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Fire Chief Files To Sue Sheriff Over Arrest

Tribune file photos

Hillsborough County Fire Chief William Nesmith, left, intends to sue Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats over a March arrest.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 2, 2008

Updated: 08/02/2008 12:19 am

LARGO - An attorney for Hillsborough County Fire Chief William Nesmith filed notice Friday that Nesmith intends to sue the Pinellas sheriff after deputies arrested Nesmith in March.

On March 1, Nesmith, 59, was arrested at his Indian Rocks Beach condominium and was charged with domestic battery after his wife, Beverly, told deputies he threatened to kill her and then himself, an arrest report states. Deputies seized two guns found in his personal vehicle and a county-owned vehicle.

Later, the state attorney's office dropped the charge, stating there was no evidence to support it. Nesmith, however, was suspended for two days in Hillsborough because he had brought a firearm into his assigned county vehicle.

In his notice to sue, Nesmith's attorney, John Trevena, accused deputies of mishandling the incident and wrongfully arresting Nesmith. Among other things, Nesmith's neighbors were evacuated from the condominium building and a SWAT team surrounded the Nesmiths' unit, even though there was no grounds for arresting Nesmith, Trevena wrote.

Trevena also wrote that Beverly Nesmith merely asked authorities to "come and talk to him and see if he's all right," referring to her husband. Trevena cites as evidence a dispatcher's recording of Beverly Nesmith's request for help.

Trevena also says that within 20 seconds of the call, it was clear Beverly Nesmith was unsure whether her husband was serious when he made his alleged threat, and she told deputies the gun was in his car. Later, Trevena writes, Beverly Nesmith questioned whether her husband truly threatened her, and she reiterated the gun was inside her husband's car, not inside the condominium unit.

In addition, Beverly Nesmith had left the condominium of her own accord before calling authorities and, therefore, was not in imminent danger. Nevertheless, the call was erroneously dispatched as an "armed emergency with a suicidal subject," Trevena's notice says.

Nesmith was ordered outside when the SWAT team arrived, and as he exited the condominium with his hands above his head, as instructed, he saw red laser beams from the SWAT team's firearms trained on his chest, which unsettled him, Trevena wrote.

During an investigation, Deputy Mark Eastty discovered that Nesmith didn't have the means to carry out any threat to his wife. There were no firearms inside the apartment. The firearms were securely locked in the glove compartment of his vehicle located five floors below the residence, Trevena wrote.

However, Eastty erroneously reported that Beverly Nesmith thought her husband had guns inside the condo and that she "had a well- founded fear of William carrying out the act of shooting her," Trevena wrote, citing a sheriff's report on the incident. Beverly Nesmith adamantly denies ever making such statements, Trevena wrote, citing a sworn statement from her.

She also denies her husband was drunk, though Eastty says in a sheriff's report that alcohol was a factor in the incident, Trevena writes.

Trevena also writes that Eastty took a considerable amount of time deliberating whether to arrest Nesmith, consulting several times with supervisors.

"Despite careful deliberation and absolutely no evidence to support the charge, the decision was still made to arrest my client," Trevena wrote.

Trevena also took issue with deputies for publicly disseminating details of the arrest to the mayor of Indian Rocks Beach. "The intentional and unnecessary broadcast of details of my client's arrest to an uninvolved and disinterested party is defamatory per se," Trevena wrote.

At the Pinellas County Jail, where Nesmith was taken, deputies misrepresented Nesmith as someone who was suicidal, prompting jail staff to strip him of his clothing and replace it with a paper gown that "failed to adequately cover my client, who is tall and weighs more than 245 pounds," Trevena wrote.

"Furthermore, my client was denied eating utensils and was forced to eat with his hands," Trevena wrote.

After Nesmith retained attorney Deborah Moss, the charge was dropped.

Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats, to whom the notice to sue is addressed, has six months to settle the matter before Nesmith has to decide whether to follow up the letter with a lawsuit.

Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said the office doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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