top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Video Surfaces of Santa Cruz Police Officers Hitting and Tasing Man

by Alex Darocy (alex [at] alexdarocy.com)
A video has surfaced of Santa Cruz Police hitting and tasing Oliver Howard in front of the court house on October 13, 2014, in what multiple witnesses called excessive force at the time. The woman who recorded the video can be heard saying, "I hate cops" and "this is so fucked up" as the events unfolded. After the violent takedown by officers, Howard was taken directly to the hospital. He was never booked into jail and apparently was never charged with any crime. Since that time, one of the witnesses filed a formal complaint with the Santa Cruz Police Department, which triggered an external review.
Copy the code below to embed this movie into a web page:
Those on the scene that day say Santa Cruz Police hit Oliver Howard with a baton, tased his bare body, piled on top of him, wrenched and twisted his limbs, and grinded his face and body into the ground.

"I did not feel the man he was pursuing was dangerous or a threat to the officer or me," witness Debra Ellis stated in October. "The man being pursued appeared scared and confused," she said.

Two of the witnesses that day told Ellis their vehicle had been pulled over on Water Street by the first officer on the scene that afternoon (later identified as Ryan Kiar of the SCPD). When the officer was talking to them from outside of their car, Oliver Howard pulled up behind them in his vehicle. She said Howard exited his car and approached the officer, asking him about dead bodies and dead body parts in Santa Cruz and why weren't police doing something about it. She said Howard then walked away and was pursued by the police officer.


To read more about the incident, see:

Witnesses Report Excessive Use of Force by SCPD during Arrest near Court House
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/10/20/18763064.php


Alex Darocy
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.com/
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Duh
Tue, Mar 17, 2015 5:17AM
John Cohen-Colby
Mon, Mar 16, 2015 8:58PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$225.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network