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Ex-cop denies unprovoked attack By Sara Murphy Testifying in her own defense, former Ashland police captain Lisa Brooks told the court Wednesday her actions during an early morning incident last summer were not acceptable behavior for a supervisor. Brooks also said she was provoked by dispatcher Mary Ann Siegel and reacted "instinctively" in self-defense. Brooks is accused of assaulting Siegel in the police station break room at about 5:30 a.m. on July 5. She�s charged with fourth-degree assault and harassment for allegedly using a "wrist lock" on Siegel�s right hand, causing injury. Testimony continued Wednesday in the Jackson County courthouse, where the trial began Tuesday before Judge Melvin Ferguson, a pro tem judge from Klamath Falls. Closing arguments are scheduled this morning. The alleged assault followed a discussion about an incident the night of July 4, in which a man with an antique rifle was shouting Jewish epithets and threatening some neighbors, who were Jewish. According to testimony, Brooks asked then-Sgt. Mike Bianca, who was seated next to her in the break room, how the suspect knew his neighbors were Jewish. Brooks said she wouldn�t have known they were because they weren�t wearing Jewish skullcaps, known as yarmulkes. Brooks mispronounced the word � saying yar-moo-kle rather than yah-mah-kah � and Siegel, who had joined the conversation from the adjacent dispatch center, corrected her. "Very loudly, she said, �What? Are you stupid? It�s a yarmulke, not a yar-moo-kle�," Brooks testified. Brooks said Siegel then struck her upper left arm � which was sunburned from golfing on July 2 � "and made me think, Ouch." "I would describe it as a strike, a blow," Brooks testified. "It was surprising." Brooks said Bianca may not have seen Siegel hit her because of the way they were sitting. Bianca testified he didn�t see Siegel hit Brooks � and that he didn�t hear Siegel call the captain "stupid." Bianca testified he heard Siegel correct Brooks in a "matter-of-fact, correcting way." He said he saw Brooks, who never stood up, pushing on Siegel�s wrist in what police officers call a "pain compliance hold" and heard her say, "bitch." Brooks said she did not use that word. "I know in my heart that I did not call Miss Siegel a bitch," she said. Officer Joe Gagliano and dispatcher Karen Greenstein each testified that they had witnessed portions of the exchange between Brooks and Siegel, but neither saw Siegel hit Brooks. Brooks� defense attorney, Shaun McCrea of Eugene, lined up several witnesses in an attempt to attack Siegel�s credibility. Ashland photographer Chris Briscoe testified Siegel told him at Taco Bell "over two booths and basically to the rest of the restaurant" that she�d hired an attorney � whom she described as a "sophisticated junkyard dog" � who was going to get her "100-grand from the city of Ashland and 100-grand from Lisa." About a week later, shortly after Brooks had been fired, Briscoe said he encountered Siegel again at the Rogue Valley Roasting Co. coffee shop. "She walked in singing, �Ding dong, the witch is dead�," he said. Siegel denied the allegation. "I do not remember ever singing that song," she said. "I remember it being sung to me." Lane County Deputy District Attorney Buzz Mattson, who is prosecuting the case to avoid any potential conflict of interest for the local district attorney�s office, asked his star witness, Bianca, whether his credibility should be questioned. Bianca, who had been an officer longer than Brooks, worked as a sergeant for nearly 10 years while she became the department�s first captain. Bianca was promoted to lieutenant after Brooks was fired and took over many of her duties. "She had skills and abilities far and beyond mine," he said. "She passed me by and that�s fine." Bianca said he got along "very well" with Brooks and respected her as an officer. "She was wonderful," he said. "She was one of the best ever." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Sara Murphy at 482-4655, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.