Timothy Runnels, a former Independence, Missouri, police officer, was sentenced to four years in federal prison earlier this month. Runnels pled guilty to violating the civil rights of 17-year old Bryce Masters in September of 2014 during a traffic stop. The dash cam video of Runnels stop and arrest of Masters was made available last week and it stands as a quiet yet undeniable indictment of at least one cop who felt he could do whatever he wanted. The video, provided by The Intercept, is graphic and is below the fold.
Runnels pulled Masters over on September 14, 2014, at first saying there was an outstanding warrant associated with Masters’ car. Runnels would later write in his report that after approaching the vehicle he smelled marijuana coming from inside the vehicle and requested Masters to exit. THEN, when Masters refused after several requests, the taser was deployed. As per usual, that ain’t the whole truth. And its not what Runnels told Masters, as Masters can be heard on the video asking if he is under arrest and why he is being asked to leave his car. As you will see on the video, Runnels approaches the vehicle’s passenger side and asks Masters to roll his window all the way down. When Masters refuses–telling the officer that he can hear him–Runnels goes to the driver’s side of the car, opens the door, and begins trying to physically remove Masters, telling him to get out of the car. Runnels can be heard saying “Fuck it” and pulling out his taser. The video shows Runnels carrying Masters’ limp body behind the vehicle to a drive way and dumping him, face first, into the concrete.
Runnels dropping of Masters’ face first into the concrete was considered to be “depriving a minor of his civil rights.” Runnels deployment of the taser, which shot directly into Masters’ chest, for 23 seconds was considered to be an aggravating circumstance, since it was considered to be equivalent to pulling the trigger four times. Masters went into cardiac arrest, suffering oxygen deprivation and brain damage. Runnels eventually called for an ambulance; CPR was performed and Masters was taken to a hospital where he was placed in a medically induced coma. Although Masters recovered he will continue to suffer the effects of the incident for the rest of his life.
The other reason Runnels was charged with violating Masters’ civil rights is because his father Matt Masters, a 19-year veteran of the Kansas City Police Department, called the FBI and requested they investigate.
“ … Matt retained his friend and former police officer Daniel Haus as the family attorney, and he called the FBI to request an investigation. The FBI told him to be patient and that an agent would contact him sometime in the next few days. About an hour later, a colleague called Matt; two FBI agents assigned to investigate police misconduct were already looking for him. The FBI arrived within the hour. ...”
Having a cop for a dad really comes in handy when you’ve been the victim of cop misconduct. In addition to getting the FBI moving at such a quick pace, the elder Masters also knew that there was something not quite right about Runnels’ police report:
Matt’s experience as a cop taught him that officers can sometimes write themselves out of trouble through exaggerated and self-serving reports. “Whenever you see these officers come out with a use of force, whether it be a shooting or a tasering or a whatever, there are phrases that always go in those reports, that we’ve been trained to put in there,” Matt said. “And so many times that’s just like an ‘insert quote here’ in your report because that’s going to cover your ass.”
Matt saw the phrasing and knew Runnels was looking for ways to justify both the stop and the attempted arrest. Matt suspected that once it was clear the warrant association to the car wasn’t sufficient probable cause for an arrest, Runnels needed new justifications. Since smell is subjective, and difficult to prove, officers can use “marijuana odor” broadly to justify probable cause, Matt said. “Cops use that all the time.”
What happened to Bryce Masters was horrific and should not happen to anyone, child of a cop or not. But it did happen, and it happens all too frequently in small cities like Independence, Missouri and big cities like New York and L.A. Daily Kos readers are encouraged to join the many efforts currently underway to provide a corrective to such horrific behavior.