In a final sentencing hearing on June 1, Runnels was sentenced to four years in federal prison. I havent done anything officer, Bryce yelled. Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. Matt suspected that once it was clear the warrant association to the car wasnt sufficient probable cause for an arrest, Runnels needed new justifications. Do you think that Bryce is going to make it? heasked her. True, Black and Native Americans areat least 21 times moreat risk to be shot and killed by overzealous Law Enforcement Officers, but white people are at risk, too. 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. Warning: This video contains graphic scenes of police violence. His bike was stolen, and Ali told a police officer, Joe Martin, that he wanted to beat up the thief. Bryce Masters, 17, suffered a cardiac arrest after being Tasered in 2014. The hearing lasted no more than 30minutes. He was intimately familiar with the grand jury process and how it skewed heavily toward exonerating officers in use of force situations. Runnels says, Youre under arrest. I knew, in my heart, that I didnt do anything wrong to him, he said. More specifically, Matt learned that on October 12, 2009, Taser International, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based maker of conducted electrical weapons, released a training bulletin suggesting that officers should avoid shooting suspects in the chest whenever possible. Another officer put his head inside Bryces car and said, It stinks bad in there like marijuana. A former Independence police officer who injured a teen driver during a 2014 traffic stop was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison. The catalyst for the crime was the 23-second Taser deployment straight into Bryce's chest. A tweet from the department later that night, at 7:28 p.m., read, Carstop on Southside for warrant assoc. Get your ass out of the car, he said. Each time, Stacy and Matt tried to gently remind him that he had been injured by a police officer. But Taser International has latched onto the diagnosis as a way to explain many deaths that occur after someone has been shocked with a Taser. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. On one occasion, he said, he was out bowling when two officers approached him and sarcastically asked how he was doing. I dont think Ill ever, ever be able to forget that., As hard as it was to watch, Bryce felt vindicated. Eventually, they asked him how Bryce was doing. The Masters didnt worry much about Bryce in high school. Bryce Masters awake at Centerpoint Medical Center, Independence, Missouri, Sept. 17, 2014. Dr. Augustin was firm. OurMichael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014 after the death of Michael Brown. He has worked on SWAT teams and has been part of Kansas Citys police narcotics unit, taking point on an estimated 1,000 search warrants during one three-year span. He even argued that using the Taser for 20 seconds was reasonable because Runnels didnt have control of Bryce until it was over. 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. Although sentencing guidelines called for a term of eight to 10 years, prosecutors recommended a sentence of no more than four years as part of the plea agreement. Matt had never seen that bulletin. A friend at the Independence police station called Matt to tell him his son had just been arrested. The jury. (A member of Runnelss defense team, asked for comment, said he had no information about his clients departurefrom the Kansas City Police Department. Runnels also was indicted on charges of depriving Masters of his civil rights under color of law and obstruction of justice. Then and only then well see an end to this crap. We saw that Tamirs murderer drove up on him and two seconds later the boy was taking his last breaths. Runnels had once been an officer inthe Kansas City Police Department, though Matt didnt work in his sector. Please donatehere. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? I didnt need training to know that what he was doing was very, very wrong. Today, he sees law enforcement through the eyes of a victim. Call every week. I thought he shot him. If he did wake up, there was a good chance he would never recover beyond a vegetative state. ', , that never see the inside of a courtroom, What's a cop to do when his son is beaten bloody by another cop? He had assumed he couldnt wake up on time, so his parents went without him. He thought again about his own training, and how Taser International, by holding a virtual monopoly on the weapons, heavily influenced the information officers received. Although the minor suffered cardiac arrest and facial injuries, he survived the incident due to timely medical treatment by medical personnel at the scene and at the hospital. The lesson, Matt, is that it shouldnt have to take the near killing of your loved onefor you to acknowledge the pain and suffering of your fellow man. He knows there are manydeserving cases, especially involving minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom. 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.. Timothy Kendall Runnels Addresses 56th St NE , Snohomish, WA Ridge Rd , Orondo, WA PO Box , Mill Creek, WA Relatives Laurin R McCrory Timothy Allen Runnels Matt H Runnels Helen Jean Runnels + 1 more Phone Numbers (425) nay - peek (425) nay - peek View phones View Tim's Current Address | View Tim's Phone Best Match Powered by Whitepages Premium Matt arrived at the hospital and went straight to the intensive care unit. Officer Gillihan was involved again. Stacy just looked on in horror. INDEPENDENCE, Mo. They understood Tasers to be safe tools, but tools that were used on suspects who posed a threat to officers. 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. When his mom noticed, he tried to explain how strange they felt. Copyright 2023 Police1. Bryce has vague memories of that Wednesday night. 71. . His attorney, J.R. Hobbs, asked Whipple to place Runnels on probation. The only thing the public knew waswhat had been reported, and what had been reported was that he resisted a lawful arrest, and his car smelled like marijuana. He read a study by Patrick J. Tchou, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. His memory had improved a bit. A man said, Oh, my god. A police officer with the Kansas City Police Department quickly brought his fist to his mouth, turned to the man next to him, and whispered, Jesus. Even those sitting behind the defendant a few friends, his wife, his family gasped, as if the recordingrevealed a truth about Runnels they had never considered. As he looked Bryce over, Matt casually floated his positional asphyxia theory. Matt started searching the internet for Taser deaths and cardiac arrest. I thought he shot him. First, he found a study by electrophysiologist Dr. Douglas Zipes that highlighted Taser-induced cardiac arrest cases in the field. The companys use of the condition in public statements and court testimony is controversial as well. The dashcam video, which has been sealed by the court, is definitive and ugly, and Runnelss actions are impossible to justify. In a rare instance of a court denying qualified immunity to a government official, the 8th U.S. Bryce admits now that, given a potential lifetime of frustration, the thought crossed his mind. theintercept.com Tased in the Chest for 23 Seconds, Dead for 8 Minutes, Now Facing a Lifetime of Recovery The truth is, Funnels should have been charged with attempted murder. The sergeant didnt respond well to the threat and told her that if she were a better mother, maybe none of this would have happened. 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. He was a 1965 Bryce was showing acute signs of decorticate posturing, a symptom of severe brain damage. He didnt understand why we wanted to go so early, and he threw a fit, Matt said. ), Watching the video, Stacy was astounded. Drawing shapes, holding objects firmly in his hand, walking without a limp, hearing a story and trying to synopsize it back to the storyteller things that used to be second nature were now exhausting chores. 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. You dont just get tased, Matt remembered thinking. He politely let them know that Bryce was doing OK, leaving details unsaid. Once Bryce learned to drive again, Independence squad cars followed him several times, sometimes even pulling up next to him so the officers could smirk or wave. Again, Bryce refused. I dont know, she said. And, to this day, were what, 15 years later since its hit the vast majority of departments, thats still the narrative.. The FBI told him to be patient and that an agent would contact him sometime in the next few days. The provider is registered as an individual and his NPI record was last . Matt, Stacy, and Bryce all said that the harassment has become worse. Why dont you just leave me the fuck alone?. The defendant abused his authority as a law enforcement officer by depriving a minor of his constitutional rights and causing bodily harm, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta. A measure of. Officer Runnels will pay a price for his murderous actions. Ending qualified immunity a doctrine established by the Supreme Court nearly 40 years ago has become a central goal of proponents of police reform in the wake of the murder of George Floyd a year ago by a Minneapolis police officer. Was he drunk, on drugs, what could do this? No, thats not it at all, the nurse responded. Runnels grabbedBryces cellphone, throwing it in front of the car, demanding that he get on the ground. He was fired from the Independence Police Department after the. Matt, Stacy, and Bryce sat around an oval conference table with their attorney Daniel Haus, a few FBI agents, an attorney from the Department of Justice, and Ketchmark. finds relevant news, identifies important training information, According to the indictment, Runnels continuously deployed a Taser against Bryce while he was on the ground and not posing a threat to the defendant or others. It was the first time the Masters realized that Bryce had been repeatedly tased. In the whirlwind of activity, Matt and Stacy realized they hadnt yet received an official medical explanation for what caused Bryces cardiac arrest. Runnels stepped back, stood straight, took a shooting position, and again grabbed his Taser from its holster. 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. No one said anything about avoiding the chest, and this was five years after Taser International officially changed the target area. 735. A former Independence police officer who injured a teen driver during a 2014 traffic stop was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison. Runnels told him to get up. As part of his guilty plea, Runnels admitted that while he was employed as an officer of the Independence Police Department, he deprived the minor of his civil rights by deliberately dropping the minor face first onto the ground while the minor was restrained and not posing a threat to Runnels or others. The jury returned its verdict Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City after a week-long trial in the lawsuit brought by Bryce Masters against the former officer, Timothy Runnels. The FBI arrived within the hour. Thats all it takes to support the journalism you rely on. Bryce Masters received CPR after being tased by Officer Timothy Runnels (top right), Sept. 14, 2014. After getting the phone call from Ketchmark, Matt and Stacy talked about what type of punishment would feel like justice to them. A full 23 seconds after Runnels pulled the trigger on the X26 Taser, he let it go and handcuffed Bryce. The Masters couldnt see the window, but it was clear Bryce hadnt rolled it down far enough for Runnels, who asked Bryce to open it completely. He said hed once been funny and quick-witted, and could fit in with lots of different groups. As part of his guilty plea, Runnels admitted that, while he . Matt sees the good in what Tasers can do, under the right circumstances. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Runnels may have been a bad cop, but if he hadnt been given a device that Taser International had assured him was extremely unlikely to kill, then he might not have been tempted to shock a teenager who simply wanted to know why he was being arrested. Taser puncture marks on Bryce Masterss chest and torso, Sept. 15, 2014. All rights reserved. Even the victim, 18-year-old Bryce Masters, had seen it only once. Thats what happened; there was no other plausible explanation. Bryce had other plans. We are rapidly approaching the signature collection phase of our campaign to get the Over-Policed Rights Act on the California ballot. Stacy was comfortable with Matt remaining at the scene, not realizing what she would face when she arrived at the hospital. hide. A rare instance when a cop actually went to jail for excessive force. Hes not breathing.Matt hung up and hit the gas. The cop was like, You want to mess with me, and pulled out his Taser and tased him, witness Michelle Baker recalled after recording a, shortly after the incident. My brother is 8 years older. Runnels, who was fired from the Independence Police Department after his encounter with Masters, pleaded guilty in 2015 to a single deprivation of rights charge and was sentenced to four years in. The Taser discharge, meanwhile, caused Masters to suffer a convulsion and go into cardiac arrest. He began pressing his tongue, which was raw and swollen, against his teeth. Baristas at two Kansas City-area Starbucks locations plan to unionize. Minutes later, Curtis called Matt again. It is only fair. 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. 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