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Texas cop fired, could be sued for using stun gun on 76-year-old driver (VIDEO)
Pete Vasquez said the officer came at him like a Pitbull. (Photo: Victoria Advocate)
A Victoria, Texas police officer was fired Monday after an internal investigation determined that he violated several department policies when he wrestled a 76-year-old man to the ground and used a stun gun on him twice over an expired vehicle registration.
The Dec. 11 incident, which was captured on the officer’s dash cam and has since been widely circulated across the internet, prompted an internal investigation as well as a separate investigation by the Texas Rangers, the Victoria Advocate reported.
The investigation revealed that 23-year-old Nathanial Robinson was in the wrong and had violated three different department policies — conduct and performance, use of force and arrest without a warrant — during the altercation with Pete Vasquez.
The traffic stop, which occurred as Vasquez was pulling into the car lot where he works, was initiated by an expired vehicle registration tag on the car Vasquez was driving, but when Vasquez attempted to explain to Robinson that since the vehicle belonged to the car dealer, it was exempt from vehicle registration, the traffic stop turned physical in a matter of seconds.
Robinson can be seen attempting to grab Vasquez’s arm to handcuff him, but when Vasquez pulled away, the officer wrestled the man to the ground. After a brief tussle, Robinson stunned Vasquez twice.
At that point, the car lot’s sales manager, Larry Urich, confronted Robinson about what he was doing.
“I told the officer, ‘What in the hell are you doing?’ This gentleman is 76-years-old,” Urich said right after the incident. “The cop told me to stand back, but I didn’t shut up. I told him he was a goddamn Nazi Stormtrooper.”
Shortly thereafter, additional officers responded to Robinson’s call for backup.
Vasquez was questioned by at least one officer who seemed concerned that he was injured, and then spent the two next hours with authorities at the hospital receiving treatment for his injuries. But in the end, officers released him and he wasn’t even issued a citation because authorities determined that he had done nothing wrong and no laws were broken.
“This is a very unfortunate incident for everyone involved,” Victoria Police Department Chief J.J. Craig said in a news release Monday. “The Victoria Police Department places a high value in public trust.”
While popular opinion seems to side with Vasquez, not everyone believes Robinson should have lost his job.
“It’s not an example of what the officer did wrong but more of the lack of training the officer received,” said 25-year-old Victoria resident Samuel Sweat. “He doesn’t lack common sense. What he lacks is the knowledge about the plates and the escalation of force. Rules of escalation need to be taught.”
However, Urich thinks the chief “came to the correct conclusion” when he let Robinson go.
“If the officer’s going to react in the situation like this, the way that he did, I would hate to see his reaction in something that was really serious,” Urich said.
Mary Lou Canales, League of United Latin American Citizens District 10 director, stood behind the chief’s decision as well, and said “it shows that the city is looking out for the welfare of the community.”
Nonetheless, Robinson’s legal battles may be far from over. The Vasquez family is hoping for full prosecution against the officer, according to Vasquez’s attorney, Rachel Messer.
The post Texas cop fired, could be sued for using stun gun on 76-year-old driver (VIDEO) appeared first on Guns.com.
Source: http://www.guns.com/2015/01/07/texas-cop-fired-could-be-sued-for-using-stun-gun-on-76-year-old-driver-video/
But I’m sure he’ll be rehired as a city detective or hired by a neighboring city, or he will be a independant contractor with them. You need to watch as he does get rehired because this is what most cities do after things cool down for him… This swine needs to be tried in a court of law; just as anyone else. May this policemans family feel the pain back that he did to this guy.
I NEVER MET ONE HONEST COP; HAVE YOU?
Even when people complain not all COPS ARE TREASONOUS CRIMINALS ARE WRONG! You see, in all departments, you have cops commiting crimes, but 100% of the so called “Honest” cops, don’t say or lift one finger to stop their fellow criminal cops! If they do, they will get a hard time, set up, and fired if they question or bring anything to the attention of anyone outside the department. So you see, anyone that says NOT ALL COPS ARE CRIMINALS ARE LIARS! If they even see ONE incident and they do not take action, they are CRIMINALS THEMSELVES BY COVERING UP THE CRIMES INSIDE THEIR DEPARTMENT! It does not matter what race anyone is; it is nothing but your Gov & Top 1%, against the 99% freedom lovers, to divide us.
Who really knows how many people this cop murdered, set up, filed false charges, harrassed, or sent to jail that didn’t deserve it. You see, cops don’t care one bit about anyone but themselves. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY FAMILIES THESE CRIMINALS IN UNIFORM HARM WHEN THEY FALSIFY AND SET UP EVEN ONE PERSON? IT AFFECTS THE ENTIRE FAMILY; NOT JUST THAT ONE PERSON; so of course, its time for payback by many fed up with their criminal actions… The cops harm one person, yet their criminal actions physically affect 10 people down the chain, so they can’t comprehend this. So of course, many wives, children, brothers, sisters, have it