Prison For South Carolina Cops Who Tasered Mentally Disabled Woman 8 Times

[Stuart G]

Source: Huff Post/AP

Updated: 04/27/2015 6:59 pm EDT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- One small-town South Carolina police officer was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison and a second officer to a year and a day for unnecessarily shocking a mentally disabled woman with a Taser at least eight times.

Franklin Brown received the longer sentence because he shocked 40-year-old Melissa Davis after she had been handcuffed in April 2013. The other Marion police officer, Eric Walters, stopped Davis early one morning to see if she had broken into a home. Neither Walters nor other officers have explained how the incident escalated so quickly.

Davis was in court but began sobbing as Walters apologized, and was ushered out by her family.

Federal Judge Bryan Harwell said the two officers through one bad action ruined the good work of thousands of honest officers. Brown and Walters pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law in October.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/eric-walters-and-franklin-brown-cops-prison_n_7156068.html

[LuvNewcastle]

1. Damn, those guys are scum.

[CBGLuthier]

2. One down and about 500 to go

bad cops who need to go to prison that is. My estimate is probably low.

[Stuart G]

3. I would say far more, given the thousands of police officers out there..let's say 5 percent.

That would put it in the thousands.....According to Wikipedia...... United States 780,000...Date:. 2012

Five percent of that number is...

about 35,000......2% would be about 14,000...that would be one in fifty belong in prison. Opinions on that?

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I think that's a low estimate.

I have a guess that cops are more likely to commit crimes than the average citizen. They have plenty of opportunities and they know how to cover their tracks. Even if they do get caught, they pay far fewer consequences than the rest of us do. I think a lot are making money from graft and a lot of them get a kick out of treating people like shit. Definitely more than 5 percent.

[cosmicone]

7. Let's build more prisons!!!

Then turn them over to private prison companies.

[Downwinder]

8. Use the one in Cuba.

[IHateTheGOP]

9. Very low, unfortunately

[SkyDaddy7]

16. But the problem goes beyond "bad cops"...

The "good cops' will not tell on or "snitch" as they call it, on fellow officers except in very rare cases & that usually involves cops profiting of protecting drug dealers or the mob NOT beating civilians especially minorities! So, it is a culture within LE that needs to be put on trial!!

[Downwinder]

5. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

In most states in the USA, a judicial order following a formal hearing is needed before a patient can be forced to undergo involuntary ECT.

Unless it is with a taser.

[merrily]

6. fifth rec, but not for the perps.

Beyond words

[on point]

10. Sentence is too light. Should've been 5 years each.

[Sunlei]

11. It should be illegal at the federal level to use tasers in 'drive mode' . that is like a cattle prod

[Kelvin Mace]

12. 18 months?

The penalty for simply looking at a cop wrong is death.

[L0oniX]

13. I hope this is the future for many bad cops.

[MosheFeingold]

14. Kind of Random

But I was a cop briefly after WWII (I ended up as an MP at the end of the war and it seemed natural).

I was, and am, a big guy. 6'4" 235+ back in the day. My weapon was a Smith 6 shot .38 revolver and a big stick. Drew the pistol 3 times and shot it zero.

Part of the problem is beat cops are not in shape, small, and weak. We also walked the beat and knew everyone on our beat and they knew us.

My partner and I could keep peace (in the Bronx) simply by showing up and looking like we were about to kick someone's ass. And we had a lot of support. One time we showed up with idiots being idiots and recruited three black butchers' helpers (huge guys with meat cleavers and blood stained aprons) to be our back up. They gladly joined because it was THEIR neighborhood. We cowed down 20 guys and never drew our guns.

Anyway, long way of saying: (1) cops rely on gizmos too much; (2) they need to walk the beat and know their people; (3) they need to get into shape; and (4) they need to know who the good people are in the neighborhood and depend on them.

On the news this AM I saw 5-6 tough looking middle age guys from the neighborhood cleaning up their CVS. They're perfect. I'd get to know them very well. Plus the lady who slapped her son for being a rioter.

[okaawhatever]

18. Great story, and I agree nt

[heaven05]

15. good

I hope they run into someone else they may have set up and abused. May they have a joyful time watching their back in genernal population. That is IF they aren't sent to some kind 'country club' incarceration.

[Taitertots]

17. It's a slap on the wrist, but at this point...

It's a step in the right direction.

[Judi Lynn]

19. "SC police officers to mentally ill woman: I'll let you go if you let me Taser you in the forehead"

Mon Apr 27, 2015 at 09:02 AM PDT.

SC police officers to mentally ill woman: I'll let you go if you let me Taser you in the forehead

by Shaun King

~ snip ~

After Eric Walters saw Melissa Davis simply walking out of a home that was listed for sale, he confronted her:

He asked her what she was doing, thinking she might have broken into the home, then shocked her with his Taser, according to court papers. After Davis fell to the ground, Walters ordered her to put her hands behind her back, then shocked her four more times before she could respond, prosecutors said.
By the time Brown responded, Walters had determined Davis did nothing wrong and was removing the Taser probes from her back. Brown noticed one of Davis' hands had slipped from her improperly applied handcuffs and ordered everyone to move away and shocked Davis again, even though she was not trying to fight or escape, according to court papers.

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, prosecutors said.

More:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/27/1380630/-SC-police-officers-to-mentally-ill-woman-I-ll-let-you-go-if-you-let-me-Taser-you-in-the-forehead#