12/05/2024
Trooper of the Year Nominee Triantos kicks suspect after he's already secured.
(From Wilmington News Journal)
"They have my guy, he is giving himself up and at that point, the kick is just unnecessary and egregious," said Ron Poliquin, a Dover attorney representing Jester.
The lawsuit claims that Jester was posing no threat while Triantos “jams his knee” on Jester’s neck and head. The lawsuit claims that other officers “assisted in the assault” while “hitting, pushing and holding” Jester down while Triantos “continually struck” him with “kicks and knee strikes.”
The video, recorded on another officer’s body camera, shows an initial kick. After that, it's hard to discern what exactly is happening in the subsequent second that elapses as Jester is cuffed.
Poliquin concedes that his client led police on what he described as a "goose chase," but said that doesn't give them license to use "excessive force" by booting his head.
"They are only allowed to use enough force as necessary to secure the guy. Clearly, that wasn’t the case here, no matter what he did before," Poliquin said.
Without that standard, "you turn the police force into a rogue operation where they can set their own rules," he said.
Triantos' explanation that he simply misplaced his kick is the same defense used by former Dover Police officer Thomas Webster, who was captured on video kicking a 29-year-old man in the head as he appeared to be obeying an officer's orders to get on the ground after a foot chase.
A man arrested by Delaware State Police is suing after an officer kicked his head while others restrained him after a police chase.