Posted on 07/05/2014 1:02:32 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
An Indiana cop was allowed to keep his job after police brass recommended he be fired for shoving a paraplegic man out of his wheelchair during a confrontation on the street, officials said.
Lafayette Police Lieutenant Tom Davidson was one of several officers called to confront the wheelchair-bound man, Nicholas Kincade, at North Ninth and Elizabeth Sts. on Oct. 1, 2013, officials said.
Kincade, 25, had allegedly told employees at a nearby charter school that he was carrying a gun, the Lafayette Journal & Courier reported.
The cops quickly determined that Kincade wasn’t packing heat and only found a pocket knife that he said he carried for protection.
Footage from a camera mounted to an officer’s patrol car shows the uniformed officers talking to Kincade, who was warned that he could be charged with trespassing if he returned to the school’s property.
But when Kincade started to leave, his motorized wheelchair hit Davidson in the leg and the officer promptly knocked the man to the ground.
“It was just inappropriate,” Police Chief Patrick Flannelly told reporters on Tuesday.
“The subject was complying at that point in doing what we’d asked him to do.”
Kincade tumbled to the ground and cut his face when he hit the pavement.
“Now you’re going to jail,” the officers tell Kincaid as he’s cuffed.
“I didn’t see you,” the handicapped man said.
Kincaid was charged with battery against a law enforcement officer, but the case was dismissed five months later.
Flannelly said officials with the LPD reviewed the 33-minute clip of the ordeal and recommended Davis, the highest-ranked officer at the scene, be fired.
Flannelly said the use of force could have easily been avoided if Davidson simply took one step out of the way.
But the department’s Civil Service Commission voted that Davidson only be punished with a 30-day suspension and placed the officer on supervisory probation for a year.
He was transferred to the department’s Administrative Services Division in order to “put some distance” between the department and the incident, Flannely said.
Five officers against one man in a wheelchair - why, oh why, didn’t they call for backup?
All in a days work.
There’s people who shouldn’t be cops and they let them be cops. There’s people who prove they shouldn’t continue to be cops and they continue to be cops. The video should be fair game for any trial in which this guy’s involved, thereby rendering him totally useless as a cop putting him on equal footing with his uselessness as a human being.
Guy in a wheel chair mouths off to cops all day long and then runs over a cops foot on the way out. Maybe it was an accident or not.
But when you play games with cops - don’t be surprised when you are on the ground with cuffs.
Fat cops...Hell, I’m in better shape.
It’s amazing how the left wants the public disarmed, but are totally cool with people like this having all of the guns.
The cop might have over-reacted, but his response wasn't completely unexpected.
I almost always bash the cops on vids like this, but ya know what?
Para definately tried to run over the cop’s foot —I can’t say this was totally unprovoked. Pushing him over like that wasn’t called for but this guy absolutely needed to be arrested and roughed up.
Looks bad, sure, and some overuse of force, but there was some provocation, there.
90% of the ones I comment on really ARE jack-boots syndrome, but this is not really an egregious case, I think.
There is a small number of handicapped people who think they have a 100% free pass.
This will also happen when people start getting named in the VA and IRS scandals.
Here’s the raw dash cam video (looped a couple of times).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKo7RfafYys
Why didn’t the officer step aside to give him leeway to maneuver? He seemed to be deliberately blocking his path... at least partially. If you had just been confronted by police, you would surely want to be on your way as soon as possible.
I agree. Bad employees should be fired. This is true for government workers, teachers, professor, unions and private sector workers. If you can't effectively do the job you were hired to do then, goodbye. When you allow them to continue you are screwing the communities, taxpayers, students, companies and stock holders.
Thanks for posting. He clearly yelled, “I DIDN’T SEE YOU!”
Gestapo USA
Most likely the cop was fired, by his own people, because he violated one of the main goals of today’s law enforcement: Terrorize the serfs.
The handicap man should have been tasered into a fatal heart attack or made to absorb 5-to-6 rounds...
Sometimes ya just gotta show people who’s boss. Ya know?
If this were Mayberry, Andy would have taken the guy home and Aunt Bea would have made him fried chicken and a peach pie for supper.
well at least the moronic a-hole cop went home safe.
Maybe the cop felt for his safety or he was pissed that there was no service dog to shoot and kill.
Cop should be sued for all he’s worth and sent to jail for 5 years.
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