Source Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne
CHEYENNE, MT — Monday evening, the Cheyenne Police Department released video footage of a traffic stop that turned violent, following public allegations over the weekend of excessive force and police brutality.
An initial citizen-released video shows 26-year-old Yzail Gauna receiving baton strikes from one officer in the street while being held down by another.
"Had it not been for the video clip and sensational claims that came out of it, it wouldn't even have made anybody's radar, honestly," Cheyenne Police Chief Mark Francisco told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Tuesday in response to questions about the incident.
The traffic stop occurred on Friday at approximately 11:30 p.m. for a license plate violation. The officers noticed that none of the occupants — three adults and an infant — were wearing a seat belt.
When asked for identification, Gauna, a back seat passenger, provided a false name. He was found to have two outstanding misdemeanor warrants for domestic battery and probation violation.
In body camera footage released by CPD, an unidentified officer asks Gauna to exit the vehicle because he had provided a false identity and because he was "acting really weird."
An adult and infant are asked to exit the vehicle and comply before another officer reaches into the rear passenger door to remove Gauna from the vehicle.
According to a CPD news release, Gauna then became physically violent, pushing the officer and attempting to run away. During the altercation, an officer appears to use a Taser on Gauna for approximately three seconds before being tackled to the ground. Gauna then grabs the Taser, which had fallen to the ground, and uses it on one of the officers.
One officer holds him down while the other begins to strike Gauna with a baton. CPD said this was done in an attempt to gain control of Gauna's right arm to prevent him from reaching for a knife in his pocket.
Over the next approximately 80 seconds, the video shows Gauna receiving between 40 and 50 strikes from the baton. CPD said the strikes were administered to targeted zones — the thighs, right triceps and right lateral — though not all strikes are visible on the released footage.
Gauna was taken into custody. Following medical clearance, Gauna was booked into the Laramie County jail on his existing warrants and an additional felony count of aggravated assault on a peace officer, as well as misdemeanor possession of a marijuana-type drug and a seat belt violation.
Use of force
All uses of force by CPD officers are reviewed by the chain of command, the chief said. It begins with the sergeant, followed by the lieutenant and the captain, which Francisco described as a fairly quick process. In certain circumstances, the chief reviews the incident, as well.
Incidents of interest, like this one, and other random selections are also reviewed by a citizens review board, which meets monthly.
While Francisco said he has not yet seen all documents related to this incident, he believes that the body camera footage appears to support the actions of the officers.
"Judging by the fact that our officer was violently assaulted twice, I do feel like the level and application of use of force appears to be appropriate," Francisco said.
By law, the use of force must be objectively reasonable. Francisco said that, although Gauna was down, the baton strikes could be justified in that circumstance.
"Down is a subjective term," he said. "He's on his knees, he is still struggling with the officers. At one point, he's on his hands and knees, and keeps reaching under his waist, which was the subject of the initial concern by the officers. So, he's by no means compliant with the officers' directions to put his hands behind his back and surrender. So, when the strikes are being delivered, there's still active resistance going on."
Use of excessive force would be considered a violation of CPD policy. Penalties could range from a note in the officer's personnel file to documented counseling and up to termination. These penalties vary depending on the circumstances of each situation.
No penalties had been handed out in this case as of Tuesday, Francisco said, noting the case is still under review.
Unanswered questions
Malcolm Holmes is a professor emeritus at the University of Wyoming's Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology. He is published in scholarly journals and has conducted research on excessive police force for the past three decades.
While his expertise is not rooted in analysis of individual use-of-force videos, he identified a few items in the released footage that could be cause for concern.
"I think that there are some serious questions that need to be addressed, in that there may be acts of force that are out of policy, but I certainly wouldn't want to say that definitively," Holmes told the WTE on Tuesday after reviewing the footage.
The first potential issue Holmes noticed is that Gauna did not appear to reach for his pocket when exiting the vehicle and did so with his hands up. However, it is unclear, since not all angles are visible, and some are obstructed.
When exiting the vehicle, Gauna appears to say "You don't got to be tripping me" to the officer. Holmes said that, if that was the case, the officers did not need to try to trip him and take him down upon exiting the vehicle.
"I don't know if [the officers] were trying to take him to the ground ... because then you couldn't see whether or not ... it got blurry. Did he start to resist? We don't know," Holmes said. "Based on what we see there, it's not entirely clear that they needed to take him down, if that's, in fact, what they were trying to do. Because he wasn't resisting, at least when he had his hands up, and then it gets blurry, and it's hard to tell."
The second potential issue Holmes noted was the number of baton strikes. He counted 48, though he pointed out he was unsure of the severity of each strike. Francisco said Gauna did not have any broken bones and was medically cleared before being detained.
"You can't tell whether or not [Gauna] was resisting at that point," Holmes said. "... When you get to the three-minute mark, they were still striking him. It appeared to me that at that point that he may very well have been subdued. And the question is 'Did they really need to continue?'"
Holmes said that these strikes are a judgment call, and it is difficult for him to determine whether these were necessary from seeing only the released footage and being unaware of Gauna's medical condition.
He also expressed curiosity over the nature of the initial traffic stop. The license violation that led to the stop, what the driver claimed to be a license plate light that was out, is fairly routine. Holmes said it is abnormal for it to escalate to this level of violence.
CPD said it escalated because all passengers were asked to identify themselves after they were found to not be wearing seat belts, which led to suspicion about Gauna's behavior.
Holmes said he wasn't qualified or informed enough to pass judgment on the conduct of the officers, but said that it certainly merits very careful review by the civilian review board.
The ACLU of Wyoming met with Gauna's family Tuesday to discuss the situation, but that is the extent of the organization's involvement to date.
Antonio Serrano, advocacy director for the ACLU of Wyoming, wrote in an email, "Use of force by law enforcement should be the last resort, not the first option, and we are deeply concerned by the actions of some members of the Cheyenne Police Department on Friday night.
"If the Cheyenne Police Department wants the community's trust, they must examine their officers' use of force with full transparency."
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