In contrast to Ferguson

[frogmarch]

A few days ago:


(Photobucket is very sluggish this morning, so the picture might not open)

http://chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=34586

(S.D.)-Oglala Sioux Police Officer Is Being Investigated

By: Kevin Larsen Posted at: 08/19/2014 08:08 AM

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Federal law agencies are investigating whether an Oglala Sioux police officer improperly used a Taser on a man who was lying on the ground.

Tribal Public Safety Chief Ron Duke says that the officer probably used the stun gun on the drunk man between five and 10 times, trying to get him "to wake up and stand up."

The incident happened Friday afternoon in Manderson. Duke said the man was checked at a hospital and determined to be OK.

Duke said the officer is on paid leave while the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs investigate the use of force.

The Associated Press was unable to immediately find a telephone number for the officer or determine if the officer had an attorney.

Yesterday:

http://chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=34612


(S.D.)-Police Corporal Who Tazered Man Has Great Record

By: Kevin Larsen Posted at: 08/21/2014 02:41 PM

(Manderson)-The Oglala Sioux Tribe police officer who used a Taser several times on a man lying on the ground in Manderson on Friday has a good record with no disciplinary problems in her 2 1/2 years with the department, Ron Duke, chief of the OST Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday.
Duke said Corporal Becky Sotherland's good record was "one of the reasons she was promoted to corporal about a month ago."

According to Duke, Sotherland used the Taser as she was ordering Jeffrey Eagle Bull, 32, of Manderson, to get into her police vehicle. Eagle Bull was lying on the ground, and Duke said on Monday that Sotherland used the Taser to try to "wake him up."

A video taken by a passerby shows a helpless Eagle Bull being stunned by Sotherland's Taser. After onlookers shouted at Sotherland to stop, some of them helped Sotherland load Eagle Bull into the vehicle.

An officer at the Pine Ridge jail said Eagle Bull was incarcerated until Monday, when he was released after paying bail. Duke said on Monday that Eagle Bull was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, trespassing and resisting an officer.

Duke has said that a camera on Sotherland's uniform gives a view of the incident different from what appears on the passerby's video. The FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs are investigating the incident.

~~

Today:

http://chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=34620

(S.D.)-Tribal Officer Fired After Stun Gun Incident

By: Roxie Graham-Marski Posted at: 08/22/2014 09:35 AM

RAPID CITY, S.D. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) - An Oglala Sioux police officer has been fired for improperly using a stun gun, and the police chief's job might also be in jeopardy.

Tribal Councilman Garfield Steele says Cpl. Becki Sotherland was fired Thursday for an incident last week in which she used a Taser several times on a man lying on the ground. A passer-by shot video and posted it online, drawing attention to the incident.

Steele says a Tribal Council committee is recommending Chief Ron Duke be fired for lack of leadership. Duke says he'll fight any effort to remove him.

Sotherland is being investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A telephone listing for her couldn't be found and it wasn't immediately clear if she has an attorney.

I'll be watching to see how this turns out. So will a lot of other people around here.

[niyad]

1. apart from all the other points in the articles, how in the HELL does one figure that

tazing someone will encourage/enable that person to "wake up and stand up"???

glad to see that the officer was wearing a camera. whatever the chief of police said about how it showed something different from the civilian's video, must not have been enough to save her job.

[frogmarch]

3. I know! It's beyond ridiculous! nt

[malthaussen]

2. Ya know, I get real tired of these "resisting arrest" charges that are always tacked on...

... the guy was so drunk he couldn't get up off the ground, and he's "resisting?" Give me a break.

-- Mal

[niyad]

5. have not figured that one out, either.

[malthaussen]

7. It's SOP, no matter how ridiculous the circumstances.

The only reasons for it I can come up with are that 1) it gives a retroactive excuse for using violence, and 2) it adds to the number of crimes for which "arrests" are made, thus making the department look good, since PDs and cops are rated on the number of arrests. Presumably the dangerous culprit can then be fined or incarcerated for profit, as with the criminal in Ferguson who was charged with bleeding on the cop's shirt.

-- Mal

[niyad]

4. some interesting information about the police chief:

. . .

Duke has had more than one tour as police chief. He was chief in 2003 when the council decided it wanted a BIA officer to take the reins. He was made deputy chief.

Two years later, he again took over as chief. In May 2006, the council fired him. He won a seat on the tribal council in 2006 and served until 2008. In 2011, a new chief appointed him sergeant, then he was hired again as chief in 2013.

Duke said that Steele led the effort to fire him in 2006.

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/tribal-official-ost-committee-recommends-firing-of-police-chief/article_58552591-a08b-5782-a67d-388c04b85a72.html

[niyad]

6. but then we have THIS:

Native Sun News: Police officer uses Taser on Rosebud Sioux girl

PIERRE—An 8 year old member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe was subdued by a police Taser in Pierre after officers responded to a report of the child being suicidal.
The child, who was under the care of a baby sitter at the time of the incident, was holding a 4 inch knife that responding officers reported was being held to her chest.

In statements made to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Pierre Police Chief Bob Grandpre, said that once the officers arrived on the scene the child was approached by the officer and turned the knife towards the officer, when the officer stopped she placed the knife back at her chest. It was then that the officer fired the Taser at the child. The prongs from the Taser hit the 8 year old in the chest and stomach. The devices are designed to give police a non-lethal alternative to firearms and send a shock through the bodies of those they are deployed on high enough to disable any possible threat that may be present.

A family member who spent time with the child in the days after the incident told Native Sun News that the child had told them that the blast from the Taser sent her child in to the wall where it knocked her out.

“She said that she didn’t remember anything after that,” said the family member.

. . . .


The child was in extreme pain the night of the incident and has according to the family member begun having panic attacks and difficulties breathing ever since she was tasered. In some cases the use of the devices has led to cardiac arrest and a variety of other heart conditions amongst those who were hit by them.
. . .

Pierre police chief, Bob Grandpre in statements to the Argus Leader defended the actions of the officer saying
*******“He quite possibly saved the juvenile’s life that night.”***** (I think I am going to be quite ill)
. . . . .

http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/011475.asp