April 15, 2008
A report by the El Paso Police Department has challenged the truthfulness of Ricky and Paula Bell and the account they gave City Council last week about what happened when officers came looking for their son on Aug. 22, 2006. [npt april 11, 2008]
Fighting back tears, Paula Bell said she was naked when officers pushed their way past the front door into the couple’s home looking for the Bells' son, whom the parents had turned over to police three days earlier.
Backed up by her husband, an Army sergeant at the time just back from Iraq, she told the council last week that the officers refused to let her dress, shouted at her and called her a liar when she said their son was in jail.
But the police report quotes one of the officers who was at the Bell home as saying “Mrs. Bell was fully clothed” and allowed the officers “to look through her house to make sure that her son was not there.”
“Once the officers saw that Rickey Bell Jr. was not at the residence, they left the residence, verified the fact that Rickey Bell had already been jailed and informed … detectives of their findings,” the report states, in part.
Police Spokesman Javier Sambrano said the report represents the conclusion of an investigation by the Internal Affairs Division and the chief’s office into the events the Bells described.
City Manager Joyce Wilson forwarded the police report to the mayor and City Council members on Monday noting, “This report differs significantly from what was presented publicly at City Council. … We will continue to monitor and be prepared to respond should this issue come up again.”
Newspaper Tree was unable to reach either of the Bells’ lawyers, Sam Snoddy or Evangelina Lugo.
David Crowder can be reached at dcrowder@epmediagroup.com or at 915 351-0605