Author Topic: MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen  (Read 2628 times)

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Offline wdtony

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MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen
« on: February 24, 2012, 07:33:35 PM »
http://www.fox19.com/story/17011310/chi ... abled-teen


MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen

Posted: Feb 23, 2012 10:37 PM EST
Updated: Feb 23, 2012 11:51 PM EST

By Janice Broach


TUTWILER, MS (WMC-TV) -

A Mississippi police chief was fired after he and other officers were caught on camera abusing a mentally disabled teen with cinnamon and boxing on city property.

A video shot by a Tutwiler city official in city hall shows 18-year-old Cortez Martin, ordered to do community service for a misdemeanor.

"I have never seen anything or heard of anything where someone was doing something like this to a mentally challenged person," said Clarksdale attorney Ellis Pittman.

Tutwiler is a town of about 1,300, not far from Clarksdale.

In the video, a city worker pours cinnamon down Martin's throat for something called "the cinnamon challenge."

It did not take long for Martin to cough up the cinnamon, as the group roared with laughter.  Martin then runs for water and then into the bathroom, where he appears to vomit all while people are laughing.

"This is just sickening," said Pittman.

On a separate occasion, Pittman said another video was shot by a police officer of Martin being challenged to a boxing match with another officer.

The video shows former Tutwiler police officer Jimmy Johnson hitting Martin in the head several times as the officer shooting the video laughs.

In the video, Martin is knocked down a few times.

The teen said he wanted to continue.  Then, Johnson hit Martin so hard he fell to the floor.

The town of Tutwiler fired officers Johnson and Bobby Banks, Police Chief Terry Tyler, the town clerk, and another employee.

PIttman said there is also supposed to be video of officers paying Martin $5 dollars to use a taser on him.  The district attorney and FBI are investigating.

Officials in Tutwiler were not available for comment.

another source: http://www.wmctv.com/story/17007369/chi ... abled-teen
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Offline none-ya

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Re: MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2012, 08:09:57 PM »
Links contain no video.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline wdtony

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Re: MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2012, 08:14:11 PM »
Quote from: "none-ya"
Links contain no video.

The video is on the news page. Plus I haven't copied it to my youtube account yet. I have it but not transferred, should be up in a day or two, I'll post a link here.
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Offline wdtony

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« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline none-ya

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Re: MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2012, 08:43:15 PM »
Thank you.
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Offline wdtony

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Re: MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2012, 03:28:53 AM »
Interesting coincidence:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutwiler,_Mississippi

The town of Tutwiler's economy is almost solely based on a private men's prison called "Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility".

According to reports online, there are roughly 2600 inmates in this prison, twice as many people as the population of the town of Tutwiler.

According to blog reports online, 80 prisoners were sent to "the hole" as a mass punishment.
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Offline wdtony

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Re: MS chief fired after video shows abuse of disabled teen
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2012, 03:34:18 AM »
Ex-chief to fight for job after cinnamon prank

By HOLBROOK MOHR
The Associated Press

Posted: 12:41 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012


A former Mississippi police chief will fight to get his job back after being fired over a video purportedly showing city employees encouraging a mentally disabled man to eat a mouthful of cinnamon as a prank, his lawyer said Thursday.

Attorney Carlos Moore said he's representing former Tutwiler Police Chief Terry Tyler and that they have asked town officials for an appeal hearing. Tyler claims the "Cinnamon Challenge" was already happening when he arrived and he pointed the man to a water fountain.

The video shows a woman pouring cinnamon into 18-year-old Ted Martin's mouth while people cheered. Martin holds the cinnamon in his mouth for a few seconds before coughing out a plume of the spice and running to a water fountain and then a restroom, apparently gagging. The video was taken at City Hall by one of the officers and posted on YouTube, though it has since been taken down.

The "Cinnamon Challenge" is a prank in which people try to swallow the spice without water. It dries the mouth and usually causes them to cough and spit. There are thousands of videos on the Internet that show people trying it.

The Tutwiler Board of Alderman voted Feb. 14 to fire Tyler, two officers, the town clerk and a court clerk.

Moore said Tyler had been in the building earlier in the day and heard his police officers talking about taking the challenge themselves and Martin volunteered to do it. Tyler left to handle police business and when he returned, Martin had already put the cinnamon in his mouth, Moore said.

"He directed Ted to get some water," Moore said.

Moore said the town attorney verified Thursday that she had received his request for an appeal hearing. Moore said the attorney told him the board will discuss the matter at its regularly scheduled March 6 meeting and decide if and when an appeal hearing might take place.

"Hopefully he will be reinstated and we can avoid a wrongful termination lawsuit," Moore said. "My client was not given due process."

The town attorney, Renetha Frieson, did not immediately respond to a message. Mayor Genether Miller-Spurlock has not responded to numerous messages since news of the firings were made public last week.

Martin's family hired attorney Ellis Pittman, who has said his client was choking because of the cinnamon, but the officials "were all laughing, grinning and having a grand time."

Pittman said there's a separate video that showed a police officer boxing with Martin. He said the former chief wasn't in that video.

The video was taken while Martin was assigned to Tutwiler City Hall to work off fines from a minor criminal charge, Pittman has said.

Tallahatchie County Sheriff William Brewer has said he reported the incident to the FBI and that a joint investigation is under way.

Tutwiler is small town of about 1,300 people in Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta. The area is known mostly for farming and several prisons and jails that employ many of its residents.

___

February 23, 2012 12:41 PM EST
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