Police

On May 2nd Justin was getting to be so psychotic that at the Day Treatment Program at the Mental Health Center in St. Cloud he got angry with another client and got into a verbal confrontation with him. His counselor, Mike Simpson, called us that evening to tell us about the situation. He said Justin needed help. It was so obvious to us as well but we could not get the doctors to increase his medication nor could we get him admitted to the hospital. The next morning Justin would not speak to me (Carol). It was like he was in a world of his own. Later he told us that he was haunted by the vision of the SS German Army trying to get him. He thought that there would be an outbreak of smallpox in St. Cloud and he had to save us (his family). This was his illness affecting his thoughts. His social worker, Karen Andrews, stopped by to see Justin as I was leaving for work. She asked what was the matter and I responded I did not know because Justin refused to talk to me. Later that same day, I received a call on my answering machine at work that Karen was worried about Justin's anger toward society and that he wasn't making sense. She said he definitely needed to be hospitalized. Jim met me at work and we followed each other home in our vehicles.

Once we got home we could see that Justin was not in reality. He was very angry. I went to call 911 from our bedroom. I had to convince the 911operator that Justin was indeed psychotic and that he needed to be taken somewhere safe like the hospital. She asked if he had a weapon I said "no". She said she would send someone. I thought she was going to send an ambulance. When I went downstairs Justin knew I called for help. He asked if the police were coming and grabbed a knife from the block on the counter. I told him that he had to put the knife back or the police would shoot him. Justin thought that the people coming to get him were the SS German Army and he had to protect his family. We were able to convince Justin to put the knife away and that the police would take him to the hospital for about 4 days where he could be stabilized on medication. The police were called by Justin 2 times prior to this incident and the police had taken him to the St. Cloud Hospital. We made the mistake of thinking that the police would do the same this time and get him admitted since our cries for help were ignored by the St. Cloud Hospital. When the police arrived at about 5:00pm Justin, Jim, and I met them in front of our house.

A ride along with the police and also a St. Cloud City Council Member, Lori Long, was there as well as the two officers, Aaron Stellmach and Stacy Gohman. They separated us with Justin going to talk with Stacy Gohman and Jim and I talking with Aaron Stellmach. We told Officer Stellmach that Justin was psychotic, we told him we could not get him into the hospital, we told him that he had paranoid schizophrenia, and listed his medications. We told him that Justin needed to be taken to the hospital. I told him about Justin being so psychotic and that Justin thought he was in the SS Army. After Officer Gohman spoke to Justin she patted him down and found a ballpoint pen and a checkbook in his pocket. In her own statement she, "did not view it as a weapon so she did not take it from him." Gohman and Stellmach placed Justin in the back of the police car telling him he was not going to be arrested. Stellmach said to Justin" that they were going to find him a safe place to stay because his parents did not want him at the house any longer ". Stellmach and Gohman according to their own statements in the police report said they were discussing among themselves if they had enough to at least get Justin on some type of misdemeanor. They decided to arrest him. Repeatedly, Gohman states in her reports that Justin was not aggressive towards her. Officer Stellmach was explaining to Jim what they were going to do and in mid sentence told Jim "He was going to the car and tell Justin that he was going to be arrested. "He then told Jim,"Justin would be going to jail and there he would get his first taste of reality!" Stellmach walked towards the police car. When Officer Stellmach opened the car door, Justin said, in Stellmach's police report, that he asked Stellmach if he was going to be arrested and Stellmach said, "yes, technically you are." Stellmach, according to Justin's report, reached his arm back and Justin thought he was going for his sidearm. Justin then grabbed the pen and struck out at Officer Stellmach, cutting him in the lower jaw causing a 1/4" cut. Officer Gohman states she had a hold of Justin's left arm. Justin dropped the pen on the street and had his arm up towards his face when Officer Stellmach stepped back and drew his gun. Jim said," That came out awful fast" and Lori Long gasped and said, "Yes it did!" Stellmach was approximately 3 feet from Justin and was aiming his gun at Justin's chest. I was yelling at them "Don't shoot, don't!" Stacy Gohman in her own statement states she thought Officer Stellmach had pulled his pepper gas. She was still holding on to Justin's left arm when she realized that it was Stellmach's gun and not pepper gas that was pulled out. She immediately dropped her hold on Justin and stepped back. Justin was then forced to the ground and Stellmach proceeded to handcuff him. At that time Stacy Gohman states in her report that "because I had also drawn my weapon but I never pointed it at him. Because it happened so quick, I-I was (indiscernible) and drew it, and decided no cause I could see that Aaron was already making a move to, um, handcuff him." The officers put Justin in the back of the squad car. Meanwhile, other police officers arrived- Officers Sayre, Warhol, Orth, Metcalf, Unknown (U) and Capt. Wilson as well as the Gold Cross Ambulance. When we asked Chief Ballantine why it was necessary to have so many officers there for this incident he said, "That when officer down is called, everyone comes." Totally shocked by almost witnessing the shooting of our son and not one of these many officers and paramedics came over to us to see how we were. They were only concerned with the small mark on Stellmach's face. Stellmach was transported by ambulance to the St. Cloud Hospital. In the police reports they admit mistakes were made such as the pen should have been taken away. In Unknown officer's statement to Gohman he says: U: (indiscernable) G: It just scared the shit out of me. U: (indiscernable) should be scared. I hope it scared the shit outta you. You know why? It won't happen again. Right?

According to Officer Martin Sayre's report when he transported Justin to the Benton County Jail he states, "Prior to transporting Otremba I did plug in my squad microphone and began running a tape inside my squad car for the transport. I was unaware and realized afterwards that the entire portion in which it was plugged into the mic jack, the mic jack was faulty, and it did not record." Justin states that when he was waiting to be transported Officer Sayre said to him, "You're lucky you're not dead. You're lucky you're not dead." Justin also states that when he was being transported Officer Sayre said to the woman riding along that he mentioned something about target practice. This last part is obviously not recorded since the mic jack was not working. In the police report, when Officer Sayre is questioning Justin, the report states that Officer Sayre told Justin "that all your neighbors were witnesses". The only witness was the neighbor that lives in 610 5th Ave NE and she was standing there waving her arms to talk to an officer but she states they ignored her. The report names 3 neighbors that they asked what they saw and the report states that they did not see anything. This was the extent of the neighborhood canvassing. Justin was then transported to the Benton County Jail.

On 5/21/02 a complaint about excessive force was filed at the St. Cloud Police station by Jim and Carol Otremba against Officers Stellmach and Gohman to Sgt. Michael Gohman regarding excessive force used against Justin Otremba. We made a lengthy statement into a tape recorder regarding what we saw. After our statements were taken Sgt. Gohman explained to us how the procedure works. After we make our statements to him he takes the tape and writes up the complaint. Then he takes the complaint and makes the presentation to the board, which is made up of 9 citizens three of which are police officers. They review the complaint and send their findings and recommendations to the police chief who has the final word. The police chief then sends the results to the complaintants. We named the neighbor in 610 5th Ave, NE as a witness. On June 24th we received a letter from the Chief of Police Dennis Ballantine that on "June 20, 2002 your case was reviewed by the Citizens Review Board. After careful consideration of all the evidence and facts surrounding the incident, the Citizens Review Board allocated a disposition of exonerated for the allegation of Racial Profiling against both Officer Stellmach and Officer Gohman." Then on July 1 another letter was sent stating that there was an error in the last paragraph of the letter previously sent. Both letters were signed by Chief Ballantine. If this was careful consideration of all evidence and facts surrounding the incident why then did they state it was racial profiling when all involved were white. On 8/5/02 I talked with Chief Ballantine on the phone. He admitted that he was embarrassed to say he did not even read what he signed. If he did not give the letter he signed and sent to us any consideration why would we believe that the Citizens Review Board gave our complaint any consideration either. We had asked to see what was presented to the board but were told that we cannot see it because it is not available for the public to see. We had asked 2 times to meet with the two officers in Chief Ballantine's presence but he later said they were not willing to do so. On 9/23/02 Jim and I met with Chief Ballantine in his office and went over our list of complaints and the problems we saw listed in the police reports. He agreed that "the officers involved made some mistakes and that they did not follow all procedures but there would be no action taken and no changes made." He also stated, "It was unfortunate that this happened to our family." As far as the neighbor who witnessed this incident told me that when Sgt. Gohman called her about what she saw, she stated that "She told him everything and that she said it was excessive force". But when this was brought up to Chief Ballantine he said, "She said they were a little rough." Chief Ballantine also told us that "the only one hurt was the police officer." He concluded his talk with us by saying, "You be careful what you say!"

To tell a family who have been traumatized by the actions of these officers, the 7 weeks incarceration of Justin in the Benton County Jail, the great financial burden this has placed on our family, the victimization we feel by the police as well as the rest of those involved from the doctors, the hospital, and the criminal justice system, and the decline of Justin's mental health because of the failure of people who are ignorant about dealing with mental illness is incomprehensible.