Reports conflict in police confrontation
The official report filed by a Coconino County sheriff’s deputy on a confrontation between a Flagstaff police officer who threw a punch and a woman he was trying to arrest does not corroborate the officer’s claim that the woman assaulted him, records show.
Officer Jeff Bonar, 28, was placed on administrative leave shortly after video of the Nov. 16 incident surfaced on Facebook. Bonar had gone to 30-year-old Marissa Morris’ home that afternoon to help a Coconino County sheriff’s deputy serve an eviction notice but ended up arresting Morris on suspicion of aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
In his report, Bonar wrote that he believed Morris had a warrant out for her arrest and that he was trying to apprehend her when she began to struggle, kicking him multiple times in the groin and knees. The video posted by her boyfriend’s relatives shows Bonar striking Morris in the face after she tells him, “You cannot arrest me until I know I have a warrant.”
Deputy Joel Winchester is captured in the cellphone video footage. He is seen between the two for most of the duration of the physical encounter.
In his report, obtained by The Arizona Republic, Winchester described his role in the incident. He said in the document that Morris “resisted” as he struggled to keep her hands behind her back to be handcuffed.
“As our efforts continued in this manner, I noted (Bonar) punch Marissa around the chin area with a closed fist,” Winchester wrote. “I believe this was an effort to gain her compliance and enhance efforts to maintain control of her.”
There is no mention in the report of Morris kicking or kneeing Bonar, and few specific details about the physical struggle involving the three of them.
Winchester did write that Morris repeatedly told Bonar that she no longer