CINCINNATI —

A man has filed a lawsuit against a Cincinnati police officer accusing the officer of tasing him while he was handcuffed in the back of a cruiser.

The encounter happened in April of 2020 and was caught on body camera video.

The man's attorney filed a $1 million lawsuit in federal court citing the officer used excessive for and his client was traumatized and has PTSD.

The man, identified as Samson Jackson, was being transported on a warrant for charges of felonious assault and robbery.

In the body camera footage you can hear Jackson antagonizing Officer David Dozier, calling him names and challenging him to a physical fight.

Officer Dozier reports on his radio that while in the backseat, Jackson pulled his handcuffs to the front of his body, became free from the lap bar and spit on him.

That's when Dozier pulled over his cruiser and stopped.

Jackson's attorney said officer Dozier then tased his client multiple times.

Video shows Jackson was handcuffed during the entire encounter.

In the lawsuit, Jackson claims his rights were violated and that he was subjected to excessive force.

FOP President Dan Hils released a statement Thursday about the incident.

Hils said officer Dozier was suspended for three days following the incident.

You can read the full statement below:

This criminal repeatedly called our African American officer the N word, threatened to assault him, and said he would urinate on the grave of the officer's mother and on the face of the officer's daughter. Our officer had just lost his brother to a murder the month before this incident. Police officers are people too, and statements like those made by this criminal are vicious.

The suspect managed to get his hands out from behind his back and was trying to slip out of the handcuffs. The suspect spit on our police officer. Spitting on an officer is a crime. The officer was understandably angry, but the officer realizes the repeated tasing of the suspect was improper. This happened two years ago, the officer accepted his punishment of three days suspension and has been back on the job serving the community ever since.

The officer accepted responsibility for what he did wrong. However, it's also wrong for a suspect who acted in such a racist and violent manner to ask city taxpayers to give him money two years after the fact.

CINCINNATI — A white police officer is under investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department after that officer allegedly made a racist comment to a Black officer while on duty.

According to a statement from the Cincinnati NAACP, earlier in the week a Black officer previously assigned to desk tasks was allowed to resume patrols.

"So the master let you back in the field today," said a white officer, according to the NAACP.

Cincinnati NAACP said it demands accountability for the officer who made the comment, calling on CPD leaders to discipline him.

"When I first heard that my mouth hit the floor, like, hold on, say that one more time," said NAACP Cincinnati President Joe Mallory.

Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge wrote in a statement she is aware of the allegations.

"Immediately when this allegation was brought to my attention, I ordered an investigation be conducted by our Internal Investigations Section," reads Theetge's statement.

The officer accused of making the comment has been placed on desk duty while the investigation is still ongoing, Theetge said.

Cincinnati NAACP called the alleged comment "insensitive, hurtful and racist," later adding the language used was "abhorrent and unacceptable." NAACP said the comment is proof that ongoing racial sensitivity education is required within the department.

"We have to stamp that culture out," Mallory said. "It can't be performative. It has to be intentional, and we have to do a deeper dive training because it happens over and over and over again."

Dan Hils, president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, said the officer accused of making the statement was trying to make a joke about the two officers' shared boss, not a joke "about the serious topic of slavery."

Hils said the statement made was "I see the master has you back in the field with us."

Shortly after the comment was made, Hils said the accused officer sought out the Black officer "to assure his colleague he meant no offense for his hastily chosen words."

"Looking back now, he regrets it very much," Hils said in an interview.

Mallory pushed back on the indication the phrase was a harmless joke.

"I didn't find a damn thing funny about it," he said. "When you make these kinds of comments, it takes you back to a not-so-distant past when you have the Jim Crow era and people who are still alive today who have experienced and lived through that trauma."

The Sentinel Police Association, a group that works to address 'issues of racism, promotions and disciplinary actions pertaining to Cincinnati African-American officers" according to their Facebook page, called the comment a "verbal slap" that made its way through the department.

"Words and actions matter when it comes to improving cultural perceptions of patterns and practices of racial insensitivity within the walls of CPD," reads a statement from Danita Pettis, president of the Sentinal Police Association. "As such, the Sentinel's position is that nothing short of a complete and thorough investigation of this latest incident, followed by immediate and appropriate disciplinary action will truly reflect CPD's commitment to an improved culture."

WCPO is not naming the accused officer pending the outcome of the investigation.

CINCINNATI — When the city's police accountability agency interviews officers, an investigator records those conversations as part of their review of police conduct.

But when officers have tried in recent interviews to make their own recordings, they've been met with threats of discipline and other intimidation measures, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Among the plaintiffs in the suit is local Fraternal Order of Police president Sgt. Dan Hils, who has remained outspoken in recent months about his concerns over the Citizen Complaint Authority. In the suit, Hils and others claim the CCA's "non-professional, untrained, layperson second guessing (sic) has resulted in reactive-only policing, increasing the City's murder rate to record high levels, as well (as) other personal and property crimes to astonishing levels."

Specifically, the lawsuit's complaints concern how investigators' interviews with police officers under review are recorded.

"Even though the typical policy should be to record the entirety of an officer's interview with the CCA, (an investigator) utilized a selective recording technique, whereby he turned off the CCA recording device at various times, creating a deceptive and inaccurate record of the matter," the lawsuit claims, leaving out statements made by the officer that could clear him of any wrongdoing.

The Citizen Complaint Authority — established in 2003 as part of the Collaborative Agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice, the city and the police department — is an independent department within the city administration tasked with investigating complaints of police misconduct. The City Charter mandates its funding.

READ MORE: FOP president opposes funding hike for CCA

The lawsuit goes on to claim that the investigator in question, potentially at the direction of CCA director Gabriel Davis, resorted to intimidation and threats of discipline when officers have tried to make their own recordings of such interviews.

Hils' and other officers' complaints led Davis to initiate a policy Thursday, the suit continues, instructing investigators to advise officers under review that they are not permitted to record interviews and that the FOP president is not permitted to attend.

The suit seeks an injunction by a federal judge to terminate that policy as well as compensation and punitive damages against the CCA.

In an email to WCPO Friday afternoon, a city spokesperson declined to comment, "as the City Administration does not comment on active litigation."

Read the full lawsuit here:

Cincinnati police officers sue Citizen Complaint Authority by WCPO 9 News on Scribd