Smithfield city councilman resigns after video surfaces showing confrontation with police

SMITHFIELD, Cache County — A Smithfield city councilman announced his resignation this week after a video of him confronting police sparked backlash in the community.

Smithfield City Council announced on Facebook Saturday night that Ted Stokes was resigning from his position on the council. In a statement released Monday, the City Council said there was recently a “very public incident which has possibly shaken the faith of some in our leadership.”

In body camera footage on Aug. 3, Stokes is seen aggressively responding to Smithfield police officers Blake Hansen and Zachary McComb, who had come to his residence to fill out a police report for a car crash Stokes’ son was involved in.

Stokes asks why two police officers were responding to “such a simple thing” and repeatedly tells the officers that they are wasting tax dollars and are not adequately trained.

“We pay a lot of money for you guys in this city, and I decide whether the budget is good or it’s not, so I think you should go patrol Main Street, do your job,” he said to McComb. “I’ll talk to (Hansen) and I’ll deal with this. Go, go patrol Main Street. I’m not dangerous.”

As Hansen attempts to start the police report, Stokes appears to get frustrated and says, “See, this is the problem. Your guys’ lack of training blows my mind.”

Stokes proceeds to tell Hansen what he should be doing instead. “I’m telling you how you’re supposed to do your job because you obviously don’t know. … Who trained you? I want to know who trained you.”

McComb returns to his patrol car, and Hansen again attempts to ask questions to gather information for the police report. Instead of answering, Stokes keeps asking the officer questions such as “How old are you?” and if the officer has a warrant. When the officer says he is on public property, Stokes walks back a few feet onto his yard.

“I’ll cooperate with you, but you guys have got to learn how to do your job right. We are botching so many things in this city because of you guys. And you know that. You are aware of everything. And I’m aware of everything,” Stokes said.

“You can step onto my property, and I will talk to you if you will be reasonable,” he adds.

Hansen begins the conversation again, asking for information about the crash, but Stokes remains combative in the video.

“I don’t have a problem with you being here. I have a problem with the approach — two responding officers to this,” Stokes said.

As Hansen walks toward the vehicle that was involved in the crash, Stokes, in the background, says, “I’m going to defund you guys,” and “it’s unbelievable.”

“I can’t believe you have him sitting there wasting tax dollars. Give me one good reason why he is there wasting tax dollars,” Stokes says in reference to McComb, who was in his patrol car.

While Hansen was taking pictures of the damaged car, Stokes said, “I love that you want me to answer your questions, but you won’t answer mine.”

Stokes then calls Smithfield City Manager Justin Lewis and can be overheard in the video saying, “This is the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen.” He began mocking the officers’ actions and said he didn’t have a problem with them coming for a police report, but it was “their approach.”

“I’m blown away by this. Justin, I promise you I will do everything in my power as a City Council member to make sure these guys are defunded. There will be five police officers in this town because this is unbelievable. This guy needs a backup officer to make sure I don’t hurt him?” he says.

He continues to complain to Lewis over the phone, talking about how untrained they are and how many issues the police department has.

“You should’ve seen this guy approach. I’ll send you the Ring footage. You will be blown away by this. I don’t know what to say, Justin, but this is the last straw. I know I have expressed my complaints, but this is it. This is the last straw,” he said.

Stokes then tells Lewis he’s going to call all the other council members, tell them what happened, and they’re going to collectively amend the budget for the police department.

He continues to tell other stories about the police department and suggests they aren’t worth the city’s money because “these guys have no idea what they’re doing.”

He proceeds to say he is embarrassed by the police and also claims he knows three people in the force who “tell him everything.” Hansen continues the police report after Stokes finishes his call with Lewis.

When asked if the son needed medical attention, Stokes appears to get defensive in the video and says, “Tell me why you think I can’t handle my son’s medical attention,” to which Hansen responded, “I think you can.”

When the officer says he is going to finish his report and starts walking toward the patrol car, Stokes again confronts him, asking what information he had received before arriving at the scene.

“This is what I hate about you guys. The lack of transparency. All the bull crap. It’s done. I’m sorry. You guys dug your own grave,” Stokes says before walking back toward his house.

The fallout

 

Last week, the Herald Journal posted a story including the body camera footage from the incident, and Stokes reportedly started receiving backlash on social media.

The City Council released a statement on Sept. 15 saying its members disagreed with Stokes’ behavior.

“His threats and defiant actions were not in line with what we value and believe,” the statement says. “We will never condone rude, unprofessional, demeaning behavior, whether from an elected official or from residents.”

In an apology issued on Sept. 16, Stokes said he had already apologized to the officers involved but felt a “broader apology” was also needed. He explained how much compassion he felt toward his son, knowing he was OK after the accident and said there was only kindness between him and the owner of the car his son had hit.

“As I stepped down the stairs, I saw two patrol cars and two officers approaching the house; most of that compassion I had just expressed to my son and had received/witnessed from the victim of the accident, disappeared. In a moment of regret, I let the passion of disagreement regarding a backup officer and the officer’s initial statement control what would soon become unprofessional behavior,” he said.

“I sincerely apologize for my lack of professionalism toward those two officers, even if I disagreed with them in any aspect, they deserved my respect and professionalism, as we all do one to another. … We are allowed to not like something, but how we handle what we don’t like should remain professional and respectful. I violated that canon of ethics on Aug. 3,” his statement said.

Stokes submitted a resignation letter to the City Council on Saturday, saying many people have brought their concerns to him in a respectful manner, but others were “vile and disgusting.”

“I desired to be a good servant of the community and take care of and protect this city from influences that my constituents thought would be detrimental; however, as I stated in my previous apology, I lacked the proper judgment in a moment of regret,” his letter said. “In light of that, I have no choice but to respectfully resign from my seat on the City Council, at this time, to protect my family.”

His letter went on to explain how he had concerns about the size and quality of the police department since January, when the council was “informed that there were significant concerns.” This year, he did not vote to increase the police budget and instead wanted that money to go toward “a massive dead tree problem,” he said.

“I want to reiterate that no context excused my unprofessional behavior, but in light of the context being unreported, I wanted people to know what was on my mind at that time,” he said. “I also want people to know that I have no animus toward law enforcement. My favorite coach in high school and a father to me is a retired police officer and the father of one of my son’s best baseball friends growing up is a police officer. There are many other people I know who are in law enforcement and I greatly respect and revere them.”

The City Council said in its statement on Monday that it asks people to give grace and forgiveness to the former council member.

“As a mayor and City Council, we emphatically state that we wholly and completely support law enforcement in upholding the laws and ordinances of our city, state and nation. We honor and appreciate the service they render and we apologize that recent events have called this into question,” the council said.