Ex-Flagstaff cop reindicted for on-duty punch
A grand jury has reindicted a former Flagstaff police officer on charges of aggravated assault after he was caught on video punching a woman in the face in 2016.
Jeffrey Wilson, who took his wife’s last name after they wed, had the legal name of Jeffrey Bonar when the incident occurred in November 2016.
Police said Wilson had been trying to take a woman he mistakenly believed to have an outstanding warrant into custody.
Wilson was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault in 2017, but the case halted when a judge ordered that it be reexamined by a grand jury, as prosecutors originally put forth a case that excluded evidence favorable to Wilson.
As ordered, grand jurors took another look, this time with the potentially exculpatory information, and determined there was enough evidence to show Wilson “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly” caused physical injury to Marissa Morris as “she was bound or otherwise physically re-
strained or while her capacity to resist was substantially impaired.”
The latest indictment is dated Feb. 8. Wilson has since pleaded not guilty.
The case is now back where it was in mid-2017, after the initial indictment but before Coconino County Superior Court Judge Cathleen Brown Nichols put the case in limbo.
Her decision came on the heels of calls by the officer’s attorneys to dismiss the case entirely due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Though the case wasn’t thrown out completely, the September development did provide a window of opportunity, Wilson’s attorney, Marc J. Victor, told The Republic at the time.
Now, Victor says Wilson is “disappointed” he was not allowed to give his version of the events to the grand jury.
“However, he is looking forward to having a fair trial so all the facts of what actually occurred can be presented,” Victor said in a statement to The Republic on Friday.
Wilson was placed on administrative leave shortly after bystander video of the Nov. 16, 2016, incident surfaced on Facebook.
That video shows Wilson grappling with 30-year-old Morris after he arrived to help a Coconino County sheriff ’s deputy serve an eviction notice. Wilson said he believed a previous warrant for Morris remained active. It wasn’t.
At one point during the struggle, Wilson can be seen — and heard — punching Morris in the face after she tells him, “You cannot arrest me until I know I have a warrant.”
Wilson resigned after an internal review found him to be in violation of department policies, and an independent review headed by Northern Arizona University police criticized his actions.
All told, he was found to be in violation of six department policies, including using unreasonable and excessive force in the situation and not turning on his body camera — the device captured moments before and after the incident, but not the events that he said transpired too quickly to activate it.
His behavior that afternoon was described as “frazzled” by the men who assisted him in Morris’ arrest. Despite his experience, his demeanor was described as more like that of a rookie officer in his first physical altercation.
Records obtained by The Republic show Wilson was hired by the Flagstaff Police Department on Dec. 30, 2013, and completed his training May 8, 2014.
The officer said he was kicked in the groin and assaulted. That, along with Wilson’s assertion that his use of force was not excessive given the situation, “if believed by the grand jury is clearly exculpatory evidence that should have been presented,” the judge wrote in the 14-page decision to put the case in limbo.
Mohave County prosecutors are handling the criminal case.
In addition to the felony assault indictment, an attorney representing Morris has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Flagstaff and the officer.
The lawsuit filed in October said Morris remains scarred by the incident, which was broadcast on national television outlets. Attorney Benjamin Taylor said in the filing that the city was negligent in its hiring of the officer and its supervision during his interaction with Morris.
Additionally, the officer inflicted “emotional distress” on Morris, committed battery and falsely imprisoned her, according to the suit.
A previously-filed notice of claim sought $1 million in total damages.
“She has her ups and downs,” Taylor told The Republic on Thursday. “This has affected her traumatically, emotionally and physically since she was punched in the face twice by Officer (Wilson). This has definitely affected her life, and it will affect her for the rest of her life.”
Wilson is due in Coconino County Superior Court on Monday.