Complaint demands formal apology
The Times-Standard Article Launched: 02/13/2007 04:13:40 AM PST
FERNDALE -- At least one resident believes the city owes Sean Marsh an apology, right away.
In an e-mail to the Times-Standard, resident Jere Bob Bowden reported Monday that he had filed a formal complaint with the city manager regarding Police Chief Lonnie Lawson's handling of the case surrounding former resident Sean Marsh.
Lawson arrested Marsh, a former Ferndale business owner, in May 2006 on charges of child endangerment and interfering with the duties of a police officer. The charges had to do with Marsh's 2-year-old son, who Lawson alleged was allowed to wander into Main Street.
Marsh was subsequently handcuffed and taken to Humboldt County Correctional Facility. He was acquitted of all charges last week.
Bowden, who attended last week's trial, defends Marsh and has a few choice words for the Victorian Village's top law enforcement officer.
”Mr. Marsh was acting responsibly as a parent and as a citizen,” Bowden said. “His child was not endangered, willfully or otherwise, and he was under no legal obligation to produce physical identification on demand. The chief misperceived a situation and reacted inappropriately. His unreasonable behavior displayed poor judgment, a misreading of the law, and an alarming lack of professional emotional restraint.”
Bowden, who said he planned to read his two-page letter at Monday's City Council meeting, further requested that his complaint be included in the chief's personnel file immediately.
Bowden also asked that both the city formally apologize to Marsh and that the City Council direct the police chief “to personally apologize in public and in writing to Mr. Marsh.”
Given that the threat of litigation may preclude the city from addressing the matter, Bowden promised to return following the resolution of any such litigation and again request full apologies to the Marsh family.
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