LOWER MERION TWP., Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A Lower Merion police officer who used a Taser on a driver during a traffic stop acted legally but not up to the standards of the township’s police department, according to an internal review of the incident.
The Lower Merion Police Department had been investigating allegations of excessive force after a bystander’s video of the Jan. 8 traffic stop, showing the officer, Charles Murphy, tasing 36-year-old Chaine Jordan of Plymouth Meeting, a Black woman, and pulling her from her car, was widely circulated on social media.
At a press briefing on Tuesday to announce the results of the investigation, Lower Merion police officials showed video from the officer’s dashboard camera, and from body cameras worn by two back-up officers, to add context to the social video.
The dashboard camera video shows the officer pursuing the driver, lights and sirens on, eastbound on Conshohocken State Road for a mile before she pulls over at a Wawa near Rockhill Road in Bala Cynwyd. The body camera videos show the heated exchange between driver and officer, as he gives various commands that she refuses, until he tries to tase her.
Lower Merion Police Superintendent Mike McGrath said the officer, Charles Murphy, had the authority to require paperwork for traffic violations and to order the driver out of a car, he had probable cause to arrest the driver, and used the taser appropriately, though it was ineffective.
Related
“Now, there’s another question to ask: Did we meet Lower Merion police standards, and did we follow policy and training? The answer to that is no.” he said.
“The officer did not use sound tactics that would have mitigated risk to that officer, and it also would have mitigated the urgency to act.”
McGrath said Murphy should have used de-escalation tactics, but instead contributed to the tension.
Related
“We saw the officer, immediately without back-up, approach the car with his gun out,” said McGrath. “He was very stern when he denied all the requests for a supervisor. At one point she says, ‘I’m scared.’ He says, ‘I don’t care.’”
He says Murphy is currently on desk duty, while an informal disciplinary process continues.
Jordan has been charged with fleeing an officer, possession of a controlled substance, driving with a suspended license and — the offense for which Murphy pulled her over — tailgating.