Two
Tennessee Deputies Indicted for Brutally Beating Suspect
Earlier
this month, two former Humphreys County, Tenn. Sheriff’s Deputies were indicted
for violating the civil rights of Darrin Ring on January 23, 2011.
Tennessee
Sheriff’s Deputies Timothy Wayne Hedge, 50, and James Benjamin Lee, 32,
allegedly violated Ring’s right to be free from unreasonable seizures. Ring has
accused the Hedge and Lee of stripping him naked in the snow, beating him with
a collapsible baton and shocking him with a stun device during arrest.
However,
this is not just a simple case of finger pointing. The brutality was recorded
by the police dashboard camera.
Although
it has taken a full year for this case to reach the federal grand jury, it is
far from over. The indictment is only an accusation of a crime, not a
conviction. The two police officers will have to stand trial in court where
prosecutors will attempt to prove that the violence was unconstitutional and
criminal.
According
to a Department of Justice press release:
“If
convicted, Hedge and Lee could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison
and a $250,000 fine plus three years of supervised release.”
Initially,
Ring was charged with aggravated assault on an officer. That charge not only
led to his arrest, but kept him incarcerated for a total of five months.
However,
when the District Attorney viewed the footage from the dashboard camera, all
charges against Ring were dropped and he was released from jail. Then, the
lawsuit against the officers was filed.
As
a result of the arrest, Ring claims that he received four broken ribs and a
punctured lung.
Police
Brutality on the Rise
However,
Ring’s accusations of police brutality are by no means an isolated incident.
Reports of police brutality, rights violations, and excessive force are being
reported more often.
According
to the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP),
from January 2010 through December 2010, 4,861 unique reports of police
misconduct were recorded. These reports involved 6,613 sworn law enforcement
officers and 6,826 alleged victims.
NPMSRP
breaks the reports down as follows:
•
4,861 – Unique reports of police misconduct tracked
•
6,613 – Number of sworn law enforcement officers involved (354 were agency
leaders such as chiefs or sheriffs)
•
6,826 – Number of alleged victims involved
•
247 – Number of fatalities associated with tracked reports
•
$346,512,800 – Estimated amount spent on misconduct-related civil judgments and
settlements excluding sealed settlements, court costs, and attorney fees.
These
statistics are disturbing, and have many U.S. citizens asking, “Why are the
ones responsible for protecting us committing such crimes?”
David
Mangan of Drury University poses a couple of theories to answer this question
in his paper, “Police Brutality: The Use of Excessive Force”.
One
theory on police brutality that he explores is that much of the abuses are
committed by a few “bad cops.”
An
Occupational Hazard
This
is to say that the occupation itself draws many individuals with bully-like
personalities. Though this is true to an extent, it is minuscule when compared
to the big picture.
Mangan
states:
“These
individual behavioral and personality differences are only one part of the
explanation of excessive force.”
He
contends that a more prominent problem is how police departments train their
officers to refrain from acts of brutality or abuses of power; as well as how
these police departments punish offenders.
Officers
are commonly trained on how to handle dangerous situations. They are also
authorized to use force if it is necessary to protect themselves or others
around them. Mangan discusses how that training lacks the element of teaching
the officer how far is too far, or the true meaning of “self-defense.”
He
also contends that unless the case is high profile and delivered to media
outlets, many offenders are not punished for their crimes.
Mangan
contends:
“Excessive
abuse of force violates state laws, federal laws, constitution rights, and the
police laws as well. With all these possible violations in mind it would be
assumed that the conviction of a violent police officer would be revered with
much fervor. Looking at my research I conclude that the general public feels
this way, but the police do not.”
Therefore,
it is easy to predict that the number of such reported cases, such as that in
Humphreys County, Tenn., will rise unless law enforcement takes a different
approach to brutality and abuse of power by police officers.
Not
only does this approach require better training, but it also requires stiffer
penalties and consequences for ignoring a citizen’s rights. Because, just as
NPMSRP points out, it is not only the victims who suffer from police brutality,
but the community as a whole.