CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. – A Richmond man who filed a $95 million lawsuit against the Chesterfield County Police Department, was found guilty Tuesday of felony assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.
Miles November was sentenced to six months in jail for the crime and an additional six months for pleading guilty to felony eluding and a Misdemeanor DWI.
This comes after a police chase and crash in February of 2015 where November suffered severe injuries after being Tased by police.
Miles November (Family photo)
After he was removed from the vehicle, investigators said November began to resist arrest, and that’s when an officer fired a Taser.
November’s clothes caught fire, and as a result, his body was severely burned.
His lawsuit claims that the department’s Taser use of force policy is unconstitutional.
November’s lawyers said the Taser should not have been deployed, because officers at the crash scene were aware of spilled gasoline and gas vapors.
The lawsuit also alleged that the officer who fired the Taser was unfit for duty, in part because he had previously been placed on disciplinary leave due to two separate incidents.
Miles November was severely burned in Feb. 2015.
The suit stated that seven months after this particular Taser incident, that officer was dismissed from the department when the Chesterfield Police Chief learned of his association with an outlaw motorcycle gang.
Regarding the broader Taser policy, the lawsuit lists several other incidents in which they claim people were subject to unjustifiable deployment of the Taser by Chesterfield Police officers.
The suit also claimed the policy allowed officers to use Tasers without constraint, pause, warning, and an opportunity to comply.
A police review found that the officer who fired the Taser at Mr. November, and the other officers at the scene, fully complied with the use of force policy.
