About 16 months after they were filed, criminal charges were dismissed Monday against an Edmond mother who is also suing officials after her leg was broken inside the Oklahoma County Jail in June 2024.
District Attorney Vicki Behenna’s office called the dismissal “procedural” and blamed a “scheduling issue” with police witnesses for the decision not to hold Monday’s preliminary hearing. Brook Arbeitman, Behenna’s spokeswoman, said Brittany Gordon could still face the DUI and child endangerment charges that had lingered for more than a year.
“The court had previously indicated that no additional continuances would be granted in this matter,” said Brook Arbeitman, Behenna’s spokeswoman. “When there was a scheduling issue with the state’s witness, instead of asking for a continuance, the state dismissed the case without prejudice. This allows the charges to be refiled.”
Gordon’s case has highlighted prosecutorial delays in Oklahoma County, an Edmond police officer’s issues interacting with people experiencing mental health issues, and potential conflict of interest concerns when a district attorney is simultaneously prosecuting someone and defending operators of the county jail in a civil rights lawsuit filed by the same person.
“They very well just might let it go,” Corey Brennan, Gordon’s attorney, said after court Monday. “That’s definitely a possibility.”
While Brittany Gordon declined comment owing to her ongoing federal lawsuit and the potential she could face refiled criminal charges, she seemed relieved by Monday’s dismissal, gasping and cupping her hands to her face when her father confirmed the news.
“It was definitely a good day — moving in the right direction,” Darryl Gordon said after exiting the courtroom.
In June 2024, Gordon lost consciousness and crashed her car near the intersection of Covell Road and Kelly Avenue while driving with her daughter. Gordon’s mother said her daughter had called moments before the accident to self-report a panic attack. Despite the results of Gordon’s urinalysis and blood test showing no alcohol in her system, the charge of DUI “under the influence of intoxicating liquor” loomed while a cast of assistant district attorneys handled hearing dates that came and went without progress.
On Sept. 15, Gordon’s preliminary hearing was delayed again until Monday, when Special Judge Jason Glidewell told ADA Dannye Carpenter there would be no further rescheduling of Gordon’s preliminary hearing. On Monday, Brennan and ADA Jacqueline Campusano eventually approached Glidewell, with Campusano saying “two of my officers are on call and one of them is here.”
Glidewell said Campusano’s witnesses had 20 minutes to get there.
As the minutes ticked by, Gordon’s mother, Kim, said her heart was pounding, and she whispered prayers under her breath for dismissal. After 20 minutes elapsed with no sight of EPD officers, the attorneys filled out forms to memorialize the dismissal.
While the EPD witnesses were not available for Monday’s scheduled here, at least three Edmond police cars were parked near the courthouse that morning, though it is unclear if the presence of those officers had any relation to Gordon’s case.
Brennan noted that multiple EPD officers had traveled to the courthouse for the Sept. 15 scheduled hearing, which was delayed owing to Carpenter’s new assistant as ADA on the case. With Campusano suddenly handling the case in court two months later, Brennan said it was no surprise that the prosecution was unprepared to move forward.
“I just think it’s chaos on their end. I’m speculating, I don’t know. But I used to work in that office, and we were a lot more organized when I was there. We wouldn’t have nine DAs on one case,” Brennan said. “They just keep switching and switching them, and this is what happened. You keep switching, and you get caught with your pants down.”
Federal civil rights lawsuit still ongoing, OCCJA report calls suit ‘frivolous’
While the Gordon family celebrated Monday’s development, little progress has been made in Brittany Gordon’s federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Edmond, Oklahoma County officials and EPD Sgt. Nathan Fountain.
As Gordon was being transported to and processed into the Oklahoma County Jail in June 2024, she repeatedly berated Fountain, behavior Gordon’s parents attributed to a mental health condition and her lack of access to medication for several hours after her arrest.
Fountain’s body camera footage appeared to capture Fountain pushing a handcuffed Gordon when she tried to walk past him in the jail. Gordon fell and broke her leg, according to medical records released by the family. In her lawsuit, Gordon also alleges the Oklahoma County Jail and Turn Key Health failed to provide adequate medical services in response to the injury.
Several of the defendants, including Fountain, the City of Edmond and the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority have filed motions to dismiss the suit, but none has been successful yet. Gordon voluntarily dismissed the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners as a defendant Sept. 10, however.
In October, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority — known as the Oklahoma County jail trust — submitted a special report to U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris M. Stephens, a procedural directive ordered because Gordon filed the original petition herself without an attorney, though she has since taken on legal counsel.
In the report, OCCJA chief of investigations and intelligence Alan Smith argued that EPD Officer Julian Manzo “observed multiple clues of intoxication” during the immediate aftermath of Gordon’s accident, although tests taken after the fact revealed no presence of alcohol in her system. Prescription mental health medications, cannabis and dextromethorphan were detected. Gordon said she has a medicinal marijuana license and had last used cannabis about three days prior to the wreck, which she blamed on a lack of sleep and stress.
While in the hospital after the wreck, Gordon told Manzo some of the medications she takes for a mental health diagnosis may have had warnings that “they cause drowsiness and caution operating a motor vehicle,” according to Manzo’s incident report.
In her petition outlining the incident at the jail, Gordon said Fountain struck her with a “vicious shove” that resulted in a fractured ankle, which she said went untreated through the night until she posted bail the next morning.
In Smith’s undated OCCJA report to Stephens, however, the jail trust claimed that footage from a jail camera admitted to the court as evidence “clearly” contradicts Gordon’s claim of a “vicious shove.”
“Officer Fountain moved to block her forward progress and put out his hand. The video clearly indicated he did not push her,” Smith wrote. “Gordon fell down, probably due to her intoxication combined with her agitated emotional state, but not due to Officer Fountain.”
Gordon’s vehicle accident occurred at roughly 10 a.m. on June 20, 2024, and her arrival at the Oklahoma County Jail occurred around 8 p.m. Under that timeline, Smith’s letter argues that her alleged intoxication caused the car wreck and her fall at the jail 10 hours later.
In the report, OCCJA also asserts Gordon’s fractured ankle was the result of her car accident rather than the fall, although in audio from Fountain’s body-worn camera, he informed a supervisor that Gordon’s ankle had begun to visibly swell following the jail incident.
“The pain complaint was not such that the registered nurse felt compelled to ignore the ‘fitness for incarceration (document)’ issued by OU Medical Center (staff) that examined Gordon and released her to the custody of the police officer,” Smith’s report reads.
According to the special report, “because there did not appear to be an ‘incident’ at the jail, other than of Gordon’s own making due to her histrionics, no formal investigation was conducted.”
However, Smith’s report notes the FBI “may also have investigated,” as the federal agency reached out to request “a copy of the jail video.”
“However, the extent, content, and determinations, if any, of the investigation are not known,” Smith’s report concludes. “OCCJA’s review of the booking found no improper conduct by anyone. OCCJA considers the lawsuit to be frivolous and will defend it accordingly.”
Brennan emphasized Monday that Smith’s report claiming Fountain “did not push” Gordon is contradicted by his own body camera footage.
“What are they thinking?” Brennan asked. “There’s video to it, too. And the fact that they’re losing certain videos in the jail but they can’t find others — and we have that documented.”
Smith’s report was submitted to the federal magistrate judge in a filing signed by Behenna, who also filed the OCCJA’s motion to dismiss Gordon’s civil lawsuit. Whether Behenna’s representation of a defendant in Gordon’s lawsuit poses a conflict of interest for her looming decision about whether to refile charges against Gordon could be a question raised by Brennan.
“They want to talk to me first about the case,” Brennan said Monday. “And they want to see some of the federal stuff that is going on.”
Read the full OCCJA special report
(Editor’s note: Tres Savage contributed to this story.)
