By Carlos Miller
It was only a matter of time before Oklahoma State Trooper Daniel Martin would make headlines for losing his temper.
The trooper who made national headlines in May when he assaulted a paramedic on video for not yielding is now being accused of using excessive force against another man.
Obviously the anger management classes he was required to attend after the first incident had no effect.
Like the previous incident, this incident was also caught on a dash cam video.
But unlike the previous incident, where police refused to release the video at first, they have agreed to release this video.
One of these days.
According to the Muskogee Phoenix:
The videotapes of the incident in Holdenville — about 75 miles southeast of Oklahoma City — will be released “after we are finished with them for our purposes,” West said, citing the continuing investigation. He declined to say when the investigation might be completed.
The latest incident occurred Saturday after Martin and another trooper named Tommy Allen pulled over a driver in a residential neighborhood.
That was when a man named Kristopher Douglas, who was doing renovations at a friend’s house, somehow got mixed up in the traffic stop.
Douglas said he was trying to step inside the house when Martin ordered him to step away from the house.
He said he complied but the cops ended up throwing him to the ground with Martin hitting him with a baton and Allen putting a knee on his back.
Douglas’ friend, Jerry Ford, who owns the house, speculated that Martin lost his temper.
“When he approached me, he approached me with his chest out and just looked like he was ready to fight,” Ford told KWTV.
Police said Douglas was arrested because he was obstructing with the traffic stop.
Douglas ended up checking into a hospital to treat bruises.
Although police are claiming that the officers have done nothing wrong, the two officers were suspended.
Meanwhile, a petition to fire Martin that was launched after the first incident by Miami librarian Theo Karantsalis is still active, so don’t be shy in expressing your opinion. Maybe this time they will fire him.
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14 responses so far ↓
1 John // Oct 6, 2009 at 1:18 AM
From NewsOK.com (Daily Oklahoman) from June 21, 2009:
Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Daniel Martin and Creek Nation paramedic Maurice White Jr. — two men thrust into the national media spotlight after a May 24 scuffle — have reputations as bullies and histories of confrontation, former supervisors and employment documents revealed.
Martin’s defense attorney, Gary James, portrayed him last week as a loving family man and an “American hero” who recently returned from Iraq after a tour of duty as a U.S. naval reservist. Residents of the rural Osage County town of Fairfax have dramatically different recollections of Martin, who was their police chief from March 1999 to July 2000. Martin’s tenure ended in Fairfax with a unanimous vote for his firing.
“Yeah, I remember him,” store clerk Linda Burgess said. “That’s a sore subject around here. He left quite an imprint on this community, and not a good one, either. He was a bully with an attitude. “And he was always pulling people over and using the f-word.” James could not be reached for comment.
Martin served the Stillwater Police Department from October 2000 to March 2007 before being hired by the patrol, Stillwater Police Chief Norman McNickle said. The chief said he was legally restricted from discussing Martin’s work history.
But no one expressed such concerns in Fairfax.
Longtime Fairfax barber shop owner Linda Bevill, who cut Martin’s hair, described him as a bullish man who ran off teenagers from cruising Main Street and constantly accused people of drinking alcohol during traffic stops. “He struck me as a man who probably didn’t have any control over any part of his life growing up; someone who needed control and power,” Bevill said. “I remember he even went and bought one of those portable police lights for his own car. He just needed to play cop even when he was off-duty.” Former board of trustees member Ted Smith remembered Martin as someone who “didn’t take orders very well.” Smith recalled one incident he witnessed in which two handcuffed teenagers were lying face down on the sidewalk. Martin stood over one of the youngsters with his pistol aimed at the youth’s head. “The boys were already handcuffed and on the ground,” Smith said. “Why pull the gun? … Yeah, we had a lot of trouble with him. We’re not surprised at all by what has happened. He just had an attitude. “I always knew he’d be famous some day.”
2 Michaelk42 // Oct 6, 2009 at 1:22 AM
And where are all the apologists from the first time around?
3 MisterDNA // Oct 6, 2009 at 4:04 AM
Dang… I figured if anything, he would have learned to do his thing out of range of the dashcam.
It’s nice to know that Martin’s supervisors are showing him they’re serious this time by placing him on paid administrative leave. That will give him some time to ponder the error of his ways.
4 Charles U. Farley // Oct 6, 2009 at 4:20 AM
Double plus good for this trooper, as he is keeping the less than deserving citizens from their place in society. The miscreants that oppose the State need to be put in their place.
5 Nemo // Oct 6, 2009 at 11:56 AM
75 miles southeast of OKC puts him a good bit (a few hours travel, I’d say) away from the Tulsa area, where the previous incident took place.
Absent knowledge of routine changes in patrol area, it looks like the PTB took the standard course with Martin: sweep things under the rub as best they could, transfer the miscreant, and hope it all goes away. Except this time it didn’t, since Martin’s lacking the proper temprament for Law Enforcement, and promptly showed it in this case.
That’s Strike two, at least, with this guy. Third strike should send him to Big Mac, general pop, where he can try his hand at assault and bullying without a badge and gun to hide behind.
6 KDP // Oct 6, 2009 at 4:25 PM
This probably won’t stop until he ends up killing someone.
7 etf // Oct 8, 2009 at 12:05 PM
First strike, second strike? In a real free market people that perform like this are terminated the first time. So why is he still on a payroll? The answer is found “up the ladder” somewhere.
8 Nemo // Oct 8, 2009 at 2:14 PM
@etf:
1st & 2nd “strikes” are in reference to the “Three Strikes” laws that cops love so well. I doubt they’d love them so much if the same laws were applied to them.
9 Robert // Oct 8, 2009 at 3:35 PM
This is a perfect example (although hardly isolated) of the piss poor job the police departments do in P E (psychological evaluation) during their initial hiring process. It is becoming an all to often occurance of police officers with bad attitudes or power rushes.
10 Michaelk42 // Oct 8, 2009 at 3:42 PM
@Robert
Or perhaps also a lack of steroid testing after hiring.
11 Archie1954 // Oct 8, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Look it is Oklahoma after all. Why would you expect anything different from Okie cops? The whole state, notwithstanding the musical, is a mental case with the biggest psychotics in the police department.
12 Cops are SCUM // Oct 8, 2009 at 6:39 PM
If they really did psych evaluations they’d have to get rid of half the cops out there. Only jerks, pricks, dummies, and other assorted losers become cops. They are drawn to this “profession” like flies to rotting meat. SHAME on these pig unions that fight to keep psychopathic trash like this employed.
13 Waylon // Jun 18, 2010 at 3:38 PM
Archie1954
That has to be the single most stupid comment I have ever heard, your probably an ex-con yourself. Oklahoma Police Officers and Deputy Sheriffs are as equaly capable and qualified as any other state, and generaly great people, you will find poor excuses in any state or county in America. After all there as human and apt. to mistakes just like you
14 Waylon // Jun 18, 2010 at 3:42 PM
People are very quick to slam cops…..until you need one, then you rush to call one without a foul word. Perhaps this Officer is a poor excuse but where would you be with out them. Think about it before you run off at the mouth next time. There job is not an easy one and if you think so strap on a badge as a reserve and get you some first hand time dealing with people in a world that is going down the tubes, you might sing a different tune!
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