Two Oklahoma police officers were charged with second-degree murder this week as part of a July 4 incident last year in which the men allegedly used Tasers on a man more than 50 times before he died, according to court documents.
Two Oklahoma police officers were charged with second-degree murder this week as part of a July 4 incident last year in which the men allegedly used Tasers on a man more than 50 times before he died, according to court documents.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday that Wilson, Okla., police officers Joshua Taylor,25, and Brandon Dingman,34, were charged in connection with the 2019 death of 28-year-old Jared Lakey. Court documents filed in Carter County, Okla., show that the officers’ use of Tasers was a « substantial factor » in Lakey’s death and that the 50-plus uses of the Tasers « greatly exceeded what would have been necessary or warranted by the attendant circumstances. »
The officers turned themselves in Thursday morning after the Carter County District Attorney’s Office issued warrants for their arrests earlier in the week. If convicted, they could face sentences of 10 years to life in prison. Kevin Coley, chief of the Wilson Police Department, told The Washington Post on Friday that the officers were placed on administrative leave pending a termination hearing. He said he could not comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
The murder charges in Oklahoma come amid a period of national unrest surrounding police brutality. There has been a renewed focused on law enforcement’s use of force and Tasers in recent weeks following the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta last month. After the 27-year-old was found asleep in a Wendy’s drive-through, Brooks, who failed a sobriety test, fled from police and grabbed a Taser from one of the officers, police said. Brooks was shot and killed while running from police.
The incident in Wilson, located near the Texas border, unfolded late on July 4,2019, when Taylor and Dingman responded to a call of Lakey « acting in a disorderly way, » according to the state.
