Two Officers Charged With Second Degree Murder After Using Taser On A Man More Than 50 Times

The “dangerous and unnecessary tasing” by two Oklahoma officers was the “substantial factor” in the death of Jared Lakey, who died a year ago.

Joshua Taylor, 25, and Brandon Dingman, 34, of the Wilson Police Department, which is located in a small town nearly 100 miles from south of Oklahoma City, have been charged with second-degree murder. According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, on July 4, 2019, the two officers responded to a call of disorderly conduct and made contact with Lakey when they arrived on the scene.

Court documents state that Lakey would not comply with the officers’ orders, therefore, both used their tasers a total of more than 50 times, which “greatly exceeded what would have been necessary or warranted by the attendant circumstances.”

According to the New York Times, a local Carter County deputy sheriff was dispatched to the location and was able to assist in Lakey’s arrest. It was shortly after that he stopped breathing and became unresponsive. Lakey was transported to a hospital in Healdton, OK, and then to OU Medical Center, where he died two days later.

The district attorney’s office called for their arrests on Wednesday, both turned themselves in Thursday morning for second-degree murder. Both could face ten years to life in prison and have since been released on $250,000 bonds, the State Bureau of Investigation reports.

Ryan Hunnicutt is the representing attorney for both officers and released an email on Thursday evening.

“The death of Mr. Lakey saddens us all. We are confident that the legal system will provide an opportunity for all the facts to be known and look forward to our day in court.”

It is unknown if the officers are still with the Wilson Police Department.

Spencer Bryan represents Lakey’s parents, Doug and Cynthia Lakey, who were initially told that the officers claimed they used the taser on Lakey only four times. But camera footage reviewed by Spencer contradict those claims, and the second-degree murder charges are the appropriate measure considering the footage.

Mr. Bryan said that the Lakey family had filed a public records lawsuit and a federal civil rights lawsuit in connection with Mr. Lakey’s death. Both lawsuits are pending.

In the public records lawsuit, filed in September, Ms. Lakey is seeking body camera footage, witness statements, photographs and police radio logs. The lawsuit states that Mr. Lakey’s body was riddled with Taser probes and says that medical providers had told the family that Mr. Lakey died from multiple heart attacks.

The lawsuit states that radio logs from just before midnight on July 4, 2019, around the time that Mr. Lakey was shocked with the Tasers, documented a single report of a man “screaming and running down the road.” It stated that there was no indication that Mr. Lakey had committed a serious offense and no indication that he had threatened Mr. Taylor or Mr. Dingman.

A debate over the use of Tasers was reignited last month after the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was found asleep in a car in a drive-through at a Wendy’s in Atlanta. Mr. Brooks, 27, had fled from the police after failing a sobriety test, and grabbed a Taser from an officer during a struggle, the authorities said.

“I have never seen a more disturbing video,” Mr. Bryan said in an email. “After watching it, I cannot understand how the city allowed officers who exhibited such gross recklessness, resulting in a man’s death, to continue working. We have great confidence the evidence supports the charges.” Lakey’s family has filed a public records lawsuit as well as a federal civil rights lawsuit.

The family seeks to obtain the body camera footage, witness testimonies, photos, and police radio logs. Medical providers told the family that Lakey’s body was riddled with taser probes, and he died from multiple heart attacks. And the radio logs will show that there was a call reporting a man “screaming and running down the road on July 4, 2019, however, there was no indication that Lakey had committed a crime or caused a threat to Taylor or Dingman.

Both officers and the victim are white.

According to a 2012 statement by Amnesty International, 500 people have died in the U.S. as a result of stun guns used during arrest or while in jail. And found in 2008, 90% of the those that died were unarmed, and although most of the deaths had outlying factors, medical examiners listed the device as a contributing factor. A shock delivered to the chest can cause a heart attack or sudden death.