Investigation report completed for Greenfield city court incident

From left to right: DA Colin Johnson and Ass Chief Danny Smith

Story by Shannon Taylor Senior Investigative Reporter

Completed Investigation:

The copy of former Greenfield Chief of Police Joey Radford’s investigation provided further details surrounding the city court incident on Oct. 17 where Dallas Davis was informed of a warrant and fled the courtroom resulting in shots fired at the vehicle by Assistant Police Chief Danny Smith.

In the report, Radford says he contacted District Attorney Colin Johnson by phone after the incident advising him of the situation and asking for direction on whether the TBI needed to be called, but Johnson told him that he was not going to call them because no one was shot.

Video surveillance from the police department cameras was reviewed and showed one person following officers outside, but that person never made it past the corner of the building and immediately returned to the courtroom. Radford said that other eyewitness accounts were not substantiated by video because those eyewitnesses were never outside during the time of the incident.

The next day, Oct. 18, Investigator Drew Vernon from the DA’s office interviewed Assistant Police Chief Danny Smith and Officer Joseph Roth as well as reviewed the video surveillance. According to Vernon, there was no criminal misconduct from the officers’ actions involved in the incident.

According to the report, no body camera footage was available “due to exigent circumstances” and “officers had no time to turn them on.”

Smith’s statement in the report states that Davis was driving towards Roth and he “thought Roth was in danger of being hit by the vehicle. I pulled my service pistol and shot twice at a downward angle attempting to strike the right rear tire of the fleeing vehicle in hopes to disable the tire.”

Smith and Roth gave statements stating that Davis came towards Roth with his vehicle and that was the reasoning for shots being fired at the vehicle’s tires. Patrolman Kathy Whitman corroborated their statements stating that she followed Radford and Roth out of the building where Radford went behind the library, and she continued to follow Roth and that she saw Davis driving towards Roth. Patrolman David Sliger of Greenfield PD was called to assist in the investigation and took statements and both Roth and Whitman said they “had to jump out of the way because they thought Davis was going to run them over.”

Sliger stated that a metal detector was used to try and retrieve the bullets but could not locate them due to “too much metal in the ground and the ground being too hard.”

Sliger said that according to Greenfield PD’s policy “an officer is allowed to fire their weapon at a moving vehicle in self-defense of another. Due to the fact that Assistant Chief Smith thought that Patrolman Roth and Whitman were going to be run over and Patrolman Roth and Whitman had to jump out of the way for fear of being run over, the actions of Assistant Smith appear to be justified.”

One witness in the report, Dirk Fontaine, stated that he was at the library and saw a figure run to a white SUV pursued by officers. He said that one officer stated, “Stop or I’ll shoot” and the vehicle reversed and began driving north when the officer fired shots due west. Fontaine overheard an officer state, “he was wanted for multiple warrants” and heard an officer state they were “aiming for the tires.”

The report ends with Smith stating that he feels his actions were within the printed use of force policy. “When Dallas Davis ran from Officer Roth and fled to his car, I knew who he was. I knew his address. I knew his car. I knew everything that I needed to apprehend him at a later time if he could not be apprehended in that moment. The one thing I didn’t know was when he jumped into his car and put it into drive instead of reverse was if he was going to try to run Officer Roth over. This was my belief, and this was my fear. I thought Officer Roth’s life was in danger and fired my weapon at the rear right tire to try and stop that from happening. There was no one else around in my field of view that I was putting in danger, my focus was on trying to save Officer Roth. I have read the policy on the use of force; I have received training on the subject and train every year on the topic. I am the training officer for the department and train our officers on the use of force and teach this policy. When that incident happened, I had to cram all that information into 2 seconds and make a decision. This was an exigent circumstance, which required quick appropriate action. The outcome was the desired outcome, no one was hurt or injured.”

Mayor McAdams Answers Questions:

After the Nov. Greenfield board meeting Alderwoman Kelly Keylon came forward with information telling the press that before the meeting started, Greenfield Mayor Cindy McAdams left a handwritten note for all aldermen stating that “If you have any questions concerning City Court, ask Joey after the meeting. Thanks.” Keylon went forward with her questions anyway, disregarding McAdams’ letter.

McAdams said that she put the letter out to relay a message to the board from Radford. “Former Chief Radford approached me before the board meeting and asked that all questions be directed to him after the board meeting since, in his words, it was an ongoing investigation.  With that, I prepared the handwritten note that was distributed to the board members and that you have a copy of in your possession. It was not my instruction; it was a relayed message from Former Chief Radford.”

When the press had previously reached out to McAdams concerning the city court incident, McAdams stated that she was on a cruise and out of the country during the time of the incident, however Keylon also brought it to the press’s attention that McAdams was in town when the incident happened and actually didn’t leave for her cruise until the Friday after the incident, four days after.

McAdams responded to that by stating, “Allow me to clarify my response.  I was out of town on the afternoon and evening when this first happened, and I spoke with Former Chief Radford later that evening once I returned to town.  He informed me what happened, that he was investigating the matter, and that the matter was ongoing.  I deferred to him and his handling of the matter.  I left later in the week to travel out of the country early Friday morning and returned several days later from traveling.”

Citizens messaged the press concerned that Assistant Police Chief Danny Smith would step up as Interim Police Chief, which some residents told the press seemed odd considering they felt that he should be under investigation. McAdams said, “Members of the press, along with the Board, have been provided a copy of the Investigation Report that was done by Former Chief Radford, and you should have that in your possession.  Danny Smith, as of now, has not been named interim chief and is still in his current role as Assistant Chief. The Board is free to take whatever action they believe is best on that topic. Danny Smith has not been suspended and is still on duty as an officer with Greenfield Police Department.  Former Chief Radford is, in fact, retired from Greenfield Police Department and is no longer serving in the department.”

At the Dec. board meeting, the board voted unanimously to give Smith a $0.50 raise and backpay from when he became Assistant Chief three months ago. Alderman James Pope made a motion to make Smith the Interim Police Chief, but Keylon wanted to table that until they heard back from MTAS. A motion was made and voted unanimously to table that discussion until they received word back from MTAS.

Davis’s court hearing was rescheduled to Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 8:30 a.m.