Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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When Sarasota County sheriff's Deputy James Lutz arrived at the Coffins' Nokomis home to serve a temporary restraining order, I don't know what he expected. Coffin has no criminal convictions. He is a landlord, and a tenant he evicted in Charlotte County had told a judge that Coffin threatened her and grabbed her arm to force her out of the rented house.
It should have been routine.
Instead, it became a fight that ended with two bruised and bloodied deputies, and the couple in jail. John Coffin, 55, is facing serious felony charges that include aggravated battery of two law-enforcement officers.
Last week, when Cynthia Coffin answered the door at about supper time and found Lutz with civil papers for her husband, she said he was in the bathroom. She closed the door and went to tell her husband.
John Coffin didn't hurry to the door. Maybe he was irritated because he had already been served those papers, in Charlotte County, and because he was finding it hard to trust cops.
Cynthia, through lawyer Derek Byrd, says she didn't like it when she saw Lutz peering through a window. The arrest report says she ignored Lutz's further knocks and started closing blinds and locking doors, "thereby obstructing his lawful duties," according to the Sheriff's Office.
Interesting phrase. I'm pretty sure we all have a right to close our blinds and lock our doors to keep police from peeking or barging in without a warrant, at least when there is no emergency going on.
When Cynthia Coffin came out to her garage to complain, the deputies threatened her with arrest if there was "further resistance," the report says.
When she turned to walk away, "the deputies feared she was going to enter the residence and lock the door," according to the report, and so, "to avoid further obstruction" they "grabbed her arms to place her under arrest."
How the heck is that legal?
The deputies had no legal basis for entering a home without permission, and no power to demand help from Cynthia Coffin even if she could have made her husband come out.
She, on the other hand, had every right to lock her doors to make it clear the deputies were not invited in. Good idea, actually, since the deputies apparently had no concept of her rights in her own home, which police in America are supposed to respect.
The report says she pulled away when the deputies grabbed her, so they forced her to the ground to handcuff her.
The legality of that notwithstanding, it was an effective ploy. Those deputies now had the man's wife on the ground as bait.
Sure enough, he came right out.
Though Coffin didn't yet know Cynthia's shoulder had been dislocated during or after the takedown, I have to guess he felt much as any husband would when he saw his wife pinned to the concrete by someone he felt sure had no reason or right to do such a thing to her.
The report says John Coffin started punching. The two deputies fought with him and tried to stop him with a Taser, but Coffin grabbed it and used it on them, sometimes as a club. As the fight went into the house, John Coffin pushed Deputy Stacy Ferris back into the garage and locked her out.
Lutz, bleeding from cuts on his head, fought on and finally drew his gun and was able to arrest the husband.
The charges John Coffin faces could mean serious prison time.
Cynthia Coffin was arrested, too, and charged with "resisting an officer without violence."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060428/COLUMNIST36/604280446/-1/COLUMNIST
When Sarasota County sheriff's Deputy James Lutz arrived at the Coffins' Nokomis home to serve a temporary restraining order, I don't know what he expected. Coffin has no criminal convictions. He is a landlord, and a tenant he evicted in Charlotte County had told a judge that Coffin threatened her and grabbed her arm to force her out of the rented house.
It should have been routine.
Instead, it became a fight that ended with two bruised and bloodied deputies, and the couple in jail. John Coffin, 55, is facing serious felony charges that include aggravated battery of two law-enforcement officers.
Last week, when Cynthia Coffin answered the door at about supper time and found Lutz with civil papers for her husband, she said he was in the bathroom. She closed the door and went to tell her husband.
John Coffin didn't hurry to the door. Maybe he was irritated because he had already been served those papers, in Charlotte County, and because he was finding it hard to trust cops.
Cynthia, through lawyer Derek Byrd, says she didn't like it when she saw Lutz peering through a window. The arrest report says she ignored Lutz's further knocks and started closing blinds and locking doors, "thereby obstructing his lawful duties," according to the Sheriff's Office.
Interesting phrase. I'm pretty sure we all have a right to close our blinds and lock our doors to keep police from peeking or barging in without a warrant, at least when there is no emergency going on.
When Cynthia Coffin came out to her garage to complain, the deputies threatened her with arrest if there was "further resistance," the report says.
When she turned to walk away, "the deputies feared she was going to enter the residence and lock the door," according to the report, and so, "to avoid further obstruction" they "grabbed her arms to place her under arrest."
How the heck is that legal?
The deputies had no legal basis for entering a home without permission, and no power to demand help from Cynthia Coffin even if she could have made her husband come out.
She, on the other hand, had every right to lock her doors to make it clear the deputies were not invited in. Good idea, actually, since the deputies apparently had no concept of her rights in her own home, which police in America are supposed to respect.
The report says she pulled away when the deputies grabbed her, so they forced her to the ground to handcuff her.
The legality of that notwithstanding, it was an effective ploy. Those deputies now had the man's wife on the ground as bait.
Sure enough, he came right out.
Though Coffin didn't yet know Cynthia's shoulder had been dislocated during or after the takedown, I have to guess he felt much as any husband would when he saw his wife pinned to the concrete by someone he felt sure had no reason or right to do such a thing to her.
The report says John Coffin started punching. The two deputies fought with him and tried to stop him with a Taser, but Coffin grabbed it and used it on them, sometimes as a club. As the fight went into the house, John Coffin pushed Deputy Stacy Ferris back into the garage and locked her out.
Lutz, bleeding from cuts on his head, fought on and finally drew his gun and was able to arrest the husband.
The charges John Coffin faces could mean serious prison time.
Cynthia Coffin was arrested, too, and charged with "resisting an officer without violence."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060428/COLUMNIST36/604280446/-1/COLUMNIST
