In a testament to the above the law mentality of police in America, a veteran Pittsburgh was captured on video terrorizing innocent people with his taser at a pizza restaurant. The incident shows the sheer arbitrary and callous nature of the cop as he shoots the taser prongs into an innocent worker as another innocent woman sat in between them.
Officer Ronald Hough, a 23 year veteran of the force who serves on the department's motorcycle division is now under investigation for his assault on Dominic Reale, 46, whose father owns Villa Reale Pizzeria and Restaurant. Both the city's Office of Municipal Investigations and the Citizen Police Review Board are now investigating.
According to Reale's attorney, Joel Sansone, Hough is a regular customer at the pizza restaurant and the two of them had actually eaten together before the incident.
According to Sansone, the two were friendly in the context of the pizza restaurant but had no contact outside of it.
Surveillance footage captured the attack on video and it is nothing short of egregious and unprovoked. In the video, we see Reale at work in his shirt and apron as the two men engage in conversation.
The conversation lasts about three minutes until Reale walks away. Officer Hough followed Reale around the counter then circles back to the other side where he would eventually deploy his taser.
According to Sansone, Reale then stands behind a woman and jokingly told the officer he would have to shoot her to get to him.
"As a joke, he put this young woman between himself and the police officer, thinking it would dissuade this officer from foolish conduct," Mr. Sansone said. "But when he saw it didn't, he got out of her way and went behind the counter."
As the video shows, Reale walks behind the counter and leans over to talk to the woman. At this point, Hough pulls out his taser, raises it over the innocent woman's shoulder and fires it into the innocent man - for no reason.
Reale instantly collapses from the jolt of the taser, dropping his water bottle in the process. Then, in some sick and twisted fashion, Hough walks over to Reale, pulls the taser prongs out, helps him to his feet, and pats him off.
No arrest was made, no charges were filed. Hough seemingly deployed his taser for no other reason than because he could. As the video shows, Hough stays at the restaurant for another four minutes as a clearly distraught Reale paces around waiting for his abuser to leave.
"Mr. Reale is just standing there talking to this young woman and literally with zero provocation of any type or kind, this officer took out his Taser, discharged his Taser into my client's chest within inches of the young lady," Mr. Sansone said.
Reale explained to the Post-Gazette that this incident has left him "totally shocked." He also noted that after the incident, which happened on October 30, multiple cops came to the restaurant to threaten and intimidate him.
"I'm terrified," Mr. Reale said. "I'm still terrified. I've been threatened."
Sansone said Thursday that "numerous" police officers had visited the restaurant and "intimidated" Mr. Reale, with some suggesting he delete the video. Mr. Sansone would not reveal specifics but said the "intimidation" began the day of the incident and continued as recently as Wednesday, reported the Gazette.
"Some want to cover it up, and some want the officer to burn," he said. "And we have no interest in either of those. We have an interest in my client being left alone."
Insanely enough, this was the second time in only a week Hough pulled out his taser inside the pizza restaurant. On Oct. 23, Hough was seen on surveillance video threatening a man with his taser as he fixed the cash register.
In that video, Hough pulls out his taser, points it in the direction of the man and, according to a witness, said, "If you don't hurry up and fix that, I'm going to tase you," Mr. Sansone said.
Luckily for the innocent cash register repairman, Hough was feeling less tyrannical that day and chose not to deploy the taser.
"When police officers abuse their power, all of us are in danger," Mr. Sansone said. "And so we must exercise our duty as the owners of this republic to monitor and control the conduct of those to whom we give the right to use deadly force. This family is an iconic Pittsburgh small-business family that should not have suffered the abuses that they have suffered at the hands of this misguided public servant."
This is an example of what happens when society refuses to hold police officers accountable for their actions. Police become so detached from regular citizens that they think it is okay to threaten, intimidate, and even inflict pain on innocent people, just to get their rocks off.
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