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Federal court dismisses Ickes’ complaint

A federal appeals court has dismissed a civil rights complaint filed by Don R. Ickes, the 82-year-old Bedford County man who persistently claimed he was the victim of excessive force by police during a 2011 traffic stop in southern Blair County.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Third Circuit in Philadelphia ruled Friday afternoon the use of force by several officers to remove Ickes from his car after the traffic stop on July 18, 2011, “was objectively reasonable under relevant circumstances.”

Ickes was being pursued by State Police Trooper Thomas Laskey along Interstate 99 through southern Blair County. The trooper said Ickes was driving 70 mph through a 50 mph construction zone.

The Bedford County man left I-99 and eventually pulled into what the panel of Third Circuit judges called a “secluded driveway.”

The driveway was at a home of an individual who, like Ickes, was thought to be a member of the “sovereign-citizen movement,” or a group that contests the applicability of many exiting laws.

Ickes locked himself in his vehicle and refused requests by the officer for his license and registration.

He had some documents in his hand, which he pressed against the widow of the vehicle, but the officer could not read them.

The trooper noticed the license plate for the car was not from any state but had been issued by the “Embassy of Heaven,” an organization based in Oregon.

When he ruled against Ickes’ civil rights complaint last year, U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson explained the group believed “Grownups have been tricked into obeying the laws of humbugs, rather than the laws of God.”

It was Gibson’s dismissal of the Ickes’ complaint that led to the appeal before the Third Circuit panel consisting of Judges Patty Shwartz, Julio Fuentes and Robert F. Cowen.

When Ickes refused to give Laskey his driver’s license and car registration, the trooper called for backup that resulted in two additional state police officers, Craig Grassmyer and Barry Augnst, arriving at the scene. Former Greenfield Township Police Chief Ronald Givler also appeared.

Grassmyer recognized Ickes, a Bedford County businessman, and pointed out that Ickes had previous run-ins with police.

Grassmyer instructed Laskey to forcibly remove Ickes from his vehicle.

The trooper shattered the glass on the passenger side of the vehicle and dragged Ickes from the car, in the process bruising one of Ickes’ arms.

The only issue before the Third Circuit was Ickes’ claim of excessive force.

The Third Circuit opinion cited a precedential case that stated, “The right to make an arrest or investigatory stop necessarily carries with it the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat to effect it.”

The judges concluded, as did Gibson, that Laskey had made a legitimate traffic stop, and he was entitled to view Ickes’ license and registration for the car.

The opinion pointed out Ickes had acted suspiciously by not pulling over for the trooper and noted the police “could not rule out the possibility that there was a weapon concealed in his (Ickes’) car — or even that he could attempt to use his car as a weapon.”

“A reasonable officer might also think that Ickes’ fraudulent license plate and refusal to comply with any requests suggested that he might be inclined to escalate his resistance,” the opinion read.

The judges concluded police “did limit their use of force.”

Ickes, examined by doctors after the was taken to Nason Hospital for chest pains once he was in custody “had no acute injuries — only some abrasions to his right forearm,” according to the opinion.

Ickes was found guilty of resisting arrest, harassment, and a plethora of traffic code violations and was placed on probation.

He subsequently did time in prison as a result of a confrontation with a Blair County probation officer.

Just over a week ago, Blair County Judge Daniel Milliron ordered that a gun collection and ammunition taken from Ickes as a result of his probation violation be returned due to their sentimental value to the family.

Ickes, who spent several years pursuing his civil rights complaint against police, said during a May interview that, “All I want is justice … I want to clear my name.”

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