Nationwide — LaDarius Butler, an African American father from Aurora, Colorado, is suing police for extreme pressure after officers swarmed him with weapons drawn and tasered him in entrance of his kids. The confrontation occurred after he eliminated his son from a hospital as a result of conflicting medical recommendation.
In Could 2024, Butler and his accomplice took their 3-year-old son from Kids’s Hospital after disagreeing with docs, based on 9News. The couple mentioned they wished different care, however hospital employees reported the kid was “gravely” sick and urgently wanted remedy.
Police then tracked Butler utilizing cellphone information to a Walmart car parking zone. Physique digital camera footage reveals a number of patrol automobiles boxing in his car earlier than officers pointed their weapons at him. Contained in the automobile, Butler repeatedly requested, “What are you all doing?”
Seconds later, officers ordered him out. When he didn’t transfer shortly sufficient, they tasered him and pulled him to the bottom as his kids watched from the again seat. After handcuffing him, one officer defined they believed the kid’s life was in peril.
Butler was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, however the case was dismissed. He later filed a lawsuit in Adams County, claiming police by no means tried to contact him by cellphone earlier than the armed confrontation and used pointless pressure.
Aurora Police defended the officers’ actions, arguing they had been responding to a reputable report of suspected youngster abuse and kidnapping as a result of a sick youngster had been eliminated in opposition to medical recommendation. A metropolis legal professional mentioned the case continues to be being defended and provided no additional remark.
A spokesperson for Aurora Police mentioned, “Our officers had been responding to a reported kidnapping stemming from the hospital, a dependable supply. Any name a few youngster’s security will all the time be one thing we take severely.”
Kids’s Hospital was not named within the lawsuit. When requested for an announcement, a spokesperson mentioned, “We don’t have an announcement to offer for this story.”