Taser Use Guidance:
1) Never, ever, never ever taser the children of local political leaders. If you do, it had better be one of those fairly-rare cases where the moral and legal justification is crystal clear.
Local 12 [LINK] - 26 year old Celeste Thomas, the daughter of a Cincinnati City Council member, was hit with the taser last Sunday while she and her companion were being arrested. Chief Tom Streicher, speaking at an NAACP meeting last night, says he took a look at the cruiser cam video along with five other high ranking Cincinnati Police officials and in all of their opinions, the arresting Officer Anthony Plummer used excessive and unnecessary force.
This finding is quite reassuring. It is far too common for the police leadership to provide unquestioned support to their officers, no matter what. It seems obvious that the taser-victim's connection to a local political leader changes the equation.
Streicher says the video show Thomas was not resisting arrest and Officer Plummer [LINK] was not under attack and those are the guidelines. ...Streicher points out that she was on her knees with her arms raised in the air in a submissive position when she was hit with the taser in her back.
An example of extra-judicial, pre-trial, street-level punishment. This is, without a doubt, one of the most-attractive features of tasers to a certain percentage of the law enforcement community.
Plummer is currently on desk duty. He was dismissed from the Cincinnati Police department several years ago for "use of excessive force" in an incident that also involved a taser. He was later reinstated by an arbitrator. A decision on Plummer's status in regards to last weekend's incident could be made by the end of today.
Prediction: He'll be fired (again). For abuse of taser (again).
Another source: [LINK]
UPDATE: December 2009 Celeste Thomas acquitted [LINK]
UPDATE 2: 29 December 2009 - his ass is fired. [LINK] "A police investigator found Officer Anthony Plummer used excessive force and poses 'a huge liability risk' to the department and the city."
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3 comments:
While Officer Plummer hasn't yet been officially fired, an internal investigation's findings were announced today which confirmed what we already knew: this officer used excessive force - and not for the first time with a taser. Which can only mean his immediate dismissal. Right??
Obviously not "immediate". But his career in law enforcement is certainly not going well.
Oh so fired.
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