I was assualted and I am in need of assistance! This is my story, in the order of how I perceived it.
I took my dog for a walk. On this walk I decided to stop at my local tobacco shop to get a pack of cigarettes with what little change I could muster up. I walked into the
tobacco shop with my dog because she was on a short leash and is well behaved. there was nowhere to tie her up outside safely. I had thought that this wouldn't be a problem
since people bring their dogs in there with them all the time. also, one of the employees keeps her dog in the store whenever she is working. There are no signs posted of any dog ordinance.
As I was paying for my cigarettes, the owner of the store came out the door from the downstairs and begin instantly verbally aggressing me. I picked up my coin cash from the
counter, left the pack of cigarettes and made my way to the door proclaiming "that I don't need to give him my business" as he continued trying to verbally assault me and
becoming physical, shooing me out the door. I told him "if you want to get physical you're going to have to take it out to the street, off of your property; because I'm not going to
go to jail for fighting with you". Now standing on the porch of his store in front of a glass door. I told him "I'm never coming back here again" as I pointed my finger at him from
about 6 inches away from his chest.
This insulted him in such a way that as I turned to leave he sucker-punched me, making contact with the left side of the front of my face. Before I could react he then
struck me again a 2nd time. He then punched me a third time knocking me down scuffing my hand and bruising my hip. In my mind I realized that this man has a business with cameras all over it.
Knowing that I was in the right and had not retaliated. I got to my feet and stated that I was calling the police. My dog, while he was striking me was so caught off guard that she ripped the
leash from my hand and ran 25 to 30 feet away. I gathered my dog, I feel as though he I was hoping that my dog would bite or retaliate or I would retaliate so that he could have my dog put down or percent to the pound. promtly made my way out to the sidewalk, pulled out my phone and called the police. In the time that it took me to do that,
the store owner had decided that he was also going to call the police first and achieved a connection moments before me.
When the police finally arrived 20 minutes later, the first officer on site, officer Ingram completely ignored me and went straight into the store and talked to the store owner.
i stated in passing making it very clear that I would like to press charges.
When the second officer showed up on scene, officer Sorensen. he spoke to the first officer who still had not spoken to me and then came over and ask for my statement.
At this point I'm covered in blood, and I tell the officer, to the best of my stressed abilities what happened.
A local EMT was called but because I did not have any legal counsel or finances or insurance (to which I made very clear that I did not have), I didn't end up getting into the ambulance
to go to the hospital right away.
I also expressed to the officer that there are cameras to which they replied telling me that the cameras outside weren't working and they had proof of this because
two weeks prior the store was robbed or vandalized or something and they couldn't get video footage. I told the officer that there are cameras inside the store as well and Expressedd firmly, they need
to gather that footage.
They told me that he claimed that I grabbed him. I told them that the camera inside should be able to catch through the glass door to the outside.
I was confident that the camera footage would have been on my side 100%.
The officer agreed- yes, I am pressing charges by talking to the officer and he also told me verbally that I was not allowed on the premises of the tobacco shop there anymore. To which I promptly
responded that I have no intentions of returning and giving that man any business.
after making sure that the officers had their pictures I went home and took as many pictures as I could. My face was very swollen black and blue and bloody.
2 days later I went to Bismarck with my neighbor and couldn't buy tobacco because I had found that officer Sorenson had kept my ID.
I promptly called the police department to tell them they have my identification and to return to me. Another day and a half later officer Sorensen stopped by and took more pictures of my face and gave me back my ID.
As the week progressed my face was not getting any better and still spitting up blood. Knowing that I have a doctors appointment just a few more days away, about 10 days after the incident.
I substituted what I went to the doctor for and instead had them look at my face. They took x-rays checking my face over finding that I had multiple fractures in my cheek.
I got copies of this evidence and promptly got it to police to be added to the what I was told was an ongoing case.
Officer Sorensen is the one that picked up the medical records and told me it would be 2 to 3 weeks and I should expect a phone call from the courthouse.
He assured me that the pictures and the medical records would be devastatingly important to the case.
I tried, patiently waiting and then calling the courthouse to find out if my case had been taken care of, being that I was handed a marsy's law card for victims I wanted to be in the loop.
They kept giving me the same responses that officer Sorensen was on vacation and wasn't going to be in for weeks and they were waiting on him.
As the MONTHS go by of my contacting them and getting nowhere I was beginning to get very frustrated because I had been assaulted and nothing had been done.
I also was hearing things from my brother who used to work for the store owner and had also been assaulted by the owner (his ex boss). my brother told me that the man told him bragging that if he owned the cops or paid off
the cops he can get away with whatever he wants. was not reassuring.
I've been told from multiple places that he had assaulted other people on multiple other occations.
I found out that he also was selling drugs within a thousand feet of a school and ended up getting a plea bargain and tried turning it around on the police for a false arrest.
These things made me worry that the police we're going to let him get away with it because they're either paid off or afraid to arrest him.
I have a clean record.
This should have been an open and shut case.
At this point it has now been five months and I still couldn't get a hold of officer Sorensen.
I then finally got a hold of corporal roots who told me that the reason why it still hadn't gone through in over 5 months was because the officers hadn't clicked the "finish" button for the report
to cross her desk as the superior officer.
She even said "oops our bad"
Within the week the courthouse finally received the report.
Upon going to the courthouse I found out that they were NOT going to press charges on him.
Outraged I stated how unacceptable it was and demanded to see what report the police turned in.
They told me in the courthouse that the officer statements showed that he was justified in defending himself claiming that there was a grab mark on his shirt.
the courthouse also told me that they never received any medical records or pictures.
I went straight down to the sheriff's department, that I found out on the spot was no longer located in the courthouse building but instead on the other side of town.
I confronted corporal roots and requested a copy of the report they gave to the courthouse and questioned why my medical records were not turned in.
She told me that she would get to officer Sorensen and officer Ingram and find out what was going on and get back to me. and they got back to me with another "opps our bad" the medical records didnt get filed.
they had been lost in other random paperwork. Waiting even longer I ended up finally getting an email with the police report. This report that I recieved was very one-sided from officer Ingram who only spoke to store owner.
Officer Ingram's statements took things out of context and was stating that the store owner had called the police initially claiming that I wouldn't leave the property and refused to leave.
Made it sound like I was there for 10 to 20 minutes whereas the altercation and everything all came down to a total of less than 2 or 3 minutes. assuming that the cameras are working I stood off
the property on the corner waiting for the police to arrive.
His report had the store owner's statement that also stated that he followed me out the door.
in his report he also had stated that the owner of the store was trying to press charges on me for assault.
Officer Ingram's report was a total of a page-and-a-half maybe two pages and officer Sorensen's report was a very short paragraph stating what time he arrived and that he agreed with everything Ingram stated.
My statement was not in the report nor were any of the pictures or any of the medical records.
Being that the police department and courthouse will not be pressing charges and my financial status I haven't been able to find a lawyer to be able to assist me on this.
The store owner owns the tobacco shoppe and has now opened a CBD convenience store of some sort right next to the only bar and postoffice in this small town. He also has a tobacco shop in 2 of the neighboring towns.
He's taking over in the area and this restricts the peace in my life knowing the man who was able to break multiple Bones on me and get away with it, owns the only places to shop for any tobacco convenience.
I ended up speaking to a lieutenant brodRothf and the two other people that represented the police department in hopes to get to the bottom of this.
I found out that the only video footage they have was on their body cams watching the surveillance cameras unable to really pick up anything really worth anything.
They showed me a picture of the store owner's sweater that he claimed that I grabbed. I instantly noticed that the grab Mark that supposedly stayed on his sweater for over 20 minutes was in the formation of
either a left hand grabbing it or a right hand grabbing himself. I'm not left-handed. The police brushed off the situation like that's not identifiable enough to see what hand but it is but identifiable enough
to say that he was protecting himself from being grabbed.
they also mentioned that the store owner was pressing charges on me but nothing came of it. i believe that the officers adviced him not to press charges and suggested legal counsal. i got none of this
from the officers. it would have been helpful if the charges on his end could have brought to court so i'd atleast have access to a legal rep.
I asked the officers if they watched the surveillance footage after the altercation, before the police arrived on scene, which was 20 minutes of footage that the store owner could have easily grabbed his own sweater.
they told me that yes, they would have looked at that and then contradicted themselves and said that the body cam didn't record that far and the officer didnt watch that portion of footage.
they then told me that they would look over the case and call me in 2 weeks.
They called me back 2 weeks later after claiming that they reviewed everything and told me again they aren't going to do anything about this.
I think the police department is corrupt and that this tobacco store owner has leverage on them and this is a total lack of Justice and negligence on their part. I can't trust the Justice system.
Can anything be done? Do I have a legal case?
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