CENTERVILLE, Ga. — Centerville's police chief says two officers acted properly when they Tased a man during a traffic stop.
According to May 22nd incident report, it happened May 22 in the 2900-block of Watson Boulevard.
In the passenger seat was 37 year old Victor Conner. His teenage son was behind the wheel.
The report says the car was stopped because the driver was not maintaining his lane.
Chief Charles Hadden says officers Wesley Neesmith and Damir Mehmedic Tased Conner because he kept raising the rear car window and ignored officers' orders to step outside the car.
He said the officers felt at risk because they couldn't see inside the tinted windows.
"Their rear passenger window was rolled back up, the office asked them again to roll it back down and explained to them 'you know, I can't see you I can't see what's going on in the vehicle please roll it down,'" said Hadden.
'Battered, choked and Tased'
A statement from one of Conner's lawyers, Reza Sedghi says "Fearful, Conner did not immediately exit the vehicle and after being approached by officer Mehmedic was unlawfully battered by the officer. Both officer Neesmith and officer Mehmedic battered, choked and Tased Conner multiple times."
Sedghi says Conner was hospitalized for a heart attack after receiving at least 16 shocks. He also said the Tasing knocked out the car's electrical system.
Hadden called Sedghi's statement "laughable" and inaccurate.
Chief Hadden said he could not release body and dash-cam video yet because of possible pending litigation, but he allowed 13WMAZ's Zach Merchant to view it and take notes.
'Step out or you will be Tased'
The footage shows the rear car windows were so dark that the interior was impossible to see at night.
Officers asked the passenger, Conner, repeatedly to lower the windows and keep them down. They tell Conner that they need to be able to see inside the car for “safety.”
They ask him three times to lower the windows. They can bee seen being lowered but soon after, raised back up.
After the third request was not obeyed, Mehmedic asked Conner to step outside the vehicle. When Conner refused, officers tried to pull him out and the men scuffled. Officers warned, “Step out or you will be Tased.”
Conner still refused, so officers "drive stunned" him once. According to Hadden, that's a short Taser burst at close range.
Conner still refused to exit the vehicle and the scuffle continued. Although it's not visible on camera, Neesmith can be heard saying Conner tried to grab his Taser.
During the scuffle, officers ask Conner to leave the car dozens of times (Hadden puts the count at "well over 50 times"). Conner never complies, and is eventually Tased at least twice and drive-stunned at least once more before officers remove him from the car.
After he was handcuffed, Conner can be seen standing and talking with officers.
Throughout the encounter Conner repeatedly tells officer he’s going to “call my lawyer.”
The headlights on his truck and his truck’s center console both appear illuminated during and after the scuffle.
Conner's attorneys, who declined to speak on camera or make their client available for interview, disputed parts of this.
Over the phone, another lawyer representing Conner, Thomas Jarriel, said the following:
"The traffic stop was for failure to maintain lane. We don't know what the video shows--whether (Conner's teenage son) went over the center line one or more times or whatever but it's a fairly benign offense I think anybody will, will admit. He was pulled over for that and then after a--after a choking, pulling the gun on, on Chief Master Sergeant Conner, after numerous tasers later including a heart attack you know that seems to be a little bit over the top to us."
Both Jarriel and Sedghi said they had not seen the video.
'I don’t know if there’s somebody in the back'
Once Conner was in custody, Mehmedic reiterated on camera why he felt the window tint and Conner’s failure to obey commands was a problem.
"I don’t know if there’s somebody in the back with a shotgun,” he said.
Mehmedic then can be seen removing the Taser prongs from Conner’s body, and asking EMS for Band-Aids and peroxide to sterilize the puncture wounds.
Conner can be seen walking under his own power to a patrol car and, according to Hadden, he was then taken to jail. He was charged with obstruction of an officer. According to his booking sheet, he's employed by Robins AFB.
Officers cleared
After a roughly week long internal affairs investigation, Hadden says both officers were cleared of any misconduct and returned to full duty.
Officer connected to dog beheading
Sedghi described Conner as a decorated Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan. He says the car was being driven by Conner's teenage son.
Sedghi's statement also notes that Neesmith was on the scene of another bizarre incident, when a Crawford County deputy ordered a man to decapitate his dead dog. The other officer said the dog's head needed to be cut off so it could be tested for rabies.
The investigator, James Hollis, was placed on leave during an investigation.
Crawford County Sheriff Lewis Walker said Thursday that Neesmith left his department in good standing sometime after the beheading case, and that a civil lawsuit on the matter is still pending.