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‘Please don’t kill me’! Handcuffed Black suspect pleads for his life a White Minnesota corrections officer assaults him – Travis VanDeWiele, repeatedly punches and knees suspect in the stomach during an arrest as four other officers hold him down

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Shocking footage shows  a White Minnesota corrections officer viciously assault of a handcuffed Black male suspect during an arrest
Four other correctional officers assist by holding the shackled suspect down while he pleads to be spared in April 2016
Shocking footage shows Terrell James Johnson, 24, being kicked repeatedly, kneed and punched by jail officer Travis VanDeWiele who is transporting him to jail on a theft charge 
Video shows the officers strapping suspect into a ‘transport chair’ as his hands are handcuffed – VanDeWiele is seen punching and kneeing him in the stomach as Johnson cries out in pain and says ‘Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me, I’m sorry’
The footage was released two years after  Johnson complained the Ramsey County sheriff’s correctional officer used excessive force while restraining him
VanDeWiele pled guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and has resigned from his post with current  Ramsey County Sheriff  Bob Fletcher condemning the action and vowing to prevent similar incidents 
The St. Paul branch of the NAACP and other organization have condemned what the described as ‘the horrific, racist and discriminatory treatment’ of Johnson 
As part of a plea agreement Vandewiele pled guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a $150 fine
When Vandewiele resigned, effective February 28, without any form of  discipline on and receives  almost $10,000 in vacation and sick time
While on paid administrative leave for two years, Vandewiele collected more than $120,000 in salary

Travis VanDeWiele, [photo], a Ramsey’s County Correction Officer since 2014, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct last month and has resigned over the 2016 incident

Shocking video emerges of corrections officer brutalizing a restrained black man three years ago.
The video of a Minnesota corrections officer kneeing and punching a handcuffed man in 2016 has emerged, but the convicted deputy involved has just submitted his resignation.
The disturbing footage shows Minnesota jail officer Travis VanDeWiele, punching and kneeing a handcuffed Terrell James Johnson, who can be heard pleading for his life as other officers restrain him.

On Monday, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher released video of the 2016 incident, which happened before his term.
VanDeWiele, who is white, pled guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct last month and has resigned his post after footage shows him viciously assaulting male African-American suspect Terrell James Johnson.
Johnson, 24, complained the officer used excessive force while restraining him.
VanDeWiele had been a Ramsey County sheriff’s correctional officer since 2014, but has been on paid administrative leave for the last two years.

A video footage released on Monday shows suspect Terrell James Johnson being brutally punched and kneed in the stomach by Travis VanDeWiele as other officers do nothing and assist in restraining him despite Johnson being handcuffed and crying out in pain.
VanDeWiele is one of about five officers seen removing Johnson from a St. Paul police squad car at the Ramsey County jail after he was arrested on a theft charge.
In the footage, VanDeWiele tells him: ‘You can either step out or I’m going to drag you out, those are your options.
‘If you don’t get up I’m going to drag you.’ Van DeWiele is then seeing dragging him up off the ground.
According to the charges against VanDeWiele, Johnson had been sprayed with a chemical agent and his mouth is covered with a spit-guard mask.
He is handcuffed with his pants around his ankles. In the video, Johnson is lifted into a wheelchair-like ‘transport chair’ after he falls to the ground limp.
He is seen pushed by one deputy and then pulled by another as they try to strap him into the chair.

VanDeWiele repeatedly orders Johnson to sit back as the suspect’s hips remain raised.
Another officer can be heard saying in the background: ‘If he doesn’t sit back use pain compliance on him. ‘You’re choking [me].’
The video then shows VanDeWiele kneeing Johnson twice in the stomach, causing Johnson to protest and call all five officers ‘pigs.
Johnson screams out: ‘I’m sitting the f**k back, I’m sitting the f**k back, don’t hit me in my knees.’

The footage shows Johnson being restrained and a spit-guard mask his placed on his face

When Johnson accuses the officers of using excessive force, VanDeWiele responds: ‘You ain’t seen excessive force yet.’
VanDeWiele is then seen punching him repeatedly in the stomach as other officers hold his head and neck in position.
Another officer tells him: ‘If you stop fighting, we’ll stop using force against you.’
‘Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me, I’m sorry,’ Johnson pleads in the video.
He can can also be heard crying out in pain as deputies push his head into his lap.

He eventually is secured in the chair and wheeled into jail.
Johnson ultimately pled guilty to one count of theft in August 2016.

Other officers do nothing as Johnson is kicked and punched, with one heard in the background saying ‘If he doesn’t sit back use pain compliance on him. Johnson then says that he cannot breathe, adding ‘You’re choking [me]’

The video was filmed by an ‘acting or temporary’ correctional sergeant on duty when the incident happened in April 2016.
In a statement, Fletcher called the video ‘extremely disturbing’ and said he is making changes, including appointing a new detention superintendent to oversee the jail.
‘The conduct captured on the video will not be tolerated under my watch,’ the sheriff said.
This week’s video release came after a lengthy legal case for VanDeWiele.
After a sheriff’s office employee raised concerns about the incident, authorities from nearby Washington County were asked to investigate.

County commissioners on Tuesday spent time discussing the incident and its effects on the community.
Ramsey County Board Chairman Jim McDonough said ‘the racial dynamics’ are alarming of ‘a white officer acting upon a black male with a group of predominantly white officers present.’
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter called the actions shown in the video ‘torture.’
‘We can’t separate the individual actions from the law enforcement culture that allowed him to feel like it was OK to do that and that allowed several deputies to stand around and watch it take place,’ Carter said.
Bob Fletcher told CBS Minnesota that there have been and will be more changes, including additional training and the hiring of more supervisors.
In a court filing, VanDeWiele’s attorney wrote that prosecutors did not produce any evidence that the officer ‘used unreasonable force to gain the compliance of an uncooperative inmate.’
County commissioners said Tuesday they’ll do whatever it takes to prevent a recurrence.
‘We do take this seriously – very seriously – and need to do everything that we can to correct this to make sure something like this does not happen again,’ Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt said.

Commissioner Toni Carter added: ‘There is a strand of Jim Crow-like culture that continues to exist even into this very day.’
Members of the African American Leadership Council and the St. Paul NAACP stood in solidarity with current Ramsey County sheriff to denounce the treatment of Johnson by deputies.
‘What happened to Terrell Johnson is a tragedy and no human being should be treated in that manner,’ said Tyrone Terrell, President of the African American Leadership Council.
When Vandewiele resigns with no discipline on February 28, he will be given almost $10,000 in vacation and sick time, CBS Minnesota reported.
For the two years he was on paid administrative leave, Vandewiele collected more than $120,000 in salary.
Community activists are also upset that it took almost three years to learn and see what happened to Johnson at the hands of Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies.

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