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Officer Accused Of Bragging Online About Using Taser Gun

POSTED: 6:44 am PDT September 7, 2007
UPDATED: 9:00 am PDT September 7, 2007

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a local corrections deputy bragged about using a Taser gun on people in an Internet chat room.

FOX 12’s news partner, the Portland Tribune, was the first to break this story. Now, authorities at the Justice Center Jail want to know if the same deputy, identified as David B. Thompson, also filed a false police report to cover up the beating of an inmate.

Lt. Jason Gates of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he is appalled at the alleged online comments of thecounty corrections officer.

According to Gates, Thompson used a county work computer to play the online video game “City of Heroes” while on the job and then boasted about the joy he gets hurting people in jail in the chat room.

According to the Portland Tribune article in Friday’s newspaper, the deputy, using the screen name Trafalgar, said, “Seeing someone get Tasered is second only to pulling the trigger. That is money – puts a smile on your face.”

In another chat, the Tribune article claimed the deputy said, “I crushed a dude’s eye socket from repeatedly punching him in it and then I charged him with menacing and harassment (of me). He took a plea to get away from me. He shoulda picked somebody else to try and fight.”

“All we have is public trust. What does that do to our public trust? It destroys it,” said Lt. Jason Gates.

Gates said the eye socket incident matches a case from 2005, where Thompson claimed an inmate attacked him. Gates said a criminal investigation has been launched to see if the deputy lied in the initial police report.

“The post suggests that the guy gets off on violence and he enjoys Tasering people,” said Portland Tribune reporter Nick Budnick.

Budnick said that according to Trafalgar’s online chat, the deputy has posted more than 1,700 messages on the “City of Heroes” Web site since January. At one point, he allegedly posted 64 messages in 24 hours.

According to Budnick, in some of the posts, Thompson bragged about only playing the game at work.

“Here is a public servant, getting paid with public money, spending a significant amount of his shift playing video games," said Budnick.

If the deputy is found guilty, Gates said he could be fired and prosecuted criminally.

Officer Accused Of Bragging About Using Taser Gun Online

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