Court Watching: Yelling in court hallway causes court officer to report it to the judge

The Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy who is a court officer in Judge David J. Allen’s ninth-floor Circuit Court courtroom came running out of the courtroom door on Friday just after noon when he heard yelling in the hallway.
When he asked who was yelling, people in the hallway said it was Sumpter Police Chief Eric Luke and Detective/Sergeant John Toth, but they had gotten in an elevator and were gone.
There had been some talk in the hallway about a statement allegedly made by Sumpter defendant and plaintiff Nelson Po about when he was at the police station and said he was going to run for supervisor after this is all over. He said he heard someone call out, “You’re not white enough.”
Chief Luke angrily told Jay Bardell to ask Po to tell him who said that because he’d really like to know and Bardell said loudly to ask Po himself.
Then Chief Luke asked Po, who just came out of the courtroom, and Po said it had been someone behind him at the police station and he didn’t see who it was.
Meanwhile, the Independent came out of the courtroom after asking the judge if everything was over and what happened in the judge’s chambers. Judge Allen said everything was over for the day and the Independent should ask the attorneys what happened.
The Independent stepped out into the hallway and the first attorney in sight was Sumpter Township attorney Rob Young.
“What happened?” the Independent asked Young and Young snarled, “I’m not talking to you.”
The Independent said the judge told her to ask an attorney and if Young didn’t want to talk to her she would ask another attorney and she did.
That’s when Young started moving the five Sumpter police officers down the hall to the elevators and the loud voices began.
The court officer said it is his job to keep peace in the court and this was unprofessional conduct by the police. He said that is the kind of thing that puts police under attack by the public.
He said he was disturbed to think that an armed, upset person could shoot up his courtroom.
He said earlier when Toth came into the courtroom with his handgun displayed openly on his hip, he asked Toth if he was in court on a personal issue or business and Toth arrogantly pushed out his hip and said, “business.” The officer said he didn’t like Toth’s attitude.
The officer said on Oct. 17, the next court session on the Sumpter issues, he will make sure any Sumpter police officers wanting to enter Judge Allen’s courtroom will have to lock up their weapons at the location provided by the court.
He said he had advised Judge Allen of the problem. When Judge Allen was leaving for lunch, he expressed dismay at the report to those standing in the hallway.
On Monday, when asked about the incident, Chief Luke said, “I wouldn’t classify anyone really ‘yelling’ in the hallway at any point. I didn’t take it as Jay Bardell yelling back at me after my question to him and as we were walking to the elevator Toth was talking back down the hallway with Jay.
“While walking to the elevators Det/Sgt Toth was still talking back down the hallway at Jay Bardell (I believe regarding coming into the station for an interview), but I was already inside the elevator and didn’t hear the specifics of the majority of the brief conversation.
“‘Yelling’ though? I wouldn’t say so. Toth usually talks louder than most people, as you have probably noticed over the years,” Chief Luke said.