Cop Cleared of Choking Skateboarder

Source: Forbes

A police officer [Joey Williams] who appeared to choke a [13 year old girl] skateboarder in a video posted online has been cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal review board.

The Hot Springs Police Department Internal Affairs Board found the use of force was within the police department's policy on non-deadly force and recommended "no changes to this policy."

Officer Joey Williams stopped a group of skateboarders June 21 [2007] on a downtown city sidewalk. Skateboarding is banned in the area.

The video shows Williams apparently choking one of the [youngest] skateboarders after forcing her to the ground, then later chasing and wrestling two others while holding them in a headlock.

"This was a minimal force issue," Police Chief Bobby Southard told The Sentinel-Record. "He didn't resort to anything above hand controltechniques and handcuffing."

Southard said Williams, who had been put on administrative leave, will return to bike patrol downtown.

Six skateboarders - two adults and four juveniles - have court dates pending.

Lawyers and politicians of today have set up separate laws for themselves and for everyone else