Internal investigation of Garrison officer ongoing
BY TYSON SMEDSTAD
Two local women have accused Garrison Police Officer Ed Christianson of inappropriate behavior.
According to an official complaint, on Aug. 12, Briana Johnson called for an officer to investigate a smell coming from her apartment building. Christianson was dispatched. After doing a walkthrough of the building, he asked for Johnson’s driver license. After that, Johnson alleges that he touched her arm, told her she had a pretty name and pretty eyes.
Johnson states that he then turned off his body camera. According to Johnson, later that evening, Christianson drove past her apartment again while Johnson was outside with a friend. The officer had a cigarette with the women.
At one point she said he touched her lower back twice.
Johnson said that the following day, Christianson went to the North Shore Inn where Johnson works to touch base and get her number, and that he followed her home in his patrol vehicle.
According to a complaint filed with the City of Garrison, Rebecca Huston said she had started to notice Christianson park in his squad car in the parking lot of the North Shore Inn often, starting around Aug. 12. Huston said she doesn’t like to leave the building because he is there watching and comes to talk to her every time she goes outside. She alleges that she has witnessed him turn off his body camera on occasion. Huston said the owner of the North Shore Inn has banned Christianson from the property, and she said she has had to ask him to leave also.
