SPRINGFIELD – The latest incident involving a Springfield police officer has resulted in a renewed call for a civilian police commission by the City Council president.

City Council President Marcus Williams told Reminder Publishing, “We cannot have the police overseeing the police. The current system of disciplining officers has failed and I again, call for the resurrection of a police commission. How many more potential multi-million lawsuits are needed where our taxpayers are stuck with the bill before change happens? The community does not gain trust in its police department by seeing a pregnant woman tased unnecessarily by a rogue cop. If this unacceptable behavior does not serve as an immediate call for drastic, structural changes within the department, I do not know what will.”

According to information supplied by the Hampden Country District Attorney’s office, “Leon Davis, 35, of Springfield has been charged with Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon, and Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon Against a Pregnant Victim. He has been summoned to appear in Springfield District Court for arraignment on April 5, 2021.”

Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni stated, “The evidence shows that this officer’s actions are clearly outside of his training, as they were punitive and grossly excessive, and therefore criminal. This type of conduct has no place in policing and police officers who engage in abusive and excessive uses of force must be identified and immediately re-trained or fired. As we have seen here and across the country, this kind of misconduct undermines the trust that the community must have in its police departments and serves to sully and frustrate the work and reputation of the many good police officers who make up the vast majority of those departments.”

Upon notification of this incident in December, Hampden
District Attorney Gulluni immediately initiated a review of the incident, which lead to the application for a criminal complaint on Jan. 5, 2021.

The statement continued, “On Sept. 29, 2020, members of the Springfield Police Department responded to Tower Square Hotel for a call of a disorderly person.

“Upon arrival to the hotel, officers attempted to gain access to a room occupied by a male and a female who had been asked to vacate. It was reported that the female party made threats toward employees of the hotel. When police officers made contact with the female at the hotel room, she continued to make verbal threats through the room’s outer door and made offensive comments toward the responding officers.

“The body worn camera video of the incident shows the following: A hotel employee breaches the hotel room door as officers stand by to enter the room. Officer Leon Davis, who has his department issued taser in his hand, attempts to make entry but struggles to open the door as a hand can be seen wrapped around the edge of the door. Officer Davis then applies a drive stun from the taser to the exposed hand on the door. Once the stun is applied, the hand retracts and the officers are able to make entry.

“Officer Davis enters the room first and the female is seen crouched in a corner on the other side of the door. Her hands are raised in a defensive manner in front of her, as she states ‘please don’t’ and frantically apologizes. Officer Davis states, ‘You wanna play those games, huh?’ and immediately deploys the drive stun function of his taser for the second time in the area of the female’s right shoulder. The woman continues to plead and then states that she is pregnant several times. Officer Davis then states again, ‘You wanna play games.’ During this interaction, the victim’s disposition is passive, compliant, and docile.

“The female pulls her arms and hands tight to her chest as she flinches from the Taser’s application. Officer Davis then deploys his taser again in the drive stun mode to the upper left arm of the female. The female remains in this defensive position and begins to plead with officers, stating that she is sorry and also states again that she is pregnant, several times. The officers begin the process of placing handcuffs on her in this same small space behind the hotel room door.”

City Councilor Justin Hurst also reacted to the incident and said, “This incident should not be a surprise to anyone. While it might be a shock to the conscious for some, to many of us it is merely a culmination of poor leadership that is too stubborn to realize that they cannot change this police department from the inside out. The DOJ report cited similar incidents that were equally as horrifying as this one and leadership continues to try to convince the public that the report was overblown.

“I appreciate District Attorney Gulluni for not wanting to be complicit in what appears to be a blatant coverup, which is likely why it has taken so long for the public to learn about the incident. There is a lack of public trust between the Commissioner, the Police Department and the community for a reason, and this is another example to add to the long list. It is extremely disappointing that we have to rely on our District Attorney to do the job of our Police Commissioner in keeping the public informed of police misconduct that continues to shine a black eye on the entire city.

He concluded, “Police reform cannot come soon enough although I'm not sure residents can count on it coming at all under the current leadership.”