Duluth Police Officer Shown Assaulting a Wheelchair-Bound Man at a Detox Center

This video was taken on September 21, 2012 at the Duluth Detoxification Center. It shows an altercation between Officer Richard Jouppi and 50-year-old Anthony Jackson.

Notice that in the video Richard Jouppi assaults Anthony Jackson by twisting the his arm behind his head before Anthony swats at him. Clearly Richard Jouppi initiated the physical encounter and then used an uncalled for amount of force when punching and knocking Anthony out of his wheelchair when Anthony reacted to being assaulted.

Information Liberation shared the following in regards to the incident:

Duluth Police officer Richard Jouppi, 34, was caught on video decking a 50-year-old intoxicated wheelchair-bound man repeatedly in the face. The man who was taken into a detox center was being ordered to take his jacket off, he mouthed off about throwing his jacket at a female bookkeeper. When he went to take his jacket off the cop placed his hands on the man, as the cop used progressively more force, the man eventually swatted at the cop’s face, the cop responded by unleashing a torrent of entirely disproportionate blows on the wheelchair-bound man’s face.

The bookkeeper, who was completely shocked, almost intervened in a Regina Tasca-esque moment stepping towards the cop and saying, “Dude!”

The cop immediately responded saying, “Shut up! Back up! I’ll arrest you too!”

After the shocked bookkeeper backed off, the cop scolded her saying, “You don’t think people in a wheelchair can assault people?”

“Yeah, but..”

“Turns out he just did.”

It also “turns out” the cop has a history of complaints against him, and he had just signed a “last chance” agreement after he was caught tipping off a friend he was being investigated for criminal sexual misconduct.

The cop may reportedly face misdemeanor assault charges in relation to this incident. His lawyer has responded by attacking the wheelchair-bound man’s character.

“This is not a helpless guy in a wheelchair,” [Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association Legal Defense Fund attorney Fredric Bruno] said of Jackson on Friday. “He had trashed his room in the public facility he was living in. He was taken forcibly to detox and alluded to the fact that he had a .38 pistol and a .45 pistol. He punched Officer Jouppi, disorienting him. He was a subject being subdued. He’s (Jouppi) got some concerns about him. The guy (Jackson), at a minimum, should have a disorderly conduct at the facility, probably a terroristic threat against detox staff and probably a fourth-degree assault against Officer Jouppi. He’s not exactly a sympathetic character as he’s being portrayed.”

Watch the video and judge for yourself who was acting “terroristic.”

Duluth Police Officer Shown Assaulting a Wheelchair-Bound Man at a Detox Center is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights