Shuler has been incarcerated since Oct. 23 on civil contempt charges stemming from a lawsuit filed by Republican political figure Rob Riley. Shuler also faces a resisting arrest charge which is due to be heard at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 14 in Courtroom A before District Judge Ron Jackson at the Shelby County Courthouse. Public documents, however, show that it is case of excessive force and police brutality with no evidence of resisting arrest.
Deputy Chris Blevins wrote a narrative in the incident report about the arrest and his own words raised multiple questions about the lawfulness of his actions. After describing how he observed Shuler traveling towards his home and then pulling into the driveway behind Shuler, Blevins writes the following:
"I used my vehicle's air horn to get Mr. Shuler's attention and he stopped his vehicle in front of his garage. Mr. Shuler saw me getting out of my clearly marked patrol vehicle before he opened the door and drove inside. I walked to the rear of his vehicle and tapped his trunk with my hand. Mr. Shuler got out of his vehicle and began yelling for me to get out of his house."Based on Blevins' own words, he was inside the Shuler's house when he walked to the rear of their vehicle which was parked inside their garage. And at that point, Blevins had not even told Shuler that he had an arrest warrant. It's already established, as we reported in a post on Jan. 9, that Blevins never did show Shuler arrest warrants that the deputy alleges was in his vehicle.
"Deputy Blevins' own narrative shows him being in our house without even stating that he had an arrest warrant," Shuler said."I do not recall him telling me he had an arrest warrant at all and he clearly never showed me one. So even by Blevins own words, he had no business being in our property and I had every right to tell him to leave my house. Mr. Blevins acted surprised that he was told to leave my house, but he never gave me any lawful indication that he had business and grounds to be there."
"We also know from Chris Blevins' own words that he knocked me down to a concrete floor three times and maced me with no grounds for even being in my home. And all of this about his failure to either show or state about an arrest warrant makes me wonder if he even had arrest warrants and if he did, if they were properly documented and executed. I believe there are serious questions about this arrest from the get go. And once again, there are clear signs of excessive force and police brutality. I easily could have suffered a concussion or fractured skull or broken arm or any number of injuries in this case and because of an unlawful arrest, I've been incarcerated for almost three months."
Following is a transcription of Deputy Blevins' narrative from the incident report. After that is a video about information in the incident report.
