Native American Man Tased After Walking Off-Trail at National Park

[kellyhound]

arrell House is the Native American man who says he was unfairly targeted by a national park ranger while he was walking his dog in New Mexico. House, who identified himself as a Marine Corps veteran, shared a video on Instagram that shows the ranger hit him with a taser multiple times.

The confrontation happened on December 27 at the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. House said he had walked off the designated trail but returned to it when the park ranger asked him to do so. But when the ranger asked for House’s identification, House refused to comply, as evidenced on the Instagram video.

The National Park Service, in a statement, said the department’s internal affairs unit was reviewing the incident and that the agency takes “any allegation of wrongdoing very seriously, and appreciate the public’s patience as we gather the facts of this incident.” The agency has since released more than nine minutes of footage from the ranger’s body camera.

The National Park Service has released new details about the confrontation between House and the park ranger since House’s Instagram footage went viral online. According to the federal agency, the park ranger saw House and his sister “climbing on and among petroglyph cliff features off trail.” The agency noted that the cliffs are “a protected, sacred archeological site” and visitors are prohibited from walking on them.

According to a press release from the National Park Service, the ranger said he instructed House and his sister to return to the trail and attempted to resolve the interaction with an educational contact and simple warning. The agency claims that when the ranger initially asked for their identification, House and his sister both “provided fake names and dates of birth to the officer.”

The body camera footage shows the ranger explaining to House and his sister that the petroglyphs are “super sacred to the tribes. They don’t want anyone up there.” House’s verbal response was difficult to make out but he held up a necklace and it’s likely he was telling the ranger that he is Native American. The ranger adds that it’s important to keep pets off the trail and within fenced-in areas.

The ranger then asks House and his sister whether they have identification. House does not answer, turns away and his sister starts to follow. The ranger calls out, “Sir, you’re not free to go right now, hold on.”

The ranger goes on, “Hey bud, listen. You’re not free. Do not do it like this, ok. Please don’t be like that.” House picks up his dog and turns to face the ranger who explains, “This is just a simple contact that is honestly a warning.

I don’t expect it being more than that.” House answers that the ranger doesn’t need his identification and when asked, his sister confirms that she doesn’t have an ID with her.

House proceeds to tell the ranger that he is a military veteran and was simply trying to enjoy the hike while “on holiday from North Carolina.” He explains that he hadn’t wanted to be near a larger group of people on the trail due to social distancing concerns.

In the clip, the ranger continues to explain that he was trying to do his job in protecting the sacred site because some visitors tend to vandalize it. The ranger says he just needs a written record that he had given House a warning about staying on the designated trail. When House again refuses to provide identification, the ranger asks the sister for his name. She says his name is “Jerald.” House proceeds to spell the false name for the ranger, who writes it down. House then refuses to give a last name.

The ranger asks if there is a warrant out for him because otherwise, he doesn’t understand why disclosing his name is a concern. House responds there’s no warrant but still doesn’t want to provide it. House continues, “Natives Americans and the government and law don’t mesh well, you know that. We’ve had our differences before. You’re on our land.”

The ranger says he sympathizes with House’s feelings on that but insists “this is simply a law enforcement action today. You just need to provide your name and we’re done.” At approximately the 4:26 point in the video, House claims his last name is Humphrey. The ranger says he needs to clear with dispatch and thanks them for their cooperation as House walks away with his dog. In the video, the ranger is heard asking a colleague over the radio to look up the name “Jerald Humphrey.”

The ranger and the sister walk to where House was standing with his dog. The ranger then explains that House cannot leave until the ranger can confirm his identification and will be detained if he refuses to comply.

This where the video begins to correlate with the footage House later shared on Instagram.

The ranger asks House to give the woman the dog. House replies, “My dog ain’t going anywhere.” At the 7:30 mark, as House tries to walk away again, the ranger warns him, “Stop walking or you may be tased.” The ranger orders House to put the dog down three times but House does not comply. House then begins shouting for help moments before the ranger deploys the taser.

The National Park Service says the confrontation is under internal review by the NPS Office of Professional Responsibility. Investigators say the probe will include interviews with both park rangers involved, House and his sister and any other witnesses. The press release added that “investigators will also review the video captured by one of the individuals and later posted to social media, as well as the body worn camera footage worn by the NPS law enforcement officer.”

House was not arrested but issued three citations for providing false information, failing to comply with a lawful order and being in a closed area of the park. His sister was also cited for being in a closed area off-trail and for providing false information.

House visited the national park on December 27 with his sister and his small dog, Geronimo. He explained that as they walked on the Piedra Mercado trail, he noticed a larger group of people approaching from the other direction. House told the outlet he decided to walk off the trail in order to maintain social distancing amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and allow the larger group more room on the trail.

A park ranger was nearby and instructed House to return to the established trail. House said he complied with the ranger’s request but then refused to hand over any identification after the ranger asked for it. As the ranger’s body camera footage showed, the exchange went on for several minutes as the ranger explained he needed the ID to show he had issued a warning to remain off the rocks.

House recorded part of the exchange about identitrication and shared it on Instagram. In the clip, the ranger explains that he will be detained for refusing to show identification.

House tells the ranger, “You’re not gonna touch me sir” before the short video ends. House explained his reasoning in the caption for the longer video: “I didn’t feel I needed to identify myself for doing absolutely nothing wrong.”

House wrote in the caption of his Instagram video that his ancestry includes Navajo and Oneida lineage but that he often visits the national monument in order to “pray and speak to my Pueblo Ancestor relatives.” House further explained to KOB-TV that he typically moves away from the designated trails to meditate and pray near the rocks.

House expressed confusion over the confrontation with the park ranger. “I didn’t harm anyone. I didn’t cause any harm to anybody. I wasn’t disorderly. I wasn’t on any substances,” House told the outlet. “This has been going for years. I’m practicing my religious rights on my ancestral land.”

House also told he grew up on a reservation and has never had any issues with law enforcement near the hiking trails before. (But as seen in the body camera footage released from the National Park Service, House initially claimed to be on vacation from North Carolina).

The Petroglyph National Monument features more than 25,000 designs and symbols carved into 17 miles of volcanic rock. Archaeologists estimate 90% of the carvings were completed by Pueblo people between 400 and 700 years ago, the NPS explains on its website. The Pueblo people have lived in the area for at least 1,500 years.

The Wilderness Society, a non-profit land conservation organization, has publicly condemned the actions taken against House, pointing out that the Petroglyph National Monument was established “to protect the cultural importance of these homelands for Native people.”

House was issued three citations for refusing to reveal his identity, being off the main trail and for “interfering with agency functions,”. But House said he felt the park ranger’s actions were overblown and argued on his Instagram account that he felt the ranger, who was white, was abusing his power. House wrote in part, “This could have been a civil interaction.

The law doesn’t work for the Indigenous. The government doesn’t give a shit about us. This was uncalled for.”

[Caf002]

Geez, the dude was just walking his dog. He seemed reasonable and the poor little doggy was scared by the bad man!

[Shadolife]

That's a tough situation, in many ways, for the ranger.
Thanks for the post Kdog!
(Been to this park and it's incredible)

[CatBatMan]

Mouthy woman needed the taser, not the man.

[ColbiasVolk]

What a pussy, then he uses the dog as a shield.

[BadgeNo857]

Typical bullshit. I was a Cop in that city. Oh I’m a native the land is sacred...but don’t look at all the trash and shit and junked out cars all over my yard; or the loose, neglected, and dead unvaccinated dogs wandering around. Hypocritical as usual.

[RUTHIE7]

I loved the moment he got hit with that jolt! WTF did he expect?

[NOUSERNAME]

Even a little bit of subjugation is not freedom.

[joos]

That cop/ranger was nothing but patient with these assholes. I'm sorry, but rules are rules and the cop is doing what he is paid to to and enforce those rules. The guy was a prick trying to be a tough guy and begging for trouble, and he got it.

Fuck him.

[Fuchs414]

How you gunna claim valor when you cant take a simple order?