No harm, no foul?
by digby
As long time readers know I’ve been writing about taser torture for a very long time. I used to try to catalog the incidents as I came across them but it eventually became overwhelming. Then I just catalogued taser deaths for a while but that too became overwhelming. And in an era where we are debating whether or not police should have the right to shoot down unarmed citizens because they “feel afraid”, taser torture just doesn’t rank in public concern. In fact, most people would rather see more tasering if it means less shooting, even if the taser is used as a torture device and sometimes results in death as well. That’s how fucked up we are — we have to prioritize police abuse of power.
Still, maybe someday we will, as a society, decide that it’s not ok for the state to shoot people full of electricity whenever one of its agents gets his ego bruised or has a bad day.
Here’s an update on a story I’ve written about before:
A former Missouri police officer pleaded guilty Friday to violating the civil rights of a 17-year-old boy that he dropped face first onto the ground during a routine traffic stop, leaving him with serious brain damage, court records show.
The guilty plea comes nearly a year after former Independence Police Officer Timothy Runnels pulled over Bryce Masters, who is now 18, on Sept. 14, 2014. Authorities say Runnels threw Masters face down and “continuously” Tasered him while he was restrained, according to the civil complaint.
Runnels later submitted false police reports and gave false statements to the FBI agents and the Independence Police Department during their investigation into the incident, according to court records filed in the Western District Court of Missouri.
Masters suffered brain damage as a result of incident, putting him into cardiac arrest, authorities said. He was also placed into a medically induced coma for a weekend because his heart stopped after being Tased in the chest.
Runnels was ultimately indicted in March with two counts of constitutional rights violations and two counts of obstruction of justice. However, Runnels on Friday ultimately pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating Masters’ constitutional rights. The other three counts will be dropped against him as a part of a plea agreement. He faces up to 10 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine.
Note that it took a federal investigation. The locals thought this was no biggie.This officer was previously accused of using excessive force and nothing was done.
The kid was tasered out of the car, dropped on his head and then tasered to the point of brain damage. Afterwards, while he was having convulsions, the police officer casually wandered around occasionally kicking him to see if he responded.
None of this would be known if someone hadn’t surreptitiously filmed the altercation. I’m sure people all over the country get a good, hearty laugh out of this scene. We all love a good taser torture video, amirite?