Taser Friday — “he only did what everyone else does”
by digby
They’re harmless …. unless they use it on each other:
A Boynton Beach police officer who has a history of using a Taser improperly has been arrested for the same offense, this time near a fellow officer, according to a police report.
David L. Coffey, 30, was charged Thursday with improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon or firearm and culpable negligence. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation, police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said.
According to the arrest report, Coffey, while on duty, sneaked up behind fellow officer Rachel Loy on April 2, placed his department-issued M-26 Taser behind her ear and activated it for a few seconds. Coffey told Loy that he had done so to get “back at her for an alleged incident that occurred over a month ago,” the report stated. Loy is now being treated for hearing loss.
During the investigation this week, Loy told a detective that she and Coffey share a “working relationship” and are not personal friends. She felt that what Coffey did was “harmful, but was very concerned for retaliation and problems with her professional reputation.”
Another officer, who witnessed the incident, told the detective that Coffey had placed the Taser 2 to 3 inches from Loy’s ear and activated it, according to the report. While being interrogated Thursday, Coffey said “he was only test-firing the Taser and that he only did what everyone else does,” the report stated.
This isn’t Coffey’s first Taser- related incident. In 2007, he was fired by the Boynton Beach Police Department after an investigation found he attacked a suspected intoxicated driver in a holding cell and later, after the man had been handcuffed, stunned him four times with a Taser.
An arbitrator later determined that Coffey could get his job back and he was rehired in December 2008.
That’s the type of officer who should always get a second chance. Obviously, he learned from his mistake.
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