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Court dismisses complaint filed against police

A civil complaint filed against the Sidney police department for negligence in a child abuse investigation was dismissed in Cheyenne County District Court earlier this month.

Amelia Bell filed a suit against the Sidney Police department in late 2012 on behalf of her children for actions taken by officer Curtis Hofrok and Lieutenant Keith Andrew during an investigation into discoloration of her son’s ears.

Bell claimed that the children were improperly removed from her custody and that Andrew made maliciously false statements during the course of the investigation.

In November 2011, an official at South Elementary contacted Sidney police regarding possible signs of child abuse to Bell’s son. The boy came to school with apparent bruising on his ears and had informed the official that the discoloration was from being outside in the cold without a hat. Upon questioning, the boy allegedly told Hofrock that the bruising was caused by punishment given to him by Stephen Bell, Amelia Bell’s husband, due to his inattention in school.

Court documents indicate that Hofrock asked the boy a leading question during this interview.

The investigation was then turned over to Andrew. Amelia Bell reported to police that the boy’s ears were affected by a medical condition, for which a local physician’s assistant had treated him.

The PA denied that he treated the boy for this condition, but admitted the problem could have been discussed during a visit for another issue, but wasn’t notable to him.

After the initial interview with police, Amelia Bell took the boy to a local doctor, where the boy allegedly denied any abuse. The doctor could determine no cause for the discoloration and referred the boy to a dermatologist. Andrew then sent photos of the ear discoloration to multiple area medical doctors, as well as a pathologist. All concluded that the discoloration was likely the result of abuse or trauma rather than a medical condition.

The dermatologist said the damage to the boy’s ears could be a result of either abuse or a medical condition.

During an interview with a representative from Nebraska Health and Human Services the boy confessed that both Stephen and Amelia Bell spanked him with a bread board from time to time.

He recanted this story in a later interview with the same representative.

Stephen Bell’s ex-wife—with whom he has children—reportedly told Andrew that Bell was physically and mentally abusive during their marriage. She also alleged that he’d abused the children and that she’d seen him twist a child’s ears in punishment, although she had no evidence to back this allegation.

After the second interview between the boy and the HHS representative on Nov. 15, 2011, Amelia Bell spoke with Andrew about whether or not she would leave her home with the children or if Stephen Bell would leave the home, in order to prevent any contact between the children and Stephen Bell.

During this conversation between Amelia Bell and Andrew which court records described as terse, Andrew ordered that the boy and his sister be taken from their mother’s care and remanded to the care of HHS.

Andrew then spoke with the children’s biological father, who said he’d seen the boy’s ear discoloration before his son had any contact with Stephen Bell.

On Nov. 17, 2011 Cheyenne County District Court filed juvenile court petitions on behalf of both children as a result of the investigation. These petitions were dropped the next day due to insufficient evidence. The children were then returned to the care of their mother.

The plaintiff filed a case in Nov. 2012 alleging that the abuse case was handled negligently by Sidney police.

Nebraska law states that a person participating in a child abuse investigation is immune from any legal backlash unless that person made maliciously false statements during the investigation.

The plaintiffs alleged that Andrew made maliciously false statements when he said the boy had no medical condition that would cause discoloration to his ears and when he stated that the children were unsafe in their mother’s care. The plaintiff also argued that Andrew’s decision to remove the children from their mother’s care was itself a malicious statement.

Although the court found that Andrew questioned whether or not the discoloration was caused by a medical condition, he also contacted several doctors to confirm this, including those to whom the mother referred him.

The court found that Andrew’s decision to remove the children from their mother’s care was not itself a maliciously false statement because at the time he had medical opinions indicating possible abuse and continuously changing stories from the children regarding abuse.

The court ultimately found that the defendant met its burden of proof to overcome allegations that Andrew made maliciously false statements.

It also found that the plaintiff supplied insufficient evidence to overcome this proof.

The Sidney Police Department was satisfied that the case was dismissed said Sidney Chief of Police B.J. Wilkinson.

“We were certainly in support of proper judicial review of the facts surrounding the case,” he said.

Both Stephen and Amelia Bell were involved in an altercation with Sidney police last summer. The couple reportedly followed police to a crime scene and then recorded their interactions with Sidney police officer Scott Tobler. At one point Tobler lost his cool and shouted expletives at Stephen Bell. Bell received a written apology from Sidney police after the incident.

 

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