Pensacola officer tazes and runs over teen on bicycle
Via Simple Justice and Jonathan Turley, in October last year, Officer Jerald Ard of the Pensacola police department spotted a black teen, Victor Steen, riding his bicycle at a vacant construction site, then chased him down in his police cruiser, driving into oncoming traffic, tazes the teen from his car window, and then runs over him with his car, killing him. According to the narration at liveleak.com, which has both videos and better sound quality, video from a second responding patrol car may have caught Ard planting a 9mm on the teen's body as it lay underneath his patrol car.
Pensacola Police Department’s internal investigation found that the officer violated department policy by driving into oncoming traffic and discharging his taser from the car window, and noted that the subject could have sustained serious injuries if he had fallen from his bicycle during the chase (good thing that Victor did not fall from his bike before being run over by the police car). Officer Ard was suspended for 80 hours without pay as discipline for killing Victor Steen. He was not charged with any crime.
Comments
The officer wasn't charged with a crime because he didn't commit one - this was a terrible accident. You can clearly tell that the car was sliding on dirt on the road - if not, then why did he run into the planter that lay beyond Mr. Steen? The LiveLeaks speculation that the officer planted a gun on Mr. Steen only does a disservice to cases of *actual* bad cops. When it looks like the posters of the story are determined to find fault with what any officer does, then they are not a dispassionate party - they are partisan. It means that they can't be counted upon not to twist the truth. This is a tragedy - to paint it as malicious only makes it harder to expose real cases of police misconduct.
Posted by: Hired Mind | August 9, 2010 3:40 PM
Please. I am not looking to find fault with anything an officer does. This officer, taken in the light most favorable to him, at a minimum chased down a teenager on a bicycle who had committed no crime, driving into opposing traffic as he tased him from his car window, and then killed him with his police car.
I don't believe he intentionally ran the kid over with his patrol car, with the intent of killing him. I think that he was pumped on adrenaline, he was angry that the teenager was not stopping for him, and that he was driving extremely recklessly.
If the officer is not acting within the law, he committed multiple crimes. If he had no reason to stop the teenager in the first place, he had no right to assault the teenager. He had no right to taze the kid from his car window. A death caused by reckless operation of a motor vehicle in most places is a crime. Apart from the state law crimes that were committed he could be - should be from what I've seen - charged in federal court for violating the youth's civil rights.
Posted by: BFrederick | August 9, 2010 8:15 PM
The officer had every right to stop the kid. When he saw the officer, he immediately turned and went the other way. In every jurisdiction in the country, that is Probable Cause. You're basing the rest of your argument on the officer not having PC, and in fact he did.
As far as driving into opposing traffic, police and fire vehicles do this all the time. It is the whole basis for the statutes/ordinances that require drivers to slow down and pull to the side, even if they are on the other side of the road from the emergency vehicle.
Posted by: Hired Mind | August 10, 2010 1:15 AM
I'm sorry, but turning and riding a bicycle away from an officer is not probable cause of any crime, in any jurisdiction in this country. You don't get to make up law to support your position.
Posted by: BFrederick | August 10, 2010 10:20 PM
Florida Penal code, Title XXIII, 316.1935 paragraph 1.
In any case I'm not going to do this anymore. The fact is you're a true believer - your views are based on faith, not facts.
Posted by: Hired Mind | August 10, 2010 11:54 PM
The code section you are referring to is for failure to stop - in every jurisdiction it is illegal to fail to stop for a blue light. Probable cause to make a stop in the first place is a completely different question.
You said: "When he saw the officer, he immediately turned and went the other way. In every jurisdiction in the country, that is Probable Cause."
No, it is not. Not in any jurisdiction in this country. If you are not an attorney or you do not have a basic understanding of criminal law, don't bullshit about what the law is on a criminal defense website.
Posted by: BFrederick | August 11, 2010 12:44 AM
Probable cause alone is not enough to justify the use of a taser gun and then a car as joint weapons to stop and run over a person, whether intentional or not. Just by watching this one officer's video alone this was a clear and overwhelming use of brute force, especially in light of the fact that the kid was given no voice and was not arrested, nor was he ever sited with a primary crime. Police do not have the right to arrest or even detain someone for whatever reason that they want to make up, like riding a bicycle. This officer should have been fired and cited with criminal charges as his actions resulted in the death of an innocent kid.
Posted by: Dave | August 11, 2010 11:54 AM
WTF is wrong with you people supporting the cop ???!!! Are you retarded ???!!! Of course you are !! You`re Americans !!! Remember what happened in Greece two years ago when cops killed a 17 year old teenager ??!!! The whole country uprose and millions of people rioted and burned police stations around the whole country !!!! You idiot American scums of earth, cops are killing your children every day by the hundreds for stupid reasons and you people sit here and debate whether the cop had the right to stop him or not !!!!! Who fucking cares ????!!! You don`t chase a child like a maniac going against traffic endangering other people also and then run him over !!!! You puritanical bastards ! Americans have really become brain dead !!! Being fed shit all day long by their government, be it local, state or federal, and saying thank you on top of it !!!! Fucking losers !!!!
Posted by: Lido | November 19, 2010 5:26 AM