Video After The Jump
No doubt we need police to protect us and most do their jobs correctly. But there are a few rouge thugs with badges that use their authority to abuse the people they are paid to help.
Case in point, third grade teacher, 57 year old Janice Wells called Richland, Georgia police to report a prowler outside of her home. What should have been a routine check for a criminal by police ended up being a brutal case of police brutality.
Officer Tim Murphy became enraged because Ms. Wells would not give him the name of a person inside her house.
Ms Wells had called longtime friend John Robinson to come and wait with her until police arrived. Officer Murphy asked him how long he'd known Ms Wells, the status of their relationship and where he lived. He never asked Robinson his name.
He then allowed Robinson to leave and asked Wells his name which she refused to give him. After that she was pepper sprayed and told she would be arrested.
Murphy called for backup. When Officer Ryan Smith arrived he Tasered Wells at least 12 times.
Ms Well told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, "All of it's just unreal to me. I was scared to death. "He kept tasing me and tasing me. My fingernails are still burned. My leg, back and my butt had a long scar on it for days."
A third officer who has known Ms Wells for years responded to the call and got there just as the last Taser was being fired. He thinks there was a racial component to the incident.
“I don’t think they would have done a white female like that,” said Sheriff Larry Jones, who is black. “If they had, it wouldn’t have been any doubt about whether they need to be terminated."
Ms Wells is heard on the tape crying and begging, "Please don't do that, sir I aint do nothing, I teach school"
Smith replies by repeatedly telling her to "Get in the car! You gonna get it again" At one point the idiot shocks himself "Sh*t it's getting me" he says. He then asks Officer Murphy if he had mased her yet. "Yeah, she took a load of it," Murphy replies.
Ms Wells is contemplating filing a lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Officer Murphy has been fired and Smith quit eight days after the incident. However Smith isn't at all sorry for his actions. "I did what I had to do to take control of the situation."
Lumpkin Police Chief Steven Ogle was shocked when he saw the tape
"I couldn’t believe it,” Ogle said. “You don’t use it [a Taser] for punitive reasons, to prod someone. It was evident it was an improper use of force. He was an excellent officer other than that incident."
Sheriff Jones said it was hard to keep his composure as Ms Wells begged him for help when he arrived. “Larry, help me,” Wells said as the sheriff walked up. “Larry, I didn’t do nothing, you know I don't get in trouble, Larry you know I don't."
Later that night, Jones bonded Wells out of jail and drove her to an area hospital to be examined
Officer Smith is already back at work for another police department
Follow Me @ChasinMoPaper
}
Comments