Rolling back rights, every day.
Client gets into an argument with his girlfriend inside a Wal-Mart. The argument continues out into the parking lot. A store manager follows the couple outside and asks the girlfriend if he should call the cops; she says no. The manager calls the cops anyway. Client did nothing violent; he was just in a yelling match with his girlfriend.
Client started talking on his cell phone and walking away to be by himself. He eventually comes back to the parking lot and gets in the passenger seat of the car, still on the phone. The cops (two 22-year-old rookies) arrive. They reach around the soft-top of the Client's car, unlock the door from the inside, drag the client out of the car, then throw him to the ground and start beating him.
The cops pepper-sprayed Client twice (once when he was already in handcuffs), struck him in the ribcage with their batons, kneed him in the back, stood on him, and - the coup de grace - applied the carotid restraint, which involves cutting off the blood flow to the brain, depriving the brain of oxygen and causing unconsciousness.
So here it is: the cops choked an innocent man to the point of unconsciousness in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Client, who struggled against the cops as they beat him, is charged with "resisting an officer in the lawful performance of his duties."
Client started talking on his cell phone and walking away to be by himself. He eventually comes back to the parking lot and gets in the passenger seat of the car, still on the phone. The cops (two 22-year-old rookies) arrive. They reach around the soft-top of the Client's car, unlock the door from the inside, drag the client out of the car, then throw him to the ground and start beating him.
The cops pepper-sprayed Client twice (once when he was already in handcuffs), struck him in the ribcage with their batons, kneed him in the back, stood on him, and - the coup de grace - applied the carotid restraint, which involves cutting off the blood flow to the brain, depriving the brain of oxygen and causing unconsciousness.
So here it is: the cops choked an innocent man to the point of unconsciousness in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Client, who struggled against the cops as they beat him, is charged with "resisting an officer in the lawful performance of his duties."
posted by P.D. Clerk at 2:02 PM
5 Comments:
So what did the cops suspect him of that they had "duties" to perform? Did they charge him with anything related to the disturbance call?
The cops and D.A. never answered those questions, but I can guess what their responses would be.
I'm guessing that the cops would insist that they suspected he had committed some act of violence toward the girlfriend he'd been arguing with. He hadn't, and he was not charged with anything related to hurting her or anybody else at the store (other than the cop, that is). Nobody saw anything other than an argument, so I don't know the basis on which they'd make this claim.
The cops' "duties" were, I suppose, to just do some general investigating or something like that. By defending himself, he was "resisting" them.
My brief pointed out (among other things) that the cops were not actually in the lawful performance of their duties, because yanking somebody out of their car without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, then beating the crap out of them and doing some Xena maneuver to render them unconscious (ahem, that is, "using excessive force"), does not represent any kind of lawful duty.
client has cause to sue officers in 1983.
And where do you think a person who's poor enough to qualify for a public defender is going to come by a civil rights lawyer to sue the police?
So what happened?
And when do you go from being a public defender to helping these people by taking on the entire judicial system?? That's a little joke. These stories are horrid. I found your blog and now I'm just a pissed off citizen. dang.
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