Native man shot in neck by police officer hit with maximum sentence

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

'Did he just get 30 years?' #NativeLivesMatter

Micah Taylor, 20, headed to prison after guilty plea

A judge in Nebraska sentenced a 20-year-old Santee Sioux man to 30-50 years for assaulting an officer during an encounter in March 2018 that ended with the young Native man getting shot in the neck.

In explaining his decision to give Micah Taylor nearly the maximum sentence of 50 years, Douglas County District Court Judge Thomas A. Otepka said the officer who was injured in the encounter suffered shoulder injuries and had to undergo both rotator cuff and hip surgery. The officer continues to undergo physical therapy.

“It resulted in injuries that resulted in surgery,” the judge said of the incident.

Otepka also sentenced Taylor to 1-2 years for fleeing arrest.

Indianz.Com Video by Kevin Abourezk: An uncomfortable position - The shooting of Micah Taylor

In April, Taylor pleaded guilty to second-degree assaulting an officer, a Class II felony, and fleeing arrest, a Class IV felony. On Monday, he told Otepka that he was sorry for what happened the day he was pulled over and shot and promised to never do anything like it again.

“I am very sorry to the police officer that I hurt,” he said. “I accept full responsibility for what I did.”

His attorney, James Martin Davis of Omaha, said Taylor made a mistake by attempting to flee from the officer, Dave Staskiewicz, who was one of the expert witnesses called to testify last year on behalf of former Omaha officer Scotty Payne. Payne had been accused of shocking a mentally ill Native man, Zachary Bearheels, who later died on June 5, 2017, a dozen times.

An Omaha jury acquitted Payne of second-degree assault and use of a weapon to commit a felony on December 10.

Micah Taylor is seen here with two of his spiritual mentors, John Pappan, left and Dr. Rudi Mitchell, right. Courtesy photo

Davis said Taylor shouldn’t have to serve a significant sentence because of a reckless mistake.

“What kind of sentence do you want to fashion for a 20-year-old kid who panicked?” he said.

He said Taylor continues to suffer from the bullet that was lodged in the back of his neck after Staskiewicz shot him when he attempted to drive away.

“The punishment started at the time my client panicked and took off,” Davis said.

An Omaha judge just sentenced 20-year-old Santee Sioux man Micah Taylor to 30 to 50 years for assaulting an officer following an April 2017 incident in which he was pulled over and shot by Omaha police officer attempting to arrest him for selling marijuana. pic.twitter.com/r0n7fS58uf
— KevinAbourezk (@Kevin_Abourezk) September 9, 2019

His mother, DeAnna Taylor, gasped when the verdict was read.

“Did he just get 30 years?” she said, before crying.

As part of his guilty plea, Taylor admitted to having sold a half-pound of marijuana to another man prior to his arrest on March 8, 2018.

Not long after that marijuana sale, Staskiewicz stopped Taylor as he drove his Toyota Camry in north Omaha following. Taylor has said he was driving to pick up his spiritual adviser to go to a sweat lodge.

According to Omaha police, the city’s gang unit had conducted surveillance on Taylor, whom they suspected of dealing marijuana and possessing firearms. Around 2:15 p.m. that day, they saw Taylor sell marijuana and a helicopter unit and an officer in a marked cruiser followed him. Around 2:30 p.m., the officer pulled him over on an interstate in north Omaha.

The arresting officer asked Taylor for his license, registration and insurance, but Taylor initially refused. He eventually handed over the items, and the officer then asked him to step out of his car. Again, police say, Taylor refused.

Staskiewicz then opened Taylor’s car door and tried to pull him out, but Taylor struggled to pull away from him, according to police. While holding Taylor’s arm, the officer stepped back and drew his gun. Taylor then began driving away, which led to the officer being pulled alongside his vehicle, according to police.

The officer then fired three rounds as he was being dragged and fell to the ground.

Taylor, injured, drove south on the interstate with gang unit officers in pursuit until he struck stop sticks laid out by another Omaha officer. The sticks caused him to lose control of his car, and it struck a concrete median and came to rest in a shoulder area.

Children hold signs at a rally for Native justice held at the Nebraska State Capitol on May 12, 2018, following the shooting of Micah Taylor and other acts of police aggression against Native people. Photo by Kevin Abourezk

Police then took him into custody.

The entire traffic stop, from the time the officer pulled Taylor over to when Taylor drove away, lasted less than two minutes.

But Taylor has contradicted the police department’s description of the traffic stop that led to him being shot.

He told Indianz.Com last year that the officer never told him why he pulled him over, and Taylor immediately became concerned that he was being racially profiled. When the officer told him to get out, Taylor said he refused and asked to speak to his attorney instead.

#NativeLivesMatter: Native Americans are more likely to be killed by law enforcement

He said he reached for his phone to call his lawyer, but then the officer fired a shot from his handgun, striking him in the neck.

He said he doesn’t know why the officer began shooting at him, but he wonders whether the officer thought his phone was a gun.

He said the bullet that the officer fired that struck his neck is still there, lodged dangerously close to his spine. So close that an emergency room doctor told him he wouldn’t remove the bullet because doing so might lead to Taylor becoming permanently paralyzed.

DeAnna Taylor is shown here in her Bellevue, Nebraska, home in March 2018. Her son, Micah Taylor, was shot in the neck by a police officer in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo by Kevin Abourezk

DeAnna Taylor said she was struggling to understand why her son was given such a harsh sentence for a crime that might have garnered probation for a non-Native perpetrator.

“I’m embarrassed that my child did something criminal because I didn’t raise him that way, and the funny thing is, he’s not that way,” she said. “He’s a good person.”

She said she can relate to Zachary Bearheels’ mother, Renita Chalepah.

“Right now I’d like to be sitting with Zachary Bearheels’ mom and cry with her,” DeAnna Taylor said. “That’s how I feel.”

The judge today focused heavily on the injuries sustained by the officer, rather than Micah’s injuries, and sentenced Micah to the maximum penalty on the assault charge. He will be eligible for parole in 15 years.
— KevinAbourezk (@Kevin_Abourezk) September 9, 2019

Micah’s mother, DeAnna Taylor, gasped as the sentence was given and said: “Did he just get 30 years?”
— KevinAbourezk (@Kevin_Abourezk) September 9, 2019

#NativeLivesMatter

Native Americans are more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.