Cop Cleared After Tasing Belligerent Police Race Relations Adviser in Face
If there has ever been any question as to how to behave toward law enforcement officers while they are on duty and protecting the community in which they work, this story should clear that up for you right away.
The strange twist to this account is a real head-scratcher, too. While the officer in question was cleared of misconduct in relation to her actions, it is still not clear why this case involved another member of law enforcement, who seemed oblivious as to how to respond to a fellow officer.
Across the pond in England is where we find ourselves learning this valuable lesson and hopefully clearing up some of this confusion. Maybe we can also reinforce the universal importance of working together, especially if you are on the same team. Had that mindset been at the forefront of this situation, this entire mess may have been avoided altogether.
Officer Claire Boddie was cleared of charges of misconduct after an investigation of an altercation with fellow law enforcement official Judah Adunbi. Adunbi works as a race relations adviser on the same police force as Boddie.
On Jan. 14, 2017, Boddie was on duty with her partner Darren Weston. It was shortly after 9 a.m. On their way to another call, they saw Adunbi walking his dog.
As they had been alerted earlier to a suspect fitting Adunbi’s description, they stopped him to try to make a positive identification.
They tried to speak to Adunbi, but he became belligerent and agitated. After repeated attempts to calm Adunbi, Boddie felt his behavior and speech rose to threatening levels.
“Mr Adunbi threatened that he would ‘put to sleep’ Weston,” Boddie told The Daily Mail. She added that she understood that to mean “That he was going to kill him.”
After drawing her taser for the first time, Adunbi refused to back down, and Boddie still “viewed him as a threat.”
Boddie also said she believed Adunbi had punched her partner. That’s when she drew her taser for a second time, aiming it at Adunbi.
“It escalated from that to the point at which Boddie used a Taser on Mr Adunbi. One of the barbs of the Taser struck Mr Adunbi in the face, causing a minor injury to his chin,” said George Thomas, who presented the case against Boddie in court.
It’s still unknown as to why Adunbi took such an obstinate stance with officers on his own police force. And he certainly must have known resisting arrest or at least lack of cooperation would not end well for him.
Bobbie was cleared of misconduct charges in a May trial.
In an unrelated incident in June, Adunbi was arrested and accused of using racist language and making threatening hand gestures toward shop keepers in Bristol, England, according to the BBC. A judge later acquitted him of these charges after reviewing incident footage.
Sometimes I wonder where common sense has gone and why people don’t have a universal understanding anymore that cooperation and following the rules, or laws, makes things better for all of us? And further, I don’t understand why law enforcement has become such a target for angst, on almost every front, without cause.
Clearly the case between Adunbi and Boddie needn’t have been a news story that spanned the world. It should never have escalated beyond a misunderstanding in the first place.
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