Alleged victim Allen describes brutality
A month after allegedly being leg swept to the floor inside
an interrogation room by Anderson Police Detective and former chief Darron
Sparks, Mercedes Allen says she still suffers pain in her right arm.
"My arm still hurts, mainly in my right arm and right
shoulder," she said. "Sometimes my arm and fingers get numb."
Chief Larry Crenshaw recommended Thursday to the Board of
Public Safety that Sparks' employment with the department be terminated. The
board agreed with the recommendation, and a hearing is pending for later this
month. Sparks was placed on paid administrative leave April 30, city attorney
Jason Childers said.
Sparks declined to comment for this story.
Allen was arrested April 6 on a warrant for allegedly
battering her boyfriend and was questioned by Sparks at the Anderson Police
Department. During the interrogation, Allen said, Sparks accused her of lying.
"I got mad. ... I said, 'Why don't you just take me to
jail if you thought I was going to come over here and lie to you?' " Allen
said.
As Sparks started to leave the room, Allen placed her hand
on the door and again asked to be taken to the jail, at which point, she said,
Sparks began to choke her.
Prosecutor Rodney Cummings, who has seen video of the
interrogation, disagrees that Sparks choked Allen. He said it appears that
Sparks pushed Allen and inadvertently caught her neck in the process.
Allen, however, is adamant that Sparks choked her. "He
grabbed on to my neck and pushed me up against the wall to the point I couldn't
breathe."
Unable to breathe, Allen said, she hit Sparks across the
head in an attempt to get him off her. Five-foot, 110-pound Allenwas no match
for Sparks, a 25-year police veteran, she said.
"I felt he was doing me like someone on the street,
like he was trying to hurt me," Allen said.
Considering her size, Allen said, Sparks could have easily
pushed her back into the interrogation room and shut the door until she calmed
down. Instead, Sparks tackled Allen and took her to the floor, according to
Allen. She said she repeatedly yelled, "I'm not resisting!," but
Sparks continued to bend her arm back.
Moments later, Allen was in handcuffs sitting on the floor.
When she got up to sit in a chair, Allen said, Sparks objected, telling her to
"sit down" and delivering a leg sweep to send her crashing to the
floor.
"He slammed me to the ground with my handcuffs
on," she explained.
Cummings indicated that the leg sweep was Sparks' only
objectionable action in the video. Though Crenshaw filed charges against
Sparks, Cummings said he does not believe Sparks' actions were criminal.
Allen was transported to the county jail, where she remained
until bonding out on April 24. She said she plans to file a lawsuit against
Sparks but has yet to find a lawyer.
"I feel like what he did was wrong, really wrong,"
Allen said. "It's the police. We can't do nothing about it, just get a
lawyer."
Sparks has not spoken publicly about the incident.