Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged]
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A Columbus police officer is out of a job thanks to his actions caught on bodycam during a 14-year-old boy’s arrest.
In a document dated for Tuesday, the Columbus police chief and director of public safety decided to terminate Officer Donovan Bever. They charged him with violating the division’s rule of conduct, noting abusive or violent behavior and violating its policy on use of force.
The document details multiple examples of Bever’s conduct during a Feb. 19 arrest of a 14-year-old boy as the reasoning behind his termination:
While arresting the teen, Bever grabbed him by his dreadlocks and “forcefully caused his head/face to strike a concrete walkway.” The facts of the case did not justify the use of force as “objectively reasonable,” according to the document.
Bever “forcefully pushed” the teen’s face into the concrete walkway.
Bever removed a phone charger and another unidentified object from the teen’s pockets during a search, then threw them at him and struck him in the face.
After placing the teen in handcuffs, Bever told the teen “you move, I will break your face.”
Making the teen stand up, Bever then escorted him by his dreadlocks to a police van.
While conducting another search of the teen, Bever “aggressively struck him in the groin” with his hand.