Florida Cops Strip Man Naked Then Pepper Spray Him Repeatedly Until He Died
A picture does say a thousand words. This photo from the Lee Country Jail clearly shows an Ohio man restrained, mouth bound (to prevent spitting), and body covered with pepper spray.
Nick Christie, 62, was arrested near Tampa for public intoxication about two and a half years ago. Concerned about Christie’s recent erratic behavior, his wife had asked police to take her drunk husband to the hospital — where he could take his medication — rather than haul him off to jail. But Lee County Sheriff’s Office police had another idea: They took Christie down to the station where they stripped him naked, covered his face with a spit mask, and paper sprayed him, until he died.
Tampa Bay FOX13 reports:
The District 21 Medical Examiner ruled his death was a homicide because he had been restrained and sprayed with pepper sprayed by law enforcement officers. But to this day, nobody has ever been charged with a crime, and the Lee County State Attorney cleared the sheriff’s office of any wrong doing.
It’s been more than two and a half years and his wife still can’t accept what happened.
“I was shocked. This was something out of a horror movie,” says Joyce Christie. She said her husband was depressed and was showing signs of erratic behavior a few days before leaving for Florida.
She called authorities and pleaded with them to take her husband to a hospital and be given his medications. Instead, he was taken to jail for disorderly intoxication.
Her lawsuit alleges he was pepper sprayed 10 times over a 48-hour period, at times while in a restraint chair.
This is completely inexcusable. And for no officer to even be reprimanded is a horror we are now seeing time and time again within our law enforcement system. This abuse due to the power of wearing a badge needs to stop. Yes, there are many legitmate and caring officers in this world, but that does NOT excuse those who abuse their power of the law, especially with impunity to grotesque behavior such as this.
Our rights as citizens in this country are beginning to disappear at a near exponential rate.
Here is a YouTube upload of the FOX13 news coverage.
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Sources: My FOX Tampa Bay and AlterNet
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It’s a generalization, but I’m going to say it anyway — there are too many John Wayne wannabes swaggering around in police uniforms. Departments should hire much more carefully than they do. A gun and a badge do bad things to certain personalities.
Based on this and a recent story in Colorado where the sheriff refused to transport an elderly man to the hospital (“not my job”) and he died, I can only recommend one always call for an ambulance, not the police, when transportation to a hospital is desired.
some of these clowns only join the cop force in order to carry a gun and be able do this kind of shit legally (?) cowards and bullies who would otherwise be in jail. continue…
Wow, this is awful! What is with people that they feel the need to do crap like this to another human being? This is what “bullies” in school become! The cops who participated in this should be in jail, now.
Just what kind of world are we living in these days?
I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. It’s definitely evolving – and not sure I like where it’s going. Have to wonder, though… has this stuff been occurring for longer than we realize only because now, being the age of the internet, the news is able to travel worldwide in a fraction of a second?