By BRET HAYWORTH
Sioux City Journal
A state trooper used the barrel of his rifle to poke a suspect in the shoulder blade to subdue him at the end of a police chase in rural Plymouth County 18 months ago, according to an open records report the Iowa State Patrol released Friday, Dec. 23, 2016.
The Iowa State Patrol also released a dash cam video of the June 21, 2015 incident involving Shanne Arre of Le Mars, who fled after police tried to pull him over for speeding.
In January 2016, the State Patrol acknowledged Trooper Jeremy Probasco injured Arre with his rifle after Arre showed “passive resistance.” But the patrol withheld the video of the incident and also didn’t detail how the weapon was used or what injury Arre suffered, saying doing so would jeopardize Arre’s right to a fair trial.
With the resolution earlier this month of state charges against Arre, the State Patrol released the “portion of the trooper’s dashcam video that shows the discovery of Arre’s crashed car and the search and apprehension of Arre is being released to provide additional information to supplement the immediate facts and circumstances that were previously released.”
The video and additional information was released as a result of a freedom of information request filed by the Associated Press.
Just before midnight on June 21, 2015, Arre, then 28, failed to stop after a Plymouth County sheriff’s deputy tried to pull him over for speeding. The deputy followed in pursuit through southeastern Plymouth County, eventually joined by the state trooper and police officers from Kingsley and Remsen.
After driving down gravel roads and into farm fields, Arre crashed his vehicle into a fence and ditch. He then fled on foot. Officers found him hiding in tall grass, with the only light coming from patrol car lights and flashlights, so “the officers did not know if the suspect was armed,” according to the report released Friday.
“Arre moved his hands so that they were hidden in the grass, and it appeared to the trooper that Arre was either going to push himself up off the ground and/or grab a weapon. The trooper did not have time to transition to a taser or asp baton. The trooper poked Arre once with the barrel of the rifle, into the soft tissue area of the shoulder blade, in order to gain control of Arre and prevent him from pushing up off the ground or grabbing a weapon,” the report said.
After Arre was arrested, a knife was found in the grass.
The rifle barrel left a mark between Arre’s shoulder blades and a scrape on the left side of his back. He was offered and refused treatment for the visible injuries, according to the report.
Arre was cited for eluding or attempting to elude, a felony charge, and second-offense operating while intoxicated, an aggravated misdemeanor. He later pleaded guilty to those charges.
After being released from the Plymouth County Jail in September 2015, Arre was arrested in Woodbury County on two Class B felony controlled substance violations and a Class D felony, according to the report from the State Patrol. Those charges were subsequently dismissed and Arre was indicted in U.S. District Court for Nebraska for the same or similar acts.
The federal court ordered Arre to reside at a residential treatment facility and undergo drug treatment. As a result, Arre was not available to appear in court on the state charges in Plymouth County. At different times, a warrant was issued for Arre for failure to appear on the state charges and on one occasion, his attorney needed additional time to locate Arre in the federal system, according to the state report.
In November, Arre pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to 24 months in prison, with the sentence to commence in January.
On Dec. 6, 2016, he pleaded guilty in Plymouth County District Court to the charge of eluding as a Class D felony and received a five-year prison sentence to run concurrently with his federal prison sentence. He also pleaded guilty to the charge of OWI second offense, and was sentenced to 365 days in jail, with all but seven days suspended.
The Iowa State Patrol’s delay in releasing the dash cam video and more details about the unusual show of force by a trooper led the Iowa Freedom of Information Council in [January 2016] to send a letter accusing the patrol of “not meeting the letter or the spirit” of the open records law.
The video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn4raldZc8I