A Cortez police officer with a history of anger management has been involved in another arrest involving use of force. This time, an apparently intoxicated pedestrian suffered a bloody nose and mouth.
In a two-page incident report, patrol officer Casey Eubanks wrote that he was driving along the 500 block of East Main Street at 1:58 p.m. on Oct. 7, when he observed a man and woman stumbling. The officer approached the pedestrians in the Super 8 Motel parking lot.
After being advised of violating a municipal court alcohol provision, the male suspect reportedly complied with demands to remove a backpack. As Eubanks attempted to place the man in handcuffs, he said, the suspect resisted by “pulling away.”
“I told (the man) twice to stop,” Eubanks wrote in his report.
According to Eubanks, he then placed the suspect in an arm bar, “forcing him to the ground.” After “about five seconds,” Eubanks said he was able to handcuff the suspect, adding that the man “hit his nose and mouth on the concrete, causing him to bleed” during the takedown.
The officer noted that a motel employee witnessed the incident, and she told Eubanks that he “did nothing wrong” during the confrontation. No witness statements from the female pedestrian were included in the report.
The man was arrested and charged with violating bond conditions and resisting arrest.
In August, Eubanks reported that he picked a man “off the ground” and slammed him onto the pavement. Arrested and charged with trespass, unlawful crossing of a roadway by a pedestrian and resisting arrest, that suspect had reportedly harassed Walmart customers with a stereo.
In May, Eubanks used a Taser to capture a fleeing suspect. In that case, Eubanks reported that he deployed his stun gun, because he was unable to catch the suspect during a foot pursuit. The man in the case later pleaded guilty to violating a protection order.
And in February 2014, Eubanks received a department reprimand and was ordered to seek anger management counseling after destroying city property in anger. That incident involved the arrest of a mentally disturbed man, who was tasered repeatedly by another officer while in handcuffs. A jury later acquitted the suspect of assaulting law enforcement officers.
Listed as an average employee according to city performance appraisal records, Eubanks has served as a Cortez police officer since July 2012.
