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CLEVELAND _ Cleveland Heights police officer Daniel E. Downing spoke publicly for the first time this week about his arrest of poltical activist Carol Fisher earlier this year.
Downing was the state's first witness in Fisher's criminal trial, which began Tuesday morning.
Fisher, 53, was indicted in February on two felony counts of assault on a police officer following an incident around 3 p.m. Jan. 28 on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.
The jury trial was expected to wrap up today or Friday in Judge Timothy J. McGinty's courtroom at the Justice Center downtown.
If convicted, Fisher, a former Heights resident now living Cleveland, faces upwards of 2 to 8 years in prison for each count and total fines of as much as $40,000.
Despite this, Fisher and her attorneys Terry Gilbert and Daniel Shields refused to plea to a lesser offense, opting to let the jury decide her fate.
Cuyahoga County assistant prosecuting attorneys Jim Hofelich and Colleen Reali represented the state at trial, with Cleveland Heights police Det. Earnest Williams attending.
The prosecution had offered Fisher the chance to plead guilty to resisting arrest, a second degree misdemeanor.
The deal would require her to make a formal apology to the police officers, accept liability and pay the costs related to the arrest and officers' medical treatment.
I was assaulted myself, she said Monday, insulted by the deal. My attorneys are getting a lot of pressure to make the deal. They're afraid I'll go to jail.
Asked how she felt just before the trial started Tuesday, Fisher said, Determined.
Alleged victims
Downing was one of Fisher's alleged victims along with fellow officer Michael B. Frinzl. They arrested Fisher for illegally posting flyers on utility poles that sunny and mild winter afternoon.
Downing said this was the first time in a dozen such cases that he had ever had to arrest someone for posting fliers.
In his testimony, Downing characterized Fisher as non-compliant when he asked her for identification and told her to remove green Xerox copies of a Bush Step Down poster advertizing upcoming political protest rallies.
Downing told the jury Fisher resisted arrest and became combative and violent. He said she swung her arms at him, knocking his hat to the ground and then pushed him.
This prompted him to put her in a bearhug, hold her against a storefront window and ask a bystander to call 9-1-1 for assistance.
Frinzl and Downing then grabbed Fisher's coat and pulled her to the ground as they tried to pull her clasped arms apart and handcuff her.
She was later placed in leg shackles and seated on a park bench before she was asked to be taken to University Hospitals for treatment. There she was handcuffed to a bed and guarded by officers and hospital security. She was also given a psychological examination.
Downing, who later that day sought medical treatment himself with Frinzl, showed the jurors scars from where Fisher had plunged her nails into the webbing of his left hand and told them about a bite wound between his neck and shoulder.
He said Fisher had turned to bite him during the struggle, sinking her teeth into the shoulder strap on his body armor vest and shaking her head back and forth like a dog on a chew toy.
Innocent until proven guilty
Fisher has mainatined her innocence since the day of the incident, claiming she only responded to the officer's advances in self-defense.
The arrest left Fisher, a cancer survivor, with a bloody mouth and brusies all over her body.
Gilbert and Shields had filed a motion Friday to dismiss the indictment against her on grounds of improper arrest. Gilbert said the arresting officer did not follow proper procedure before taking Fisher into custody.
This is an illegal arrest. This indictment should be dismissed, he told McGinty, who denied his request Monday.
Fisher said about 50 supporters attended a rally for her and in support of World Can't Wait: Drive the Bush Regime Out on Saturday afternoon at the CoventrYard mini-park at the corner of Coventry Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard in Cleveland Heights.
She said there were no police in sight and it was a peaceful event.
I really appreciate all the effort they've put into this, Fisher said about her lawyers taking on her case pro bono.
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