Opinion ID: 2973722
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Early morning fire

Text: Around 5:00 a.m. on the morning of July 2, 2002, Thacker was sleeping on the couch at his ex-wife’s house in rural Ohio. His own residence had burned down six weeks earlier, and his exwife had allowed him to stay with her. His Freightliner truck and his dump truck had also been recently burned, the latter as it sat in the driveway of his ex-wife’s residence. Thacker believed that someone was setting these fires intentionally. On the morning in question, Thacker awoke to the sound of dogs barking. He looked out the window and saw that the barn was on fire. The barn housed two horses. Thacker yelled for his exwife to get up and call the fire department. He ran from the house toward the barn, taking a rifle and ammunition. He said that his reason for taking the gun was to have a means to shoot the horses in the event that he could not free them from the burning barn. On the way to the barn, which was 150 to 200 yards from the house, Thacker loaded the rifle. Thacker got to the barn, which was then engulfed in flames, and set down the rifle. He ran in and out of the building several times and was able to free the two horses, one of which eventually died from burns received in the fire. Once firefighters arrived at the scene, Thacker again picked up the rifle. Among the firefighters to arrive at the scene, Thacker recognized Volunteer Fire Chief Joseph Adams from the previous fires. Thacker approached Adams and asked that Adams see to it that the fire marshal was called. Adams testified that he asked Thacker to put away the gun, but that Thacker did not do so. This lack of compliance with his request did not concern Adams, however, and he went on to attend to other things at the scene. Thacker does not recall Adams ever asking him to put the gun away. -2- The firefighter in charge of the scene was Captain James Woda because he was the first to arrive. Four or five minutes after Adams allegedly asked Thacker to put the gun away, Woda approached Adams. Woda discussed with Adams whether they should call the sheriff’s office because Thacker had a firearm. The fire department has a policy in place whereby firefighters will call the sheriff in the event that someone on the scene of a fire possesses a gun. Woda ultimately did place a call to the sheriff, reporting a man with a gun. At some point between the arrival of the firefighters and the arrival of the sheriff’s deputies, Thacker was joined outside by his ex-wife, his 13-year-old son, his 17-year-old daughter, and the daughter’s boyfriend. They all stood together talking and watching the firefighters do their job. Nine firefighters had arrived in at least two fire trucks and were working to control the blaze. The family stood out of the way of the firefighters, with Thacker holding the rifle against his shoulder. The stock of the rifle was in his right hand and the barrel pointed up. 2. Arrival of the sheriff’s deputies and the arrest of Thacker Two sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. Thacker and the deputies present differing accounts of some key facts from this point forward. Because the standard of review on appeal requires that we construe any disputes about the relevant facts in Thacker’s favor, the recitation that follows is solely from his point of view. Thacker claims that when the deputies arrived, he was upset about the fires, but was calm overall and not yelling or screaming. He further said that he was standing around and talking with his family away from the firefighters. The two deputies, Randall Goodall and Aaron Bollinger, approached Thacker. -3- Thacker claims that “[a]ll in one motion, one of the deputies asked me who was I, and what I was doing with this, as he grabbed, unexpectedly, the rifle out of my hands.” He said that the deputies did not give him a chance to respond to their questions before they took the rifle from him. Furthermore, Thacker insists that neither of the deputies asked Thacker for the rifle before they snatched it from him. Thacker testified that he did not resist the deputies taking the gun or try to jerk it out of their reach. The manner in which the deputies took the rifle upset Thacker. He began “cursing,” “raised his voice,” and said: “Rather than you-all down here harassing me over this, you need to go arrest the person that’s doing this. This is the fourth fire I’ve had in like five weeks.” In response, one of the deputies said, “You need to calm down.” Thacker replied: “No, I do not need to calm down. You-all need to do something about this . . . .” Although he admits cursing after his rifle was taken from him, Thacker says that he did not curse before that point. Bollinger moved behind Thacker and grabbed him, placing his forearm across Thacker’s neck. Thacker denies that Bollinger told him that he was under arrest. At the same time, Goodall reached for Thacker’s arms and pulled him forward. The three men then fell to the ground. Thacker claims that he was taken down to the ground without warning and that he did not struggle until he was already on the ground. Once on the ground, however, a scuffle ensued. Thacker had his hands in front of his body and was resisting the deputies’ attempts to pull them around behind his back. He then realized that the deputies were trying to handcuff him, so he told them that if they would let him stand up, they could put the handcuffs on him. All three of the men then stood up, Thacker put his hands behind -4- his back, and the deputies handcuffed him. Thacker claimed that “they were being extremely rough at that point.” The deputies took Thacker to the sheriff’s cruiser. Because the vehicle was parked close to a large tree, the rear passenger door through which Bollinger intended for Thacker to enter would not open all of the way. Thacker told the deputy that there was not enough of an opening for him to slide into the back seat. Bollinger said that there was enough of an opening and, according to Thacker, Bollinger “unexpectedly pushed me into the cruiser” through the narrow opening. This caused Thacker to cut his right forearm on the latch of the door. According to Thacker, the cut was approximately 2.5 inches long and “rather deep.” Thacker’s ex-wife asked one of the deputies why they were taking Thacker to jail. The deputy replied that Thacker was going to jail because of what had just transpired. Thacker’s ex-wife then told the deputies that they did not need to take him to jail. She testified that Officer Goodall “told me to be qui[et]. Otherwise, he would take me to jail too. I said, what for? Officer Goodall said, I’m telling you, if you say one more thing, I’ll take you with me to jail. I can take two of you to jail as easy as I can take one.” She did not say anything further and the deputies left with Thacker in custody. Thacker was taken to the sheriff’s station where he was booked into the jail and placed in a cell. The deputies had arrested Thacker for disorderly conduct that they had allegedly witnessed at the scene of the fire. During the booking process, Thacker showed his wound to Bollinger and the booking officer. They gave him a paper towel to clean the cut and also took pictures of the wound. Thacker’s ex-wife posted bond for Thacker and picked him up from jail 6 or 7 hours after his arrest. No charges were ever filed against Thacker arising from the events on July 2, 2002. -5- Because Thacker did not have any medical insurance, he did not go to the hospital or see a doctor for treatment of the cut. Instead his ex-wife, who had 20 years of experience as a licensed practical nurse, treated the wound. He still has a scar from this wound on his forearm.