Jordan Clendenen, Daniel Hinkley Jr. and Jeremy Bennett were also named as defendants in the suit.
On July 4, 2014, John E. Bumgarner and his wife were traveling northeast on Riverview Avenue in Alderson and, prior to reaching the stop sign at the intersection, Bumgarner had stopped to let Robert Baker enter Riverview Avenue from a side street, according to a complaint filed July 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Bumgarner claims when he reached the intersection of Riverview and Monroe, the traffic was stopped for no apparent reason and his view was blocked by Baker’s vehicle.
After sitting in place for 10 to 15 minutes, Bumgarner briefly tapped his horn to get Baker’s attention to see why traffic was not moving, according to the suit.
Bumgarner claims Clendenen was apparently directing traffic and had stopped traffic for another police officer to navigate through the traffic after a Fourth of July celebration ended.
After Bumgarner tapped his horn, Clendenen left his post at the center of the intersection and aggressively walked past Baker’s vehicle, appearing agitated.
The driver of the vehicle immediately behind Bumgarner’s testified that Clendenen “completely overreacted to Mr. Bumgarner’s blowing of his horn,” according to the suit.
Bumgarner claims Clendenen angrily approached him and asked him if he had a problem, to which he replied “no,” and he listened to Clendenen explain the reason for the traffic stoppage. He then thanked Clendenen and the officer began to walk away and then suddenly turned around and stated that if Bumgarner blew his horn again, he would issue him a citation for blowing his horn in that manner because it was illegal.
“The plaintiff, who is a retired West Virginia State Police trooper, meaning no disrespect to … Clendenen, stated, ‘Boy, I didn’t know tapping your horn was against the law,’” the complaint states.
Clendenen then angrily responded, “If you call me ‘boy’ one more time, I will yank you out of your truck and show you who the boy is,” and Bumgarner responded that using the word “boy” was not against the law, according to the suit.
Bumgarner claims that Clendenen then ordered him to pull his truck to the side of the road, which he could not immediately due because he was trapped between two cars. When he stated that he had done nothing wrong, Clendenen refused to let him leave and radioed for backup, and Hinkley and Bennett arrived.
The plaintiff again responded that he had done nothing wrong. Clendenen suddenly and unnecessarily attempted to forcibly pull Bumgarner’s truck door open and pull him out and, since there was no warning and Bumgarner’s truck was still in gear with his foot on the brake, he initially attempted to hold the door closed to attempt to regain control of the vehicle so he could safely exit, according to the suit.
Bumgarner claims he noticed his pistol, for which he had a permit, was hanging out due to the jarring of the door and about the fall to the ground and he informed the defendants that he had a lawfully owned and concealed pistol, for which he had a permit, and that it was about to fall to the ground.
The plaintiff picked the pistol up by the butt, holding it with his two left fingers and left thump with the barrel pointing down and held it up high so that the officers could see he meant no harm. He expected one of the officers to take the pistol from him, but they said nothing and them drew their weapons and threatened to shoot him.
Bumgarner claims he told them he had a permit and slowly went for his wallet to show them his concealed pistol permit, as well as his I.D., and, while in process of doing so, Hinkley attacked him.
While Hinkley allegedly was beating Bumgarner, the other two officers allegedly were holding his hands behind his back. When Bumgarner’s wife got out of the vehicle and ran to her husband, she was handcuffed and put in the back of a police cruiser, according to the suit.
Bumgarner claims he was charged with misdemeanor municipal violations of brandishing a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, and he was found guilty of both, sentenced to a fine and five days in jail. He appealed the conviction and, following a trial, was found not guilty of brandishing a deadly weapon, but was still found guilty of resisting arrest and the circuit court reinstated the $100 fine and five days in jail.
The Town of Alderson, through its police department, developed, implemented, fostered and encouraged a policy of using undocumented excessive force against arrestees and pretrial detainees, in violation of the Fourth and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution, according to the suit.
Bumgarner is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is being represented by John H. Bryan of John H. Bryan-Attorneys At Law.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 5:16-cv-05963
