The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Joplin Metro

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August 14, 2008

Charge dropped against man involved in police-brutality case

By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

The Jasper County prosecutor’s office has dropped a felony assault charge against a 25-year-old black man who recently received $5,000 in compensation after city officials said he was struck by a white police officer while in handcuffs at the Joplin City Jail after his arrest.

David G. Neal, 1717 Redbud Road, had a hearing Thursday morning in Jasper County Circuit Court on a charge of assaulting a law-enforcement officer. The Globe learned after the prosecutor’s office closed for the day that the charge had been dismissed and could not obtain an explanation of the decision.

The assault charge stemmed from an incident about 1 a.m. April 20 in downtown Joplin. Police Officer Trevor Duncan reportedly tried to stop a car Neal was driving in the 200 block of West Fifth Street for allegedly blocking the street as bars downtown were closing. Police said Neal drove up onto a curb and stopped.

As Duncan prepared to get out of his patrol car, Neal allegedly put the car in reverse and rammed the patrol car.

A struggle to take Neal into custody ensued involving other police officers, including Homer Knisley. Officers in the struggle used a Taser gun several times on Neal, and Knisley struck Neal’s face with his hand, according to police reports. Neal also was charged with several city misdemeanors, including resisting arrest.

An internal-affairs review of the incident by the Joplin Police Department determined that the officers, including Knisley, were under extreme provocation by Neal but acted appropriately in taking him into custody at the scene of the arrest.

But once Neal was handcuffed, and being half-carried and half-dragged to a jail cell by Knisley and a jailer, Knisley allegedly struck him again in the face with an open hand, causing his head to rebound off a hard jail floor. Knisley and the jailer maintained that Neal was trying to spit blood at the jailer.

The incident was caught on video by jail surveillance cameras, and an internal-affairs review was initiated the next day. Knisley was placed on paid suspension pending a fact-finding hearing. But he resigned from the Police Department the day of the hearing. His departure and the discipline of two other officers involved were announced July 17.





Compensation



Joplin city officials acknowledged July 18 having paid David Neal $5,000 in exchange for a release of the city and Officer Homer Knisley from any further claims arising from Neal’s arrest and treatment at the jail.

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