Police in Merced, California are looking into a case of a double amputee who claims that he was tasered twice by police in his wheelchair, partially stripped in public, and then held for days without charge. Gregory Williams, 40, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting arrest but never charged. Neighbors complained that the police were abusive and humiliating in their treatment of Williams.
Williams was unarmed at the time of the incident and says that he was roughed up by officers and demeaned by having his pants pulled down and left on a public sidewalk in handcuffs.
Prosecutors ultimately concluded that they lacked evidence to support the charges. The officers claimed that Williams was “uncooperative” and resisted their efforts to take his two-year-old child to protective services.
Here is an account by Williams and a witness:
This is not the first such case (here and here) where disabled suspects complained about such abuse, including this disturbing video:
It seems likely that Williams will soon be filing a civil lawsuit in the case. There has been no response by the department pending investigation and the full account of the officers is not available to give their side of the encounter.
Byron,
It’s not for everyone, it’s sort of a goat\sage\game flavor. It’s also the leanest meat I’ve ever seen. To be honest, most of the pronghorn gets turned into stew meat or ground meat at my place. The deer I try to save for roasts and steaks.
I go up to WY to do my hunting, but there are closer pronghorn. It’s tougher hunting then deer: longer shots, they’re spookier (you can actually move the herd around by getting out of your car 600+ yards away and just looking at them), the stalks are more physically demanding, and the antelope are MUCH MUCH faster animals. I’d highly recommend going with someone who’s done it before, it’s a whole different game.
Gyges:
how do Pronghorn taste? The one time I was in Wyoming they were all over the place, but then it wasn’t hunting season.
Do they have Pronghorn in your neck of the woods or did you take a trip?
FFLEO,
I use an old Express Model Remington 30.06 that’s a family heirloom. I’ve been shooting Springfield 180 grain super X silver tips, and have been really happy with them.
Gyges,
Fine shot. What caliber, grain of bullet, make of rifle….factory ammo? etc. Sounds like to spent some time at the range sighting in.
In addition to the abuses by the police, a citizen who attempted to photograph this incident was arrested and claims he had his camera phone seized and erased.
One of the technology advancements we can look forward to is the advent of real-time transmission of photos and video from Internet-enabled phones. These will allow the users to record their footage on distant servers as it is being shot so that there is a record of events that police cannot destroy even if they manage to take the device. The technology is being tested at websites like Qik. This particular application is not yet allowed by Apple/AT&T on the iPhone, presumably due to bandwidth concerns. When this policy changes it will be a vital tool for citizens and activists.
FFLEO,
I’ve been trying to figure out how to set that up since I read the article. Mike just happened to line the shot up for me.
By way of clumsy segue (and those of you who don’t want to read about hunting should stop reading here): The best shot I lined up last week dropped an antelope doe (heart shot) at 310 yards or so with a 4x scope (granted she was broadside to me). Don’t generally brag about that sort of thing, but that was a mighty fine shot.
That’s all.
” JT begs to differ “…Williams was unarmed…”
________________________________
Good one Gyges!
Mike,
That sounds much more plausible to me then them holding him as some shocking abuse of power.
Gyges, so they held him for six days without charges because they couldn’t take his fingerprints?
Mike,
JT begs to differ “…Williams was unarmed…”
Well, at least the gentleman only lost his legs. He still has arms and hands, which means that he can at least cash a check at Bank of America even if he doesn’t have an account there.
The LEOs are the ones who must have criminal charges filed against them.
Despicable.
I hope they all lose their jobs and the city is sued until it is broke.
Cross-posted at my place.
Behavioural sickness is an airborne contagion. The viral images and memes are carried to fertile minds from authority figures like Dick Cheney through the media, the air waves, into minds who are fertile for the sickness.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/09/brain-damage-of-torture-lovers.html
Uncooperative with Children’s Services. They are trying to take my child, I have no legs, I am uncooperative, damn right I would be. Take a deep breath and open your heart to this plight. Ok, now that you’ve done this write the damn check with a lot of zeros at the end. Hire the officers that should get fired to guard you now as this should be a hell of a lot of money.
Why cant something like this happen to me? I would own the town of Merced, what with knowing all the lawyers on this site.
The Merced, California city fathers should get ready to open their wallets very wide to pay for the civil damages due to this outrageous assault by these officers. I read about this case on another site and the facts are just disgusting. And as Prof. Turley states, nothing has been done to discipline the officers involved or their superiors. To taze a disabled man while he is in his wheel chair is bad enought, but then the police left him unclothed for up to 10 minutes outside in public. I can’t imagine any jury that would not dig deep into the city’s pockets for this case.