Colywn Police Officer Acquitted of Taser assault on Detained, Handcuffed Black Teen - Judge Issues Decision with no Findings

From [HERE] A former Colwyn police officer accused of using a stun gun on a teenager inside the department’s holding cell was acquitted of misdemeanor simple assault and oppression charges Wednesday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court. Trevor Parham, who was arrested in May and terminated from the Colwyn Police Department in July, was found not guilty on all counts by Judge Kevin F. Kelly.
 A corporal with the Colwyn Police Department, Parham, of the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby, came under fire for an April 23 incident in which he used a stun gun on a 17-year-old he had arrested for disorderly conduct.

Da’Qwaun Jackson was handcuffed in the department holding cell when, prosecutors say, Parham entered the area and discharged 50,000 volts of electricity into Jackson’s upper left arm with his Taser gun. Parham, 40, allegedly told a county detective Jackson was banging his head against a wall and that he used the Taser to prevent the teen from hurting himself. Investigators noted Parham did not make mention of the head banging or use of his Taser in his initial report of the incident.

“I was disappointed and surprised by the verdict, but I respect the court’s decision,” said District Attorney Jack Whelan. “From what I understand, the judge (issued) a verdict slip, but (did) not give any basis or reason for it ... I looked at the evidence carefully and found the officer acted with excessive force. I still see it that way.

“This was a 17-year-old with his hands behind his back inside a cage, in a seated position, with shackles coming up behind him that were attached to the handcuffs. There are very few circumstances where it would be ever be justified to use a Taser in that scenario.”

Fitzpatrick strongly disagreed.

“Even if someone does something outside the guidelines of employment, which was not the case here, that doesn’t automatically mean it rises to the level of a criminal offense,” he said. “If someone failed to file an expense report, you wouldn’t turn around and prosecute that person for stealing money from their company.

“In this case, you had to show the officer was deliberately indifferent to what the law was and acting with some type of criminal intent. It’s not enough to just show the act.”

Jackson, who has an extensive criminal record, admitted he was mouthing off to Parham and kicking at the cell gate, but denied banging his head.

Parham made light of the Jackson incident in a text exchange with another officer on the night of the arrest, claiming he Tased the teen for “kicking the gate and calling me names.” Parham added an “lol” (short for laugh out loud) in the text where he mentions using the stun gun.

Fitzpatrick blasted the district attorney’s office and Colwyn Mayor Dan Rutland for unjustly targeting his client.

“This investigation was led by the mayor, it was not based on a report or complaint by the family,” he said. “Something smells funny and it smelled funny from the beginning ... When you have a police officer who has never had one complaint of excessive force against him in 11 years — after all those traffic stops, all those domestic violence calls, after dealing with all those juveniles on the street — I believe you have to give that some weight.

“And I believe the judge did.”

Rutland, who brought the incident to county detectives after interviewing Parham, said Kelly’s verdict did not come as a total shock.

“I don’t know that I was surprised,” he said. “The judge made his ruling and it is what it is. My phone has been ringing off the hook all day with people saying, ‘How could this happen?’ But I’m not inside the judge’s mind and I don’t know what he took into consideration.”

A message left for Kelly was not returned.

Reached Wednesday afternoon, council President Tonette Pray declined to comment on the verdict or the possibility of Parham being reinstated to the force.

Along with fellow Democrats Martha Van Auken and Patricia Williams, Pray voted against Parham’s termination, claiming it was politically motivated. Republicans Patrick Heller, Paul Meuser, Sunday Nwegbo and Democrat Marguerite Thomas voted in favor of the firing.

Rutland, who is also Republican, expressed doubt that Parham’s acquittal would have any impact on his chances for reinstatement.

“He may have been declared innocent, but that’s not the reason he was fired,” he said. “I can’t get into those reasons, but it had nothing to do with the Tasing incident.”

Whelan said Colwyn officials would be well within their right to keep Parham off the force despite Kelly’s verdict.

“Just because he was acquitted doesn’t mean his actions are acceptable or within the bounds of proper police protocol,” he said.

Fitzpatrick would not discuss Parham’s future plans or say whether his client planned to file a civil suit.

“Right now, we’re not commenting on civil remedies,” he said. “Quite honestly, we haven’t discussed it.”

Parham still has legal hurdles to clear.

Along with Pray, Police Chief Wendell Reed and borough administrative assistant Sherri Bedford, Parham is a defendant in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a 64-year-old Colwyn man who claims Parham wrongly arrested and persistently harassed him. Four Colwyn officers who were either fired or disciplined for allegedly failing to participate in the harassment are plaintiffs, as well.

Councilman Nwegbo has a separate civil rights suit pending in federal court against Pray, former treasurer MacDonald Ford, Reed and another police officer, which stems from a June 2011 meeting that erupted in violence and ended with Nwegbo being arrested for disorderly conduct. He beat the charge in district court.

“There’s so many suits going through the borough it’s hard to keep track,” Rutland said. “I’m named in some of them and half of them I don’t know anything about.”