April 6, 2012

April 10,2012 – This story has been updated to include the name of the student who was arrested.

While many students don’t like to pay extra fees, one’s reluctance to pay for a replacement Polar Express card ended with a UAF police officer using a Taser to subdue him.

At approximately 4 p.m. on Friday, April 6, Officer Alan Keeler responded to a report of an unruly student who threatened Polar Express Office staff.

Kevin H. Legrismith, 20, of Fairbanks had been issued a temporary Polar Express card, which had expired. He became angry with staff when he was told there was a fee for a new card, UAF Police Chief Sean McGee said.

Keeler told Legrismith to sit on the couch while Keeler interviewed staff. As the officer spoke to a female employee, Legrismith jumped off the couch and came toward him.

The student was upset at what the employee was telling the officer, McGee said. But at that point the officer didn’t know if Legrismith was coming at him or the woman. Keeler told the him to sit down and a physical altercation followed. During the struggle, the officer’s Taser hit the ground and broke into pieces. Legrismith wrestled with the officer over the Taser, McGee said. The officer then used the Taser in an “unconventional way.”

“He had to use it like a stun gun to get the student on his stomach,” McGee said. Normally an officer operates a Taser at a distance from the subject. Prongs are ejected from the device. The prongs emit electrical current that disrupt voluntary muscle control.

During the altercation, a male student stepped forward and offered to assist the officer.

“We appreciated that,” McGee said.

However, at that point the officer’s radio informed him that additional police were coming to assist. Keeler held Legrismith down until backup arrived.

Police took Legrismith to the Fairbanks Correctional Center and charged him with misdemeanor assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

“I can’t remember the last time an officer had to use a Taser on a student,” McGee said.

Heather Bryant/Sun Star Reporter

source

The Florida Highway Patrol have cleared 267-pound Trooper Daniel Cole of wrongdoing and have released a disturbing dash cam video that captured him tasing a 100 pound, 20 year old handcuffed girl in the back as she fled.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined Trooper Daniel Cole’s “use of force” was justified when he tased the woman last September at the FHP Pinellas Park Substation and cleared him of wrongdoing.

The fleeing woman, Danielle Maudsley, 20, suffered severe brain damage after hitting her head on the concrete and has been in a persistent vegetative state ever since.

The video shows Maudsley fleeing a back door of the substation with Cole following closely behind.

Maudsley was arrested for her alleged involvement in two hit-and-run crashes and driving without a license.

Cole brought Maudsley to the substation to complete his paperwork before taking her to the Pinellas County Jail, according to FHP reports.

As she enters the parking lot, Cole deploys his taser and Maudsley hits the ground hard, with her head slamming into the asphalt.

“What were you thinking? What are you, stupid?,” Cole can be heard asking Maudsley on the video.

“I can’t get up,” said Maudsley.

“I don’t want you to get up,” said Cole.

“I can’t get up,” Maudsley said again. The last words Maudsley has spoken since being tasered.

On the video, Maudsley loses consciousness about two minutes after hitting her head.

Maudsley’s mother said the trooper should have used other means to stop her daughter from fleeing.

“He was right behind her. He could’ve reached out,” Maudsley said. “It was unnecessary.”

The mother hired defense attorney Kevin Haylsett, who put FHP on notice for a lawsuit.

Hayslett said Cole violated FHP’s taser policy which states:

“Fleeing cannot be the sole reason for the deployment.”

“When you shoot someone in the back, and they’re running away, all that force — as you saw when Danielle’s head hit the concrete — that’s why they don’t allow you to do that, because you can have horrible tragedies like this,” Hayslett said.

With any rule, there is an exception.

An Office of Inspector General Investigation Unit report states: “Although the FHP policy on Electronic Control Devices states that a member should not use the device on a handcuffed prisoner, it also provides that there may be situations that conflict with this policy.”

The report goes on to state: “In this situation, Maudsley … removed one of her handcuffs while in the back of Cole’s patrol car, and moved her handcuffs from behind her back, to in front of her body, as she attempted to flee the FHP Station. In addition, Maudsley was running towards US Highway 19 which is a high volume road.”

According to the report, Maudsley had oxycodone and cocaine in her system at the time.

“The Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted an independent review of the incident,” FHP spokesperson Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. “Their investigation found that the trooper’s actions were legal and within the scope of his duties.”

“He would’ve been better off to use his nightstick on her than he would a taser,” Hayslett said.

The attorney also pointed out that Maudsley only weighs about 100 pounds.

In the report, Cole said he chose to use the taser because he “felt she was more susceptible to being injured if he attempted to tackle her.” Cole weighs approximately 267 pounds.

Hayslett called the dash cam video disturbing. “It’s one of those videos — when you see it and you watch her head hit the pavement — that it’s hard to get those images out of your head,” he said.

Maudsley’s mom said her daughter’s prognosis is not good. She is likely to remain in a vegetative state.

Maudsley is now in a Ft. Lauderdale rehab center that specializes in severe brain injuries.

Woman gets tasered resisting arrest after cutting in line at McDonald’s

Employees at the McDonald’s in Hope Mills, N.C., refused to serve Evangeline Lucca and told her to go to the back of the line. Lucca, 37, refused to move, and blocked the drive-thru for 20 minutes before police arrived on the scene, authorities said.

When deputies arrived, Lucca was “defiant,” “would not get off McDonald’s property,” and was “threatening the deputies,” according to Debbie Tanna, a public information officer for the Cumberland County Sherriff’s Office.

Customer Anthony Rich, who was in the parking lot during the incident, told the Fay Observer that Lucca was Tasered twice.

“Two or three officers entered the car with her and started trying to forcibly drag her out of the car, and that’s when you could hear the clicking sound of the Taser one time,” Rich told the Fay Observer. “They pulled on her a couple of times, and then they Tased her again, and when they Tased her the second time, she just flopped out of the car like a fish.”