A 78-year-old Utah homeowner was thrown to the pavement and injured by police who mistook him for a squatter on his own property, according to a federal lawsuit.
Rand Briem, 78, resided in Ogden, Utah, where he and his wife lived in the detached garage of their home.
On the night of November 29, 2022, the couple was pulling out of their driveway to run an errand when Ogden police officers stopped them, records show.
A neighbor had contacted authorities to report possible squatter activity at the home, according to the lawsuit.
The house had a health department non-occupancy notice posted on the front door, records state. But that notice applied only to a contaminated basement apartment, according to court documents.
The Briems had been living in the detached garage the entire time, the filing states.
“Yeah, that’s my house, that’s my garage,” Briem told an officer at the scene, according to bodycam footage.
The officer told the resident the property was foreclosed and that he shouldn’t be there, the recording shows.
Briem got out of his car, increasingly irritated by the encounter, according to court documents.
The homeowner told the officer he would show his driver’s license to prove he was the owner, the lawsuit states.
Briem said he would display the identification but would not hand it directly to police. The officer took the identification card out of his hands anyway, according to court documents.
The confrontation escalated immediately after the officer took the card, the lawsuit states.
Within one to two seconds, officers forced Briem to the ground, according to the complaint.
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His wife, Vera Briem, screamed during the takedown that her husband was ill, the filing states.
Bodycam video shows Briem handcuffed face-down and bleeding on his driveway, according to the complaint.
Officers subsequently seated the 78-year-old on his own porch as they checked on him, the footage shows.
“I would be all right if you hadn’t thrown me down on the ground,” Briem told officers, according to the recording.
“I’m a 78-year-old man, and you guys had to throw me down on the pavement and bust my head open,” Briem said.
An officer replied that it happened because Briem had tried to grab police. Briem denied the allegation, the video shows.
The homeowner suffered a torn rotator cuff, cuts, and bruising during the incident, according to the lawsuit.
Vera Briem, who watched the whole thing unfold in the driveway, has since been diagnosed with PTSD, according to court records.
Briem was charged with interfering with an arresting officer following the encounter, records show.
A year later, the couple sued the Ogden Police Department and the two officers in federal court, according to the filing.
“No force is appropriate if no force is needed. There was no force needed that night,” their attorney, Robert Sykes, said.
The department’s internal review concluded the officers’ use of force was justified, records show. The department also stated it is confident the court will agree, according to the filing.
Briem’s criminal case remains pending, and the federal lawsuit against the department and the officers is also still open, according to court records.
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