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DAYTON, Ohio (AP) – Officials in Dayton, Ohio, said they were investigating the actions of officers who removed a driver who said he was disabled from his car during a traffic stop related to drugs last month.
Clifford Owensby, 39, who said he did not have the use of his legs, said he felt helpless when he was pulled from the car to the ground and handcuffed before being placed in the back of a Dayton Police Department cruiser during September 30 traffic. Stop.
Police said the two Dayton officers were part of a narcotics investigation in the Dayton View neighborhood and saw the car leave a suspected drug house. Because of this and the driver’s “drug and weapons criminal history”, a K-9 team was called in for a “free air sniff” which, under department policy, required occupants to leave the vehicle for their safety and that of the dog, police mentioned.
Owensby said he couldn’t get out because he was a paraplegic, and he refused their help to do so, police said. He then “grabbed the steering wheel … (and) was then forcibly removed from the vehicle,” police said.
Police body camera footage shows Owensby repeatedly telling officers he couldn’t get out of the car because he was a paraplegic, threatening to take legal action and calling on someone to “bring people with cameras “to record the interaction. On the ground, he can be heard screaming for help, asking if people are recording and asking someone to call “the real police”.
Police said Owensby was placed on the ground “in order to secure him” and officers had to pull his arms behind his back to handcuff him, police said. A bag containing $ 22,450 in cash was found on the front floor, and the dog alerted on the currency, meaning “the money had been near illegal drugs,” police said.
The Dayton Daily News reported that a police report included a misdemeanor of obstructing official business and resisting arrest in the crime report, but Owensby had not been charged with neither of the two counts. Traffic tickets were filed in municipal court because of a 3-year-old unborn child in the back seat and the tinted windows of the car. Police earlier told the newspaper that there was “an ongoing and active investigation into the money.”
Owensby told the newspaper on Monday he suffered scuff marks on the pavement and a new injury from a previous back problem.
“I feel like they don’t even respect me as a citizen,” Owensby said, adding that he hoped for “some sort of disciplinary measure.”
Police said a professional standards bureau investigation into the traffic stop had started and asked for the public’s patience during the process.
Matt Carper, director and acting chief of the police department, said on Friday that upcoming training for all Dayton officers and supervisors will include diversity, equity and inclusion as well as de-escalation, policing without bias and procedural justice.
“We need to do better, and this can be done by further developing mutual respect and responsibility to make our city safer,” Carper said.
Mayor Nan Whaley said in a statement Friday night that the video was “of great concern”.
“No matter where you live or what you look like, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect when dealing with Dayton Police,” she said. “Dayton remains committed to our community-led police reform process and transparency in situations like this. “
The Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 44 defended the police, saying they “follow the law, their training and departmental policies and procedures,” the newspaper reported.
“Sometimes arresting non-compliant individuals is not pretty, but is a necessary part of law enforcement to maintain public safety, which is one of the core ideologies of our society,” said President Jérôme Dix in a press release.
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