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Battle Creek Police: "We Did Not Violate Any Policies Or Procedures."

  • Don Daniel III Web Editor
  • Dec 23, 2016
  • 3 min read

Editor's Note: Video below contains strong language. Reader's discretion is advised.

Dawan Gordon

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -- Dawan Gordon can be heard in a YouTube video of his arrest on December 15, 2016, screaming, while a bystander yells to police that his leg braces are locked and that he cannot fold his legs.


“My legs can’t fold,” he says over and over again.


Gordon, 26, uses a walker to get around. The shooting that took away the use of his legs happened in 2006


Gordon is charged with two counts of resisting and obstructing arrest, and one count of driving on a suspended license. Gordon was previously arrested on a felony warrant for armed robbery in Lansing, MI. At the time of arrest, he was out on $100,000 bond, according to Inspector Brad Wise of Battle Creek Police Department.


Between Dec. 15, the day of his arrest and Dec. 19, Gordon has spent time in police custody as well as three hospitals.


Gordon checked himself in to the third hospital after posting bail. He requested that The Tangled Thread (T3) not reveal his location and declined to speak on record at the direction of his attorney. Calls to his attorney were not returned.


Gordon's arrest was documented in a 17-page Battle Creek Police Department report, one that Wise says outlines the ways in which his department did not violate any policy or procedure in handling an uncooperative subject. Wise heads the Office of Professional Standards for the Battle Creek Police Department. He said that the department uses experiences in the field to develop future training.


"We always examine our incidents, especially critical incidents -- whether it be a situation like [Gordon's arrest], whether we've had to use deadly force, whether we've had a pursuit," Wise said. "We always examine those and see what we did right, what we did wrong [and] what we can do as far as training."


Wise says the police department has incorporated de-escalation training into its annual defensive tactics training. The next scheduled training is in April 2017.


The traffic stop that resulted in Gordon's most recent arrest was initiated because the arresting officer recognized Gordon from former contact with police. When the arresting officer ran Gordon's name through the system, he realized he was wanted on two active warrants -- a failure to appear on a possession of marijuana charge and a warrant from Calhoun County Sheriff's Department.


In the written report, after securing Gordon's hands in front of his body and informing him that he was under arrest, and issuing a verbal command to stand, the arresting officer detailed his prior knowledge of Gordon.


"I have had previous contact with Gordon in front of 219 Cherry St. where he was driving a red vehicle," the report states. "During that stop I had asked Gordon to step out of the vehicle.


"Gordon was wearing leg braces as he was today. He stood up out of the car own his own."


The report also references body camera footage that allegedly shows Gordon standing on his own with support at the 219 Cherry Street location. That footage was not secured by T3 before deadline.


Instead of standing when ordered on Dec. 15, the arresting officer reports that Gordon "aggressively scooted himself without warning off of the driver seat and slid down to the ground."


The police report, which was provided to T3 by BCPD says that Gordon was asked if he wanted to seek medical attention, and Gordon said that he did.


Gordon was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital, Battle Creek after his arrest. According to the police report, this was after Gordon threw himself to the ground a second time. Wise, echoing the police report, said that Bronson Battle Creek recommended a transfer to Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo because the larger hospital was better equipped to run tests on Gordon.


Police maintain that Gordon was given a clean bill of health by Bronson Kalamazoo and was authorized by the on-staff doctor to be transported to Calhoun County Jail via patrol car.


Despite language in the police reports that references Gordon's repeated threats to sue the police department, police said they have not seen any legal filings against them from Gordon or his family.









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