Good Doctor HST
02-18-2005, 11:19 AM
From The Washington Post today:
A Prince George's County police officer who used his metal baton to hit a handcuffed suspect was acquitted of assault yesterday by jurors who watched a videotape of the incident and decided that the use of force was justified.
After deliberating for about six hours over two days, the Circuit Court jury rejected the prosecution's argument that Cpl. Brian K. Addis, 31, committed second-degree assault in his Oct. 5, 2003, encounter with suspect Vernon S. Bullock. Addis was also acquitted of filing a false report; both charges are misdemeanors.
Bullock stole a van at gunpoint and led police on a high-speed chase that ended when the van crashed in the Bowie area. A camera in Addis's patrol car recorded Addis repeatedly kicking Bullock and striking him with the baton as other officers tried to handcuff him. The tape shows Addis hitting Bullock with the baton and kneeing him after he was handcuffed and on the ground.
Addis testified that he used force after Bullock was handcuffed because Bullock claimed to have a gun and was reaching for his waistband, as if to grab a weapon.
I won't post the whole thing, it's kind of long.
Now, check out the red paragraph. I would think when you're subduing someone (there were 3 cops subduing the person), you would search for a weapon first. If you subscribe to The Washington Post online, you can watch a 4-minute clip of what transpired. What this Addis guy did was kick Bullock as soon as he got to him, not try to subdue him in any manner. (The car crashed, Bullock rolled out of it onto the ground, then the kicking). The other two officers begin handcuffing Bullock, and Addis whips out his baton and goes to town. He uses it again about 2 minutes later after Bullock was handcuffed. And the jury saw nothing wrong with this.
The last sentence of the article is a quote from one of the higher-ups in the Prince George police force; he said, "Addis followed correct procedure". You know, maybe that's true. Who thinks up these procedures?
A Prince George's County police officer who used his metal baton to hit a handcuffed suspect was acquitted of assault yesterday by jurors who watched a videotape of the incident and decided that the use of force was justified.
After deliberating for about six hours over two days, the Circuit Court jury rejected the prosecution's argument that Cpl. Brian K. Addis, 31, committed second-degree assault in his Oct. 5, 2003, encounter with suspect Vernon S. Bullock. Addis was also acquitted of filing a false report; both charges are misdemeanors.
Bullock stole a van at gunpoint and led police on a high-speed chase that ended when the van crashed in the Bowie area. A camera in Addis's patrol car recorded Addis repeatedly kicking Bullock and striking him with the baton as other officers tried to handcuff him. The tape shows Addis hitting Bullock with the baton and kneeing him after he was handcuffed and on the ground.
Addis testified that he used force after Bullock was handcuffed because Bullock claimed to have a gun and was reaching for his waistband, as if to grab a weapon.
I won't post the whole thing, it's kind of long.
Now, check out the red paragraph. I would think when you're subduing someone (there were 3 cops subduing the person), you would search for a weapon first. If you subscribe to The Washington Post online, you can watch a 4-minute clip of what transpired. What this Addis guy did was kick Bullock as soon as he got to him, not try to subdue him in any manner. (The car crashed, Bullock rolled out of it onto the ground, then the kicking). The other two officers begin handcuffing Bullock, and Addis whips out his baton and goes to town. He uses it again about 2 minutes later after Bullock was handcuffed. And the jury saw nothing wrong with this.
The last sentence of the article is a quote from one of the higher-ups in the Prince George police force; he said, "Addis followed correct procedure". You know, maybe that's true. Who thinks up these procedures?