Law firm calling for termination of Danville police officer involved in controversial arrest of man with dementia

DANVILLE, (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — 66-year-old John Hardwick is at the center of a new civil rights case being filed against the City of Danville’s Police Department.

Hardwick, whose family says suffers from dementia, was arrested at Walmart in October of 2024. He faced several charges including shoplifting and resisting arrest.

Those charges were dismissed in January, but the Helton Law Firm, which represents the Hardwicks, says some things still aren’t adding up.

It says it believes body camera footage from the afternoon of Hardwick’s arrest doesn’t match the security footage obtained from Walmart. The law firm is in the process of filing an appeal with the Attorney General’s office. It says its current open records request for more footage is being ignored

“They put him in a restraint chair, which borders on absolute cruelty, and we have no dashcam from Officer Godbey,” attorney Ephraim Helton said.

Helton says the dashcam footage is necessary to have as they work on a civil rights case against Danville Police.

“It was a false arrest, it’s a violation of Mr. Hardwick’s civil rights,” Helton said.

The Walmart security footage appears to show three officers pushing Hardwick to the ground. When Helton was watching both the body cam footage and the security footage, he said he noticed inconsistencies.

“Sergeant Ray’s is 40 minutes, TJ Godbey is seven, Officer Conley is only 12, their bodycams should’ve all been the exact same length,” he said.

Officer TJ Godbey previously worked for the Stanford Police Department from 2019 to 2024 where he was involved in the September 2021 arrest of William Goode, who has since passed away.

Goode’s family says he suffered from dementia.

In a statement sent to ABC 36 News, the Stanford Police Department said,  “Willam Goode was observed by Officer Godbey operating a motor vehicle in a reckless manner by traveling in the wrong lane direction of travel.”

The department says after Goode was pulled over, he resisted arrest, which caused Goode to have “scrapes/scratches/abrasions to the face, hands, and arms apparently from the asphalt during the takedown,” the Stanford Police Department statement said.

The department says it investigated the incident after Goode’s son filed a complaint alleging excessive force during the arrest. The department says it found that Officer Godbey’s actions “were not unreasonable or excessive responses.”

Goode’s son, Bill Goode, says he wants to see Officer Godbey fired.

“He (William Goode) was an old man,” Bill Goode said. “What gives you the right to beat on my dad like that?”

Bill Goode says he advised Danville Police Chief Tony Gray not to hire Officer Godbey. We contacted Chief Gray by phone and he declined to comment for this story.

On Monday, some people in Danville gathered to protest in support of both Goode’s and Hardwick’s families. Protestor Jonah Cline, who is also running for Danville City Council, says the goal of the protest was to bring justice to both families.

“It’s dangerous, it’s dangerous to have people like him out here representing the city,” Cline said.

The Helton Law Firm is working to put its civil rights case together.

“We believe that we’re going to have some neurologists that will step forward that say when people with dementia experience these traumatic events, it hastens the end of their lives, and it causes them to go downhill more rapidly,” Helton said.

Helton says he wants to see the City of Danville fire Officer TJ Godbey. His firm is still waiting to receive more footage from the arrest of John Hardwick as it moves forward with its civil rights case against the city.