Two white police officers in Merced, CA used a taser twice on an African American double amputee in a wheelchair, allegedly because he resisted arrest when he held onto his wheelchair to prevent being thrown on the ground by the police officers. Then they handcuffed him while he was on the ground, after his pants had fallen down exposing his genitals to the public at the apartment complex where he lived. He spent several days in jail though he has yet to be charged with any crime by the District Attorney:
The man who was Tasered, Gregory Williams, 40, a double-leg amputee, spent six days in jail on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting arrest, but the Merced County District Attorney’s office hasn’t filed any charges.
Williams is black, and the two main arresting officers are white, but it’s unknown whether race played any role in the incident.
Williams, who was released from jail on Friday, said he was manhandled and Tasered by police, even though he said he was never physically aggressive toward the officers and didn’t resist arrest.
A handful of residents in Williams’ apartment complex said they witnessed the incident and supported Williams’ charges. A short video clip, shot by a neighbor and obtained by the Sun-Star, shows Williams sitting on the pavement with his pants down, his hands cuffed behind his back. […]
Pinnegar grabbed William’s 2-year-old daughter from his lap, handing her to the CPS worker. “I said, ‘What are you doing? I haven’t done anything!’ ” Williams said.
Williams said Pinnegar unholstered his Taser, jammed it into his rib cage and shocked him twice. Williams said he fell from his chair onto his stomach on the ground outside his doorway.
While he was down, Williams said, Court put his knee on his neck, and one of the officers then cuffed both of his wrists. At some point after he fell out of his chair, Williams said, his shorts slid down his legs.
With his hands cuffed behind his back, Williams said, he was unable to pull his pants up. He said police left him for five to 10 minutes in that position on the pavement, with his private parts showing as neighbors and onlookers watched.
At the link I provided there’s a video (which I would embed here if I could) which you should watch. Mr. Williams is not a large man. He’s got gray hair, a thin frame and does not present a very imposing or menacing figure. His testimony in the video suggests that the reason he was tased was because one of the police officers said Williams had a “big mouth” and told the other one to tase him. His story is backed up by a white man on the video identified as his brother-in-law.
You can’t say this is a shocking story anymore. It appears to me that tasers have provided a certain element of law enforcement an easy excuse to torture people who they don’t like. Shooting an unarmed double amputee, or bashing him about the head with a baton would be considered use of deadly force, but tasers? Well, I guess that’s just considered a measured response to anyone who offers law enforcement officials any “sass” or “back talk.” Even if they are a double amputee in a wheelchair. Maybe even especially if they are a black, 40 year old double amputee in a wheelchair.
Not that we have any racism in America, or that our law enforcement agencies treat minorities any differently than white people. That would be wrong to assume that now that we as a nation elected an African American as our President. Wouldn’t it?
Update 1: Here’s the You Tube video of the incident as described by the victim, Mr. Williams:
Update 2: Taser victim not charged by DA because “there wasn’t enough evidence”. Police involved being investigated by Internal Affairs for incident.
