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May 11, 2012 Angela Bartow Informal Hearing Notes 2:25- 2:45pm, at 1820 Roosevelt Blvd, Building 1conference room Present: Angela Bartow, Lauren Regan from the Civil Liberties Defense Center, Tom Schulke from EPD, Johnny Medlin, Kathryn Brotherton from the City Attorney's office, and Karleen Green; notes taken by Karleen Green. Johnny performed introductions and briefly reviewed the informal hearing process. He then explained how long he would take to make a decision regarding the exclusion from the park. Johnny asked Ms. Bartow how she would like to proceed. Ms. Bartow opted to speak first on her own behalf. Ms. Bartow indicated that she was in the Park Blocks downtown with several other individuals and their respective children when her son was approached by Officer Schulke. Officer Schulke was in the process of handing her son a sticker when she asked him to not do that. Ms. Bartow stated that Officer Schulke proceeded to hand the sticker to her son despite her request that he not give him one. She then approached the child and Officer Schulke. She swatted at the child's hand in an attempt to keep him from taking the sticker from the officer. She stated that she unintentionally struck the officer's hand in the process. At this point she turned and walked away with the child. Office Schulke then issued the Notice of Restriction of Use to her. Officer Schulke read from his official report on the incident with Ms. Bartow. He stated that he was in the park blocks waiting for another individual to leave that had just recently been cited by another EPD officer. While waiting, he indicates that, he was the subject of several remarks and taunts regarding his profession. He ignored them and continued to check phone messages until he was approached by several children who appeared to be interested in his bicycle and uniform. He engaged in a brief conversation with them and was handing out stickers to them when he was rushed at by Ms. Bartow. She proceeded to strike the back of his right hand as he was attempting to give a sticker to a young boy. Officer Schulke states that the blow was hard enough to leave his hand stinging for almost two hours afterward. Officer Schulke states that the child appeared frightened. He states that the action of her striking him was a crime against an EPD officer, was against park rules, and was intentional contact. He offered to let Johnny watch a taped interview of Ms. Bartow at the scene. Ms. Bartow stated again that she did not hit him intentionally and was attempting to hit at the child's hand to keep him from taking the sticker. After she realized that she had hit the officer, she turned and walked away. Johnny verified that Ms. Bartow was stating that the contact with Officer Schulke was unintentional. Ms. Bartow responded that it was. Officer Schulke then stated that if she had made contact with the child's hand, he would have arrested her for assault Ms. Bartow then stated that she is the guardian of the child involved. He is the son of her partner and therefore under her responsibility and she would have been in the right to correct the child. Johnny concluded the informal hearing by stating that he had no further questions. He stated that he would be sending out an official decision on the matter by Monday or Tuesday of the following week. He clarified that Ms. Bartow would like to receive her notification in the mail and that Ms. Regan would prefer to receive notice by electronic means.