The Dirty Deputies of Oakland County

[XLFD]

"We back our deputy 100 percent," Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said. "Neither of the deputies did anything wrong."

Police administrators lose all credibility when they make such statements when the video evidence does not support it in any way.  You begin to wonder whether the entire police agency is corrupted into thinking that such behavior will be tolerated and defended in the future, when it is actually indefensible.  Of course, our system is already corrupted in that the two deputies involved will never have to pay a dime for their egregious assault, the taxpayers of Oakland County will.  

But here's the incident that led to the undersheriff's approval and exoneration of the actions of Deputies Brandon Scruggs and Ruben Garcia in the media, and the civil lawsuit launched to achieve a degree of justice for the victim of the deputies' sadism.  

Ronnie Fleming, a 59 year old resident of Pontiac (a city whose police department served as the training ground for LPD Chief Mark Barnett and LPD Defective Aaron Saylor) was out riding his bicycle around 8 PM on July 26, 2017.  Fleming had done nothing wrong other than looking like a parole absconder named Dishon Hollis, who was alleged to use a bike, he's on the left below.

According to the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS), Dishon Hollis was not a parole absconder in July 2017.  Another strange thing happens in this incident, the dash cam's audio fails, so we can't detect what the two deputies are saying when they do a U-turn, when they are behind Ronnie Fleming, and when they fire a taser at him when he's just trying to find out what the person in the unmarked black car behind him wants.  

Deputy Scruggs, in his incident report, claims he identified himself as an officer and ordered Flemming to stop at least three times prior to firing his Taser.   At one point, the deputy "gets out of the car -- stops the car -- and yells at him to stop," Undersheriff McCabe, who wasn't present, alleges.  The defendant's answer to the complaint states, in part, that the deputies’ detaining of Fleming “was supported by reasonable suspicion and/or probable cause” and that the “officers’ conduct at all times was reasonable, as was any use of force.”  Take a look at the video, which explains more of what happened, and see whether you agree.

You will notice that part of the record is from a Taser Cam.  All of these devices I have looked at automatically begin recording audio and video once they are drawn and continue recording even after being deployed. 

The corrupt Oakland County Sheriff's Office decided to unlawfully exempt those parts of the recording from the public which would have shown that the Taser weapon was drawn and accurately depict the likely lack of any sort of verbal commands before it was fired.  

Why would a deputy fire a taser on somebody they haven't positively identified as doing anything who is riding a bicycle and appears to be trying to figure out what the disturbance is behind him?  Why would the deputy use potentially lethal force when they approach somebody from behind and haven't even bothered to properly identify themselves or have any reason to do so? 

If you anticipated that the deputy would say that he was in fear for his life when he fired the taser, you would be right.  The police report says that Ronnie Fleming, on his bicycle, was reaching into his front left pocket causing the deputies to be fearful that he had a weapon.  

This is only more fiction on their police reports.  The video above shows that Fleming is turning around on his bicycle just before he was gunned down.  As any bicyclist knows, when you turn your body around to look at something behind you, your left hand comes off your handlebar and it automatically rests on your thigh, and that's what was happening here, you can see his hand well away from his pocket, with his long shirt he would have to move that aside first, but it never happened.  Just before the one footage ends (as seen below), one can see his hand is not in his pocket; it's another mythical recantation by the deputies.

Attorney Dan Romano, who is representing Flemming in the lawsuit, says there is nothing immediately visible on the patrol vehicle that would identify it as a police vehicle. He said, while there are lights and sirens, they're blacked out and not visible from the outside unless turned on -- which they weren't in this case.  He maintains the deputies never identified themselves or ordered Flemming to stop before firing the Taser.  

"He thought they were some guys in a blacked-out car coming up on him and he turned around and they (Taser) him," Romano said. Moments before the encounter, dashcam video shows Flemming casually riding his bicycle past a fully marked sheriff's vehicle amid a traffic stop, which "belies the fact he's an absconder" attempting to avoid police, Romano said. 

Flemming did not resist and there was no probable cause to justify deputies searching his shorts, where "half a roach" of marijuana was found.  Nevertheless, he was charged with possession of marijuana and the deputies made a case for resisting arrest, which the Oakland prosecutor denied.  After receiving medical attention for a fractured orbital bone, nasal bone and cheek bone, as well as other abrasions, that required ten stitches altogether, he spent a night in jail and pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana.  Which, of course, came to the attention of the deputies after their assault and unlawful detention.

The incident bears an eerie similarity to another happening this year in which former Michigan State Trooper Mark Bessner fired his Taser from a moving patrol car during the pursuit of 15-year-old Damon Grimes, who was riding his ATV on neighborhood streets of Detroit.  The difference was that Grimes died from injuries sustained from the injudicious tasering and the trooper was held to account for his actions criminally, and Grimes was not posthumously charged with a bogus charge of resisting arrest.  

[Freedom Seeker]

Very disturbing case of police brutality, two very disturbing cases--at least in the second example the trooper was held accountable.  Tasing from behind while riding in the patrol car--about as cowardly as it gets.

[XLFD]

What really bothers me in this case, is the Oakland County Sheriff's Department's comments, and the deputy's cover-up attempts which included charging the assaulted with resisting/obstructing and other lacks of candor in their report.  This may be why most police agencies do not comment about such lawsuits. 

The undersheriff says nothing was done wrong here, and most people should take offense when they see intentionally-incomplete police videos that are missing any kind of reason to use the level of force that was employed-- and on top of that, suffer a lack of sound, when it would likely show that they didn't do what they said they did in the police report.