Police officers for the City of Jerseyville and Illinois State Policekilled Rita Cummings' 17-year-old son by Tasering him repeatedly while he was handcuffed, she claims in E. St. Louis Federal Court.
Defendants include Jerseyville police Officers Matt Witt, Todd Wagner and John Lawson, Jerseyville Police Chief Brad Blackorby, and an unknown Illinois State Police officer. Cummings' son Roger Holyfield died on Oct. 28, 2006. She claims police beat him and shot him repeatedly with a Taser as he lay handcuffed on the ground. He weighed 130 lbs. She is represented by Mark Niemeyer of St. Louis.
William Roth claims officers for the League City Police Department beat him in a jail cell they believed had no video cameras, but the beating was caught on tape through a window. Roth, who was arrested on suspicion of DUI, claims police filed a false report claiming his injuries were caused by his tripping and hitting a wall, in Galveston Federal Court.
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