officer nearly choked him to death during a traffic stop. Posted on 07/02/2008 12:10:57 PM PDT by LibWhacker
MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. - A Midstate man said a police officer nearly choked him to death during a traffic stop.
The incident was caught on tape.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating how Mount Juliet Cpl. Bill Cosby interacted with James Anders, Jr.
Cosby stopped the 26-year-old Wilson County man in April.
Cosby suspected Anders hid marijuana in his mouth. The officer used a vascular restraint technique to keep Anders from swallowing.
On the video recorded inside Cosby's patrol car, Cosby said he smelled marijuana and handcuffed Anders and his passenger.
The video also showed the officer putting his hands around Anders' neck. He applied pressure and told Anders to stick out his tongue. This happened for nearly two minutes before Anders lost consciousness.
Photographs released by Anders' attorney showed injuries he sustained when he fell to the pavement.
Cosby didn't find any marijuana in Ander's mouth. Anders passed a drug test the next day.
A small bag of pot was found in his car and Anders was arrested for simple possession and resisting arrest.
After the district attorney saw the video, the charges were dropped.
Anders is expected to file a lawsuit in federal court later this month.
Cosby is still on the job.
After viewing the tape, General Sessions Judge Barry Tatum dismissed all Cosby's cases. He called what Cosby did inexcusable and said Cosby is no longer welcome in his court. In essence, any tickets he writes now are meaningless. The judge will dismiss them.
Anders' attorney said there's no excuse for strangling a man helpless and handcuffed.
"Clearly his constitutional rights were violated. He was choked," said Garry Vandever, Anders' attorney.
Vandever said Anders is fine but he still upset over what happened.
Anders is expected to file a lawsuit in federal court later this month.
Andy Garrett was sworn in as the new police chief Monday night.
"I have viewed the tape. I wasn't on board when this happened," he said. "It is an incident that's been addressed internally through training and discipline with the police officer. Any further investigation that's going to be done by an outside agency will be referred to the city attorney," said Garrett, a 25-year Metro Police Department veteran who recently commanded the force's Central Precinct.
He succeeds former Mount Juliet Police Chief Ted Floyd who retired several months ago.
In a letter sent to the new police chief and obtained by NewsChannel 5, Tatum said he's "dismissing all cases Corporal Cosby has pending" in his court.
Tatum also indicated that he's "dismissing any (future) cases he attempts to bring."
Tatum said Cosby has "cast a permanent cloud over law enforcement and the judicial system."
"We trust that an officer has to have the type of demeanor that when someone is treating them badly, spitting on them, trying to hit them, that that officer will have restraint in his actions toward that person," said Wilson County General Sessions Court Judge Bob Hamilton.
Is this multiple choice? You can have the cop, I will take the judge, possible fleas and all.
“no one ever said the cop was in physical danger. thats not part of the story. it’s simple evidence recovery. “
I would like to draw attention to this comment, for those that missed it. Your attitude actually illustrates quite a bit.
Looks like from some of the responses here the answer to that would be yes.
i would love to introduce you to the multitude of people/families i have seen devastated by your little natural green friend. you and your pot-smoking friends are god-fearing nice people. great. good for you.
i just wish you could see how many people were hurt and the level of crime committed during the process of growing the drug thru putting it in your pipe.
now go ahead and tell me: legalize it!!! you certainly love the exclamation points. knock yourself out.
Fair trade, a bad cop for a bad Judge!
I did? Where was this?
I opened up the thread by wondering how long it would take for the legions to come on here and justify police brutality.
What exactly are you talking about?
how about getting individuals who are possibly high on drugs out from behind the wheel of a car? should police do that?
I just want to get this straight. Basically what you are saying that is that a police officer, if he even thinks that someone is doing something questionable, is perfectly justified in attacking another person. Did I miss anything?
First there are two cops involved here. One is choking the guy, the other is assisting.
Should both be charged? Or only the one actually doing the choking?
Second question: What is the training or the official police procedure that the cops are given regarding swallowing of evidence?
IF:
1) The cops are trained to apply a choke hold, then the procedure is wrong, not the cop.
2) The procedure is not defined and the cop was on his own, then charges against the cop would be appropriate.
Judging from the fact that the individual was standing outside and handcuffed, I'm willing to say that he was already taken from behind the wheel of his car. That part was already accomplished. Now, was he choked to the point of unconsciousness because he was trying to make a mad dash back to the driver's seat of his car?
i love your use of language here.
"...thinks someone is doing something..." yes, that is called probable cause. it's in all the law books. criminals don't usually commit crimes right in front of cops.
"...something questionable..." well, yeah, that's called a crime.
"...attacking..." this is called controlling a suspect who is being very uncooperative and refusing to follow orders after he has been detained for an investigation that is the result of probable cause.
now go ahead and yell because i used the term "follow orders" but that is what officers give.
I called you a hypocrite, but it seems I was not completely correct. It appears that you're actually a prevaricating hypocrite.
Rather than the dewy-eyed innocent version here, you said, and I quote, "Wonder how long it will take for the boot lickers to show up here and tell us all how the cop was completely justified...."
The language of your original post contains the very sort of presumptions about "knowing you, how you think, and what persuades you," that you so dislike applied to yourself.
"I am going to choke you, so you don't swallow anything else. (unintelligible) prevent you from having some kind of OD."
He had already swallowed evidence and may have had more in his mouth.
As far as your devistated multitudes, how do you KNOW they wouldn't have wound up on Ricky Lake anyway?
Coulda woulda shoulda.
My beeg point was that LE has CREATED the problem. Prohibition makes a black market. Black markets are not good.
That plant has been here at least a couple of days before man, with no problems. If it was accepted for what it is, a seed bearing herb, it wouldn't be a problem. Remove the artificial criminality, and the criminality of it disappears.
I’m so glad that there are so many officers out there who take it upon themselves to be judge and jury when it comes to dealing with the public.
I also wasn’t aware of an officer’s authority to ‘give orders’ to suspects. After all, every suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But I guess since some officers have taken upon themselves to be judge and jury, the civil rights of suspects don’t apply.
Here I thought all along that it was the officer’s job to apprehend suspects, detain them, and deliver them to a court of law where they will then be judged. Apparently though, some officer’s have decided that assaulting (choking a suspect into unconsciousness) fits in nicely between apprehending and detaining, and delivering to a court of law.
whatever you say
The cop does appear to be short in stature.
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