Michigan State Police Officers Assault Disabled Man
Driving While Intoxicated
Jason Spicer celebrated his birthday with quite a bit of alcohol and was on his way home. Michigan State Troopers Mark Carroll and Ronald Darling pulled him over. According to Carroll’s report, Spicer was weaving and driving 90 mph. There is no doubt that Spicer was driving under the influence but just because a person has broken the law doesn’t mean officers have a right to abuse you.
Excessive Use of Force
When Trooper Carroll approaches the driver’s side door he instructs Spicer to exit the vehicle. Per Trooper Carroll’s own words, Spicer said, “I’m going to get out, but hold on, I got, I got trouble walking.” Spicer puts his hands out of the window to show they are empty then tells the officers that he needs his cane. As Spicer gets his cane, Trooper Carroll reaches in and yanks it out of his hands then pulls Spicer out, taking him down so hard that Spicer’s face slams into the ground.
While Spicer is being handcuffed and eventually walked to the police vehicle, he says at least twice that he has nerve damage. Trooper Carroll ignores him and kicks Spicers legs apart causing Spicer to groan in pain.
Bragging Rights
You will see in the video below, that the two troopers are bragging, laughing and joking with the booking officers, about what happened. And we all know that whenever someone is bragging they usually embellish the story.
When Trooper Carroll is bragging about the incident to the booking officers he says that Spicer started swinging the cane but that doesn’t make any sense. Spicer was in the car. There was no room for him to swing the cane. In the video you can see Carroll pulling the cane away from Spice with the cane being mostly vertical. The bottom is angled forward slightly and the hook part is angled back slightly. This would be the exact position the cane would be in when a person would use it to get out of a car.
It doesn’t matter. Carroll and Darling are all hyped up over their story and now the booking officers want to be part of it too. Mr. Spicer had to be taken to the hospital for his injuries. As he is being taken out of the cell, one of the booking officers says, over the intercom, “Have a good night. Come back and see us, ya little bitch.” Then you hear the booking officers laughing.
Frat House Mentality
The Michigan State Police have a lot of problems. The Detroit Free Press has a really good article about the whistle blower complaint that was filed because the investigation into this excessive use of force incident was shut down by the agency’s upper management. We all know about police brutality, excessive force, targeting vulnerable people and by that I mean people who aren’t of sterling character who will be less likely to be believed.
What I want to mention is the frat house mentality that is so prevalent in law enforcement agencies. Hazing new recruits, yelling at new hires, petty penalties to show rookies who the boss is, and so on. So much of this adds to the belief that abuse is okay. You can see it while the officers are enjoying the abuse that a weaker person was subjected to. Nothing is really being done to break this cycle. This is not the only problem but it would be a good place to start if an agency was trying to get back on the right track.