A Tennessee sheriff wasted no time in firing a veteran deputy after he was caught in a sequence of still photos posted on an international news site choking a non-resisting handcuffed college student into unconsciousness over the weekend.
A smart move from Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones.
Sherriff Jones, would have been swamped with calls and messages from outraged people throughout the world as the photos go viral, contradicting the arrest report.
The initial arrest report stated the student “began to physically resist officers’ instructions to place his hands behind his back, and at one point grabbed on to an officer’s leg.”
Typical cop fiction.
Now we just need to sit back and see if former deputy Frank Phillips will face criminal charges over the act he appears to have done so many times before, judging by his expression as well as the expression of the two other deputies holding the student.
The sheriff’s statement was posted on the sheriff’s website, which is inaccessible at this time, but it was posted on the Knoxville News-Sentinel:
“After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in this incident,” Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones said in a statement.
“Therefore, Officer Phillips’ employment with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is terminated immediately.
The investigation will now be turned over to the Knox County Attorney General’s Office to determine any further action.”
Phillips has been with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office since 1992. He had previously been a sergeant but was a deputy at the time of the incident.
Usually, police abuse needs to be caught on video for it to have any impact because most people will always give the cops the benefit of the doubt.
The photographs, which first appeared with an article on the website of the U.K. Daily Mail, were taken by John Messner, a freelance photographer in Knoxville.
But these photos of Phillips choking University of Tennessee student Jarod Dotson were that chilling.
Dotson was one of many students who had taken to streets in celebration after finals.
Trying to have a good time led to him being charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest.
Charges that will probably be dropped after Messner’s photos exposed the truth.
They already got a Tennessee deputy fired.
