Jury acquits ex-officer on one count, mistrial on 2nd

A jury couldn't agree whether a former Des Moines police officer used excessive force after a traffic accident, resulting in a mistrial Saturday.

The federal jury also found Colin Boone not guilty of falsifying records in connection with the case.

Boone was on trial after authorities said he kicked Orville Hill in the face and knocked out his teeth while he was on the ground with four other police officers attempting to subdue him Feb. 19, 2013.

A retrial will be scheduled to again address the charge of using excessive force, said U.S. Senior District Judge Robert Pratt. Boone had faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

"I wish we had a straight not-guilty verdict," said Michael Smart, Boone's attorney. "He was a fine police officer."

Boone was fired in May 2013 because of what then-Police Chief Judy Bradshaw called "gross misconduct."

Smart said the Des Moines Police Department had "lost a fine policeman."

The incident in question started when Boone arrived at Indianola and Hartford avenues in southeast Des Moines, where Hill had crashed his vehicle into a concrete barrier. His attorney has said Hill had a seizure while driving.

The 12-person jury reviewed a video from the police car camera, heard from both Boone and Hill and listened to Des Moines police officers that were at the scene before starting to deliberate Friday morning. They returned Saturday; the verdicts were announced after roughly 14 hours of deliberation.

Cody Willis, a Des Moines police officer with four years of experience, pulled Hill out of his crashed minivan and onto the ground before Boone arrived. Willis testified that he saw Boone running full speed and strike Hill in the mouth with a kick, which he later called "unnecessary."

Willis said he told his superior and the watch commander about the kick because Boone failed to do so.

"I didn't expect to have to come forward about it," Willis said.

Hill told the jury about waking up in a hospital bed with "excruciating pain" in his mouth. He said he had been driving to pick up a friend who had been drinking at a bar that morning, but he pulled over when he felt like he was going to have a seizure.

Hill said that during seizures, he was known to run and tremble and once jumped a barbed-wire fence. He said that he'd never been combative during a seizure or a drug high.

Hill said he used marijuana the night of the incident. He refused a drug test at Broadlawns Medical Center later that morning.

When Holly Healey, a physician at Broadlawns, first saw Hill, she said he was uncooperative and incoherent.

Boone testified Thursday that he "stumbled" and lost his balance after the kick, but turned back to the struggle and pressed down on Hill's shoulder with his knee.

"I looked down and saw blood on (Hill's) face, and I got off him," Boone said.

Smart asked how Boone would define his level of force that night.

"We have to win," Boone said. "If police officers lose, they could die."

Boone declined to be interviewed at the federal courthouse in Des Moines on Saturday. Prosecutors could not be reached to comment.