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.
I don’t care if he told him that he was going to choke him beforehand. Big deal. If I tell someone that I am going to knock them unconscious before I actually do it, does it make it right because I warned them about it?
people like you simply place blame on the cops because they are the ones who put the handcuffs on you when you break the law.
here's a thought: stop breaking the law! and your point about people ending up on ricky lake won't really comfort the mother of the 15 year-old killed by a stray bullet fired during a dispute over a bag of weed. but you keep on smoking! i'm sure your drug dealer is a fine upstanding citizen. so is the person he gets the weed from. and so on and so on...
Damm right it does
thank god for the 2nd armament
"oh, excuse me sir. would you mind stopping firing that gun and killing people?"
now i just have no idea what you are talking about. police are given broad powers to issue verbal orders that must be followed. even the simple order "clear the sidewalk" all the way up "drop the weapon" must be followed for the safety of everyone concerned.
call me a jack-booted thug all you wish. but when the bullets start flying, i am ordered to run towards them. you can run away.
In our last nursing class, we where taught that: when assessing the jugular veins, never depress both sides at once. To do so may cut off blood supply to the brain. From the video, it appears that the cop knew this person was in distress. Maybe he thought if he lost just enough consciousness, then the drugs would fall out of his mouth.
I think a defense based on: "It was self defense; I saw the movie and feared for my life in this man's custody" might be successful.
Oh please, enough of the hyperbole.
Now I’ll ask again. Who exactly was this person endangering? Were there other people in the area at the moment who were in danger? No, there weren’t.
You can twist words and engage in hyperbole as much as you want, but you can’t change the fact that the man was already subdued, handcuffed, and by extension did not pose a threat to anyone at the time.
All your talk about “bullets flying” is completely ridiculous in this situation. There were no weapons involved, no “bullets flying”, and the suspect was not placing anyone in any physical danger. If you truely believe that there is nothing wrong with a police officer, a public servant, choking a man into unconsciousness in this situation than I feel sorry for the citizens of the district you patrol.
The “people hurt and level of crime committed during the process” of supplying part is actually an anti-prohibition argument. What happened to all the Al Capone types after prohibition was repealed? How many people are hurt supplying alcohol now?
For the record I do not smoke pot nor do any other controlled substance. But once out of the Navy and back in NYC, I was shocked at how many people do drugs of all sorts. Not scum bags, but FDNY firemen, Coast Guard personnel, utility workers, etc. People that are responsible, get to work on time, do their jobs competently. No one would ever suspect. (I suppose I am privy to their habits because I have to admit that I must look like a drug user... shaved head, tattoos up and down my arms, ride a Harley all year round, and stay out at bars till 4am.)
It certainly changed my idea of a typical druggie. That along with witnessing the incompetence and dishonesty of some NYPD officers & judges that make snap judgements from their myopic views has me more worried about the law enforcers than the law breakers.
Have you considered that perhaps the judge has seen a pattern of abuse by this LEO? Don't be so quick to judge something you have little or no knowledge.
i already stated the officers actions had nothing to do with any sort of physical danger! so why do you keep asking who was in danger? jeez...
this was preventing the possible destruction of evidence. that's it!
and my bullets flying statement obviously had nothing to do with this situation. i was simply illustrating why police are given the power to issue direct orders to individuals in the broader sense. which i thought was obvious. i guess not.
No, I got it. You said that the assault was justified because the cop took it upon himself to conduct a physical search for evidence he was hoping to find. Once again, glad to know that there are some many qualified judges patrolling the streets.
Pray tell, how many times have you run towards flying bullets? Over the past decade Ive seen cops shoot holes in the walls. floors. and celings of the range I belong to. Cop night at the range has become a running joke with the owners and members because they put holes in practicaly everthng but the targets. My 14 year old son is a better shot that basically all the cops that practice there.
cops were peace officers in the past. nowadays most cops seem to get off on controling others. They are the worst kind of control freak liberals.
I would prefer that the Judge judge and not prejudge, otherwise I would judge that the Judge needs to be judged himself, preferably by an honest Judge.
Have you considered that perhaps the judge has seen a pattern of abuse by this LEO?
+++++++++++++++
If there was a pattern, let’s see it before we condemn the cop. All the facts are not available regarding the judge or the cop or the doper. So let’s not bash the cop until we know more. Until then I’ll support the cop before I would a judge or doper any day.
but i'm not here looking for a pat on the back. it's a job. what i do not like is people putting blankets over the entire institution of policing because the only stories people post around here are the ones where cops are alleged to have done bad things.
you never see the good stories. they are never written.
The cop gave his reason for doing what he did "so you don't OD". That will be his defense, and it is one worth hearing.
If the cop had instead said: "You f'n maggot, I am going to choke the livin S--- out of you, scumbag!(or other similar words)
Had that occurred, I would be in 100% agreement with you. As to now though, I would want an answer to my questions in Post 51 before I execute the cop (as many here are already willing to do, figuratively speaking).
Pot stays in the system about a month and none was found in the guy, including his mouth.
Call me crazy but I'm suspicious. It's not like evidence is never planted.
But stay. You aptly and expertly explained what is so wrong with police mentality these days. I used to do ride-alongs... I don't even smile at police offices today because of people like you on the police force. And you see nothing wrong with these actions as we are just 'civilians.' You may as well call us 'monkeys' as the Khmers did to their population, or 'logs' as the Japanese did to their subjects. Don't you see how wrong this is and were it leads?
We are fellow Americans, not police officers and civilians. Please keep that in the forefront of you mind.
Created by artificial criminality. How many people died during alcohol prohibition? It didn't work then, it ain't working now. That stray bullet was loaded by the black market conditions CREATED by this criminal criminality of a G_d given plant!
If there wasn't a black market (MADE by illegality) there wouldn't have been a drive by PERIOD.
But please save us from ourselves, even if it CREATES more problems than it could ever solve.
You seem to be filled with anger, and it has affected your problem comprehension capabilities.
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