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Ramon Hernandez waited three years to have a jury hear his case against three police officers. He alleged that the officers from the Austin Police Department violated his civil rights. Looking in from the outside, it seems they violated a whole lot more than that. Hernandez was allegedly treated so inhumanely by these officers, he's lucky to still be alive. In 2005 Hernandez was suspected of leaving the scene of an accident. The charge against him was later dismissed. However, a lot happened between the time that he became a suspect and the dismissal of the charges. A police cruiser dash cam of the arrest shows Hernandez handcuffed and thrown down with his face in a bed of fire ants. While one officer stood on his neck, the other two kicked, punched and repeatedly shot him with a police Taser gun. The officers have always said that the part of the incident that you cannot see on tape is what caused their reaction. They claim that Hernandez resisted arrest and tried to grab one of the officer's guns. One of the officers involved, Christopher Gray, served a 70-day suspension and returned to his job at the Austin Police Department. To this day, Gray says that he wouldn't change a thing if he had it to do all over again. Gray is the only one of the three officers involved in the incident that still works with the police department. Officer Joel Follmer was fired, and Brad Heilman resigned. Last year Gray and Heilman were found not guilty of official oppression and the charges against Follmer were dropped. So according to Gray, what happened to Hernandez could happen all over again to anyone accused of any crime, no matter how minor. The thing is, even if what the officers say Hernandez did is true, the police abuse captured on camera happened after he was handcuffed and was no longer a danger to anyone. Gray says he would do it again. He would not mind pushing someone's face into an anthill while they are incapacitated, kicking and punching them and then having some fun with the Taser gun over and over again. He says that he wouldn't change a thing and that he has no regrets. The frightening thing is that he is still on the Austin Police force and so the same thing could happen again, and with his attitude, is likely to happen again if it hasn't already. It was up to a jury composed of six white women to decide if Gray and the other officers should have had some regrets over their brutality to an incapacitated suspect. On March 27 the jury deliberated and decided that the police did not use excessive force against Hernandez. Gray returned to his job on Monday morning still with no regrets about how Hernadez’s arrest was handled. This case is yet another tragic example of how police can use physical violence and Taser guns against incapacitated people as retribution rather than to subdue them. If the police think it is fine to use force, violence and Tasers in this manner and the courts are backing them up, we can fully expect to continue to hear these stories of outrageous police abuse that goes completely unpunished and without remorse.
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Comments (6)
  written by Mark Pogue, April 03, 2008
This is plain outright torture. The UN determined that "tasering" is torture. Why does the US ignore the call for humanity???
 written by castocreations, April 03, 2008
Who cares what the UN thinks? They are a bunch of child molesting weasels.
If the guy grabbed for officer's guns then HELL YES he should be tased. Good grief. However I will concede that 11 times and punching/kicking is inappropriate UNLESS the man was still resisting in which case they need to do whatever it takes to get him under control. Just because someone is handcuffed does not mean they are no longer a danger to themselves and to others.
written by Mark Pogue, April 05, 2008
The UN is a "bunch of of child molesting weasels"???
Have any sources for that accusation..or is that MSU (make stuff up)???
 written by William F. Torpey, April 09, 2008
This is tragic. If a duly constituted jury found the police guilty, then we are obliged to accept their decision on this case. However, police guidelines are needed to insure that no suspect is treated brutally after being subdued and incapable of resistance. Police brutality is unacceptable, and it's not the officers' place to administer punishment to suspects -- no matter how angry they may become during a difficult arrest. The judicial system also needs a complete overhaul to correct a whole series of procedures that have developed over the years that often lead to injustices.
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