Posted on 04/28/2014 4:32:45 AM PDT by raybbr
Full Headline: Tennessee sheriff's deputy is FIRED after he was caught on camera choking an unresisting college student until he passed out
A sheriff's deputy in Knox County, Tennessee has been fired after he was caught on camera allegedly choking a university student Saturday night.
Frank Phillips, 47, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website.
'In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in this incident,' Sheriff Jimmy 'J.J.' Jones said.
'Therefore, Officer Phillips' employment with the Knox County Sheriff's Office is terminated immediately.'
Jones added that the investigation will now be turned over to the Knox County Attorney General's Office to determine any further action.
John Messner, a freelance photographer in Knoxville, captured Phillips with both hands around the neck of University of Tennessee student Jarod Dotson in Fort Sanders after a party. The 21-year-old can be seen falling to his knees after the man's grip apparently renders him unconscious.
Phillips has been with the Sheriff's Office since 1992. Dotson, of Powell, is an architecture major at the college.
Authorities say Dotson was publicly intoxicated and drinking from a cup 'that had an odor of an alcoholic beverage' at 23rd Street and Laurel Avenue, when he was arrested.
He was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. He was released Sunday morning on a $500 bond, the sheriff's office said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Good grief.. from reports it sounds like “unruly” is a huge understatement on the “block party”
Well I’m sure it must send a thrill down (former) Officer Phillip’s leg to wield that sort of power over a helpless subject but where’s the evidence this way-cool move was ever needed? This is about who has the power, and loves having it. Period.
>> He’s not choking him, he’s cutting off blood supply to the brain by blocking the carotid artery; common restraint technique from martial arts and very rarely harmful as long as you control the person as they fall.<<
I am thrilled that you can see his left thumb ..... and that he has not collapsed his windpipe.
>> He’s not choking him, he’s cutting off blood supply to the brain by blocking the carotid artery; common restraint technique from martial arts and very rarely harmful as long as you control the person as they fall.<<
I am thrilled that you can see his left thumb ..... and that he has not collapsed his windpipe.
In the article it says this occured when they were changing cuffs to put him in the van. They took off one set of cuffs and were preparing to put the other set on him. He let his arms fall down to his side during the gap in time. That promted Mr Pigly to do the assault.
Apparently that is also what led to charges of resisting arrest and assault as his hand brushed the officers leg.
I agree - and the others who were there and did nothing to stop it should be fired as well.
“That’s why I don’t watch “Cops” on TV — somebody will be cooperating, getting down on the ground and some kook will run over, knee him in the back and slam his face into the ground. After seeing more than a dozen of those I never could sit through another show.”
Yeah, usually while three different cops are all shouting contradictory orders at the suspect at the same time. A lot of cops seem to really need instruction in maintaining a calm, professional demeanour. But mostly those kinds of things reflect incompetence and/or over-excitement more than malevolence. Choking a person who’s already restrained, even if they are “resisting”, seems clearly unacceptable.
“Now that the taxpayers won’t be footing the bill, the kid should sue the bastard hard, irrespective of any criminal charges.”
And what would lead you to that conclusion? At the time of the incident, this cretin was a uniformed sheriff’s deputy acting under color of authority. The fact that he’s been terminated will have no affect on the coming lawsuits. This idiot probably doesn’t have anything worth taking, but the county (and the city) do.
Personally, I hope it’s a bundle because it’s really the only way to get the citizens involved.
“Which is why bad cops hate cameras. “
And view the Bill of Rights as an “impediment” to “doing their jobs!”
“Still excessive for this situation, but despite the attempted murder and choking him to death comments, he is using a safe, minimally forceful technique for restraint, despite how it looks to the untrained.”
You must be one of the other officers in the photos! To this “untrained” person, it looks like what it is, criminal abuse under color of authority.
When the neck is the same diameter as the head, you know you have a problem!
“Do the two accomplices get to keep their jobs? No charges?”
My thoughts exactly. They were witnesses to felony behavior and didn’t take any action to stop it. They are guilty as accessories and need to be terminated as well. Locals ought to be calling out “Sheriff JJ” on it.
But they all went home safely after being dangerously confronted by the semi-conscious, hand cuffed perp, that is all that counts.
The cops us vs. them attitude is starting to reap the whirlwind of civilian disdain from even “law and order” civilians who are getting fed up with that attitude.
Remember Custer boys. You don’t have to go down this road. You are not military and should not behave as military it will only come back to bite you eventually as we are beginning to witness.
Based on photos alone, I have to say that anyone who would hire this thug as a “peace officer” needs to be relieved of any hiring responsibilities.
Ping!
Officer: I told him to stand up and he kept trying to lay down, so I choked
him harder and he just kept trying to get to the ground. Then he played possum
and I finally decided to stop choking him, and charged him with resisting.
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