Two Oklahoma cops who tased naked man, 28, more than 50 times till he collapsed and died charged with murder
CARTER COUNTY, OKLAHOMA: Two police officers who hail from a small southern Oklahoma town have been charged with second-degree murder after the two were accused of using their tasers more than 50 times on a man. The two officers -- 26-year-old Joshua Taylor and 34-year-old Brandon Dingman -- were charged in the death of 28-year-old Jared Lakey, court documents reveal. The documents also state that the two officers had used their stun guns on Lakey more than 50 times.
The number of times they tased Lakey "greatly exceeded what would have been necessary or warranted by the attendant circumstances" and had been a "substantial factor" in the death of Lakey, Daily Mail reports. According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, after Taylor and Dingman used their stun guns on Lakey on July 4 last year, Lakey was hospitalized and lost his life two days later.
The OSBI reported that Taylor and Dingman had responded to a call that Lakey was behaving in a disorderly way. The agency shared that when Lakey refused to comply with the officers' command, they used their stun guns on him. A deputy from the Carter County Sheriff's Office had responded to the scene and then helped get Lakey into custody. It is shortly after this that Lakey stopped breathing and had become unresponsive.
According to Fox News, the bureau said that the officers had been responding to reports of Lakey "running naked down a street in Wilson and screaming." Investigators also went through dashcam and bodycam footage taken of the horrific incident. In an affidavit, the investigating agent said, "The footage reveals numerous instances of both officers using their X26P tasers to send electrical shocks through (the victim’s) body in an apparent attempt to persuade him to put his hands behind his back as he lay on the ground."
"(The victim) is tased numerous times while merely lying naked in the ditch, presumably for not rolling onto his stomach and complying with the officers’ commands to ‘Put your hands behind your back’," the agent added.
The Daily Ardmoreite states court filings showed that a further examination of the officers' logs had reportedly revealed how Officer Dingman used his taser 23 times on Lakey while officer Taylor used his taser 30 times. On Wednesday, June 1, it was revealed that prosecutors had issued arrest warrants for Taylor and Dingman. Both turned themselves in on Thursday morning and were held on a $250,000 bond, which they both cleared.
If the officers get convicted, they are facing a punishment of 10 years to life in prison. District Attorney Craig Ladd said in a statement, "Hopefully, the fact that the criminal prosecution of those responsible for his death has begun will make this upcoming one-year anniversary of his death a little bit easier to bear, if only in the slightest."
As the news spread on social media, many users have been left outraged. One such user wrote, "Majority of cops are like this. Police Departments don't hire the best or the brightest; they hire thugs & give them badges."
"Why do we accept these things as normal. It is not normal for cops to kill people at the rate they do in this country," another added.