Police torture in Knoxville TN

[WWJDrift]

When Tennessee law enforcement officials showed up at the home of Lester Siler, who they suspected of drug use, they asked Lester's wife and son to leave. They didn't know that Lester's wife had turned on a tape recorder in the kitchen.

When Lester exercised his constitutional right not to sign a consent to search his house, these officers spent the next two hours torturing him. They beat him with bats and guns, held loaded guns to his head, threatened to shoot him, dunked his head in the toilet, burned him with lighters, attached his testicles to a battery charger, threatened to cut off his fingers, and threatened to "go get" his wife and take his child away from him. Then they arrested him for "evading arrest"."



You can here nearly 40 minutes of the tape recording

http://wms.scripps.com/knoxville/siler/siler.mp3

(EXPLICIT LANGUAGE)



Man I hate cops.

[Flip]

Damn, what fuckers! What is the world coming to!?

[fight club]

just throwing this in there, if this was a pedofile and they were looking for underage pornography, everyone would have a different view.

[speedminded]

lolol, not saying it's right but that's how shit was settled back in the 30's.

Is he and his wife retarded or just so fucked up they can't even speak?

[Z32redondo]

Man that shit is hard to listen to, just him suffering and shit and saying like "o god please help me" im telling you some sick people out there. Why the hell didnt he just sign it anyway. If he didnt have anything to hide then why not just sign the thing. Either that or if he was on dope than he wouldnt feel much anyway. All I know is that if anyone did some shit like that to me they wouldnt be breathing too long afterwards. It is just soo hard to hear those stories about children or animals or even adults being tortured, especially when you can hear what happens like with this tape...its just so sick how some people can be. I mean you see stuff like this happen in movies like hostel, or house of 1000 corpses, but you never really think that it could happen to you. It just makes you think twice about getting a situation where this could happen... :(

[fight club]

its called "be a good citizen" please, lets all feel sorry for a dope feind. how bout feeling sorry for his kid who got stuck with a junkie of a father. or any of the children who have to live in such environments.

[aaronfelipe]

holy FUCK, that is creepy as hell

[tony]

Why the hell didnt he just sign it anyway. If he didnt have anything to hide then why not just sign the thing.


The man still has rights regardless, what if he's innocent? They only suspected him of drug use. Would you allow police to search your house or vehicle every time they asked? I'm sure in Memphis there are better things for a cop to do than torture someone, hopefully they'll be fired and the man will be compensated for his pain.

[tony]

Found more info



Five deputies pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the abuse of Lester Siler in June of 2004. The deputies went to Siler's Campbell County home because they suspected drug activity.

Their assault of the suspect led to their firings and charges against them. They were accused of violating Siler's constitutional rights.

Siler's wife secretly taped the deputies while they were in the Siler home.

In one excerpt of the tape, Deputy David Webber is heard saying to Siler:

"Let me tell you something. We're gonna know everybody that's supplying you. We're gonna know everything about your business today. And you're gonna take us and where you got your money, we're gonna take every dime you have today, and if we don't walk out of here with every piece of dope you got and every dime you got your (expletive) (expletive) is not going to make it to jail. And if you think we're joking, we're not."

Before sentencing on Wednesday, the deputies' attorneys painted a very different picture of the men facing the judge.

"Sammy has a history of good deeds, not only in the community but nationally. He served in the military for years, he served on the Campbell County Sheriff's Department for 17 years. He truly has never had a single complaint filed against him," said former Deputy Samuel Franklin's attorney, Andrew Roskind.

Friends and family accompanied the men to the Howard Baker Federal Courthouse for their sentencing, and the deputies had hundreds of letters of support from family, friends and community members.

The judge took this all into consideration, but
David Webber was sentenced to 57 months in jail; Samuel Franklin and Shayne Green received sentences of four and a-half years each, while William Carroll will spend four years and three months behind bars.

That is too much time, according to family members.

"I can't describe it, it seems unfair, he did wrong, but it just don't seem right," said Shayne Green's brother, Gary Green.

But Lester Siler's family says they are satisfied.

"Mr. Siler and his family respect the judgment that was handed down by the court today, and they look forward to moving on with their lives," said Siler's attorney, Kristie Anderson.






On Tuesday, another of the five deputies, Joshua Monday, received a sentence of six years

[devin]

thtas what they get, that could have been you or me getting tortured. fuck a cop

[4dmin]

thats fucked up... i can see smacking the guy around a bit but tortureing him is a little far.. they should of got longer then 56 months and 4.5 years... i hope they get raped in prison SERVE AND PROTECT bitch!!!

[quickdodge®]

Man I hate cops.

Dumbass. Later, QD.

[soul]

Dumbass. Later, QD.
i concur

[The Golden Child]

when a cop goes to jail do they go to jail like everyone else ??
or do they get there own little cool place in jail ??

[Z32redondo]

The man still has rights regardless, what if he's innocent? They only suspected him of drug use. Would you allow police to search your house or vehicle every time they asked? I'm sure in Memphis there are better things for a cop to do than torture someone, hopefully they'll be fired and the man will be compensated for his pain.

I didnt say anytime, but if cops were sitting there burning you or beating the shit out of you and chopping your fingers off or whatever. If your inocent whats the difference, id rather someone check my shit than cut my fingers and shit off...But thats just me

[TIGERJC]

Its about time the police start whooping white ppl asses.ahaha

but for real that some fucked up shit.

[WWJDrift]

Dumbass. Later, QD.


Man, are you always such a douche?

[WWJDrift]

Its about time the police start whooping white ppl asses.ahaha

but for real that some fucked up shit.

lmfao

[TIGERJC]

Man, are you always such a douche?

yea its qd, u learn to live with him :goodjob:

[quickdodge®]

Man, are you always such a douche?

Only to idiots such as yourself.


yea its qd, u learn to live with him

Lolol. Later, QD.

[2.0civic]

4 years still isnt a just punishment. i think they should let the guy they beat go and beat the shit out of the three of them. fuck jail.

[speedminded]

This is a prime example of how things are done in rural towns, particularly in the south. He obviously had something to hide, what did he tell his wife in the very beginning, "you know why they are here"...he knew the game, even told her to check her purse to make sure nothing was planted before she left. Sounds like they were frustrated they couldn't beat him the right way...through real investigations, stakeouts, detective work, etc. He's probably been let off and got away with things before and they were tired of it.

What i don't understand was if he had a felony on his record and there was a gun in the house then they automatically have the right to search don't they? Was it actually a gun they had brought and just talked about planting or was it his?

[ShooterMcGavin]

wow, not even sure what to think. not a big fan of dopedealers but the torture shit is just nuts.