Punta Gorda Police Officer Lee Coel is pictured in this undated handout photo, received August 11, 2016. Punta Gorda Police Department/Handout via Reuters.
A Florida police officer who mistakenly killed a 73-year-old woman during a role-play exercise this week has been the subject of excessive force complaints in the past, according to a police official and media reports.
[…]
Punta Gorda police have released few details about what led to Knowlton being shot by a live round, and Lewis declined to answer questions at the news conference.
He acknowledged reports that Coel, a K-9 police officer, had been accused of allowing his police dog to attack a man while on patrol in October last year.
“This officer was involved in a K-9 apprehension incident,” Lewis said. “Currently that incident is in civil litigation.”
Lawyer Scott Weinberg said Coel intended to cite his client, Richard Shumacher, for riding a bike at night without a headlight or taillight when the attack occurred.
Weinberg, who has filed a notice of intent to sue the city and the police department, released a police dash-cam video of the incident earlier this year. In it, Coel can be seen holding Shumacher down while the dog mauled him.
“The bottom line is that when I released this video two months ago, I had warned everybody that this man was going to kill somebody,” Weinberg said in a phone interview. “I told the chief to his face that this man was dangerous.”
Coel also was accused of excessive force in April 2013 while working as a police officer for Miramar, Florida police, court records show.
That incident and another case led investigators to determined Coel had violated department policies, and he was forced to resign, the Miami Herald reported.
Is anyone surprised by this? Anyone? Why, every single time, does it take multiple incidents, and at least one death to kick an evil asshole out of a cop shop? And lately, even murdering people isn’t enough to get cops fired. This is so wrong. Beyond wrong. Beyond fractally wrong. This has to stop. A cop gets investigated for excessive force? That’s it, you’re out, and you lose everything, job, pension, all of it. Maybe, just maybe, cops might start getting the message that a badge is not a license to do whatever they want.
Via Raw Story.
This officer was involved in a K-9 apprehension incident
Fucking animal abuse, is what it is, teaching a dog to be an authoritarian’s weapon. Dog would rather go on walks, chase squirrels, and nap, not march around waiting to be told to bite someone for no reason that makes sense to the dog except “daddy wants me to bite that guy.”
Coel also was accused of excessive force in April 2013 while working as a police officer for Miramar, Florida police, court records show.
This is probably one of those “shift the padre from one police force to another, find him a good job, get him off our hands” maneuvers. As I pointed out elsewhere -- even when cops get “fired” they often don’t get fired, they just find another job working for another cop nest.
One thing I enjoyed about http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/the-cop
was the end: nobody’s offering Wilson jobs. Maybe it’s because they’ve figured out he’s an expensive liability to have on your force?
Marcus:
Yes, and dogs should have a legit reason to behave that way, and they should not end up being addicted to adrenaline and aggression. My dogs would go after someone threatening me, but it would be a last resort, not first, and they would always look to me, to see how they should be moderating their stance. I always speak to my two monster dogs in Lakota when out and about (and half the time, inside too), so any commands from me are clear and stand out.
Marcus:
Oh, that was quite clear -- he was allowed to resign. That’s the other thing that’s so godsdamn wrong, no more of this “resigning” shit. Fired, and never allowed to work as a cop again, or as a security guard, or any pretend cop job.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/the-cop
Gosh, and we’re supposed to believe he’s just not bigoted at all, nosir.
with like-minded individuals,” he said. “You know. Where it’s not a mixing pot.”
He can tell their minds by looking at their skin, you see…?
I have no words…..
Wait.
I thought he killed the little old white lady because he was grotesquely incompetent as to the use of his own firearm.
Not that that would preclude the grotesque racism and grotesque incompetence in everything els.
e
I’m with Marcus @1 — that’s animal abuse. Dogs just wanna, you know, dog. Dig the dirt, bury the bone, chase the ball, get ear-scritches, maybe some treats, and a nap.
I should add that I’m not opposed to working dogs — they’re essential for some people — just the part where the police are putting the poor pups into what are essentially combat situations.
As for the situation at hand? I don’t have enough palms for a facepalm this big. This guy was supposed to be a trained professional. This simply shouldn’t have even happened! Why was he using a real — and loaded — gun for this demo?
Further, with his record of complaints… well… I’d ask how he’s managed to keep employment, but… you know how cops are. In some places, that record would be grounds for a promotion
This. Is. What. The. Cops. Are.
And people expect them to be trusted? I’m not reading the comments on either article (this one or the one about who he murdered), because they’ll just piss me off.
Our police force is populated by violent bullies who are only there because they want to murder people.
(I know I’m preaching to the choir, here, but I wanted to say it. I’ll be putting up my own blog sharing your post about his victim and this one later tonight when I get home from work.)