Burns Harbor Town Marshal Jerry Price was scheduled to meet today with the firm which provides security at the Burns Harbor facility of ArcelorMittal USA following an incident on June 3 at the East Gate.

According to the report filed by Officer K. Karimi, at 10:50 p.m. Karimi executed a traffic stop inside the East Gate just before the guard shack. After making contact with the driver and returning to his squad, Karimi stated in his report, he observed an SUV with Illinois registration pull in front of the vehicle which he had just stopped. A male subject wearing dark clothing and a “Gary Fire Department” baseball cap subsequently exited the SUV, walked past the vehicle which Karimi had stopped, and approached the squad on the driver’s side, Karimi stated.

Karimi instructed the subject to wait by his SUV until the traffic stop was completed, Karimi stated, but the subject said in reply that he was a “captain” with mill security and needed information on why Karimi had stopped a vehicle on private property.

Karimi stated in his report that the subject did not provide credentials or identification and that the only thing identifying him as a security guard was a navy blue jacket with a small patch reading “Security” on the left chest.

“I then informed the subject that as soon as I was through with my traffic stop that I would speak with him,” Karimi stated. “The subject then became very belligerent and demanding. The subject stated that I was on private property and that I had to give him the information that he needed right away.”

“I then asked that the subject step away from my vehicle so I could step out of the vehicle,” Karimi stated in his report. “The subject remained at the front of the driver’s door standing right where my spot light is located on my vehicle. It should be noted I ordered the subject away from my stop both for his safety and my own.”

Karimi stated that he then asked the dispatcher to send additional units to the scene to assist with the traffic stop and that a Porter Police officer and a NICTD Transit Police officer duly arrived. Meanwhile, Karimi stated, another subject wearing a uniform shirt reading “Mittal Steel” and driving a “Mittal Steel truck with clear markings on it” also arrived at the scene, that subject parking directly behind the BHPD squad. “(D)uring this time my emergency lights were activated and I was still conducting the original traffic stop,” Karimi stated.

The first subject “continued to be very adamant about getting the information that he was requesting,” Karimi stated. “I again informed him to step back from me and I would explain this to him. He failed to follow my commands and was briefly detained and told he would be arrested if he again failed to follow my commands. The subject stated he was not ‘resisting’ and reluctantly followed my commands, distancing himself from my vehicle and the offender’s vehicle. The subject further advised he was ‘sorry,’ later stating it was his superiors’ orders to get all information of any happenings on the mill grounds. I informed him that it was an infraction that occurred off of their grounds and the vehicle did not stop until on their grounds.”

Price told the Chesterton Tribune today that an officer has no way of controlling where a motorist stops his vehicle when pulled over by an officer and that many traffic stops are conducted on private property. Price also said that he was asked to meet later today with the security firm to discuss the incident.

Price noted that Karimi’s in-squad camera was not functioning properly at the time of the traffic stop but that the security firm is supposed to have a video surveillance tape of the incident.

Posted 6/8/2009