Published on: Wednesday, February 03, 2010

By Phil Speake

Montgomery County Police Capt. Paul Starks urged Preston McCann earlier this week to go through the proper channels with his complaint concerning the police officer and the incident.

Officer Robert Skelton testified in court he tased McCann September 23 after  McCann stopped to help an elderly woman change a flat tire. Though McCann flagged down the officer, soon after that Skelton testified McCann became an irritation to the officer.

According to court documents from his trial McCann, "did intentionally and knowingly obstruct and hinder a police officer in the performance of his lawful duties in violation of the Common Law." The court also found McCann "did intentionally resist lawful arrest." In his testimony, Skelton referred to McCann as "a pain in the rear."

"If he feels he was mistreated, he can choose to contact the Internal Affairs Division," Starks said, about McCann. "Being a pain in the butt isn't against the law."

"We want to be as transparent as possible," Starks said. "We want to be accessible … responsive."

As of Tuesday, McCann had not filed a complaint with the police department.

Shortly after the story of McCann's arrest was posted on The Montgomery County Sentinel Web site, Officer Skelton posted a response on the site's comments section. (Those comments were made available this week on our website after confirmation of their authorship.) He stated the elderly woman in question "had no idea where she was, and had no idea how to get home." Skelton said contacting the elderly woman's family was the correct solution. McCann's refusal to accept this idea led to him badgering the officer, forcing Skelton to call for backup, Skelton said in his on-line letter.

"We did contact her daughter and granddaughter who came to pick her up and take her home, and that they were thankful we contacted them," Skelton wrote. "In this parking lot, there were other pedestrians that were onlookers, but the difference between them and Mr. McCann was that Mr. McCann refused to just be an onlooker. Instead, he kept interjecting himself into the situation, which lead me to having to forcefully remove him away from the scene."

Skelton added that McCann was given multiple opportunities to voluntarily submit to arrest before he was tased. "I want to make it clear that Ofc. Maines, Ofc. Dove and myself only acted in response to Mr. McCann's poor decisions and that lead to an unfortunate decision."

Issues involving the use of Tasers have been well documented throughout the country in recent years. In response to the death of Fredrick resident Jarel Gray in 2007, the Maryland Attorney General's Task Force on Electronic Weapons issued a report in December - two months after the McCann incident.

"Electronic control weapons ("ECWs") can be an effective law-enforcement tool that often poses less risk to officers and civilians than other force options," the report states. "However, it is critical that the legislature, law enforcement agencies deploying these devices, and officers on the street recognize the risks of serious injury and even death inherent in ECW use."

Also, "an officer would not be justified to use an ECW on an individual who was merely 'bracing' or 'tensing' his or her arms or moving evasively to avoid being handcuffed," the report states.

Skelton testified McCann did not raise a hand against him and was merely trying to avoid being handcuffed. 

The goal of the task force was to determine the "best practices for the use of electronic control weapons by law enforcement." Montgomery County is not required to adopt all the recommendations in the report. The entire task force report can be found at the Maryland Attorney General's Web site.