Hearings Delayed For Officer Assault Suspects in Wheeling
WHEELING — Preliminary hearings for a Wheeling couple accused of assaulting a city police officer earlier this month have been delayed this week pending further investigation.
The hearings for Liza Nightengale, 47, and Gregory Nightengale, 44, were continued in Ohio County Magistrate Court. Both are charged with malicious assault on an officer and are held in the Northern Regional Jail on $100,000 bond each.
The alleged Aug. 14 incident drew further attention because, according to a criminal complaint, several females stood by yelling “black lives matter” as the officer and the Nightengales struggled.
Although the investigation continues, Wheeling police and area NAACP officials agree situations like this should not be happening in the Friendly City.
“It’s unfortunate that the situation escalated to that, where people were making physical contact with the police,” said Owens Brown, West Virginia NAACP President. “The NAACP does not condone violence against police officers. People should move back and let police do their job.”
While Brown believes the incident should be investigated further, he said police officers have a difficult job right now with tension escalating between law enforcement and citizens across the nation.
“We must find a way to tone things down and get back to normalcy,” Brown said. “It’s very fortunate that no one was further injured and that police took precautions to not overescalate the situation.”
Brown said several witnesses told him they believed excessive force was used during the incident, but Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said evidence from that night is still being reviewed.
“When someone strikes an officer or bites them, we are going to use force necessary to resolve the situation,” Schwertfeger said. “When it is a fight like that, injuries will result.”
While Officer Charles Ruby’s stun gun was deployed during the incident, it is unclear if it was effective. Additionally, Schwertfeger said, the situation was serious enough for Ruby to use his emergency help button.
“When you hit that button, it’s because you are in deep trouble. When that happens, virtually every police officer in Ohio County is headed your way. One of the officers (who responded) was even off duty,” Schwertfeger said.
While body cameras are not standard issue among Wheeling police, Schwertfeger said some officers on the scene were wearing them. He said he does not expect footage from the cameras to be released, however.
“We look at every single situation where we use any force at all, from very small levels to larger levels, and we are doing that and have already done that in some regards for this situation.”
Schwertfeger does not expect any additional arrests in connection with the incident and he does not expect similar situations to become a common occurrence in Wheeling.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of racial tension, through our faith-based community in Wheeling and the relationship we have with the community as a whole,” he said.
Brown said he and others find the $100,000 bond set for the Nightengales as extreme, but Schwertfeger disagrees.
“I personally think when you assault an officer trying to do their job, no bond is appropriate,” he said.
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