A Texas cop remains on the job after the department he works for settled the third excessive force lawsuit against him Thursday.
Austin police officer Eric Copeland was sued three times for using excessive force between April of 2011 to April of 2015.
Austin City Council members approved the latest $150,000 settlement November 9 for unnecessarily tasering Adrian Aguado, 20, after removing him from handcuffs and telling him to exit the police cruiser.
Video from inside the patrol car shows Copeland tasering Aguado immediately as he slowly exits the vehicle.
He also tells Aguado he seemed “slow” and can be heard asking if he takes any medication for “mental retardation.”
Instead of firing Copeland after yet another excessive force lawsuit, former Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo suspended him for 90 days, allowing him back on the job and ultimately enabling him to commit another act of excessive force in the future.
Copeland was also sued in 2012 after fatally shooting 37-year-old Ahmede Bradly during a traffic stop.
Bradley fled in his vehicle, then on foot, before Copeland “intentionally struck Bradley in the face, head and body at a time when Bradley had not assaulted Copeland,” according to a lawsuit filed by Bradley’s family.
He then shot Bradley, who was unarmed, three times in the chest, killing him.
A judge awarded Bradley’s surviving family members $1,000,000 for that incident, according to KXAN.
In 2011, Eric Copeland and another Austin cop, Russell Rose, used excessive force against Carlos Chacon after Chacon called 911 to report suspicious activity at a Motel 6.
Chacon was surprised when he approached officers to assist with their investigation and found himself on the other end of the officers’ guns while still on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.
“Their guns were drawn, pointed at me. They were shouting at me. They were cursing at me. I was trying to identify myself as a person that called the police. They did not listen or engage in the conversation,” Chacon told Fox7.
Chacon was beaten, tasered and charged with resisting arrest.
“What I did is, as a good citizen, is I called the police and I reported it. I identified myself fully with a description of my vehicle and myself. I stayed on the phone the whole time with the operator and I waited for the police to arrive,” he explained.
A federal jury awarded Chacon $1 million in March 2015, but Federal Judge Sam Sparks reduced the amount to $60,000 a few months later.
Austin City Council members later agreed to increase the amount to $154,000.
Videos of all three incidents are included below.
The post WATCH: Texas Cop Still on the Job after Three Excessive Force Incidents Result in Settlements appeared first on Photography is Not a Crime.