MacKenzie Elmer

melmer@dmreg.com

A Des Moines man testified Tuesday that because he was having a seizure he couldn't remember the moment when a former Des Moines police officer kicked in his teeth last February.

Orville Hill, 29, testified in the second day of Colin Boone's trial in federal court. Boone, was fired May 1 for kicking Hill in the face during an early morning arrest Feb. 19, 2013.

A jury will decide whether Boone, 38, should face prison time for his action.

Hill testified that he doesn't remember crashing his minivan into a concrete barrier, trying to flee the scene or being thrown on the ground by officers and kicked in the face. The crash occurred at Indianola and Hartford avenues.

"I only remember waking up in the ambulance," Hill testified. "I was confused."

Hill told the court that he has been diagnosed with epilepsy and has had seizures for six to eight months. He said he takes medication to quell seizures and anxiety.

According to Hill, he was driving to pick up a friend who had been drinking at a bar that morning but pulled over when he felt he was about to have a seizure.

He awoke in a hospital bed with "excruciating pain" in his mouth.

"I was dazed and confused, trying to figure out what happened," he said.

Michael Smart, an attorney representing Boone, questioned Hill about his history of drug use and behavior during seizures.

Hill said that during seizures, he had been known to run, tremble, and that he once jumped a barbed-wire fence. He said that he'd never been combative during a seizure or a drug high.

Hill said that in the past he has used methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and PCP but that he never became addicted to those drugs. He said he used marijuana the night of the incident. Hill refused a drug test at Broadlawns Medical Center the morning of the incident.

Holly Healey, a physician at Broadlawns who treated Hill, said when she first saw Hill, he was uncooperative and incoherent.

Over time, he began "crying and said, 'I don't understand why they had to kick and hit me,'" Healey testified.

She said patients with seizures can be aggressive and confused. Patients using PCP can have hallucinations, jump around and take off their clothes, while meth users can be aggressive and can't sit still.

During his three-hour emergency room stay, Healey cleaned Hill's face and stitched his eyebrow, she said.

Three Des Moines police officers have testified in the trial so far and all three said they suspected Hill was under the influence of something.

Officer Tanner Klinge, one of the responders on Feb. 19, called Hill's behavior "erratic."

Still, all said it unnecessary for Boone to kick Hill in the face because he was already being held to the ground by at least four people and wasn't trying to attack any of the officers.

Two officers testified that they saw Boone kick Hill in the face.

"(Boone) said 'I was just trying to knock him out a little bit,'" Officer Lindsey Kenkel testified.

Video from police car cameras played in federal court Monday show Boone running and sweeping his leg at Hill, who was on the ground screaming with at least four officers trying to subdue and cuff him.

At least a dozen officers eventually made their way to the scene, the video shows, with as many as six attempting to pin Hill to the ground while he flailed his arms and legs.

Boone was fired from the police department on May 1 and was arrested in South Dakota in December on a charge of unreasonable use of force and deprivation of rights under color of law, a civil rights violation.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Hill said he plans to file a civil lawsuit after the federal trial and that he's "just looking for justice."

Testimony will continue today at 8:30 a.m.