"Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come."
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I am a 3B Area Assistant - I gave a homeless man room and board for 3 weeks and he stole my vehicle.
On Sunday May 8th 2022 at about 7:30 pm I received a message from someone I had helped in the past. Andre Gomez, a convicted felon on parole. He said he was in Provo, homeless and freezing in the rain. He asked if I could come and get him and help him. I did. We made an agreement that he could do some things I need around the house for temporary room and board since he had no money to pay rent. He said he needed 30 days and I said that was ok. I put him in my storage room in my basement on an inflatable mattress. I also allowed him the use of my Ford Expedition to find a job. After a couple of weeks of arguing with him constantly about the things I needed done around the house, I realized that I could not continue with the arrangement. It was even hard to get him to clean up after himself. On Wednesday evening May 25th 2022 I asked him to return my keys to my vehicle, many, many times over text message. He ignored those requests and at 1am got into my vehicle and drove away. I called the police to report my vehicle stolen. They informed me that I could not report my vehicle stolen because I gave him the keys.
They said it is considered a "Breech of Trust" and a civil matter. Not a criminal matter. Case# 22-98381 Officer Hainke and another officer whose name I cannot recall told me to go to his place of work in the morning and call the Sandy Police to come and assist me in retrieving my stolen vehicle. I did what they advised and went to his place of business at 10365 S 1300 E, Sandy, Utah. I confirmed my vehicle was there and called the Sandy PD to come and assist. I also left many messages and attempted to reach Andre’s parole officer with no success and I still have not heard back from them. When the Sandy police officers arrived they spoke to Andre, and then informed me that I would have to file a civil complaint and they would not help me retrieve my vehicle. I was afraid that Andre would take my vehicle and I would lose track of it. I parked behind my vehicle and he came out got into my truck and squeezed out around me. I followed him. He drove into the building under construction and I followed. He then was yelled at by a man on a scissor lift to get the F out of there and he did and I followed him out. Then the officers told me that I was told by the owners of the property to leave, I was trespassing and I went over to the Smiths Parking lot.
I then saw the police officers across the parking lot and I drove over to them to ask them where the property line was and asked if it was ok if I kept an eye on my truck from the smiths parking lot since that was not private property. They then told me to get out of my vehicle, I was being arrested for stalking. I said, ok let me get my sandals on they said no and proceeded to yank me out of my vehicle as I was trying to get out. The male officers slammed me against the side of my vehicle and tried to hand cuff me. I was completely compliant and passive, yet I am a heavy set woman and my arms do not easily meet in the back. They said I was resisting to which I replied, I am not in the least bit resisting, I don’t have the physical ability to easily put my hands together in the back I am handicapped, I was injured by a drunk driver a couple of years ago. At no point did I curse or behave disrespectfully to anyone. Not even Andre, I simply asked him to return my property. Then they proceeded to try to force me into the back of a police vehicle that I could not bend my knees to get into, after a while of them trying to force my legs into the car, they called for a larger vehicle to put me in. I was in extreme pain being handcuffed behind my back and I was left this way for many hours. I was not allowed to use the bathroom. I was sure I was going to urinate on myself in the police station, but somehow managed to hold it. I did not want to sit in my own urine. I felt de-humanized and as if I was some kind of animal not even allowed to relieve myself.
I was then searched very roughly and deemed “uncooperative” although I did everything I was instructed to the best of my physical abilities. I have no idea what I did that could have been deemed uncooperative. I was shoved into a drunk tank that felt to be about 45 degrees shivering for 2 hours unable to make a phone call. I then spent the next 10 hours sitting on a concrete bench shivering and in much pain until I was released. The ONLY compassion I was shown was from other people that had been arrested and came up to me and asked me if I was ok. One man went and got a roll of toilet paper and said I could use it as a pillow. I am utterly traumatized and can barely move my arms, which I need to use to get around because of the sever osteoarthritis in my knees. I went to the Doctor and my wrists are sprained and upper arms bruised and I cannot stop crying. The Doctor has referred to me for mental health services as I am traumatized. The officers that did this to me are E. Slack and A. Nystrom. Case # 24504. Sandy City cops like arresting innocent women. Reminder, Carola Michel's trial is on June 16th. Carola was arrested by Officer Thoman for not wearing a mask. Wicked people work for Sandy City.