Balch Springs Man Tasered By Cops While Handcuffed Believes Officer Acted On Race
Almost a year before a Balch Springs police officer fatally shot a 15-year-old leaving a party, a sergeant used a Taser on a handcuffed man, recently revealed body-camera footage shows.
Balch Springs officials said the sergeant who used the stun gun April 28, 2016, was reprimanded but was not charged.
The officer, James Young, was investigated by the Texas Rangers, Balch Springs police spokesman Officer Pedro Gonzalez said. Officers who responded to the call with Young had concerns about his actions and asked supervisors to review the footage, Gonzalez said.
The man who was tased, Marco Stephenson, told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday that he had been walking with his nephew and his friends. One of the kids had a BB gun, and he told the kid to give it to him because they were walking in a nicer part of Balch Springs and someone might call the police.
Someone did.
Police responded to a report that a man was waving a gun in the neighborhood. They found Stephenson, who had run-ins before with the police department and had been convicted of assaulting a Balch Springs officer in 2008.
Stephenson was handcuffed when Young tased him.
“I can’t say nothing but ‘you did it because you’re dealing with a black man,’ ” said Stephenson, 39. “How can you want somebody to support the blue when you’re dealing with people based on what color they are?”
The department said it is worried publicity about the incident will create more tension between the public and police, who have faced increased scrutiny since April 29, when Officer Roy Oliver fired his rifle into a vehicle of teenagers, killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, who was black.
Oliver, who is white, was fired days later and was arrested on a murder charge.
For the full story visit : https://www.dallasnews.com/news/balch-springs/2017/05/17/balch-springs-man-tased-handcuffed-believes-officer-acted-based-race
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