KCBD-TV (Texas): Conviction overturned because of excessive taser use

[Heidi]

Posted: Jan 22, 2010 2:31 AM

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A convicted drug dealer who should have served 50-years for his crimes had his sentence overturned because an Appeals Court found Lubbock Police Officers used tasers excessively.

Officers arrested Anthony Hereford in May of 2007 for evading an earlier traffic arrest when they noticed he had something in his mouth, possibly drugs, which he refused to spit out. "They threw him on the car, choked him out. He still wouldn't open his mouth. They tased him again," said Hereford's attorney, Susan Rowley.

The officers involved, Williams, Arp, and Holmes, then took him to the hospital where Rowley says the incident continued. "They tased him another 8 to 10 times, mostly in the groin, while he was hand cuffed, while the medical staff was there, at the hospital," said Rowley.

Officers eventually got the drugs out of Hereford's mouth, which a Lubbock court used to find him guilty of possession with intent to deliver in May of 2008. However, last month a District Appeals Court let him off. "They agreed that evidence should never have been let in. That it should have been suppressed because it was illegally obtained. When you torture someone to get evidence. You can't do that," said Rowley.

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[TexasProgresive]

1. So have they indicted the tazer cops yet?

No, I didn't think so.

[Heidi]

2. Makes ya wonder, doesn't it?

:(