Ronan police case still being litigated
By MICHELLE LOVATO
Lake County Leader
The City of Ronan and four citizens are still fighting a legal case involving former reserve police officer Trevor Wadsworth.
Filed in June 2014 by resident Anthony Chaney, the case involves the definition of reserve police officer, and Wadsworth’s actions when subduing Chaney’s brother during an altercation outside a Ronan bar in July 2013.
Bystanders at the Ronan bar had called emergency dispatch and reported a fight in progress. Ronan Police Chief Daniel Wadsworth, his son Trevor Wadsworth, and other officers responded.
Chaney’s brother, Donald Chaney, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and Chaney was helping him. Anthony Chaney alleges that Trevor Wadsworth pulled him from his brother’s aid, forced him to the ground, injured his neck, then cuffed and arrested him. A Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal officer later released him.
The lawsuit in Federal District Court in Missoula alleges Trevor Wadsworth illegally assaulted, handcuffed and arrested Anthony Chaney.
Nine months into the lawsuit’s progress through the court system, attorneys are focused on defining the term “reserve officer,” according to March 12 court documents.
Chaney’s lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, must first determine if Chaney, or anyone in a potential class, has the legal grounds to accuse Trevor Wadsworth or Daniel Wadsworth, the police department, the city or its mayor.
Chaney’s complaint says he was denied his civil rights by someone who was acting as a police offer, court documents said.
Three days after the alleged 2013 injury and arrest, Chaney learned that Trevor Wadsworth was ineligible to act as a peace officer and was ineligible as far back as 2010, according to a July 16, 2013 ruling of the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council.
The council is the law-enforcement training arm responsible for certifying Montana police officers. The council ruled Trevor Wadsworth was ineligible to work as a police officer, then stripped police chief Daniel Wadsworth of his law enforcement certification.
Clay Coker, acting Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council executive director, testified before a panel that Trevor Wadsworth was employed as a sworn officer as far back as 2010 and that Daniel Wadsworth and city Mayor Kim Aipperspach knew Trevor Wadsworth and other active officers were ineligible to work, according to a report from the law enforcement certification council.
But lawyers representing the Wadsworths, Aipperspach and the city of Ronan say Trevor Wadsworth was a sworn reserve officer at the time Chaney was arrested and released, which means he, and other sworn reserve officers on the Ronan police force at that time, did not need to complete the police academy training. The defense attorneys claim that even though the state academy council is responsible for certifying that peace officers are properly trained in Montana, the council does not have a system for training reserve officers, which means Ronan was forced to develop and use its own system.
And in the event that Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council did have a reserve training system, a reserve officer does not need it, and has the same powers, rights and privileges as anyone else assigned while on duty, court documents claim.
Trevor Wadsworth and Daniel Wadsworth are not employed as Ronan peace officers but Aipperspach continues to serve as elected Ronan mayor.
• Chaney is represented by Public Interest Defense Center Attorney Rebecca K. Smith, Bechtold Law Firm, Attorney Timothy M. Bechtold and CSKT Public Defenders Ann Sherwood and Justin Kalmbach.
• Daniel Wadsworth is represented by Dale Cockrell.
• Trevor Wadsworth is represented by Todd A. Hammer.
• Aipperspach is represented by Natasha Prinzing Jones, William L. Crowley, Tracey Neighbor Johnson, Boone Karlberg, P.C. of Missoula.
• The City of Ronan and its police department are represented by Cynthia K. Smith, Katie Lacney, Jasper Smith Lacney, P.C. of Missoula.
• Montana District Court Judge Dana L. Christensen recused herself from this case Sept. 29, 2014.
• The case is heard by Montana District Court Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch.