Prepare to be shocked by a series of disturbing police misconduct cases that led to officers losing their badges. From brutal assaults to fatal encounters, these incidents expose the dark side of law enforcement and the consequences of excessive force.
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00:00This was a was a failure for one individual police officer. It had nothing to do with our policies.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo and today we'll be looking at the most shocking cases of police misconduct
00:13and brutality that resulted in officers losing their badges. The jury has reached a verdict in
00:21the federal trial of those three former police officers accused of violating George Floyd's
00:27civil rights. 2017 University of Utah hospital incident. In July 2017 Salt Lake City detective
00:37Jeff Payne visited the University of Utah hospital after an accident involving William Gray,
00:43a part-time police officer. The assault began with a fatal crash in Logan Canyon and a request
00:48for a blood draw from a man injured in that crash. Payne requested a blood sample from Gray
00:54who was unconscious and unable to consent. The on-duty nurse Alex Wubbles refused, citing hospital
01:01policy requiring either patient consent or a warrant, neither of which Payne had. Frustrated,
01:08Payne forcibly removed Wubbles from the building and arrested her, all of which was caught on
01:13police body cams. Wubbles objects, citing the hospital's policy that blood can't be taken without
01:19consent from the patient, a warrant, or a patient that is under arrest. That's when detective Payne
01:25reacts. The footage subsequently went viral, leading to Payne's dismissal in October and the
01:30demotion of his commanding officer. Salt Lake City and the University of Utah later agreed to settle
01:36the incident with Wubbles for $500,000. I did not anticipate it going as large as it has, but I am
01:44grateful that it has because clearly this is an issue. UC Davis pepper spray incident. Tuition
01:50hikes at the University of California Davis in 2011 led students to protest on campus. When police
01:57tried to move them, they sat down. These demonstrations coincided with the larger Occupy movement
02:03and eventually became aligned with it. On November 18th, police officer John Pike used pepper spray
02:09at nearly point-blank range on dozens of peaceful protesters who refused to leave. The incident was
02:16recorded by several bystanders, and once the footage hit the internet, it was all anyone
02:21could talk about. The university soon placed Pike on administrative leave and, following an external
02:27investigation, terminated his employment. Despite his dismissal, Pike received $38,000 in workers'
02:34compensation, more than $30,000 each pepper sprayed student received in their settlement
02:40with the school. Experts say Pike can't necessarily get rich off of this sort of workers' comp claim,
02:45but finding an injury as a result of the pepper spraying incident could open the door to other
02:49compensation such as from his pension plan. Shooting of Charles Kinsey. In July 2016,
02:56behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey was retrieving his patient, Arnaldo Rios Soto,
03:02a man with autism who had wandered away from his group home when they encountered the police.
03:08Walking with a cane, Charles Kinsey limped into Aventura Hospital to see his patient,
03:13Arnaldo Rios, the 26-year-old autistic man he was trying to help, when North Miami police
03:19shot Kinsey while unarmed with his hands in the air. Despite lying on the ground with his hands
03:24clearly raised and explaining the situation, Kinsey was shot in the leg by Jonathan Aleda,
03:30an officer of the North Miami Police Department. Aleda's identity may never have been revealed if
03:35the incident wasn't captured on cell phone video. The footage sparked a huge uproar,
03:48resulting in Aleda being charged with attempted manslaughter and negligence. Though he was
03:54ultimately fired from the police department after being convicted of culpable negligence,
03:59the conviction was later overturned on appeal. As for what happens next, the Miami-Dade State
04:04Attorney's Office must now decide if it will retry Aleda. Shooting of Eric Cantu. Eric Cantu
04:10was just trying to enjoy a hamburger in his car at a McDonald's parking lot in San Antonio, Texas,
04:16when chaos came knocking. One police accountability expert called it a catastrophic mistake,
04:24an officer firing into a moving vehicle, critically injuring a teenager. In October 2022,
04:30Officer James Brennan, who was responding to an unrelated disturbance, spotted Cantu's car,
04:37which he recognized from a traffic stop that had gone south the day before. Instead of following
04:42protocol, Brennan skipped the introductions, yanked open the door, and fired his weapon when
04:48Cantu tried to drive away. Supporters of Eric Cantu have scheduled a candlelight vigil for 7pm
04:55tomorrow at the McDonald's. The shooting left Cantu critically injured, as he was placed on
05:00life support and remained hospitalized for weeks. Brennan, on the other hand, was fired within a
05:07week and later charged with aggravated assaults and attempted murder. As for James Brennan,
05:12he is expected to go to trial later this fall in November. Traffic stop assault of Demetrius
05:19Hollins. In April 2017, Demetrius Hollins was pulled over by police sergeant Michael Bon Giovanni
05:27in Atlanta, Georgia. What started as a routine traffic stop quickly escalated into a shocking
05:33display of brutality. How scared were you? Scared on a scale of 1 to 10, say 20. Bon Giovanni
05:41initially claimed that Hollins was belligerent and resisted arrest. However, cell phone footage
05:47later surfaced showing the sergeant punching Hollins in the face, even though he appeared to
05:52be complying. I thought that he was going to at least grab one of my arms and put me in handcuffs,
06:00but I didn't realize he was going to punch me in the face. To make matters worse, the second video
06:06showed another officer, Robert McDonald, kicking Hollins in the face while he was handcuffed on
06:12the ground. Both officers were fired less than 24 hours after the clip surfaced and later charged
06:19with aggravated assaults and battery. Bon Giovanni pleaded no contest, but McDonald chose to fight
06:25the charges in court and was ultimately found guilty. And McDonald's attorney says he believes
06:31there is grounds in this case for an appeal. He plans to file one. Killing of Eric Garner. The
06:36powerful rallying cry, I can't breathe, were the last words of Eric Garner, who died on July 17,
06:442014, during an arrest in New York City. Adding a new chant to the growing chorus of civil
06:52discontent across the country. Police officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling
06:57untaxed cigarettes. During the arrest, NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold
07:05and pushed his face into the sidewalk until he was handcuffed. Garner repeatedly stated that he
07:11couldn't breathe, but his pleas were ignored. This row of shops used to be Eric Garner's hangout.
07:17People knew him here. A lot of these people were here the day that he died. Everyone that I spoke
07:22with today said they were hopeful for an indictment, but almost no one told me they expected
07:27one. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and was later pronounced dead. Garner's
07:33death ignited widespread protests across the city, especially after a grand jury decided not to
07:39indict Pantaleo. It wasn't until August 2019, a full five years later, that Pantaleo was fired
07:47from the police force. This was a decision that surprised many inside NYPD. Some of the top brass
07:53learning about the firing by watching it on TV. Ultimately, this was the police commissioner's
07:59decision. Killing of Tyree Nichols. The tragic death of Tyree Nichols began with a routine
08:06traffic stop. On January 7th, 2023, just two minutes from his home in Memphis, Tennessee,
08:12Nichols was pulled over, allegedly for reckless driving. The 29-year-old father of one was only
08:18blocks from home on January 7th when stopped for what was called reckless driving, though the
08:23police chief says no video exists to support that claim. The situation quickly escalated as officers
08:30assaulted Nichols, pushing him to the ground, tasing him, and deploying pepper spray. He managed
08:36to escape and ran towards his mother's house, but the officers caught up with him and beat him
08:41severely. We tried pulling over your son. He ran from us. We found him at this red light,
08:48pulled him over again. He started fighting with us and took off and he got pepper sprayed and took
08:55off running. He died three days later in the hospital. The day after the traffic stop, all
09:01five officers involved, Tadarius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmett Martin III, and
09:08Justin Smith were fired. While two pleaded guilty to criminal charges, the remaining three went to
09:14trial and were convicted on various counts. The three officers convicted Thursday were found
09:20guilty on counts of witness tampering and one was found guilty of civil rights violation. Killing of
09:27Stanley Gibson. In the early hours of December 12th, 2011, police in Las Vegas responded to reports
09:33of a burglary at an apartment complex. Upon their arrival, officers spotted a car matching the
09:39suspect's description, driven by Stanley Gibson, a Gulf War veteran coping with anxiety and
09:45depression. When officers ordered Gibson to exit the vehicle, he refused and attempted to drive away.
09:51During the encounter, Officer Jesus Arevalo reportedly mistook a non-lethal shot fired by
09:58his colleague for gunfire from Gibson and responded by firing seven shots into the car,
10:03killing the unarmed veteran. Following a thorough investigation, two separate review panels
10:09recommended Arevalo's dismissal. In October 2013, nearly two years later, Arevalo was let go from
10:17the force. Killing of Sean Bell. On November 25th, 2006, 23-year-old Sean Bell was set to marry his
10:25fiancée, Nicole Palt, but he never made it to the ceremony. A rising baseball star, a 23-year-old
10:32looking forward to his wedding day, celebrating at Club Kalua when things took a tragic turn.
10:38Early that day, Bell was leaving his bachelor party with friends when guest guard Isnora,
10:43a plane-closed NYPD officer, reportedly overheard their conversation and suspected they were
10:50planning a drive-by shooting. Isnora called for backup and the officers quickly surrounded
10:55Bell's car and opened fire. 23-year-old Sean was shot and killed in a hail of 50 bullets
11:01fired by NYPD officers. They shot a total of 50 bullets at the vehicle, killing Bell and
11:07severely injuring two of his friends. Following the incident, Isnora, who initiated the shooting,
11:14was fired. While three other officers involved, Detectives Mark Cooper and Michael Oliver
11:19and Lt. Gary Napoli, were forced to resign.
11:23These detectives aren't necessarily in the clear. They could also face departmental charges
11:26from the New York City Police Department and they could also face federal civil rights charges.
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11:46Murder of George Floyd
11:50In May 2020, while the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, the killing of George Floyd
11:56ignited a global conversation about race and policing. Anger over one man's death had turned
12:02into much more, an explosion of fury over years of mistreatment. Floyd was arrested after a store
12:09clerk reported that he had used a counterfeit $20 bill. During the arrest, officers pulled Floyd
12:15out of the police car and one of them, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for over nine minutes,
12:21ignoring repeated pleas that he couldn't breathe. The gathering public, appearing shocked,
12:27concerned about the other officers restraining Floyd until he lost consciousness and later died.
12:33Floyd was already unresponsive by the time an ambulance arrived and was later pronounced
12:38dead at the hospital. The following day, Chauvin and the three other officers involved,
12:44Jay Alexander Coon, Thomas Lane, and Tu Thao were fired. They were ultimately convicted of
12:50various criminal charges and sentenced to prison. Which of these incidents troubled you the most?
13:12Let us know in the comments below.