LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On Sept. 4, Joshua Elswick was handcuffed and shackled inside the Bullitt County Jail.
"Please stop tasing me!" Elswick pleaded with jail guards, according to surveillance video.
"If you quit resisting, we can do what we need to do," Lt. Ryan Derrough told Elswick.
There was no taser. But Derrough was touching Elswick with yellow gloves that generate a low-voltage shock.
Made by a Lexington, Kentucky, company called Compliant Technologies, the gloves are marketed to law enforcement agencies as a "non-lethal alternative" method of bringing unruly subjects under control. However, Bullitt County Jail investigators concluded that Derrough went too far.
Elswick didn't seem disorderly, and Derrough used excessive force while the inmate was handcuffed and shackled, according to a review of the incident.
The gloves delivered "multiple shocks to inmate's arms ... inmate Elswick attempted to pull away... Lt. Derrough continued to grab the inmate and pull him toward the door," according to the jail's investigation.
Elswick, who had been arrested on charges including assault and resisting arrest, was placed in a wrap restraint system despite not being combative at the time, according to the investigation.
Derrough also did not disclose his use of the electrified gloves in his incident report, which was a violation of policy, according to the investigation. Neither Elswick nor Derrough could be reached for comment.
What is the G.L.O.V.E.?
The product is called the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for "generated low-output voltage emitter," and it's used by an increasingly number of law enforcement agencies since its introduction about five years ago, according to Scott O'Brien, director of operations for APB Consulting Solutions, a dealer for the product. Compliant Technologies arranged for O'Brien to speak with WDRB News about the gloves.
O'Brien said "40 to 50" agencies in Kentucky have the gloves, most of which are jailers.
Louisville Metro Corrections has two pairs of the electric gloves, but they are rarely used, said Maj. Darrell Goodlett, a spokesman for the jail. Goodlett told WDRB News the jail has had no problems with the gloves.
Scott O'Brien, director of operations for APB Consulting Solutions, a dealer for the product.
"As long as they are used appropriately, they seem to be effective," he said.
O'Brien said the gloves deliver less electricity than a taser, but they quicky neutralize people who are touched by them.
"For such technology to work at such a low level and give such a high reaction is pretty astonishing," he said.
Compliant Technologies says on its website that it believes the product "would be revolutionary in dealing with individuals either rioting, resisting or assaulting our nation's finest when carrying out their very difficult duties."
O'Brien said the gloves are highly functional for law enforcement.
"(If) someone's resisting being put in the handcuffs, I can actually go ahead and turn them on, make an application, stop the fight, and then keep them on and also put handcuffs on that person as well," he said. "So it bridges a lot of gaps that, for instance, (that) a taser would not."
O'Brien said he wasn't aware of injuries caused by the gloves. Agencies are required to undergo at least the first of three levels of training to use them, and Compliant Technologies recommends they not be applied for more than 15 seconds.
The G.L.O.V.E. technology stands for "generated low-output voltage emitter."
"I can tell you from personal experience, there is no way someone is going to want to even go to 15 seconds because it's ... a pretty quick reaction time," he said.
WDRB journalists could feel a tingling sensation as the gloves hovered over their skin — not even touching the skin — during a demonstration performed by O'Brien.
"The glove only has a certain range that it will go through," O'Brien said. "It's a very small range, but a lot of it is based on the pressure that I apply. And what's nice about that. ... I can make that pressure harder or softer in a very split second."
Nevertheless, Bullitt County Jailer Bryan Whittaker, who recently took over after Jailer Paul Watkins died in November, said he would evaluate the use of tasers and electrified gloves in the jail.
"That's all going to be reviewed," he said. "Every single one of it is being reviewed."
This isn't the first time Derrough has been in trouble at the jail. In January, he was suspended for a day without pay after a jail investigative report said he was seen entering a cell and placing his foot on an inmate's face, according to records obtained through a public records request.
For the case of excessive force involving the gloves, Derrough was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant "due to unprofessional behavior" and was suspended for three days without pay, according to records.
Whittaker said under his restructuring, Derrough is now a floor deputy.
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