Sheriff: Deputy reprimanded, passed deescalation training

A Sunshine request has revealed a 2022 incident where a deputy at the Sheriff’s Office is depicted on video allegedly choking an individual being booked into the Barry County jail.

Terry Burgess, Seligman police officer who is running against Sheriff Danny Boyd in 2024, obtained video and reports of the April 1, 2022, incident, saying he aims to bring the issue to light after he said no action was taken at the time.

Boyd said on Tuesday action was taken immediately upon his knowledge of the incident.

The video was filmed on the body camera of then-Cassville Officer Codie Evatt, who also filed an incident report on April 1 detailing the situation.

According to the report, at 3:06 a.m., Evatt was dispatched to Bob’s Appliance in Cassville in reference to a disturbance, making contact on scene with Dylan Bicksler and one of Bickskler’s relatives. Bicksler was reportedly “running around the outside of the building, hitting the windows and screaming, ‘Who the f*** is in there,’ and the men were arguing when Evatt arrived, leading him to request backup from the Barry County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Kyle Burbridge arrived on scene and stayed outside with Bicksler while Evatt went inside to speak with Larecy.

Bicksler, who Evatt said in the report had the odor of alcohol coming off his person, was speaking to Burbridge and Deputy Daniel Harris as Evatt returned and asked Bicksler to place his hands behind his back.

Bicksler turned and began to walk away, according to Evatt, who then told Bicksler he was under arrest.

Bicksler allegedly continued to walk away, leading the deputies to grab Bicksler and take him to the ground, where hand restraints were placed and Burbridge placed Bicksler in Evatt’s patrol vehicle.

Evatt said in the report he asked Bicksler to blow into a preliminary breath test, but Bicksler refused unless he could get a drink of water and talk to his relative. Evatt said he could not guarantee the relative would talk to him, and when he opened the door to speak with Bicksler, he noticed a small bump on Bicksler’s forehead with some blood.

Bicksler asked for a drink of water and would not blow into the breath test, and Larecy declined to speak to Bicksler, leading Evatt to transport Bicksler to the Barry County jail.

The video from Evatt’s body camera begins when he arrives at the jail, and the incident report described the events that occurred.

Evatt said en route to the jail, Bicksler became agitated and began to yell and kick the back passenger door window.

Once at the jail, Evatt opened the back door, and Burbridge and Harris removed Bicksler from the vehicle.

“Once they had him out of the vehicle, Deputy Burbridge escorted Dylan onto the ground, due to him resisting,” Evatt’s report said.

The deputies then lifted Bicksler by his arms and Evatt his legs, carrying him inside and placing him in the restraint chair.

With Bicksler continuing to resist, Evatt restrained his legs and removed the handcuffs to allow the deputies to restrain his arms.

“Once the deputies had his arms restrained, Deputy Burbridge took his right hand and grabbed Dylan by his throat,” Evatt’s report said. “Once Deputy Burbridge grabbed Dylan by his throat, Deputy Harris, the jail staff and I all yelled at Deputy Burbridge. I asked Deputy Burbridge why he would do that, which he did not respond.”

Evatt then directed Harris to take Burbridge outside the jail, exiting moments later and making contact with Burbridge.

“I informed him that he messed up, which he responded with, ‘What, what did I do?’ Evatt’s report said. “I replied with, ‘You choked him,’ which he responded with, ‘I grabbed him by the jaw.’” After that conversation on the video, Burbridge is pictured going back into the jail, and the video ends.

Evatt said after the conversation, he also went back inside to cite Bicksler for disorderly conduct.

“When I stepped foot inside the jail, I noticed that the jail staff had let Dylan out of the restraint chair,” Evatt’s report said. “I asked why they let him out, which they informed me that he must have had a fake anxiety attack. Deputy Burbridge came back inside of the jail and Dylan became agitated yet again. Burbridge then placed Dylan on the bench and he was placed in handcuffs.”

After Bicksler was handcuffed, Evatt cleared the jail and returned to service. Harris then transported Bicksler to Mercy Hospital in Cassville to be evaluated.

As a result of the incident, Bicksler pleaded guilty on May 23, 2022, to disorderly conduct, for which he was fined $100.

Boyd said as a result of the incident, Burbridge was issued a written reprimand and ordered to complete deescalation training.

“He did a deescalation training he had to pass, which is what our attorney instructed us to do,” Boyd said.

Burgess said his motive for making the Sunshine request to the city of Cassville was to foster transparency.

“I never set out to be a ‘whistleblower,’ and this is not an anti-law enforcement campaign,” he said. “As a member of law enforcement myself, it is extremely difficult to bring to light issues which will no doubt create negative feelings toward my profession. I made attempts to have these issues addressed by contacting elected officials who are responsible for their department. However, those concerns fell on deaf ears, and no action was taken.”

Burgess was behind the release of multiple videos shot by Seligman body cameras inside the jail in March 2022 depicting alleged assault on the part of the former jail administrator, who resigned from his position after the videos became public. No charges were filed after a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation, and the Burbridge incident occurred days prior to the release of the videos of the jail administrator.

Burgess said the possible inaction on the Cassville Police body cam video was what led him to release the other videos, which he had access to as a Seligman police officer.

“I released videos to bring public awareness to what I believed to be misconduct by officers and jailers,” he said. “Again, the problems were not solved or addressed. The video is of the incident I viewed a portion of last year on April 1; however, I recently obtained the video through a Missouri Sunshine request.

“I will continue to fight for the truth and accountability of those elected to represent us, and their departments they represent.”

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Commentary on this release and its purpose from Publisher Kyle Troutman may be found here: https://www.cassville-democrat.com/2023/07/26/explainer-on-release-of-video-report/.