Federal judge rules in favor of OST police

By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal staff | Thursday, May 08, 2008

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The judge in a federal civil trial has ruled that Oglala Sioux Tribe police officers were not negligent when they pursued Nathan Dreamer on Jan. 7, 2002, after police received a report that Dreamer had threatened someone with a knife.

The pursuit ended when Dreamer wrecked his car on BIA Highway 41 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Dreamer, 36, died seven weeks later of injuries he suffered in the crash.

Dreamer's mother, Norma Blacksmith, filed the suit against the United States government in U.S. District Court, and a court trial was held last month. She claimed that a tribal police officer rammed his patrol car into Dreamer's car, causing it to go through a ditch and strike an embankment.

But in his ruling, U.S. District Judge Andrew Bogue said testimony showed that no police car came into contact with Dreamer's car or forced him into the ditch.

Bogue also noted that throughout their pursuit of Dreamer's vehicle, tribal police officers were "operating on the very reasonable beliefs that Dreamer had committed an assault prior to leaving Dina Eagle Hawk's home, that he had possibly taken Jennifer Eagle Hawk against her will, that he was dangerous and had been drinking, and that he was eluding police."

According to court documents, Dina Eagle Hawk called tribal police to say that Dreamer had threatened his girlfriend Jennifer, who is Dina's sister, with a knife at Dina's home in Oglala.

"The Court finds that the officers' conduct during the police pursuit was entirely reasonable and appropriate in light of the serious situation," Bogue wrote.

He also said evidence indicated that the car accident that fatally injured Dreamer was a result of his own recklessness in driving while intoxicated, refusing to stop for emergency vehicles, "taking actions which foreseeably led to a police pursuit," driving recklessly given the road conditions on BIA 41, driving on the wrong side of the road and losing control of his vehicle.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com