FBI: Two Former Marion Police Officers Sentenced for Using Excessive Force While Tasing a Woman

[damnedifIknow]

WASHINGTON—Franklin Brown, 35, and Eric Walters, 39, both former police officers with the city of Marion Police Department in Marion County, South Carolina, were sentenced to serve 18 months and one year and one day in prison, respectively, today in federal court in Florence, South Carolina, by United States District Court Judge R Bryan Harwell for repeatedly tasing a former local female resident during the course of her detainment. For both defendants, three years of supervised release will follow the prison sentences and they each face a $100 special assessment. Brown and Walters previously pleaded guilty to violating the victim’s civil rights during this incident. According to court documents, on April 2, 2013, in the course of detaining the victim, Walters tased the victim causing her to fall to the ground and injure her head.

Once she was on the ground, Walters continued to tase the victim multiple times. Brown subsequently arrived on scene and proceeded to tase the victim as she was seated on the curb, restrained in handcuffs and surrounded by law enforcement. Walters and Brown admitted there was no legitimate law enforcement purpose for repeatedly tasing the victim as she did not pose a threat to the officers. “The defendants abused their authority as law enforcement officers by repeatedly tasing a defenseless, compliant victim,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division.

“Today’s sentence is a reminder that this type of abusive and dishonorable behavior will not go unpunished.”

http://7thspace.com/headlines/507416/fbi_two_former_marion_police_officers_sentenced_for_using_excessive_force_while_tasing_a_woman.html

[tblue37]

1. So many cops torture helpless, compliant people just for fun. They are sadists,

using their power to get their jollies.

[damnedifIknow]

2. What the hell?

Walters and Brown admitted there was no legitimate law enforcement purpose for repeatedly tasing the victim as she did not pose a threat to the officers. “

Just unreal.

[tblue37]

3. More information about the case. The woman was mentally handicapped and hadn't even done

anything when accosted by the cop. He never was able to explain why he stopped her in the first place.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/prosecutors-prison-officers-taser-case-30608287

Officers Who Used Taser 8 Times on Disabled Woman Get Prison

<SNIP>

Davis, who had lived in the city of 7,000 most of her life, was walking from one house to another around 1:30 one night in April 2013 when Walters stopped her. Walters has never made it clear what happened, but he ended up shooting her with his Taser, then following up with four more shocks after demanding she put her hands behind her back but giving her no time to respond, according to his plea agreement <emphasis added>.

When Brown arrived as backup, Davis was in handcuffs and Walters was removing the Taser probes from her back. Brown said it appeared one of Davis' hands had slipped from her improperly applied handcuffs and he ordered everyone to move away and shocked Davis again, even though she was not trying to fight or escape, according to his plea agreement.

Brown shocked Davis twice more, then offered to let her go if he could shoot her in the forehead one more time with his Taser <emphasis added>, prosecutors said.

<SNIP>

"That's not me. That wasn't me. I made one mistake <emphasis added>. Now I am going to pay the ultimate price," Walters said.

<SNIP>

Yeah, sure--he only made this one little bitty "mistake," joining in on the torture of a handcuffed mentally disabled woman who was helpless, compliant, and apparently innocent of any wrongdoing in the first place.

Look at this passage from the same article:

When fellow officers asked Brown why he shocked the handcuffed woman, he replied he "did not want to touch that nasty (obscenity)," according to the plea agreement Brown signed last October.

This is the one who said he'd let her go if she let him tase her again in the forehead (!). He was just having a bit of sadistic fun. You can bet he made a habit of this sort of thing--and so did that idiot Walters. No way this was the first time for him, either, especially since he can't even explain what he stopped her for int he first place. He was just out hunting for a likely victim to play his sadistic games with.

Oh, and the idiot doesn't realize that "paying the ultimate price" means dying or being killed for something, not getting the absolute minimum sentence possible for his crime; "The sentence for both Walters and Brown were <sic> well under the 10-year maximum for the deprivation of rights under color of law charge each pleaded guilty to in October <emphasis added>."