the whole incident has left her wary of Columbia police.

“I will always remember what happened,” McGraw said. “I can’t really forget it.”

City Prosecutor Rose Wibbenmeyer, Mitchell and Boehm were not available for comment about the dropped charges.