Man accuses deputy of assault in civil suit

A 21-year-old Post Falls man acquitted in June of obstructing an officer is suing Kootenai County, the Sheriff’s Department and the deputy who arrested him.

In the civil suit filed Monday, Adam E. Wichman alleges that Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Mumford assaulted him at gunpoint, pushed him down a flight of stairs and forced him to lie on a floor covered in spilled beer and “unknown liquids” for 15 minutes or more.

Wichman claims he was “illegally and maliciously arrested for simply asking a question of Mumford and charged with criminal conduct he did not commit.”

Mumford could not be reached for comment Wednesday and both the county and the Sheriff’s Department declined comment.

According to court records, Mumford arrested Wichman and charged him with obstructing an officer after responding to a complaint of a loud party in October 2004.

In the report Mumford filed on the incident, he said he arrived at a house on Cranston Court in Post Falls in the early morning hours of Oct. 10. Police found an 18-year-old bleeding from a stab wound to his arm and other injuries from a fight that happened during the party.

Mumford said in his report that he looked through a broken window on the garage door and saw several people inside. He said he knocked on the garage and ordered those inside to open the door.

He said Wichman yelled a profanity at him and said, “We’re not going to,” again yelled a profanity and said that they didn’t want to receive citations for minors in possession of alcohol. When Mumford got inside the house, he said he ordered everyone to lie on the floor while he checked for any other injured people.

Mumford said he saw Wichman on the floor, told him to get up and arrested him. He said he placed Wichman in his patrol car and spent the next four hours handing out citations to minors who had been drinking.

In court, Wichman and others who were at the party told a different version of the night’s events.

During Wichman’s criminal trial, Wichman testified that Mumford was cussing and yelling through the garage window to open the door. He said people were yelling at Mumford to go away and continuing to drink. Before long, Wichman said, he heard a loud kick at the door and officers came in with their guns drawn.

He said Mumford ordered everyone to get on the floor.

“I was on the ground with three of my friends,” Wichman testified. “I asked him why he had his gun out. He said, ‘Smart ass, get up.’ That was when I was arrested.”

Others who were at the party testified that Mumford pushed people down the stairs and then forced them all to lay on the floor, which was dirtied with spilled beer, liquor and blood.

A jury found Wichman not guilty of obstructing an officer.

Mumford, who was honored this spring for making the most DUI arrests in his department, has also been named in previous claims against the county for alleged use of excessive force.

He was named in a civil suit in 2002 after pulling over the daughter of a local attorney for suspected DUI. Attorney Timothy Eismann said Mumford slammed his daughter, Mimi TenEyck, onto the hood of his patrol car. A judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that the claim couldn’t be brought forth again.

Mumford was also sued in connection with the arrest of a Sandpoint man during the 1999 Car d’Lane riot. Michael Rosenberger, who was arrested for obstructing an officer, alleged that Mumford and another officer gave him a neck injury when they brought him to the ground and his head hit the pavement.

The district court granted partial summary judgment in the officers’ favor and the Idaho Supreme Court additionally ruled that the officers were protected from being sued for civil damages even if their actions may have caused injury during the course of an arrest.

In the civil suit filed this week, Wichman makes several allegations against Mumford, including that the deputy pulled his pants down while pat-searching him and roughly forced him into his patrol car.

Wichman alleges that Mumford left him, handcuffed, in the patrol car for up to six hours, causing pain, numbness and swelling in his hands, arms and shoulders. Wichman says that he attempted to relieve the pain by working the handcuffs so he could be more comfortable and that “Mumford attacked (him) for his actions.”

He alleges that Mumford pulled him out of the car, choked and shook him and “kneed him in the face.” Wichman says that Mumford then tied his feet and strapped him into the car with a seat belt.

Wichman is seeking damages in excess of $10,000 for alleged bodily injury, assault and battery, emotional distress and violation of due process.