Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Jeff Newnum’s version makes it sound like the chase went a lot farther and the confrontation took a whole lot longer. He would testify at the Yavapai County Superior Court in Prescott in May that she had “six minutes” to call 911 before he even stopped her, but she says it was only a half mile that she was even aware he was targeting her car.
“At gunpoint I ordered the driver of the Nissan to exit the vehicle,” Newnum’s police report read. “The Nissan’s headlights were shining in my direction, fully illuminating my Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office uniform. I continued to order the driver of the vehicle to open the door and exit the vehicle, however the female driver refused, and continued to yell something inaudible.”
The beefy sergeant said he gave “numerous commands” to open the door and when she didn’t comply, he holstered his weapon and took out his expandable baton, breaking out the back window. He claims that Roberts then “accelerated” twice, trying to flee, although she says as he pulled her out, her foot slipped off the brake and the car inched forward. Inching is actually all it did – even Newnum’s police report notes it touched the back of his car but did no damage.
By then, passerby Colin Bass of Rimrock drove up, noted the open SUV door and thought the officer might need help. The police report from that night says this: “Bass said he drove by the police SUV and saw glass on the street. Bass said he then saw a police officer attempting to pull a female out of a vehicle…. Bass said Roberts was resisting and being combative.”
That was about all the original police report said about Bass, although his story would get more elaborate and suspicious: Bass, who claims to be a stranger to the officer, says that since Newnum had both hands busy pulling Roberts from the car, he took the flashlight from the officer’s belt, next to his gun, to signal any oncoming car. Even Newnum says a passerby “used my flashlight to assist in traffic control.”
OK, I’m not a police officer, but I know enough officers to know none of them would ever allow anyone to get near their weapon. (A veteran officer I know said this scenario is “absurd.”)
Eventually, Bass would embroider his story to back up the officer’s claim that this was a woman intentionally fleeing from a cop. Significantly, he would claim to hear her on her cell phone asking her husband how to get away – the same thing Sergeant Newnum testified he heard.
But the evidence shows this isn’t true.
First, Bass didn’t even arrive on the scene until the window was already smashed and the cell phone was in the gravel. Second, if Newnum couldn’t hear her “inaudible” screams through the closed window, how could he hear her cell phone conversation? But most significantly, cell phone records from that night show Dibor Roberts made no calls during the time of the altercation. Her husband’s cell phone records show he received no calls, either. Even Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh admitted records show there was “no attempt to call her husband or call 9-1-1.” (Regrettably, Roberts’ attorney didn’t even bring up the cell phone records during the trial. Duh.)
But curiously, Bass did testify to something everybody else wanted to deny. Both Newnum and his sheriff insisted there was no reason to believe Roberts didn’t know there was a legitimate cop trailing her – that she was just avoiding arrest. But Bass said he heard Dibor Roberts, again and again, telling the officer she “was trying to get to the lights.” He heard her repeatedly ask the officer, “Why are you doing this? I did what I was supposed to do.”
This makes Bass a most curious witness: He clearly lied to help the officer but also said the one thing the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office didn’t want anyone to believe – that this woman was only trying to get to a lighted area for her own safety.
Now is when you expect me to tell you that the truth was revealed and everyone left this poor woman alone. Or that they saved face by charging her with a minor crime and everyone went home. But that’s not what happened.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and its county attorney went after this woman with a vengeance. To me, they appear as out of control as the officer was that night.