3 of 10 Tasered in Cedar Rapids are black

Cedar Rapids police have used Tasers on black people disproportionately in 2010, causing members of the African-American community to call for better cultural training for officers.

Of the 30 people on which Tasers were used on through August of this year, nine, or 30 percent, were black - far exceeding the 3.7 percent black people comprise of the Cedar Rapids population. None had weapons.

“I am not surprised the African-Americans are Tasered more often than other folks,” said Dedric Doolin, president of the Cedar Rapids branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “History would support that African-Americans tend to more often get more severe treatment and negative response from officers. Is that appropriate? No.”

Police Chief Greg Graham said the share of blacks Tasered were used on mirrors arrest figures.

“We arrest people who commit crime,” Graham said.

He supports a new education program that helps citizens understand their rights and how police work. He is also working to build a more diverse police force.

Statistics broken down

A Gazette analysis of Cedar Rapids Taser deployments from Jan. 1 through Aug. 30 showed police shocking 30 people who ended up being charged with crimes.

Tasers were used on whites 14 times, or 46.7 percent of the incidents, which is disproportionately low for the 92 percent whites comprise of the city's population. Cedar Rapids police used a Taser on one Hispanic man, one man whose race was described as “other”, and five people whose gender and race were not noted on police use-of-force reports.

Common charges were interference with official acts, assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and drunken driving. Reports show four cases in which the offender had a weapon. Weapons listed were a handgun, knife, vehicle and all-terrain vehicle.

Nine other offenders (six white, three black) used their hands as weapons, the reports state.

Circumstances that lead to Taser deployments vary.

Cedar Rapids police fired a Taser at, but did not hit, Andrew Q. Blakey, a 19-year-old black man, at 11:30 p.m. on March 21 after Blakey ran from officers who discovered him with marijuana in Bever Park, records state. Blakey had no weapons and complaints do not say he tried to harm officers.

Blakey was charged with drug possession, interference with official acts and being in a park after hours. He pleaded guilty in May to drug possession and received a deferred judgment for this, his first recorded crime.

In another case, Cedar Rapids police used a Taser on Jeffrey L. Wade, a 35-year-old black man, for refusing to cooperate during an Aug. 5 traffic stop.

Wade, of Marion, was pulled over at 1:30 a.m. after police saw him driving with no headlights on the wrong side of the road. Wade became verbally abusive and refused to comply with orders, police said.

Officers became nervous after Wade put his hand in his pocket. After repeated warnings they used the Taser on Wade, but found it ineffective. Police eventually used physical force to bring Wade to the ground, reports state. He was charged with interference with official acts, assault on a police officer, driving without headlights and drunken driving.

The report implies officers believed Wade had a weapon in his pocket, but no weapons were noted on the criminal complaint or use-of-force report.

Cultural conflict

Karl Cassell, executive director of the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission, said he was surprised that black people made up such a large share of the people Tasers have been used on in Cedar Rapids this year.

“The reality is, African-Americans would probably end up being Tasered more quickly because of the perceived violent nature of African-Americans in general,” Cassell said.

Some African-Americans have cultural mannerisms, like talking loudly or gesturing while speaking, that police might interpret as aggression, Cassell said.

“We come off as excitable, and that doesn't work well in a tense situation,” he said.

Theresa Collier, 45, of Cedar Rapids, believes her actions were misinterpreted in a 2006 arrest in which an officer threw her against his police car while looking for a vandalism suspect.

Collier was charged with assault on a police officer after she asked for Officer Troy Nogelmeier's name and badge number. Nogelmeier thought she was acting irate, when she was singing gospel songs for comfort, Collier said. She was acquitted of the misdemeanor and a jury ruled earlier this year that Nogelmeier violated Collier's civil rights. She was awarded $1.

“It took what happened to me to see that racism is still going on,” Collier said.

These cultural differences are a primary reason the NAACP created a program called the “411 on the Five-O,” or the Real-World Guide to Interacting with Law Enforcement. Doolin has presented a few 411 sessions in Cedar Rapids and hopes to do more.

“While we must support effective law enforcement, we must also exercise our constitutional rights to ensure law enforcements works as it should - to protect all Americans regardless of race or ethnicity,” the guide states. The program helps people know how to act in their cars, in their homes, if they are arrested and when interacting with police.

Graham likes the 411 program and sent an officer to speak at a recent session.

“It helps explain why police do certain things,” he said. For example, an officer might sound rude and officious at a traffic stop, but in reality is nervous because he doesn't know what he will encounter when walking up to an unknown car. Police risk their lives each day in uncertain situations.

The most notable example of that is Cedar Rapids Police Officer Tim Davis, who suffered severe head injuries when he was beaten over the head while responding to an armed robbery in March 2009. Jose Rockiett was sentenced to 25 years in prison for robbery, willful injury and interference with official acts in the case.

Graham has worked to improve the diversity of the Cedar Rapids Police Department since taking the helm in June 2008. He hired one minority officer in 2009, which raised the total people of color from two to three in the 203-officer department.

“Last year, in the selection process, there were no minority candidates,” Graham said. He has spoken to the NAACP and the Civil Rights Commission about recruiting minority officers. The department also scouts at colleges and schools in other states, he said.

“This is not a problem that is unique to Cedar Rapids,” he said.

Other police departments also have disproportionate Taser use when it comes to minorities. Of North Liberty's nine Taser deployments since Jan. 1, 2009, four were on black people. Just 1.5 percent of the city's 12,400 residents are black.

North Liberty Police Chief Jim Warkentin did not return a call for comment for this story.

When to use Taser?

Amnesty International, which has called for better Taser training and accountability, believes the devices - once billed as alternatives to guns - are being used now in cases where there is no threat to public safety.

“Police are now using the Tasers because they don't want to tackle someone,” said Joshua Rubenstein, northeast regional director for Amnesty International USA. “They are being used for compliance.”

Tasers discharge a high-voltage, low-amp electrical pulse that locks a person's muscles for five seconds. Proponents say the weapons cause no long-term effects, but research is mixed. Several local police departments require hospital heart checks for people stunned with a Taser.

Columbia, Mo., voters recently voted 77 percent to 23 percent to let police keep using Tasers. The issue was put on the Nov. 2 ballot after the 2008 death of a 23-year-old man police stunned with a Taser.

Graham said he's heard of cases when police used Tasers when there was no public risk.

He brought up a recent report from Florida in which officers used a Taser on a man in a tree three times to convince him to climb down. This contradicts training that warns against using a Taser on someone in a tree or on a building top because the shock may cause the person to fall, Graham said.

This kind of thing doesn't happen in Cedar Rapids, he said. Tasers are just below firearms on the use-of-force spectrum and officers are taught not to use them unless an offender takes an aggressive stance or threatens harm.

“Just because someone is not doing what you're telling them to is no reason to use a Taser,” Graham said.