Monday, September 21, 2009

So Brave

PostBlog: Tasered While Black has much more on this heinous incident including a link to video of the arrest.

In Merced, CA, white cops tase a wheelchair-bound black man:
MERCED -- The Merced Police Department's Internal Affairs Division is investigating a complaint alleging that an officer twice used a Taser against an unarmed man with no legs in a wheelchair.

Gregory Williams, 40, a double-leg amputee, spent six days in jail on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting arrest after the Sept. 11 incident. Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II said there wasn't enough evidence to file charges, however.

Williams, who was released from jail Friday, said he was violently manhandled and Tasered by police, even though he claims he never was physically aggressive toward the officers or resisted arrest.

Williams says he was publicly humiliated after his pants fell down during the incident. The officers allegedly left him outdoors in daylight, handcuffed on the pavement, nude below the waist. Williams said the arrest also left him with an injured shoulder, limiting his mobility in his wheelchair.

A handful of residents who live in Williams' apartment complex say they witnessed the incident and support Williams' charges. A short video clip, shot by a neighbor, shows Williams sitting on the pavement with his pants down, his hands cuffed behind his back.

Eddie Blaylock, a 38-year-old resident of the apartment complex, said he took notice after seeing "two cops trying to handcuff a guy in a wheelchair."

After seeing an officer pull out his Taser, Blaylock said he yelled, "Hey, you can't do that!" One of the officers threatened to Taser Blaylock if he "didn't step back," he said. Blaylock said he never saw Williams resist arrest or become violent.

And from another source:

And although the two lead arresting officers are white, and Williams is black, it remains unknown whether race was a factor in the incident. Those two officers remain on duty.