A judge who this week ruled that two fired Chattanooga police officers be reinstated surely didn’t see the same excruciating video that the public saw earlier this year. The video shows the officers slamming down dozens of baton blows on a prone federal offender under Salvation Army Halfway House custody. Then it shows an officer kicking the sitting and handcuffed prisoner with broken legs unto his back.
But apparently, the judge did see that video. Administrative Law Judge Kim Summers, in her 30-page order, noted that halfway house inmate Adam Tatum was struck by police baton about 40 times and with a taser multiple times, leaving him with two broken legs, including a compound fracture with bone protruding through the skin.
Although Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd called the actions of officers Sean Emmer and Adam Cooley “excessive force” and fired them, the judge decided that Tatum brought it on himself.
“Certainly, the use of force and the injuries sustained by Mr. Tatum were not ideal but neither were they dictated by the conduct of officers Emmer and Cooley. As such, it would not be an acceptable ending to this situation to ruin the lives and careers of two otherwise unblemished and promising police officers who came across the path of Mr. Tatum only because he chose to violate his parole by taking cocaine, engaging in violent behavior, and disregarding lawful directives from law enforcement. It was Mr. Tatum, not officers Emmer and Cooley, who set in motion this very regrettable chain of events as well as the unfortunate, but avoidable, conclusion.”
Dodd said he was “stunned” by the decision and Mayor Andy Berke said he was “extremely disappointed.”