A former Independence police officer who used a Taser on a teenager during a traffic stop last year has pleaded guilty to charges he violated the teen's constitutional rights. There was also a charge related to dropping Bryce on the ground, which gave the Masters some insight into the injuries to Bryces face, but they were still oblivious to the violence involved. Why dont you just leave me the fuck alone?. Their immediate concern was why a police officer would use one on their son. Theyre working it backwards. Matts experience as a cop taught him that officers can sometimes write themselves out of trouble through exaggerated and self-serving reports. Any positive reviews previously submitted about Dr. Timothy D Runnels, DC will appear here. They took statements from both Stacy and Matt and started taking pictures of Bryce. Bryce Masters used his mobile phone to record his encounter with Officer Timothy Runnels on September 14, 2014. The commutation comes after Morgan, a former Chicago police officer who was working as a railroad detective, was arrested in 2005 following a traffic violation for driving the wrong way on a one-way street near his home, the report says. Matt, Stacy, and Bryce all said that the harassment has become worse. The FBI told him to be patient and that an agent would contact him sometime in the next few days. He would get terrible headaches, he had trouble sleeping problems that persist. INDEPENDENCE, Mo. Dozens of visitors, including many of Matts colleagues from Kansas City, descended on the hospital to offer support. He wanted to prove himself, but he didnt know any of the details. She loved children and retired after 32 years of working at Jack and Jill and . They couldnt hear the siren when Runnels turned it on, but they soon saw the Pontiac slowing down, pulling to the side of the road, stopping. During the third week of March in 2015, Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Ketchmark informed the Masters that Runnels was going to face a grand jury. Cops do make bad decisions. It was emotional for both sides. I get a lot of sympathy from my black cop friends, like, this is what weve been saying about cops for a long, long time.'. Hobbs asked that the judge recommend that he be placed in a prison facility as close to Kansas City as possible. Dr. Stanley Augustin, the chief trauma surgeon, joined the conversation. Mostly Bryce struggled because he couldnt rely on his own memory of the incident. No one said anything about avoiding the chest, and this was five years after Taser International officially changed the target area and with an incident involving a local officers child providing a perfect example of what could happen. As Matt walked around the stadium without Bryce that Sunday, he saw several Kansas City cops he knew on patrol. Matt consoled him and told him it was OK, but also said that he needed to apologize to his mom. We hope that todays sentence will allow Bryce to begin to focus on his future. Officer Timothy Runnels flagged Bruce Master in 2014, but the incident led to the boy's cardiac arrest and long physical and emotional recovery after Runnels tasered him. The cop put his foot on his back and moved it back and forth like he was putting a cigarette out and asked him, Are you ready to get up now? You could tell the kid was going into convulsions.. Another officer put his head inside Bryces car and said, It stinks bad in there like marijuana. Hes got his hand up on his car, his shades on, and hes looking pleased with himself, Stacy said. People were just shaking their heads, Stacy said. save. Most of the damage Bryce suffered, though, was done to his psyche. Matt and Stacy said the agents seemed unsurprised by the injuries. He had done exactly what his parents told him to do. A former Independence police officer who injured a teen driver during a 2014 traffic stop was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison. By the time the Masters arrived, paramedics were on the scene, attending to Bryce. Whenever you see these officers come out with a use of force, whether it be a shooting or a tasering or a whatever, there are phrases that always go in those reports, that weve been trained to put in there, Matt said. Download Citation | Influence of the Ground Effect on the Precise Landing of an Unmanned Aircraft | This paper examines a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle and the influence of the ground effect . All he had was the instinct that, as the son of a cop himself, he would have made sure to be respectful. In the video, Runnels refers to Bryces August arrest, which was being contested by the Masters. Sentencing was not in place, but Runnels had agreed to plead guilty to one of the four charges, violating the constitutional rights of a minor. In every interaction, whether at school or out in public, the question of what he did, what responsibility he must have for his own injury, hung over him. His use of excessive force violated both the publics trust and his oath to uphold the law, Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said in a written statement. And, to this day, were what, 15 years later since its hit the vast majority of departments, thats still the narrative.. Please Join us. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. From The Intercept : I still get what cops go through, the decision-making process, the damned if you do, damned if you dont process, Matt said. Unfazed, Bryce leaned his 6-foot-1-inch frame forward, his eyes focused on the makeshift projector. Miami Trace High School recently released the third nine weeks honor roll and honorable mention. Runnels orders Masters to exit his . The jury. When Stacy and Matt Masters began having children, they moved across the border to Kansas City so Matt could keep his job as an officer with the Kansas City Police Department. Taser puncture marks on Bryce Masterss chest and torso, Sept. 15, 2014. His use of excessive force violated both the publics trust and his oath to uphold the law. Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. Today, he sees law enforcement through the eyes of a victim. Bryce looked at Matt, confused. The video above shows Runnels approaching a pulled-over vehicle being driven by Bryce Masters, then 17, who was on his way to play video games with a friend. I have to admit that I teared up at the part about minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom. Eric Garner was killed right in front of our eyes and yet no one was held responsible. He didnt understand why we wanted to go so early, and he threw a fit, Matt said. Even so,the prosecution agreed that the initial Taser use was reasonable and within common police practice. We saw as the officers dragged Freddie into the paddywagon,but yet no one will be held responsible for his death. His initial thought was that maybe, somehow, even though hed carried a Taser since 2004, hed simply missed something in training. Matt called the FBI agents he met on Monday. The recent Tasering of then 17-year-old Bryce Masters by Missouri cop Timothy Runnels has sparked outrage in the community and around the world. Our bill quickly earned endorsements from the NAACP and the ACLU. I still get what cops go through, the decision-making process, the damned if you do, damned if you dont process, Matt said. Matt retained his friend and former police officer Daniel Haus as the family attorney, and hecalled the FBI to request an investigation. Bryce would spend several hours cooling down, stay cooled for a minimum of 24 hours, and then be slowly warmed back up. The incident happened in September of 2014 when former Independence, Missouri, police officer Timothy Runnels, 32, pulled over Bryce Masters, which an investigation determined was without cause. Lexipol. They couldnt believe he was up walking in less than a week. A federal felony is not a slap on the wrist, Hobbs said. His short-term memory loss was severe, and it exacerbated his emotional instability. The police kept referencing an outstanding warrant, but unless there was a ticket Mattdidnt know about, Bryces license was valid and his car had been registered to Matt and Stacy for over three years. It was clear he had vomited. Runnels was also indicted on charges of depriving Masters of his civil rights under color of law and obstruction of justice. Lexipol. As he left Centerpoint Medical Center late Sunday afternoon, he walked with a noticeable limp, dragging his right leg behind him. While the number of people killed in Taser-related police interactions is in dispute and its unclear what role the Taser played in a number of these deaths Amnesty International has put the figure at more than 500. After going for so long without oxygen, at least some brain damage was inevitable. Government officials enjoy broad protection against federal lawsuits, but a federal appeals court last week refused to extend it to an Independence police officer who was tagged with a $6.5 million jury verdict in a police brutality case. Get your ass out of the car, andattempts to pull him out by force. Everyone was at a loss, not just over the gravity of Bryces medical distress, but over what had sparked the use of force to begin with. He knows there are manydeserving cases, especially involving minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom. Lonnie Ali at her husbands funeral: America must never forget that when police and young black boys speak, great things can happen.. Used both as a description of a state of mind as well as a medical diagnosis, excited delirium is a phrase that medical examiners sometimes use in official reports after a person is severely injured or killed in an intense police interaction. Police officers are not above the law and will be held accountable when they violate the civil rights of the citizens they are sworn to protect and serve.. You need to get up here.. Baristas at two Kansas City-area Starbucks locations plan to unionize. Witness video of Independence officer Tim Runnels arresting Bryce Masters following a traffic stop Sunday in Independence. Hes not breathing.Matt hung up and hit the gas. It was clear that officials were determined to place blame on Bryce and paint a picture of a lawful stop that escalated into a justified use of force. A federal judge ordered that the. It really should be that if someone with the power to deprive others of life, liberty, and freedom is found to have falsified evidence that resulted in a conviction, then they themselves should be sentenced to the full term that the charge carries. A former Independence police officer who injured a teen driver during a 2014 traffic stop was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison. He sat on the witness stand and addressed the room, detailing what Runnels took from him. I get a lot of sympathy from my black cop friends, like, this is what weve been saying about cops for a long, long time.'. This time, he didnt reconsider. They stared at Bryce as the reality that he might die washed over them. Runnels kept the trigger engaged for about 20 seconds, the equivalent of four cycles of the Taser, even though had Masters complied with all of his commands until he fell unconscious. But his anxiety those first few months made such issues much more debilitating. The story became notorious among Kansas City cops. Later Wednesday, Masters family issued a statement thanking investigators, prosecutors and medical personnel who treated Masters. They argue the doctrine has been a major obstacle to police accountability. And, when they do, theres someone on the receiving end of that., In his sons case, an officer is paying for his bad decision. As the boy went into cardiac arrest and technically died before paramedics resuscitated him, the aggressive cop was captured on video manhandling and stepping on the dying teens motionless body. Matt assumed cardiac arrest would be a prominent part of the conversation. (Sept. 14, 2014) I thought he shot him. Trying to go back to normal meant putting himself back in the community. Warning: This video contains graphic scenes of police violence. It is well nigh impossible to prove that a black personscivil rights has been violated. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $6.5 million jury verdict against former officer Timothy Runnels over the confrontation with Bryce Masters during a traffic stop in 2014, KCUR . A tweet from the department later that night, at 7:28 p.m., read, Carstop on Southside for warrant assoc. The recent Tasering of then 17 year-old Bryce Masters by Missouri cop Timothy Runnels has sparked outrage in the community and around the world. But after his interaction with Runnels, his friendships faded as his classmates realized how emotionally unpredictable hed become. Meanwhile, Independence police officials were intent on controlling the story. It was so unnatural.Bryce was unconscious, and no one was telling Stacy he was going to be OK. Shecalled Matt. When asked if he still has faith in the system, considering that Runnels is one of the rare officers to face criminal punishment for using excessive force, Matt shakes his head no. The Masters didnt worry much about Bryce in high school. More importantly, if there was no warrant associated with Bryce or his car, why was he stopped in the first place? All rights reserved. As Stacy walked into Centerpoints trauma center, nurses ushered her to where Bryce was hooked up to a ventilator, still unconscious. Its a miracle hes alive.. In finding that Runnels was not entitled to qualified immunity, the 8th Circuit adopted a position that it has rarely taken in the past. Masters went into cardiac arrest after Runnels used a stun gun on him after the teen refused to get out of his car. Independence is bigger than it seems with about 117,000 residents, the fourth-largest city in the state but still has the feel of a tight-knit, middle-class community. Wake up, guy, the officer said. He pled guilty to one charge and was sentenced. Weve been fooled by a company that has made millions and millions of dollars off of the police departments.. Told ya! he said. The spot where Bryce was pulled over is suburban and residential, a paved road next to a manicured lawn with a public sidewalk running through it. Finally, the Masters thought, they were going to get some closure and understand exactly what went wrong. Bryce Masters and his family at their home on June 2, 2016. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. ), Watching the video, Stacy was astounded. In hindsight, Matt was fixated on the Taser and not on the other evidence in front of him. When Matt watches his son suffer, he sees the marriage of a police culture that is too eager to blindly justify force and a company shrewd enough to take advantage. Miami Trace High School recently released the second nine weeks honor roll and honorable mention. Runnels said that 400 to 500 workers came in Monday to finish restoring power to the some 400 customers who were still without power Monday after the storm had initially knocked out electric . A full 23 seconds after Runnels pulled the trigger on the X26 Taser, he let it go and handcuffed Bryce. Matt sees the good in what Tasers can do, under the right circumstances. Dr. Augustin was firm. I dont think Ill ever, ever be able to forget that., As hard as it was to watch, Bryce felt vindicated. He was transported back to the moment when everything changed, and despite how hard his life had become, he thought he would do it all the same way again. According to the company, the preferred target area was changing for reasons that had more to do with the ineffectiveness of chest shots than any danger associated with them. Tasers told everybody, If youve got to put your hands on somebody, why? The judge read the count, and Runnels sat on the stand facing the crowd as he accepted the plea. It was Timothy Runnels. Bryce Masters received CPR after being tased by Officer Timothy Runnels (top right), Sept. 14, 2014. ""He lives not only with memory deficiencies and other cognitive impairments, he has post-traumatic stress, extreme anxiety, and severe insomnia that makes interpersonal relationships challenging and difficult to an extent that they were not before his anoxic brain injury," the suit states." Two years ago, for example, it upheld the denial of qualified immunity to an officer who slammed a nonthreatening, nonviolent woman to the ground, breaking her collarbone and knocking her unconscious. Matt was furious. The answer didnt make sense to Matt. Some of Bryces memories are made and erased overnight, and sometimes more frequently. Everything Taser told them.. He was born on May 27, 1947 in Bloomingburg, Ohio to Clarence and Rebecca Wyatt Runnels. Over the past couple weeks, we havetried to showthat the plague of police brutality is not only an existential threatto Black and Brown Americansbut that under a culture of Comply or Die coupled with aggressive over-policing, nobody is safe. Runnels improper use of the Taser caused Bryce's heart to stop for eight minutes. Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders launchedfour ongoing projects: 1. A rare instance when a cop actually went to jail for excessive force. Matt had never seen that bulletin. The dashcam video, which has been sealed by the court, is definitive and ugly, and Runnelss actions are impossible to justify. Runnels faced a dire sentence that day up to 10 years in federal prison. The agents arrived quickly and started taking pictures of Bryces mouth. Timothy Runnels, a 32-year-old former Independence, Missouri, police officer, sat at a large, rectangular defense table inside Courtroom 8B at the Charles Evans Whittaker Federal Courthouse in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, late last month. 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