Man hit, tased by police after crash in Dayton; Administrative investigation underway

DAYTON — A 911 call about a man running into a car with his SUV led to him being tased and hit by police in Dayton earlier this week.

Just before noon on Sunday, Dayton police were called to a crash in the 1600 block of Tampa Avenue. The 911 caller told dispatchers that a man driving an SUV hit a vehicle that was parked in the street. The caller also said the driver appeared to be intoxicated and possibly asleep at the wheel, according to a spokesperson for the Dayton Police Department.

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When officers got to the scene, the driver appeared to be conscious.

In a video taken by bystanders, the narrator accused police of punching 36-year-old Jerard Miller, but it’s hard to see. You can hear and see police tasing him.

A second community video shared with News Center 7 showed police struggling and apparently striking Miller in an effort to handcuff him.

“Man, she’s punching on him. She’s really punching on him,” a woman in the video can be heard saying.

In the same video, people in the neighborhood could be heard yelling to officers that Miller has a problem with seizures.

“He came out of it and he was foggy. You come out of a seizure, you are foggy. You don’t know what’s going on,” Mark Jones said.

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As we reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Dayton police have a much different view of what happened.

“The responding officers tapped on the window, and when the driver’s window rolled down, the officer could smell a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle,” the spokesperson said.

The officer spent two minutes asking the driver to put the SUV in park.

“Hey, you hearing me? Put your car in park so we know you’re not going to leave,” one officer said.

When he didn’t, the officers opened the car door and asked the driver to get out of the vehicle. They spent another two and a half minutes trying to convince him to step out. Twice they got him into a standing position outside, only for Miller to step back in.

During this time, an officer “delivered closed fist strikes” before tasing Miller once in the SUV, according to the spokesperson.

More officers then arrived on scene and Miller was tased two more times before finally being handcuffed.

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News Center 7 asked police about the incident and they told us, in part, “It was approximately eight and a half minutes from the time the officer initiated contact until the driver was handcuffed.”

“After the driver was securely in handcuffs, a bystander asked the driver if he had a seizure, and the driver replied, ‘No,’” the spokesperson said.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke with Miller over FaceTime. He was back home recuperating after Sunday. He said he didn’t remember what happened.

“My kids and my family showed me the stuff. I don’t even remember that,” Miller said.

A car accident eight years ago inflicted serious brain injuries and doctors told him he would have seizures. He told Campbell that he experiences less body shaking and more of a freeze.

“I was just lost,” Miller said. When you have a seizure, I get stare-downs now. Like my brain shuts down, so I really don’t know what had happened.”

Dayton police said they are initiating an administrative investigation, as they do every time there is a use of force during an arrest or interaction.

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