Tuesday
02Nov
2 separate brutality complaints lodged against Chattanooga police
Tuesday, November 2, 2004 at 02:55PM
City police are investigating two separate complaints of
excessive force after a videotape showed officers kicking a handcuffed
suspect and a report that a homeless man was driven out of town and
sprayed with tear gas. Police Chief Steve Parks said he restricted
duties of two officers this week after seeing a convenience store
surveillance video that shows a stun gun also may have been used on the
handcuffed Georgia man after a Sept. 11 chase. Chattanooga lawyer
Robin Flores filed an excessive force complaint on behalf of Jason
McCollum, 26, of Dalton, Ga. McCollum reported suffering scratches and
bruises when he was arrested on charges of public intoxication,
resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Flores told investigators that
officers violated at least two departmental policies - using a stun gun
on a handcuffed suspect and failing to get him follow-up medical
treatment. Police officials also confirmed an internal affairs
investigation of a complaint by Robert E. Williams, 43, that
Chattanooga police put him in a patrol car, sprayed him with a
chemical, told him he was "going to Georgia," and threw him out of the
car in the Chattanooga suburb of East Ridge on Sunday night. Williams
said he was driven out of town after officers were called a second time
to a coin-operated laundry they had told him to leave. A Hamilton
County deputy found Williams on the roadside near a park gate. East
Ridge police arrived a few minutes later and filed a report saying
Williams "displayed all the symptoms of being Maced." He was taken by
ambulance to a hospital. [more]
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