ROSS CASE Girard officers testify in civil lawsuit

More testimony will be heard today.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- Court proceedings in the civil suit filed by a former Girard police chief against the municipal judge continued Tuesday with testimony from a list of the city's finest.
Anthony Ross is suing Judge Michael Bernard for $25,000 stemming from an occurrence in the Girard city government building Sept. 11, 2001. According to Ross, Bernard repeatedly bumped him into a wall during a disagreement, causing damage to his back.
Judge Bernard, through his attorney Martin White, has said that the two have had bad feelings between them for some time, but that nothing happened that Sept. 11 to cause injury. White has said the suit is a means of getting back at Judge Bernard.
To that end, Tuesday's court session started with cross-examination questions from White to Ross concerning his injury and when it was mentioned to doctors. He also asked the former chief several questions concerning a trip to Florida shortly after the incident.
Documents
White made reference to a document allegedly penned by Ross after the incident in which there is no mention of injury and an "attempted" assault by the judge is referenced. Under cross-examination Ross said he did not actually type the document himself.
White also produced a letter in which Ross is said to have told a doctor the symptoms of his back injury occurred shortly after the incident, but was not actually mentioned to a doctor until sometime later. Ross, under redirect testimony, said he is from the "old school" way of doing things and was not in enough pain to see a doctor.
Atty. Ed Fitzgerald, representing Ross, called four Girard police officers to testify before close of court. All four officers witnessed some aspect of the altercation between Judge Bernard and Ross.
Detective John Norman and current Chief Frank Bigowsky, both longtime department members, said they heard a commotion in the lobby of the police station and found Judge Bernard and Ross nose to nose in an argument. Bigowsky said Ross was in a defensive position against the wall and Judge Bernard was in a more aggressive position facing him.
Norman said Ross did complain immediately after the incident that Judge Bernard had bumped him into a wall.
Cross-examination
During cross-examination, Bigowsky said Ross did not appear to be injured after the incident and did not complain of any pain. Norman, during cross-examination, said that Ross never mentioned more than one bump and that he did not witness any actual assault.
What would appear to be the most compelling testimony for Ross came from patrolman Scott Siegel. Siegel said he witnessed, from the police window looking into the lobby, Judge Bernard shove Ross into the wall with his stomach after the two engaged in a heated discussion.
Siegel said he called for officers to take action after the confrontation got physical.
Under cross-examination, Siegel said he did not see Judge Bernard repeatedly shove Ross into a wall. Siegel also said he did not see the judge take a "football position" against Ross as previously mentioned.
More testimony was to be heard starting with a taped deposition by Ross' doctor, Dr. Joe Hahn, at 9 a.m. today. The case is expected to be given to the five-woman, three-man jury by Thursday.
jgoodwin@vindy.com