Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Rights violations alleged in Minneapolis tasing

[Heidi]

A lawyer said video captured a police officer tasing his client after he surrendered. Police did not comment.

Backed by video footage, a Minneapolis man is claiming police used a Taser against him after he surrendered and put his hands on the hood of a squad car.

Rolando Demetrio Ruiz, 18, has filed a notice of claim alleging civil rights and other violations in the April 30 incident. The notice cites the city, Police Chief Tim Dolan, officer Todd Lappegaard as well as other unknown and unnamed Minneapolis officers.

The claim and video are the latest to raise questions about Minneapolis police conduct, especially in the use of force. In August, Dolan ordered all officers to watch video of a February incident in which six officers punch and kick a man face-down in a snowbank.

<snip>

The video, which includes sound, starts with Ruiz facing a car with his hands on the hood. An officer approaches from behind and places a Taser against the back of Ruiz's neck for 15 seconds. In the notice and in an interview, Goins identified the officer as Lappegaard.

"For an individual facing a property crime case and in custody, that's an outrageous amount of force," Goins said, adding that officers are required to use the least amount of force to take people into custody.

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Related: Video Shows Mpls. Cop Taser Man With Hands On Car

[47of74]

1. We need penalty enhacement

Where if an officer misuses a taser he or she goes to prison for the rest of their lives even on first offense.

[TexasObserver]

2. Recommend, and thanks for keeping Taser Wars covered.

[Heidi]

5. I don't mean to correct you, but it's a war on people rather than Taser wars,

just as the so-called "War on Drugs" is a war on people and the war on terrorism is a war on people. As in any ideological confrontation, a great many suffer for the alleged offenses of a few. I just prefer to call it what it is: another war on people in defense of authoritarian values. If this were not true, it would be illegal to discharge an electroshock weapon for failure to comply (too often authoritarian shorthand for "failure to defer.")

[TexasObserver]

6. Yeah, that's just my term for it.

[tblue]

3. Just reading today about the abuses of the San Jose Police force.

An awful lot of harassing of people of color and tasing going on. Not liking this at all.

[Heidi]

4. Agree.

Abuse of Tasers needs to be looked at very closely.

[Heidi]

7. UPDATE: Mpls. police ask FBI to review taser use

A "disturbing" video appears to show an officer holding a Taser to the man's neck. The city attorney's office also has been called.

Last update: November 3, 2009 - 10:57 PM

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan is asking the FBI and the city attorney to review an 18-year-old man's claim that an officer used a Taser on him after he had surrendered.

In a statement Tuesday, Dolan called the video, in which an officer appears to hold the Taser to the back of the man's neck for 15 seconds, "very disturbing." The FBI review will look at possible civil rights violations, while the city attorney will weigh possible criminal charges, he added.

<snip>

The footage, released Monday by a lawyer for Rolando Demetrio Ruiz, is the latest videotaped incident raising questions about the department's use of force.

Because of one incident, Dolan required an internal affairs investigator to see any videotaped incident resulting in injuries to a citizen or officer. With another, Dolan required all city officers to watch squad-car video in which a man face-down in a snowbank is punched and kicked by six officers and to discuss the use of force.

The 75 seconds of footage released Monday by lawyer Albert Goins starts with Ruiz facing a car with his hands on the hood. An officer approaches from behind and places a Taser against the back of Ruiz's neck. Ruiz screams and quickly falls out of the camera's view. As another officer approaches Ruiz, a police car drives up and people walk up to watch what is happening. Goins says that those people, including a man visibly smiling, are plainclothes officers.

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