Former supervisory corrections officer sentenced to prison for tasing restrained teen

Recorded
on video repeatedly tasing a restrained teenage detainee, a former
supervisory
corrections officer was recently sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Around 7 p.m. on November 5, 2016,
Jordan Norris, 18, who was incarcerated at the Cheatham County Jail in Tennessee,
was growing increasingly violent toward himself while threatening other
inmates. Recorded on surveillance
video
, Norris resisted as three officers handcuffed the teen and placed him
in a restraint chair.

One of the officers used a Taser on
Norris a few times for no more than five
seconds
each to get him to comply and seated in the chair.

An hour later, the officers noticed
that Norris had managed to loosen one of the arms of the restraint chair. As
Officer Josh Marriott placed a spit mask over Norris’ head, Officer Jeff Key
used both hands to restrain Norris’ right arm.

In the video, supervisory
corrections officer Mark Bryant fired his Taser at Norris four times for a
total of 50 seconds. Despite the fact that Norris was unable to move while
strapped into the restraint chair and visibly in pain, Bryant continued to
taunt him while firing his Taser.

“I’ll keep on doing it until I run
out of batteries,” Bryant told Norris. “You don’t like it, do you?”

Two hours later, Norris was in
restraints, including shackles on his ankles, a belt across his legs, handcuffs,
and a belly chain, while seated in a restraint chair. According to prosecutors,
Norris was noncombative and compliant at the time when Bryant fired his Taser several
more times at the teen.

Bryant’s final Taser shock lasted
for at least 11 seconds.

As a result of Bryant’s unjustified uses of force, the teen suffered bodily injury, including burns that an officer on the scene described as making the detainee’s skin look like “raw hamburger meat.” As the senior officer at the scene, Bryant then directed his colleagues not to submit reports regarding his uses of force on the detainee.

In January, Bryant was convicted on two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law for repeatedly tasing the restrained pretrial detainee. The jury acquitted Bryant of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of lying to the FBI.

On Friday, Bryant was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

“The defendant abused his power as
a supervisory corrections officer by assaulting a restrained person in his
custody. Officers who willfully use excessive force both violate the
Constitution and erode the public trust in law enforcement,” said Assistant
Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights
Division. “The Justice Department is committed to prosecuting these abuses of
power and upholding the Constitution and laws that protect us all.”

“The extraordinary abuse of power
displayed by Bryant was both disturbing and disappointing to the many fine men
and women in law enforcement who strive every day to carry out their duties
with honor and professionalism,” stated U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran for the
Middle District of Tennessee. “We can never be complacent in our responsibility
to protect every citizen from such abuse. Justice has been served and I commend
our trial team and our law enforcement partners for their outstanding work in
the investigation, preparation and prosecution of this case.”

“When a law enforcement officer
violates the civil rights of another, he brings shame on the badge,” asserted
Douglas Korneski, Special Agent in Charge of the Memphis Field Office of the
FBI. “The sentencing of former Corrections Officer Mark Bryant sends a strong
message that law enforcement officers or any other government employees who
abuse their authority and use unlawful force will be vigorously investigated
and prosecuted. Our citizens have a fundamental and constitutional right to
ethical treatment by employees of federal, state, and local government.”

FALL FUNDRAISER

If you liked this article, please donate $5 to keep NationofChange online through November.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes