A former Charleston Police officer who resigned last year after being investigated for destruction of property is being accused in a lawsuit of unnecessarily using force against a man during an arrest.
Patrolman Brian Lightner is accused of battery after deploying his stun gun on Diarra Jermaine Boddy on Sept. 10, 2013. Lightner allegedly pulled Boddy over on Veazey Street on Charleston's East End.
According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court, Boddy was on the way into his house when Lightner yelled and commanded him to get down on the ground.
Boddy "had his hands out in front of him, fearing for his life, and was attempting to go to the ground when Defendant Brian A. Lightner proceeded to fire his stun gun, tasering [Boddy] in his chest for a total of five cycles, each lasting five seconds each," the lawsuit filed by Charleston lawyers Troy Giatras and Matthew Stonestreet states.
Boddy is serving a 17-year jail sentence for the unlawful transport of firearms. A jury convicted him of the charge last year in federal court in Charleston.
Boddy previously told a Gazette-Mail reporter that his arrest involving Lightner was captured on video.
According to the lawsuit, Lightner didn't give Boddy any warning before deploying his stun gun. Boddy wasn't attempting to flee and was complying with the officer, his lawyers wrote.
Boddy immediately fell to the ground and urinated on himself during the first round of tasering, according to the complaint. He continued to endure "approximately thirty-five seconds of repeated tasering, during which time the Plaintiff lost all motor control, flailed about, and felt severe pain as the electrical current passed through his body," the lawsuit states.
The complaint also names the Charleston Police Department and Charleston Mayor Danny Jones as defendants. City attorney Paul Ellis could not immediately be reached for comment Friday, although he has said he won't comment on pending litigation. Lightner also could not be reached.
Earlier this year, Lightner resigned from the Charleston Police force rather than face a destruction of property charge.
According to a settlement agreement between the city of Charleston and Andrew Joel Hunt, Lightner threw Hunt's backpack off a bridge. Sources previously told the Gazette-Mail the backpack contained a laptop that had the only photographs of Hunt's late wife.
Lightner worked as a Charleston police officer since February 2003. He was twice nominated for Officer of the Year.
Boddy's lawsuit asks that he be awarded, among other things, medical expenses and compensation for pain and suffering.
He is also asking that a judge require the defendants to undergo additional training and education about excessive and wrongful use of force.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.