Police and paramedics in Millvale, Pa., were recorded on video laughing as they repeatedly stunned a handcuffed and mentally-ill man as he pounded his head against the side of a desk. The video–predictably–ended up on YouTube, and the police officers involved became targets of an FBI investigation and a federal lawsuit.
Thomas Smith, 28, filed the $75,000 lawsuit against officer Nichole Murphy, chief Derek Miller, and the Pittsburgh-area borough. The FBI’s investigation is apparently ongoing, reports WPXI, but no criminal charges have been filed since the incident late last year.
Smith was arrested on Sept. 21, 2012, and charged with public drunkenness. The video, shot on a cellphone, shows him shirtless and handcuffed on the floor at the police station, talking incoherently and butting his forehead against the side of a nearby desk. Officer Murphy uses a stun gun on him as paramedics or other officers laugh; in a police report, she claims she used the stun gun to subdue Smith when he became “violent.”
According to the lawsuit, Murphy was fired before over conduct “similar” to that seen in the video, but subsequently rehired. Smith pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.