A Highland woman says American Fork police officers mistreated her when she sought their help in evicting tenants from a rental home her parents own.
Lisa Laycock said police tried to stop her from using a video camera and referred to her in degrading manner during the April 2 incident. Although officers didn't lay a hand on her, she said police intimidated, harassed and needlessly detained her. They also refused to listen to her explanation of the situation, she said.Since the events of that day, Laycock, 37, said she's "more frightened of the American Fork police officers who are supposed to protect me and my rights than I am of just about anyone else."
Laycock outlined her concerns in a 15-page letter to American Fork and Utah County officials in late April. She asked police Chief John Durrant to conduct an internal investigation of the incident.
But Laycock and her husband, Larry, an attorney, aren't satisfied with what they believe was an incomplete inquiry into the events of that day. The Laycocks were initially reluctant to discuss the matter because they wanted it resolved privately. Lisa Laycock believes American Fork police should acknowledge they erred and apologize.
"I'm not persuaded American Fork is going to do anything," Larry Laycock, 37, said.
The Laycocks, who don't intend to file a civil rights suit, said they have two objectives: to make American Fork safer and to help people, especially teenagers, understand their rights.
Lisa Laycock said she felt relieved to find out police were on the way to the west-side house when she met her younger brother, Lance Gleave, there April 2. Laycock planned to videotape alleged damage in the house done by the evicted tenants.
Police arrived about 9:30 a.m. after one of the tenants called them saying a man holding a rifle ordered them off the property. The tenants also said the man took from their truck a box containing a small stereo and tools. The tenants were in the process of moving out, albeit two days later than the March 31 deadline on an eviction notice.
Laycock attempted to assert a lessor's lien on personal items the tenants had at the house after March 31 to cover unpaid rent. Police, she said, weren't interested in that but wanted to search the house for a rifle. Laycock told them they'd need a search warrant. She said officers made it sound as though she'd be in trouble if she didn't comply.
Police never obtained the search warrant and did not enter the house.
One officer told Laycock to turn off her video camera and attempted to take it from her, she said. Out of fear, Laycock said, she pointed the camera at the ground but left it rolling.
Laycock said five or six officers stood around her during the 45-minute incident, keeping their hands near their guns.
"I felt like I was in danger. I was scared," she said.
The matter spilled into neighboring Highland later in the morning because Gleave pulled the tenants' utility trailer to his parents' home. Winston Gleave, Lisa Laycock and Lance Gleave's father, believes the lessor's lien entitles him to the trailer because it was left at the rental home after March 31.
Laycock went to her parents' home where a Highland-Alpine police officer met her to examine the trailer. While there, the officer took an incoming cellular phone call from someone he said was an American Fork officer. Laycock said she overheard the American Fork officer say, "You are dealing with a b---- of hell."
The Laycocks asked Durrant to investigate their concerns. The police chief later told Larry Laycock that he had determined that it wasn't an American Fork officer who made the derogatory remark but a resident who had called the Alpine-Highland officer on another matter, according to a cassette tape in the Laycocks' possession.
But on a tape-recorded phone message at the Laycocks' home, the Highland-Alpine officer says he sent a statement to American Fork police saying the officer did indeed use that language.
Durrant said Monday that he is still looking into the matter.