Bryce Masters in a coma at Centerpoint Medical Center, Independence, Missouri, Sept. 16, 2014. Bryces brain was deprived of oxygen for six to eight minutes while he was in cardiac arrest. Used both as a description of a state of mind as well as a medical diagnosis, excited delirium is a phrase that medical examiners sometimes use in official reports after a person is severely injured or killed in an intense police interaction. Officer Timothy Runnels was waiting to learn his fate after pleading guilty to a federal crime he committed almost two years ago, on September 14, 2014. This case was filed in U.S. Courts Of Appeals, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. Organize a group to go to a meeting with your congressperson. During roll call one day, Runnels was describing a recent unsuccessful hunting trip. If you can watch, see for yourself: According to reports, Bryce Masters actually died from his injuriesand was lucky thatunlike those who responded to Eric Garner, his paramedics came prepared to do their jobs. The victim, Bryce Masters, sued Runnels in 2016 for violating his civil rights. One aggravated assault happens every seven minutes. Outraged, Stacy called the station and demanded to speak to the officers involved. Two years? Witness video of Independence officer Tim Runnels arresting Bryce Masters following a traffic stop Sunday in Independence. By Monday morning, September 15, Bryces core temperature had reached 92.6 degrees 6degrees below normal. Do Not Sell My Personal Information, If you need further help setting your homepage, check your browsers Help menu, New police chief hired at N.C. PD after entire police force resigned, 'It's a blessing': 24-year-old takes helm as N.C. police chief, Video: Bystander pins down drunk driver fleeing crash that killed a Texas police officer, SIG Sauer's ROMEO-M17: The future of the Red Dot revolution is here, 'You're going to die today': Driver traps Fla. cop inside car while speeding toward power pole, Open the tools menu in your browser. Matt called the FBI agents he met on Monday. NINTH GRADE HONOR ROLL: Elliott Anthony, Carter Bainter, Caleb Bennett, Peyton Black, Allena Blanton, Jesse Bryant, Kennidi Burkhart, Cameron Casto, Jacob Cline, Averey Cockerill, Nathan Cockerill, Jordan Cordell, Meghan Cory, Jake Daniels, Makenna Davis, Sara Dawson, Jonathan Donson, Michael . While we are pleased that Mr. Runnels was held accountable for his actions, no one really wins in this scenario. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, and U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson of the Western District of Missouri announced that former Independence, Missouri, Police Officer Timothy Runnels was sentenced to 4 years in prison for violating the constitutional rights of a minor who was in his custody. He read a study by Patrick J. Tchou, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Look for a box or option labeled Home Page (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) or On Startup (Chrome). A snapping thud filled the room the sound of Bryces 175-pound frame hitting the pavement as his teeth crashed together and his jaw dislocated. The outage impacted approximately 2,000 utility customers on U.S. 61, said Tim Runnels, a spokesperson for Entergy. The dashcam video showed officerssearching through Bryces vehicle asBryce was carted off in an ambulance. Timothy Runnels, a 32-year-old former Independence, Missouri, police officer SENTENCED to 4 years in Federal Prison. Instead of getting angry at his fellow officers, though, Matt felt sympathy for them. Then Runnels released Bryces armsand allowed him to drop face first onto the street. Runnels says, Youre under arrest. It was easier for himto view Runnelss actions as an error of judgment exacerbated by ignorance. After Bryce was tased, Matt discovered something hed never heard in any Taser training hed gone through, something he resisted believing, because it violated an article of faith among police officers: Tasers can kill. Yet the FBI and the U.S. attorneys office assured the Masters that the dashboard recordingwas definitive. He believes that when Runnels said, All right, fine, fuck it, he was making a conscious decision to punish Bryce. For Stacy, though, the worst part was looking at his limbs. You can receive all future diariesof Support the Dream Defenders in your Daily KosStreamby clickinghere. Then click "Follow," which will make all STDD diariesappear in "My Stream" of your Daily Kos page. . Thats what caused him to go into cardiac arrest. They had seen the dashboard video and had a clear picture of what happened. interacts online and researches product purchases But it was a crime scene at that point, with several officers there and yellow tape stretched to cordon off the section of property where the interaction had played out. Weve all been duped. Matt had heard that people sometimes died after a Taser shock, but chalked it up to a syndrome called excited delirium, which hed learned about in his Taser training. His chin was split open. While most of the 15-minute session was spent on updated legal information, and situations in which Taser use was not advised, there was no mention of potential cardiac risks. They told him that they were disappointed he was smoking marijuana but that his civil rights had been violated. Ending qualified immunity a doctrine established by the Supreme Court nearly 40 years ago has become a central goal of proponents of police reform in the wake of the murder of George Floyd a year ago by a Minneapolis police officer. "These outages are minimal compared to what we saw today," Runnels said . Matt and Stacy were upset, but they believed the worst was over. A federal judge on Monday released the police dashcam video that shows former Independence Police Officer Timothy N. Runnels using excessive force in arresting then-17-year-old Bryce Masters. Aside from dealing with a traumatic brain injury, Bryce has battled the perception that he is somehow responsible for the crime committed against him. How he dragged the near-unconscious boy away from the dashcam and then callously dropped him so that his face hit theconcrete sidewalk is sickening. "The department remains committed to ensuring. Timothy Runnels, et al Case Summary On 06/17/2019 Bryce Masters filed a Civil Right - Other Civil Right lawsuit against Timothy Runnels ,. Timothy Runnels, a 32-year-old former Independence, Missouri, police officer, sat at a large, rectangular defense table inside Courtroom 8B at the Charles Evans Whittaker Federal Courthouse in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, late last month. Matt arrived at the hospital and went straight to the intensive care unit. When you cross that line, there are going to be consequences and they are going to be severe, he told the judge last week. His use of excessive force violated both the publics trust and his oath to uphold the law. He was intimately familiar with the grand jury process and how it skewed heavily toward exonerating officers in use of force situations. Runnels may not have known it at the time, but Bryce was going into cardiac arrest. His colleagues chuckled as suspects screamed and cops stood heroically at a distance, pumping them with electricity. A former Independence police officer who injured a teen driver during a 2014 traffic stop was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison. ), Watching the video, Stacy was astounded. You are also welcome to join us onThe Porchover at the Black Kos Community group on Friday afternoons at 4 p.m. Do you feel sorry for him? Stacy once asked, referring to Runnels. A former Independence police officer who used a Taser on a teenager during a traffic stop last year has pleaded guilty to charges he violated the teen's constitutional rights. Call every week. Matt called the FBI again. He was mean, especially to his parents. We saw as the officers dragged Freddie into the paddywagon,but yet no one will be held responsible for his death. It is my considered opinion that had this been a black Bryce, hewould be dead right now. Finally, in 2009, Taser International released the bulletin suggesting that officers should avoid shooting suspects in the chest when possible. He knows there are manydeserving cases, especially involving minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom. She loved children and retired after 32 years of working at Jack and Jill and . The Taser did this. Dr. Stanley Augustin, the chief trauma surgeon, joined the conversation. Cops do fuck up. Matt retained his friend and former police officer Daniel Haus as the family attorney, and hecalled the FBI to request an investigation. Please donatehere. Runnels faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for his conviction for violating the minor's civil rights. Stacy just looked on in horror. He would feel his mouth and turn to his parents. That august body will now discuss and then vote on whether to adopt The Michael Brown Over-Police Rights Act (MBOPRA) at theLegislative Session of the NAACPs Annual Convention. As Stacy walked into Centerpoints trauma center, nurses ushered her to where Bryce was hooked up to a ventilator, still unconscious. Runnels had pled guilty to violating the civil rights of 17-year-old Bryce Masters during a traffic stop in 2014. Independence Police Department squad car. All he had was the instinct that, as the son of a cop himself, he would have made sure to be respectful. The 17-year-old went into a coma after what started as a traffic stop ended with Runnels using his Taser for 20 seconds, four times longer than officers are supposed to keep the electricity running. Two years ago, for example, it upheld the denial of qualified immunity to an officer who slammed a nonthreatening, nonviolent woman to the ground, breaking her collarbone and knocking her unconscious. In the whirlwind of activity, Matt and Stacy realized they hadnt yet received an official medical explanation for what caused Bryces cardiac arrest. Five years later on September 14, 2014 it would be difficult to argue that Runnels was unable to avoid shooting Bryce in the chest. For Matt, the most damning evidence came from within Taser International itself. They couldnt hear the siren when Runnels turned it on, but they soon saw the Pontiac slowing down, pulling to the side of the road, stopping. (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.). Everything Taser told them.. Copyright 2023 Who beat the shit out of me? The odds were still against them there was about a 50-50 chance that Bryce would emerge from the coma alive. As the ambulance took Bryce to Centerpoint Medical Center, Matt decided to stay to make sure Independence investigators appropriately collected evidence, assuming Bryce would recover. But he doesnt trust the company selling them. Bryce Masters was 17 at the time of the September 2014 confrontation with former Officer Timothy Runnels. Even the victim, 18-year-old Bryce Masters, had seen it only once. Stacy was comfortable with Matt remaining at the scene, not realizing what she would face when she arrived at the hospital. Matt peppered the FBI agents with questions during that first meeting, but he didnt receive many answers. Miami Trace High School recently released the second nine weeks honor roll and honorable mention. hide. Matt and Stacy said the agents seemed unsurprised by the injuries. It was emotional for both sides. When they opened his hospital gown, Matt saw two bright red marks that looked like bee stings on Bryces body. A federal felony is not a slap on the wrist, Hobbs said. The Masters werent expecting to see the dashcam video that day, but shortly after court adjourned, Ketchmark invited them to a conference room. Three years? Do you think that Bryce is going to make it? heasked her. Bryce Masters used his mobile phone to record his encounter with Officer Timothy Runnels on September 14, 2014. He suffered brain damage and the road ahead will not be easy for him. Taser International did not respond to multiple requests for comment. We didnt think death, Matt remembered. Gillihan claimed hed received a call about a suspicious car parked overnight, and he was waiting when Bryce walked outside. He described a happy teenage life before this all happened, the life of a young man who was looking forward to his senior year of varsity basketball, and visiting colleges. Of course, no such luck for Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Brown(a pause to catch mybreath). Request a quote for the most accurate & reliable non-lethal training, DragonEye Tech: Leaders in LIDAR Speed Measurement, The teenage driver went into cardiac arrest after the officer used and ECD on him when he refused to comply. He was transported back to the moment when everything changed, and despite how hard his life had become, he thought he would do it all the same way again. They have also lived in Milton, FL and Troy, AL. One of the obstruction charges dealt with the misleading police report. We came together to support the Dream Defenders in Floridaand their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. Bryce Masters and his family at their home on June 2, 2016. They were overcome with the fear that his heart was still weak enough, or his brain damaged in some unexpected way, that he could die in his sleep. Nah, that cant even happen, he remembered saying. The memories he had formedover 17 years, many of the things he thought made him who he was, no longer applied. Because youre only as good as the training.. In my heart of hearts, I felt like he was slipping away, she said. Both Matt and Stacy immediately wondered what it would show. Just shoot them with the Taser, and its over and done with, Mattsaid. She told the sergeant she spoke to that the family believed the officers had conducted an illegal search and that they were considering filing a complaint. An official website of the United States government. Bryce had other plans. He was fired from the Independence Police Department after the. It looked like he hit his head on the concrete. A jury found police officer Runnels used excessive force against Masters during a traffic stop. According to the court filings, Runnels also admitted that his actions resulted in bodily injury to the minor. ', , that never see the inside of a courtroom, What's a cop to do when his son is beaten bloody by another cop? After excessively tazing a fellow cops underage son during a traffic stop and slamming the handcuffed teen face-first onto the street, an overzealous officer was recently sentenced to four years in prison for violating the minors civil rights. He and Stacy sat Bryce down. It was the Taser that almost killed Bryce. Bryce was still getting an MRI when a neurologist working on his case pulled Matt and Stacy into a private room and explained that she had calculated Bryces Glasgow Coma Score, a point system designed to gauge the severity of a brain injury. The Masters could see Bryces heart heaving up and down on the screen, an indication that he was going through cardiac arrest. They hit play. His face was swollen, and they later found out that his jaw was likely dislocated, but popped back into place. Bryces only mistake in this situation was following his parents advice to ask questions, particularly to ask why if stopped by law enforcement. Bryce began to moan.You dont like to play by the rules, do you, Runnels said. A measure of justice for Bryce. His short-term memory loss was severe, and it exacerbated his emotional instability. What did I do? It was hard to accept that a police officer, someone he was taught to trust, could injure him so grievously. About an hour later, a colleague called Matt; two FBI agents assigned to investigate police misconduct were already looking for him. The practitioner's primary taxonomy code is 111N00000X with license number 9478 (TX). Runnels had once been an officer inthe Kansas City Police Department, though Matt didnt work in his sector. The video, from the September 2014 incident, shows former police officer Timothy Runnels approaching the vehicle. First, he found a study by electrophysiologist Dr. Douglas Zipes that highlighted Taser-induced cardiac arrest cases in the field. Dont give me that bullshit, he now thought. Then, to Runnels: Hes turning blue., Watching the video, Stacy was astounded. Runnels seemed to ignore all this and, as the video shot by a neighbor makes clear, he put his rightfoot onto Bryces back. We hope that todays sentence will allow Bryce to begin to focus on his future. He politely let them know that Bryce was doing OK, leaving details unsaid. Hes going to prison., Matt and Stacey were obviously outraged by what happened to Bryce and dealt with the heartbreaking circumstances of his injury every day. Matt Masters does not agree that the Taser use was reasonable, but he agrees it was common police practice. Runnels orders Masters to exit his . Bryce was showing acute signs of decorticate posturing, a symptom of severe brain damage. Runnels grabbed his Taser from his belt and pointed it at Bryce, who repeatedly asked what he was being pulled over for. Matt told him that if an officer ever stopped him, he had every right to know why he was being stopped, and whether he was under arrest. Why risk getting hurt? Police said Morgan was belligerent and fired first, while Morgan said police started firing as soon as they saw his gun, and denied firing a shot, the report notes. Runnels ignored it. In today's KC Star. He tells Bryce to get out but doesnt give a reason. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Instead, today's story involves an over-zealous cop whose use of a Taser caused irreparable harm to a teenager who had committed no offense. Timothy Runnels is a provider established in Spring, Texas and his medical specialization is Chiropractor. We saw that Tamirs murderer drove up on him and two seconds later the boy was taking his last breaths. Today the video, which had never been played in any public setting, would be played in open court. He was athletic and made good grades. Everyone was at a loss, not just over the gravity of Bryces medical distress, but over what had sparked the use of force to begin with. Matt and Stacy were livid. Runnels wrote that he observed the vehicle to have darkly tinted windows, and that after Bryce partially rolled down his window, he detected an odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. 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