Sonya Scott is pissed.
After reading Ark City police chief Sean Wallace’s written statement to the media about Scott’s arrest on a cocaine possession charge, she contacted NewsCow to go on the record. Scott said she was upset that authorities are now trying to portray her arrest and subsequent release as anything other than a big mistake.
"They’ve told me themselves that it was a terrible mistake," she said.
Scott said she has hired an attorney and plans to pursue a civil case against the police department for wrongly arresting her. It’s not about money she said, as much as it is about making sure people know what really happened.
"Really, I want someone’s badge over this," she said. "I want a badge on my mantel."
This is her account of what happened:
It was around 9 p.m last Wednesday, Scott said, when Ark City officers showed up at her residence on north Summit and asked her husband to wake her up. She was startled when he told her police were outside and even more shocked when they said they had a warrant for her arrest on a cocaine possession charge.
"I thought I was being Punk’d," Scott said, referring to a hidden-camera gag show on MTV. "I was blown away."
Even as she was being arrested she had no idea the warrant stemmed from an incident that occurred nearly two months earlier. Back then no one had been arrested and she had no idea there was even an investigation.
Scott demanded to see a warrant and protested when police told her she was being taken into custody last week. But she said she thought it was best to cooperate with police and not make any trouble.
Scott was arrested and learned her bail had been set at $5,000. For an hour, Scott said, she was in custody in Ark City before something changed.
She saw a higher-ranking police officer walk in and could tell something wasn’t right.
"I just knew he knew something was wrong, I could tell something was up," she said.
All of the sudden, Scott was told she could bond out on her own recognizance ? without putting up any of her own money.
"They took me outside to smoke a couple times," she said. "And they just started treating me real nice."
Eventually she was released and the next day brought an explanation from police who offered a story about a rookie cop who made mistakes in regard to her case. She said at least one police officer at the department called and apologized to her.
Scott said she learned then that the warrant was related to an incident at a relative’s home Aug.2.
That day police came out because Scott was arguing with a family member, but no one was arrested as a result of the incident. She had been sitting in the backseat of a patrol car though and that is where trouble started.
Scott said the drug investigation began when an officer turned up drugs in his patrol car just after Scott had been in the car.
But she insists she was told the officer had waited a week to search his car. Cowley County attorney Chris Smith disputes that claim and said the search was done within 24 hours but after another shift had used the car.
"I don’t believe there ever was any cocaine if you want to know the truth," Scott said. "And if there was any, then it damn sure wasn’t mine."
She’s also not buying the story police have offered up about attempting to contact her for an interview to ask her about the drugs that were found. Scott questions how much effort police put forward in that regard.
"They knew where I was so that they could come and arrest me," she said. "And I live in the same place I was living when this whole thing started."
And Scott, 50, isn’t bashful in speaking about her past when asked about any previous run-ins with the law. She recalls being arrested once for passing a bad check.
As for drugs?
"I might of tried cocaine when I was 18, but hell I’m 50 years old now," she said. "I don’t do drugs and I don’t have any drugs."
What she does have is the names ? written on a little card ? of the officers who came to her house on Aug. 2. They are officers Troy Cochran and Travis Stroud.
Scott has names, now she just wants some answers. She is attempting to adopt a 9-year-old child that lives in her home, she wonders how a drug charge will look to officials doing a background check.
She was upset to learn the county attorney indicated that the charges could eventually be refiled and never even knew the police believed the substance was meth before determining it was cocaine.
That’s why she changed her mind and decided to go public with her name, rather than just keeping a low profile and pursuing a civil suit.
"I’ve never seen the paperwork on this whole deal," she said. "And I have high blood pressure. Every time this subject gets brought up, I can feel it going right back up."
