"I just moved the door like this [gently], he's back there, he's throwing his hands up at me, he wouldn't obey my commands, he's trying to charge at me, wouldn't obey my commands" and more solid gold nonsense at 7:33.
From [HERE] and [HERE] A white Rockwood police officer at the center of a $1.2 million federal lawsuit for pepper-spraying a 20-year-old Black college student submitted his resignation a day after the lawsuit was filed, according to records.
Xavier Howard wasn't happy about it but when a white Rockwood police officer told him to put his hands in the air and walk toward him, he did.
The white officer doused him with pepper spray anyway, footage from the officer's body camera revealed.
That same footage captured audio of officer Chris Kennedy pondering exactly what charge to place against the 20-year-old black college student to justify the use of force, and it contradicted Kennedy's written account of the incident in which he said he sprayed Howard because the young man refused his command to "back away."
Now, Howard, who lost his basketball scholarship at Roane State Community College as a result of the July 2015 arrest, is suing the Rockwood Police Department, Kennedy and Kennedy's supervisor, Sgt. Randy Keahy. Among the more than $1.2 million in damages he seeks is the value of both his lost scholarship and the job opportunities a college education would have afforded him — pegged in the U.S. District Court lawsuit at $731,000.
In Howard's case, the body camera footage is at the heart of his bid to show he was subjected to unnecessary force, wrongfully arrested and his life left in tatters as a result. When he lost his scholarship, he was forced to drop out. He racked up more than $5,000 in bond and legal fees.
Howard lived with his girlfriend, Brandy Harris, in the Meadows Place Apartments in Rockwood. Howard attended Roane State on a basketball scholarship. Harris worked at a nursing home. In July 2015, the couple argued. A neighbor phoned police about the noise. Kennedy knocked and, when Harris partially opened the door, pushed on it.
The video showed Kennedy immediately focused on Howard. Harris can be heard explaining the pair had a "stupid argument" but no blows were exchanged. Howard also protested the officer's presence in the apartment and turned toward the kitchen, saying he was going to call his mother, according to documents.
The video footage showed Kennedy, who saw a small knife on top of a television near the kitchen, ordered Howard to put his hands into the air and walk toward him. Howard, still arguing, did, but — just three minutes after the encounter began — Kennedy sprayed him with pepper spray, handcuffed him and placed him in his cruiser without rendering any aid, which is required by the Rockwood policy manual.
Kennedy told Howard he was being arrested for "resisting," the lawsuit stated. The officer later asked Sgt. Keahy, who arrived after the spray was used, "what can I get him for," the video showed. Keahy suggested domestic assault. But a judicial magistrate refused to approve the charge because there was no evidence of an assault, the lawsuit stated. Kennedy then drafted a warrant for underage consumption, alleging Howard was "the primary aggressor" in a "physical domestic" and claimed Howard refused his commands to "back off" so he was forced to use pepper spray, according to documents filed in the case.
A review of the officer's personnel file shows Kennedy, a part-time hire who had been with the department less than two years, submitted a letter of resignation July 6. According to the letter, Kennedy accepted a full-time position with the Oliver Springs Police Department, beginning July 18. [MORE]