Attorney Jim Harris said Wednesday afternoon the four dismissed/nolle prossed charges against his client, Brenda Wren, have no relevance to her lawsuit against the city of Blytheville, Police Chief Ross Thompson and former police officer Kevin Tucker.
Wren's suit alleges she was arrested and held for several hours in only a t-shirt and panties, after she called police for a domestic incident with her ex-husband Gary Wren on Jan. 3.
Harris said the incidents listed in a Blytheville Courier News story Sunday were irrelevant to the case.
The other domestic-related incidents printed occurred Feb. 13, March 14 and Jan. 2, 2005, according to police reports.
"The lawsuit itself, in my opinion, speaks for itself," Harris said. "The entire lawsuit is premised on the manner in which she was treated after she was arrested. The lawsuit is based on the fact that you can have a good arrest made in an unreasonable manner. This entire lawsuit is about the manner in which she was treated after she was arrested. In actuality, in my opinion, it makes no difference had she been convicted of a charge, had Gary been convicted of a charge, had both of them been convicted of a charge or neither of them convicted of a charge. The entire lawsuit goes back to the manner in which she was treated after she was arrested."
He said the background information in Sunday's edition was an attempt to embarrass his client.
"To my knowledge, there is not one single incident that led to a conviction," Harris said. "One would think there would have to be sufficient evidence to convict."
He added arrestees are entitled to "a certain dignity" of allowing them to be clothed while they are being held.
"That could be as simple as providing someone a sheet or a blanket to cover up," Harris said. "It makes no difference what kind of criminal charge might be pending. That is all irrelevant. You are still entitled to be treated like a human being."
He pointed out Brenda Wren told him while in the holding cell that night, she could hear other detainees at the BPD detention facility banging on the walls and begging for a blanket because of how cold it was at the facility.
"It is ridiculous to put somebody in a holding cell and not provide them any type of clothing," Harris said.
Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson has declined to comment because of the pending litigation.
Wren's lawsuit says officer Kevin Tucker, who is no longer with the BPD, reached "the improper conclusion" that Brenda had assaulted her then-husband.
"Ultimately, (Tucker) threw her to the floor on her face, cuffed her hands behind her back, and then, still clothed in her t-shirt and panties, placed her in the back of his police car," the suit reads, noting she stayed at the police department for several hours in the same state of dress.
In Tucker's police report, it says he asked Brenda if she wanted to put on a pair of pants when placed under arrest.
"Brenda then attempted to get around me in an attempt to make contact with Gary," Tucker wrote in the report. "At that time I placed Brenda into custody."
Tucker, a Poinsett County resident, was terminated in the spring for allegedly failing to comply with the city's residency policy.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com