Boater claims he was beaten by officers

WALKER -- Timothy Frank Daudt, 26, Backus, has filed a civil suit in Cass County District Court, claiming his Constitutional rights were violated and that he was beaten by a Cass County Boat and Water Patrol officer and a patrol volunteer on July 4, 2002.

In the suit filed by his attorney, Robert D. Boedigheimer of Bloomington, and served on Cass County Auditor's Office July 1 this year, Daudt also accused the county of failing to properly train boat and water patrol officers and volunteers.

Daudt was arrested July 4, 2002, after the boat and water patrol stopped his boat following fireworks at Longville. Daudt was charged with five counts, four of which were dismissed when he pleaded guilty in October 2002 to gross misdemeanor obstructing the legal process or arrest with force and/or violence.

In his civil suit, Daudt says he had been watching the fireworks with his girlfriend and daughter, but was unable to start his boat to return through the Woman Lake channel to go home.

The boat and water patrol approached his boat. He said his boat then started and he attempted to proceed down the channel, but says the patrol officer and volunteer would not let go of his boat. His girlfriend and minor daughter got into the patrol boat and Daudt proceeded down the channel.

His boat then got stuck in a weed bed and collided with the patrol boat, the civil suit continues.

It contends as the officer and volunteer extracted Daudt from his boat, they "used excessive and unreasonable force in striking and beating (Daudt) about his head, face, neck, shoulders and back with fists, flashlights and/or batons while (Daudt) was detained and handcuffed."

The civil suit maintains Daudt did not resist arrest.

The suit contends Daudt's right for protection against unreasonable searches and seizure was violated and his right not to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law and right to equal protection under the law were violated.

The civil suit section against Cass County contends the county was grossly negligent by failing "to train its police officers to properly make arrests and to use only reasonable force in the course of making lawful arrests."

The suit maintains Daudt suffered "substantial physical and mental pain and anguish, medical expenses, lost earnings, emotional pain, disfigurement and scarring, embarrassment and humiliation in excess of $50,000."

The 2002 criminal complaint filed against Daudt, stated the marked Boat and Water Patrol Boat approached Daudt's boat to offer a tie line to tow his stalled boat away from the boat traffic lane through the channel.

When Daudt started the boat, the complaint indicates the woman in the boat "began crying and begged to be let out of the boat."

"As the (woman) tried to get out of the boat with her baby, (Daudt) grabbed her and pulled her backwards to the seat." The boat and water officer placed him under arrest for boating while intoxicated and held his arm while the volunteer officer tried to help the woman leave Daudt's boat, the complaint continues.

The criminal complaint contends Daudt was trying to speed away and was, in fact, towing the patrol boat. The volunteer officer was able to help the woman who had gone to the boat bow, to cross to the patrol boat. From there, she was moved to a nearby pontoon boat operated by people she knew., according to the criminal complaint

The officer lost his grip on Daudt, it continues. Daudt sped away, zigzagging between boats. He eventually was caught in the channel where he attempted to ram the patrol boat before getting stuck in weeds, according to the criminal complaint.

"....he refused to take his foot off the accelerator, fought with the officers, hit Deputy Olson in the cheek and the arm several times and eventually, after a significant struggle, which involved the assistance of two young college-aged citizens who came to the assistance of deputies, was handcuffed and placed in the sheriff's boat," the complaint indicates.

Deputy John Olson's original complaint report in Olson's criminal file says that after the patrol boat cornered Daudt's boat in the weeds, "we then proceeded to forcibly eject him from his boat and in the process of cuffing him, he fought violently and during the struggle he bumped his head on our windshield brace and was cut."

Olson's report indicates this was the injury for which Daudt was treated in Brainerd.

The civil suit and criminal complaint agree that officers took Daudt to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd following the incident before he was booked at Cass County Jail.

Oct. 7, 2002, following Daudt's guilty plea to obstructing the legal process or arrest with force and/or violence, additional charges of felony fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and gross misdemeanor fourth- and fifth-degree assault and second-degree DWI were dismissed.

Judge Willard Lorette sentenced Daudt to 15 days work release and 15 days electronic home monitoring and placed him on two years probation. A fine was stayed. Daudt forfeited his boat under separate action, court computer records show.

Oct. 9, 2003, Judge David Harrington discharged Daudt from probation.

Following his October 2002 sentence, Daudt appealed to Minnesota Court of Appeals Lorette's decision not to give him credit for jail time served on July 4.

The Appeals Court agreed with Lorette, finding that Daudt had not been booked into the jail until after midnight on July 5 and further concluded being under arrest and receiving medical treatment at a hospital did not constitute being in jail.

Daudt appealed that ruling to Minnesota Supreme Court, which declined to consider the issue.