‘Do You Want It Again?’: Alabama Cop Taunts Handcuffed Black Man Who Was Changing Tire on Side of Road, Repeatedly Tased Him Then Called Her Husband to Help with Arrests, Lawsuit Claims

Micah Washington, a then-24-year-old Black man from Alabama, was changing a tire on the side of the road when he ended up tasered and arrested on fabricated felony charges by a white husband-and-wife law enforcement team from separate agencies in 2023.

The arrest was captured on a disturbing video recorded by Washington’s brother who was 16 at the time, exposing a sadistic side of Reform police officer Dana Elmore where she expressed pleasure and excitement as she tasered a handcuffed Washington in the back for several long seconds, causing him to cry out in pain.

“Do you want it again?” taunted Elmore. “Shut the f_ck up, you was big and bad. Shut your b_tch ass up.”

Black Man Arrested on Fabricated Felonies While Changing Tire on Side of Road Sues Alabama Cops
Micah Washington was tasered, tortured and arrested on fabricated felony charges while doing nothing more than changing a flat tire on the side of the road. (Photo: YouTube)

After placing Washington in the back of her patrol car, she contacted her husband, Jody Elmore, who was then still a Pickens County sheriff’s deputy. Jody Elmore arrived and handcuffed the younger brother before placing him in the back of a patrol car.

The two cops then ran to Washington’s aunt’s home, which was nearby and arrested Jacorian Henry, who had been a passenger in the car and was helping change the tire, but who then ran to the aunt’s house at Washington’s request to get help.

On Monday, Washington’s attorneys filed a $20 million lawsuit against the two cops as well as the city of Reform, a municipality of less than 2,000 people in West Alabama, accusing the two officers of excessive force, unreasonable search and seizure, malicious prosecution, deliberate indifference, assault and battery, false imprisonment and negligence.

According to a statement published along with the lawsuit filed by the Maxwell Tillman Law Firm in Birmingham, Alabama:

My clients were changing a flat tire on the side of County Road 27 in Pickens County when approached by Officer Dana Elmore. They were not bothering anyone, were not causing a disturbance, and had not committed any crime. Nevertheless, as seen on viral video footage, Officer Elmore tased Micah Washington in his back as he laid on the front of her patrol vehicle handcuffed, unarmed, and completely compliant. 

After unlawfully tasing and arresting Mr. Washington, Officer Elmore called her husband, who was a Pickens County Sheriff’s Deputy, to the scene as back up. The two then unlawfully detained S.W. and arrested Jacorien Henry. 

After clearly violating my clients’ constitutional rights, Officer Elmore maliciously initiated and bolstered clearly false criminal charges against Mr. Washington and Mr. Henry to make their bonds unreasonably high. The Pickens County District Attorney’s Office almost immediately dismissed charges that significantly decreased their bonds. Since then, Mr. Henry’s remaining charges have been dismissed, and we fully expect the remaining charges against Mr. Washington to be dismissed as well.

Washington and Henry were jailed for three days on the fabricated charges of trafficking in fentanyl as well as other misdemeanor charges.

Washington was also charged with being a felon is possession of a gun when he had never been arrested before in his life and possessed a legally owned gun.

The felony charges were dismissed against both men on the second day but Washington said he remains traumatized by the incident, especially by the video that shows him crying out in pain as Dana Elmore tasered him in the back for several long seconds.

“I don’t like seeing the video, like it just do something to me,” Washington said in a video interview with WBMA. “I can watch it but like with the sound on, no, I can’t do it.”

Unfortunately, Alabama has a long history of police abuse against Black citizens, especially when they have committed no crimes and refuse to provide their identifications upon demand which is their legal right.

Watch the video of Washington’s arrest below.

The Arrest

The incident took place on Dec. 2, 2023 as Washington and Henry were driving down County Road 27 in Pickens County to visit Washington’s aunt when they experienced a flat tire.

Already within walking distances from the aunt’s house, the two men walked over and recruited Washington’s younger brother, identified in the lawsuit as S.W., to help them change the tire.

As they were changing the tire, Dana Elmore pulled up in the patrol car and the two Black men assumed she was going to help them.

Instead, she demanded Washington’s identification, even though he had been doing nothing to give her a reasonable suspicion he had committed a crime.

Washington, at first, questioned why she would demand his identification but she became even more hostile so he complied out of fear for his safety.

He also started recording on his phone which made her more enraged, according to the lawsuit.

Officer Elmore became irate and more aggressive as Mr. Washington began to film the encounter. Officer Elmore then deployed her taser into Mr. Washington’s person for several seconds and demanded that he get on the ground. 

Mr. Washington cried and screamed out for help. He exclaimed, “I have never been shot before!” (referring to the taser). 

He also asked Officer Elmore, amid pleading for her to stop, “Why do you have your feet on my back? I’m not even doing anything. We are out here changing a tire!”

Officer Elmore mocked Mr. Washington as he asked her why she was being so aggressive. Officer Elmore demanded that Mr. Washington “shut the f-ck up or [she] would tase [him] again.”

That was when Henry, the passenger in Washington’s car, ran to the aunt’s house to get help as Washington’s younger brother began recording.

The brother’s video begins with Dana Elmore lifting a handcuffed Washington who was face down on the street after she had tasered and arrested him. She then led him to the front of her patrol car and began searching through his pockets.

Washington, a legal gun owner, informed her he had a gun which made her excited.

“Oh yeah!” she exclaimed as she removed the gun.

“Whatcha saying ‘oh yeah’ for?” Washington asked as she began tasering him again in the back while holding his head down against the car with her other hand.

“Oh my god!” Washington yelled out in pain before sobbing on the hood of the patrol car.

“You want it again?” she threatened even though she had no justification to taser him in the first place considering he was already handcuffed and not being combative or elusive.

Once her husband arrived and detained Washington’s younger brother by placing him in the back of a patrol car, they ran to the aunt’s house where they banged on the front door, threatening to kick it in.

Henry stepped out voluntarily and was arrested on charges of resisting arrest, attempting to elude, marijuana possession, and drug trafficking fentanyl.

Washington was booked on charges of obstructing governmental operations, resisting arrest, marijuana possession, being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, and drug trafficking fentanyl.

The lawsuit states that the cops fabricated the felony fentanyl charges along with the false gun charge in order to keep them in jail on a $505,000 bond which they could not afford. Fortunately, the felony charges were dismissed two days later which reduced the amount of the bond and they were released the following day.

Washington’s younger brother, S.W., was released after being handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car but was also left traumatized and has since been prescribed medication for anxiety, the claim states.

“My clients are clear victims of police misconduct, racial bias, and systemic racism,” Washington’s attorneys said in a statement. 

“They were targeted for simply existing as African American men. As we stated before, we will not stop relentlessly pursuing justice for Micah Washington, Jacorien Henry, and S.W. until every party responsible is held accountable for their injuries.”

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