FBI investigating Bluffton officer’s takedown of an unarmed man during 2017 arrest
Federal agents are investigating a Bluffton police officer who injured an unarmed, handcuffed Black man during a 2017 traffic stop, dropping him to the pavement and pinning him there for almost nine minutes as blood pooled on the ground.
In early June, the FBI alerted then-Bluffton Police Chief Chris Chapmond of a criminal civil rights inquiry into an “allegation of unlawful force by Officer Cody Kirkman upon Ted D. Ellis,” the Bluffton man arrested during the 2017 incident, according to a letter obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The federal scrutiny comes three and a half months after the newspapers first reported the incident and the findings of an internal police review that called Kirkman’s use of force “reasonable” and appeared to blame Ellis for his injuries.
The FBI investigates law enforcement officers and other officials accused of abusing their authority and depriving someone of their Constitutional civil rights, including police use of force cases.
Criminal civil rights violations by someone acting “under color of law” — or within their official governmental authority — can carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison in cases where bodily injury results.
Prosecution of these criminal civil rights cases is exceedingly rare. Over the past 20 years, federal charges have been filed an average of 41 times a year across the entire country, a recent report by a Syracuse University research center found.
Kirkman, who faced no disciplinary action after the incident, is still employed as an officer with the Bluffton Police Department.
In 2019, Ellis and his wife, Teresa, sued him, two other officers and the Bluffton Police Department in federal court, saying the takedown Kirkman used caused Ellis to lose several teeth and left him suffering neurological damage.
In court filings, the department and officers involved denied wrongdoing and said that Ellis failed to respond to commands, acting “hostile, verbally abusive and physically threatening” during the traffic stop.
The lawsuit is still pending and is separate from any criminal investigation.
Arie Bax, Ellis’ Beaufort-based lawyer, said he and Ellis were aware of the federal criminal probe.
“We think that it is a good thing that an independent body looks into these kinds of things,” he said.
“I think it’s good for the community,” Bax added, referencing nationwide calls for police accountability this year.
Bax said neither he nor Ellis had filed any complaint about the 2017 incident with federal law enforcement.
The FBI would not comment on the investigation. Columbia Division Public Affairs Officer Donald Wood said that he couldn’t confirm or deny the existence or status of any inquiry.
Criminal civil rights investigations into officials are normally initiated after “complaints from the citizen, reports from the police department or accounts provided in the news media,” Wood said.
The FBI works with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on these kinds of cases, he added.
When reached by a reporter, Bluffton Police Department spokesperson Capt. Joe Babkiewicz declined to comment, as the department does not typically do so regarding ongoing investigations or pending litigation, and deferred to town attorneys.
Town Attorney Terry Finger declined to comment.
What happened in 2017
The traffic stop that led to Ellis’ arrest and injuries stemmed from the police department’s use of automatic license plate reader systems, which on Aug. 3, 2017, alerted officers that the car Ellis was driving had a suspended registration.
After the alert, Kirkman saw Ellis’ car driving down May River Road and pulled him over. During the traffic stop, Kirkman discovered Ellis’ license was suspended and the car’s registration had lapsed.
Kirkman instructed Ellis to turn off the car and get out, which he did. Then, Kirkman handcuffed Ellis and attempted to search him.
“Just put me in the f------ car ... I feel like this s--- is justified because I’m a Black man driving,” Ellis said, facing his car with Kirkman behind him. “I would beat your ... ass if there wasn’t no f------ handcuffs.”
“Right now this ain’t a big deal,” Kirkman responded.
Then the verbal altercation escalated, leading to the takedown that injured Ellis.
Kirkman wrote in his report that Ellis “attempted to turn around in an effort to stop the search” and “remained physically and verbally resistant.”
Eventually Kirkman reached around Ellis’ ankles and pulled them backward, causing the 6-foot-4-inch man to thrust forward and slam his chin against the pavement.
Ellis lay on the road face down in his own blood, with Kirkman’s knee on his back, for almost nine minutes until EMS arrived. Ellis was taken to the hospital and then held at the Beaufort County Detention Center.
He faced a resisting arrest charge, which prosecutors later dropped. Ellis was found guilty in Bluffton Municipal Court of three minor license and registration-related charges.
Ellis suffered multiple injuries, according to his lawsuit, including lost or damaged teeth, an undiagnosed concussion and cuts requiring multiple stitches in his chin.
Squad car video of the incident shows a Bluffton firefighter using a tank of water to clean his blood off the pavement.
What is color of law?
The June 9 FBI letter to then-Bluffton Police Chief Chapmond says that the agency has initiated a “Civil Rights, Color of Law inquiry” into an allegation of excessive force during the 2017 traffic stop.
The document is brief, requesting that Bluffton police turn over all records of the arrest, including incident reports, videos, investigative summaries and medical records.
Color of law investigations can involve any official acting in their governmental capacity, including excessive use of force, sexual assault and false arrest incidents involving police officers on the job, according to the FBI’s website.
A June 2020 report published by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that officers are rarely charged under the color of law statute.
During Fiscal Year 2019, there were more prosecutions for illegally taking fish, wildlife and migratory birds than criminal civil rights violations, according to the report.
Still, these charges have played a pivotal role in high-profile cases of police use of force.
Several of the Los Angeles police officers involved in the 1991 arrest and beating of Rodney King were charged and convicted of depriving him of his civil rights while acting under color of law.
More recently, St. Paul, Minnesota officer Brett Palkowitsch was found guilty of a civil rights violation after he kicked Frank Baker, an unarmed Black man who was mauled by a police dog, breaking Baker’s ribs and puncturing his lung.
Ellis, the Bluffton man involved in the 2017 incident, is continuing to receive medical attention for his injuries almost three years later, according to his lawyer.
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