Trooper Cleared After Stomping on Innocent Man's Skull While Handcuffed

Sometimes I just have no words to describe adequately how I feel....this story leaves me literally speachless with rage.

EXTON, PA — Police followed an innocent man into his home, believing that he was a fleeing suspect. When the man protested being handcuffed on his own floor with strangers searched his home, an officer cussed at him and stomped on his head, causing multiple facial fractures and shattered teeth. The scene was so gruesome that a cop testified against a fellow cop. Yet instead of being fired, that stomping officer was later promoted, and now has been officially cleared of violating the victim’s civil rights.

That man was actually 20-year-old Zachary W. Bare, who had just returned home from swimming in Brandywine Creek. The residence he entered was his own home, where he lived with his disabled mother.

Officers suspected Mr. Bare of being involved with a plot to get high without government permission. They entered his home without permission and confronted him in his kitchen. Bare was ordered him to the floor and cuffed, so that officers could then perform a warrantless search on his house.

The stomping incident was witnessed by West Whiteland Officer Glenn Cockerham, a 4th cop on the scene. Cockerham had the integrity to report the actions of Trooper Cruz — described as an “an unknown Pennsylvania state trooper with a black mask over his face” — and later testified against him in court. According to Officer Cockerham’s testimony:

“I observed Zachary Bare still lying face down on the kitchen floor. He was yelling something at the trooper that I could not hear clearly. The trooper was standing over him, to the left of Bare’s prone body.

The trooper said ‘shut the **** up’ then suddenly stamped downward on the back of Bare’s head with his right foot, pushing Bare’s face into the kitchen floor. I saw Bare lift his head and spit blood and teeth onto the kitchen floor.”

Officer Cockerham told investigators that the trooper’s use of force “was totally unnecessary.” While being interviewed about the event, Cockerham added: “It sounds like Zach insulted him [Cruz] in some manner and the trooper possibly lost his temper. If Zachary was kicking or pushing, I would tell you that. There was no reason for it. I really couldn’t believe he did it. It didn’t have to happen.”

This from the police officer who did this...

“I reacted to his actions. I was fixated on his rage, and I did not have the opportunity to do the scans I would do, with my training and expertise.

I am taking care of me… I am afraid. At that moment I did not know he was handcuffed. I responded the way I was trained to respond. I reacted to what I saw. If I fail, I don’t come home to my family.”

Story...HERE

How this officer could be found not guilty....and promoted....is beyond my understanding. I was literally sick to my stomach reading it. What about this man's constitutional rights?? They didn't even have a warrant!!!

All they have to say is I was afraid...and like magic...it makes anything...any attrocity they commit no problem.

The rich can literally rape their infant children and get away with it....police officers can do things like this to innocent people and get away with it....yet if it were any one of us, we would be jailed for a very long time.

The double standard disgusts me...as does the farce that is called the justice system.

How long before the testifying officer is found dead of a suicide by 10 blows to his skull from a hammer?

Brave man, right choice and in possession of ethics and morals.

Wrong choice of career these days when you are a decent human being.

Peace

How the hell did he not know the man was handcuffed? He's lying prone. It would be pretty damn obvious if he was or was not handcuffed.

I'm so sick of stories like this.

reply to post by deadcalm


I can think of no time in LE when you should stomp on someones head unless its a deadly force or great bodily harm situation....10 yrs prior LE here myself...Unless we aint getting the whole story...this is awful.

reply to post by cosmicexplorer


It seems like we did get the whole story...a fellow police officer testified against him, which to me is the only bright spot in the story...and the officer in question was still found not guilty!! As for the mans civil rights...I cannot guess what legal justification was conjured up for this.

It took courage to break with his fellow officers and testify...for that he has my respect. It's too bad there aren't more like him.

reply to post by cosmicexplorer

Unless we aint getting the whole story

We ain't gettin' something. Anyone notice anything wrong?

That man was actually 20-year-old Zachary W. Bare

How is a 20 year old, wearing the uniform of a commissioned officer (Signal Corps)?

reply to post by deadcalm


5 years from now Officer Cockerham:
will not be in LE field anymore
may become a depressed alcoholic from what he has seen and will see, realizes he is too honest to be part of it all
he may may already be dead by nefarious forces

He said he responded in the way he was trained. Now does anybody else find that little piece of info disturbing?

Trained to stomp on the head of a prone citizen in police custody.

He didnt know he was in handcuffs?

He needs to be charged with attempted murder not promoted.

These are the things the rich folk should spend money on investigating. Bill Gates has his African vaccine thing which is noble and the whole free tibet is as well.

These things need an advocate that has money and a platform to be heard. It is unfortunate that our society tends to think hollywood movie stars thoughts and opinions are somehow more valuable than the construction workers. But in reality they have the money and the platform.

How is a 20 year old, wearing the uniform of a commissioned officer (Signal Corps)

reply to post by Snarl


How is that relevant to the fact that he was an inncent man boot stomped by a police officer?

I have no idea why he is a commissioned officer...does anyone else?

Does that make what this officer did to him in some way justifiable?

reply to post by deadcalm

...multiple tours of combat experience in the Middle East.

And now he's a cop...

Having served in a war zone should be a DISQUALIFICATION for being a cop.

After a six-day trial, the jury sided with the stomping trooper. Dozens of like-minded fellow officers cheered for joy.

WTF is wrong with people on our juries? WTF is going on?

Are their hands being tied by the judge's instructions? That has to be it, right?

I've been called for jury duty in the past and have avoided it.

Not anymore.

Yes it sucks, but All liberty minded people NEED to serve on juries.

Here you go.

norristown.patch.com...



"Zachary W. Bare, of the 500 block of Heather Street in Exton, was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct Saturday, Jan .14. Police responded to a report of a disturbance on the 00 block of East Wood Street. Upon arrival, they reportedly heard arguing coming from the residence. Police said the victim appeared to be scared and did not want to give information, but also did not want police to leave. Bare reportedly was uncooperative with police and would not give his name, but admitted to police that he was intoxicated. He also allegedly refused to answer inquiries by officials if had any weapons on him. Police then patted him down and recovered a knife. Police stated Bare then clenched his fists, began breathing heavily and had an aggressive posture. Bare reportedly resisted attempts to handcuff him, but after a brief struggle, police were able to detain him. He then allegedly attempted to spit on police and said he don’t give an [expletive] about police. The victim told police she met Bare on Facebook and that he had been at her residence for three days. Bare was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct."

He said he responded in the way he was trained. Now does anybody else find that little piece of info disturbing?

reply to post by tinner07


Thats what they all say. Something is obviously wrong...deeply wrong with the training these cops are receiving.

I was deeply disturbed by the whole story...not the least is how any judge in his/her right mind could find him not guilty, when he so clearly was.

There is just no way he couldn't have seen the man was in cuffs...they would have cuffed his hands BEHIND his back and he was laying on the floor on his face....what the hell did he have to fear?

The officer that testified...said that he told him to "shut the *%ck up" and then stomped him....does that sound like fear or anger to you?

"Zachary W. Bare, of the 500 block of Heather Street in Exton, was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct Saturday, Jan .14.

reply to post by thesaneone


The incident in question was an entirely separate matter that occurred years earlier, and given what happened to him in 2009...can you blame him for being combative with the police??

...from the article

The incident dates back to August 19th, 2009, when a multi-agency drug task force performed a raid on a home on East Swedesford Road in Exton, Pennsylvania. Officers from the West Whiteland Police Department joined forces with the Pennsylvania State Police “Clandestine Drug Lab Team.” The group dressed in black masks and carried long guns into the targeted residence about 9:30 p.m. to stop the inhabitants from getting high.

Things did not go smoothly for the cops, as two of the suspects were able to escape through the back door. Officers resorted to combing the neighborhood for individuals matching the suspects’ description. A few blocks a way, officers came upon a young male wearing shorts and no shirt, entering a residence on nearby Heather Lane.

They entered his home without permission and confronted him in his kitchen. Bare was ordered him to the floor and cuffed, so that officers could then perform a warrantless search on his house.

So....what was the point in posting that? Did an incident years later...mean that the police officer in question had the right to enter this guys house and boot stomp him while he was cuffed...lying face down on the floor??

gladtobehere
Having served in a war zone should be a DISQUALIFICATION for being a cop.

WTF is wrong with people on our juries? WTF is going on?

agree, on the war zone thing.. Used to call it having a 'flashback'. many PD's would not allow vietnam vets to join.

Juries. It is the type of people who make it through the screening process. it is USUALLY the type with boot licker DNA.. "well, he must of done something wrong or the (good guys) cops would not have been called" AND many of the selected jury pool also have the mentality that if you mouth off to a cop you deserve whatever.

Snarl
reply to post by cosmicexplorer

 

Unless we aint getting the whole story

We ain't gettin' something. Anyone notice anything wrong?

That man was actually 20-year-old Zachary W. Bare

How is a 20 year old, wearing the uniform of a commissioned officer (Signal Corps)?

My first thought was rotc...then I saw the rainbow ribbon...ill toss out a theory just for fun....maybe hes rotc...and enlisted in the guard at the same time...that would allow him some of those ribbons while still being able to wear that for rotc functions as once you are contracted you pretty much play the part even though you havent done first real salute.

Just a guess....but thats a damn good find haha.

deadcalm

"Zachary W. Bare, of the 500 block of Heather Street in Exton, was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct Saturday, Jan .14.

reply to post by thesaneone

 

The incident in question was an entirely separate matter that occurred years earlier, and given what happened to him in 2009...can you blame him for being combative with the police??

...from the article

The incident dates back to August 19th, 2009, when a multi-agency drug task force performed a raid on a home on East Swedesford Road in Exton, Pennsylvania. Officers from the West Whiteland Police Department joined forces with the Pennsylvania State Police “Clandestine Drug Lab Team.” The group dressed in black masks and carried long guns into the targeted residence about 9:30 p.m. to stop the inhabitants from getting high.

Things did not go smoothly for the cops, as two of the suspects were able to escape through the back door. Officers resorted to combing the neighborhood for individuals matching the suspects’ description. A few blocks a way, officers came upon a young male wearing shorts and no shirt, entering a residence on nearby Heather Lane.

They entered his home without permission and confronted him in his kitchen. Bare was ordered him to the floor and cuffed, so that officers could then perform a warrantless search on his house.

So....what was the point in posting that? Did an incident years later...mean that the police officer in question had the right to enter this guys house and boot stomp him while he was cuffed...lying face down on the floor??

edit on 16America/Chicagopm162014-04-16T20:06:07-05:00pmWednesday04 by deadcalm because: (no reason given)

Some sympathy with that, and if they already knew who he was they were profiling for no good reason, it's looks like the game is to make # out of everyone, therefore you cannot be wrong in anything you do. If they didn't know who he was, then they were right up the cul-de-sac, attacking somebody on the ground in itself degrading enough never mind serious injury. To be rewarded for serious injury is just plain evil.

Being handcuffed and laying on the floor face down is never an invite for a heal stomp to the head unless you want to really mess someone up or kill them.

Being a cop and thinking you are the punisher, jury, and executioner will hopefully one day be reconciled for what it is and the guilty bastards will be get their just reward... As far as a police report.. everyone is accused of resisting arrest and yet a large percentage of the 'resisting arrest reports' are proven totally corrupt and baseless when there is a sneaky pesky video that pops up unbeknownst to the LEOs..

Some people should never be cops... Period..

reply to post by cosmicexplorer

Just a guess....but thats a damn good find haha

I took it right from the source OP. In all fairness, the photo's not dated, and could have been taken long after the event (which I don't dispute).

reply to post by deadcalm


what bothers me more than the cop is the jury. how could they let him off.especially with another cop telling them that he didn't need to do it. that doesn't say much for the people in that area.

deadcalm
...(Excerpting a part of the Cruz quote)
I am taking care of me… I am afraid. At that moment I did not know he was handcuffed. I responded the way I was trained to respond. I reacted to what I saw. If I fail, I don’t come home to my family.”

While this may be an 'honest' line...it is also an 'emotional plea'...that seems to work on behalf of LEOs.
My question - Why is it okay to use excessive, &/or unjustifiable force & brutality...for LEOs in such a situation (to ensure that they can go home to their families)...but not okay for those being brutalized (and sometimes killed) in the same circumstance?
The double standard is that of a bully government.