Officers with the Lubbock Police Department used a stun gun on a Texas Tech student Saturday afternoon during Tour de Tech Terrace while the student was being arrested for evading arrest with a vehicle, resisting arrest, failure to identify and public intoxication.
Hunter Temperton, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, was arrested at about 6:40 p.m. Saturday at the Tech Terrace Park at 23rd Street and Gary Avenue, said Lubbock Police Department officer Sgt. Jon Stewart.
Stewart, who was not one of the arresting officers and said he could not identify the arresting officers, said the subject was in the street when officers told him to go into the park.
Temperton did not comply with officers and was arrested, he said.
Stephanie Kelley, a senior criminology major from Fort Worth, witnessed the arrest and said the arresting officers had no need to use the stun gun.
Temperton was making his way to a group of students while one of the officers was writing him a ticket, she said, and after the officers warned him, they tackled him from his bicycle and pinned him to the ground.
“The Tasering was just unnecessary violence,” Kelley said. “There was no need to Taser him. He was already on the ground.”
Temperton was not violent with officers, she said, and if he was resisting arrest it was not noticeable from her viewpoint.
Although the department does not have a set protocol for when officers should use stun guns, Stewart said, an officer will use his or her judgment if the person being arrested is physically resisting and if it is necessary.
Harvey Madison, a member of the Lubbock chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said not enough information was available to determine whether the student would have a strong case for legal recourse against Lubbock police and the organization would not investigate unless a complaint from the student surfaced.
However, he said the Lubbock Police Department has inappropriately used stun guns in the past.
“We would be concerned if there was inappropriate use of a Taser,” Madison said. “The Lubbock police have an unfortunate history of unprovoked use of a Taser.”
No other arrests were made as a result of the tour, Stewart said, but the department received numerous other complaints regarding littering, urinating on Lubbock residents’ yards, noise and impeding traffic.
Kelley said she has participated in five Tour de Tech Terrace events and has not seen the type of littering and disorder that was present in the one Saturday. Her house is on the route of the tour and she filled five garbage bags with cans left from the event.
The organizers of the event did their best to keep order, she said, but a different crowd from previous years may have contributed to the problems that occurred during this year’s tour.
“I think people have a different idea of the tour than the idea it was originally started with,” Kelley said.
The two organizers of the tour were not immediately available for comment.
Temperton was listed on the Lubbock County Jail active roster, held on $244 bail, as of press time Sunday.
26 comments
Besides... it wouldn't kill us to find some other neighborhood that would support our efforts for the Food Bank & our willingness to have fun. I'm not aware as of yet if that exists in Lubbock.
But even though I love the fact that it's grown so much....we do need to be more regulated.
Regulated, people... not "supervised."
I do hope the guy files a complaint, though....
Based on the YouTube video, I think that kid may have been rightfully tasered, you can hear the officer say at least four times for the kid to give him his hand. Yes, there were cops on top of him and holding him down, but that does not mean that the kid is not resisting being handcuffed. The one officer is clearly holding one arm, but you cannot see the other arm and based on the officers audible request, I have to assume, based on the video, that he was not cooperating.I hate picking up after other people, so I think the homeowners are justified in calling the cops and complaining, since they are going to be the ones picking up their yards after this event. I know the Tour has been around for a while and I would like for it to continue, but I think after this year it might be hard to get the city to allow it. In the future this event may need to have permits in order to be allowed, although that costs money, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.