Police report differs from lawsuit version
By Sandy Cullen, Capital Newspapers
A Wisconsin Dells police officer accused in a lawsuit of forcing two National Guardsmen to lick what he and another officer believed was the men's urine maintains in a police report obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal that the act was the guardsmen's idea.
The guardsmen, Sgt. Anthony R. Anderson, of West Bend, and Spc. Robert C. Schiman, of Kaukauna, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Nov. 24. They claim that after accusing them of urinating in public on June 1, Officers Wayne W. Thomas and Collin H. Jacobson made them lick the liquid off the ground.
According to the lawsuit, Thomas, 19, was fired the day of the incident and Jacobson, 20, was suspended for two weeks without pay. Both were limited term police officers. A third officer, Scott Albrecht, was cited by the department for failing to follow procedures.
An incident report filed by Jacobson states:
Anderson and Schiman were "very intoxicated" after drinking with others who also had just returned from Iraq.
Jacobson and Thomas saw the two men leave Mama's Bar and go into an alley at about 1:05 a.m. Schiman went into a recessed area, while Anderson stayed in the middle of the alley. When Anderson saw the officers, he said something to Schiman and gestured for him to come out. When Schiman did, it looked to officers like he was zipping up his pants and putting his belt back on.
Schiman said he and Anderson were looking for two girls who walked into the area where he had been. He denied urinating in the area, where officers found a small puddle.
Thomas told Schiman he was not going to get a citation, but Thomas wanted Schiman to admit what he did. Schiman and Anderson began arguing with Thomas, and Anderson said he would prove that Schiman didn't urinate in the alley.
Anderson then ran his fingers through the puddle and licked them. Schiman got on his hands and knees and bit a leaf off a weed in the puddle.
Schiman and Anderson were laughing and saying they couldn't believe they did something so stupid. They said they were intoxicated and that the officers were both nice guys.
About 10 minutes after going back to the bar and talking with friends, Schiman and Anderson returned to the officers and started arguing, saying the officers had no right to force them to do what they did. They told conflicting versions of what happened, with one saying the officers forced them to the ground, and the other saying officers said they had to taste the urine. Jacobson said both versions were false, and that the men said they should get a break for serving in Iraq.
Schiman and Anderson both filed complaints with the Police Department the same day. Schiman wrote, "One of the officers told me that if I did not urinate, to go lick the spot that was wet ... . My sergeant then said, 'Fine, I'll lick it.' "
Schiman wrote he wasn't going to let his sergeant "go down for anything" after spending 10 months in Iraq with him, so he got down next to Anderson and "ate a plant (possibly covered in someone else's urine) ... . When we got up they said we're free to go, and they laughed!"
Anderson wrote one officer "said something like, if you taste it then you can go. I said if it will prove we did nothing wrong then I will ... . They said it was the wrong spot so I did it again."