Virginia City, Illinois Police Treat Stabbing Victim as Suspect; Arrest Witness

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Note: The description included within this post was shared with Nevada Cop Block by Nathan Danner via reader submission. If you have videos, stories, upcoming events/protests, or personal interactions with the police (and/or “justice” system) that you would like to share, send them to us and we will do everything we can to bring it to the attention of the world. In addition, you can visit the Nevada Cop Block resources section for information and links to the rights of citizens when dealing with police, during which you should always be filming.

This post discusses the events surrounding an incident that happened in Virginia, Illinois. That incident involved some sort of altercation, in which a man named Charles Hudson was stabbed. According to an article I found, Jimmy Johnson (identified as “Old Man” in the submission) and his son Jeremiah Johnson (identified as “Man 1” in the submission) were later arrested for the stabbing.

According to Danner, rather than being helpful to Hudson after he had been stabbed, officers from the Virginia Police Department instead treated him as if he was a suspect. Danner states that Officer Steve Helmich even threatened to use a tazer on him. In addition, Danner was later himself arrested and had some of his personal belongings seized by VPD officers.

Subsequently, Ron Boris, the Virginia City Police Chief, and Officer Helmich have both resigned from the department. However, currently Chief Boris is running against Captain Devron Orhn to replace retiring Sheriff Bob Fair in Cass County. Virginia City is the county seat of Cass County, which means Chief Boris could potentially end up with even more power in Virginia City if he is elected.

Date of Incident: Oct. 7th, 2017
Officers Involved: Chief Ron Boris, Officer Steve Helmich, Captain Devron Orhn
Department Involved: City of Virginia, Il. Police Department
Facebook Page: Virginia Police Dept. on FB
Department Phone No.: (217) 452-3500

The Stabbing

October 7th, on or around 12am, I witnessed a stabbing behind the East Side bar in Virginia Il. I was standing in the back by the picnic table smoking a cigarette when I saw Charles Hudson being pursued by another male. After hearing Charles tell the other guy to get away, I flicked my cigarette and started towards the door.

Within seconds, they were in a skirmish. I turned back to watch. A man then exited a black truck with a truck topper. He was an older guy with a cane. “Old Man” pulled a knife. I ran over grabbing the guys shirt and ripping it while in the process. The old man turned to swing his cane at me, but missed. He then tried to swing the knife at me.

Trying not to get stabbed, while also trying to make sure Charles didn’t get stabbed, I let go of the man’s shirt. In that brief moment, the old man took to the ground where Charles and “Man 1” had each other in a double head lock, with Charles being in the front and man1 being in the back. The old man held the early 1900’s style “Texas Toothpick Knife” to Charles’ throat, repeatedly saying he was gong to slice his throat.

Charles let go of his choke hold and it was now just Man1 choking Charles and Old Man with a knife to Charles’ throat. Then Man 1, in my opinion, purposely let go of Charles and swung his arms up toward the hand that was holding the knife and thrust the knife into Charles’ throat. I screamed, “no! You just stabbed him in the F****** throat!” The old mam said,” And…let’s go son.”

I reached down to secure the wound, while simultaneously grabbing my phone to dial 911. At that time, I yelled to someone exiting the bar to come grab his wound as I pursued the truck screaming the vehicle description and license plate number to the 911 person. Charles popped off the ground with blood squirting from his neck. He managed to stagger into the bar, making it in four steps before collapsing to the ground.

With everybody scrambling, I grabbed a wad of napkins from the bar and pressed it on his neck. Laura, the bartender, grabbed some rags and Jeff Perkins sat on Charles, applying pressure to the wound. Several minutes passed before we saw the first lights approaching the bar.

It was Officer Helmich from the Virginia Police Department. All he wanted to do was yell at people and stand and watch Charles bleed. He was completely unprofessional. Then Mccombs pulled up, and I ran out the back begging him to hurry, as Helmich had no idea what he was doing.

The EMTs got there, who again were just standing around because they seemed incapable of helping. They had me pick Charles up off the ground of the bar and get him to the gurney. As they were taking him out the door through the front, Charles repeatedly said he was not going in the ambulance without one of three people present: his mother, his fiancé, or Cass County Sheriff Bob Fair.

Helmich threatened Charles with his tazer if he refused to get in the ambulance. I told Helmich, “that is against the law.” Helmich told me, “shut up or you’ll be tazed as well.” I then pulled my phone back out to record the injustices that were going on.

I turned to Mccombs and asked if he wanted me to go retrieve one of those people Charles was asking for and he said, “yes, please do so.” I then went to get his fiancé and brought her back up town. I went in to the bar grabbed an ice water and left East Side with Jeff Perkins. I stopped in Good Times to try and get a beverage, but it was 1:30am and they were no longer serving. I walked back to my car, grabbed my cans of soda, and headed off to Jeff’s house.

Two officers came to Jeff’s house to ask me for a statement, which I refused to give them until I had an in person apology and a written apology from the officer who threatened to taze me. Chief Boris agreed that it was more than fair. Some time went by and I was down to my last cigarette. So I went on a walk back up town to retrieve a new pack from the vehicle I was using for the night.

I only got within 15 ft. of the vehicle and was told by Helmich to put my hands behind my back because I was under arrest. So I turned around, was placed in handcuffs, searched without consent, and put in the back of the police car. I was then taken to Jacksonville to be booked. Helmich gave me two tickets with a written time of 1:10 am. One ticket was for disorderly conduct and one ticket was for resisting/obstructing a police officer. I made bond for $150.

As soon as I returned to Virginia, I went to the Virginia Police Department to try and retrieve my property that they had illegally seized. Those items being my Samsung Galaxy S8 plus a 10 dollar bill and one Marlboro Black cigarette. They refused to give me back my property, or present a warrant for seizure, of said property. I then asked for them to let me file my complaint on paper with them, which they refused.

I asked for the sheriff or a sheriff’s deputy to come up and they refused. Both officers refused to identify themselves when I asked for them to do so. I had to send my mother and uncle to Sheriff Bob Fair’s house to try to wake him up. When he didn’t answer, I sent them to Deputy (Captain) Devron Ohrn’s. Devron came straight to the sheriff’s office and let me write my statement regarding the illegal search and seizure of my property.

My Speech at the City Council Meeting on Monday, October 9th

Hello,

My name is Nathan Danner and tonight I’m here to shed light on some recent events that took place in our small community. On Sat., October 7th at about 12:00 am, a stabbing took place behind the East Side bar, here in Virginia. This already horrible situation was made even worse by the actions and response of our city police and EMT service.

During the time Charles Hudson was laying on the ground and bleeding out, our police and EMT personnel were just standing there watching, seemingly unable to help. I had to pick Charles up off the ground and carry him to the gurney. While outside the front of East Side, Charles refused medical attention until one of three people were present.

He was threatened to be tazed by Officer Helmich if he didn’t get in the ambulance. I spoke up and assured Officer Helmich that was illegal and it was his right to choose what happens to him. The officer treated Charles as if he were the criminal when he was clearly the victim. Our officers showed me that during the times we need them the most we could not count on them to do their jobs correctly or professionally.

Later that night, I was given two tickets: one for disorderly conduct and one for resisting/obstruction of a peace officer. I bonded out and returned to the police station, only trying to obtain the items that were illegally seized at the time of my arrest. Those items were: my cellphone, a $10 bill, and a single cigarette.

Chief Boris and Officer Helmich refused to identify themselves when asked to. They also refused to give me back my property, and refused to let me file my report. Thankfully I was able to wake Deputy Sheriff Devron Orhn out of bed to allow me to file a report.

Over the last month, there have been several occasions of people in our community getting their civil rights violated and suffering abuse as extreme as felony assault with a tazer. This includes:

Micheal Rogers, who was tazed in the sheriff’s office by a city officer

A man passed out in his yard, whom a citizen was seeking medical attention for, was threatened to be tazed by Officer Helmich.

Officer Helmich using intimidation on Charles by threatening him with his tazer.

Helmich threatening me with his tazer and giving unjust and unfair tickets to try and cover his tracks.

Today, I’m calling for appropriate actions to take place in order to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Thank you

The “Aftermath”

Man 1 and Old Man have both been arrested.

Old Man on charges of attempted murder and mob action.

Man 1 on a charge of mob action.

The two officers have put in their letters of resignation and their last day of work in our town is Nov. 13.

But where will they end up and who else will this happen too?

– Nathan Danner