Tacoma, WA On May 24, 2014, 15-year-old Monique Tillman and her brother were riding their bikes when they were stopped and this young girl brutally assaulted by Tacoma Police Officer Jared Williams.
Tillman and her brother had done nothing wrong, and were merely targetted by this public servant because they had the unfortunate luck to have crossed paths with him.
As the duo travelled home, they cut through a mall parking lot, as they had done countless times before. However, this time, Officer Williams was in that parking lot, in his full Tacoma Police department uniform, yet off-duty, working as mall security. As the teens travelled through the lot, Williams began pursuit of these hardened criminals and accused them of trespassing.
Knowing theyd done nothing wrong, Monique attempted to explain to the officer that they cut through the parking lot all the time on their way home. However, this tyrant was having nothing of it.
As the duo attempted to ride away from a man whose intentions were clearly unscrupulous, Williams attacked. A recently released surveillance video shows the disturbing scene that unfolded next.
This heroic officer ripped the girl from her bike and slammed her up against a parked car with his hand around her neck. As the child struggled to breathe, this abusive tyrant grabbed her by the hair and flung her around like a rag doll.
Clearly overpowering the small child, half his size, the officer wasnt satisfied with the damage hed inflicted so far. So, for good measure, Williams pulled out his taser and sent 50,000 volts into this poor girl.
He was choking me, grabbed me by my hair and tried to slam my face into the concrete. The next thing I know, Im on the ground being tased, Tillman said.
Now face down, tasered, handcuffed and brutalized, Williams stood over his victim like a hunter and his kill. He had protected society from the likes of a dangerous brother and sister riding their bicycles.
Williams then arrested Monique and charged her with resisting arrest and, get this, assault on an officer.
After viewing the surveillance video of the incident, however, all of the charges were thrown out.
Vito de la Cruz, Tillmans attorney, has filed a lawsuit seeking damages from Officer Williams, the Simon Property Group who owns the Tacoma Mall and Universal Protection Services, the private security company in charge of Tacoma Mall security.
A child riding a bike should not have to worry that a police officer will stop her without legal cause and brutalize her, said de la Cruz. Our communities are weary of another African American child being hurt by unwarranted and excessive police force.
The Free Thought Project reached out the Tacoma PD to inquire about Williams current status and if any disciplinary action had been taken. However, our requests for comment were not returned.
Below is what policing in modern day America has become.
#94: nolu chan To: Pinguinite, Gatlin (#68)
The lot is private property and not a public thoroughway for the public to use as a shortcut to bypass the public roads.
The assertion is that Mall security wanted them removed for trespassing. They were to be given a notice to advise them that they were banned from mall property. Rather than give her information, the young lady decided to give a ration of shit and pedal away. She was stopped and arrested. The apparent reason for the arrest was resisting the lawful actions of the officer and assault on the officer. She was not arrested until after she tried to pedal away.
How do you know what reason was given in criminal proceedings for the initial stop? It is in proceedings against a minor.
How can you confirm any information from what happened in the criminal proceedings. I have been unable to find any citation to the case, the court, the judge, or the date of any proceeding in the case.
It is difficult to find any official information on the criminal case as Tillman was a minor.
The lawfirm representing Tillman released a public statement asserting "Officer Williams forcibly shoved Monique into parked cars, placing his forearm across her chest as he extracted his Taser. Heaping brutality upon indignity, Officer Williams grabbed Monique by the hair and flung her to ground. Not satisfied, Officer Williams deployed his Taser and stunned Monique before handcuffing her and charging her with resisting arrest and assault on a police officer, charges which were ultimately dismissed." This provides no legal reasoning on why the charges were ultimately dismissed. I have yet to see any source provide a case citation or a date for the dismissal of charges, or identify what judge or court did this.
The counsel for Tillman does not enhance his credibility by saying Officer Williams, "forcibly shoved Monique into parked cars, placing his forearm across her chest as he extracted his Taser." The video clearly shows this occurred later, when Tillman was on the ground.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:16:20 Reply Private Reply
#95: Pinguinite To: nolu chan (#93)
Simple question then. If it's wrong, then why isn't the city being sued by the family of the 15 year old? Why instead are they suing the cop, the mall, and the security company that is paying the cop?
Are the plaintiff's making a mistake? Or are they purposely avoiding bringing the city into the suit? Is the city broke?
Pinguinite posted on 2016-05-15 02:17:39 Reply Private Reply
#96: nolu chan To: Gatlin, Pinguinite, sneakypete (#70)
Off-duty cops work security pretty much all over the country. They obviously do it in Tacoma and elsewhere in the state of Washington.
https://w-ins.com/security-guards-20.htm
http://www.seattlesecurity.com/
And, of course, there is the statement of the Public Affairs Officer of the Tacoma Police Department:
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:18:58 Reply Private Reply
#97: Pinguinite To: nolu chan (#94)
Without audio, how do you know this to be the case? On further review, she may not have been trying to leave the scene, but only dismount from the bike, perhaps first manuvering out from between the 2 cops. If she was trying to leave, she certainly didn't try to get a jump start on them.
My info is based on what's stated in the article here.
I have not attempted to confirm anything. Like everyone else, I'm basing my judgement on the video and information on the article, bias though it is. If the information is different, I may modify my opinion accordingly.
Pinguinite posted on 2016-05-15 02:26:37 Reply Private Reply
#98: nolu chan To: sneakypete, Gatlin (#71)
They were not seeking to take the kids bikes and arrest the kids. They were seeking to serve a legal notice to stay off the private property of the mall owner.
A privately owned mall parking lot is private property.
Officer Williams was on the public payroll, acting as a state actor and a police officer, from the second he was called on to order the yoots off the private property.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:28:04 Reply Private Reply
#99: nolu chan To: Pinguinite (#72)
It appears to be an officer using such force as necessary to restrain the yoot without injuring the yoot. The yoot was neither punched nor kicked, nor choked.
Perhaps you can suggest how the officer should have restrained the yoot.
If you are seriously a criminal asshole, and a cop points a gun at your head and orders you to get on the ground, hands behind your back, if you fear for your life that does not mean you can shoot and kill the cop and call it self-defence.
Cops are not trained to shoot at the slightest provocation. If they were, the streets would be littered with countless bodies every day. The police are trained for restraint. The military on security duty are far more likely to open fire with deadly effect. My military training was to the effect that the only reason to pull a gun was to shoot it.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:43:47 Reply Private Reply
#100: nolu chan To: sneakypete, Pinguinite (#73)
That is fleeing, not resisting. She had not yet been arrested.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:46:20 Reply Private Reply
#101: nolu chan To: Pinguinite, Gatlin (#74)
No, it is very obvious that the cop was acting in the capacity of a cop, a state actor.
Counsel is pretending that he was acting as a mall employee only. When acting in the capacity of a state actor, a police officer, the cop has qualified immunity from civil litigation.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:49:33 Reply Private Reply
#102: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#71)
Blah,blah,blah. You are more full of shit than a Thanksgiving turkey.
The shopping mall parking lot is NOT public property, if it is privately owned.
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 02:49:42 Reply Private Reply
#103: nolu chan To: sneakypete (#75)
You are a rabid rat's ass. The cop was working for the mall. The second he was called upon to perform police work, he shifted to the public payroll and was a state actor acting as a police officer.
That is the way the system works when the private mall hires an off duty cop to be there and available to provide police services for them.
The Complaint does not appear to raise any constitutional challenge or to assert any challenge to the arrest regarding probable cause.
The Complaint alleges Negligence; Assault; and Outrage against Officer Williams.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 02:57:54 Reply Private Reply
#104: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#102)
The mall owners, the owners of the private property mall parking lot, were never going to call tow trucks to tow off the kids bicycles.
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 02:59:03 Reply Private Reply
#105: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#104)
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 03:03:54 Reply Private Reply
#106: nolu chan To: sneakypete (#76)
This shopping center parking lot belonged to the mall owner and was private property.
Privately owned property is private property. It is not public property, however much you blabber your delusion.
Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Ed.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:06:38 Reply Private Reply
#107: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#78)
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 03:10:57 Reply Private Reply
#108: nolu chan To: sneakypete, Gatlin (#78)
Mall security requested the action. They did not have to call themselves.
http://komonews.com/news/local/tasered-teen-it-felt-like-electricity-running-through-my-veins-11-21-2015
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:14:49 Reply Private Reply
#109: nolu chan To: sneakypete (#79)
Good to know you are an asshole.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:15:34 Reply Private Reply
#110: nolu chan To: sneakypete (#80)
You really are a perfect asshole, aren't you.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:17:38 Reply Private Reply
#111: nolu chan To: sneakypete (#81)
The Complaint does not appear to raise any constitutional challenge or to assert any challenge to the arrest regarding probable cause.
The Complaint alleges Negligence; Assault; and Outrage against Officer Williams.
Evidently, not even the Complainant's lawyer thinks he can sell that steaming pantsload.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:23:45 Reply Private Reply
#112: nolu chan To: sneakypete (#84)
No, he did not.
Still photo: Hand not on neck
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:25:25 Reply Private Reply
#113: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#80)
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 03:31:35 Reply Private Reply
#114: nolu chan To: Pinguinite, sneakypete (#85)
The employer has to pay the police for the car and gas.
In Swiecicki v Delgado, 6th Cir 05-4036 (15 Sep 2006), the court addressed the subject of when an off-duty police officer, in uniform acting as a security officer, is a state actor acting under color of state law.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/6th/054036p.pdf
[excerpt]
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:32:33 Reply Private Reply
#115: nolu chan To: Pinguinite, sneakypete (#89)
http://komonews.com/news/local/tasered-teen-it-felt-like-electricity-running-through-my-veins-11-21-2015
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:37:50 Reply Private Reply
#116: Pinguinite To: nolu chan (#112)
Still photo was from 1:18 of the video clip.
Check out video at about 1:06. You'll see he's got his other arm (right) which does appear to be at the girl's throat. Because the camera was panning them back into view, it's only visible for a second before the cop lowers his hand to her upper chest. We cannot tell how long his hand was at or near her throat.
Just because he was not choking the girl at 1:18 does not prove he was not choking her at 1:06. You are obviously bias in favor of the cops, which is fine, but certainly you know better than to say the still photo proves a negative.
Pinguinite posted on 2016-05-15 03:40:30 Reply Private Reply
#117: Pinguinite To: nolu chan (#115)
If she admits it, then fine.
Pinguinite posted on 2016-05-15 03:41:38 Reply Private Reply
#118: nolu chan To: Pinguinite, A K A Stone (#91)
But people may be ordered to leave and not come back. The people are welcome to enter to use the private property for the purpose for which it was intended, with good behavior.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:43:05 Reply Private Reply
#119: Pinguinite To: nolu chan (#118)
But not unilaterally. Disinviting orientals from mall property would generate a discrimination lawsuit in a heartbeat, which is not the case for a homeowner having a private party.
So even though mall property is private, the owners of the property are limited in who and for what reasons people could be barred from entering.
Agreed.
Pinguinite posted on 2016-05-15 03:47:17 Reply Private Reply
#120: nolu chan To: Pinguinite (#95)
Because if they admit that the officer was acting in an official capacity, he has qualified immunity from civil suit. They don't think they can win suing the city.
Look at the Complaint. The Complaint does not appear to raise any constitutional challenge or to assert any challenge to the arrest regarding probable cause. The city already acted to clear Officer Williams and stated he could have lawfully used more force.
The Complaint alleges Negligence; Assault; and Outrage against Officer Williams.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:50:33 Reply Private Reply
#121: nolu chan To: Pinguinite (#97)
The video and her statement to KOMO News in 2015.
http://komonews.com/news/local/tasered-teen-it-felt-like-electricity-running-through-my-veins-11-21-2015
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 03:54:31 Reply Private Reply
#122: Pinguinite To: nolu chan (#121)
Is there any audio recording of the discussion that took place before she tried to leave?
Pinguinite posted on 2016-05-15 04:00:40 Reply Private Reply
#123: nolu chan To: Pinguinite (#119)
Yes, unilaterally. The owner, or his agents, did not need permission from anyone to disinvite the yoots.
They cannot banish for a purpose such as discrimination.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 04:01:20 Reply Private Reply
#124: nolu chan To: Pinguinite (#116)
At 1:06 it is too fuzzy for me to clearly see. At 1:07 it appears his hand is on her throat. At 1:08 it appears his hand has been lowered to approximately where it is seen at 1:18.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 04:05:14 Reply Private Reply
#125: nolu chan To: Pinguinite (#122)
There is no audio. There is video. And there is the police report. And the 2015 KOMO newspaper article.
http://komonews.com/news/local/tasered-teen-it-felt-like-electricity-running-through-my-veins-11-21-2015
Or, as Matt Agorist puts it in the main thread article,
I suppose one may look at the video and see a yoot calmly explaining that she had done nothing wrong, and that they do it all the time. The video I see shows the yoot, who by her own admission, had a bit of an attitude, and decided to just pedal away.
nolu chan posted on 2016-05-15 04:16:47 Reply Private Reply
#126: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#71)
If you cant do this, then you need to stop with the unfounded accusations. There would be no need for your ad hominem attack on my character if you would familiarize yourself more with the case at hand and attack the substance itself not me.
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 04:20:46 Reply Private Reply
#127: sneakypete To: Gatlin (#104)
Are you sure of that. Looks to me like they were prepared to call in air strikes.
After all,it was private property and they were being invaded,right?
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:18:55 Reply Private Reply
#128: sneakypete To: nolu chan (#106)
I know you specialize in being an anal even for someone that loves to pick nits,but show me ONE example of a open mall with "No trespassing" signs designed to keep the public out without written or oral permission.
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:23:18 Reply Private Reply
#129: sneakypete To: Gatlin (#107)
How did mall management know. Are they psycic?
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:24:18 Reply Private Reply
#130: sneakypete To: nolu chan (#108)
BullBush! Are you seriously claiming mall management,who are sitting in their offices inside the mall building,were aware of and notified that asshole cop of two kids riding bicycles across the parking lot in time for them to radio the asshole cop and for said asshole cop to stop the kids before they could cross the parking lot while riding bicycles?
Do you also believe in the tooth fairy?
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:27:12 Reply Private Reply
#131: sneakypete To: nolu chan (#109)
That would be you,bubba. No one but an asshole defends cops that taze teenage girls.
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:28:39 Reply Private Reply
#132: sneakypete To: nolu chan (#110)
Truth hurts,huh?
BTW,your idols,the Nazi's,were also following the law. Bet that gives you the warm and fuzzies wood,doesn't it? After all,weren't the owners of Germany,the Nazi's using their authori-tay to force the Jews off their private property?
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:30:38 Reply Private Reply
#133: sneakypete To: nolu chan (#112)
Are you serious? ONE still photo of the cop with his hand on her chest proves he never had his hand on her neck,DESPITE the video clearly showing his hand was on her throat before it went to her chest?
What next,you going to show us a still photo of the storm trooper shaving before going to work to be a mall cop,and claiming that is also proof he didn't have his hand on her neck?
You have an industrial-sized case of Asperger's Syndrome,don't you?
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:35:03 Reply Private Reply
#134: sneakypete To: Gatlin (#113)
I don't have any problem at all discussing issues with educated people. What does that have to do with conversing with a boot-licker like you?
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:37:14 Reply Private Reply
#135: sneakypete To: nolu chan (#115)
That's the way it looked to me.
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:38:52 Reply Private Reply
#136: sneakypete To: Pinguinite (#122)
Isn't it typical these days for every word a cop says to a suspect,and every word the suspect says to the cop to be automatically recorded?
Maybe not in small town 3 deputy PD's,but surely in big cities like Tacoma.
sneakypete posted on 2016-05-15 08:42:33 Reply Private Reply
#137: GrandIsland To: nolu chan, Stinky Peter Puffer (#111)
Stinky Peter and all the other drug loving agenda posters are one-trick-ponies. Every officers actions must me a constitutional violation. When you love drugs, and it's the job of law enforcement to enforce drug laws, then it's the job of the drug lover to wage war against the cops. Their WAR IS A FAILURE. The was against cops. That's why they always act like assholes and yella everything.
GrandIsland posted on 2016-05-15 08:54:04 Reply Private Reply
#138: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#127)
Yet another stupid statement from you as least this one is mild.
You can't loose an online debate gracefully and admit that you are wrong,
You have to become irrational to cover your embarassing defeat.
That always happens with you.
Oh, well
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 09:23:21 Reply Private Reply
#139: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#129)
No, Pete ... they are psychic.
Communication is important to security officers and law enforcement officers .
Often, they need to relay messages and information further than would otherwise be possible via verbal means.
In order to achieve this, a security officer has a number of tools at his/her disposal.
There are such things as the mobile phone, short message service, Morse code (not so common these days) and of course, the radio.
Ever hear about that new nee fangled contraption called, a radio Pete?
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 09:34:43 Reply Private Reply
#140: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#134)
There you go again reverting to the use of yet another ad hominem fallacy.
You loose the discussion and revert to an irrelevant perceived characteristic.
Generally, intelligent and educated people do not make such assertions.
Well, at least not the normal internet trolls.
But then, whoever said that you are normal
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 09:46:48 Reply Private Reply
#141: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#135)
Well at least your eyes function, although you brain is half dead.
She was fleeing the scene and the officer had the right to detain her.
Geeze ...
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 09:50:01 Reply Private Reply
#142: Gatlin To: sneakypete, nolu chan (#132)
There you go again.
You simply can't stay on topic.
Your "BTW" has absolutely nothing to do with actions involving the girl's arrest.
Well, I guess I can understand your diversion ... you have nothing to intelligent to add to the discussion.
But, what did you ever add that was intelligent ...
Gatlin posted on 2016-05-15 09:56:58 Reply Private Reply
#143: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
misterwhite posted on 2016-05-15 10:09:55 Reply Private Reply