Fort Collins police release body camera footage, 911 audio from Mennonite fellowship call

Fort Collins police released body camera footage and 911 call audio Friday from an Aug. 22 mental health call at the Fort Collins Mennonite Fellowship.

Church leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a use of force complaint with the department last week, claiming the officer's "mishandled intervention" led to the woman's "distress, injury and arrest."

Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swoboda previously defended the officer's use of force and said the officer's ability to use "a trained maneuver" allowed medical personnel to get the woman needed medical treatment. Police say there were no injuries were reported by the woman or medical staff related to the arrest.

The woman died last month in an unrelated car crash, according to police.

The Aug. 22 incident was initially reviewed by the officer's supervisors immediately after the incident and was found to be within department policy, Swoboda previously told the Coloradoan. An internal investigation was launched after the ACLU complaint was filed last week, and that investigation is ongoing.

“We can’t have enough conversations around mental health,” Swoboda said in a video statement Friday. “... We’re looking forward to working with anyone who wants to continue these conversations so we can be better tomorrow than we are today.”

The footage, call audio and Swoboda's statement are available in the video below. This story continues after it. Surveillance video previously released by the ACLU is included at the top of this story.

911 call audio

In 911 call audio released Friday, a caller — identified in the ACLU complaint as the fellowship’s Director of Outreach Renee Schmidt — specifically requests medical assistance, not law enforcement, and says the woman had "something medical going on" because she was having trouble breathing and was possibly on drugs.

“No, we don’t need an officer. It’s not like that,” the caller said. “She just needs an ambulance and some sort of mental health evaluation.”

Two minutes after medical personnel from Poudre Fire Authority and UCHealth arrive on scene, a responder from PFA contacts dispatch requesting police also respond “for an uncooperative person," according to the call audio.

Two minutes later, the responder tells dispatch to send police emergent — with lights and sirens on to get to the scene as quickly as possible — because "the patient's getting uncooperative."

The officer has the dispatcher tell medical personnel on scene to separate from any uncooperative subjects and hold off ‘til PD arrives.” Medical personnel are seen standing around the woman when the officer arrives in surveillance footage from outside the church released by the ACLU last week.

While the officer was still on his way, a responder tells the dispatcher "she's calming down at this point," but asks the officer still respond.

Body camera footage

As the officer arrives on scene, he is met by a responder from PFA who says: “She calmed down now but she was screaming at the med unit when we first came up," according to body camera footage from the officer that was released to the public along with the 911 call audio Friday.

The responder from PFA tells the officer that medical personnel want to attempt to give the woman medication to help her calm down and then get her on a cot to transport her to the hospital.

Mennonite Fellowship Pastor Steve Ramer, who was present during the incident, previously told the Coloradoan it was his understanding the woman had agreed to take something offered by medical personnel to help her calm down when the officer arrived.

While the officer is talking with an EMT on scene, the woman stands up and the officer asks her to "stay seated for me, please."

As the officer approaches the woman, she continues to stand and does not follow the officer's commands to sit back down on the steps. The officer grabs her to stop her from walking away, and video footage shows the woman backing up, balling her fist and pulling her arm back.

"There's no reason for this to turn into anything," one of the bystanders can be heard saying.

The woman yells at the officer to “get back,” refuses to sit down and says “you can’t make me.” The officer then tells her she is under arrest and she flips him off. The footage then shows the officer grabbing her by the arms, pushing her against the wall and forcing her to the ground and handcuffing her.

A bystander’s voice can be heard off screen saying “that wasn’t necessary.” One of the EMTs responds: “She attacked him. She attacked him.”

“Yeah … you were working with her. You had her calm,” the bystander responds.

Ramer previously told the Coloradoan he didn't think it was necessary to call the police and said he felt "helpless" as the incident escalated.

In a previous interview defending the officer's actions, Swoboda said it appeared the woman was preparing to punch the officer, and the officer "thinks it's going to get worse, it's going to get physical, and he uses just his hands to get her to the ground safely."

Swoboda previously said the woman was arrested on an outstanding warrant and on suspicion of two misdemeanor charges alleging she didn't let the officer complete an investigation and did not comply when she was told she was under arrest.

The officer remains on active patrol while the internal investigation is ongoing, Swoboda said in a previous interview.

Sady Swanson covers public safety, criminal justice, Larimer County government and more throughout Northern Colorado. You can send your story ideas to her at sswanson@coloradoan.com or on Twitter at @sadyswan. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins police release body camera footage from Mennonite Church call