Warrenton police officer uses Taser on uncombative person during traffic stops
By: -----
Newly-released body camera footage shows the moments a Warrenton police officer uses a taser on someone he pulled over for a traffic stop.
The video shows Mark Oakley uses a taser on Dwayne Hicks in his driveway last September.
Tin Fulton, Walker & Owen, the law firm representing Dwayne Hicks, held Monday’s news conference at Littleton Town Hall.
It comes after a North Carolina Superior Court ordered the release of police body camera footage showing Sgt. Mark Oakley deploying a Taser on Hicks on Sept. 20, 2023.
"This is not a joyous occasion, let me assure you," Hicks said Monday. "I was not the first. To my knowledge, I was not the last.
"These issues are not synonymous to just Warrenton. My situation is in Warrenton. I never expected to have this type of experience with law enforcement [and I] never wanted to. It happened."
On Sept. 20, 2023, Oakley stopped Hicks, took the license plate off his vehicle, wrote a $291 citation, followed him home, stunned and arrested him in his front yard.
“Mr. Hicks operated his vehicle illegally, he refused to follow my commands, and I was forced to take action in order to take him into custody safely,” Oakley said.
On Monday, police released two videos of the Sept. 20, 2023, encounter between Hicks and Oakley.
After an initial traffic stop and citation, Gupta said Oakley followed Hicks to his home. It led to the encounter where Oakley used the Taser on Hicks.
"An officer in North Carolina can only use a Taser against a citizen if that citizen poses an immediate risk of danger," Gupta said. "Mr. Hicks posed no danger."
WRAL asked the Littleton police chief Phillip Trivette about the calls for Oakley's termination.
He said he had no comment -- except to say that Oakley is a model employee for his department.