Police Brutality by Guards at the Madison County Detention Center in Richmond, Kentucky
This video and the following post was sent in by John William Hanson III, via the CopBlock.org submissions page.
Date of Incident: February 24, 2013
Officers Involved: Officer Adkins, Deputy Josh Napier, Deputy Brian Staggs, Deputy Craig Whitaker
Department Involved: Madison County Detention Center
Department Phone Number: (859) 624-4700
Here is the story I can’t get the NEWS to play. If you take the time to watch and listen, please share. It’s from one of many lawsuits I have filed involving the Madison County Detention Center! The law refuses to investigate because the deputy jailers made up a story of me taking a combative stance! This is happening in Richmond, Ky these deputies and officers all still have their jobs! The Madison County Detention Center has no regard for human life. I only asked to press charges on the people that attacked me at the bar I was previously at. The deputies and police decided to beat me up and taser me all night, instead.
Please share this for the safety and life of others! The lawsuits and settlements have piled up against the Madison County Detention Center! This jail has multiple wrongful death lawsuits pending against them. I’m one of the only people to have a lawsuit that didn’t leave in a body bag! I was in this jail for 11 hours and spent almost a week in the ICU unit in Richmond.
I was tasered so many times this night that the muscle tissue in my body was dying and my kidneys were beginning to fail. A deputy tore my labrum and tricep off the bone as I was being repeatedly tasered. The deputy that tore my tricep was Jason Rawlins he was coming into bring the other Deputies some burgers at 4 A.M. That’s at least what Craig Whitaker told the state police and FBI. Neither the Kentucky State Police or FBI asked why he was in his deputy uniform while off duty.
As you watch this video you will hear one lie after another. All you have to do is watch and listen; it’s very apparent! In your lifetime, I promise, you have never seen a video like this! I would like to think people will be outraged this is happening in Richmond, Kentucky. I was told that I took a combative stance and I had no complaint!
Here is the full story I can’t get the news to show. These are all the videos I have received and the process of receiving them! Every other video has been deleted. More then five cameras that were recording at the detention center have been destroyed! I was unable to get the Kentucky State Police to give me the time of day to investigate. They only started an investigation after I threatened to call the Kentucky Attorney General. I was taken to jail at 1:20 A.M. Later that day, around 4:00 PM, a detective was in my hospital room taking a statement. He advised me that if I was lying I’d be in big trouble… He then said he’d be heading down to the jail the following morning to get all the footage from the jail and the bar!
As weeks went by, Detective Hamm of KSP Post 7 kept dodging my phone calls. I finally made contact with Detective Hamm in the parking lot of the FBI in Louisville, Ky. The plan of Detective Hamm and the MCDC was to get me to Kentucky, so I could be charged with resisting arrest and escape 2 a felony. Detective Hamm refused to give me any detail on the videos he collected. He just kept saying I really need you to come back to Kentucky so we can talk… Once the FBI was involved, Detective Hamm decided not to go through with these charges.
When the FBI involved themselves, somewhat of a investigation started. Post 7 of the KSP allowed the Madison County Detention Center to provide the FBI with one video. This was the video of me arriving to the jail nothing else. Take note that now, almost a month later, the state police at Post 7 had started their investigation on the detention center. This was only after I was forced to involve the Kentucky Attorney General and the FBI. The last time I had a meeting with the FBI I asked what I did to be put in the restraint chair? (The lack of oxygen and trauma to my head caused me to black out when I was first attacked. I still had no idea of how I got in a restraint chair while meeting with the FBI.)
I was told that I was playing with people’s lives. Was I ready to get people fired and send people to jail? I said whatever needs to be done, this is a problem. These people should be held responsible for what they did to me! I said honestly they tried to kill me! They only kept hurting me all night! They left me to die after all the tasering and ripping of my muscles. I was told by the doctor I was lucky to have made it to the hospital when I did ! He said I was close to having a stroke or kidney failure. They said they would be in contact after that. I asked for the video of me being placed in the chair and I was told by the Lexington FBI that video wasn’t at my disposal at this time.
Eventually I was provided three videos with the subpoena request to the Kentucky State Police and MCDC. I was given video from 2 of the 16 cameras at the bar, which were recorded from a computer screen with a cell phone. I told Detective Hamm the spot at the bar I was jumped at. I also said that I remember standing in front of at least four cameras behind the bar. Those will show you what happened! Detective Hamm provide only two outside views of the bar as I was getting arrested. Not the other 14 that would show me getting attacked! I even had a statement I provided from my debit card at 1:05 A.M. that put me in front of the bar as I was closing out!
Instead, Detective Hamm took it upon his self to find me guilty of disorderly conduct. The idea is that I’m guilty of disorderly conduct now. I don’t look as creditable as a innocent person! I went to court for almost a year in Richmond for the disorderly conduct. The other video I was provided was at the detention center, but it only showed me on the ground getting pepper sprayed and carried behind a door. Then Deputy Josh Napier flipping the taser back in his holster!
This video was also reformatted and stripped of audio. The video is also a shortened clip from a full video. I was unable to find a attorney willing to really help with just that video. It basically came to that point because the law wouldn’t help, so I had to file a lawsuit. That being said I couldn’t even find an attorney to represent me with just that video. Them covering this all up was working as planned.
Then 12 days short of a year later, I received a packet of CDs containing one video and a few interviews. Still video was deleted and interviews of deputies have still been withheld! I don’t have one video of them putting me in the closet or me in a cell. When I received this packet it was the following week after being found guilty by a jury of disorderly conduct. All evidence was withheld from me until after my trial and after I was found guilty. I only received the video after I tried one more time to involve the Lexington FBI. They forced Post 7 Detective Hamm and the Madison County Detention to turn over what they had.
When I got this video you are about to watch, it was 12 days short of a year from the date! If I wouldn’t have stayed in Richmond for the weekend, I would have never got this video you’re about to watch. Oh and the statue of limitations would have expired to file a lawsuit. I had to threaten calling the police and coming with my original subpoena before I was made copies! I couldn’t tell you how many times I was asked by the police, family, and friends what’d you do to get in the chair? I was blank for nearly a year.
I watched this for the first time almost a year from the day it happened. The only thing I did was ask to press charges on my attackers. I didn’t threaten or hurt anyone at the Madison County Detention Center! When I was attacked my head hit the wall and I was choked for nearly two minutes. I don’t remember my arrival, just the rest of this horrible night. I find no reason why these individuals should have never been charged with something. I was thinking attempted murder.
I was tasered so many times that pepper spray had no effect. I was woken up with pepper spray later this night after being forced to urinate on myself in a restraint chair. I was picked up and carried down the hallway by one on duty deputy and one who was off duty. I was then pinned up against the wall by my arms and the third jailer in the middle repeatedly tasered me. As I was being tasered I remember shaking and getting slammed against the wall. I then was able to see! The deputy to the left of me let go of my left arm. He went to reach for bed sheets. As the deputy pulled the taser back to hit me again I grabbed it. As it was going off in my hand I started pushing it towards his face. I yelled please sir will you fucking stop! They all grabbed me and threw me face first into the shower.
Once I realized what had just happened, I knew I needed a doctor. My arm was three times its normal size. I felt like I was burning inside my body. Realistically, my body was shutting down inside. I asked for medical attention all the way til I checked out five or so hours later. I was very lucky to have got myself to the hospital. The Madison County Detention Center and Captain Tom Jones refused to call an ambulance even at check out!
This video is very disturbing, but I hope it will shed some light on this problem in Richmond, Ky. I please ask you to share this if you’re my friend or just a concerned person, who believes in civil rights! It could really save someone’s life in the future. Richmond City officials and the Detention Center plan on fixing nothing! They are fine continuing this treatment! The Madison County Detention Center, along with Captain Tom Jones and Jailer Doug Thomas have multiple wrongful death lawsuits against them.
I ask you to please watch this whole video with much detail. In your lifetime you will never see this much evil or hear this many lies! The visit was 11 hours at the Madison County Detention Center. My injures were my labrum and tricep muscles being torn off the bone, trachea trauma, a bulging disc in my neck, and the loss of feeling in the right side of my left hand. Along with all of this, they twisted my fingers and hands while tasering me. It tore and strained most the ligaments in my hands, which caused me to have arthritis from the joint damage. After 11 hours, $90,000+ in medical expenses and future neck surgery. Most of the damage that was done is permanent. It’s very hard having arthritis in my hands like I’m 80. My hands will never be the same, nor my tricep or labrum. After surgery, my neck should be painless! The effect this event caused me physically and mentally was very tough!
The road to recovery was very long. I always sit around asking myself questions I have no response for. I ask why they wouldn’t just let me sleep? I ask why did they keep hurting me? I constantly wonder why these deputies got enjoyment out of this night? This has caused me to have real life nightmares, I’ll wake up sweating realizing it’s only a dream. It’s taken the last year to really get back on track. This one night changed my life forever. I will do whatever it takes to stop it from happening anymore. I know how many dark thoughts have crossed my mind after this experience. It’s was not a healthy way to live. I’ve learned to live with the lasting effects. It’s been a long road to recovery, but I’ve realized how lucky I am to be alive. I’m grateful for that, along with the support of my friends and family.
I’m starting to feel some what normal again. I’m thinking very clearly about the issues at hand. The Madison County Detention Center is a place multiple people have taken their last breath. I was almost left hanging like the rest of them. I think about the people that have lost their life before and after me at that place every day. I only imagine my mother getting a similar phone call from the detention center saying I hung myself. To all the mothers that have lost their sons, I’m sorry! I really need justice for me and all the others to be at peace for me!
PLEASE SHARE THIS YOU MIGHT SAVE A LIFE!
The City of Richmond needs help. Richmond, Kentucky is the home of Eastern Kentucky University. I fear for the safety of these students, as well as the citizens of the city. You should be very upset the Madison County Detention Center plans on doing nothing besides giving me money to not talk. The detention center and Richmond officials plan on fixing nothing. They plan on covering this up, just like every other lawsuit they’ve dealt with. How many people have to get seriously hurt? How many people have to die? Enough is enough. I was tasered so many times through out the night the deputies can’t even recall when they did it!
The news is afraid of this story! PLEASE SHARE! I promise you will never see or hear a story like this. I’ve laid it all out here. I don’t have any secrets to keep! I’ve done all the right things and was told I have no complaint because I was combative. I’ve went through the chain of command. Flat out, law enforcement won’t go against law enforcement.
At the end of this video, you’ll hear Deputy Josh Napier explain how tough I was to the KSP and FBI. He said that I wasn’t like everyone else that goes through that. Josh Napier tells the Kentucky State Police and the FBI I wasn’t like everybody else that they put through that.
I can’t do anymore besides hope this will spread like wildfire! This should upset you not only if you live in Kentucky or attend EKU, but also if you believe in civil rights. The Madison County Detention Center plan is to pay me to shut me up and keep operating this way. They beat me up all night and deleted the majority of the footage. This was never about money it was about me doing the right thing. I have the power to fix this place. I just need others to care! God please help Richmond, Kentucky. I can’t do much more!
– John William Hanson III
The original Facebook video has been uploaded to Youtube, since Facebook videos have a habit of disappearing. It can be found here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153899873452156&id=281961363188&ref=m_notif¬if_t=video_processed&actorid=20531316728
