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From the report:
On Friday, 12/01/2023, at approximately 0106 hours, I was working for the Bloomington Police Department in marked patrol vehicle #11.
During this incident, I was equipped with a Body-Worn Camera (BWC). The BWC video was flagged and my BWC was later placed in a docking station to be uploaded to Evidence.com. Prior to completing this report, I have reviewed portions of my BWC video.
The following is a summary of this incident. This summary is paraphrased and may or may not represent the actual words used. The order of the items discussed may vary from that of the actual conversations occurring during this incident.
I was traveling north on Lee Street, approaching the 4-way intersection with Market Street. I observed a black Jeep come up to a stop sign across from me with no front registration plate. The Jeep turned west onto Market Street. I turned west onto Market Street behind the Jeep and observed Illinois registration plate ( ). Due to the vehicle not having the required Illinois front and rear registration plates affixed, I conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of W. Market and Caroline Street. I turned on my overhead emergency lights and the Jeep pulled into the parking lot of 1703 W. Market Street.
I walked up to the driver’s side of the vehicle and made contact with Caleb Bumper-Smith. I immediately smelled the odor of raw cannabis emitting from the vehicle. I informed Caleb of the reason for the stop and remembered that I had previously pulled Caleb over for the same IVC violation, on 10/06/2023, at 0558 hours. Caleb had the plate sitting on the front dashboard of his vehicle. I explained to Caleb that it had to be affixed to the front of his vehicle. I asked Caleb where he was heading. Caleb advised he was going through a hard time with his girlfriend and was just driving around, venting to a friend. I asked the passenger for his name and date of birth. The passenger identified himself as Aaron Willis, DOB 01/07/2003. I ran both Caleb and Aaron through LEADS and SOS using my in-car computer. Both came back clear and valid with no warrants. Due to the odor of raw cannabis coming from the inside of the vehicle, I asked for another unit to come assist. Officer’s Bozarth and Shepard arrived to assist.
I walked back up to the vehicle and explained to Caleb that I was smelling the odor of raw cannabis coming from the vehicle and would be conducting a probable cause search. I asked Caleb to step out of the vehicle. While Caleb was getting out of the car he signaled towards the driver’s door and advised the cannabis was in the door. While searching for Caleb, I asked him how much cannabis was in the vehicle. Caleb advised there were only a couple of grams of cannabis in the vehicle. While searching Caleb’s person, I did not locate anything of note. I told Caleb to stand at the front of my patrol vehicle with PPO Bozarth.
*****BEGIN USE OF FORCE*****
I walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle and met with Aaron. Officer Shepard and I asked Aaron to step out of the vehicle, pursuant to a probable cause search of his person. As Aaron was getting out of the vehicle, I asked if there was anything on him I needed to know/worry about. Aaron replied, “no,” but advised he did not consent to a search of his person. I told Aaron that was fine, however I (Officer Behm) did not need consent to search his person at this point.
I told Aaron to place his hands on top of the vehicle. Aaron reached for the top of the vehicle, and then immediately pulled his arms back, tensed up, and turned towards me. At this point, Aaron began pulling his arms away from Officer Shepard and I and also tried running east from our location. Due to Officer Shepard and I having a hold on Aaron he was not able to get away. Aaron again tensed up his body and began actively resisting by pulling his arms away from me. Due to Aarons size, strength, and the force he was exerting to attempt to flee, I was initially unable to give any verbal commands.
Rock Intro 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
Artist:
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:16 Traffic Stop
04:00 Taser Use of Force
