Tasing and Arrest of Man Avoiding Icy Sidewalk in Jennings Results in Lawsuit | Riverfront Times

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

Gaines-Gracy, a high school graduate who made his living by caring for a disabled great-uncle, had been stopped by a Jennings police cruiser on February 14, 2014. The stop ended with the officers slamming Gaines-Gracy to the ground, tasing him twice and placing him under arrest. . . .

After he was stopped, Gaines-Gracy told the officers that he was walking in the street because recent storms had covered the sidewalk in snow and ice. (The police report notes that Gaines-Gracy was walking "in the middle of the street." The lawsuit describes him walking "on a part of the street that was plowed...against traffic and reasonably close to the curb.")

Peter Fiore, one of Gaines-Gracy's attorneys, tells Riverfront Times that his client broke no law by walking in the street.

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Tasing and Arrest of Man Avoiding Icy Sidewalk in Jennings Results in Lawsuit | Riverfront Times

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MoBikeFed comment: The issue of clearing sidewalks of winter snow and ice--generally the responsibility of adjoining landowners in Missouri cities--is one we have covered again and again.

In the absence of clear and safe sidewalks, pedestrians are forced to walk in the street. This is legal in Missouri, but not the ideal situation in anyone's estimation.

In any event, pedestrians forced to endure such a situation should be able to depend on the support and cooperation of police as they exercise their constitutional right to move about the community freely under their own power.