Cop Who Tased Teen For 23 Seconds Gets Four Years In Prison

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The Taser has been a controversial piece of equipment ever since it became standard carry for most of America’s police. Taser themselves have been in the news after a series of unfortunate deaths involving their product. Today’s story doesn’t involve a Taser related death. Instead, today’s story involves an over-zealous cop whose use of a Taser caused irreparable harm to a teenager who had committed no offense. Independence Missouri Police Officer Timothy Runnels thought he had a warrant on his hands. He stopped the gray Pontiac because he believed the license plate came back to a wanted subject. Without explaining himself and ordering the victim, Bryce Masters, out of the car, Runnels pulls his Taser. Bryce can be heard on the dash cam footage stating that he didn’t do anything wrong. Runnels deploys his Taser; a decision that will cost him four years of his freedom.

When a Taser is deployed, it is programmed from the factory to electrify its target for five seconds. Standard Taser training includes proper deployment by pulling the trigger once and letting go. Runnels held the trigger down for a total of 23 seconds, more than four times the legal deployment as dictated by Taser themselves. This stopped Bryce’s heart and ended his life for a total of eight minutes. A Federal Judge overseeing the case has ordered the release of the dash cam footage of this incident, which has brought this case to light. The dash cam video shows Runnels carrying a lifeless Bryce Masters to the curb. His hands are cuffed behind his back. He drops Bryce whose face hits the pavement with a deafening thud. When the Taser struck Bryce’s chest, it was in too close proximity to his heart. His heart stopped and Bryce was dead for eight minutes. The incident has left him with permanent brain damage.

Many people believe that the Taser is the problem here. I will agree, to an extent. The real problem here is gung-ho cops who believe they can enforce the law without understanding the law. The clear problems in this horrific dash cam video are symptomatic of the problems that permeate police work. Runnels stopped Bryce because he believed he had a warrant. He got this information by running his tag in NCIC. Officers are re-certified every year in their ability to read and properly interpret NCIC. This stop never should have happened. Proper training would have avoided this. Proper training should have also prevented the unlawful Taser deployment. Training would also have eliminated the fundamental problem with this entire case: the cops’ attitude. Runnels’ attitude toward Bryce was one of dominance and what I like to call “cowboy cop” syndrome. “I am the law”, is the attitude demonstrated by police across this country and particularly in this video.

Runnels was sentenced to four years in prison for the permanent damage he inflicted on Bryce Masters. The punishment, while minimal at best, is a step in the right direction. Police must be held accountable for their actions and verdicts like this send a message to police agencies everywhere; police violence against the community will no longer be tolerated.

The use of Taser in this case is almost incidental, as it was the cops behavior and attitude that shaped this outcome. Taser has always been controversial and occasionally is brought under the spot light when incidents like this occur. I will not defend the use of the Taser as it is a cruel and unusual punishment as best. It is used everyday by law enforcement agencies around the world. The problem with secondary weapons whether the Taser or a baton, is that police use them as a go to for gaining compliance in situations where they should never be used. While the use of Taser should absolutely be in the conversation, the problems lie in more fundamental areas. Training, proper screening practices and regular psychological exams are all tools that should be used to help us avoid incidents like this in the future.

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/07/tased-in-the-chest-for-23-seconds-dead-for-8-minutes-now-facing-a-lifetime-of-recovery/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/11/26/improper-techniques-increased-risks/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3629599/Shocking-dashcam-video-shows-officer-tasering-17-year-old-boy-long-went-cardiac-arrest-suffered-brain-damage.html

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13 COMMENTS

  1. Tasers should have automatic turn offs so taser happy cops can’t do this to people. In addition, there should be settings on tasers for height and weight of victims the cops intend to ‘kill’. There should also be settings/sensors on tasers to pick up the victim’s vital signs so if they go into cardiac arrest, a loud alarm will sound signaling the offending cop to go get the defibrillator kit that is in his squad car (all squad cars should be equipped with one since tasers cause hearts to stop) so the cop can help his victim.

    • So, in other words….you are saying, dont use your rights and allow police to break laws.Not smart. No police officer can use force without cause. In order to have cause they must first tell you why you are being detained or asking you to step out of the car, and it must be due to breaking a law in the first place. After that if there is non-compliance then they can move on to the next step. If you just give up your rights willingly, eventually it becomes systemic to a point where we have no rights. Dont be dumb.

  2. I can’t believe that this kind of things can still be under a mist, and that they’re not have been given the attention that it requieres, the use of this kind of force should be punished very hardly

  3. These things need to be illigal and even tho according to law these things are legal…its an injustice to humanity to use em and thus police is breaking unwritten laws that should never have been broken in the first place…

    This was a healthy man, but people with musclear conditions one zap and we are even more focked then we were to begin with and in many of these cases certain death…

    Does police care about humanity??? luckely in my country they do and tazers are aknowledged as a deadly weapon…if they ever were to become legal in my country people like me with a muscle desease risk being killed by the very people that need to protect us…id have to live my life in fear not from criminals but from police..fear of death.
    RIP lawenforcement…its time the cowboys get their toys taken…use your mouth instead…have have respect for people instead of insisting like a dick to lower the window more tell the person u want to see more inside the car for your own safety or something explain why u want to do something and have respect….but no u dont need to do that u got a tazer…no respect given no respect gotten…did i really need to explain cops this? stop the one year cop training …it requires a full 6 year education, not some dropouts that failed in the real world. U arent all like that…u gonna say, well u wear the logo and your standing their representing it, feeding the problem. Open your eyes and let police ban their own tazers and show the people u care. greets from Belgium were sanity still rules.

  4. Tasers are useful tools, but for one purpose. They’re meant to subdue an aggressive criminal in a non-lethal matter, I’d would prefer the taser would be used more than the gun in such situations, but it should be used properly. This guy should never have pulled out the taser in this situation at all.

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