Ga. Officer Fired After Man Left Paralyzed From Taser

Sept. 27, 2011
Two Rome police officers involved in a controversial stun-gun injury will not face criminal charges.

ROME, Ga. --

Two Rome police officers involved in a controversial stun-gun injury will not face criminal charges.

But, Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt has learned one of those officers has been fired and another disciplined after the incident that left a 20-year-old man permanently paralyzed.

"I don’t understand as something as routine as what happened, ended up with him paralyzed," Billy Walter said.

Even as the investigations wrap up, it’s unclear if his son, Billy "Trey" Walters III, will ever get the answers he’s sought.

Moments after two Rome officers confronted his son on a stretch of road and hit him twice with Taser blasts, Trey Walters ended up paralyzed from the neck down.

Rome police released video taken from one of the officers Tasers that shows the first Taser shot, then Walters repeated shouts, then inexplicably a second Taser shot hits Walters before he plunges through the bushes.

It was the fall off a ledge that broke his neck. The two Taser blasts while Walters was prone near the ledge appear to violate Rome Police Department’s use of Taser policy.

Police officials said they have fired the first officer that grabbed Walters, but told Cavitt that Marcus McReynolds, a probationary officer, was terminated because of another unrelated incident.

Lt. Louis Johnson, the officer who fired the Taser, is appealing the still-unreleased discipline handed down by the department for the Tasing incident.

Three months after the incident, Trey Walters remains at the Floyd Medical Center as his family’s lawyers fighter with the city of Rome over who is responsible for Trey’s medical bills, which have reached about $800,000.

“They just want the city to man up and take care of their son,” Wade Hoyt, the family's attorney, said.

The family had hoped to move Walters to the Shepard Center, but with no insurance and now a huge unpaid bill, his life and recovery remain in limbo.

Copyright 2011 by . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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