The Dale Davis story takes another twist -- he wasn't just arrested but subdued with a Taser. Joanee Gerstner writes in the Detroit News:
According to the police report, Davis allegedly caused a disturbance and assaulted someone at the South Beach Marriott.
Hotel security called police, and the officers confronted Davis in the lobby.
The police report did not say Davis was intoxicated or otherwise impaired.
Davis allegedly refused police orders to produce identification. A friend who was with Davis calmed him and got him to produce the ID.
Miami Beach police representative Bobby Hernandez said the incident could have ended there, without the arrest, if Davis had been cooperative.
"Once you threaten police, it's over," Hernandez said Wednesday night. "You can't go there."
The police and Davis proceeded outside, where Davis allegedly began to shout a profanity and accuse the police of targeting him because of his race. Things escalated when Davis allegedly put his hands in his pockets, a move police saw as a threat. They demanded he show his hands.
Davis responded: "I don't have a gun! Are you going to shoot me?"
He eventually removed his hands but then balled up his fists, as if ready for a fight, and walked threateningly toward officers, according to the report.
Davis was ordered to stop, or the police would use the Taser -- a device that shoots two probes, up to 30 feet, to deliver an electrical charge. The quick burst of electricity temporarily immobilizes the victim.
Davis ignored repeated orders to stop moving toward officers with his fists clinched, the report said. The police shot Davis with the Taser. He fell and was subdued for the arrest. Police said he was cooperative in custody.
Yeah, no crap he was suddenly cooperative -- witness the power of the Taser below:
Now, I wasn't there, but doesn't the above description of events make being shot by a Taser seem a little bit extreme? Davis' agent thinks so:
Davis' agent, Chubby Wells, said they are looking into their legal options against the Miami Beach police department.
"We're talking to attorneys right now," Wells said Wednesday.
"It's Dale's name on the line, and all I can say is that things did not go down the way they say it did."
The big disappointment is that I've yet to see an account of this incident which even attempts to explain why police were called in the first place. Maybe no one knows, or maybe all the reporters think the arrest is the story, not the preceding events.
It looks like the Free Press tried to look deeper into the events but were stonewalled:
A spokesman at the Miami Beach Police station couldn't locate the written police report Wednesday night, and managers at the Courtyard Miami Beach South Beach and the Courtyard Miami Beach Oceanfront said that the occurrence did not happen at their hotels.
Davis arrested in Miami Beach [Detroit News]
Reports: Pistons' Davis arrested [Detroit Free Press]
Mark getting Tased [YouTube]