NC police video released amid SBI investigation of Taser use. Was it excessive force?

Police lights flashed blue in the dark September evening as Warrenton Officer Mark Oakley followed Dwayne Hicks up his driveway.

Hicks opened the driver’s side door of his black Toyota 4Runner and ignored Oakley’s repeated demands that he stay in his SUV. Instead, he walked — unarmed — toward Oakley, his smart phone in hand during the Sept. 20, 2023 encounter.

“Turn around and put your hands behind your back,” Oakley yelled, pointing his Taser at Hicks with one hand and pushing Hicks toward the SUV with his other.

Within 35 seconds, Oakley activated his Taser the first of two times into Hicks’ back with no verbal warning. Both times he collapsed on the ground.

Hicks and his attorneys released the footage from Oakley’s body worn camera Monday after successfully seeking permission from a superior court judge to share it with the public. Hicks, his attorney, representatives of the Granville County NAACP stood and spoke in a press conference Monday afternoon in Littleton, where Oakley continues to patrol as a part-time officer after being fired by Warrenton in March.

Hicks and other community members want Oakley investigated and fired from town with a population of about 550.

“We ask the chief to fire Oakley today, not tomorrow,” said Pastor John Miles, with Risen Faith Outreach Ministry in Henderson. The president and an investigator with the Granville County NAACP also attended.

The video shows blatant, excessive force, which is unconstitutional, said Hicks’ attorney Gagan Gupta.

A federal ruling says officers can use their Taser on individuals when they pose a danger to themselves or the public, Gupta said.

“The videos make abundantly clear that neither were the case here,” Gupta told The News & Observer.

Hicks and others sought the release of videos to raise awareness of an issue that Warrenton officials ignored, Gupta and others said at the press conference. They also called on Littleton officials to do their own investigation to ensure others are being harmed by officers, Gupta said.

Warrenton attorney Mitchell Styers wrote in an email that town is not able to respond at this time. The town just received notice of the judge’s order this afternoon, he wrote.

SBI investigation

Hicks’ attorney released a second video from the same night in September of 2023. This one showed Oakley and Hicks’ interaction during a contentious traffic stop before the second encounter where Oakley used a Taser on Hicks.

Oakley says he stopped Hicks because his 4Runner’s rear lights were out, which Hicks disputes. The traffic stop ended with Oakley seizing Hicks license plate, after learning Hicks didn’t have car insurance.

Later Oakley explained the driveway encounter in part by saying he’d stopped Hicks a second time because the Warrenton resident was driving his vehicle without a plate, according to an arrest report.

The videos are a preview of the evidence in a planned federal lawsuit that Hicks plans to file against Oakley and the Warrenton Police Department. It is also one of at least three incidents where Oakley used Tasers on local residents that are under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation, according to court documents.

The SBI opened a criminal investigation earlier this year into whether Oakley repeatedly used excessive force on people who weren’t resisting arrest, including Hicks, according to court documents and interviews.

Attorneys representing Hicks said more than a dozen other people have also shared complaints with them about excessive force by Oakley.

The town of Warrenton fired Oakley on March 25 for “detrimental personal conduct,” according to documents provided by the town. Oakley continues to work for Littleton police, where he has worked part-time since 2018, according to Littleton Police Chief Phillip Trivette.

In Littleton, Oakley makes $20 an hour after receiving a $5 pay raise in May, Trivette wrote in an email.

Trivette said he has no concerns nor has he had any complaints about Oakley policing the town.

“He has been a model employee with no complaints to date,” Trivette wrote in an email Monday.

The News & Observer requested comment from Oakley through Trivette, but Oakley didn’t respond.

Legal standard for excessive force

For Hicks’ planned federal court case to proceed, his attorneys must prove that Oakley violated Hicks’ constitutional rights by using excessive force in his driveway that night.

In 2016, the U. S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals defined excessive force in its jurisdiction, which includes Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas. Officers can only use Tasers when confronted with an urgent need or demand that creates an immediate safety risk, the ruling said.

The decision followed a lawsuit against a Village of Pinehurst sheriff’s deputies who repeatedly in 2011 used a Taser on Ronald Armstrong as he clung to a post. Armstrong had a severe mental illness and was resisting orders to be committed to a hospital. After officers handcuffed and shackled Armstrong, he stopped moving and later died.

The lawsuit against the officers wasn’t successful as the judge found the officers used excessive force but may have not known they were violating the law since the standard was unclear.

The ruling, which sought to bring clarity for future cases, said officers can only use Tasers when confronted with an immediate danger.

“TASER use as a pain compliance tool against a resisting subject is prohibited by the Fourth Amendment unless the police can articulate ‘immediate danger’ to the officer apart from the fact of resistance alone.” says a North Carolina Justice Academy memorandum published by FOX 8 News .

What the body-camera videos show

The encounter between Oakley and Hicks started after Hicks drove by and photographed the officer in Warrenton, holding up traffic while driving without working taillights, according to Oakley’s report on the arrest.

In the driveway, Hicks, a former truck driver turned handyman after an eye injury, told the officer not to touch his truck.

“Get your hands off my car, Oakley,” the Warrenton native said as the officer approached.

Oakley accused Hicks of not having working headlights, then taillights, according to the video. When Oakley called in information on Hicks’ SUV, Oakley was told Hicks didn’t have proper insurance and to take the tags, according to the video. Oakley took the tags.

Hicks says he had insurance, a valid registration and working tail lights.

After Oakley issued the citation, he drove off with Hicks yelling at him to wait as he made a phone call.

“ Have a nice day sir, you’re free to go, you’re free to go,” the video records Oakley saying as he drove away.

Hicks told The News & Observer that he encountered Oakley again minutes later as he drove home, and the officer followed him up his driveway.

Oakley wrote on the citation that he drove to a new location to do the paperwork, and Hicks drove by him without a tag on his SUV. And that he failed to stop after Oakley turned on his lights.

When Hicks stepped out of the 4Runner on that second stop, he initially ignored Oakley’s orders to stay in the car and put his hands behind his back. Less than 30 seconds into the interaction, Oakley put the Taser into Hicks’ back.

Hicks didn’t threaten Oakley but did not follow his order to put his hands behind his back. Without a spoken warning, Oakley pushed the Taser to Hicks’ back as it crackled and flashed for a few seconds.

“OWWWW, Hicks yelled out as he fell to the ground on his back, cursing Oakley and shaking his head.

As Hicks started to stand up, Oakley used his Taser on Hicks’ back again, with Hicks once again yelling out and falling to the ground, where Oakley handcuffed him.

“You’re going to pay for this one, Oakley,” Hicks said with his face in the grass.

Oakley told Hicks he would be arrested for resisting arrest.

But all of Hicks’ charges were dismissed by prosecutors.

Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.