Dayton cops taze, pound on, hogtie mentally challenged 17-year-old...

[Doggy Daddy]

 ... But at least the cops went home safely that day.

The incident arose after Jesse Kersey was approached by police while on his bicycle on Saturday. The boy’s mother, Pamela Ford, says her son was stopped by Officer Willie Hooper, who tried to talk to Jesse and then mistook his speech impediment as disrespect towards the copper.

Don't be disrespectin' no copper's authoritah!

http://rt.com/usa/news/disabled-boy-hooper-jesse/

DD

[griz]

I saw that a couple days ago.  I think I would be more upset about it if there was ANYTHING, other than the claims in the mother's law suit, that they were reporting on.  I would guess a reporter could at least track down one of those numerous witnesses if it was that cut and dried.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

any idea why he was stopped in the first place?  this time or the other times he had encounters with this cop in the past?

[Doggy Daddy]

any idea why he was stopped in the first place?  this time or the other times he had encounters with this cop in the past?

If he had encounters with the cop in the past, you'd think the cop would have some idea that the guy was mentally challenged and maybe taken that into consideration.

eta:

“Jesse was declared incompetent by the Montgomery County Juvenile Court and the charges against Jesse were dismissed,” the lawsuit states.

According to the police incident report, Hooper first saw the boy, later identified as Kersey, riding his bike the wrong way down on Andrews Street.

When Kersey spotted the police cruiser, he started riding on the sidewalk.

When Hooper yelled for Kersey to stop, the boy took off up St. Paul Avenue, dumping his bike in front of his house.


Finding the front door locked, Kersey turned on Hooper, who had mounted the front porch to issue Kersey a bicycle citation, and began to struggle, according to the police report.

“Kersey started swinging his arms at Officer Hooper and yelling in an unintelligible language,” according to the police report.

from http://m.daytondailynews.com/dayton/db_101691/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=qXsFD2Fe&detailindex=7&pn=0&ps=8&full=true#display
DD

[BlueStarLizzard]

A police officer should have enough training to identify when someone may be mentally disabled and a speech impedement should be a dead giveaway.

I'm also of the opinion where, if the situation demands that such a person be restrained (and sounds like this kid did not) officers should use cation and minimize force, even if it means taking a few licks in the process.

And it sounds like the officer just stopped the kid to chat, not because the boy was doing anything wrong.

[Doggy Daddy]

We were both posting at the same time.  He stopped him for a bicycle citation. 

DD

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

kid took 2 taser hits and still managed to get in the house?  how did that happen?  i'd be done.

police report differs from moms story

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I'm also of the opinion where, if the situation demands that such a person be restrained (and sounds like this kid did not) officers should use cation and minimize force, even if it means taking a few licks in the process.



really?  thats "remarkable"

like in this case?
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/032011/03022011/1299115039fls

Calverly testified Wednesdayday that Latson repeatedly refused to identify himself and tried several times to walk away against the deputy’s orders.

After Calverly put Latson under arrest for failing to identify himself, he said the teen began punching him.

Calverly said the back of his head was slammed on the pavement and he was punched repeatedly.

According to testimony, Latson got the deputy’s pepper spray from him when he tried to use it on the suspect. Latson continued the assault.

The attack ended with Latson spitting in the deputy’s face and cursing at him, Calverly testified.

He ran off while Calverly had blood running into his eyes and was in “excruciating” pain.

The former deputy said his ankle was injured so badly in the fracas that he was forced to end his 33-year law enforcement career. Ankle replacement surgery is still pending.

Calverly said he also suffered 16 to 18 bumps on his head, multiple abrasions on his knees and elbows, and he needed five stitches to the back of his head.

Calverly said he thought about going for his gun toward the end of the attack, but was so stunned that he feared the suspect might be able to take it from him.

Latson was arrested within a hour of the beating and has been in custody ever since.

[Hawkmoon]

I hope the kid's attorney is smart enough to invoke the ADA.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

ada?  how?  the local kid got 3 years and was lucky to get that.  i suspect hes not done and he'll either kill someone or get killed

[BlueStarLizzard]

I don't think the kid in the OP was throwing punches, CSD 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Kersey started swinging his arms at Officer Hooper and yelling in an unintelligible language,” according to the police report.

An attempt to Tase the struggling boy, who was described as 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds, was unsuccessful.


The report also concluded that the mother and family friend “delayed the arrest and caused an unsafe condition.”

The mother, who went by the name of Pamela Thompson at the time, was charged and convicted of resisting arrest and obstructing official business in Dayton Municipal Court.

She was sentenced to 90 days in jail, which was suspended, and ordered to participate in an anger-management program, according to court records. She was initially fined $100, plus $111 in court costs, which have not been paid.

The family friend was convicted of resisting arrest and given a 90-day sentence, with 78 days suspended. He also was fined, which has yet to be paid.


from the second link

[AZRedhawk44]

Hell is freezing over, because I'm on CSD's side on this one.

Stupid SHOULD hurt.

Even if it's genetic-stupid.


The only thing I'd call the cop on would be deciding to pursue some bullscat bicycle citation in the first place.  I hate "revenuers."  And I have no empathy for "revenuers" getting hurt.


But, mental handicap is no excuse for taking swings at police officers because you're mentally incapable of understanding the interpersonal exchange that's about to take place.  The kid chose "fight or flight" response to a minor civic infraction.  That's dangerous, and he's going to learn the hard way from it.  He earned that.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i have a friend who is a social worker.  she specializes in folks who are addicts as well as handicapped mentally/emotionally.  its a fine line determining when their behavioral shortcomings are a result of disability or of them learning that "i can get away with it"  sounds like momma in this case is at least 50% of the problem.
momma pulled the taser prongs outa her baby?  momma might need to ride the lightening


the poor baby in the link i posted above?  the one who ended the local cops career?  he had a prior assauly where even aftet being handcuffed he told the cop if he took the cuffs off he would go back in the house and finish the fight.  the guy he beat up that time?  a kid who was mean on the schoolbus a couple years earlier.

[geronimotwo]

i am an emt in a village with a number of mentally challenged individuals who are "frequent fliers".  one in particular has seizures and will fall or hit himself on something so we need to take him to the hospital once a month or so.  he is known to tolorate our intervention, right up to the point where he will start swinging.  he has been cuffed a few times that i know of, and tasered at least once.  if you are familiar with him you can see his agitation building as he gets real quite and stops answering questions, but if you aren't you would never see it coming.  strong sob too. 

i hate to see something like this happen to a kid who doesn't understand what is going on.  if he was agressive it may have been necessary, but if he was running away and the officers tasered him, then they should pay any civil penalties out of their future jobs paycheck.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

juniors learned that run to momma works.  if momma wants to let him roam wild she needs to do some work

[Hawkmoon]

But, mental handicap is no excuse for taking swings at police officers because you're mentally incapable of understanding the interpersonal exchange that's about to take place.  The kid chose "fight or flight" response to a minor civic infraction.  That's dangerous, and he's going to learn the hard way from it.  He earned that.

Not to put too fine a point on it ... you are dead wrong. A mental handicap IS an excuse, and the courts recognize it as such. And, depending on the nature and extent of his handicap, the kid may NOT "learn from it." Furthermore, since the cop had previous knowledge that the kid has mental issues, he should have handled the entire situation very differently.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i knew a lid  30 something  never left home "he couldn't handle it!"   damnedest thing  he hadda move out.  in 90 days he had a job his own car  a checking account insurance and his own bills.  and shocker.  he handled it just fine, once folks allowed him to learn.  he found his own limitations once well intentioned family got out of his way

[gunsmith]

i knew a lid  30 something  never left home "he couldn't handle it!"   damnedest thing  he hadda move out.  in 90 days he had a job his own car  a checking account insurance and his own bills.  and shocker.  he handled it just fine, once folks allowed him to learn.  he found his own limitations once well intentioned family got out of his way

I know a very nice young man, knows everything about safe gun handling and video games but can not have a conversation with any stranger, he wouldn't fight a cop but would certainly run,  he runs from anyone who raises their voice. He has Aspergers and autism . A really nice young man who is so terrified of strangers he can not talk to them.   

[AZRedhawk44]

Not to put too fine a point on it ... you are dead wrong. A mental handicap IS an excuse, and the courts recognize it as such. And, depending on the nature and extent of his handicap, the kid may NOT "learn from it." Furthermore, since the cop had previous knowledge that the kid has mental issues, he should have handled the entire situation very differently.

Well, then we need to start branding mentally handicapped people with a mark on their foreheads or something.

No one, even officers with massive electronic databases*, can know everything about everybody and keep it in the forefront of their memory for all interactions with the rest of the world.  At a certain threshold, responsibility for actions fall upon the actor.

Frankly, I'm tired of the psychiatric community trying to make special rules and allocations for their pet cases.

* - I'm a HUGE critic of law enforcement.   Everyone here knows it, and I've gotten threads locked here repeatedly for my dislike of LEOs.  I'm not supporting LEOs here... I am pointing out thee inability of the entire world to cater to the insanity of the mentally handicapped.  Especially when they get violent.  And even if an officer has an immediately accessible real-time link to all prior contacts for a  suspect... this suspect wasn't ID'ed during the pursuit.  The pursuit was for bullscat (bicycle citation), but it was still a police pursuit.  You can't pursue and type on a computer at the same time, and that's if you have a means to ID  someone during pursuit.

[gunsmith]

Well, then we need to start branding mentally handicapped people with a mark on their foreheads or something.

No one, even officers with massive electronic databases*, can know everything about everybody ...  You can't pursue and type on a computer at the same time, and that's if you have a means to ID  someone during pursuit.

This is why we need robocops with terminator capabilities! he could see the info  come up on his screen which are really his eyes, then he would know that the offender in mentally handicapped but of course either shoot him anyway or transform the rebellious child into the leader of the underground that rebels against our robocop betters.

[MechAg94]

Not to put too fine a point on it ... you are dead wrong. A mental handicap IS an excuse, and the courts recognize it as such. And, depending on the nature and extent of his handicap, the kid may NOT "learn from it." Furthermore, since the cop had previous knowledge that the kid has mental issues, he should have handled the entire situation very differently.

How would the cop have handled it differently?  Would he approach him with teddy bear or something?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

How would the cop have handled it differently?  Would he approach him with teddy bear or something?

call his mommy

[MicroBalrog]

Why does it matter if he was mentally challenged?

Not to be a donkey, but if a mentally challenged person weighing 160 pounds tried to punch me out, he'd be quite likely to do me some serious damage in the process, and I'd be likely to either punch back or defend myself in some other way.

The punch landed by a person weighing 80 kilograms or so does not become lighter because the person is not very smart. The person may be acquitted in court, but this does not mean that the law enforcement officers were not attacked.

If and when it is true he was physically assaulting the LEOs, then [oh god I am about to type that] I have to agree with CS&SDaddy some kind of police violence was justified here. Perhaps slighlty different in form, but it is not the purpose of social controls and courtrooms to double-check every movement a police officer makes in a fight.

[seeker_two]

As someone who works with students like this daily, I can attest to MB's post....being hit hurts no matter what the person's mental capacities...sometimes, since they don't have the same restraint of a mentally-capable person, they can hurt you worse....

....that said, I'm also bound by state and federal law as to what level of force I'm justified in using against their attack. If the kid's attorney can prove that the LEO's knew about his mental condition, then the attorney has them by the short and curlies on the excessive force complaint. It probably won't do anything criminally, but it'll make a civil judgement likely.

Based on this guy's family ties, I see him committed to some state facility in the not-too-distant future....