Officer Down

“All I ever wanted to be was a police officer,” Phillip Spaziante told Judge Nelson in a makeshift courtroom at the Calhoun County Courthouse Friday.

A former Medal of Honor recipient, Spaziante, of Clarksville, majored in criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. He went on to work for the Florida Highway Patrol, serving over 11 years, including in Calhoun County, without a single complaint on his record. He was named the Fraternal Order of Police Officer of the Year in 2004. His supervisor, Sgt. Lonnie Baker, testified, “He was a great employee. He worked hard and he went beyond the normal.”

His unblemished record changed in July of 2011 when a relationship turned sour and he found himself in a place he never imagined - on the other side of the law, charged with domestic battery. The charges were later reduced to disorderly conduct. But the blemish was severe enough that he was terminated by FHP and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opted to target the standards that allow him to serve as a sworn officer.

Spaziante represented himself in court Friday, fighting against a two-man legal team from FDLE to prove he did not use excessive force during an alleged domestic dispute with former girlfriend, Tamarrah Rasmussen. She was also charged that July day for allegedly striking Spaziante, resulting in him placing her under arrest.

A second charge of falsifying a document was dismissed after an employee with the Bay County Jail explained a misunderstanding on how indigent status forms are completed.

But the main accusation - that Spaziante used excessive force with Rasmussen - was at the forefront of the court case Friday. His guilt or innocence, based on a decision from a single judge, will determine whether he is allowed to keep his law enforcement standards.

Spaziante told the court he and Rasmussen had been dating and he allowed her to live with him at his home just inside the Bay County line during a time when she had no place else to go. However, due to concerns about the relationship, he had her sign a form stating she was not a tenant and he could ask her to leave at any time.

Spaziante told the court a few prior incidents made him question whether he could continue with the relationship, alleging Rasmussen became extremely upset when he took her to a restaurant that was not to her liking for her birthday dinner.

He further testified that she told him during arguments she would destroy his career.

The final straw occurred the night prior to their arrests when Spaziante asked Rasmussen to move out. An argument ensued, prompting Spaziante to just walk away. “I got my phone, got my gun and I left,” he told the judge.

The following day, he said he returned home and tried to talk calmly with Rasmussen, explaining that it simply wasn’t working out and she needed to find another living arrangement. He informed her they would no longer be sleeping in the same bedroom, then went to his new room upstairs.

While hanging up his uniform, he said Rasmussen came to his closet yelling. Rather than fight back, he testified he simply sat down on the floor and crossed his arms. Once she left the room, he said he took a mattress pad off the bed they once shared and began making up the bed. A short time later, he alleged Rasmussen discovered the pad was missing, stomped up to his room and tossed the mattress pad off a second floor balcony.

After Spaziante retrieved the mattress pad and returned it to his upstairs bedroom, he alleged Rasmussen grabbed a gallon jug of water, poured it on the mattress, then threw the jug at him.

It was at that point that Spaziante activated his video camera.

The video taken from Spaziante’s phone was presented numerous times in court. Spaziante can be heard asking Rasmussen to leave and she is initially seen starting out a door, then turning back as he says, “You threw my mattress out a window. Is that normal?”

Rasmussen calls Spaziante an idiot, then begins accusing him of beating her the previous night and telling him he is crazy.

“I just want to sleep in a different bed!” he is heard telling her as she leans on a kitchen counter staring at him.

“You’re a liar!” she shouts before approaching him in an apparent attempt to take the phone from him.

Spaziante is heard nine times saying, “Stop!” as Rasmussen mumbles, “No, this was good enough for you last night.”

The camera loses focus as the two struggle for it. Both testified they wound up on the stairs. At one point, Spaziante accuses her of hitting him in the face.

“I could not believe this girl who is smaller than me is hitting and attacking me,” Spaziante testified. “She hit me in the face like a man.”

Spaziante swore to the court he did not ever strike Rasmussen.

“I don’t hit women. I have never hit a woman,” he insisted. “There is never a reason to hit a woman.”

Instead of fighting back, Spaziante told the court he followed his training and took Rasmussen into custody. Although video could no longer be seen during the initial skirmish, audio was clear for much of the incident. The sound of a handcuff clicking is heard at one point as Spaziante is heard telling Rasmussen he is placing her under arrest. She allegedly continued struggling until a final click of a second cuff being secured is audible. Rasmussen screams, saying to “get off her” and alleging she can’t breathe, but speaks distinctly.

Rasmussen is heard asking him to help her up and his voice is audible saying calmly, although breathing heavy, “Up...up.”

At this point, Spaziante says he took her to a mudroom and summoned help on his radio. His initial call - that an officer was in distress - sent the calvary. The call was later downgraded.

When Bay County and FHP authorities arrived, Spaziante met them at his gate and began relaying what happened.

Rasmussen was found sitting in Spaziante’s personal truck, a choice he says she made to get out of the rain.

Spaziante’s and Rasmussen’s accounts are quite different. She alleges he dragged her up and down the stairs and struck her several times. Bay County deputies said she was extremely upset. One took photographs of her injuries. Spaziante showed those photos in court, pointing out a mosquito bite on one knee and no black eye as reported, just flush marks he suspected are from her crying. “Pictures don’t lie, your honor,” he told Judge Nelson.

His commander, FHP Major Eddie Johnson, said he did not think an arrest was justified.

But Spaziante remained diligent. “I followed my training,” he insisted, adding that he found himself in an extraordinary situation.

He brought in witnesses such as Major Roman Wood of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office who testified that Rasmussen had lied during a previous investigation during which she was accused of trying to derail the life of another former boyfriend, going as far as allegedly impersonating an officer during a visit to the Tallahassee Police Department to wreak havoc on a legal issue he was facing. The results of that investigation led to her termination from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office where she previously served as a dispatcher.

During her own testimony, Rasmussen also admitted to lying during a prior investigation, but said she couldn’t recall the details.

“It is maddening to be accused of being a man who beats a woman,” Spaziante concluded.

He now waits for 10 days to receive a court transcript, another 10 days to file recommendations, then for a judge’s decision.

Despite the outcome, Spaziante told the court, “She effectively has destroyed my life.”