Police Officers Involved In Arrest of Christina West Suspended

WPTV reports that the two Tallahassee Police officers involved in the arrest of Christina West have been suspended with pay. West was injured by the two officers during a DUI arrest. Here is a picture of West after the arrest.

Here is police video of the arrest of West.

The arrest happened on August 10, 2013. The two officers are only being suspended after the arrest became national news. Another thing that makes the arrest suspicious is West's arrest wasn't recorded in the Tallahassee Police Department crime log. West's case number is is highlighted in the image below. No arrest is mentioned.

The Tallahassee Police Department is standing by the arrest procedures.

“We standby our practices that we have in place and we also stand by the procedures that we have in place,” police department spokesman David Northway told WCTV on Tuesday. “And if there is something that has gone awry in this investigation then the proper procedures will be followed and actions will be taken against those officers.”

State Attorney Willie Meggs believes excessive force during the arrest.

"It was a very disturbing video to me," said State Attorney Willie Meggs. “I didn’t see anything in the video that would cause me to believe that this woman needed anybody to use any type of force or restraint on her.”

It appears that the Tallahassee Police Department has been less than transparent and candid in the handling of the controversy surround West's arrest.

Members of Tallahassee Police Department Being Investigated For Police Brutality

This photo of Christina West after she was arrested for DUI. State Attorney Willie Meggs is investigating the police arrest of West.

State Attorney Willie Meggs called the footage “very disturbing.”

“I am extremely upset. This is a very disturbing situation to me, and I’m dealing with it.” Meggs told the Democrat.

Meggs also told WCTV that the video was “one of the most disturbing videos” he’s ever seen.

Meggs has already dropped some other charges police gave West. The DUI charge still stands. There does appear to be evidence that West lost control of her car and ran onto the property of a homeowner.

Here is a video news report WTXL.

According to the WTXL report, police kept pressure on her leg and twisted her arm. West can be heard screaming in pain. The orbital in West's face was broken; quite possibly from when police slammed her face first into the road or a police car. Video shows both instances happening. Other injuries include a bloody nose, a black eye, and cuts on her arms and legs.

Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox is concerned the city may face a lawsuit.

"The video was taken from the police car and shows the road side sobriety test as well as the arrest of the subject," Maddox wrote. "It also shows DISTURBING use of force against a completely non aggressive arrestee. It is my belief that the city of Tallahassee will soon face a liability lawsuit based on the content of the video."

West's attorney Fred Conrad does intend to sue.

“I was shocked to see this,” said her attorney, Fred Conrad of Tallahassee. “I would never have expected that out of my police department. By and large, most of my officers that I deal with at the Tallahassee Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office are all professional and good cops, folks that I would feel very comfortable with in the event that I needed them as a citizen. This was disturbing. I could not believe that I saw that happening in Tallahassee, Florida.”

Conrad said he intends to pursue compensation for West, though he didn’t explicitly say he would be filing a lawsuit.

“I can say I intend to pursue just compensation for Ms. West,” he said. “And I can say I intend to do it relentlessly. I intend to make the police department pay for this. This is wrong. And they need to pay for it.”

Officer Chris Ormerod failed to mention that West was slammed into a police car and onto the road in his A probable cause statement. TPD Chief Dennis Jones has opened an internal affairs investigation.

The extended video from the police video shows the incident started after West agreed to take a breathalyzer. West is clearly drunk during the sobriety tests. The police became frustrated after repeatedly asked about her children and her husband. West's husband was in a nearby nearby but refused to get involved. You can hear the cops in the video claim that West scratched and made physical contact with them. It does not appear in the video that the police officers were ever in physical dangers. It appears the two officers lost their tempers dealing with a very difficult and intoxicated woman.

Stand Your Ground

"Stand your ground is the dumbest law ever put on the books."

Wille Meggs, Florida State Attorney.

The people responsible for the Stand Your Ground law are former Gov. Jeb Bush and NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer. Bush signed Stand Your Ground into law in 2005. Hammer has defended the law.

"The law was written very carefully and it means what it says: You have a right to protect yourself," she said.

Florida elected Republicans are terrified of Hammer's wrath. Hammer pushed a bill that allowed citizens to take guns into the state capital. In an environment where Gabrielle Giffords is shot by an enraged citizen how is this a good idea? Security is not even allowed to ask if someone is carrying a gun in the capital. Florida Republican legislators are willing to place their lives at risk because they fear a lobbyist. That is insane.

Which brings us to the Trayvon Martin tragedy. Mother Jones has audio of the 911 calls made to the dispatchers. George Zimmerman was told by a dispatcher not to go after Martin.

"Are you following him? the dispatcher asked. Zimmerman replied: "Yep."

"Okay, we don't need to do that," the dispatcher warned.

Zimmerman ignored the dispatcher. People in the neighborhood called about a man on top of another person. There was screaming that didn't sound like Zimmerman's voice. The end result was Martin being shot to death.

Zimmerman is currently a free man. Zimmerman said he was standing his ground and felt threatened by a 14 year-old boy.

Sansom, Richburg and Odom Charged With Grand Theft

State Attorney Willie Meggs has charged former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom, Jay Odom and former Northwest Florida State College president Bob Richburg with grand theft. The charge stems form Sanson allocating $6 million in the state budget for an aircraft hanger for the Destin Aiport. The city of Destin never had any interest in funding Richburg's hanger project. Richburg has private planes.

"It doesn't benefit him at all," Sansom said at the time. "He wasn't involved with me. I worked with the college." Odom told the St. Petersburg Times the hanger would not be used for Richburg's plane. That was contradicted by Airport operation manager Bill Blackford.

The shady deal worked like this: Odom leased a half acre to Northwest Florida College for $1 dollar. Sanson got a $110,000-a-year job at Northwest Florida State College. Richburg's school got $750,000 of start up funds. Odom got a remodeled hanger. The three men waged their plans in a series of emails. Richburg and Sansom had a private meeting to put the hanger in the budget. The hanger was (laughably) sold a classrooms.

My favorite thing about Sansom is him selling himself as a values candidate. This is the bill for a meal Sansom and Richburg at the University Center Club. Sansom charged the meal on his Republican Party of Florida American Express card.