Woman arrested after NE Bend street fight over social media

(Update: Suspect disputes police accounts, neighbor comments)

A fight in the middle of a northeast Bend street Friday night over messages posted on social media led to the arrest of a 30-year-old Bend woman on disorderly conduct and other charges, police said. The woman later contacted NewsChannel 21 to dispute much of what police said occurred.

Police said the woman, Stephonie Eileen Smith, and an arresting officer sustained minor injuries when she was taken into custody.

Several officers responded shortly after 10 p.m. to citizen reports of people fighting in the middle of Northeast Elk Court, Sgt. R.C. Bigelow said. Several callers to 911 reported arguing, screaming and fighting among adults in the street, while juveniles also were on the scene.

Officers talked with several adults and juveniles, and those statements and officers’ observations identified Smith ” as the primary aggressor ” in the fight, Bigelow said.

Police determined ” Smith had engaged in violent, tumultuous and threatening behavior ” in the presence of one of her children and continued to do so after officers arrived, Bigelow said.

Police said Smith refused several orders from law enforcement to stop her behavior and was taken into custody, then to St. Charles Bend for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, Bigelow said. He added that no one was injured during the reported fight.

After reviewing the police report, Sgt. Todd Fletcher gave this account of what transpired:

” When the officer arrived and attempted to speak with her, she continued to make threats against several other people who were still on scene, ” Fletcher said. ” Her significant other tried to calm her down, but she responded by shoving him away.

” They continue to push and shove each other back-and-forth in front of the officer who attempted to separate them. When the officer took her by the arm, she attempted to shove the officer several times. She continued to yell, scream and shove the officer. This is when the officer took her down to the ground, using a ‘leg sweep.’

” At that point, she wasn’t being taken into custody at the time she pushed and shoved the officer, so she didn’t resist arrest, ” Fletcher said. ” She Interfered with a police officer by preventing him from conducting the investigation due to her continued threats against others, as well her shoving match with her significant other. She was taken into custody for Interfering. ”

Smith was taken to the hospital, then to the Deschutes County Jail, where she was booked on charges of second-degree disorderly conduct, interfering with a police officer and second-degree criminal trespass. A jail officer said Smith was released around 7 a.m. Saturday to a responsible third party.

The officer did not require medical attention, Bigelow added.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Bigelow said, officers determined that the dispute was over messages posted on social media. Fletcher said alcohol was a factor in the incident.

Smith later reached out to NewsChannel 21, disputing several elements of the police account of events, claiming ‘ it was not a fight at all, it was a disagreement between my best friend and I. ”

” None of us ever put our hands on each other, ” Smith said in an email. ” Cops were called and I only had a couple beers, so I was not drunk! ”

Smith also said police did not have any camera on her initially and that ” no officer was harmed or touched. He threw me to the ground before he even tried to cuff me, and all this he did in front of my kids! He never read me my (Miranda) rights, either. ”

The woman said the officer ” decided to turn his camera on after the fact that he slammed me on the ground, busting my mouth up! ” Smith also said she will look into pressing charges for excessive force.

But a neighbor who said she witnessed the incident also contacted NewsChannel 21 and said police accounts were accurate about what took place. She said Smith was intoxicated and ” fought the cops, they warned her many times before she was taken down. She was still combative after they cuffed her. ”

Court records show Smith was arrested in June 2018 and pleaded guilty last November to third-degree assault, while a second-degree disorderly conduct charge was dismissed.

Smith was sentenced to 18 months’ probation, with conditions including no alcohol, completing an alcohol treatment program and no contact with a co-defendant.

A January court filing noted she had failed to complete the court-ordered alcohol evaluation and a treatment program and was non-compliant.