Female police officer went to help young man being beaten by fellow cops:
female police officer went to help young man being beaten by fellow cops
A woman who intervened when two fellow officers were allegedly assaulting an ’emotionally disturbed’ young man, will find out in the next few days if she will be sacked. Officer Regina Tasca in the Bogota Police Department, New Jersey, has been suspended since the incident last April – the hearing in front of a retired judge started on Tuesday. When Officer Tasca, an 11-year veteran with numerous commendations, responded to a call in April 2011, she clicked her unit dashboard camera on.
Breaking it up: This photo was taken by the young man’s distraught mother as she begged the policemen to stop hurting her son. Officer Regina Tasca is seen her trying to pull one of the men off – it was this intervention which may cost her, her job. She did not realise she was about to capture a mother, screaming for police to stop punching her son outside her home on their front lawn, reported Pix 11.com. The mother – who is thought to be a councilwoman – had called emergency services to help take her son Kyle, 22, to hospital – he is reported to have ’emotional issues.’ Officer Tasca was the only officer in the area on that day, so she called for back-up, which is part of response protocol and Ridgefield Park Police then sent the two officers.
In limbo: Officer Regina Tasca in the Bogota Police Department, has been suspended since the incident last April – she is an 11-year veteran with numerous commendation. Officer Tasca said one of the officers charged at the young man and she was ‘quite shocked.’ ‘As he’s doing that, another Ridgefield Park officer flies to the scene in his car, jumps out and starts punching him in the head,’ she added. On the tape you can hear Tara, the mother, and Kyle, her son, screaming, “Why are you punching him?” and “Stop punching me!”, reported the website. Kyle’s mother was so disturbed by the incident that she took a photo of Officer Tasca, seemingly pulling the two officers off her son. Kyle was not charged or arrested for an offence – Officer Tasca says this is because he did not threaten anyone and did not have a weapon. She says he was not violent and did not even attempt to resist during the incident. Officer Tasca says she was eventually successful in yanking the Ridgefield Park policeman off Kyle. ‘If another officer is using excessive force, it’s my duty to make sure you stop it. and that’s what I did,’ says Officer Tasca about her actions. The hospital took several photos documenting the extensive bruises on the 22-year-old’s body including his head, back, arms and wrists.Disturbing: The black-and-white tape captures a mother, screaming for police to stop punching her son on their front lawn. Officer Tasca said when she met her superior officer after the incident she was asked to hand in her weapon and was told she would be sent for a fitness for duty exam. Bogota Police suspended Officer Tasca and the website reports that after hearing her story, they were concerned she was psychologically incompetent to be a police officer. But the two officers in the video have not been interviewed by an Internal Affairs Investigator, and are still working the streets today, reported Pix11.com.
Case: After hearing Officer Tasca’s story, Bogota PD, believes she is psychologically incompetent to be a police officer, and she is being sent for testing. Tasca’s attorney Catherine Elston said: This was excessive force used against an emotionally disturbed person.’ ‘This was an unlawful tackle, this was a punching an emotionally disturbed person whose arms were pinned under his chest with his face pushed into the ground,’ she added. Kyle’s mother later called her and said on Officer Tasca’s answering machine: ‘Thank you Regina. I appreciate you standing up for him, for protecting him while the officer attacked him. I can’t figure out what I would have done without you at the scene.’ Raymond Wiss, who represented the borough in a disciplinary hearing, said Officer Tasca’s termination is warranted based on two incidents in April 2011 — one at Holy Name Medical Center, in which she is accused of failing to assist a fellow officer who was attacked by a drunken woman, and the incident with the two Ridgefield Park officers.
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