Delores Runsclosetolodge Shoulderblade, mother of Anthony Shoulderblade, points to bullet hole from BIA police shooting. Photo by Clara Caufield
Hot pursuit and lethal force at Northern Cheyenne
The police were chasing wrong suspect
By Clara Caufield
Native Sun News Correspondent LAME DEER, Mont. –– “We didn’t want to die,” said 22-year-old Jeana Small relating details of a hot pursuit chase that she and her 27-year-old boyfriend, Anthony Shoulderblade, both Northern Cheyenne tribal members, survived on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation Dec. 8, 2014. While trying to apprehend the young couple, a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer shot through the windshield of their parked vehicle, even though they were inside with their hands up in surrender. That evening began innocently. After working all day as a carpenter in Hardin, Shoulderblade returned to the Northern Cheyenne reservation to pick up Small about 8:45 p.m. Shoulderblade was driving a Ford pickup belonging to his mother Delores Runsclosetolodge Shoulderblade, originally from Pine Ridge. Shortly afterwards, the young pair pulled out of the Cheyenne Depot parking lot in Lame Deer. At a 4-way stop, two BIA police vehicles quickly fell in behind the Shoulderblade vehicle flashing lights and sirens. Shoulderblade, who had a misdemeanor warrant from Rosebud County panicked, deciding to try and outrun the officers turning onto Highway 212 driving at a high rate of speed. The officers pursued, at one point trying to run their vehicle off the road Small said. Twenty miles later, in the Busby area Shoulderblade decided to surrender, pulled off the side of the road and parked. “He thought better of it and knew he made a mistake,” Small said. But things quickly spiraled out of control according to Small, the two officers surrounded the parked vehicle with guns drawn and leveled at it... “Put your hands in the air,” they ordered “or you will be shot." Small says they both complied, but when one officer approached the passenger side and struck the window with a heavy object she screamed. Another officer standing in front of the vehicle then fired a shot piercing the windshield. Small saw Shoulderblade’s ear bleeding. “I didn’t know if the bullet grazed him or glass,” she said. Since then, Shoulderblade told his mother he can taste gunpowder and thinks his ear was grazed by a bullet. Residents living near Highway 212 have reported hearing gunfire at about 10:00 p.m. that evening. “I don’t want to die,” Shoulderblade told Small. He also feared the Northern Cheyenne jail, preferring arrest by Big Horn County. He “punched it,” Small said and police followed in hot pursuit down Highway 314, a secondary road leading to the southern Reservation Boundary. Several Tribal residents living in that area saw the chase, concerned about public safety. “I’m sure glad I wasn’t on the road that night,” said Max Small, area rancher. Small said they outraced the BIA cops to the Reservation line. “Then Anthony voluntarily pulled over waiting for the officers,” she explained, “knowing he would be arrested.” Upon arrival, the officers drew their guns, once again pointing them at the vehicle. “Carl, get down on the ground, or we will shoot,” Small remembers the officers yelling. She said, “Anthony had his hands up, but was jerked out of the vehicle, thrown to the ground, hitting his face on the pavement knocking a front tooth loose. When Shoulderblade tried to explain he was not Carl it became clear that the BIA officers thought he was a different suspect who she thinks is a tribal member named Carl Fisher. The police handcuffed the young couple placing them in separate police vehicles where they waited for about two hours for other officers. Delores Shoulderblade wonders why the BIA did not radio in the vehicle’s plates, registered to her in Big Horn County. Anthony’s employer observed the initial pursuit and drove to the Shoulderblade residence to inform them, concerned in part about his construction tools in the pickup. Calling BIA dispatch, Delores learned the hot pursuit was progressing on the Kirby Road deciding to personally investigate. At the scene the family observed their vehicle parked on the side of the road, but were directed to stay 200 feet from the “crime scene.” “The officers were very rude,” Delores reported. “One officer said that Tony and Jeana were both very drunk, totally 'out of it' but nothing else”. Jeana who later passed a breathalyzer test, blowing zeros disputes this, asserting that neither was Anthony. Eventually, eight police vehicles representing Sheridan, Wyoming Sherriff’s Department; Northern Cheyenne BIA Police and Big Horn County were at the scene. One officer told Delores it was a jurisdictional mess which the FBI would clear up. “This will probably go Federal,” she was warned. Anthony was taken into custody by the Big Horn Sherriff’s Department incarcerated in the Big Horn County Jail and charged with DUI and no driver’s license. On Thursday, Dec. 11 he appeared before a Big Horn County Court and those charges were dropped. A spokesman said he has a Rosebud County warrant and a bail of $500.00 but Federal charges of criminal are possible, depending on the Big Horn County Attorney, FBI and prosecutors. At press time, the Northern Cheyenne BIA officers have not charged Shoulderblade. The Rosebud County warrant is for failure to pay misdemeanor fine three years ago. Big Horn County is waiting to hear from Rosebud County about that matter. Jeana was taken to the Northern Cheyenne jail and interrogated by an FBI officer repeatedly asked the same questions over several hours. “He told me that my story and the police story did not match up. The police signed a statement that Anthony tried to run over them, but I told them it was not true.” Released at 5:30 a.m. the next morning Small was escorted home by the FBI agent, advised she may be questioned further. The Shoulderblade vehicle currently sits in the Northern Cheyenne BIA Law Enforcement yard as evidence. “You can see the bullet hole in the windshield very close to the driver’s seat. An inch or two over, they would have got him in the head or the heart,” Delores speculated. “There was no reason for them to shoot because Tony was already stopped” Delores says angrily while vowing to pursue the matter. “I’m going to get a lawyer and sue. My son made a bad decision, but that is no excuse for them shooting at him and his girlfriend. They could have been killed. The FBI agent, advised me not to get a lawyer, because it would make Anthony look guilty. But, I don’t think this is all Tony’s fault." BIA Police and the FBI follow a policy of no comment on open cases and Big Horn County officials could not be contacted for comment. (Clara Caufield can be reached acheyennevoice@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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