Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

PALM DESERT, Calif. – Newly released police documents reveal a sheriff's deputy who was fired for not helping a sickly, crawling man instead repeatedly threatened to arrest the man if he did not get into his apartment.

Mark Franks, a former deputy with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, has successfully appealed his termination and is on pace to get his job back. The sheriff’s department has filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop him from returning to the force.

Franks was fired for negligence because of his treatment of Curt Nelsen, 55, a Palm Desert resident who he found disoriented in a parking lot on Sept 3, 2014. Franks drove Nelsen across the street to his apartment complex, but when they got to the parking lot, Nelsen complained of pain and said he was unable to walk. Franks stood by while Nelsen dragged himself more than 100 feet down a hallway to his front door, which took somewhere between 30 minutes to two hours, according to differing accounts of the event. Franks then left without calling an ambulance.

Five days later, Nelsen was found dead inside the apartment, killed by heart disease, liver failure and chronic alcoholism.

THE BIG STORY: This cop was fired for not helping a suffering man

The circumstances of Nelsen’s death and Franks' firing were revealed in court documents in April, but until now it has been uncertain what Franks was doing while Nelsen was dragging himself. The new documents make it clear – Franks watched the whole time, and witnesses say he never physically helped Nelsen down the hallway.

“This is exponentially worse,” said Curt Nelsen’s brother, John, after reviewing the new reports.

“Threatening instead of helping?” interjected John’s wife, Lisa Nelsen. “That is the opposite of what Curt needed.”

Franks' attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. They have previously refused to comment.

The new documents, which were released by the sheriff's Internal Affairs Division after significant redaction, include:

Summaries of two witness interviews saying Franks did not touch Nelsen and “only repeatedly stated that if Nelsen did not get into his apartment he would arrest him";

A report about the discovery of Nelsen’s body; and

A report written by Franks himself, describing his interaction with Nelsen.

Franks' report was written on Sept. 9, 2014 – one day after Nelsen’s body was found. Frank said he was sent to investigate a trespassing call at the Dollar Tree on Washington Street, where he found Nelsen pushing a shopping cart in the parking lot. Nelsen appeared confused and disoriented – and said he lived at the Dollar Tree store – so Franks decided to drive him to his apartment complex across the street.

“When we arrived in the parking lot of his apartment complex, I let Nelsen out of the back of my patrol unit,” Franks wrote in his report. “Nelsen got out and crawled top the gate of his apartment. I told Nelsen to get up and walk but he said his legs hurt and he was out of shape. I stood by while Nelson crawled very slowly towards his apartment.”

In his report, Franks said he offered Nelsen medical attention three times – including once in the presence of a witness – but Nelsen always declined. Neither witness account makes any mention of Franks offering to call an ambulance.

But even if Nelsen did decline an ambulance, Franks should have called one anyway, according to a nationally recognized policing expert. Jim Bueermann, a former Redlands police chief who leads The Police Foundation, said in a prior interview that officers don’t need permission to call for medics.

“When in doubt, you roll medical aide,” Bueermann said. “If you think you need medical aide, regardless of what the guy says, you call for them.”

Franks, 39, worked as an insurance salesman before he trained to become a police officer. He joined the sheriff's department in 2007 and then spent most of his law enforcement career patrolling the streets of Palm Desert. He was fired in July 2015 after an 11-month investigation into his treatment of Nelsen.

Franks then appealed his termination to an administrative arbitrator, which is an option available to almost all deputies under their union contract. The arbitrator, Jerry Ellner, issued a ruling in April, saying that Franks should be reinstated to his old job and given back pay for all the work he's missed, minus a 30-day suspension.

The sheriff's department responded in July by petitioning a superior court judge to throw out Ellner's ruling. The next hearing in that lawsuit is set for Dec. 12.

The sheriff's department has declined to comment on Franks termination or the resulting legal battle.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.