An Exercise In Absolving Responsibility In One Page

The upshot of the car stop was that Bryce Masters, the 17-year-old son of a Kansas City police officer, will be brain damaged following his being tased by Independence, Missouri police officer Tim Runnels.  As Sgt. Darrell Schmidli explained, before the police had the chance to really put their “A game” story together, Masters “was just being completely uncooperative with the officer.”

But a couple good night’s sleep and some hard-noodling produced the search warrant application for the Masters’ car.

On 9-14-2014 at about 1507 hours, Independence Police Officer Timothy Runnels (PID #1439) conducted a car stop near Main Street and Southside Boulevard. Officer Runnels stopped a gray 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix bearing Missouri license KHI-M5Y. Prior to conducting the car stop, Officer Runnels observed the vehicle to have darkly tinted windows. Reported computer checks on the vehicle license were reported to have an active warrant association. Officer Runnels approached the passenger side of the vehicle and instructed the occupant to roll down the window. The driver partially rolled down the window a few inches. Officer Runnels reported that he detected an odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. The driver refused to completely roll down the passenger side window and asked Officer Runnels, “Why?, I can hear you!”. Officer Runnels responded to the driver’s side door, where he opened the door.

The driver was reportedly holding a cell phone and appeared to be recording the incident. Officer Runnels continued to instruct the driver to exit the vehicle. The driver refused to exit and asked “Why?, Am I under arrest?”. Officer Runnels determined that the driver was actively interferring with his patrol investigation and informed the driver that in fact he was being placed under arrest. The driver refused to exit his vehicle and physically braced himself inside the vehicle to prevent the officer from extracting him. Officer Runnels attempted to physically remove the driver from the vehicle but was unsucessful. Officer Runnels then pulled his department issued Taser (serial #XOO-249486) and again instructed the driver to exit. The driver refused the officer’s commands and continued to brace himself inside his vehicle. Officer Runnels deployed his Taser which struck the driver in the mid-section of his body. Officer Runnels instructed the driver to exit the vehicle, at which time, he did and laid down on the ground beside his vehicle. Officer Runnels handcuffed the driver with his hands behind his back. Officer Runnels instructed the driver to move to the curb. Officer Runnels stated that the driver did not comply with his command, at which time, he grabbed the driver from behind and carried him to the side of the roadway.

The driver was identified as Bryce Masters. While in the custody of Officer Runnels, Mr. Masters began to suffer from some form of a medical emergency. Ambulance personnel had been initially dispatched to the scene because of the taser deployment. Upon arrival, ambulance personnel began lifesaving measures on Mr. Masters and immediately transported him to Centerpoint Medical Center. The IPD Investigations and Crime Scene Units were notified and responded to the scene. Mr. Masters’ vehicle was protected for evidence purposes and towed to 875 S. Vista for processing. Currently Mr. Masters is in critical condition with an unknown prognosis.

The car had “darkly tinted windows,” which somehow had evaded police detection for the past 14 years.  It was about time he got caught.  Hope this clears things up.

6 thoughts on “An Exercise In Absolving Responsibility In One Page

  1. lawrence kaplan

    So the officer allegedly detected the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. But the warrant does not say if any marijuana was found–which means it was not. Yet another lie. But I have to feel sorry for poor officer Runnels. After all, how was he to know that the “punk” he tased, who– of course– deserved it, was a police officer’s son?

  2. lawrence kaplan

    I see that a later report says that “drug paraphernalia ” was found in the car, but does not specify what that was. Note, there still is no claim that any marijuana was found.

  3. John Barleycorn

    Very few cops are skilled enough to tuck in their shirt while at the same time verifying a cuffed suspect laying, on his stomach, has an unobstructed airway and is breathing with the toe of their boot.

    I bet the officer is kicking himself though for not being a little more thorough while guarding the suspect. If he had been I am sure he would have started compressions with the heel of his boot and the kid would have been no worse for wear less a few broken ribs.

  4. Liz W

    While in the custody of Officer Runnels, Mr. Masters began to suffer from some form of a medical emergency
    I am getting REALLY tired of the passive voice bull crap from law enforcement.

    @LK: Might not have even been actual paraphernalia. Short list of things cops will claim are paraphernalia: plastic sandwich bag, tinfoil, empty soda can or bottle, wingnuts, a ball point pen, a spoon. The tremendous creativity of potheads makes it possible for cops to claim almost any item is paraphernalia, especially if they’re in CYA mode (like when they give a kid brain damage).

Comments are closed.