An Iowa police officer who was trying to determine whether a woman was a domestic abuse victim ended up tasing her repeatedly, even after she was handcuffed and hogtied.
Two weeks later, Chariton police officer Tyler Ruble was investigated himself for domestic abuse after his wife accused him of slamming her against a wall and twisting her wrist.
Lucas County sheriff’s deputies responded to that scene, but refused to arrest him, even though his wife had “visible injuries and redness,” according to a news report from WHO-TV of Des Moines.
The tasering incident took place two years ago and was caught on video, but police refused to release it after numerous requests from the news station.
Despite the two incidents against Ruble, he remains on the force.
The incident proves that even though many officers are equipped with body-worn cameras, which should protect both the officers and citizens, it does the public no good if they are not released to the public.
Perhaps lawmakers need to impliment a system where there is more transparency with these videos.
This incident came to light only because internal sources tipped off WHO-TV about the video, which in turn spent weeks trying to obtain it through a public records request.
When they were denied, the video was eventually leaked to them, showing that at least one person within the department has morals.
In a follow-up WHO-TV story (see video below), the woman who was tased, Amy Storm, said she was not even aware there had been a video.
She was charged with two counts of assault and it’s not clear from the news reports if she was convicted.
She never raised an issue about how she was abused because she knew it would be her word against the officers’ and that usually goes nowhere.
Now that she has a copy of the video, she intends to file a complaint.
But it appears that whole county is corrupt considering it was not only Lucas County sheriff’s deputies who refused to arrest Ruble on domestic abuse charges, it was Lucas County Sheriff Jim Baker who was holding Storm’s face down as Ruble tased her.
WHO-TV reporter Aaron Brillbeck should be commended for his diligence in this story because most TV reporters would not have made the effort.
CARLOS MILLER'S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
I am immersed in a legal case where I not only want to clear my criminal charges stemming from my arrest in January, but I want to sue the Miami-Dade Police Department for deleting my footage, which I was able to recover.
My goal is to set some type of precedent to ensure this does not happen as often as it does today where cops simply get away with it.
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