Posted on 08/10/2008 1:16:47 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Deputy Charged In Beating
GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. -- An 18-year-old was punched 13 times in the face by a deputy, and it was all caught on tape.
The deputy, Brian Tollison, has been fired and had been charged in the incident.
WYFF was exclusively given excerpts from the video that was recorded on the deputy's dash camera on May 15.
The video shows Tollison, who was working undercover, trying to take a driver into custody after he pulled him over in the Judson community.
In the video, a back-up deputy appears to hold onto the teen while Tollison hits him. When other deputies arrive, the teen is taken out of the truck.
The video show other deputies Taser and kick 18-year-old Jeremy Rucker several times.
Rucker's attorney, Karl Allen, says his client is a victim. He said that Rucker was sitting in a truck talking on a cell phone and was guilty of nothing when he was approached by undercover deputies.
He said, "Then they have the audacity, to treat this man as if he's a piece of meat and Taser him with electrical jolts to his body and then, that's not enough. They kick three times to the torso."
Allen said, judging by the tape, the other deputies didn't feel threatened by Rucker.
"I've seen nothing to justify the actions of these officers," he said.
Allen gave the video to WYFF News 4.
According to deputies, the driver of the truck ran off and they were trying to take Rucker into custody.
Sheriff Steve Loftis said that Rucker resisted arrest at first, but by the time Tollison started hitting him, he had "calmed down."
Loftis fired Tollison in June.
"The fact that Deputy Tollison took his closed fist and struck the suspect in the face 13 times in my opinion was excessive," Loftis said.
The other deputies were not implicated in the investigation. Allen said he would like to more scrutiny of their participation in the incident.
"You sit there and count methodically the punches and you see law enforcement not stopping one of their own … I think that is appalling," Allen said.
Allen has filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice.
He said he has "grave concern about this young man being held and beaten, I think if you're holding him and allowing someone else to beat him, you're a part of this process. I think if you're standing by as an officer and you're watching a brutal kicking of a citizen that you have to be part of that process."
Tollison was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. He was released from jail on bond.
Rucker was charged with drug possession and resisting arrest. Deputies said when he was taken into custody, they found drugs on him. He was also released on bond.
I’m betting that former officer has a tiny little penis. That’s the only explanation for that sort of brutality.
Police are supposed to have screening as part of their hiring process that eliminates characters like these a-holes from getting these jobs.
The county leaders need to haul the PD in front of the people and ask why they shouldn’t start over.
“”You sit there and count methodically the punches and you see law enforcement not stopping one of their own … I think that is appalling,” Allen said. “
When we see cops protecting us from bad cops then we will support the cops. until then, their “blue line” keeps them from getting my support.
Hey that former officer can probably get a new job in the State of Maryland with the Prince Georges County Police Department or Sheriff’s Department, they don’t take no sh*t up there, they’ll bust down the door of a mayor, throw his mother-in-law to the floor, shoot his dogs, cuff him in his boxers and socks, and then tell him ‘oops, our mistake’ and no apology.
Have you seen the new cops coming out of two year community colleges dressed in their ninja suits lately? It’s going to be a rocky few decades to come regarding local LEO’s. I feel bad for the good ones. Their numbers are becoming too few. Hpefully the trend reverses sooner than later.
Give the former cop the maximum possible sentence and wish it could be more.
While the use of force is excessive and charges are warranted, I’d like to know just what it was the kid did to start the ball rolling in this situation, if he was resisting arrest, what did he do to get arrested?
Jay walking, DUI, murder, what...
This sounds like a rural area, and if it’s anything like where I live, the salary will be rock bottom. You get what you pay for. Of course, paying well doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility of rogue cops, either. A lot of people go into law enforcement for the wrong reasons. Maybe it’s always been this way, and with the prevalence of video cameras, it’s easier to document now.
His lucky day. He took a little beating but in a few months he’ll be the richest 18 year old in town. Then he can have a giant crack party.
While I usually don’t condone this type of activity...well...c’mon, it’s a teenager.
I think police officers should be eunichs. Our system works with the police responding to crime and doing the paperwork. They are not charged with prevention, intervention, or any other activity which becomes exponentialy dangerous as adrenaline and testosterone rush into the blood stream.
A friend of mine who is a former cop explained it like this:
“When I was in school, I was the guy who got his a$$ beat and his lunch money taken away by the bullies. Well, I have a badge and a gun, so I get to be the bully now.”
Axxording yo the video, a “drug charge.”
The TSA will be hiring this guy.
I don’t know what the kid did, but when you have the Sheriff Loftis saying “The fact that Deputy Tollison took his closed fist and struck the suspect in the face 13 times in my opinion was excessive” is certainly encouraging:
MEMO:
TO: ALL DEP-U-TEES
FROM: SHERIFF LOFTIS (BOSS)
SUBJECT: EXCESSIVE FORCE
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, DO NOT HIT PERPS IN THE FACE WITH CLOSED FISTS 13 TIMES.
USE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES:
PERP LOOKS SNEAKY: PUNCH 1 TIME IN FACE, TASER OPTIONAL
PERP MOUTHS OFF: PUNCH 2 to 3 TIMES IN FACE, THREATEN w/TASER
PERP MOVES HANDS: PUNCH 4 to 6 TIMES IN FACE, USE TASER
PERP TRIES TO KICK: KICK BACK 7 to 9 TIMES IN GROIN
PERP REACHES FOR WEAPON: PUNCH and KICK 10 to 12 TIMES, TASER *MANDATORY*
THANK YOU FOR YOUR USUAL COOPERATION.
If the scene of the incident calms down and officers are done celebrating each other’s cartilidge snapping moves, they will begin to smell of fish. They will always “find” a handgun, bag of weed, or a few chunks of crack or meth. If the citizen has no history of anything criminal, they’ll throw the book at him so they have something to bargain with. In other words, “if you don’t go after us, we’ll drop the drug charges”. It’s pretty standard stuff when they get violent.
Better yet, New Orleans, La.
Yeah! Looter Guy is still on the loose, right?
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