Police Stupidity Leads to Handcuffed Man’s Drowning Death

On May 31, 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson was stopped by a Missouri Highway Patrol officer for suspicion of boating while intoxicated.
The events that followed Brandon’s arrest are shocking, horrible, and tragic.
Ellingson was taken into custody by Trooper Anthony Piercy while boating on The Lake of the Ozarks after the officer claimed to see a beer can fly off of the young man’s boat.
Piercy told patrol investigator Sgt. Jeff Johnson that he was passing by Coconuts Caribbean Beach Bar & Grill. As he was idling through the area, Piercy said he saw Ellingson’s boat, and noticed that it didn’t have visible registration numbers. He said he moved closer to the boat to investigate, and eventually saw a Bud Light can tossed from the passenger side:
‘I saw it hit the water, but I wasn’t for sure which one threw it,’ Piercy told Johnson. ‘Or I guess that would be the left side of the boat that it came out of.’
‘So it was on the port side then?’ Johnson asked.
‘Yes,’ Piercy said. ‘I’m not real good with the nautical terms.’
Piercy’s account contradicts what Timothy Vogel, the owner of Coconuts, told The Star in August. Vogel said Piercy had been spotted outside Coconuts for several hours that day. He thought the trooper was ‘harassing’ his customers, so Vogel called Piercy’s commander, 911, and an area state representative to complain. Vogel also said he spoke to Piercy and asked him why he was sitting out there all day. Piercy claimed he was responding to complaints.

This post was published at The Daily Sheeple on December 9th, 2014.