Cop Faces Trial On Use Of Stun Gun On Cuffed Man

PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) - Jury selection is scheduled to begin for a Millvale Police officer charged with violating a suspect's rights during an arrest in 2012.

The incident was caught on cellphone video and showed her repeatedly zapping the suspect with a stun gun, even after he was handcuffed.

The attorney for Millvale Officer Nicole Murphy doesn't dispute that she used a stun gun on Thomas Jason James Smith after his arrest for public drunkenness in September 2012.

Rather, he contends the 30-year-old officer was justified in using it because she was trying to stop Smith from banging his head.

Defense attorney Robert Stewart says Murphy, "had a choice of Tasering him to subdue him or letting him split his head open."

The criminal investigation and charges came after someone leaked a 52-second cellphone video of the incident in early 2013.

At that time, KDKA-TV Investigator Marty Griffin spoke with Smith about the video.

Smith said he was Tased about 20 times in the incident.

"It felt like it went on forever," Smith said of the incident. "I would hate to think that any human being would Taser someone 20 times, let alone a police officer and a person in a position of trust."

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