Update on police officer suspension expected soon

Since Officer Blake Stinson pulled over a high school student on Jan. 24 for allegedly driving through an intersection and failing to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk, there’s still many unanswered questions about the incident.

One question is whether Officer Stinson used undo force when handling the stop and eventual arrest of the 17-year-old boy.

The incident has been investigated by the City of Cody and the Cody Police Department. Currently, a third-party law firm under contract with the Cody City Attorney is looking into the investigation.

Police arrested the Cody teen for interfering with officers and refusing to leave his vehicle when ordered.

Later charges of drug possession, failure to yield, interference with law enforcement and not having a valid license were dropped. According to police officials, the charges were dropped for procedural reasons and may be dealt with later at the appropriate time and manner.

Portions of Stinson’s body and dash camera footage were edited and uploaded to YouTube by LackLuster on May 21 titled, “Dash Cam Proves Cop Wrong – Case Dismissed.”

The video went viral and called into question Stinson’s conduct during the arrest. A press release from Cody Police asked the community to understand that some videos and social media content that show portions of the video have been edited and narrated to show selective parts of the interaction, and do not necessarily tell the whole story.

Cody City Administrator Barry Cook said Friday that an internal investigation was completed by Police Chief Jason Stafford.

Now they are waiting on the third-party assessment by a law firm contracted with the city attorney back in June.

“The law firm specializes in use of force and is very knowledgeable about the Cody issue,” said Cook. “This is taking longer than anticipated. Hopefully, the results will be back in a week or so. I’ll meet with Chief Stafford once we receive their report.”

Chief Stafford began his duties June 30, taking over after Chief Chuck Baker retired. Cook said that Officer Stinson is still on paid leave and is not working with the police department at all. Cook is eager to have the situation resolved.

According to a June 6 press release, a formal complaint was filed in early May expressing concern over the officer’s professional conduct during the arrest. According to Cook, that complaint is being handled by Police Lieutenant Juston Wead.

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