How Missouri Cops 'Feared For Their Lives' And Attacked An 80-year-old Army Veteran
The police pulled 80-year-old Bill Swan off his tractor on his own property and attacked him. And then they charged him with assault, according to KCTV-TV.
Photographs indicate that Bill Swan was smeared with blood on his face and jacket and bruises after the attack last week. His wife, Libby Swan, revealed that he also suffered a bruised hip and two broken ribs. She is afraid that there may be another encounter with the Lone Jack police. "I'm afraid for us to even drive out of our driveway or to get on the street," she told KCTV according to rawstory. "I don't know what they will do."
On the other hand, the Police Chief, William Forbes, affirmed that officers had been called after Bill Swan got into a debate with public works employees on the repair of utility lines. Swan, who was sitting on his tractor, threatened to sue the workers for invading his property.
Once the police came into the scene, Forbes said that Swan had tried to "back into their police car" and then just tried to leave. The officers gesticulated for him to stop, but he refused and turned and tried to run over them. At last one officer could clamber on to the tractor and shut it off. Swan then tried to attack the police and reached out for one officer's gun, Forbes said. He began a "scuffle," which resulted in Swan getting a bruised face and broken ribs.
However, countering his arguments, Swan's relatives affirm that he did not hear the officers' commands, as his hearing has become very limited. They denied that Forbes' version was correct. Refusing to be treated, Swan was summoned to the police station and got arrested on the charge of attacking a "police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest," according to freethoughtproject.
Swan's grandson said that he was dismayed and anxious, telling WDAF-TV that the police, which is supposed to protect the public, is just "going after people that pay their taxes, that do the right things, and are law-abiding citizens, and they're picking on the small guy." Countering this statement, Forbes came up with an astonishing reason for attacking the 80-year-old, frail, cancer survivor, explaining that the police "were in fear of their lives," according to news.vice.com.