A ranger's interaction with an off-trail couple at Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico that ended with a 31-year-old Native American man being being shot with a stun gun is being investigated by the National Park Service.
The incident occurred Sunday when the unidentified ranger approached the man, initially identified as Jerald Humphrey, and his female companion to ask them to return to the marked trail they had left.
"This is not a big deal, this is a simple warning," said the ranger, whose body camera captured the 9-minute interaction.
While the ranger explained that it was job to protect the monument because it is considered sacred to tribes, and noted that there had been past issues with graffiti, the man responded that, "We don't do that."
The ranger told the couple that he just needed their names so he could check to see if they previously had been warned about going off trail in the monument, but the man said he wasn't going to provide that information. His companion did provide their names, which the National Park Service later said were fictitious.
"You don't need my identification, sir," the man told the ranger. "Native Americans and the goverment and the law don't mesh well, you know that."
The man, who later identified himself to news reporters as Darrell House, walked away while the ranger contacted the monument's dispatch center to run a check on the names he was given. When the ranger caught up to the couple, who were now back on a trail, the man again refused to answer the ranger's questions.
"So, let me get this straight, you'd like to escalate this contact by refusing to identify yourself, and then in which case you're going to be detained until I can ID you?" the ranger asked.
As the man walked away, the ranger followed him, asking that he stop or he risked being "tased." The ranger then asked the man to give his small dog to his companion.
"My dog ain't going anywhere," replied the man, who had picked up the small dog.
"Sir, please give her the dog," the ranger said.
"My dog ain't going anywhere," the man again replied.
"OK, here's what I need you to do. Stop right now sir. Stop walking. Stop walking or you may be tased. Stop walking," the ranger said.
While the man stood holding his dog, the ranger could be seen aiming his Taser at the man. The man refused to give his companion the dog and started yelling "help," at which point the ranger shot him with the stun gun.
In a statement Tuesday evening, the National Park Service said the matter would be investigated by "the NPS Office of Professional Responsibility, our internal affairs unit, for a thorough investigation."
"That investigation will include interviews with the officers, those involved, and any other witnesses who were in the area at the time of the incident," the statement added. "Investigators will also review the video captured by one of the individuals and later posted to social media, as well as the body worn camera footage worn by the NPS law enforcement officer.
The statement also said the man had been cited "for being in a closed area off trail, providing false information and failing to comply with a lawful order. The female individual received citations for providing false information and being in a closed area off trail."
House told New Mexico news station KRQE that the ranger instigated the incident because he wanted to demonstrate "Power, dominance. To keep me in order. That's what authorities have been trained to do, to keep people like me in order, to make the Indian look crazy, make them look insane."
The man said he heads to the monument to pray, and that he would continue to do so.
"I am going to continue doing my prayers, going off trail, without permission, without consent, because that's my right," he told the station.
Comments
1. The Rules apply to everyone;
2. If you actually care about the resource more than yourself, you will follow the rules;
3. Declaring you are a veteran as justification for not following resource protection rules or for refusing lawful police orders brings dishonor to yourself and your comrades (if you are actually a veteran);
4. Refusing to ID yourself or providing false ID after having been caught violating the law is a separate crime;
5. LEOs must be able to ID people caught committing crimes for the efficient administration of resource protection and to apprehend those with active warrants;
6. The defendant continually escalated the situation by refusing a littany of lawful commands including picking up the dog so that the woman could not help the ranger and then by screaming while walkign away. This was likely a precurser to the susupect fleeing;
7. Tasing a suspect is non-lethal force;
8. The use of non-lethal force may be employed merely to gain compliance. An officer need not demonstrate a fear for himself or others.
There's times to fight for one's rights, or culture, or heritage, I get that. And then you have to balance that with - well, a lot of folks are skanks. You can't whip out a necklace and think that's some sort of magical pass, some non-skank identifier. Hell I can order that necklace off of Etsy or eBay any day of the week. A lot of folks go with this idea of "ask forgiveness rather than ask permission." True in some cases. But, you can gather your evidence, start talking to people that hold the power over that piece of land, if it is indeed sacred, and state your religious needs. Then, escalate that stuff in court. I'm sure there's plenty of pro bono lawyers more than willing to extract some money back from the government (as all government is funded by the citizenry). There's more than one way to fight in the world. The fight didn't have to end with getting tased, and it likely won't, we'll all hear some more of this. I'm all for lawful self defense. I'm also for we have a lot of dumb laws and restrictions because we have a lot of dumb people. Prove you're not dumb, and you'll take care of the land, and that you have an ancient link to it, a spiritual need - hey, you might be given a special pass. Worth a shot. Jerald/Darrel/Screaming Lying Puppy Carrier may have paved the way for more native folk to access their lands for this purpose! Perhaps that's a legit need, and the government needs a cool $200,000 lesson in certain aspects of religious freedom. The indigenous will be communing with the Great Spirit quicker than a redneck can buy a gun! Peacefully protest (get tased), work within the system, or go terrorist/freedom fighter and engage in some "direct action" like the commies.
One time I had to feed rats in the basement animal lab of a state university. Had to have a background check because the PETA crazies tried to do mass releases of experimental animals - the animals get out and suffer more, lacking the special diets or environments they needed. Not a crazy, myself. They added special access privileges to my ID card. I fed the rats in peace. Met some others who showed me more around the place. Had after hours access to conference rooms for study - nice when the libraries are full of chatty kids. Pretty neat. All started with trying to get into research, just asking, taking responsibility. No Great Spirit in the animal lab though, mostly knockout mice for this or that gene.
Totally forgot about his whipping out that necklace. Classic.
While working at the USS Arizona Memorial a lifetime ago I had a woman whip out her deceased father's purple heart when I asked her to desist from her discourteous behavior. Never forgot that one.
The guy should have just listened to the Ranger. Good grief. So so dumb and a waste of resources now with the drama and the show.
Interesting to note very few comments and those listed are all positive for ranger?
He walked off trail. He refused to ID himself to law enforcement. He resisted arrest. Yeah. This guy is an asshole. The Ranger did exactly what he was supposed to. You get no special points for being NatI've, Asia, Black, or White. We are all equal under the law.
Ugh is all I can say about this comment. It feels like maybe you didn't watch the entire video and only saw or chose to see the one that House posted on social media where it looks as though he's being wrongly tased by this officer. If that's the case...please watch the entire video.
That officer had extreme patience with a man who repeatedly did not simply give this officer his identification and when asked to remain in one spot-actually ended up being multiple spots-as the man kept walking away. Each time this happened the officer still kept his cool until he just couldn't let him disrespect him any longer and even when asking him to give the dog to his friend (who also gave a false name and also continued to mock the officer each time she answered one of his questions-I swear she was laughing underneath that mask), he once again very calmly asked him to stop and put his hands behind his back, only to detain him while he was identified, since clearly the man was not going to give that up -OR- stay put. I did not see anywhere that he (the officer) was 'scared' as you say. That is not why he had to use his taser and I think he did an amazing job keeping his cool and doing what his job asked of him. I think used every other action to try and get him to do what he asked of him and only used his taser when necessary. If you listen to the officers voice you can clearly hear his patience and how he didn't want things to escalate that way. He clearly does NOT show an abuse of power with the tone of his voice or the way he asks the couple to follow the simple requests. They didn't even sound like 'orders' if thats what you want to call them. He didn't demand things until it became necessary.
It sounds like he respects the land and the Native Americans who were there long before him and takes pride in protecting that land. I feel badly that House himself is a Native American and that this happened on Ancestral land, but man....he was given so many chances to just flash his ID and be on his way to pray and do whatever he was there to do, but he just brought it all on himself. Sad.
Sounds like Ranger followed all his proper training. He'll probably get a quick transfer!