Ann Elise Taylor
After a South Bend golfer was
seriously injured during an arrest, the man's mother has accused the officer
involved of police brutality, WSBT and The South Bend Tribune reported.
Tom Stevens, 55, did not stop
when an officer tried to pull him over around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, our
news partner WNDU reported. Stevens continued to his home, which was about six
houses away from where police officer Aaron Knepper tried to pull him over, the
Tribune reported.
"The officer attempted to
effect an arrest at this location, and in the process Mr. Stevens was
injured," the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office said in a news
release.
But according to Suzanne
Stevens, Tom Stevens' 76-year-old mother who witnessed the incident, Knepper
beat her son excessively. She told WSBT and the Tribune she thought her son was
going to die – she said Knepper had Tom Stevens pinned against the side of the
home and punched him repeatedly in the chest, jaw, neck and ribs.
After Suzanne Stevens tried to
stop Knepper, she and her son were arrested for resisting arrest and battery to
an officer, WSBT reported.
According to the Tribune, this
isn't the first time Knepper has been at the center of a controversy.
He was one of three officers
accused of entering a home without a warrant, beating 17-year-old DeShawn
Franklin and falsely arresting him in March 2013, the Tribune reported. In May,
a convenience store clerk claimed Knepper, Eric Mentz and Michael Stuk, the
same officers involved in the March 2013 incident, violated his rights by
slashing his tires and challenging him to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon, the
Tribune reported.
The St. Joseph County
Prosecutor's Office told WSBT that no criminal charges will be filed tonight.
However, they could come in the future.
As of Thursday morning, March
27, Tom Stevens was still in the hospital, the Tribune reported. On Wednesday,
March 26, WSBT reported Tom Stevens was in a medically-induced coma.
Tom Stevens is known around the
area for his golf career, which won him three consecutive titles in the South
Bend Metro Men's Tournament from 1981 to 1983, the Tribune reported.
To read more about the
incident, visit The South Bend Tribune's website. To watch a video of Suzanne
Stevens telling her side of the story, visit WSBT's website.