Three Oklahoma cops were suspended and a supervisor reprimanded for their role in the pepper spraying of an 84-year-old woman after barging into her home without a warrant in August.
But it is not even clear if the Muskogee cop who pepper sprayed the woman was disciplined.
Muskogee Police Chief Rex Eskridge says that Michele Casady was justified in pepper spraying Geneva Smith, which she did when the elderly woman would not turn around and allow herself to be frisked.
But James Hamlin was not justified in tasering her son, Arthur Blackmon,after kicking his door down, so he was suspended.
Another cop was disciplined for making inappropriate comments and a supervisor was reprimanded.
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In announcing the news, Muskogee Police Chief Rex Eskridge did not mention any names or details, but we matched Hamlin’s name with one of the body cam videos released, which showed he was the one that tasered Blackmon.
This is how a local news site reported the disciplinary action:
- One officer was suspended for inappropriate deployment of his taser.
- One officer was suspended for failing to appropriately decontaminate Smith and provide medical attention to her son, Arthur Blackmon, when it was requested.
- One officer was suspended for inappropriate comments.
- One supervisor was issued a written reprimand.
So for all we know, Casady was suspended not providing medical attention to both Smith and Blackmon after they were pepper sprayed and tasered.
Or maybe it was another cop. And we’re not sure which cop made the inappropriate comments, but we posted the videos below, so let us know if you can make that determination.
And as far as the supervisor goes, he was recorded saying they could “spin” the narrative about how they entered the home without a warrant to taser and pepper spray the two residents, so maybe that is what earned the reprimand.
Eskridge said he has asked the FBI and Department of Justice to investigate to avoid any appearances of impropriety, so maybe they will address the fact that the cops entered the home without a warrant.
The incident took place on August 7, 2016 after Casady tried to pull over Blackmon for running a stop sign when her dash cam video shows she ran several stop signs – not that she was disciplined for that.
Blackmon had pulled up to his home and had stepped out of his truck when Casady pulled up behind him with another officer in the passengers seat.
Blackmon ran into the house and shut the door behind him, which led to six more officers arriving on the scene.
They knocked on the door but Blackmon refused to come out, so they kicked the door down and entered the home.
Four of those eight officers were disciplined for there role in the incident.
The post Oklahoma Cops Disciplined in Pepper Spraying of 84-Year-Old Woman appeared first on PINAC News.