The video doesn't lie but it can be spliced and diced to show a story that is different from what really happened. The media jumped all over a Byram arrest last year when a man released video of police tasing and arresting his sister in his front yard. However, JJ obtained a copy of the bodycam video that tells a slightly different story.
Byram Police Commander Reginald Cooper was parked in his unmarked car in a parking lot off of Siwell Road (near Davis Road). He does not wear a "Class A" uniform as patrol officers do but instead wears a dark pullover shirt that has is embroidered with his name, rank, and Byram police logo. Commander Cooper is black. The police report states that
On August 23, 2016 Ms. Spane was traveling west on Siwell Rd (close to Davis Road) at a high rate of speed while cutting off other motorists and not using her turn signal. Ms. Spane refused to yield to emergency lights and sirens and was later apprehended at her residence. While being arrested, Ms. Spane assaulted officers and refused to be handcuffed.Byram Police Chief Luke Thompson said she pulled over and then took off when Commander Cooper stopped behind her on the road. The chase went over 60 mph before Ms. Spane arrived at her home three miles away from where the pursuit was initiated. A police officer said (in the video) that she passed a Kroger and Church while she fled the police.
Ms. Spane called her brother during the chase. He came out of his house and started videotaping when his sister and the police arrived in his driveway. Two uniformed Byram police officers in marked Byram police cruisers met Commander Cooper at the Spane home.
WAPT's Ross Adams interviewed Ms. Spane and her family on October 19,2016 when the Spanes released the cellphone video to the media. Ms. Spane said she didn't know why she was arrested and that the police immediately handcuffed her. Her brother said "it upsets me to see that could happen to anyone of us of color." Their mother said "All I could think of was Sandra Bland and how the outcome of what happened with her and all I could think of was please don't shoot my children."
The bodycam videos show a highly emotional Caitlyn Spane arguing with Commander Cooper. He is backed up by the two uniformed Byram police officers. The Commander calmly tells her that he is going to put her in handcuffs. She then wedges herself between the door and the frame of the vehicle, grabs the door, and continues to argue. The police have to pull her off of the door. They wrestle her to the ground. She resists and kicks one of the officers while she is on the ground. The arrest takes place within the first two minutes of each bodycam video. The police tased* Ms. Spane and took her into custody.
Meanwhile, her brother confronts the police while videotaping the arrest. The police ask him to step back while pointing tasers at him. He tells them it's his property and they are illegally on his property. He repeatedly confronts the police officers and demands they get off of his property while ignoring the commands to step back. He tells the police they can't tell him to step back on his property.
Ms. Spane tells the cops she is going to sue them and calls the arresting officer "stupid." A rather interesting discussion takes place between Ms. Spane and the arresting officer (6:00 in first video) during the ride to jail.
Byram police charged her with careless driving, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, simple assault on a law enforcement officer, and resisting arrest. She pleaded no contest in December to the simple assault on a law enforcement officer charge. She appealed to County Court where she received the right to present her side to none other than County Court Judge William Skinner.
Ms. Spane pleaded guilty to the charge of simple assault on a law enforcement officer on August 2. The traffic violations were remanded to the file for two years. Judge Skinner sentenced her to serve four months in prison and pay a $1,000 but suspended the sentence upon completion of sixty hours of community service before December 21, 2017. He also sentenced her to serve a term of six months of unsupervised probation.
The video will not appear for a few minutes in the middle of the clip of the second. It will return but the audio will then disappear for a few minutes. The other video shows what happened during this same period of time.
*The police did not use the prong mode of the taser. The mode used is shorter and less invasive.
45 comments:
Time after time a certain segment of population resists any type of authority and thus causes escalation of enforcement and then want to blame others. This is yet another example where these people were not raised properly. They show no respect for authority or law. I'm guessing they had no male parent that taught them any discipline. Most all major social problems in our society are rooted in poor parenting and not racism or other type of victimization . Frankly I'm sick of this crap. Jackson has some of worse newscasters in the country. It's almost embarrassing to watch them.
Really? Saw the mom in the video. Looked like a nice, reasonable, middle class lady. They are living in a pretty nice house. She played basketball at Terry. She's going to school and working. Brother is an engineer.
How many frat boys got stupid at that age? How many sorority bitches made fools of themselves or had Youtube moments while drunk?
This is where peddling the meme that the cops are out to kill black people hurts the black community. People believe that crap and now freak out or resist the cops. This girl took what should've been a simple traffic ticket and turned it into a dumb arrest- dumb for her sake. She gets her two tickets, she goes home. Go to court a few weeks later and pay them in some form or fashion. Instead, she and her brother escalate the whole damn thing and then take it to the media. All because she completely freaked out. If I pulled that when I saw blue lights, I would get the same treatment.
A disgrace to BLM movement
@Kingfish,
She has ample reason to not feel safe when being pulled over by an unmarked car. We had a forum on Police-Community relations at my church last spring and the Rankin County Sherriff Deputy present noted that traffic stops with unmarked cars are the really last resort, because of situations like this. Sandra Bland was mentioned in the news piece and that is a reasonable parallel to draw. In that instance, yes, cops killed a black woman, over a traffic stop. If she was speeding and "weaving in and out of traffic cutting people off" I would have to wonder why, just to make it to class? That characterization of her driving is a little suspect to me. Perhaps the undercover cop should have asked for marked backup.
It is imperative that cops, as professional law enforcement with community trust, be sensitive to the contemporary climate. Yes, black people mistrust much of law enforcement, not because of BLM, but because of case after case of black people being killed by cops with little justice being served. In light of that, before pursuing a black woman in an unmarked car for a traffic stop , ask for marked back up and alert the woman to pull over in the Kroger Parking Lot for added security.
Also, the police need to be more proactive in alerting and educating the community of their rights during a traffic stop, not simply talk about police expectations of citizens' behavior, in the community forums they participate in. I am not condoning the woman's behavior, she obviously panicked and was afraid, but she didn't help herself with the long pursuit to her brother's house. Some citizens are more knowledgeable and disciplined than others, but no one deserves to die over a traffic ticket. The burden of professionalism and civic duty is on paid and entrusted law enforcement, not ordinary citizens.
I understand the fear of an unmarked car. I won't pull over for one unless it is in.a populated area. However, you may want to go back and take note that there are videos from two different bodycams. Both of them were worn by policemen in police uniforms who showed up in cars marked with Byram Police. I'm not sure how much more they could have been identified as officers.
Police this, police that. Police have authority to enforce the law that we as citizens live under. The color of your skin does not exempt you from following those laws. After listening to all the videos, it's very, very obvious she was going to do what she wanted to do no matter who tried to pull her over. You see this over and over and over all over the USA. The police did nothing wrong in this incident other than not tasing her earlier and not arresting the brother for interference and his aggressive behavior. He never complied with the police request to back up away from the vehicle. Education is not another reason to believe that people are not a certain way or mean to harm the police. Everyone is to blame except the female who is now riding in the back of the PO PO car.
@ 3:35
By the time the marked cars and uniform officers are on the scene, the pursuit is over, they are at the brother's house. I think it would have been better if the marked cars were the ones that initially pulled her over, or the unmarked car alerted the woman to pull into the Kroger Parking lot, instead of pursuing her through a residential neighborhood over a traffic ticket.
You sometimes pay for ignorance, I did when I was young also.
It was freaking daytime, she had absolutely no reason to act that way, AFTER she saw the marked cars, uniforms and police attire. (Daytime).
You can pay to be stupid for your little cause, I'll keep my money in my pocket!!
Not excessive by the police in any way, in fact they showed considerable restraint on the brother. In the era I grew up in this kind of behavior would have warranted an immediate ass whipping. No, not by the police, by the parents. I'm sure Tommy Sotomayor will have a field day with this video.
If the momma is afraid the police would 'shoot her children', she should instruct them not to act this way. BTW 3:10, she didn't die, she got a taste of what she was asking for, Snowflake...
She has ample reason to not feel safe when being pulled over by an unmarked car. We had a forum on Police-Community relations at my church last spring and the Rankin County Sherriff Deputy present noted that traffic stops with unmarked cars are the really last resort, because of situations like this.
She ran from the cops. That is a felony. She refused to comply. She called her brother ahead of time. They tried to manufacture another incident borne of the "hands up/don't shoot LIE."
She refused the directive of a lawful - BLACK - police officer.
You seem to think blacks should have the option of obeying police officers' lawful directives.
I would not agree with some of the other comments. When he was being threatened with the taser the brother was on his own private property, did not appear to be aggressive to me in the video and definitely did not see any justification in him being threatened with a taser. The sister was obviously hysterical and scared. She did the right thing driving home instead of stopping. The camera angle was not clear where she "assaulted" the police officer so I did not see that. The entire matter could have been easily resolved if the officers had simply told her they were writing her a traffic ticket. As hysterical and scared as she was their own police training should have made them aware that it was a situation that could easily escalate.
3:10: I'm going to cede every point you made. However, it still doesn't matter.
1. She passed up a Kroger and a couple of other public places to pull over and stop. She led the cop for three miles over 60 mph on Siwell road. Cop doesn't know who she is or what she is doing. BUT let's just assume she is really really freaked out and ignore the chase.
2. She is sitting in her car in her driveway. THe Commander and TWO UNIFORMED OFFICERS IN BYRAM PD CARS are there. They tell her she is going to be arrested. Did she comply? No. She resisted after leading them on a chase. She refused to go with them. She held onto the door. She made it harder for them to grab her. She kicked them twice. They had to wrestle her to the ground. She can't claim she didn't know they were police. That excuse ended when the two uniformed cops arrived.
3. All her brother did was egg it on. He is damn lucky he wasn't tased or arrested for interfering with an arrest. The question to ask is how much of the video did he release to the media. Was it just a minute or two or was it the five minutes or more of the encounter in the driveway.
One reader made this comment:
1:37 - No. That IS the BLM movement. KF - oh, you bow up at the 1st comment & let a bonafide Klucker run wild in another thread? Nice. Difference is, 1st commenter is exactly right& you let a Jew-hating freak have a platform. Nice job
Ok, I can see why you make this comment. Friday's post wasn't giving a platform to a klukker, and make no mistake, that is what he is. It was showing something absurd that took place during the trial. I took issue with some of the first comment in this post. I haven't exactly stopped anyone from calling out the klukker. I didn't approve a couple of comments because they made statements that while probably true, could not be verified.
The give away is that she called the brother and told him to get the camera out. She saw dollar signs. That will be SOP for BLM going forward. Cops better have their cameras rolling.
CLM (Career Limiting Maneuver). Most good jobs require a background check. "Assault On A Police Officer" isn't going to bode well.
Assault conviction = known propensity for violence.
Assault on a police officer = serious problem with authority (aka ATTITUDE).
Most good employers will say, "Um... no thanks." And this will happen for at least 7 years.
Life is hard. It's harder when you're stupid.
She was right to continue driving (when confronted with blue lights on an unmarked car), but not above the speed limit. That she continued to resist after she saw marked cars and uniformed officers cannot possibly be defended under any circumstances.
Nothing more than the ever-popular 'Ima get up in YO face' mentality.
bad credit follows you for seven years. criminal convictions follow you all of your life...
8/7/17 at 9:22 PM - not only will potential future employers do a background check, colleges do too. She will blame everyone but herself, but she really did just limit her options significantly by acting stupid. And 7:28 nailed it - she saw dollar signs..........
"The give away is that she called the brother and told him to get the camera out. She saw dollar signs. That will be SOP for BLM going forward. Cops better have their cameras rolling."
This is 1005 spot on. This is what they want people to do. They want to be able to run wild and free with no repercussions so they cry foul and racism at the drop of a hat. I speculate they also bait officers into situations like this to gain momentum.
Speaking of racism, 3:10, your comment " Yes, black people mistrust much of law enforcement, not because of BLM, but because of case after case of black people being killed by cops with little justice being served." makes me wonder if by the same token can a white person mistrust the majority of black people because of case after case of white people being killed by blacks with little justice being served", or is that racist? Makes you wonder doesn't it.
I haven't exactly stopped anyone from calling out the klukker. I didn't approve a couple of comments because they made statements that while probably true, could not be verified..
If you had let it run, Giles would have owned it. Guarantee you. Because he did call my law office under those circumstances. He remembers.
He's a Jew-hating Klucker looking for attention. His followers -- who chimed in -- are sick individuals just like he is.
You people are ignorant if you really think this will affect this young lady. From the looks of it she has the most respect I've ever seen anyone get in this situation. She is know for having an outstanding character and nothing you guys can say to change that. She still can do anything she wants when it comes to school and jobs. From the looks of this, she came out on top. I'm so proud of her for sticking up for herself. I tell my kids to never pull over for an unmarked car. Matter of fact, we never see the initial stop nor do we see what the black officer did to her once they arrived at her home. You people need to get your own lives. This young lady did the right thing and she had inspired hundreds of people. Nobody said why she went to jail in the first place. Byram Police should be ashamed.
@ 9:35
I don't wonder at all. In most instances when a police officer has killed a black person in a traffic stop, they defense that clears them at trial is "I feared for my life". It seems that this "fear" is based on what they perceive is a dangerous black person they are encountering. Where does this fear come from? Perhaps a negative stereotype, or images of black people being violent in the media? Well, relatively speaking, very few black people kill, and yet, these juries and prosecutors seem to feel that the fear these cops have of black people is justified. Is this racist to you? Yet, when black people mistrust police because of the relatively few instances where black people have been killed by police and is highlighted in the news (with no justice) is unreasonable and "racist" to you? How interesting....
Any future employers who check her record will not go to the trouble to look up any video. They will just see a young woman who has a record. Because of her stupidity she will be limited when it comes to a career.
If she decides to become a burger flipper she may get a job. It will not have even the slightest chance of becoming head burger flipper.
Anyone who thinks otherwise has not ever had a job where they checked your back ground.
Hopefully she will shake it off, keep going to school, working, and have a long productive life. Plenty of people have done that and she can to.
So you are proud of her for resisting the cops when they arrest her? You are proud of her for holding onto the door? You are proud of her for making them wrestle her to the ground, kicking them, and forcing them to use a taser?
Really?
Won't exist in a couple years anyway. She can do whatever God has intended for her. No reason for her to be worried. She has a lot of support!
I am just glad to see that officer staying hydrated, drinking his blue powerade!
Kingfish once again employs the use of his selective radar and lets in slanderous comments re the Giles fellow. Had Giles been someone like F. Mickens or Leland Speed, the comments would never have surfaced.
I appreciate KF's going out of his way to shed light on a complex incident.
I share the concern about unmarked cars, especially if the officer is out of the usual uniform. The woman was justified in being afraid of what might happen, even in the middle of the day. But once she was in her driveway, with her brother in view, she absolutely should have been polite to the officer. Of all the things any of us should learn early, it is to mind our manners around police officers. For her to ask, "What have I done?" tells us that either she is not too bright, which I doubt, or she was patronizing the officer. Don't patronize anyone, especially an officer of the law. In his eyes he had to chase her down, and I can understand that he was unhappy, to say the least. Which brings us back to the problem of unmarked cars. The officer should have anticipated her fear and confusion. Too easy to say anything about all of this in hindsight, but I went ahead anayway. As usual.
To be honest, Commander Reginald Cooper should be fired. He's a liar and several witnesses say he almost broke this young lady's arms. Upon arrival to her home, all the witnesses say he continued to grab her without saying who he was or the reason for him following her. Get a grip Kingfish, you've obviously been paid to write this blog. They are just mad because he was exposed and everyone has their eyes out for that asshole now. Like I said, he should be fired. God will handle his ass. No I don't know this young lady but from the video. Byram had no evidence against her to treat her like this. And if you agree, I hope it happens to your mom or daughter.
Looks like this young "lady's" family members are posting.
Fighting the police is a damn good way to get shot.
If you love your kids, teach them not to do that.
Family members? Please, nobody on this post knows that sweet girl! I just know what I've heard and that's nothing but great things! If she was wrong? Why did they offer her a deal? I follow the Jackson Advocate. Nobody is stupid here. Byram is corrupt. We all know that!
Haha's at 10:40 & 3:29... obviously didn't watch the vids... just DNA covering for DNA
I have lived Byram for over 30 years, she got what she asked for! Screw her! Byram PD has a lot of unmarked car/trucks - don't speed!!!
Aug. 9 @1040....What witnesses except her brother???? Unless you are the brother lying like you always do.
Screw her! Lol you sound like a little kid with no life. Everyone can tell who's miserable here. She's got more life to live than any of you. She's got more value in her life. She's inspiring to a lot of people so go fuck yourselves.
You people are sad and you got bad karma coming your way! Wouldn't be surprised if Byram was annexed. Btw, did you know about the national investigation going on? I bet you did not because you guys are racist and you're hypocrites. Screw Her? Grow up! Lol she did nothing to you.
I bet some of you all are disabled or mentally ill. You couldn't stand up for yourself like this even if you wanted to. You don't even have the balls. A whole bunch of children on this page. I'm sure this young lady has moved on and I heard she has a really great job right now, working for the state. Nothing you can do to get in the way of God's blessings for her.
This girl should have been tased for resisting arrest. Her brother should have been tased for not following orders. Their mother should have been tased for raising kids with no sense of respet for civil authority.
People wonder why "innocent" people get shot. It's because a.) they are not innocent to begin with b.) they act like they were raised in a pasture whenever they are required to follow laws and lawful orders
Well she is doing great now! It's over! Move on with your life!
I hope she is doing fine with her 60 hours of community service and obeying the traffic laws in Byram. If not, her butt will be doing 4 months in jail and handing over $1000 in fines!
Fuck Byram! Lol
She don't have to go to byram for nothing! A lot of people have stopped spending money there anyway!
Just because she picks up trash on the side of the road doesn't mean she works for the state
Ha ha I bet that's what you do for a living :) you must hate your life! ^^
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