FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A scratched and bloodied Fort Wayne City Councilman Paul Ensley refused to cooperate with a police officer and threatened the officer’s job while police were investigating a domestic situation, according to a police report obtained by NewsChannel 15.
Sources within the police department told NewsChannel 15 on Tuesday that during a domestic investigation at a northeast-side home Monday morning, Ensley refused to give an officer his name and said he could have the officer fired. The police report obtained by NewsChannel 15 had the names of those involved in the incident redacted because no one was arrested, but the redaction is character-specific and Paul Ensley’s name is the only city councilman’s name to fit the hash marks.
When NewsChannel 15 asked Ensley about him threatening to get an officer fired, he denied saying that and added that he had a video of the situation to prove it.
WATCH the video Ensley sent NewsChannel 15 of what he says is the encounter with police on Monday.
Ensley, who was elected to the council in November at 25 years old after defeating longtime councilman Tom Smith in the May primary, was 30 minutes late to appear at City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday night. At the end of the council’s committee hearing, Ensley said he would not comment on the domestic situation other than to say he appreciates the professionalism of the Fort Wayne Police Department. But, in an email to NewsChannel 15’s Alyssa Ivanson after the meeting, Ensley said, “I think you will find that this audio refutes the officer’s allegations that I threatened his job. You’ll notice that I was calm and polite to the officer, while he was very hostile towards me.”Read the full police report here
In the police report, officers were called to a domestic situation at 8232 St. Joe Center Road, next to Arlington Elementary School, at 7:30 a.m. Monday when a woman reportedly ran down the driveway yelling for help, flagged down a passing car and asked the driver to call police. An officer noted in the report that there was little to no furniture in the house, except for a mattress in an upstairs bedroom.
That is where Fort Wayne Police Officer Robert Abels noted in his report he found Ensley and a woman in a bathrobe. That woman was said to be the mother of the woman who asked for the police to be called.
When the officer asked for Ensley’s name, he repeatedly refused to give it to the officer, the report said. When the officer said he could be arrested for failure to identify himself, the police report said Ensley replied, “My name is City Councilman Paul Ensley. I’m going to call Rusty York. I can call Rusty York and have your job.” York is the former police chief and current public safety director.
At one point the officer said back to Ensley, “Your face is bleeding and you have scratches on your forehead and neck. How would it look on the front page of the newspaper, a city councilman involved in a domestic with his face bleeding and scratches threatening an officer?”
The report noted that Ensley had a gash below his left eye, bloody scratches on his forehead and long bloody scratches on the right side of his neck. The woman who called for help was not hurt.
According to Allen County property records, the property where this happened is owned by Bob Morris, the State Representative who endorsed Ensley for city council. Morris confirmed to NewsChannel 15 on Wednesday that he owns the home, but would not say who he’s renting it to. Morris said he has never lived at the home. He added that he would not discuss Ensley’s personal life.
Ensley was a co-author of a measure introduced to council last month that would have eliminated York’s Public Safety Director position. The council, though, voted to table the measure and keep the position – for, at least, 2016.
WATCH: NewsChannel 15’s first report at 6 p.m. Tuesday:
This is the third time Ensley’s name has appeared in a police report since January 2016.
On January 20 an officer questioned him after seeing his car parked in the Arlington Elementary School parking lot at 3 a.m. That parking lot is directly next door to the house where Monday’s domestic situation happened.
In January, the police report said Ensley initially told the officer “it was none of his business” if he had been parked in the school’s parking lot.
Read that entire police report here
In February, another police report said Paul Ensley’s girlfriend called 911 after a “verbal altercation” with him. She refused police help, but a report was filed because it was a reported domestic dispute.
