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Nov 6, 2009 2:59 pm US/Central
Man Tasered By Mpls. Cop Files Lawsuit
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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On April 30, Rolando Ruiz was arrested near the Minneapolis 2nd Precinct near Central Avenue.
Minneapolis Police Dept.
A man who was Tasered by a Minneapolis Police officer after damaging the officer's car has filed a lawsuit against both the officer as well as the city.
On April 30, Rolando Ruiz was arrested near the Minneapolis 2nd Precinct near Central Avenue. Video from the officers dashboard camera caught the scene.
In the video, you can't see what happens before Ruiz is told to put his hands on the hood, but what's causing the complaint is what comes next in the video.
"(The officer) takes that Taser and puts it to the back of his neck and shocks him until he's incapacitated, on the ground, slumped before the squad car," said Albert Goins Sr., an attorney. "It's clear that the only purpose for that officer's conduct was to inflict pain and inflict agony on Mr. Ruiz."
The officer in the video was Todd Lappegaard, who has been involved and reprimanded once before for using deadly force. Back in March 2002, Lappegaard was involved in a deadly chase. The SUV he was chasing ran off the road and hit a jogger. The jogger died at the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, Lappegaard saw Ruiz throwing a brick through the windshield of an officer's personal vehicle outside the second precinct building on Central Avenue.
Ruiz is suing for $400,000. He says he was not putting up a fight when Lappegaard used a Taser on him.
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