Recently, a video has been circulated by an organization which calls itself “Cop Watch” which, along with similar organizations such as Cop Block, prides itself on exposing what it perceives to be law enforcement abuse. Unfortunately, as in the recent video depicting a Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy deploying his Taser during an incident, these organizations sometimes use deceptive tactics to mislead the public and place law enforcement in a negative light without regard for the truth. In the recent case involving our Sheriff’s Deputy, the video placed on-line and on social media is significantly edited and altered for the simple purpose of creating the appearance of abuse where none existed. Prior to placing the video on-line the entity and individuals posting the video did not contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to get the facts underlying the incident or to otherwise find out what was involved as to do hear the truth would not mesh with their agenda of creating a negative perception of law enforcement. Instead, the entity and individuals simply placed an edited and altered video on-line along with a biased narrative of the events leading up the Deputy’s deployment of his Taser in order to manipulate the sentiments of the reader and video viewer and to cast law enforcement in a negative light. The entity circulating the video made it read as though a Taser was deployed against an innocent father who simply came to a traffic stop of his allegedly autistic son in order to advise the deputy of his son’s autism. This, however, is the rest of the story. On May 19, 2014, a Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy initiated a traffic stop for a speeding violation upon Alexander Sherman. During that traffic stop, another vehicle, operated by Roy Sherman (father of Alexander Sherman) pulled up to the scene and began interfering with the deputy’s investigation. The deputy requested, pursuant to standard law enforcement procedure, that Roy Sherman remain at his vehicle so that the traffic stop could be completed, however, Roy Sherman refused. During the ensuing encounter, Roy Sherman became irate and shouted several times to the deputy to “just shoot me in the f------ head!” Due to the combative nature of Roy Sherman the deputy requested a back-up unit and Sherman was advised he was under arrest due to his impeding, and interfering with, the deputy’s initial traffic stop investigation. When the deputy requested Roy Sherman remove himself from his vehicle Sherman instead hit the accelerator on the vehicle while the driver door was open and the deputy was holding on to it thereby placing the deputy in danger of harm. When the vehicle came to a stop the deputy again advised Roy Sherman to remove himself from the vehicle which he continued to refuse to do. When the deputy attempted to undo the seatbelt to remove Sherman from the vehicle Mr. Sherman then turned his body and cocked his arm back in a perceived attempt to throw a punch at the deputy. At that point the Taser was deployed to gain compliance from Roy Sherman and place him under arrest. Sherman was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and two counts of resisting arrest without violence. Immediately after the incident Roy Sherman informed the deputy that he was “sorry” and “was not thinking”. The son, Alexander Sherman, was also spoken with at the scene and advised the deputies that what his father had done was “wrong.” Pursuant to Marion County Sheriff’s Office policy, all uses of force are investigated by supervisors and that procedure occurred in this case due to the deployment of the Taser. Immediately following the arrest of Roy Sherman a sergeant with the Sheriff’s Office spoke with Roy Sherman about the incident. During that interview, Roy Sherman told the sergeant that he had, in fact, refused to leave the scene of his son’s traffic stop despite repeated requests from the officer to do so until the stop was ended. Roy Sherman also stated that when he arrived at the scene of the stop there were no problems, that the scene was “calm” and that the incident “could have been avoided if he had left the area when told to do so by the deputy.” Thereafter the sergeant interviewed Alexander Sherman, the son of Roy Sherman, regarding the incident. Alexander Sherman stated that he called his father when he was getting pulled over only to tell him that he would be late for dinner and did not ask for his father to come to the traffic stop location. Alexander Sherman further advised that his father “should have stayed home” and regretted telling his father where he was located because the incident could have been avoided. Alexander Sherman also told the investigating sergeant that his father was “aggressive and his aggression has worsened over the years” and that Roy Sherman “believes all cops want to kill him.” Alexander further stated that his father, Roy Sherman, “is not harmless and is unpredictable and should have to spend the night in jail.” Finally, Alexander Sherman stated that, in his opinion, the deputies “did everything correct” during the traffic stop and subsequent incident involving his father, Roy Sherman. Alexander Sherman did not make any mention of having autism to the investigating sergeant. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office will have no further comment regarding this matter, however, the public is encouraged, particularly when viewing posts from groups that are intentionally antagonistic to law enforcement and information put out by persons who have significant criminal records, to consider the source of the information as you would in considering the truthfulness of any other information you receive. As with most things, there is usually another side of the story than the misleading one that you may see.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 00:14:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015