A 35-year-old man was tasered and punched repeatedly in a Meijer parking lot for supposedly trying to steal over $600’s worth of Pokémon TCG cards.
Security camera footage shows Ernest Fields was in the process of stealing $679’s worth of Pokémon TCG merch from Meijer’s, and an employee tracking Fields reported the type of car he left the store in. This led police straight to Fields, who were reportedly pushed down by the suspect when they were trying to apprehend him.
Fields is shown resisting arrest, which is when another police officer got on top of him and punched him in the face repeatedly. Another officer also came in and tasered Fields in order to subdue him. During this skirmish, Fields can be heard yelling out that he was sorry and he couldn’t breathe.
Acting President of the Fraternal Order of Police Brian Steel said the takedown will be given a thorough review and the officers involved will be reprimanded if any wrongdoing is found. Cori Elaine Schleiffer, organizing director of Ohio Families Unite for Political Action and Change, says that what was caught on video doesn’t match up with the police reports.
Add Comment
jake_a
5M agoDoesn't look good for the police. The officer that had him pinned down was definitely in the wrong for repeatedly striking the suspect like that. I think there was probably a struggle we didn't see but that doesn't justify a response like that.
The Taser deployment also seems like a bit much but is definitely not as severe as striking the suspect several times. I'm assuming they were trying to gain compliance and bring the suspects hands into a position behind his back to handcuff him.
Finally, I just want to say that the suspect should have complied and things would not have escalated to this point. At the same time, police need to show more discipline and self control because that response is awful and will only further damage their relationship with the public.
snailperson
5M agoLooks like he took a few too many Machamp cards from that store. Maybe a Zapdos too.
Comments (2)