He was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading in 2015 to one count of deprivation of rights. Enter https://www.police1.com/ and click OK. During the otherwise unobjectionable story, Runnels said he and his friends decided to switch tactics and try nigger hunting instead. Timothy Runnels, a 32-year-old former Independence, Missouri, police officer SENTENCED to 4 years in Federal Prison. Independence Missouri Police Officer Timothy Runnels thought he had a warrant on his hands. Timothy Runnels pleaded guilty in September to violating the civil rights of then 17-year-old Bryce Masters during a 2014 traffic stop. More importantly, if there was no warrant associated with Bryce or his car, why was he stopped in the first place? After handcuffing him, Runnels lifted the unconscious teen by his arms and dragged him several feet to a driveway before dropping him face-first onto the concrete, fracturing four teeth and causing abrasions on his face. He pled guilty to one charge and was sentenced. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature. Blood and mucus had crusted around Bryces nose. Id never heard of excited delirium until Taser International came along.. Then he pulled him out of the car, handcuffed him, and drug him around the car. 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. Runnels had once been an officer inthe Kansas City Police Department, though Matt didnt work in his sector. And it sure wasnt lack of training that made D commit such a cruel and dangerous act against a loving, loyal, and protective dog. Bryce was given simple tasks, things kindergartners could do, as he put it. One pull on the trigger sent electricity shooting out for five seconds; Runnels had held it down the equivalent of four pulls. Runnels may not have known it at the time, but Bryce was going into cardiac arrest. The judge read the count, and Runnels sat on the stand facing the crowd as he accepted the plea. Get your ass out of the car, andattempts to pull him out by force. (Sept. 14, 2014) The truth is, Funnels should have been charged with attempted murder. Driver uncooperative, struggles, taser deployed, additional struggle. At no point did I intend to harm him, Runnels said last week. The Masters could see Bryces heart heaving up and down on the screen, an indication that he was going through cardiac arrest. At that point, Matt and Stacy were not at all worried about Bryces safety. Officer Timothy Runnels stopped Bryce Masters, 17, in the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri, on Sept. 14, 2014 because Masters was . 3. Matt was surprised. Told ya! he said. We are rapidly approaching the signature collection phase of our campaign to get the Over-Policed Rights Act on the California ballot. We saw as the officers dragged Freddie into the paddywagon,but yet no one will be held responsible for his death. 2. 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. The kind of reporting we do is essential to democracy, but it is not easy, cheap, or profitable. Government officials enjoy broad protection against federal lawsuits, but a federal appeals court last week refused to extend it to an Independence police officer who was tagged with a $6.5 million jury verdict in a police brutality case. Now, he sees a company with everything at stake trying to have it both ways: Tasers are safe for all sorts of encounters, but dont blame us when something goes wrong. His memory had improved a bit. Later, a different spokesperson would tell KCTV that the use of the Taser was in policy. Runnelss name wasnt initially released. 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. After getting the phone call from Ketchmark, Matt and Stacy talked about what type of punishment would feel like justice to them. As a police officer, his opinion about whether Tasers could kill mirrored the standard explanation he and his fellow officers had heard from the companys trainers, that Tasers causing cardiac arrest was just a tall tale concocted by attorneys and the media to disparage a useful police weapon. Matt wasnt sure what this was supposed to mean and wasnt present when the incident happened, but word spread quickly about the foul-mouthed cop who was written up on the spot for nonchalantly using a racial slur during a gathering of officers. Timothy Runnels Case Summary On 06/12/2019 Bryce Masters filed a Civil Right - Other Civil Right lawsuit against Timothy Runnels. Bryce didnt budge. In today's KC Star. Judge Whipple issued the sentence, which will be followed by two years of supervised release. During the third week of March in 2015, Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Ketchmark informed the Masters that Runnels was going to face a grand jury. For the next 24 hours, he would be in limbo as his brain tried to heal itself. The fatherattributes his fellow officers brutalization of his son to lack of training. He believes that when Runnels said, All right, fine, fuck it, he was making a conscious decision to punish Bryce. It is estimated that someone is murdered in Texas every seven hours. Matt and Stacy said the agents seemed unsurprised by the injuries. By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. The next eight weeks were crucial to his recovery; doctors advised the Masters that Bryce would make his most significant gains in the first couple months after his injury. Outraged, Stacy called the station and demanded to speak to the officers involved. When they opened his hospital gown, Matt saw two bright red marks that looked like bee stings on Bryces body. You need to get up here.. 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. With the support of readers, we publicize our results through letters to the editor, press releases, and petitions. Why dont cops know all this? Certainly some did, but for all the years Matt had carried a Taser, he didnt know. It just may be too late. The hearing lasted no more than 30minutes. Official websites use .gov Cops do make bad decisions. It was the first and only time that I ever tattled on any of my siblings. Bryce dealt with the perception that he was somehow to blame on a daily basis. The video above shows Runnels approaching a pulled-over vehicle being driven by Bryce Masters, then 17, who was on his way to play video games with a friend. 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. Runnels maintained that there was a warrant associated with the license plate, but FBI agents told Mattthat the plate number would have provided details for a woman, with a different car, from a different county. Thats what caused him to go into cardiac arrest. The police kept referencing an outstanding warrant, but unless there was a ticket Mattdidnt know about, Bryces license was valid and his car had been registered to Matt and Stacy for over three years. Runnels kept the trigger engaged for about 20 seconds, the equivalent of four cycles of the Taser, even though had Masters complied with all of his commands until he fell unconscious. Drawing shapes, holding objects firmly in his hand, walking without a limp, hearing a story and trying to synopsize it back to the storyteller things that used to be second nature were now exhausting chores. A former Missouri police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to violating the constitutional rights of a 17-year-old motorist by deliberately dropping the restrained youth face-first on the ground after a traffic stop last year, federal prosecutors said. Our bill quickly earned endorsements from the NAACP and the ACLU. He told them a plea agreement had been finalized. It was Bryces only option, doctors told Matt and Stacy. Timothy Runnels was sentenced to four years behind bars for the 2014 . Independence is bigger than it seems with about 117,000 residents, the fourth-largest city in the state but still has the feel of a tight-knit, middle-class community. I remember thinking, Oh my God. We came together to support the Dream Defenders in Floridaand their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. Runnels was also indicted on charges of depriving Masters of his civil rights under color of law and obstruction of justice. He wondered what he could repair, and if he was ever going to be the same. I get a lot of sympathy from my black cop friends, like, this is what weve been saying about cops for a long, long time. Since then, he has trained at the Moody Health Center, become . Why dont you just leave me the fuck alone?. I thought he shot him. Although the minor suffered cardiac arrest and facial injuries, he survived the incident due to timely medical treatment by medical personnel at the scene and at the hospital. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters werent on the beat? Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? Contact your United States senatorandcontact your representative in the United States Congress. It looked like he hit his head on the concrete. Stacy just looked on in horror. A screen grab from a bystander video of Bryce Masters lying on the ground after being tased by Officer Timothy Runnels, Sept. 14, 2014. Timothy Alan Runnels October 5, 1963 - June 13, 2022 (58 years old) Terre Haute, Indiana Give a memorial tree Plant a tree Light a candle Illuminate their memory Timothy Alan Runnels Obituary We are sad to announce that on June 13, 2022 we had to say goodbye to Timothy Alan Runnels of Terre Haute, Indiana. The week of September 7, 2015, the Masters got a phone call from Ketchmark. After going for so long without oxygen, at least some brain damage was inevitable. They still didnt know how bad the damage was, but at least Bryce recognized his parents. Nurses cut his clothes off. Lexipol. Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Ketchmark argued that the length of time that Runnels held down the Tasers trigger was an aggravating factor. All rights reserved. Dash camera video of the incident depicts Runnels handcuffing the minor after the taser deployment and then picking him up. People tell me Im different, he admitted to the crowd. The complete dashcam video of Independence, Missouri, police officer Timothy Runnels tasering Bryce Masters on September 14, 2014. He even argued that using the Taser for 20 seconds was reasonable because Runnels didnt have control of Bryce until it was over. Sentencing was not in place, but Runnels had agreed to plead guilty to one of the four charges, violating the constitutional rights of a minor. Timothy Runnels Bryce Masters v. Timothy Runnels, No. He wanted to prove himself, but he didnt know any of the details. Bryce wasnt fighting anybody.. "Today the jury sent a clear message to law enforcement that excessive force will . One woman looked down and covered her eyes with her hand. But for another three years, Taser International training slides continued to avoid mentioning potential cardiac effects. Select this result to view Timothy Glynn Runnels's phone number, address, and more. As he looked Bryce over, Matt casually floated his positional asphyxia theory. As it happens, the concept of excited delirium is highly controversial. Officer Timothy Runnels flagged Bruce Master in 2014, but the incident led to the boy's cardiac arrest and long physical and emotional recovery after Runnels tasered him. Do you think that Bryce is going to make it? heasked her. The jury. Bryce refused. This case was filed in U.S. Courts Of Appeals, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. The Independence Police Department was hardest on him. All rights reserved. Given the grim initial prognosis, the Masters felt lucky. Tasers told everybody, If youve got to put your hands on somebody, why? You can receive all future diariesof Support the Dream Defenders in your Daily KosStreamby clickinghere. 71. . Please Join us. People were just shaking their heads, Stacy said. He was shot 21 times in the back and seven times about the body. When his mom noticed, he tried to explain how strange they felt. A measure of. I still get what cops go through, the decision-making process, the damned if you do, damned if you dont process, Matt said. As Fox 4 Kansas City reported, Masters nearly died after he lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. He would get terrible headaches, he had trouble sleeping problems that persist. I didnt do anything wrong. Still, seeing himself abused like that was surreal. ""He lives not only with memory deficiencies and other cognitive impairments, he has post-traumatic stress, extreme anxiety, and severe insomnia that makes interpersonal relationships challenging and difficult to an extent that they were not before his anoxic brain injury," the suit states." He was born on May 27, 1947 in Bloomingburg, Ohio to Clarence and Rebecca Wyatt Runnels. Police1 is revolutionizing the way the law enforcement community But in the summer of 2014, Bryce started having run-ins with the local police. He had to serve time. Nick Berardini[emailprotected]gmail.com@NickBerardini, Matt Stroud[emailprotected]gmail.com@MattStroud. Was he drunk, on drugs, what could do this? No, thats not it at all, the nurse responded. Does one have to be trained to know that you do not hurt a living breathing animal or person unless your life is in imminent danger? Eventually, they asked him how Bryce was doing. You could see blood coming out of his mouth. Independence, Missouri - Video released on Monday shows a new view of the moment a police officer used a taser on a teenager. Toward the end of Runnels sentencing hearing on May 26, Bryce stepped to the front of the courtroom to give his victim impact statement. He ran a license plate check on Masters's car, which revealed an outstanding warrant apparently associated with the plate.3 Runnels then initiated a traffic stop. At the age of 12, Ali discovered his talent for boxing through an odd twist of fate. Runnels grabbedBryces cellphone, throwing it in front of the car, demanding that he get on the ground. Lonnie Ali at her husbands funeral: America must never forget that when police and young black boys speak, great things can happen.. A measure of justice for Bryce. Over the past couple weeks, we havetried to showthat the plague of police brutality is not only an existential threatto Black and Brown Americansbut that under a culture of Comply or Die coupled with aggressive over-policing, nobody is safe. He felt terrible for missing the game. As Stacy walked into Centerpoints trauma center, nurses ushered her to where Bryce was hooked up to a ventilator, still unconscious. He knows there are manydeserving cases, especially involving minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom. Gillihan claimed hed received a call about a suspicious car parked overnight, and he was waiting when Bryce walked outside. Talk to a staff member. You see whats happening here, Matt told them. Young Bryce Masters is still recovering from the injuries he sustained at the hands of Timothy Funnels. Today's story doesn't involve a Taser related death. This may be called Tools or use an icon like the cog. Its a miracle hes alive.. Nah, that cant even happen, he remembered saying. His fingers and toes were curled inward, and his arms bent at near 90-degree angles toward his chest. First, he found a study by electrophysiologist Dr. Douglas Zipes that highlighted Taser-induced cardiac arrest cases in the field. 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. When Stacy and Matt Masters began having children, they moved across the border to Kansas City so Matt could keep his job as an officer with the Kansas City Police Department. He was allowed to remain free on bond Tuesday and was given until Aug. 1 to surrender to federal authorities. He stopped the gray Pontiac because he believed the . The Independence Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. The answer didnt make sense to Matt. His mom and dad held his hand. Aside from dealing with a traumatic brain injury, Bryce has battled the perception that he is somehow responsible for the crime committed against him. But Matt was grappling not only with his perspective as father and husband, but the fact that Runnels was a fellow police officer. His skin was pale, and his lips were light blue. One punctured his chest, to the right of his midsection. And, when they do, theres someone on the receiving end of that., In his sons case, an officer is paying for his bad decision. Mrs. Runnels had resided in Hudson most of her life. (A member of Runnelss defense team, asked for comment, said he had no information about his clients departurefrom the Kansas City Police Department. The victim, Bryce Masters, sued Runnels in 2016 for violating his civil rights. Medical staff furiously worked around him. ', , that never see the inside of a courtroom, What's a cop to do when his son is beaten bloody by another cop? 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. In addition to being a police officer, Martin also trained young boxers at a local gym. He jumped up from his seat and yelled, What the fuck? Being a convicted felon and losing the only career he ever aspired to was a significant punishment for Runnels, Hobbs said. Matt and Stacy didnt sleep at all that first night. Three years? Dr. Timothy Runnels. Stacy and Matt cried as Bryce fought. The 8th U.S. He had to have done something.. Cops use that all the time.. Am I under arrest? Runnels seemed to reconsider using the Taser, holstered it, and then reached into the car, attempting to pull Bryce out. On April 5, for instance, Matt and Stacy wanted to surprise Bryce with tickets to a Kansas City Royals game. Because youre only as good as the training.. "These outages are minimal compared to what we saw today," Runnels said . State police reinvestigated the case and found that a deputy who originally gave sworn testimony that Sanford drew an accurate diagram of the crime scene, later contradicted that testimony, the prosecutors offices statement said. The more they discussed the question, the more sobering it became. Everything Taser told them.. The Taser did this. 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. It in front of the car, andattempts to pull Bryce out pale, and.. The fatherattributes his fellow officers brutalization of his mouth least Bryce recognized his parents him, Runnels said last.! 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