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Archive for the ‘Police Misconduct’ Category

Flunking the Attitude Test

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Weidner-Casual_19

Law enforcement officers have a difficult and challenging job.  They deserve to be treated with respect.  Law enforcement officers deserve respect because they are human beings with emotions and feelings like the rest of us.  However, the law does not demand that respect be given.  Some officers appear not to understand that lack of respect does not warrant an arrest.

The First Amendment prohibits law enforcement officials from arresting people for how they talk to, or yell at the police.  Even speech that is loud, disrespectful, profane, and insulting is protected in most circumstances.  Only words that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace (“Fighting Words”) are unprotected.  Unless your words amount to Fighting Words, the First Amendment protects the speech that is directed at a police officer from a civilian.

The Supreme Court stated in City of Houston v. Hill that freedom of individuals to verbally oppose police action without risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.  Speech keeps the wheels of democracy running smoothly.  The right of the individual to speak out directly, openly, and immediately against his government is perhaps the purest and messiest form of democratic axle grease.  The ability to oppose or challenge police action is not only a principal characteristic distinguishing a free nation from a police state, it is one of the central benefits of living in a free nation.  In a country where people are unable or afraid to challenge their government’s authority for fear that they will be beaten or arrested, that country has no meaningful way to check and balance their government power.

Despite First Amendment Protection, some law enforcement officers are arresting people for voicing their dissent or even videoing police. The police are generally arresting people for violating laws such as disorderly conduct, refusing to obey an officer, obstructing or delaying an officer, or resisting arrest.  When an officer arrests a citizen because they do not like what they said, this is an invalid arrest.  This type of arrest is called “contempt of cop arrest” or a “cover arrest.”  This type of arrest is by definition police abuse and against the law. They are made with no valid legal reason.
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Jury Convicts 3 Officers after Hurricane Katrina Murder

Friday, December 17th, 2010

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/jury-convicts-3-officers-in-post-katrina-death-nt10-jgr1291986536695

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Police Misconduct Settlement in the News

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Sheriff’s Office settles lawsuit alleging police brutality during Hurricane Ivan

November 20, 2010 9:59 PM
Daily News

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office has settled a civil lawsuit with a retired Air Force colonel who claimed he was wrongfully arrested after lawmen attacked his neighbor in the days following Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Edgar Knowling initially sued the Sheriff’s Office agency in late 2008. He alleged that his civil rights were violated when deputies responded to his home after Ivan, used excessive force against a neighbor and wrongfully charged him with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, according to his complaint.

The charge against Knowling was later dropped.

A settlement between Knowling and the Sheriff’s Office was reached Thursday, according to court documents. The Sheriff’s Office will award Knowling $55,000 in exchange for him dropping the lawsuit. The agency also agreed to expunge his record.

Ivan hit the Emerald Coast early on Sept. 16, 2004. The lawsuit stemmed from an incident on Sept. 20, when Knowling saw two strangers near his neighbor’s home and thought they might be looters. He fired a warning shot from his shotgun into the ground. A neighbor, Daniel Thompson, also came outside with a handgun.

The strangers were two sheriff’s deputies, one from Santa Rosa and one from Pinellas County who was in town to assist in Ivan’s aftermath.

According to lawmen, the deputies identified themselves by yelling several times that they were law enforcement.

But the lawsuit alleges that the deputies did not initially identify themselves. One allegedly yelled, “Get on the ground or we are going to blow your (expletive) head off.”

Knowling lay down and dropped his weapon, but Thompson only did so after one of the deputies said “Sheriff’s Department,” according to the lawsuit. Pinellas Deputy Richard Farnham allegedly stepped on Thompson’s hand and kicked him in the face.

After Thompson’s wife yelled at Farnham to stop, the deputy backed up and fired his Taser at the man, who had a heart condition, according to the lawsuit. The shock left him unconscious.

Farnham thought Thompson was rising from the ground to resist, according to lawmen.

Other Santa Rosa deputies arrived at the scene and one “football tackled” Thompson’s wife, the lawsuit said. One of the deputies allegedly threatened to “put a bullet in her head.”

Deputies later asked Knowling to change his story and say he fired into the air, although he and other neighbors all said he fired into the ground, the lawsuit said.

Thompson was charged with aggravated battery on an officer while Knowling was charged with attempted murder on an officer for firing his shotgun.

Both charges were dropped less than two months later.

In 2007, Farnham was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of depriving civil rights by use of unreasonable force without bodily injury. He was sentenced to one year in prison.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Wendell Hall’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Tuesday. The settlement was reached after several hours of confidential negotiation Thursday, according to Knowling’s attorney, Keith Weidner.

Knowling said Saturday that he decided to settle because of the stress his wife was feeling from the proceedings.

“Had it not been for my wife, I would have fought on. I would not have settled,” he said.

Hall could not be reached for comment.

Crestview Police Officer Arrested on Drug Charges

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

As a result of an FDLE undercover operation, Crestview police officer Michael Abrisch has been charged with trafficking hydrocodone (Lortab) and possession of a controlled substance.  Reportedly, he purchased the Lortab pills from an undercover FDLE officer.

He is currently being held in the Okaloosa County Jail and has been suspended without pay from the Crestview Police Department pending an internal investigation.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Has Been Fired

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Lieutenant Mitch Tomlinson of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’ s Department has been fired.  Tomlinson was arrested in March for sexually molesting two young girls under the age of 12.  The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office placed the lieutenant on administrative leave when Tomlinson was publicly arrested.  Tomlinson could face a life sentence if convicted of just one of the three capital sexual battery charges against him.

Pensacola Beach Deputy Accused of Sexual Assault

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Deputy Mike Priest has been placed on desk duty while the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigates a woman’s allegations that he forced her to engage in sexual acts.   The unidentified woman reported that she was drinking heavily at the beach last month, when Deputy Priest offered to give her a ride home.  The woman alleges that Priest drove her to her father’s home, pulled into the driveway and turned off the patrol car’s lights.  At this point, she accuses Priest of forcing her into sexual acts by threatening to take her to jail for public intoxication.  Deputy Priest sent apologetic text messages to his supervisor a few days after the incident according to the search warrant affidavit.  The Sheriff’s Office has seized Priest’s cell phone and patrol car.  Priest has not been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.

To watch the local news story:  http://tinyurl.com/y2f3auz