South Carolina Ping
Add me to the list. / Remove me from the list.
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.
Somehow the sheep have forgotten that they elect smarter sheep to write laws to protect the rest of the sheep. Instead, the smart sheep takes money from wolves to let wolves and weasels(the lawyers) write the laws for him, expecting that he will be exempt from the wolves rules. Just ask the Prince George's Mayor who got a visit from the big bad wolf!
This is why every law enforcement vehicle should be equipped with a video camera that can’t be disabled by the officers - both to protect the good cops falsely accused of misdeeds by criminals, and to protect citizens from the occasional power-mad moron who manages to get a badge.
South Carolina Ping
Add me to the list. / Remove me from the list.
Just like the Rodney King case, at what point did the tape start? Just after they told him 6 times to put his hands behind his back and he won’t comply. The sheriff has the small penis, deputies are expendable.
Sounds like the ubiquitous "plant" to bolster the arrest record.
This trend might head the other way after a few dozen of them start meeting a bullet with their forehead as they come through the door way behind that battering ram.
Short of that, I don't see much in our culture to turn anything around.
Good point. I think that that may be proof that they demand a cut of any eventual settlement before they’ll get involved, because why wouldn’t they get involved otherwise? If there was a more clear cut case of apparent police brutality, I haven’t seen it.
LOL, one of my favorite stand-up comedy bits! It makes me chuckle just to think of it, hehehehehe...
If the little 18 year old was badmouthing and resisting arrest, as many of them are to do nowadays, 13 hits to the kisser isn't excessive.
As someone else already pointed out, we don't get to see anything that may have provoked the cop's response, or may be provoking it while it's going on. So we've gotta be careful about jumping to conclusions.
Also, did you see the 18-yr-old's picture? If that was taken right after the arrest, he sure looks awfully good for just having been punched in the face 13 times by a big bad brutal cop.
I don't know... It looks real bad for the cop, I'm not denying that. He may be a real ****ole and needs to be fired and imprisoned... But, I do want to hear his side of the story, and we never get that from the liberal media.
We have troopers beating citizens at traffic stops, running down people with HP cars, using racial epithets, deputies shooting police dogs, deputies fighting among themselves while making an arrest on a citizen. And thats the "good" cops here.
My new neighbors couldn't understand why I would not call the cops to report an incident of vandalism at our new home. I don't want the JBTs on my property, regardless of the reason. It can never turn out good when they come around.
The "low pay" arguement is a red herring. They actually do alright. Especially when you figure in the free meals, the "special" part time jobs that only THEY can get ($40 an hour to direct traffic after an event at the Bi-Lo Center, for example), and the reduced rent at most apartment complexes around here. Also figure in the county car that they drive to and from work, and the low auto insurance premiums on their personal vehicles because it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to receive a ticket. Then factor in whatever other graft and corruption they are into, and you can see that they actually do quite well.
Yet I'm sure there are those who live far away who will insist that they know what is going on with LE here.
I’m glad this scumbag is at least being charged. The other scumbags who helped him do it should be charged as accessories.
Lived in Tega Cay in the 90’s. Our community was private and we hired the police. After they sexually assaulted, stalked, and harrassed many of the females in the community, big reforms took place. There was only one road in or out and the police station was the gateway. It was not a good situation. The Fort Mill and Rock Hill cops seemed OK. The state cops in SC however are as you say, JBT’s. I love their “SLED” squads. Kinda like the gestapo.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.