ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has obtained exclusive video of a Georgia teenager that his parents say shows deputies killing their son after a chase.
The video is at the center of a civil rights lawsuit. It shows deputies use a Taser stun gun on the teen, take him from the car and then climb on top of him.
Channel 2's Craig Lucie spoke to the teen's parents who want justice for their son.
“Who wants to see their child get killed?” father Greg Dyskma told Lucie.
Greg and Tammy Dyskma said they want the public to see the video of what happened to their 18-year-old son Nicholas so it never happens again.
“I think they should be punished,” Tammy Dyskma said.
Their attorney Craig Jones explains how the chase began on Aug. 31, 2015.
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“He'd been sleeping in his truck. They woke him up startled him and he drove away,” Jones said.
The video shows as soon as Nicholas Dyksma is cornered, Harris County deputies kick his car, break his windows and pull out their stun guns.
“They tased him several times, pulled him from vehicle, put him on the road and got on top of him,” Tammy Dyskma told Lucie.
The video shows how one deputy keeps his knee on top of Nicholas Dyskma's neck for nearly 40 seconds while they handcuff him.
After he's in handcuffs, they move him so his head is lodged against the road and grass and the same deputy puts his knee on his neck again.
“He hadn't committed a crime and they killed him and I've got a problem with that and they should be held accountable,” Greg Dyskma said.
The video shows Nicholas Dyksma is unresponsive. The deputies then check his pulse.
“Is he still alive?” one deputy asks on the video.
“Hey Nicholas! Wake up!” another deputy said.
More than 10 minutes pass before deputies begin CPR, the video shows.
“I have never seen a cop car that says on the side to hunt down and kill, it says to protect and serve,” Greg Dyskma told Lucie.
“These officers killed this teen and then they stood there and watch him die,” Jones said.
Lucie contacted the Harris County Sheriff's Office and they referred him to the county attorney who told Lucie over the phone that, "the Harris County sheriff and I don't not think it's appropriate to comment on potential or pending litigation."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation told Lucie the case has been handed over to the Harris County District Attorney.
The GBI report said the manner of death in Nicholas Dyksma’s case was homicide caused by the stun guns, compression of the neck and torso, and acute methamphetamine intoxication.
“I want to know why 18 months later we don't have answers,” Greg Dyskma said.
The Dyskmas want their case to go to a jury. The parents told Lucie the Sheriff's Office has never apologized.
His father said the only thing the sheriff has said to them is that, “he was going to give his deputies counseling so they could deal with the incident."
Greg Dyskma said the sheriff did not offer the parents counseling.
Cox Media Group
