Henry, a Michigan police officer, only stays at his job for the health insurance, which he needs to pay for a heart transplant. Brownie Harris/Getty Images A Black man who was restrained and stunned with a Taser by police has filed a federal lawsuit. Attorneys for Travis Cole alleged that his race was a “motivating factor” in the officer’s use of force.
The officer involved was found guilty of misdemeanor third-degree assault charges and official misconduct. A Colorado man, who is Black, has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against a local police department following a 2020 incident in which he was “brutally Tased” while he was “fully restrained” by a white sheriff’s sergeant. Travis Cole, 34, told NBC News that he was traumatized by the incident on September 21, 2020, at Boulder County Jail.
Attorneys for Cole said his race was a “motivating factor” in the sergeant’s decision to use a Taser on him while he was restrained and “could not do anything at all beyond yell and shift his shoulders around. “”I had a fine respect for officers of the law, but now I have a fear,” Cole, who was facing a domestic violence charge when he was arrested, told NBC News. “I don’t feel they’re here to protect and serve.
“Cole Cole’s attorneys, Mari Newman and Andy McNulty, said that once Cole was fully restrained in a chair with his arms and legs bound, he was ridiculed by officials. Boulder County Sergeant Christopher Mecca “began to verbally taunt the helpless Mr. Cole, seeking to provoke aggression.
. . by repeatedly challenging him to resist,” according to the federal lawsuit seen by Insider.
Mecca and seven other officers were present. The lawsuit said that Mecca pressed his Taser to Cole’s leg and threatened to stun him while the other officers watched, “yet did nothing to intervene, even though there was no conceivable justification for Defendant Mecca’s threat to tase Mr. Cole.
“”Then, while continuing to taunt Mr. Cole, Defendant Mecca activated his taser and electrocuted Mr. Cole, watching his restrained body shake and writhe for approximately five seconds—an act of sheer cowardly sadism with no conceivable legitimate law enforcement or penological purpose, and a certain infliction of excessive force,” the lawsuit said.
Along with Mecca, Sheriff Joe Pelle is listed as a defendant in the suit, as well as two commanders and seven deputies. A spokesperson for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on Sunday. NBC reported that Cole’s domestic violence charge was later dropped.
It was not immediately clear if Mecca had retained an attorney. “Incredibly, Defendant Mecca reported to his superiors in an email after the incident that he had chosen to tase Mr. Cole while he was fully restrained, and not use other methods of applying force, because Mr.
Cole is a Black man. Had Plaintiff been White, Defendant Mecca would not have tased him,” the lawsuit said. According to the lawsuit, two Longmont police officers reported Mecca’s behavior to their supervisor, who escalated the issue.
When questioned about the incident, “Mecca was defensive and offered no valid rationale,” according to the lawsuit. Sheriff Pelle said in a statement that the office had a policy in place prohibiting using a stun gun on restrained inmates, per NBC. “The Sheriff’s Office acted quickly and with full public transparency in the handling of this misuse of force, and to hold the former employee accountable,” the statement said, according to NBC.
“The sheriff disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit alleging culpability on the part of our agency, and counters that the former employee acted outside of our policy and training, and bears responsibility for that decision alone. “Instead of being terminated, Mecca resigned following the incident, NBC News reported. He was later found guilty of misdemeanor third-degree assault charges and official misconduct in December 2021, according to the Daily Camera.
He was sentenced to probation, per NBC. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/black-colorado-man-suing-sheriff-who-strapped-him-down-and-tased-him-2022-10
