Arizona Police Officers Use Excessive Force with Tasers
The City of Glendale Arizona is being sued after a July 2017 incident in which police officers used unnecessary force and highly questionable tactics. Johnny Wheatcraft was in a vehicle with his wife (Anya Chapman), their children and another man. They had pulled into what appears to be the parking lot of a hotel. Police approached the vehicle claiming the driver had made a traffic violation.
You can watch the video to see what happened but I will give a warning that it is distressing. Supposedly methamphetamines were found in the vehicle but regardless of what was found the actions by the officers were no less than torture and should be considered as aggravated assault. He was treated as if he was resisting when the reality was the seatbelt was still wrapped around him. Wheatcraft was tased 11 times. But they didn’t just tase him. They literally pulled down his pants and tased him on his testicles and on his perineum.
The perineum is the delicate skin that is between the anus and scrotum on a man and the anus and vulva on a woman. The officers also held the taser to his penis and threatened to tase him there while at the same time another officer held a gun to his head. In what way can these actions by the police officers be considered acceptable? Wheatcraft was also trying to say he was having trouble breathing because he had pneumonia. One officer told him to stop being a baby and another officer said you’re speaking.
This is a HUGE problem. Cops are being taught that if a person can speak, the person can breathe. The assumption here is that if you can’t breathe then you don’t have air to be able to speak. THAT IS FALSE! There have been many instances of inmates saying they couldn’t breathe and those inmates eventually dying. When will the abuse and idiocy stop?
You can read the NBC News article for more details by clicking on this link.