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Two officers suspended 3 weeks for undue force
By LINDA GIBSON © St. Petersburg Times, published August 26, 2000 TAMPA -- Two Tampa police officers caught on videotape as they tossed a handcuffed drug suspect headfirst into the back of a pickup truck have been suspended without pay for three weeks. "This is severe punishment for these officers," said police spokesman Joe Durkin. "Chief (Bennie) Holder expects all of our officers to use only the force necessary and to treat all persons courteously." The decision comes after 11 prosecutors at the Hillsborough State Attorney's office recommended that officers David DiMarco and James Bryan III face criminal charges, only to be overruled by the late Harry Lee Coe III. An internal police review concluded that DiMarco and Bryan used unnecessary force when arresting Robert Wayne Nelson on Dec. 16, and then failed to treat him in a professional manner. A videotape filmed by WTVT-Ch. 13 showed DiMarco and Bryan tossing Nelson into the bed of the truck after they had cuffed his hands behind his back. The Police Department had invited reporters to watch officers arrest suspected drug offenders at an apartment complex near the University of South Florida. Police said Nelson and a friend bought $30 worth of crack cocaine from undercover police, then tried to flee when police moved in. After a brief foot chase, Nelson dropped to his stomach and several officers moved in to arrest him. DiMarco and Bryan told Internal Affairs investigators that they overestimated the force needed to lift Nelson into the back of the truck, and that they didn't intend to hurt him. Nelson's lawyer, Donald Foster, said his client's jaw was broken. Foster said last month that he intended to file a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Nelson, but he couldn't be reached Friday evening to confirm whether that had been done. Nelson, 34, is serving a four-year prison sentence on a variety of drug charges.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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