Law | National

Lakota Country Times: Fired tribal cop cleared in tasering incident

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Former Oglala Sioux police officer Becky Sotherland was accused of tasering Jeff Eagle Bull at least 17 times. Still image from YouTube

Sotherland found not guilty
Meeting set for Saturday in Manderson
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor

RAPID CITY— It took a federal jury two full days to return a not-guilty verdict in the trial of former Oglala Sioux Tribal Police officer, Rebecca Sotherland.

Sotherland had been indicted by a federal grand jury late last year after videotape surfaced of her Tasing, Jefferson Eagle Bull, 23 times while lay on the ground in handcuffs and visibly intoxicated. The three count indictment accused Sotherland of deprivation of constitutional rights by the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, and obstruction of a federal investigation by filing a false report of the incident. The jury found her not guilty on all counts.

Attorneys for Sotherland successfully drove home their defense to the jury that she had been improperly trained and that Taser was used to get Eagle Bull to comply with her demands that he stand up. They stated that Eagle Bull was not complying with her demands in an attempt to avoid being arrested.

On the tape Eagle Bull is seen rolling on the ground as Sotherland continuously pulls the trigger on the Taser while demanding that Eagle Bull comply with her orders. Tasers have gained popularity amongst the law enforcement community as a non-lethal alternative to firearms but are generally used to incapacitate an individual and not as a means to get an arrestee to comply.

The case was watched closely as the tape of the assault was distributed widely by multiple national news outlets including LCT, LastRealIndians, ICTM, and the police watchdog CopBlock.

Reactions from across Lakota Country have been fierce in their disgust and filled with anger over the decision of the jury.

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Former Bureau of Indian Affairs National Director and the first Native American ever to hold the position of Regional Director of the United States Marshals Service, Robert Ecoffey, says that the verdict was absolutely a miscarriage of justice.

“A true miscarriage of justice on behalf of the victim of her assault, his family and all Lakota people,” said Ecoffey. “There is no doubt that the decision handed down by the jury was tainted through a racial lens and sends a message that it is ok for a white officer to victimize a helpless Lakota man. This is a complete breakdown of the federal criminal justice system in South Dakota and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.”

Community members of Eagle Bull’s from Manderson have quickly turned to social media to express their outrage over the verdict and Wounded Knee district government officials say that a meeting is set for noon on Saturday, December 12, at noon at the Wounded Knee District School Gymnasium to plan a response to the verdict.

“We are tired of these non-Natives coming in to our homelands and causing harm to our people. I have talked with members of the law enforcement community and they all agree that this is a perfect example of how to not use a Taser. It is well known that once a man is handcuffed he is no longer a threat and the tape obviously shows that,” said Garfield Steele, Wounded Knee district president.

“Our community is outraged that something like this was allowed to happen especially when the assault took place on our land in smack in the middle of our community. We are no longer going to allow this to happen,” said Steele.

Steele says that all Treaty Councils, concerned community members, family, friends, and tribal government officials are being asked to come together in Manderson on Saturday to plan a course of action.

“We have all seen the tape and its obvious that this officer endangered the life of this tribal citizen and we are not going to lay down and just allow for things like this to continue to happen,” added Steele.

Karin Eagle, an independent journalist who covers Native news in Rapid City, says that the verdict was expected by many Lakota people.

"There is a feeling of disregard and dismissal of the Native American value here in South Dakota, especially in this region," Eagle said. "Decisions like this, the Sotherland case, are representative of that. Many places around the country are actually taking a hard look at these instances of assault and abuse by rouge police officers and addressing them so as to correct the problem."

That isn't happening here in Rapid City or in any part of South Dakota,” said Eagle. “I personally feel that the leadership of Rapid City is managing the problem rather than addressing it in a way that will correct it. I'm not surprised by I am still very disgusted and disappointed with this verdict.”

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(Contact Brandon Ecoffey at editor@lakotacountrytimes.com)