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The mother of a 14-year-old Dieruff High School student has filed a federal lawsuit claiming an Allentown police officer used excessive force when he shot her daughter in the groin with a stun gun during class dismissal in September.Victoria Geist says her daughter, Keshana Wilson, had her arms raised high to indicate she surrendered when officer Jason Ammary pointed a Taser at her on Sept. 29 outside the high school and fired, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday.
According to the suit, use of the Taser came after the officer grabbed Wilson from behind without identifying himself and "violently" pushed her into the side of a parked vehicle. He placed his right forearm against her throat, choking her, the suit claims. Orloski says the city's surveillance cameras captured the incident and back up his client's claims. An attempt to get the video, which was introduced as evidence, was unsuccessful.
According to a police report filed at the time: Police tried to get students to move along with verbal commands. Most listened, but some remained in the middle of the street, talking on phones, texting or just not moving. An officer approached the girl and two of her friends to get them to move along, but she began to curse, which was inciting the crowd. The officer went to arrest her for being disorderly, but she twisted away from him. She began to resist and the officer had to lean her against the trunk of a car to place cuffs on her. The girl turned back and elbowed the officer in the chin. The girl kept hitting the officer, so he backed up, un-holstered his Taser and fired at her. He reached down to get his cuffs, which fell during the struggle, and he placed her in custody.
At the time, Assistant Chief Joseph Hanna said the officer was justified in using his Taser, according to the "use-of-force continuum." Because the Dieruff teen was likely to injure herself or the officer, she was considered a mid-level assailant and an active resister, Hanna said at the time. The continuum — the standard police use to gauge their use of force — states that after the officer's presence and verbal commands fail, he or she can restrain and control an active resister through non-lethal means, such as pepper spray, hands, baton or the Taser.
Surveillance video captures stun gun incident-Edited footage shows Allentown officer firing Taser at 14-year-old Dieruff student.
Edited surveillance camera video footage obtained by The Morning Call shows an Allentown police officer firing his stun gun at a teenage girl in September outside Dieruff High School. The Sept. 29 video – entered into evidence as part of a federal lawsuit filed last week against officer Jason Ammary and the city of Allentown – appears to show the girl raising her arms about a second before the officer fires the weapon and the girl collapses on the street.
Attorney Richard J. Orloski, who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Victoria Geist, the mother of the 14-year-old-girl in the video, says that Ammary used excessive forced when he fired the Taser directly at the teen's groin. Orloski would not comment further on the lawsuit Tuesday, saying "the video is more convincing than any words from me."
The first 15 seconds of the surveillance footage begins with Wilson and two unidentified friends walking in the 800 block of Washington Street and then turning back to talk to a group of students. As the teens are beginning to talk, the video abruptly cuts to an Allentown police officer struggling with a girl on the side of a parked car. According to the complaint, Orloski says that the portion of the video was redacted because a pair of surveillance cameras do not capture the entire scene. About 1 minute and 40 seconds is missing from the video, according to the lawsuit.
When the video continues, Ammary appears to be pinning and shoving Wilson against the car using his right forearm to her neck area. The girl's left arm comes across and her elbow appears to catch Ammary on the right side of his face. At that point, Ammary appears to have unholstered his Taser. He takes three steps back and fires at Wilson who appears to raise her arms when she first sees the Taser pointed at her. Wilson clutches for her midsection as she collapses to the ground. The lawsuit claims Ammary "intentionally" shot the teen in the pelvic region to "inflict the maximum amount of pain." As the girl is on the ground, Ammary appears to call for assistance using his shoulder radio and orders one of the fallen girl's friends to back away. As school security officers arrive , one can be seen leading away an unidentified boy in handcuffs.
The lawsuit and Allentown police gave different version of events leading to Wilson's arrest. The 100 seconds of missing video does not show when Ammary confronted Wilson and what prompted the confrontation. According to the lawsuit, Wilson did nothing to provoke Ammary. Orloski writes in the lawsuit that the officer grabbed Wilson from behind without identifying himself and "violently" pushed her into the side of the car. Allentown police said the girl was cursing and inciting the crowd and when the officer went to arrest her for being disorderly, she twisted away from him. The officer then leaned her against the trunk of the car to place handcuffs on her, but she continued resisting and elbowed the officer in the chin, police said.
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The lawsuit claims that the video also refutes some other "embellishments" in the police report, including: 1: Officer Ammary saying he aimed lower because the teen was using her backpack to block the Taser; the video shows her upper body exposed. and 2: Officer Ammary saying hundreds of students were blocking vehicle traffic when the video only shows a small number of students on the street
Originally posted by Jepic
Without the whole clip we can't judge who is right and who is wrong.
All there will be is speculation on for example what her raising her arms meant ( "i'm sorry" or did it mean "what! what you gonna do to me") which does not lead anywhere.
Originally posted by Ex_CT2
It reminds me of the lying s***s who recently peppersprayed the protestors, claiming they were surrounded and in danger. They always lie... excuse me--embellish their reports. That lie is broadcast to the public at large by their spokespeople, and becomes the "Official Story," so to speak. And most citizens will believe it, or, at worst, give the police the benefit of the doubt, even after they watch the video that proves them lying. I don't know what it is--some kind of psychological principle, I guess. It's beyond me.
My boss is one of those people. He can barely contain his glee when he watches an overwhelming number of jackbooted cops wade into a line of unarmed protestors. I secretly suspect that if he himself were beaten down and tasered by a cop, he'd still be happy to stand in line to kiss their butts. It's a head-scratcher....
Originally posted by CREAM
Originally posted by Jepic
Without the whole clip we can't judge who is right and who is wrong.
All there will be is speculation on for example what her raising her arms meant ( "i'm sorry" or did it mean "what! what you gonna do to me") which does not lead anywhere.
I can't tell if you are being serious or using sarcasm. You really read the whole story?
Unless she was armed with a weapon, which she was not, there is no reason to use a stun gun on a 14 year old girl, not like she'd be difficult to hand cuff and, no offense to anyone, but it didn't look like she could run very fast... or far.
So, basically what I am saying to you, unless you live an alternate reality, this is a clear case.
"Without the whole clip we can't judge who is right and who is wrong."
You don't need audio or a different angle to figure that out. The people in charge of the "missing" clip... I think it's safe to assume they indeed were the ones wrong.
I am still not sure if you are using sarcasm...
Thoughts?
This is not a racial comment, but a cultural one.
Keshana