Pearland Police Department - On September 22, 2021, at approximately 8:37 a.m., a Pearland Police Officer was working a traffic complaint of speeding vehicles in the school zone located in the 2000 block of Kirby Dr. The Officer observed a vehicle traveling 48 mph in a posted 20 mph school zone. The Officer stopped the vehicle and was immediately met with an irate driver who stopped shortly to ask why she was being stopped then fled the scene as the Officer was attempting to inform her the reason for the stop. The Officer returned to his vehicle and pursued the suspect for a short distance before she stopped again. As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver began screaming profanities directed at the officer. The Officer made contact with the driver and then made numerous verbal requests for the driver to put the vehicle in park and exit the vehicle, but she refused to comply. The driver continued to be irate and was not compliant to any of the commands given by the officer. The officer attempted to open the door by reaching into the car through an open window, but the driver pushed the officers’ hands away all while the officer continued to give the driver verbal commands. While the first officer continued to attempt to gain compliance, a second officer arrived on scene to assist and attempted to gain entry through the front passenger door which was also locked. The first officer was able to get the front driver door open and the second officer gave the driver verbal commands to exit the vehicle and put it in park or he would deploy his department-issued Taser. At this point, the driver made a sudden reaching motion toward the back seat of the vehicle and the assisting officer was forced to deploy his Taser which did not have the desired effect, due to partially missing the driver The female driver again refused to comply with verbal commands and a second Taser deployment was made successfully. The female was taken into custody without injury. The driver was identified as Johneisha Lewis and was arrested for Evading and Resisting Arrest. As with all use of force incidents, the department initiated an administrative review of the incident and the results showed that the officers’ provided in excess of 50 different verbal commands to the driver, all of which were ignored. The final findings of the review were that the officers’ actions were within policy. PPD Case# 21-008363 __________ PLEASE NOTE : VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED. The video includes body camera footage from two responding officers, as well as transport footage. We apologize for the audio/video sync discrepancies, due to how the bodycams captured the footage.
Pearland Police Department De-Escalation & Use of Force Policy: https://www.pearlandtx.gov/home/showdocument?id=30669&t=637680110750421500&fbclid=IwAR0gvbeIJ8-C9L71YddxmzuI70RXTlZiQvKc3mDzdnfxoEu1avWjA68Q_Qc
Comments