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Officers Blast Already Restrained Man With Pepper Spray [VIDEO]

(REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn)

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Amber Randall Civil Rights Reporter
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Ohio police officers now face a lawsuit after they pepper sprayed a man who was handcuffed to a restraint chair.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Charles Wade, alleges that officers used excessive force when dealing with him last year, reports The Washington Post.

Wade maintained that the officers “violated his rights to be secure from cruel and unusual punishment,” according to the lawsuit. They also used force “that shocked the conscience and in fact amounted to torture,” the lawsuit said.

The video obtained by The Washington Post shows Wade trying to resist police officers and bang his head on the wall. The video also shows an officer pressing his knee into Wade’s chest while he is handcuffed.

Wade had been arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated.

“I’m not resisting. I’m not doing anything to fight you guys. If you cause any pain, my lawyer will know about it,” Wade said in the video. Officers ordered a restraint chair since Wade would not stop banging his head against a padded wall.

Wade at one point complains about the tightness of the handcuffs, claiming that the pain they caused him was cruel and unusual punishment.

Wade began to struggle, prompting four officers to surround him and hold him down by his back and neck. One officer pepper sprayed Wade straight in the face.

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“I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” Wade shouts in the video. According to the lawsuit, Wade resisted because his handcuffs were causing him “severe pain and injury.”

The lawsuit names Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer, jail staff and management, the County Board of Commissioners and “any and all other jane and/or john does.”

Sheriff Phil Plummer maintained that Wade was actively fighting the officers which caused them to react in such a manner.

“We believe (Wade) was fighting with the officers. And if you would just comply, we wouldn’t have that situation, OK? My officers have to go home to their families and their loved ones. We don’t pay them enough to fight people like that in that jail,” Plummer said.

A similar incident occurred two years ago where a woman was pepper sprayed by officers while in the Montgomery County Jail. An officer blasted Amber Swink, a mother of four, with pepper spray while she was restrained in a chair.

Plummer insisted that the altercation with Wade is an “isolated incident.” A secretary for the sheriff said Plummer could not comment on the lawsuit.

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Amber Randall