Nurse tells of doughnut shop argument and then arrest by SEPTA cop
As an immigrant, Muibat Williamson has firm ideas about what the United States and its citizens should be about.
As an immigrant, Muibat Williamson has firm ideas about what the United States and its citizens should be about.
So when a SEPTA police officer cut in line on Christmas 2013 as she waited in the Dunkin' Donuts shop in Suburban Station and then, according to her, stepped on her foot as he left, Williamson was not about to let it rest.
"I said, 'Excuse me, you stepped on me. Aren't you going to apologize?' " Williamson told a Philadelphia jury Wednesday.
SEPTA Officer Douglas Ioven said no, he didn't step on her foot, and wouldn't apologize.
"I said, 'No, just apologize. You're a professional. You're a policeman. You have to respect people,' " Williamson testified.
Minutes later, Williamson was in handcuffs on the floor after she said Ioven saw her trying to file a complaint at the SEPTA police mini-station at Suburban Station. She said Ioven cursed at her and chased her back into the concourse, where he banged her forehead into an ATM and cuffed her.
Williamson was released after she told a SEPTA officer that she was a registered nurse who worked in neurology units at Einstein Medical Center and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Ioven, 44, was later fired after 11 years with the transit police, and was charged with witness retaliation and intimidation, official oppression, assault, and other counts.
Williamson, 54, who emigrated from Nigeria in 1982, was the main witness in the first day of testimony in Ioven's trial before a Common Pleas Court jury of six men and six women.
Questioned by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wellbrock, Williamson recounted the incident in heavily accented English, telling the jury how disappointed she was with Ioven's behavior.
"This is not what I expect police to be," Williamson testified.
Defense attorney Joseph Silvestro Jr. repeatedly asked Williamson why Ioven should apologize when he doesn't believe he stepped on her foot: "Don't you think it should be his choice whether to apologize?"
"As a nurse, if somebody says I did something to them, I apologize. I don't have to argue, I apologize and that's the end of it," Williamson replied.
Silvestro also had Williamson read aloud the injuries her lawyer listed in an injury lawsuit filed against Ioven and SEPTA, which include a concussion and spinal disk damage. Silvestro has argued that she exaggerated the incident and her injuries to enhance her suit's chance of yielding significant money damages.
Earlier Wednesday, two prosecution witnesses recounted different aspects of the incident.
Retired SEPTA Police Sgt. Nathaniel Bentley testified that afterward, Ioven told him, "I think I screwed up because I thought she was a homeless person but she was a regular person."
Bentley recounted intervening to defuse a loud argument between Ioven and another woman after 8 a.m. near the Dunkin' Donuts. When he arrived at the scene, Bentley said, Ioven and a tall woman were yelling at each other.
"She was saying, 'You're wrong, you're wrong. You know you stepped on that woman's foot and you should apologize,' " Bentley testified.
Bentley said he separated the pair and then saw his lieutenant near an older woman - Williamson - with a "large knot" on her forehead lying on the floor with her hands cuffed behind her.
Bentley testified that Williamson was uncuffed and that he accompanied her and Tameka Bowman, the woman he saw arguing with Ioven, to file complaints against Ioven.
Bowman testified that she interceded in the argument between Ioven and Williamson when all three were waiting in line in the doughnut shop.
Bowman said Williamson was upset and Ioven had "rage in his face. He was very rude and the words he used: 'Next time, move out of the way.' "
A silent security video of the incident shows Ioven and Williamson gesticulating at each other in the shop. At one point, Ioven's foot appears to touch Williamson's, although the video does not appear to show him stepping on her foot.
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