Judge Ryan Nelson (9th Cir.) Charged with Battery for Allegedly Knocking off Man's Glasses in Parking Space Dispute
Article excerpt
A federal judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals faces battery charges after allegedly knocking off a man's glasses during a parking lot dispute. Judge Ryan Douglas Nelson was charged following an incident that was captured on video, according to reporting from the Idaho State Journal. The confrontation apparently began over a parking space disagreement and escalated to physical contact. The case raises questions about judicial conduct and accountability, with Nelson's status on the bench now in question pending the outcome of the charges.
Still from the surveillance video included in the Idaho State Journal article.
Idaho State Journal (Jimmy Hancock) reports (including video):
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ryan Douglas Nelson faces two criminal charges [for] {misdemeanor battery and malicious injury to property} after police say he battered a man by swiping the glasses from his face, tossing them across an asphalt lot and stomping on them during an April confrontation over a parking space in Idaho Falls….
The alleged victim says Nelson's truck was angled into a parking space, the bulk of his truck in one spot with the right front tire and bumper hanging over the right line and into the spot to the right and the left rear part of the truck hanging over the left line and into the parking space to the left, effectively blocking three parking spots in the lot directly in front of the nearby businesses.
As the alleged victim was exiting his white pickup truck, Nelson started his truck to leave the parking space. That's when the alleged victim spoke.
"I say 'learn how to park,'" the alleged victim said. "I said it twice. That's when he went crazy." …
"When I spoke with Nelson he admitted to knocking his glasses from (the alleged victim's) head but stated he did not touch him. He also admitted to stomping on his glasses," [a police officer's] affidavit states.
See also Bloomberg Law (Jacqueline Thomsen & Suzanne Monyak).
UPDATE: I originally wrote that Nelson was arrested, but he was apparently charged without having been arrested; my apologies for the error, which I have corrected.
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