Police allegedly hang quadriplegic man
Police allegedly hang quadriplegic man
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071018/ap_on_fe_st/quadriplegic_suit
LOS ANGELES - Jurors ruled the city of Pasadena must pay $80,000 to a quadriplegic man who sued because police officers allegedly jerked him out of his wheelchair and hung him upside down to search him.
That they were not ruled culpable makes me sick.
I cannot understand how anybody could think this kind of behaviour would be acceptable, under any circumstances. Given how much money gets poured into police forces to ensure personnel understand issues around disability, ethnicity etc, how are they not culpable?
Mind you, our police chased, held down and fired seven bullets into the head of, a man they wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber after a series of incompetant bungles... and the only recourse to justice is on the grounds of health and Safety violations. One of those responsible has been involved in another shooting (again of an innocent man, this time non-fatal) and yet has found his way to promotion.
Astonishing, really.
Yes, search the guy if they decide it is necessary. Heck RK has detailed his normal armaments, if I was a cop and busted him I'd want to look very carefully all around him and his chair.
But they WAY they did it. &%$#!!!! Mind-boggling. Did no-one ask, Gee Sarge, are you sure this is the appropriate way to go about this? was this in the training manual?
Meh, cops. There's some good 'uns and some bad 'uns, and a whole range in between. I agree with RK (and DanaC) that they should always be held responsible for their actions.
I wonder what The Peanut Guy will have to say about this?
Astonishing, really.
Yes, search the guy if they decide it is necessary. Heck RK has detailed his normal armaments, if I was a cop and busted him I'd want to look very carefully all around him and his chair.
But they WAY they did it. &%$#!!!! Mind-boggling. Did no-one ask, Gee Sarge, are you sure this is the appropriate way to go about this? was this in the training manual?
Meh, cops. There's some good 'uns and some bad 'uns, and a whole range in between. I agree with RK (and DanaC) that they should always be held responsible for their actions.
First, as a lic carrier I tell them and present my license. If they ask me if they can search me I would let them and tell them where any weapons are. I break no laws. Would I let them pick me up... fuck-no.
I cannot begin to describe the possible dammage that would do to me, it could kill me.
Those cops would be sued individually in civil court.
Well, you know, he may have concealed a weapon. :eyebrow:
And that justifies dangling the man upside down how?
Well, you know, he may have concealed a weapon. :eyebrow:
And he would be able to use it how? You are a genisus...:rolleyes:
OMG my stomach hurts from laughing!!!!
People see the disabled as less than human, as having no rights.
If those cops had done this to a child, an elderly woman, anyone else who was defenseless, even not as defenseless as a quad (there is non one else) these pigs would have been fired, fines and jailed, as they need to be.
This was excessive force and aggravated battery and nothing else.
What was a quad going to do, frown at them?
The judge is culpable as well and shows this attitude as well.
Hanging someone who is disabled to that extent can easily be killed, murdered in this case, by that kind of treatment.
It should have been a jury of his peers, twelve quads and paras, not some judge.
Well, you know, he may have concealed a weapon.
Yeah, maybe he had a cane with a sword concealed in the handle.
It should have been a jury of his peers, twelve quads and paras, not some judge.
wait....who was on trial? the cops were quads, or the wheelchair guy was on trial for something?
It should have been a jury of twelve cops?
How did they know he wasn't faking?
Well, you know, he may have concealed a weapon. :eyebrow:
He could of had a mouth gun
Just because he was in a chair doesn't mean he's helpless, or indeed, not dangerous.
Yeah, but Bruce, he was quadraplegic. Suppose he's packing ... what's he gonna do with it?
BUT! He's probably got an assistant with him. Maybe the assistant is using the quad-guy to carry his piece, tucked quietly down the back of the chair or somewhere. ;)
If quadraplegics become immune to searches, they could become the new accessory of choice for every crack-dealing gang-banger out there. I'm mostly kidding here, but not completely. Just because you're in a wheelchair, does not mean you are automatically an angel. I have personally known one, and heard of a second, pot-dealer who operated from a wheelchair. Okay, they were paraplegic, not quadraplegic, but it illustrates the point.
Just wondering, how should the cops search quadraplegics? Draping them over a wall is out ... how should it be done?
No one said not to search him, they can't grab anyone else by the head and hang them upside down without a excessive force charge then a battery charge in civil court.
They must take his condition into consideration and take steps to deal with it appropriately. He is immobile in a chair, all they had to do was search around after having the proper medically trained professionals come to the site to help them... that is all.
Just because he was in a chair doesn't mean he's helpless, or indeed, not dangerous.
Para.
Ooooohhhhh Zen..
pot ...
really... how scarrrrryyyyyy!!!!
Para.
Ooooohhhhh Zen..pot ...really... how scarrrrryyyyyy!!!!
Absolutely ;)
The guy was obviously a time bomb, just one bad reefer away from becoming a homicidal axe-wielding maniac...
:headshake
C'mon ... how do you think I
knew he was dealing???
His horns and RPG collection?
That, and the forked tail and the fiery pentacles glowing in his eyes.
RPG ... was that Role Playing Game or Rocket Propelled Grenade?
Either in the eyes of cops most likely.
http://www.wral.com/news/strange/story/1945129/
LOS ANGELES — A jury cleared four Pasadena police officers accused of pulling a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair and slinging him over a concrete wall to search him, ...
He was hospitalized for six days due to shoulder and neck injuries he sustained when the officers hung him over the wall, Longo said.
I don't think any reasonable person feels or thinks that people in wheelchairs are somehow less equal in any way than an able bodied person.
There are idiots everywhere...even in the policeforce. Yep I think they've gotten away with well...a lot more than they should have in this case.
I don't agree that you can/should stereotype police any more than you can/should stereotype anyone else. For every copper that goes into the force because he's on a powertrip, there's 10 more that do it for the right reasons. It's just that you don't hear so much about the good ones, so people make these sweeping judgements which in all reality, are just not fair.
I don't think any reasonable person feels or thinks that people in wheelchairs are somehow less equal in any way than an able bodied person.
You would think that, and they don't think it consciously, but I am often treated like a moron, given lollipops out of kid jars by tellers, service personnel will walk quickly past three people to ask me if I need help finding anything (not reaching anything, finding anything), grown men and women will bend down, hands on their knees and ask "weellll what's YOUR name"!; they "help" me with things I am doing just fine without asking, often taking things out of my hands to do so, the list is extensive and it happens pretty-much daily. Funny thing is I try to tune it out, it infuriates my wife.
Yes, people think we are "less".
[QUOTE]There are idiots everywhere...even in the policeforce. Yep I think they've gotten away with well...a lot more than they should have in this case.
I don't agree that you can/should stereotype police any more than you can/should stereotype anyone else. For every copper that goes into the force because he's on a powertrip, there's 10 more that do it for the right reasons. It's just that you don't hear so much about the good ones, so people make these sweeping judgements which in all reality, are just not fair.
I believe that more and more the police force has an entrenched attitude of "brother/sisterhood" where the protect and serve on their cars and badges means the system and not those who they are supposed to work for.
I chat and discuss topics with cops on several boards and many have admitted as much on numerous occasions.
They talk about how "rough it is"... then become something else...
I agree, many cops are great cops and I admire them more than I can express. I am not a cop basher, but feel it is monumentally important to weed-out those who abuse their position.
Make examples of them and be sure to let others know what kind of behavior will NOT be tolerated.
This does not happen, the opposite does.
"Go ahead, go wild, we got your back".
However, I too find statements like "all cops are... " on either side to be disturbing and childish.
But, a good cop is just doing his job.
Well, I think that in the environment your cops have to police in over there, which would have to be at least 10 times worse than here, it's no wonder they're closing ranks to protect each other.
Their behaviour is nothing more than a symptom of a society gone mad for litigation.
Then they need to get a new job.
ahuh...and who will protect and serve then?
People who want the job and want to do it right.
There aren't enough cops as it is rkz. Do you seriously want to decrease the numbers which would further stress the force which in turn will mean more cops cutting more corners and taking more leave etc?
With all due respect, I don't think that's the answer.
I want bad cops off the street, absolutely.
That means quit, fired or retrained... I don't really care which.
I don't believe it's sensible to make a statement like that without offering some kind of solution to the shotfall it's going to cause.
It's ok to flap and carry on about things you don't like, but it serves no purpose.
It's better to be a bit more proactive don't you think?
Where do you come up with this shortfall business? There is no shortage of applicants. The standard reply to a call for more cops is lack of funding, not shortage of bodies.
The shortfall would be because of the lack of funding Bruce. If you want better quality policing, you need to have better quality training etc. The whole process costs more.
Don't you think they'd choose more ideal applicants if they could afford it?
Not at all, more money would produce bigger numbers of the same.
I disagree, but even if you're right and there's more cops and the same proportion of those that apply are not ideal in their outlook, that still means there's more good cops than there were before.
The point I'm making is that the system is flawed and cops don't get enough support or funding or anything else to make their lives easier. You have to acknowledge that those circumstances are likely to cause even the good cops to go bad. A person can only take so much before they give up and take the easy route - in many cases.
It'd be interesting to know what the actual breakdown of the funding is for recruitment. Perhaps the majority of the applicants don't even pass the phsyc tests even though there are still people with bad attitudes in the force.
It's a fairly comprehensive process to get into the police force over here and yet we still have undesirables wearing a badge too. Recruiting new cops is not so easy over here. They seem to be having a lot of trouble getting people interested. Particularly the sort of people they'd like to have walking the beat. Our forces also suffer from a lack of funding along with internal corruption etc. No system is perfect that's for sure.
Being more opportunistic would be to take the policing of the police out of their own hands and make the punishment of severe infractions much more aggressive.
CHOP
It's a fairly comprehensive process to get into the police force over here and yet we still have undesirables wearing a badge too.
CHOP
Mostly true, but keep in mind it takes MUCH longer to become an electrician or plumber than it does to become a police officer. (Ok, the police are getting full-time specialist training, and the tradesmen are mostly building up on-the-job apprenticeship skills).
And I find it most amusing to hear a Queenslander saying that police are underpaid. :) There used to be a solution for that ... ;) But seriously, that was a perfect example of police being underpaid, and so good police not joining or staying in the job, and bad cops taking matters into their own hands. Pay em well.
More money doesn't just mean more police of the same standard, it means better paid, better trained police, and the better pay *should* attract more high-quality candidates. Should.
I couldn't agree more Zen...and yeah, it's funny now what the QLD police used to be like, but it wasn't too amuzing back then.
My brother actually went to uni with Tony Fitzgeralds son during the enquiry. He said the security for going over there to study was crazy. (apparently there were a few peeps who wanted to top them all off strangely enough)