This article was originally published by Matt Agorist at The Free Thought Project.
As TFTP reported in September, Clifford Owensby of Dayton, Ohio, learned the violent and oppressive lengths the American police state will go to enforce window tint extortion laws. Owensby, who had committed no crime, was targeted by police, assaulted, and then sent on his way because of the arbitrary darkness of his window tint. Days later, body camera footage was released by police, showing just how brutal cops are willing to be over the darkness of a man’s windows — and skin too.
Owensby filed a complaint with the Professional Standards Bureau of the Dayton Police Department (DPD), who launched an investigation in October. Now, after “investigating” themselves for the last three months, police have come to the conclusion that officers did nothing wrong.
The report from the investigation determined Owensby’s allegations that officers threatened violence and mocked him were “unfounded” in spite of their violence captured on video.
The officer’s “pulling of Mr. Owensby’s hair may have been visually offensive to some people, but in reality the hair pulling was on the low end of the force spectrum and did not cause injury,” investigators found. “Mr. Owensby was removed to Grandview Medical Center where it was confirmed he was not injured during the incident.”
The officers faced no discipline in spite of turning off their body cameras and mocking Owensby which was recorded on a supervisor’s body camera. Investigators did, however, recommend more training as there is no policy in place that dealt with “how to best transport a disabled subject,” the review stated.
“I am always in favor or more training,” said James Willis, Owensby’s attorney. But in this case, he thinks the officers should have been terminated.
“I think the officers should be fired,” Willis said. “They are truly incompetent.”
The city’s mayor, Jeffrey J. Mims, released a statement Tuesday saying that residents “should feel that they are treated with dignity and respect, and I know that the incident between (Owensby) and Dayton Police fell short of that standard.”
Indeed, as the body camera footage of the incident is nothing short of disgusting.
Owensby’s nightmare started when he and his grandson were out running errands. As Owensby was driving down the street, harming no one, police targeted him for extortion because his window tint was at 20 percent. The interaction was captured on both body camera footage and cellphone footage.
As the video shows, an officer approaches the vehicle and tells the innocent father that his window tint is too dark before later demanding that he exit the vehicle so a drug dog and smell his car.
Owensby then explained to the officer that he couldn’t get out of the vehicle as he didn’t have his wheelchair and had gotten help getting in the car.
“I’m paraplegic,” Owensby says multiple times. “I got help getting in.”
“Well, I’ll help you get out,” the officer replies.
“Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen, sir,” Owensby says.
The officer then tells Owensby that they are going to run a drug dog around his car — because Owensby has been arrested in the past — and uses this threat as the last straw.
Owensby then calls a family member and asks them to come down to film the interaction.
“Bring cameras,” he said to his phone before asking for a supervisor.
“Here’s the thing, I’m going to pull you out and then I’ll call a white shirt. Because you’re getting out of the car,” the officer said. “That’s not an option. You’re getting out this car, so you can cooperate and get out of the car or I will drag you out of the car. Do you see your two options here?”
Moments later, as the video shows, Owensby is dragged from the car by his hair and thrown to the ground like a rag doll — over window tint.
As no drugs or contraband were found, cops had to seemingly make up charges on which to justify the treatment of Owensby. He was cited for his child being in the wrong car seat and improper window tint.
“To pull this man out of the car, by his hair — a paraplegic — is totally unacceptable, inhumane and sets a bad light on our great city of Dayton, Ohio,” NAACP President Derrick L. Foward told WaPo.
A the time, the police union disagreed and defended the cops for dragging this dad from his car over the stop. And now, they likely feel vindicated.
“The officers followed the law, their training and departmental policies and procedures,” Jerome Dix, president of Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #44 said. “Sometimes the arrest of non-compliant individuals is not pretty, but is a necessary part of law enforcement to maintain public safety, which is one of the fundamental ideologies of our society.”
At least the officers involved were investigated, that should satisfy their critics.
Why didn’t the guy just cooperate with them in the first place?
Can you not read? He is paralyzed from the waist down. He couldn’t get out of the car on his own. So the jerkoffs dragged him out of the car. BS.
Wow. You need to apply to the Dayton Police Dept for a job. They would hire you on the spot.
Well let’s see … “The Guy” who was paraplegic wanted to do a song and dance and jump out of his car his only problem was he was a paraplegic …. so NOT sure what part you do not understand about co-operating.
The police are not our friends, they are gunvermint enforcers.
Until the good cops can “police” the bad without fear of retribution, they are bad cops too.
This is why no one cares when cops get killed. Anyone who tells you differently is lying.
but biden be president now, so no antifa burning down cities in mostly peaceful protest, no media pumping up hype, and no corporations cheering them along
see how this works?
If they say get out, I suggest you get out bonehead.
If they say get out, I suggest you get out bonehead.
The guys legs are paralyzed, and didn’t have his wheelchair with him, how is he supposed to “just get out of the car”?
The police are not your friend, and they’re not there to help you. They are there to carry out the will of the State, not be advocates for the citizens. They are not your friend. To perform the will of the State the main objective of the police is to exert every possible way to find a reason to arrest you and put you in a gov’t cage.
I’m no liberal, but these cops should be fired for what they did to this poor man. Full stop. The man clearly stated to the police that he was crippled, yet, they dragged him out of the car by his hair. Even though you can clearly see that his car was modified for a paraplegic. When I see these asses are doing this rage builds up inside of me.
Some of you leaving comments need your heads examined. How is a person who has no use of there legs and requires a wheelchair going to just get out? The police in this country are getting out of control. I don’t care how many good officers there are, they cover up for each other and are very rarely held accountable for illegal actions.
TFTP has a reputation, with me, for asking me to choose between power drunk police statists and the feral hominid, who noone wants for a neighbor — my mantra for the last couple of weeks being how my rights don’t have to be based on his.
We should all be glad that our ironic system of social promotions didn’t give a badge to the paraplegic maroon, as well as the opportunities to drive a car and to reproduce sexually.
A tax will jeopardize private property rights. Pays for a school, literally run like a prison intake and literally named after Shabazz.
Ever see a vehicle on a regular basis and wonder how they get away with limousine black tint that you think would result in a ticket. That’s the undercover cops.
Each State has its own laws pertaining to what windows can be tinted and how dark they can be tinted. The reason for this is criminals can easily conceal weapons from officers that are approaching the vehicle. LOTS of cops have been killed because of this. IF I was a cop I would be not happy about windows so dark you cannot see if you in danger or not. NOW, the next thing is being belligerent to a cop is NOT very smart and shows the low IQ of a person. That does NOT mean I condone any of this I am just putting it into perspective in a SANE manner, If you don’t like it, HA HA! that would show what I am talking about.
Speaking of being dragged by the hair..
Why did cavemen drag their women by the hair?
Because if they dragged them by the feet, they filled up with dirt! 😛
What do you tell a woman with two black eyes? Nothing, she’s already been told twice.
Why do so many women fail to achieve an orgasm? Who gives a sh*t.
Why do brides wear white at the wedding? To match the rest of the appliances.
What do you do if the dishwasher stops working? You slap the b*tch.
How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? Two, one to change the bulb and one to fondle my b*lls.
Because they did not want to smell the dirty end ….
I see that my prior comment and everyone else’s was deleted. I’ll bet that everyone else had a comment similar to mine. There is no way that there was zero comments on this incident. So this site censors comments.
Fox guarding the hen house.
As a guy that frequently defends police actions, I’m appalled that the police union & the reviewing authorities FAILED to condemn this type of behavior. The police union & reviewing authorities are endangering ALL police by this type of thuggery. There must be rational limits to police actions.
As they said, it was all justified in the name of that nebulous term “public safety”, which can mean whatever the state wants it to mean.
Apparently, the dog can sniff out whether or not something has “been close to illegal drugs”. I guarantee that handler has that dog trained to hit on whatever he wants it to.
I have no doubt that 22 grand on the floorboards was drug money, but there is no proof of that. Unfortunately, Mr. paraplegic will never see that money again.
That roided up, no neck, rolled up short sleeves, tatted MF enjoyed every minute of it.
FTP
Whenever I read about an incident like this one, something I read a long time ago in a book on WWII comes to mind.
Roughly 80% of the policemen in Germany stayed on the job when the government issued directives to start rounding up Jewish residents. That right there should tell you all you need to know. Most are invested in the ‘system’ and will almost always support it.
As another poster said the policeman(or policewoman) is not your friend. He/she may not be your enemy today but it is highly likely that they will be at some point in the future.
Well, how the fuck else are you going to remove an uncooperative criminal paraplegic from an automobile? We’re talking about manupualiting a paraplegic here. Not a breezy task. Loads of dead weight. The hair grab maneuver is a safe and effective measure. Safe for the cop, no doubt.
“Crippled, my ass. Get out of the fucking car!”
It’s kinda like Peter Dazak getting to investigate his Wuhan lab in China for the WHO. Nothing to see here, now move along! What a sick joke!
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