News
Cop Out Officer John Storment
All he needed was a cup of coffee, so Michael Johnson left his car running as he dashed into the QuickSak Market in Antioch. He was only gone for a minute, but it was enough time for thieves to swipe his 2005 Chrysler Pacifica.
Johnson immediately reported the theft to police, and then embarked on his own search the next morning. While canvassing apartment complexes near the crime scene, Johnson spotted his vehicle parked outside the Apache Trail apartments. At first, he considered simply driving it home, but a 911 dispatcher advised that such a move might result in his being pulled over and arrested for operating a stolen vehicle. So Johnson—a former U.S. Army sergeant turned state government employee—contacted police once again.
Metro Officer John Storment was the first to respond on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005. The officer took a report and then, according to Johnson, indicated he had to leave because his shift was ending. He allegedly told Johnson that “if he wished to receive the benefit of police investigation,” he would have to remain at the scene for backup. When asked if the officer would wait with him, Johnson claims Storment didn’t respond and instead returned to his cruiser, where he sat finishing paperwork for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Johnson’s wife and father arrived and, per his instructions, waited in a parked car about 100 yards away from the stolen vehicle, just to be safe. Then, without warning and without making any arrangements for their safety, Officer Storment drove away from the crime scene.
Just minutes after the officer departed, a red Honda Civic with three male passengers screeched into the parking lot. One of the suspects exited and approached Johnson, who in turn tried to block the suspect from getting into the stolen car. Johnson was shot three times: one bullet shattered his left hand, another pierced his right knee and the final bullet lodged in his hip. The suspects fled, while his wife and father, both of whom witnessed the bloody attack, called 911.
But for Johnson and his family, the terror didn’t end there.
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Later that day, while Johnson was at the hospital undergoing surgery, shots were fired at the front door of his home. At the time, Johnson’s 8-year-old daughter was asleep inside, along with her grandparents, but no one was injured. Johnson believes the gunmen found his residence either from the vehicle registration in his glove compartment or from documents contained inside his briefcase in the backseat.
Now Johnson—unable to return full-time to his job as a computer programmer for the state due to his injuries—is suing Officer Storment for “deliberate indifference” and “dereliction of duty,” as well as the Metro Police Department for “inadequate training and policies.” The lawsuit filed last week in federal court claims Officer Storment placed Johnson in danger by abandoning the crime scene and by relinquishing control of an investigation before it was complete. The complaint alleges “Officer Storment was more concerned with ending his shift on time than ensuring that Mr. Johnson was safe.”
Although Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron won’t comment specifically on Officer Storment’s actions in the matter, he says it’s not unusual for a patrol officer to take a report of a property crime, such as a vehicle theft, and then leave the scene. “If an officer has completed as much of the investigation as he or she can, it is not out of the realm of possibility for an officer to put in a request for a crime scene officer to respond, and then go on about his or her business.”
But in Johnson’s case, there was every reason to believe the criminals were either inside the apartment building or would at some point return to the stolen car, which they eventually did.
After the shooting, Johnson filed a complaint about his treatment with the Metro Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability (OPA). In the lawsuit, he claims OPA has ignored him and that no action has been taken against Officer Storment. But according to Aaron, OPA officials tried to follow up on the complaint but found Johnson unwilling to cooperate, repeatedly failing to return phone calls. “They attempted to further an investigation, but Mr. Johnson was not of assistance,” Aaron says. When asked whether OPA ever investigates officers in the absence of a complainant’s cooperation, Aaron says it depends on the circumstances. In this case, Aaron says, “If further facts are developed as a result of the lawsuit, they will certainly look at those.”
More than a year after the shooting, Johnson’s assailants still haven’t been captured, but Aaron says the South Precinct continues to investigate the aggravated assault. Johnson is doubtful, however, claiming in his lawsuit that when his car was returned to him, it still contained his bloody clothes, which apparently weren’t collected as evidence. He claims police continue to stonewall him whenever he inquires about the status of the case, and says investigators have gone so far as to accuse him of being involved in the theft of his own car, suggesting he might have arranged some sort of pawn scheme that went awry. At one point, Johnson claims, he even was subjected to a lie detector test.
Officer Storment, a 15-year veteran with the department, couldn’t be reached to comment for this story. But attorney Frank Young, an attorney with Metro’s Department of Law who is representing both Storment and Metro Police in this matter, says, “The government denies the allegations in the complaint and we’ll be defending it in court.”
Both Johnson and his attorney, Patrick Frogge, decline comment, citing the previous attacks against Johnson and a caution for his and his family’s safety.
To this day, Johnson suffers extreme pain from his gunshot wounds, according to court documents. The simple task of walking up steps is so excruciating that he often sleeps downstairs on the couch, his ability to work as a computer programmer has been hindered given that his left hand is almost completely numb, and playing with his daughter is impossible. One of the bullets that penetrated his groin area remains in his body, and he recently learned he must undergo surgery to implant a device in his spine that will send out electrical pulses to reduce the pain.
The lawsuit asks for compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and emotional suffering, concluding, “He was required to remain, unprotected, at a crime scene so that Officer Storment wouldn’t be inconvenienced. Mr. Johnson deserves full and complete recompense for all injuries he has suffered as a result of Officer Storment’s abandonment.”