Post by WaTcHeR on Jul 24, 2006 10:23:27 GMT -5
Officer Dawn Fisher-Nagel
07.24.2006 - No one disputes the facts: A Ramsey County sheriff's deputy fired a revolver inside her Roseville home during a fight last fall with her husband.
But there is conflict over Dawn Fisher-Nagel's effort to erase the episode from the public record.
Fisher-Nagel, a sheriff's department veteran of nearly 14 years, is not worried about a conviction marring her record. Prosecutors dropped a felony assault charge after she claimed self-defense and her husband indicated he would not testify.
The deputy remains concerned, however, that records of her arrest could hurt her career, especially if she ever seeks a job with another law-enforcement agency. She will ask a judge Tuesday to seal police and court files regarding her arrest.
"She was the victim, not the defendant," said Steven Meshbesher, Fisher-Nagel's attorney. "Just because she is a police officer with a license to carry a firearm, when she takes that uniform off, she is just another woman who had been psychologically and physically abused by her husband."
Roseville's police chief and prosecutors oppose her request. They contend Fisher-Nagel's arrest — the latest incident in a string of violence between the deputy and her husband — should remain in the public record.
"This is a situation of domestic violence," said Pete Cahill, a chief deputy in the Hennepin County attorney's office, which is handling the case for Ramsey County to avoid conflicts of interest. "We should keep a record of all the incidents that come out of that. … We need that not only for the protection of victims, but so police officers know what they are walking into."
Fisher-Nagel's marriage to Bryan Nagel has been a rocky one. Police have responded to the couple's home more than 10 times in recent years. The call that led to Fisher-Nagel's arrest came Oct. 9.
No one was hurt when Fisher-Nagel, 42, fired her service weapon during a confrontation with Nagel. Roseville officers arrested her at her home. An hour later, her blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for motorists.
The night of the incident, police saw bruises on Fisher-Nagel's face, neck, arms, back and legs, according to her petition to seal the arrest records. A defense psychologist said she fired her Glock semiautomatic revolver because she believed "her life and safety were in immediate danger, and that she needed to use whatever means she could to defend herself."
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the assault charge in March.
The incident at Fisher-Nagel's home was not isolated. In March 2005, Fisher-Nagel obtained a restraining order against her husband. In her petition, she alleged eight years of abuse, saying that her husband had kicked a table at her, hurled an ashtray in her direction, left 17 messages on her cell phone in one day, hit her in the shoulder, choked her and punched in a garage window.
Fisher-Nagel said her husband also smashed through a back door with a shovel, smashed coffee tables and overturned a Christmas tree. According to the petition filed in Ramsey County District Court, police arrested Bryan Nagel, 44, on two occasions, but no charges were filed.
The court granted an emergency restraining order March 15. Three days later, Fisher-Nagel asked the court to withdraw it, explaining that a family wedding, grandchildren, financial matters and plans to file for divorce would make it impossible for Nagel to have no contact with her.
"I am not afraid of Bryan. I believe by obtaining the order, we both got a real wake-up call," she wrote. " I apologize to the courts for taking the time. Unfortunately this is what it took for Bryan and I to realize it's time to get on with our lives."
Nagel could not be reached for comment.
In a letter to the court, Roseville Police Chief Carol Sletner opposed a move to seal the file. The chief cited "numerous law enforcement contacts related to alcohol, domestics and officer safety concerns."
Sheriff Bob Fletcher said his department's internal-affairs division is investigating the incident. He said Fisher-Nagel is still employed with the department. Fletcher said he isn't taking a position on whether her files should be sealed, but, he said: "Fundamentally, we are always opposed to expungements. They reduce our ability to track potential criminal behavior."
Because Fisher-Nagel was not convicted, the public records of her arrest would not affect her license with the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training. The arrest could affect her ability to obtain other law-enforcement jobs.
From the start, Meshbesher said, police and prosecutors have treated his client more harshly because of her job.
Prosecutors "bent over backwards to make it more difficult," Meshbesher said. "If she had been a normal citizen, I don't think it would be this difficult. What she did is something no one of us would want to happen to us. She was the victim."
www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/state/minnesota/15107054.htm