80 year old man abused by small town WV cop

[CoolBreeze]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An 80-year-old man spent three days in the hospital after he was dragged off his ATV and slammed to the concrete by a Cedar Grove police officer, witnesses say.

On Tuesday, Robert McComb was riding ATVs with his friends, Darrell Cole and Bobby Palmer, and was heading back to his house after coming out of the woods when he was stopped by a Cedar Grove police cruiser.

The police officer pulled up beside McComb's ATV and stopped.

"I think Bob thought he was trying to let us by, so he kept going," said Palmer, who was riding an ATV behind McComb. "I thought the same thing."

But when McComb kept driving, the officer in the cruiser, Johnny Walls, chased McComb down.

McComb was ahead of Palmer and Cole. When both men caught up to McComb and Walls, the officer was picking a bloody McComb off the ground.

Carrie Balser said she watched what happened to McComb in horror as she sat in her truck with her husband, Bruce.

She said Walls grabbed McComb, pulled him off of the side of the ATV and slammed him to the concrete face-first.

She said she and her husband got out of their truck when they realized it was McComb.

"What he [Walls] did was very horrific," she said. "He [McComb] hit so hard face-first in the concrete."

Carrie Balser said she tried to give a statement about what she saw to Cedar Grove police, but they refused to take it. She said she was told she had to give her statement to the chief - Johnny Walls.

Palmer said that when Walls stood McComb up, blood was dripping down McComb's face from a gash on his forehead.

"The skin was torn off his right arm and he was shaking like a leaf," Palmer said. "Bob didn't deserve what that cop did to him."

By that time, a crowd of people had gathered, Palmer said. He said that when he tried to approach Walls, the officer threatened to Taser him. Cole said Walls threatened to Taser anyone in the crowd who approached him.

Cole said Walls handcuffed McComb and when he tried to get him into the police vehicle, McComb had a hard time.

"He's not real agile; he doesn't move too fast. He had both knees replaced, the last one about six months ago," Cole said. "When I watch TV with him, he turns it up to 100 to hear it - he's hard of hearing. ... So this police officer is trying to get him in the car and [McComb's] talking loud: 'I told you I can't move my legs.'"

Cole said he thinks that McComb's difficulty hearing might have led to Walls pulling him off the ATV because McComb might not have responded to the officer.

McComb was taken to the police station, then released to his friends. Walls told him he would get a summons in the mail stating the charges against him.

More... http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201008210 ... uild=cache

[Mike]

All I can say is that the "police officer" involved should have a tazer shoved up his balls as a MINIMUM punishment for his misbehavior.

And you know what, if I'd been in that mob, I'd have reminded Napoleon that he can't tazer EVERYONE.

I've seen this sort of behavior over and over, and it's why I only respect professional police, ie: those from departments that actually have training standards and pay a lot more than minimum wage. Those who aren't part of those sorts of departments are nothing more than hired ex schoolyard bullies with a cloth badge. And a gun, and authority, which is unfortunate.

Where I grew up (Raceland) the police were (and still are) like that, they harass kids and old people. IE: people who are absolutely no threat to them, because it stokes the ego, lets them use their "authority" and most of the time they get away with it.

If your town can't afford to pay your officers properly so as to attract ones that are actual trained professionals (I'd set a minimum wage of $15 as a starter salary) then it should not be allowed to HAVE them.

Pay less than that you are getting nothing but amateur bullies who do nothing to improve public safety and probably detract from even that.

I am all for respecting authority. When it's executed lawfully and reasonably. But this sort of shit should serve as a reminder to all that this authority is NOT absolute (impossible in a Republic) nor is it unaccountable. And we, as individual citizens, have just as much law enforcement authority as any law enforcement "officer" (of this sort). We have to, as his "power" is derived from OURS.

It would not have been out of order for that mob to have arrested HIM for felonious assault.


/soapbox off.

[AmpedNow]

I have respect for police officers and the law, but usually, the people who are no trouble are easier to intimidate than the real criminals.

It's easier (and more lucrative) to run aggressive speed traps and beat up old people on four wheelers than it is to shut down a meth lab that threatens to blow up half of the town.