San Jose officer using Taser in video also used force four times in 10-week span last yearUpdated: 11/28/2009 10:03:28 PM PST
In a span of 10 weeks last year, the officer seen on video shocking a San Jose State student with his Taser gun used force in four separate incidents as he took people into custody for resisting arrest, a Mercury News investigation reveals.
In one of the incidents, Steven Payne Jr. repeatedly used his Taser and knee on a resident he said became belligerent when Payne stopped his car in front of the man's house to assist another officer issuing a citation to a passing motorist.
In another, Payne pulled his Taser and pointed it at residents who came out to complain as Payne repeatedly punched a parolee whom Payne had chased down on the street.
The incidents raise new questions about the department's internal system to alert police brass to a potential problem officer. Though there is no finding in any of the cases that Payne's actions were improper, the repeated use of force in such a short period of time should have raised red flags within the department, experts in police use of force said in recent interviews.
Each year many officers go without ever using force, and multiple incidents are unusual. But sources within the department say that Payne never was disciplined or even questioned about the cluster of incidents.
"We in law enforcement have a name for it: the lightning rod. He is the main ingredient of the soup of the situation. The fact that he has all these uses of force on these type of cases doesn't happen by chance," said Roger Clark, a registered use-of-force force expert and a former lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "If this is allowed to continue, then he becomes dangerous to himself and to others."
Read moreRelated: Enhanced video shows student appears compliant as San Jose police strike, Taser him
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