You would think a person would be able to just sit and relax on the curbside of a road without having to worry about physical harm befalling them, but that’s not always the case. For example, last week a man in Pennsylvania was “sitting on a curb when an officer fired a stun gun at his back.” Since the incident, the African American man, Sean Williams, has filed a federal lawsuit arguing “his constitutional rights were violated.” The lawsuit itself was filed in U.S. District Court “against the officer and the City of Lancaster, claiming police used excessive force, denied him medical care and racially profiled him.”
You would think a person would be able to just sit and relax on the curbside of a road without having to worry about physical harm befalling them, but that’s not always the case. For example, last week a man in Pennsylvania was “sitting on a curb when an officer fired a stun gun at his back.” Since the incident, the African American man, Sean Williams, has filed a federal lawsuit arguing “his constitutional rights were violated.” The lawsuit itself was filed in U.S. District Court “against the officer and the City of Lancaster, claiming police used excessive force, denied him medical care and racially profiled him.”
The entire June 28, 2018 incident was caught on video and shows “Lancaster telling the 27-year-old Williams to straighten his legs out before deploying the stun gun as Williams is sitting and facing away from him.” According to the officers who were on the scene, Williams was stunned because he refused to follow their instructions. However, his lawyer argues that “Williams was compliant and was receiving different instructions from two different officers on scene.” His lawyer, Brian Mildenberg, also added:
“I think the video constitutes a very obvious example of the unreasonable use of force by a police officer in a situation where the victim was being completely compliant and no Taser was called for.”
As a result of the violent incident, “Williams continues to suffer pain and crippling anxiety,” according to the lawsuit. But what happened, exactly? Well, according to Lancaster police an officer “responded to a 911 call reporting a man with a bat who went after a group of three people.” Once at the scene, the officer allegedly “saw three people telling a man later identified as Williams to get away from them.” As she approached the individuals the office could hear Williams “repeatedly asking a woman in the group for his Social Security card.”
According to the officer, she told Williams to take a seat on the curb several times, “but he refused to comply.” Minutes later, Officer Philip Bernot arrived to help out the first officer. He allegedly “instructed Williams to sit on the curb, telling him he would use his stun gun if he didn’t comply.” Williams complied and sat down on the curb and was then instructed to “stick his legs straight out in front of him and to cross his ankles.” From there, “Bernot deployed the stun gun, the probes striking Williams on his back.” In the video, Williams is seen “writhing in pain” before being arrested.
As if that isn’t bad enough, the lawsuit claims the officers refused to “provide Williams with medical attention.” However, police have argued that Williams was “later checked out by EMS per their protocol.”
When commenting on the incident and why the stun gun was used, the police department issued the following statement:
“This is done as a measure of control to ensure that is someone is going to flee or offer physical resistance, they will have to move their legs under them to do so. Non-compliance is often a precursor to someone that is preparing to flee or fight with officers.”
Since the incident, Williams has spoken out about his ordeal saying he “didn’t believe the officer used the stun gun because of his race, but rather said he believed the police weren’t doing their job right.” He added that he believes the “incident involved racial profiling…because minorities in Lancaster are disproportionately affected by arrests and use-of-force incidents.” Additionally, he also said:
“Nobody should be Tased in the back in a situation where they’re not doing nothing wrong. If they’re following every directive that’s being given to them, there’s no reason that somebody should get stunned in the back to the point where they could be traumatized for the rest of their life.”
The Lancaster police department has yet to return requests for comment and the incident is currently being reviewed by the “department’s Use of Force training cadre and command staff.”
Sources:
“Shockingly violent”: Man tased in back while sitting on curb sues officer, city
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