The incident I am speaking about happened to an individual, a stranger, that was running towards myself and others. The officer yelled stop and then tazed the individual.
So, he was failing to comply with the lawful direction of officer and may have committed some other crime before he turned to run ... perhaps he had been subject to arrest even. At best, it would seem he had committed the offense of resisting or delaying a peace officer - a misdemeanor. Depending on agency policy and where they have the Taser in their use of force continuum, that may have been a very reasonable application of force to gain compliance.
They were then tackled by the officer skid face first on the cement for approximately two feet and while face down with an officers knee in their back and arm behind being cuffed another officer ran up dropped his knee into the individuals back raised his flashlight above his head and proceded to hit the individual in the back of the head with it.
I suspect the flashlight was out of line.
However, I was once accused by a woman standing only 15' or 20' away of hitting a suspect I had just arrested with my baton , and I never TOUCHED him with my baton! So, perhaps he did not strike him with the flashlight so much as distracted the suspect's attention with it?
If the officer DID strike the suspect in the head with the flashlight, that would likely be outside the use of force policy ... unless the suspect was armed and not coughing up the weapon, or some other dire circumstance was present.
I later found out that the individual had ran because they had .2 grams of meth on them.
That's what crooks do - they run when given the chance.
But my question lies in the brutality taken by the police force to take this individual down. If it could happen to them whats to stop them from doing it to others? This is why I was inquiring as to the tazer legalities.
You or another witness can complain to the agency about what you believed was an inappropriate use of force by the officer or officers involved. They will likely then look into the matter. While a use of force report should have been completed, and a supervisory inquiry made, this does not mean that they were as diligent as they might be if witnesses came forward to report their observations.
If you believe that inappropriate force was used, report it to the agency.
By the way this individual ended up in the hospital emergency room in the bed next to me because of the blow to his head.
Why were YOU at the hospital??
- Carl