The video starts with Kansas City Officer Dale Secor asking Short Stop Mini Mart clerk Damian Words for his ID. Both men are standing next to Words' car, which is parked perpendicularly in a driveway. Officer Secor tells Words he is getting a ticket. Words explains he is a clerk at the store across the street and had to move his car while the spot he normally parks in is being worked on.
Officer Secor then tells Words words to turn around. Words is surprised. Who wouldn't be surprised by a cop who wants to arrest you for a parking ticket? “Turn around or you’re gonna get tased. You’re under arrest!” says Officer Secor. Words does not follow the officer's instructions. Instead he tells the officer that he has a "store to run." Words never uses threatening language or gestures, but Officer Secor points his taser pistol at Words and zaps him. Words falls to the ground just as another police car races to the scene. The second officer jumps out of the car and starts screaming at Words. Both officers busy themselves cuffing and restraining Words. The video ends there.
In his report, Officer Secor told a story that doesn't jibe with the dashcam video. From AlterNet:
Secor claimed that he feared Words may have had a weapon, but no weapon was found at the scene. Secor also wrote that Words, “bladed his body and got into a power stance” a moment before Secor fired his Taser.
But Secor’s dash cam video revealed that the officer provided false information in his report. During the moments before Secor fired his Taser, Words remained calm with his empty hands exposed and not standing in a threatening position. He simply wanted to know why Secor was arresting him over a parking ticket.
Secor also wrote in his report that Words was listed as a known gang member after running his license plate. But federal records and state records in Kansas, Missouri, and Michigan reveal that Words is not a gang member and has no history of violent crime.
Words is suing the Kansas City Police Department and Officer Secor for unnecessary and excessive use of force. I imagine the police department and Officer Secor don't give a fig about about the lawsuit, as the taxpayers will have to pay for their brutality.
