Viral arrest video continues to gain reaction
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – We are getting more reaction to a viral video of the arrest of the brother of a Chattanooga city councilperson.
On Monday, the brother of Chattanooga city council person Demetrus Coonrod, Ricky Coonrod, live streamed his arrest by Hamilton County deputies who say they witnessed him in a drug transaction.
They pulled him over for his tag light being out, which ultimately to Coonrod’s window and him being tased, which according to the Sheriff’s Office was due to non-compliance.
We got reaction from attorney Robin Flores who has worked on similar cases and was a police officer himself.
Flores said, “You don’t want to rely on law enforcement to preserve their recordings… that can be from a number of things, from mechanical crashes in the server, a virus, or misconduct by the police officers.
Flores says Coonrod was within his right to film his interaction with officers.
He also says that the officers using the tag light as the reason for the stop, which was lamented by Coonrod in his live stream, is not unusual from his experience.
Flores said, “I was in uniform, get a radio call saying, “Here’s a vehicle, find a reason to stop it.” because we wanted to ID the person in there, and I found a reason. There was an equipment violation on the vehicle, clearance lights on the side.”
However, there’s one thing Flores says the video does not show that is required by state law.
Flores said, “C misdemeanors that carry just 30 days, no more than that, or $50 fine, the officer shall write a summons. If the individual refuses to sign the summons, then the individual can be taken into custody. They never got to that point from what I saw in the video.”
He says without body cameras or gas station video, it’s hard to comment on the full situation, but the decision to tase Coonrod raises questions.
Flores said, “Given the fact that there were that many police officers there, I mean you can count the officers standing there, it’s going to come down to an analysis whether or not the amount of force was reasonable.”
Coonrod was taken to the Hamilton County Jail and has since bonded out.
He faces three charges including felony possession of drugs for resale.
