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Missouri Cop Indicted for Attacking Teen Trying to Video Record Traffic Stop, Leaving Him in Coma
PhotograpyIsNotACrime.com ^ | 03/27/2015

Posted on 03/27/2015 4:01:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum


Tim Runnels is second from left in this photo posted on the Missouri/Kansas Cop Block Facebook page last year.

A Missouri cop who left a teenager in a coma last year after the young man attempted to video record a traffic stop was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday.

It was a rare decision considering grand juries tend to believe cops can get away with murder. But the victim in this case, Masters Bryce, is the son of a Kansas City cop.

Independence police officer Tim Runnels, a former Kansas City cop himself, was indicted on two counts, but details will remain sealed until Monday, when he makes his first court appearance.

The court will also likely release video evidence against Runnels, including the one recorded from Bryce’s phone as well as the footage from his own dash cam.

According to KCTV:

Masters’ heart stopped when the probes were fired into his chest. He was without oxygen for an extended period of time, and Runnels’ actions during the time before the first paramedics arrived were to be part of the grand jury review.

Runnels said he smelled marijuana coming from within the vehicle that Masters was in and that Masters repeatedly interfered with his investigation, forcing him to attempt to pull the teen from the vehicle.

An eyewitness recorded part of the encounter, and that video has been made public. Masters’ recorded his arrest and inadvertently recorded his collapse via his smartphone. That video along with the officer’s dash-cam video has not been made public.

KCTV5 was the only media outlet inside the federal courtroom when the grand jury forewoman handed the indictment to Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer, who then sealed the documents.

Masters is the son of a Kansas City police officer. Runnels worked at KCPD from 2007 to 2010. Runnels worked for the Independence Police Department for nearly three years.

After the incident, Independence police made no mention of the fact that Bryce tried to record the traffic stop, even though they did confiscate his phone as “evidence.”

According a local news report a few days after the incident:

Investigators say Masters wouldn’t cooperate with the officer, and the officer used his taser. Police say they found drug paraphernalia in Masters’ car.

In court documents, police officer Tim Runnels states he smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside Masters’ car when the teen rolled down the window, but would not roll it all the way down telling the officer, “why? I can hear you.”

Officer Runnels states he told him to get out of the car several times with Masters replying, “why, am I under arrest?”

According to court documents, Masters braced himself in the car so the officer could not get him out and was tased inside the car. Masters ended up on the ground, handcuffed.

Officer Runnels states Masters did not comply with his command to move to the side of the road, so he grabbed Masters from behind and carried him to the side of the road where, according to an affidavit, Masters began to suffer from some sort of medical emergency. What the affidavit does not say is if Officer Runnels provided medical aid to Masters before the ambulance arrived.

But several witnesses told a different story, that Runnels yanked Bryce out the car when he started recording, handcuffing him and dropping him on his face on the sidewalk, which sent him into convulsions, causing his heart to stop.

One witness who began recording after the incident captured Runnels standing over Bryce’s limp body with his foot on him as if to prevent the handcuffed teen from standing up and sprinting away. At no time during the 3:20 video did Runnels seem concerned for Masters’ “medical emergency.”

The above photo was obtained from this Cop Block Facebook page.



TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; missouri
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1 posted on 03/27/2015 4:01:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Test all of them for steroid use. Now.

L


2 posted on 03/27/2015 4:03:16 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: PatHimself

He does. Dead ringer stuff right there.


4 posted on 03/27/2015 4:15:08 PM PDT by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a great life!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Bookmark for when I’m back to my ping list.


5 posted on 03/27/2015 4:17:38 PM PDT by null and void (He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded ~ Thomas Aquinas)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“police officer Tim Runnels states he smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside Masters’ car”

This magical statement automatically nullifies the 4th Amendment and justifies anything the officer wants to do, from tearing apart your car, assaulting and perhaps even killing you should you not instantly obey every command.


6 posted on 03/27/2015 4:22:31 PM PDT by barefoot_hiker
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
If a jury finds this cop guilty may it serve as a productive learning experience for his comrades.

Another death on the hands of the drug warriors.

7 posted on 03/27/2015 4:23:38 PM PDT by SpeakerToAnimals (I hope to earn a name in battle)
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To: PatHimself
Yup.


8 posted on 03/27/2015 4:23:59 PM PDT by FredZarguna (It looks just like a Telefunken U-47 -- with leather.)
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To: barefoot_hiker
Notice, however, that in answer to the question: "Why? Am I under arrest?" The officer says nothing, and simply begins to forcibly remove him from the car. Now, given that he claims to have smelled dope, why didn't he simply arrest the kid? Apparently, he's both violent and stupid. That's a bad combination...
9 posted on 03/27/2015 4:27:02 PM PDT by FredZarguna (It looks just like a Telefunken U-47 -- with leather.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

No wonder some cops lose their minds when they end up on video: They don’t like having evidence to prove that their police reports are just a steaming pile of BS.


10 posted on 03/27/2015 4:28:08 PM PDT by MeganC (You can ignore reality, but reality won't ignore you.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“But the victim in this case, Masters Bryce, is the son of a Kansas City cop.”

Ok....now it makes sence...because blood may be thicker than water.....but blue is thicker than blood.


11 posted on 03/27/2015 4:30:12 PM PDT by Crim (Palin / West '16)
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To: barefoot_hiker
“police officer Tim Runnels states he smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside Masters’ car”

This magical statement [smelling marijuana] automatically nullifies the 4th Amendment and justifies anything the officer wants to do, from tearing apart your car, assaulting and perhaps even killing you should you not instantly obey every command.

And many conservatives embrace such twisted and Tyrannical reasoning.

12 posted on 03/27/2015 4:30:25 PM PDT by sargon
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I don’t think the one on our right is using steroids. Can’t tell about the one on our left. The two in the middle? Sure looks like it.


13 posted on 03/27/2015 4:31:32 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: barefoot_hiker
This magical statement automatically nullifies the 4th Amendment and justifies anything the officer wants to do...

Well, yeah. But after all, driving (moving about freely in your own personal property) is a "privilege" so you should expect to surrender your rights. Or something.

14 posted on 03/27/2015 4:32:44 PM PDT by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: barefoot_hiker
Even better is when the get an official police "K-9" to "indicate" drugs. They can do anything they want when a dog "indicates."
15 posted on 03/27/2015 4:56:02 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (If obama speaks and th<uere is no one there to hear it, is it still a lie?)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
He is stepping on a kid who is having convulsions and dragging him by his face on the road .

Just a pure steroid brain dead monster.

Sad sad video.

16 posted on 03/27/2015 5:12:54 PM PDT by ncalburt ( Amnesty-media out in full force)
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To: barefoot_hiker; E. Pluribus Unum; sargon; Lurker; null and void; FredZarguna; MileHi; ncalburt
This magical statement automatically nullifies the 4th Amendment and justifies anything the officer wants to do, from tearing apart your car, assaulting and perhaps even killing you should you not instantly obey every command.

We're going to have to invent a automobile window that you can pass your "papers" through without the police state gunthugs being able to claim they "smelled something" like marijuana or booze, kind of like in that checkpoint video from a while back.

Maybe something similar to a mail slot on a residential door.

E. Pluribus Unum wrote: Even better is when the[y] get an official police "K-9" to "indicate" drugs. They can do anything they want when a dog "indicates."

Ah, yes - Officer-Judge "Barky", as I refer to the "police officer" who also wears a judge's black robes...

ncalburt wrote: He is stepping on a kid who is having convulsions and dragging him by his face on the road.

The "kid" is a peasant, ncalburt. The child must learn to live with his face in the dirt while in the presence of his Betters or their hired muscle, like any medieval serf...

17 posted on 03/27/2015 6:01:49 PM PDT by kiryandil (making the jests that some FReepers aren't allowed to...)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Tats, skinned heads, ‘roid muscles.

Sickening.


18 posted on 03/27/2015 6:52:15 PM PDT by Half Vast Conspiracy (!)
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To: sargon
And many conservatives embrace such twisted and Tyrannical reasoning.

Many "conservatives" on this site support it.

I believe that anyone who supports the war on drugs for whatever reason is an enemy of the Republic.

19 posted on 03/27/2015 8:06:41 PM PDT by zeugma ( The Clintons Could Find a Loophole in a Stop Sign)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
The natural inclination of members of a society that honors the rule of law is to want to respect and appreciate law enforcement officers.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to do that.
Most cops are good, but there are too many stories of cops gone bad.
The punishment for bad cops should be appropriate enough to be a deterrent to other cops.
20 posted on 03/28/2015 6:15:01 AM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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