Meanwhile, Fairfield Police Chief Mike Dickey says the video reinforces that his officers encountered a difficult situation and handled it with restraint. During a radio interview Wednesday on 700 WLW, Dickey said what the video doesn’t show also matters.
The police chief told radio host Bill Cunningham the videos that are circulating were “edited for posting” and that “the incident went on far longer than the video shows.”
Pretrial hearing set
Krystal Dixon, 33, of Cincinnati, and Maya Dixon, 34, of Columbus, were both arraigned Wednesday morning in Fairfield Municipal Court on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. The women were arrested following a run-in with police at the city-run pool on Augusta Boulevard on June 9.
Krystal Dixon was charged with a third-degree misdemeanor of disorderly conduct, with a penalty of 60 days in jail and/or a $500 fine. Maya Dixon’s disorderly conduct charge is a fourth-degree misdemeanor, with 30 days in jail and/or a $250 fine. Resisting arrest is a second-degree misdemeanor, with a maximum 90 days in jail and/or a $750 fine.
During the arraignment, Judge Joyce Campbell noted that Maya Dixon had prior traffic charges of a seat belt violation and a child restraint violation that date back to 2001. Both are minor misdemeanors, but Campbell said that Dixon “avoided showing up” for court on those charges.
“Mr. Bennett, I have some concerns. When we don’t show up for 2001 cases, what assurances do I have that she’ll show up for these (current charges)?” Campbell said.
To which Bennett replied: “Because I’m on this case.”
The women will return to court for a pretrial hearing on July 8.
Bennett: ‘This is not a police state’
Bennett maintains that his clients did nothing wrong and were unlawfully arrested. He called it “asinine” to suggest that a woman who is six months pregnant and screaming out in pain as she is being handcuffed by officers is being disorderly.
“The defense is that she did not resist, and that she did not act disorderly,” Bennett said. “She behaved in a lawful manner.”
Bennett said video footage of the incident “speaks for itself.”
“The police have to be attempting to effectuate a lawful arrest. If you’re not committing a crime and not engaging in anything illegal, the police don’t have a right to arrest you,” he said after the hearing. “This is not a police state; this is the United States.”
In the video, where loud screams are heard throughout, a police officer can be seen grabbing Krystal Dixon’s wrist. That’s the crux of the matter, Bennett said.
“You just can’t go up to a person and grab them in America, even if you’re a police officer. You have to have a reason to do that,” Bennett said. “You can’t just say, ‘Come here,’ and snatch them. That’s unconstitutional.”
Bennett also made the point that police can’t make a person leave someone else’s property; the property owner must make that person leave the premises.
“That didn’t happen in this case,” he said.
Police chief: Trouble began before video recording
But Dickey says the videos shown by Bishop Bobby Hilton, the president of the Cincinnati chapter of the National Action Network, at a press conference Tuesday begin when Krystal Dixon returned to the Aquatic Center. The police chief said the trouble actually began before that when pool staff and a park ranger on the scene tried to deal with the juveniles.
“Negotiating with an angry 15-year-old is an exercise in futility,” Dickey said during his interview on WLW.
And as the incident escalated, the chief said, “Essentially, our officers were attacked with kids saying, ‘You can’t touch my mom.’”
The Fairfield police report on the incident states that Krystal Dixon “aggressively confronted pool staff” and was asked to leave. She had returned to the pool after dropping off about eight children there, bringing swim trunks for one of the children who did not have the proper swim attire. A city park ranger tried to intervene, then called the police when the situation escalated.
“During this encounter, Dixon pushed the officer, was warned again and would not leave. She was placed under arrest and aggressively resisted,” the police report states. It was at this point that Maya Dixon “began striking the officer,” according to the report.
Also arrested were a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. Video footage shows a male officer pulling a young girl away from the crowd with his arm around her neck and arm as he puts her against a vehicle and pulls her arms around her back to handcuff her. The girl screams throughout before finally saying, “OK, OK!”
The male teen was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, while the female was charged with assault and resisting arrest, all misdemeanor charges. They are expected to appear in Butler County Juvenile Court June 29, court officials said.
The Dixons contacted Hilton after the incident, and he has said the 12-year-old suffered a broken jaw and ribs during the incident.
However, Bennett downplayed the injuries on Wednesday, saying they do not apply to the criminal case he is defending.
“I would ask the city of Fairfield to dismiss the charges so the community can move on,” he said. “If you want to go through a trial that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with a trial, but it shouldn’t go that far.”
Council member: Police response was ‘orderly, professional’
Two Fairfield City Council members took an interest in the case Wednesday, with both Mike Snyder and Terry Senger attending the court proceedings.
“The good news is that we have a visual representation of what happened,” Snyder said, referring to the videos. “The bad news is that we don’t know what happened before or after that. It causes people to dig in on their positions.
“All I can go by is what I saw,” he said. “What I saw was an orderly, professional response to a difficult situation.”
Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller said it is part of the city’s culture, including those at the Aquatic Center and the police, to do the best job they can.
“We pride ourselves on customer service,” he said. “This is an excellent community that we’ve got.”
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