LOS ANGELES — The parents of an 18-year-old from North Dakota have obtained a protective order against “The Flash” star Ezra Miller, adding another scandal for the embattled actor to contend with.
But the teen’s parents and law enforcement are having a hard time locating Miller to serve the actor with the order, which accuses Miller of “physically and emotionally abusing” and grooming the teen.
Attorney and activist Chase Iron Eyes and his wife, Sara Jumping Eagle, petitioned the Standing Rock Sioux tribal court on a reservation in North Dakota Tuesday to issue an order of protection for their child, Tokata Iron Eyes.
They accuse the 29-year-old “Justice League” star of “psychologically manipulating, physically intimidating and endangering the safety and welfare of Tokata Iron Eyes,” according to court documents obtained Thursday by the Los Angeles Times.
A tribal court judge approved the interim order Tuesday, but “the Court cannot locate or serve” Miller, according to a copy of the petition.
In a Thursday phone interview with the L.A. Times, Chase Iron Eyes said he and the court “have no idea of knowing where Tokata and Ezra are to gain help from other jurisdictions” to serve or enforce the order, which bars Miller from contacting or harassing Tokata and Chase Iron Eyes and Jumping Eagle for 30 days. Miller is also ordered to stay 100 yards away from the family’s residence during that time.
The court set a hearing for July 12 to allow Tokata and Miller to appear and “weigh in,” Iron Eyes said.
According to the domestic-violence protection order, the court “will grant the relief requested” in the petition for a restraining order if Miller, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, doesn’t appear at the hearing. It cites the federal Violence Against Women Act, which gives the order broad jurisdiction nationwide.
“They move around so much [that] we’re stuck in this legal limbo situation, and we can’t serve them in any place they’re in long enough,” Chase Iron Eyes told the L.A. Times. “They’ve been flighty. They’ve been avoiding service, and now there’s public pressure mounting on them to make a decision, which makes us very concerned about Ezra’s volatile nature. ... We’re working very hard to get this order enforced wherever they are.”
Representatives for Miller did not respond to the L.A. Times’ request for comment.
Although Tokata is 18, the parents are still considered the teen’s legal guardians under tribal court rules, Chase Iron Eyes said. The family said it’s been working for months and in multiple states to get Tokata to leave Miller so that Tokata can “be their beautiful independent self.”
The family has previously tried to obtain a temporary guardianship for Tokata, as well as an order for a mental health evaluation in Vermont, where Miller has a home, according to documents reviewed by The Times. The family’s petition said that they tried to serve Tokata in Vermont three times in May and also tried to serve the teen in California in late May.
Iron Eyes and Jumping Eagle went to Santa Monica for a wellness check then, the petition said, and while there, Jumping Eagle alleged that Miller assaulted her. Jumping Eagle filed an incident report with the Santa Monica Police Department.
“Tokata needs help without Ezra’s interference. Ezra is a 29-year-old person who needs to get help on their own path and not interfere with Tokata’s development as their own person,” Jumping Eagle, who is a pediatrician, told the L.A. Times in a joint interview with her husband.
Iron Eyes told the L.A. Times that he and his wife first met Miller when the actor got involved in projects that the Sioux tribe was working on for the LandBack Reclamation Movement. Tokata and Miller allegedly met at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota in 2016 when Tokata was 12 and Miller was 23. Miller allegedly exhibited a “pattern of corrupting a minor,” the family’s petition said.
According to the petition, Miller “established contact with Tokata Iron Eyes under the pretense of assisting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe during the NoDAPL [No Dakota Access Pipeline] movement ... and took an immediate and apparently innocent liking to Tokata Iron Eyes.”
However, as the relationship developed, Tokata’s parents grew concerned for Tokata’s safety and mental well-being and accused Miller of displaying “cult-like and psychologically manipulative, controlling behavior,” according to the petition.
In the petition, they also accuse the “Fantastic Beasts” star of giving Tokata alcohol and drugs, such as marijuana and LSD, and flying Tokata to London, Vermont, New York, California and Hawaii. (Earlier this year, Miller had run-ins with the law in Hawaii; they pleaded no contest after an altercation at a bar in March, and Miller was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault in April.)
Tokata’s parents said they allowed the teen to fly to London with Miller, along with other tribal members, for the “Fantastic Beasts” premiere in 2017. While there, Miller allegedly tried to sleep in the same bed as the then-14-year-old Tokata and was prevented from doing so by a chaperone who accompanied them on the trip, according to the petition.
“Ezra uses violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions, and drugs to hold sway over a young adolescent Tokata,” said the filing, which listed several alleged incidents of impropriety.
Tokata’s parents said their child previously identified as “non-binary, queer, gay” and that “Ezra has decided that Tokata is non-binary transgender,” the filing said.
Jumping Eagle said “if anybody questions Ezra’s actions, Ezra says they’re being racist or transphobic, which is not the case in our case. It’s about not hurting people. Don’t take advantage of people.”
Iron Eyes and Jumping Eagle also alleged that Miller offered to pay for Tokata to attend college at age 16 at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Massachusetts. They said Miller “would later use this against Tokata to create a sense of indebtedness.”
The family’s petition also cites footage obtained by TMZ during Miller’s alleged altercations in Hawaii that shows Tokata present with Miller. In the same document, Tokata’s parents accuse Miller of “sexual predatory behavior” and using multiple social media accounts “to threaten and gaslight any victims and truth from coming out.”
An Instagram account that the family said belongs to Tokata issued a statement Monday to “acknowledge the tragedy that is the narrative of the general public and the assumptions made on my behalf by my family and friends regarding my stability and otherwise.”
“I dropped out of [Bard] five months ago, my friend and comrade William passed shortly there after, my mind was incredibly impacted and I’ve needed space and time for the processing of grief,” the statement said. “My comrade Ezra Miller for the entirety of the aforementioned era has only provided loving support and invaluable protection throughout this period of loss.”
The statement also said that Tokata’s father’s accusations “hold no weight and are frankly transphobic” and accuse him of “emotional and psychological manipulation.”
Jumping Eagle told the L.A. Times that Tokata hasn’t had a phone for some time and that she doubts Tokata wrote the Monday statement. She also alleges that Miller “has control” of Tokata’s Instagram account and that the statement is written in language she’s heard Miller use.
Tokata then appeared in an Instagram video on that same account Thursday to “clarify [that the statements] are directly from me” and that nobody else is controlling Tokata’s Instagram account. (The person running the @tokatawin account on Instagram did not reply to the L.A. Times’ request for comment.)
“It’s really distressing that the narrative of the ‘victim in question’ is not being granted any trust. I worked really hard to make really clear what was going on,” Tokata said Thursday in the video, adding that “it’s nobody’s business and that no one is owed a story or an outcome. This is my life. These are my decisions, and I’m disappointed in my parents and the press in every way.”
“When is Ezra going to talk? If Tokata is in charge of her own destiny then she will determine to come back to Standing Rock to reclaim her credibility,” Chase Iron Eyes told the L.A. Times after Tokata’s latest video was posted. “Same goes for Ezra.”
Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ long-anticipated film “The Flash,” which stars Miller as the titular hero, is set for release on June 23, 2023. It’s unclear how much Miller will participate in the lead-up to it.
Representatives for the studio did not respond Thursday to the L.A. Times’ request for comment.
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