Woman sues city, former police officer over alleged assault

Posted 9/11/14

“(Former police officer Kirk) Chapman had a duty to act as a reasonable peace officer of ordinary prudence under the circumstances,” says a portion of the complaint. “Chapman breached this duty by touching (the woman) in a sexual manner …

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Woman sues city, former police officer over alleged assault

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A woman who says she was subjected to sexual contact by an on-duty Powell police officer three years ago has filed a lawsuit against the officer, who no longer works for the city, the Powell Police Department and the city of Powell.

The woman’s attorney filed a complaint Monday in Park County’s District Court. The woman has not publicly revealed her name and the Powell Tribune does not publish the name of victims or alleged victims.

“(Former police officer Kirk) Chapman had a duty to act as a reasonable peace officer of ordinary prudence under the circumstances,” says a portion of the complaint. “Chapman breached this duty by touching (the woman) in a sexual manner without her consent.”

It further alleges the police department was negligent and “reckless in hiring Chapman due to the fact he was unfit for the position” and should have better trained and supervised him.

The woman’s suit, filed by Cheyenne attorney Brian Hanify of the Romsa Law Office, seeks $250,000 — the maximum allowed for claims against governmental agencies in Wyoming.

Powell City Attorney Sandra Kitchen had not seen the complaint on Wednesday and referred questions to the Wyoming Local Government Liability Pool. The organization provides liability insurance for cities, counties, community colleges and other governments around the state.

Local Government Liability Pool Executive Director Mark Pring also hadn’t yet seen the complaint, but said that once it’s received by the organization, it will secure an attorney to represent the city, the department and Chapman in his official capacity as a police officer. The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office will represent Chapman, 41, in his capacity as an individual, Pring said.

Chapman is facing a felony criminal charge of third-degree sexual assault in conjunction with the allegations referenced in the woman’s civil lawsuit. The charge, filed by the Park County Attorney’s Office, alleges Chapman used his position as a police officer to get the woman to submit to sexual touching and rubbing in September 2011. Chapman has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Chapman, working a night shift, had given the woman a ride home from a Powell bar.

She says the officer then returned an hour later under the auspices of making sure she was all right, as she’d become upset while talking to Chapman on the ride home.

After shining his “police” flashlight around her apartment and asking about the residence’s exits, Chapman had the woman sit down on a futon and began rubbing her while they talked, her complaint says.

At one point, Chapman reportedly showed the woman a knife he carried in his boot, and she believed he did so to intimidate her, charging documents say. It progressed to Chapman sexually touching her, according to the charging documents, although she suggested the officer return to work.

The woman never stayed at the home again and later moved from Powell.

She later told Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents that Chapman accidentally bumped his microphone while rubbing against her and then, after motioning for her to be quiet, told dispatch he had hit the mic with his knee; DCI agents retrieved the police department’s audio records and found the recording appeared to match the woman’s account, court records say.

Chapman told investigators he never returned to the woman’s apartment after dropping her off.

Records in the criminal case show Chapman’s court-appointed defense attorneys have been preparing to argue at trial that the woman could have overheard the interaction with dispatchers on a police radio scanner.

Chapman — who had joined the department in 2007 — was placed on administrative leave when the woman reported the allegations. He resigned in November 2011 without ever returning to duty, police have said.

The civil complaint filed by the woman on Monday says that, “Based on information and belief, Chapman was initially dismissed by the (Powell Police Department) due to his sexual touching of (the woman) but the termination was rescinded and Chapman was instead allowed (to) voluntarily quit.”

Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt, citing state laws protecting information about personnel, has previously declined to comment on whatever conclusions were reached by the department’s internal investigation of Chapman. The Tribune was unable to immediately reach former Police Chief Tim Feathers on Wednesday afternoon.

The criminal case was repeatedly delayed and was supposed to go to trial in June, but was indefinitely put on hold because of a new charge filed against Chapman in Wisconsin.

That charge — which Chapman has also denied — alleges he had sex with a 13-year-old girl numerous times in 2003 in Appleton, Wis. Appleton police began investigating the matter earlier this year when the girl, now a 24-year-old woman, came forward; police say she decided to do so after hearing about the case pending against Chapman in Park County. Appleton police say they caught Chapman on tape admitting to having sex with the then-girl.

“I don’t know why I did that,” Chapman allegedly said in a recorded call. “I was going through a depression and the connection made me feel good.”

He’s been held on a $100,000 bond in the Outagamie County, Wis., jail since that case was filed in May. A trial is set to start Nov. 19 in Appleton.

The civil complaint, filed by attorney Hanify on the former Powell woman’s behalf, references the new allegations in Wisconsin and the fact that Chapman failed to make it through the Neenah, Wis., police department’s training program in 2004.

The complaint says the Powell Police Department “either ignored the fact Chapman was previously determined unfit to be a law enforcement officer or failed to reasonably investigate Chapman’s work history.”

Chapman, a Powell High School graduate and former U.S. Marine, spent nearly two years as a security officer in an Appleton school and as a police and corrections officer in stints that lasted almost a year, according to a 2007 Powell Tribune article on his hiring.

The woman’s complaint also alleges the police department breached its duty to reasonably hire, train, monitor and supervise its officers “by improperly hiring Chapman, failing to reasonably investigate Chapman’s prior history including his history in law enforcement, failing to adequately train Chapman and by failing to supervise or monitor Chapman” on the night in question.

The woman had filed a nearly $1 million claim with the city of Powell a year ago that preserved her right to file Monday’s suit. Hanify said Wednesday that, at the time he filed the larger claim, he was pursuing the possibility of filing a federal civil rights complaint but ultimately decided, after reviewing case law, that a governmental claim was more appropriate.

The filing came just a day before the one-year deadline.

Hanify said part of the reason for the delay is that he had hoped Chapman’s criminal case in Wyoming would be resolved first.

“Because he is in custody in Wisconsin and is unable to bond out, they will have to deal with their charges prior to this case being resolved,” Deputy Park County Attorney Sam Krone explained at a May hearing in District Court. “So even if we wanted to attempt to extradite Mr. Chapman to our county for trial, we don’t believe we can do that, based on this particular fact pattern.”

Since Chapman’s incarceration in Wisconsin caused him to miss his scheduled court dates in Park County, a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Kirk Chapman

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