Posted on 10/26/2019 1:29:23 PM PDT by Morgana
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- UPDATE 10/25/19 @ 3:35 p.m. Two Charleston Police officers have been cleared of any inappropriate action in a use-of-force investigation, according to a release from the department.
CPD Chief Opie Smith reached that conclusion after a review of the case involving a woman who officers say was resisting arrest when they were investigating an animal cruelty charge against her.
That woman was identified Thursday by her attorney as Freda Gilmore, who he said has special needs and weighs less than 100 pounds.
Charleston Police released the following statement, in part, on Friday afternoon:
"After completing its investigation, PSD (Professional Standards Division) has determined that actions taken by both officers involved in the October 14, 2019 incident were within current CPD policy and the officers will be returning to work. Currently, under Level 3 of CPD's policy, strikes are allowed in situations where active resistance is occurring."
The chief says members of the PSD and mayor's office will continue to meet with community members and organizations and learn from this situation. Furthermore, CPD will hold a community forum on police use of force on Tuesday, Oct. 29 to receive feedback and questions from community members.
The Charleston Police Department plans to implement changes to their use-of-force policy, as well as having additional training for situations like this.
"The goal of our job, every day, is to ensure the safety of our citizens and our police officers," Smith said in the news release.
As of right now, not every Charleston Police officer has a body camera. Of the two officers involved in the incident, only one had a body camera and it was charging in their vehicle at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsaz.com ...
yes the woman was black but she is mental and everyone in this hood knew her. She did not deserve this. I’m praying she’s okay. See my first comment.
Over Here.
The body cam was in the car charging. How convenient.
shoulda been in an institution
I watched some of the videos regarding this case. Quite frankly, I don’t see where the outrage comes from. Although you claim that everybody knows that the woman is mentally ill, that does not mean that the police knew she was mentally ill. I’m sorry, but I have very little sympathy for people who are being placed under arrest to fight, scratch, claw, and resist their arrest.
“These officers just beat the shit out of her and got away with it.”
—
You have a story that describes or details her injuries?
What is that, grunge or millennial speak?
And only one camera. Amazing how often this happens.
Looking at the video, they both wailed into her with punches while she was down on the ground.
https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Charleston-Police-investigating-use-of-force-complaint-during-arrest-563234611.html
Dash cam link in my comment above.
Pertinent part of video starts at 0:46 when the third cop shows up in his vehicle. At that point, a female cops already has her pinned and is punching on her while a big male cop stands around doing nothing. The third cop, big male, jumps out of the car, runs up and immediately starts whaling on her and the first big male cop puts his hand on cop 3’s shoulder as if trying to get him to chill out.
Click the CC in the box to turn off Close Caption since it gets in the way.
Female cop wasn’t small either. Definitely excessive in my opinion and I don’t know why the big male cop that was already there stood there doing nothing.
Yup, a bit over the top - those were head-level punches, too, not body punches.
If this is how they deal with an animal cruelty suspects, can you imagine how much tar they’d beat out of someone suspected of a crime against a person? Oy.
Wait a minute. Am I reading that headline right? The CPD cleared two CPD officers?
If so, that’s good enough for me. And I think I’ll try that the next time I am audited.
IRS agent: There are problems with your last tax return.
Me: No worries. I have cleared myself of any wrongdoing.
IRS agent: Well, okay then. Have a nice day. Bye.
So . . . the Chief of Police is named Opie? Okle-dokle.
This is how we put the police on the front lines of mental health problems. This woman was apparently a very well known issue, and probably should have been handled another way, but the police end up having to deal with her and catch h*** over it.
100%
the cops get away with a lot....
no way no how should anyone with a traffic violation/animal complaint/littering/or some other minor deed, like selling individual cigarettes end up being beaten or shot and even killed...
what institution? they closed all the ones in wv years ago and for that matter they needed closing. They were snake puts.
Only one left is Huntington state and that too is a snake pit and it’s full year round.
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