I heard screams coming from the other end of the emergency room. I went to investigate. In all, there were three nurses and a paramedic who walked into the patient’s room. The patient in that room was the source of the screaming, and he was a prisoner who was shackled to the bed by cuffs on all four limbs: his hands were cuffed to the bed, his feet were cuffed together, and a fifth cuff attached his left ankle to the bed. He was naked, except for the suicide vest that the cop had put on him. The smock looked like this:
The cop that was in the room with him was pulling on the prisoner/patient’s wrist so hard that he had pulled him into a sitting position, and the cuff had cut into the patient’s arm and was causing bleeding. The cop looked dead at me and yelled, “He’s trying to escape! He’s wriggling his hands to get out of the cuffs!” The prisoner was yelling back, “No, they are just too tight! I’m just trying to get comfortable.”
The cop drew his Taser, pulled off the cartridge, and pressed it into the patient’s back to use in drive stun mode. All of the medical personnel in the room cried out for him to stop.
We all filed written complaints. The cop outweighed the guy by at least 100 pounds, he was handcuffed, and wasn’t going anywhere. When they came to do the investigation, we were called together and told:
I am recording this conversation so that there is a record of it. You people here don’t know this guy. We do. He isn’t a nice guy. You don’t know police procedures, and you don’t know what happened. The prisoner was trying to escape. I spoke with the officer, and he says that he never drew his taser. You all must have misunderstood what you saw.”
I walked away at that point. Should it matter whether or not the prisoner was a nice guy? Doesn’t he have rights? Including the right to not be tortured? Mean guy or not, isn’t he presumed innocent?
If the officer really felt that force was needed to prevent an escape, then why did he lie and say that he didn’t use his Taser? Why not own it? If the cop had to lie, that tells me that he was wrong and he knows it. The only guys that I saw not being nice in this incident were the cops.
Since he lied, I will never trust that cop’s word again. Since his fellow officers lied to cover his ass, I will never trust another cop from that agency again. One lies, and the others swear to it.
I watched a police officer torture a prisoner who was in his custody, then I watched him lie about it. With my own two eyes. I know what I saw, and I know what my fellow nurses saw.
and it was disgraceful.
Oh, and I looked the guy up. He has a clean record- not even a traffic ticket in his past. His drug and alcohol screens were negative. Sounds to me like the guy pissed off a cop, and the cop decided to give him a bit of “stick time.” The charges in this case? I can’t mention them without giving away details, but he was ridiculously overcharged. He wound up pleading out to a misdemeanor and got time served. I have seen people try to escape, and I have seen people resisting. This was neither. Wriggling your hand while all 4 of your limbs are cuffed is not an escape attempt, and certainly doesn’t justify being hit with a Taser.
30 Comments
BobF · August 18, 2023 at 5:31 am
If that is how they investigate, there are a lot more than the two you met who are handling prisoners that way.
OT: I assume you are watching this: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=7
NCLivingBrit · August 18, 2023 at 8:30 am
My first week working security at a hospital we had a very spindly short woman in her 70s in the ER on a psychiatric hold. She decided to go home. As a mallcop I’m not allowed to actually stop her, so when she made her intentions clear we called the cops. She was heading out as the cops headed in, so I pointed her out to the absolute unit lead cop (he made me look delicate and I’m 6’2″ and heavy). He didn’t ask her to stop or even speak, he just picked her up chest high and slammed her into the ground like he was dropping a sack of concrete. Two more cops basically stood on this senior bundle of sticks and cuffed her. I tried really hard never to involve the local PD again, even at risk to myself.
noway2 · August 18, 2023 at 10:50 am
Hey Brit, I see you’re still on vacation from that other place. In any case, your story reminded me of an incident we witnessed. The better half and I went to a local Applebee’s for dinner. There was a guy sitting at the bar, who had obviously over consumed. When the bar tender tried to cut him off, he started to get belligerent, and the bar tender did what their training tells them to: serve them another one to calm them down and call the cops. Two cops came in, they went and talked with the guy for a few minutes and then started to escort him out. The guy had left his wallet on the counter and started motioning that he wanted to get it. From across the room, it was obvious what he wanted. The cops refused and escallated the situation to where the drunk hauled off and decked one of the cops (who deserved it at that point). He got face planted, cuffed, and then drug out of the building. After he was gone, the bar tender took the wallet and gave it to one of the cops. He too could have prevented the unnecessary escalation and violence but didn’t.
I considered seeing if I could find record of this case and offer to testify in his defense that the cops intentionally and unnecessarily provoked and escalated the situation, but I was legitimately concerned about retaliation by our towns finest.
To give you another example of their behavior from Police State, Ohio, one Sunday morning we were out driving looking to see if we could find a restaurant to have breakfast. I noticed the traffic light was red and stopped hard. There was a stupid orc in the parking lot who pulled out and then proceeded to trail us for the next 15 minutes while I made sure to abide by every freaking traffic law I could imagine. Finally, the bastard got bored.
I’ve noticed over the last decade or so that the general attitude towards cops has gotten a lot worse. When one of them get injured or dies on the job, I notice fewer and fewer people offering “thoughts and prayers” or other kind remarks. Most people aren’t crass enough to say something rude and stay silent, but I am noticing a lot less support being given.
NCLivingBrit · August 19, 2023 at 5:53 pm
I try and avoid them like I avoid any other unpredictable and potentially life ending hazard. The best result you get these days is a case based on pique getting thrown out. Or you may end up with a baton up your arse in a Supermax for the rest of your life. You just cannot tell.
And yeah I’m still on naughty boy timeout, which has nothing to do with a grudge by certain folks and everything to do with my sedition and…. Wait wrong event.
Joe Blow · August 18, 2023 at 5:38 am
All orcs must die.
Us against them. Truly.
Look, I know there are a lot of good cops out there. Like everything else in life, a few assholes ruin it for everyone. If you are one of those honest people, a good guy who works in law enforcement – GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!!
The situation we all currently find ourselves in, is not going to get better (in fact, it WILL get worse, a lot worse). Save yourself and your family and find a new career field. There are lots of ways you can use your existing resume to find good paying jobs, that do not put you in direct enforcement of laws (aka as a beat cop).
You are powerless to stop what is coming. Save yourself and be there for your family. If you stick around with the rotten apples, you’ll be thrown out with them. Simple as that.
chiefjaybob · August 18, 2023 at 6:55 am
I agree. As recently as 5 years ago, I was in the, “Most cops are good guys and will stand up when the time comes,” mindset.
After hearing too many stories like this one, plus seeing a few of my own, I find myself simpathizing with the ACAB crowd. I don’t like it, but there is a reason why they stopped calling themselves “peace officers,” and decided they like “law enforcement officers” better.
BobF · August 18, 2023 at 12:57 pm
Chief, like DM’s pair only one “bad apple”, but the “investigation” cop’s method is a very clear signal to every other cop on that force that everything is OK, go for it and do what you will, the leadership will cover your ass. I’ll bet a goodly sum that lying on reports and on the stand in court has put some innocent folks in jail, too. So I have to wonder about the DA …
joe · August 18, 2023 at 9:08 pm
i would go with a few, not a lot…they are not our friends and don’t ever trust them…
Divemedic · August 19, 2023 at 7:54 am
You think they are your friend. Get in a disagreement with a cop and see whose side your “friend” takes.
Dirty Dingus McGee · August 18, 2023 at 7:06 am
Cops lie? Quick, someone fetch my fainting couch. And in other news, water is wet and fire is hot.
What they fail to consider is that there are some folks who WILL retaliate, even if it takes a good long while. And there a myriad ways of getting even that don’t involve outright confrontation. And they are even more enjoyable for the initial victim. Allegedly.
Zarba · August 18, 2023 at 7:13 am
Agreed, Joe Blow. If the “good cops” are actively lying to protect the “bad cops”, guess what? They’re ALL Bad Cops. If you won’t police your own ranks, you’re no better than they are.
That cop just turned not just the medical team, but everyone they tell the story to, against law enforcement. This is how we’ve slowly destroyed what was once a high-trust society into anarchy. As they say, ‘No one is coming to save you”.
Of course, the people running to defend a bad cop are the same people who say, “The cops won’t come and take our guns when ordered. They’re patriots!”
Ummm, no. They’ll gladly shoot you and your dog if that’s what it takes to get home tonight and keep their pension. Your life is nothing to them. You’re a “civilian”, and you get what you deserve. Of course, that same mindset (that cops are not civilians – they definitely are) is how they can justify anything they do to you. And they know their fellow cops will lie to protect them.
We’ve allowed (and supported) the policies that have turned police into quasi-paramilitary outfits whose job it is to support and enforce whatever the regime tells them to do, complete with armored vehicles, assault teams, and heavy weapons. As long as we allow it, it will only get worse.
Steve · August 18, 2023 at 7:23 am
Starting with baby Boo-Boo, I started recording incidents like this in a file I called “The Thin Blue Line”. I eventually stopped because I was recording too many incidents and they were too bad. I’ll also note for those who always claim, “It’s just a few bad apples”. If the good cops aren’t doing something about the “bad apples”, they they are co-conspirators and just as guilty.
Robert · August 18, 2023 at 8:32 am
“Since he lied, I will never trust that cop’s word again. Since his fellow officers lied to cover his ass, I will never trust another cop from that agency again. One lies, and the others swear to it. “
Why do you think that cops from a different agency will be any different from those guys? Cops often say “we know he’s guilty of something, we just haven’t caught him at it yet.”
Does not the same condition apply to their truthfulness?
Bad Dancer · August 18, 2023 at 9:03 am
Utterly disgraceful and if it were not already that department is now suspect. Do they expect the word of four medical professionals to count for nothing? Mass hallucination perhaps? I assume the complaints are still there unless someone in the department threw them in the trash immediately.
What happens if the person who was being abused decides to make a case out of this?
StBernardnot · August 18, 2023 at 4:10 pm
They will kill him.
Echo Hotel · August 18, 2023 at 11:22 am
Hmmm, NOW I know why I found that video of the shitbag Syrian shooting the shitbag cops in Fargo so pleasing. Other than the poor woman on the sidewalk who was caught in the middle, almost everyone got their just desserts.
That sucks for you, DM. Hang in there and try not to lose your mind.
Rick T · August 18, 2023 at 11:31 am
I’m guessing the next time a department member comes in with a sucking chest wound they will be triaged lower than an ingrown toenail…
Cederq · August 18, 2023 at 11:46 am
When I was the weekend graveyard shift charge nurse in an ER at the hospital, we got the police holds and the police arrests and I made it clear to the “officers” that we had cameras and I wasn’t going allow any shit from them and that hold or arrest once he cleared the receiving door was my prisoner or hold was my patient and I was in charge. I had to remind a few that we got any police injury or shooting and if you harm a prisoner you might not get the best care that we could provide. Ethical? fuck no, but we are talking about a ruthless, thug gang that masquerades as public service.
Aesop · August 18, 2023 at 12:12 pm
That’s the point where you tell Investigator Fuckstick that the next time he or Officer Lyingsackofshit get shot or otherwise injured, you’ll be the ones who’ll help.
Or, maybe not so much.
Then suggest he take a long, deep moment of thought before he files his bullshit report, because yours will be going over his head, and CCed to the city, county, and state powers-that-be. Even sending it to the local US Attorney’s office wouldn’t be out of line.
(Whether you drop hints about every local news organization, the wire services, and the networks is your call.)
Name names, document it in excruciatingly specific detail, and name every staff member who witnessed the events.
Ask Investigator Fuckstick if he recalls what happened the last time a law enforcement agency sided against ER nurses, and where those former officers from Salt Lake City work now.
And be sure and file the proper citations of patient abuse with your state ombudsman, just like you would with child/spouse/elder abuse. Say it with me: “mandatory reporter”.
Be sure to CC your hospital’s admin — after you send those reports off.
When dealing with 80-IQ douchebadges, a PhD in Administrative Violence is a handy credential to play.
And BTW, anything less than screaming “Rape!” on the part of licensed staff can be construed as accessory-after-the-fact. IANAL, but you should talk to one, and not one retained by the hospital to cover their own ass.
What happens in the field is a case for the po-po’s Internal Affairs and bodycams.
But when you’re an eyewitness in your own ED, that’s your house, and your ass.
Protect your nursing license.
And fuck those assholes.
EN2 SS · August 18, 2023 at 1:27 pm
Cops, lawyers, doctors, unions will always protect their fellow travelers, tell me something new.
They all have the “us against them” mentality and soon it will be proven true. It’s been “them” against “us” for a while, I don’t think they will enjoy it when it truly turns us against them.
grumpy51 · August 18, 2023 at 1:53 pm
Just curious…… does FL have a “required to report”?? As it was the hospital’s patient…… and patient rights can have a strange twist to them. Just as I’m required to report child abuse/neglect, same for adults….. even though every adult investigation was found to be “no issue” leaving even family members wondering what to do next (psych geriatric, sleeping in his own waste, with trash strewn about, and no “good” food (just junk food by the metric ton)….. and this was in an independent living….
Big Ruckus D · August 18, 2023 at 3:09 pm
[Sigh]. FTP. And I’m not talking about file transfer protocol. That is all.
Just a guy · August 18, 2023 at 4:07 pm
If that’s “one of the most fucked up things” you’ve seen a cop do, you ain’t been around many of em. That pales in comparison to shit that’s happened to me personally. That is typical cop behavior sadly.
anonymous coward · August 18, 2023 at 6:31 pm
And, for reasons like this, I’ve learned how to quickly turn on the camera on my phone and tuck it in to my front shirt pocket. It’s no longer my word against yours, it’s my video and recording, against yours.
Big Ruckus D · August 18, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Need better concealment. A shirt button or eyeglass cam wired to a remote recorder or some such. After all, it’s “illegal” (or so they’ll say) to record their crooked shit. And if they figure out they are on camera, they’ll pull some escalatory bullshit that ends up with you being dead.
Of course, with the judiciary such as it now is, what is the video footage going to do for most of us anyway? The system cares fuckall for proof that runs counter to their desired outcome. Their only concern is covering their own asses, and anything that undermines that primary objective will be dismissed out of hand.
Azfloyd · August 18, 2023 at 11:04 pm
Fyi, cops do not have a duty to protect you. The case is Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005). A mom got an order of protection against her ex. The ex killed her kids and she sued the cops. SCOTUS told her to pound sand because fuck you thays why.
As far as i am concernedzm, the day this decision came down is when the federal government lost its legitimacy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Castle_Rock_v._Gonzales
Divemedic · August 19, 2023 at 7:55 am
Yes. I believe everyone who reads this blog is well acquainted with Castlerock.
Anonymous · August 18, 2023 at 11:07 pm
“No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
People who get cynical slower than government gets violent, which is most people, will voluntarily climb into boxcars. Darwinism in action. (Willy Wonka meme picture) Tell me again how you snitch on people who are committing “crimes” for the goal of evading the bad laws? You know the people turning in the Jews in the attics were the law-abiders?
Nemo · August 19, 2023 at 4:39 pm
Then they wonder why someone came up with the term “99.99999% of cops give the rest a bad name” and how you get the Derek Chauvin’s of the world.
Freedom – Area Ocho · August 18, 2023 at 6:29 pm
[…] the abuse suffered at the hands of police that are detaining J6 defendants for trial, knowing how cops will abuse and torture prisoners, and how they are transferring them to Supermax prisons, I am not surprised at the J6 defendants […]
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