A sworn member of the Indiana State Police assigned to the Bloomington Post and an Enforcement Agent with the Indiana Gaming Commission were arrested Friday on charges stemming from an alleged domestic incident that occurred at a residence in Lawrence County while they were off duty this past weekend.
Early Saturday morning, June 12th, the ISP Post in Bloomington was contacted regarding an alleged battery which was said to have occurred between Sergeant Russell D. Garrison, a 23-year veteran of the ISP who also serves as a North Lawrence Community School Board member representing District 3, and Tiffany F. Corbin, a 15-year veteran with the Indiana Gaming Commission.
Local Troopers responded with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and shortly thereafter, the investigation was turned over to an Investigative Supervisor from the ISP Post in Versailles.
Garrison and Corbin were both arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery.
Garrison currently is on administrative duties with his police powers suspended pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings. An internal investigation will be conducted to determine any violations of department rules, regulations, or policies.
Corbin was also placed on administrative duties until the outcome of the criminal investigation.
According to a probable cause affidavit, on June 12 at 3:45 a.m. the ISP first sergeant was contacted via cellphone by an ISP Major. The major requested the first sergeant respond to ISP Sergeant Rusty Garrison’s residence in Lawrence County, in regards to investigating a domestic situation that occurred between Trooper Garrison and his girlfriend at the couple’s home on Oak Lane.
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputies and ISP personnel were on scene.
When the first sgt. arrived he found Garrison standing at the end of the driveway and his girlfriend Tiffany Corbin was inside with family members who had responded to the scene.
The deputies on the scene told ISP investigators they had received a call about a domestic fight between Garrison and Corbin and both had gotten physical during the altercation. An ISP trooper also responded.
Corbin had suffered a laceration to the left side of her head and Garrison was bleeding from his mouth from Corbin hitting him.
Deputies reported Garrison was “extremely intoxicated and that there was a pet camera/video in the living room that had evidence”.
Corbin told police she did not want to pursue charges and that she caused the fight to happen.
Deputies also stated Garrison was “agitated by them being there and he was saying – do what you got to do”.
ISP requested to take over the investigation and was granted that request.
During the investigation, Corbin reported she struck Garrison and he then grabbed her by the face and struck her head into the side of the entryway to the downstairs. She fell down a few stairs resulting in her injury.
Garrison told investigators, “She (Corbin) hit me with pots and pans.” Investigators said Garrison had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage, his speech was slurred and he was unsteady.
The investigator asked Garrison if he had somewhere to go and they would speak to him when he was sober.
Investigators then spoke to Corbin and her daughter. She told police Garrison had worked the day shift at home and she was off. She had dinner plans with her sister and left the house around 4 or 4:20 p.m.
Garrison had plans to go to a customer appreciation event at the Harley Davidson shop in Bloomington.
When she returned home around 6 or 6:30 p.m. Garrison was gone. She then texted him around 10 or 10:30 p.m. to tell him if he had been drinking not to ride his motorcycle home. She then learned he had met up with some friends and had gone to the Steel Horse Saloon. She then texted her daughter who was also at the bar to confirm Garrison was there. The daughter texted her mom back saying he was and was with one of his old friends. The daughter said the bartender had told her Garrison had drunk almost a whole bottle of Fire Ball.
The daughter told her mom she and her boyfriend had found Garrison sitting on his motorcycle and they told him he didn’t need to be driving.
They put Garrison in her car. She took her friends home first and then on the way to take Garrison home the daughter and Garrison got into an argument and he attempted to get out of her vehicle. She then pulled over and called Corbin to come and get Garrison.
Corbin helped Garrison get into her vehicle. She helped him into the house and into bed.
Once he was in bed Corbin went through Garrison’s phone and saw he had been talking to his ex-wife. Corbin then woke Garrison up and confronted him about the phone calls, especially a 140+ minute conversation between them, at which time she threw his cell phone. Corbin said she began yelling “Why, why, why?” She pushed Garrison, and he then pushed her. They proceeded into the kitchen area.
Garrison began looking for his keys, which she hid because she knew he would drive drunk. In the kitchen, he grabbed her key fob and headed into the garage to his police car. He then asked where his keys were. She said they were still pushing each other. She then struck Garrison in the chest with her hands and when he walked away she pushed him from behind.
The fight proceeded to the bedroom, and the physical fight got rough. She admitted to throwing Garrison’s boots at him several times.
She called her daughter to come to the house. The daughter then called other family members to come to the house.
While waiting for her daughter to arrive, Corbin then began taunting Garrison saying he was going to jail. She then told police how she had received the cut on her head.
During this time Garrison had used his hand-held radio to call the ISP Bloomington post.
Corbin said she would have never called the police because she didn’t want Garrison or herself to lose their jobs.
Corbin then called the ISP post and asked who was responding and learned Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputies were responding.
ISP then interviewed the responding deputies who said Garrison was agitated and didn’t want to answer questions.
The next day police again interviewed Garrison.
He stated that he was woken by Corbin yelling and screaming, and hitting and kicking him saying he had been talking to his ex-wife. He got out of bed and she continued to hit him as he walked away. He went into the kitchen and into the garage area looking for his keys. Corbin continued to scream at him. He then went into the bedroom and she began throwing his boots at him. He then returned to the kitchen where she continued to slap him and he then grabbed her by the arms and told her to stop hitting him. She then said he was going to jail. He then went into the living room and called the post on his radio. Garrison said this was his career and wanted someone competent to investigate this.
Garrison did suffer an injury to the inside of his mouth and had bruising to his chest. There were also holes found in the bedroom wall and police viewed the camera footage from the home.
On June 17, investigators met with Lawrence County Prosecutor Sam Arp, and criminal charges were filed against Garrison and Corbin.
