True story in light of the current LEO threads

[jsalcedo]

I have a true story. It happened to my best friend a little over a year and a half
ago.

Feb. 2001 in downtown Austin, Texas my friend and his girlfriend
went to mardi gras celebration. After going to a few clubs along popular

6th St. they decided to grab a bite to eat it was around 1:00am.

My friend I'll call him Mitch ( a college educated computer programmer)
and his
girlfriend who I'll call Sandy ( a technical writer for a large
corporation)
went through a side street to avoid the throng pouring out onto the main
thoroughfare.
As they approached the next street Mitch and Sandy were confronted by
Austin police
in riot gear. The police jabbed their clubs into the couples backs
grabbed, shoved them and told them to leave the area.

Obeying the orders given them they moved up a few streets and ate a late
dinner in a pizza parlor.
Still shaken from the abuse they decided to walk back to their car. On
they way back they ran into the same group of
Austin police officers that had accosted them. Naively they decided to
ask for the badge numbers of the officers.

At a distance of 15 meters Mitch asks "Sir may I please have your badge
number?"
The officer's wave Mitch and Sandy over seemingly compliant with the
request.

Mitch was punched in the side of the head glasses broken and sprayed
with pepper spray.
Sandy was pushed to the ground and pepper sprayed as well.

Mitch was subsequently beaten about the face with clubs then a knee was
placed on the back of his head while
he was stun gunned and beaten on the back and ribs.

Mitch offered no resistance other than to grab at his eyes when the
pepper spray hit.

Mitch was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and failing
to obey a police officer.
Sandy was charged with Resisting arrest.

After Mitch got out of the hospital for the numerous lacerations on his
face he was put in jail.

He posted bond and got a lawyer. The DA generously offered mitch 2 years
probation
and 700 hours community service and 1 year in an alcohol treatment
program for the felony assault.

Mitch not wanting to go to prison almost accepted the deal thinking
there was no way they would take his word over
4 police officers.

Sandy did her misdemeanor community service for the resisting arrest and
left it at that.

Mitch decided he did not want a felony conviction for asking for a badge
number and
subsequently Mitches lawyer found that Austin PD has VIDEOTAPED the
entire encounter.

After the Grand Jury viewed the tape nearly a year later all charges
were dropped.
Mitch had paid $12000.00 in legal fees and for bail. Not to mention new
glasses
and the 3 weeks it took him to recover from his beating.

Mitch is considering suing the police department but has no real hopes
of even recovering his legal expenses.

edited as to not to offend anyone

 

[Mike Irwin]

And your friend's encounter, as bad as it sounds, should be a blanket condemnation of all police how?

Your friends obviously ran into some rogue police officers, not every police officer in the United States.

It would be nice if the police department could be forced to pay. Has his attorney obtained a copy of the video tape?

 

[jsalcedo]

ok I'll edit out the last comment

The city allowed the grand jury, mitch and his lawyer
to view the tape.

Mitch is currently experiencing memory loss, depression and PTSD.

The city of Austin wants to settle for 20k and I think mitch wants
to take the money pay his lawyer and be done with it.

 

[braindead0]

Did you personally witness these events? Just curious. I'm not doubting it, just hate heresy (edit: I see, video tape..never mind).

I can recount a similar first hand experience, me and two friends were riding our motorcycles in Ojai California (coming back over the hills to Moorpark), one of my friends was trailing pretty far behind us.. cop shows up behind him, hits lights and he pulls over.. we kept going (same speed, figured he'd come get us if he was looking for us).

We pulled over up in the hills to wait, about 15 minutes later we decided we'd better head back..maybe he was having some bike trouble.. We get back and he on the side of the road, beat up pretty bad.

Of course, we didn't witness the LEO doing this.. According to him, he sat on his bike..hands on grips and eyes straight forward and everything went black.

IE: nobody saw nothing.

 

[jsalcedo]

I heard the story from mitch then sandy and mitches lawyer told me what he saw on the tape.

I was supposed vouch for Mitch's character if it went to trial.

I got to hear the audio only.

"sir may have your badge number?"

"Thump bump yells"

Mitches last comment on the tape while he is handcuffed on the ground bleeding: "You guys have serious problems"

 

[Mike Irwin]

"just hate heresy."


BBBBBBBWWWWWWWWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Sorry, that just struck me as being VERY humorous.

Heresy is the act committed by a heretic...


Hearsay is what we're talking about.

Sorry, I'm punchy this afternoon.

 

[Mike Irwin]

The fact that the city wants to settle for 20K is a pretty good indication that they know there were SERIOUS problems with the situation, and that their tape will do a lot of damage.

I'd say Mitch needs to pursue this with an attorney who is well versed in these matters, and who will work on a contingency basis.

His criminal defense attorney might be very good, but he's a criminal defense attorney.

At this point I'd say he needs a civil rights lawyer.

 

[Sean Smith]

I don't suppose anything happened to the LEOs who handed out the beating?

If the events transpired as presented here, they should be in prison now... assault, battery, false arrest, maybe perjury/false sworn statements/falsifying official records somewhere in there too... how many years is that worth?

If they want to settle, they know they are totally vulnerable and guilty as hell. If they thought blowing off your buddy had the slightest chance of working, they would do it. Assumng his account is accurate, he needs to get a lawyer who specializes in the relevant field of law and crucify the bastards. He should see about pressing felony charges against the officers involved while he's at it. If he doesn't nail everyone involved as hard as he can, nothing will change.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised... the Dallas PD can't tell sheetrock from crack.

 

[KY Moose]

One of these people wouldn't happen to be your friend would they?



Violent Night
BY KEVIN FULLERTON
The Austin Chronicle

March 2, 2001:

City Manager Jesus Garza went before TV cameras Monday to defend the conduct of Austin's finest during Saturday's Mardi Gras riots, saying, if we may paraphrase: "Since you kids can't have fun responsibly, we just won't have any more parties downtown."

Garza canceled the Fat Tuesday parade and said his office would re-evaluate whether the city should sponsor block events along Sixth Street in the future. He said the Austin Police Dept. performed admirably in quelling the riots, which began early Sunday when onlookers pelted police with rocks and bottles as they broke up a fistfight near Sixth and Neches. The police responded by driving the crowd out of the area with pepper spray. Garza said the police used the necessary amount of force to control the situation.

But neither Garza nor police officials have offered much explanation of how an isolated altercation exploded into a full-blown riot lasting nearly an hour and a half. Witnesses are coming forward saying the police ignited the melee with their heavy-handed use of pepper spray and batons as they dispersed the droves of confused revelers.

UT student Jason Morgan says he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray when he asked where he could hail a cab. Two friends with him that night were beaten with batons and shocked with stun devices before being arrested, Morgan says. "It was like a dream, a really bad one," says Morgan.

Morgan and his friend Schonna Manning say they encountered a row of police dressed in riot gear as they emerged from the Texture nightclub on Neches around 3am. Unaware that police were clearing the streets, Morgan says, he started to walk around the officers and was subsequently pushed and then hit in the face with pepper spray. Morgan's friend Chuck Holden says he approached Morgan to find out what happened, and "this cop just came out of the blue, and he's just swinging this billy club." Holden says the officer struck him in the shin with a baton. Holden then reapproached the line of officers to get the officer's badge number. That's when things really spun out of control, Holden says.

The officers yelled at Holden to get down on his knees, which both Morgan and another friend, Jessica Murray, say he did. Police then struck Holden in the head repeatedly with batons, shocked him with stun devices, and cuffed and arrested him, the witnesses say. Holden says he later found blood in his ears and believes he suffered a concussion.

Murray says she yelled at the officers to stop beating Holden. She says another officer struck her in the chest with the end of his club. Someone yelled at the cop to stop hitting her, Morgan says, and another officer swung a baton at him. Meanwhile, the officer continued to strike her, Murray says, eventually knocking her to the ground. Murray was taken to jail on charges of "disobeying a lawful order," but she says the officer who attacked her never gave any command. Holden was also arrested. Theirs were two of 35 arrests that night, and 91 during the four-day Mardi Gras celebration.

Manning says officers were spraying people who tried to get information from them or get to their cars. "The violence on the partygoers' part was because police were being ???????s," says Manning.

Holden, Morgan, and Murray say they will press charges against the police, and their complaints are hardly isolated. Several complaints have been filed against the police, one by a UT student who said he was only watching the riot when he was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet. Another, a soldier stationed at Ft. Hood, says he was clubbed after asking a police officer if he could assist in keeping order.

Police officials did not return calls by the Chronicle requesting comment, but APD Asst. Police Chief Rick Coy told The Daily Texan student newspaper that officers do not use force indiscriminately to disperse crowds. The APD's Internal Affairs division is handling all complaints, Coy said.

 

[MrAcheson]

Sorry but you've pegged my BS detector here. Not positive how the entire bail system works, but IIRC you get your money back if you show up for court. It doesn't cost you anything unless you skip. Now if you use a bail bondsman, this may be different.

If true Mitch should sue the Austin PD. He should hire a lawyer for a percentage of the damages. The word "punitive" enters into my mind for some reason. And all the cop-hating institutions will likely fall in line to help stump for his cause if he can get publicity and is photogenic enough.

 

[Mike Irwin]

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised... the Dallas PD can't tell sheetrock from crack."

There an interesting story behind that?

People have been arrested and jailed on drug charges based for having substances not even remotely related to drugs.

I seem to recall some years ago a guy being arrested and jailed for several weeks.

His "drug" of choice?

The creamated remains of his wife.

 

[Sean Smith]

Mike,

Something like 86 drug cases got dropped because the crack coccaine involved turned out to be chunks of sheetrock. The police informant - a criminal himself - took them for a ride, presumably to keep himself out of prison.

Do a Google search on "dallas sheetrock police" and you will find tons of reports in the media on this. Here is one:

http://www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/nava0417.htm

It appears that the Dallas police are getting away with it. I'm not a cop basher - check my posting history here and at TFL - but this is just nuts.

 

[scottgun]

These stories are all too common. And we here excuses such as: well they (alleged law breakers) deserved it, they must have been doing something wrong, police are just following orders. The police do a tough job, but a cop having a bad day can ruin a citizens life. Most other encounters with public officials may cause inconvenience or wasted time. But with the tremendous amount of power bestowed upon the police, they should exert a little extra discretion. Even though they must deal with the worst of society, they are treating everyone like the worst of society. And all cops end up getting labeled based on the actions of the worst. It works in both directions. I know I am generalizing, but I have examples to back this up.

I made some unfair statements about cops on another thread, but this really burns me that things like this can and will happen to law abiding citizens who go out in the public. Its only a matter of probability and time before it happens to you.

 

[Oleg Volk]

Good cops know that they may suffer for the actions of the bad cops. However, the efforts of the decent folks to weed out the bad apples are not as easy to observe as the actual transgressions. That may be why there's a perception that some people get away with murder under the color of the law (may be more true of the DEA but would apply equally to police).

Personally, I'd like to see the culprits sued for civil rights violation and attempted murder and jailed, if convicted.

I also wonder if a person brutalized by a uniformed officer would ever dare to stop for any authority figure again...or would take chances in flight.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I have no idea if the police acted accordingly or not, but one thing is certain, Mitch and Sandy should have taken their first encounter with the police a little more seriously and left the area. Maybe the police did or did not have authority to make people leave the area, I don't know. And I don't know that anything the police did or did not do was legal. With that said, common sense seems to be hugely missing on the part of Mitch and Sandy who meeet police in riot gear, get bumped around, are ordered to leave the area and instead of leaving just grab a bite to eat nearby.

Common sense? If you run into police in riot gear and they order you from the area then more than likely it is in your best interest to actually leave the area. The police in riot gear indicate that there is something wrong in the current situation such that they are there in force. Now, whether the threat comes from non-police participant or from the police is rather moot at this point. The police are there in riot gear. That means that the local situation is not one you need to stay in.

This is not a comment concerning one's rights and whether or not they are being violated. The same situational bells and whistles should have gone off in their heads in that situation as should have gone off if they were confronted by a street gang that told them to leave the area.

I am not suggesting that what the police supposedly did was was right or wrong, only that Mitch and Sandy showed a poor ability to understand the visual and physical clues that the area they were in was not one to be considered safe, failed to leave the area, and ended up on the bad end of things.

 

[Geech]

Obeying the orders given them they moved up a few streets and ate a late
dinner in a pizza parlor.
Still shaken from the abuse they decided to walk back to their car. On
they way back they ran into the same group of
Austin police officers that had accosted them.

They didn't follow the cops around, Double Naught Spy.

 

[Oleg Volk]

That is also a vivid example of the difficulties police or any other witness to an event in progress would have in figuring out who needs aid. Many assume that uniform = right, but that works better when you know your local officers or the non-police actors involved and trust them not to act thuggishly than it does in a situation where none of the actors are known to you.

 

[jsalcedo]

MrAcheson:
____________________________________________________
Sorry but you've pegged my BS detector here. Not positive how the entire bail system works, but IIRC you get your money back if you show up for court. It doesn't cost you anything unless you skip. Now if you use a bail bondsman, this may be different.
____________________________________________________

Since his bond was $10,000 he had to use a bail bondsman
since he didn't have that kind of cash laying around.
Which meant he was out 10% off the bat.


KY Moose:

Thanks for posting that article I had no idea all that stuff had happened that night. Especially the soldier who offered to help and got beaten instead.

 

[rock jock]

Why is the vidoetape not in the hands of the local media? Why is your friend's atty not suing for millions? Why is there not a public scandal? Why has your friend not contacted a reporter from the Communist American-Statesman?

If someone beats me to pieces, they are either going to be shot or sued.

 

[bjengs]

Why is the vidoetape not in the hands of the local media? Why is your friend's atty not suing for millions? Why is there not a public scandal? Why has your friend not contacted a reporter from the Communist American-Statesman?

Those things tend to be more newsworthy if it involves cops beating up minorities. (I offer this from the land of Rodney King and Reginald Denny.)

Also, "rogue police officers" is a bit redundant, no?

 

[jsalcedo]

They are currently suing to have the video released.
But Austin won't do it as of yet (lots of legal excuses)

I've ben pushing Mitch to sue for millions but he has kind of gone off the deep end after his beating and doesn't really care about much anymore.

I've tried to guilt him into it saying he could prevent the same thing from happening to someone else but he finally confided
that he doesn't think he can handle facing the courtroom and look at the faces of the cops as they lie and try to justify what they did.

Yeah and mitch is very white and clean cut not your typical baton fodder....

 

[Johnny Guest]

Just observing - - -

jsalcedo, I have a couple of questions raised by your post - - -

1. Austin is a town full of lawyers, some of whom don't have enough business. Sure stands to reason that the "victims" could find a pretty competent attorney to take a civil suit on a contingency basis. Even if the lawyer wanted 50%, if the situation is as presented, the settlement should be worth a couple of million. Upon re-reading, I note you mention "Mitch's" lawyer. Is he not pursuing the matter? If not, might be time to seek out an attorney who's a bit hungrier to split a fair and equitable settlement.

2. I have no current personal knowledge, but several years ago, Austin PD had a pretty professional Public Integrity (Internal Affairs) detail. They should be reachable directly, or through the office of the Chief of Police. Has this avenue been pursued? I mean, specifically with regard to "Mitch's" situation, not the Mardi Gras riots in general.

3. Similarly, no dealings with them in recent years, but the Travis County District Attorney's Office used to take an active interest in this sort of allegation. One, in case the allegation is true, so they can get bad cops off the street. Two, in case the complainants are lying, they can be prosecuted for filing false reports. You mention grand jury hearing. Was this over the charges against "Mitch," or his allegations of police misconduct?

4. It shouldn't be too difficult to make an appointment with Special Prosecutions Division at the Texas Attorney General's Office, right there in Austin.

5. The Austin newspapers (Austin Chronicle and the American Statesman? And the BIG campus newspaper, The Daily Texan) should take an interest in return for an exclusive story, or at least in the struggle of the downtrodden in attempting to obtain Justice.

6. TV News, ditto #5.

If "Mitch''s" bond was $10,000, the bondsman's fee should have been between $1,000 and 1,500. Whence the $12,000 in expenses? As I say, if the story looks good, most personal injury and civil rights lawyers would handle the matter for a split of the settlement (contingency fee) and it wouldn't be any measly $20K, given that the story is told correctly.

jsalcedo, I'm not saying you're not telling the story the way it was told to you - - - Just that you might not have been given the straight scoop.

There are always little scuffles during the huge street parties in downtown Austin, but something like THIS sounds like it would have been in the headlines for days, if not weeks. How come we're only hearing about it well over two years afterward? Why had not the lawyer long since filed the Freedom of Information request for a copy of the videotape?

If the tape has been displayed to the grand jury, and it shows anything like what it described, how come no indictments? Could it be that it doesn't show what you've been told? I'd bet the DA kept the original after GJ hearing, or at least a certified copy.

Last, but not least - - I wonder if there's some particular reason that you yourself are telling their story at this late date? Is the case about to come up for court or something? Again, I'm not implying an ulterior motive on YOUR part, but I notice you state that the lawyer has described to YOU some of the information. Lawyers are normally pretty close-mouthed about pending cases. Has the attorney suggested you might want to test the public waters with the story?

Please note that I never state that the cops in question did NOT do wrong. I just wonder if you've been given the full story about the matter.

KYMoose - - good job digging up the news story with the names Holden, Morgan, Murray, and Manning. Did the references indicate there were any follow-ups?

With concern - - -
Johnny

 

[jsalcedo]

The $1000 plus went to the bail bondsman

The $12,000 went to his criminal attorney to get the taped incident viewed by the grand jury. Subsequently the charges against mitch were dropped once they viewed it.

The Grand jury actually apologized to mitch, (I've never heard of this happening before)

He got another civil attorney to go after the cops who is taking 40% of anything he gets from Austin.

Sounds like he will settle for a measly sum so he can put this part of his life behind him because mitch is adamant about not going to trial.

I talked to mitches lawyer on a couple of occasions and he urged me to push for mitch to get an MRI, see a psychologist etc...

I'll fill everyone in once I find out the outcome in the next few months.

Sorry to say these cops still have their jobs.

 

[Don Gwinn]

No, Bjengs, "rogue police officer" is not redundant. I know some rogue police officers, and I know some fine peace officers. There's a clear difference.

This will not be allowed to become a general cop-bashing thread. I've seen some pretty bad stuff, too, but crazies use all sorts of excuses to make their crimes "legitimate." Some cloak themselves in the Constitution or a conservative cause, like Eric Rudolph. Others join up and get a badge so their thuggery will be "official."



One more note: don't forget that often the department has little or no choice. In Springfield, we had what people call the "Tavern Incident" a few years ago. A group of off-duty cops were drinking at a downtown tavern late at night to celebrate one cop's birthday. A regular Joe managed to scrape the birthday cop's truck while attempting to back out of his space, and the cops happened to be on their way out to the truck when it happened. The citizen was probably drunk, but nobody is certain because of what happened next. As I recall, none of the cops were below the impairment threshold, which I believe was .10 at the time, now .08.

In any event, the cops took great offense at his poor driving skills. They hauled him out of the vehicle, laid him on the ground and proceeded to have a boot party. One or two cops didn't participate, but none made any attempt to stop the beating.

Subsequently, the cop who did most of the beating tried to organize a conspiracy among the others to lie to the investigators and cover up what happened. To this day, some details are still in dispute, because they gave several conflicting versions.

The Springfield Police Department has been trying to fire that stupid SOB ever since, going on six years now IIRC. Can't do it; the union took it to arbitration and the arbitrator says their contract does not allow him to be fired. Understand, the arbitrator's report acknowledges that it has been proven that the officer and his friends assaulted the citizen and put him in the hospital, that the citizen did not offer resistance, and that the officers conspired together to cover up the incident by lying to investigators and trying to agree on a unified story. None of that is disputed, but he still says the contract doesn't allow the city to fire him.

 

[Art Eatman]

I and friends were habitues of Austin's Sixth Street until the latter part of the 1990s. One of them owns several of the buildings there, rented/leased to clubs. My tenure began in the early 1970s; I once owned a nightclub there.

None of us go there any more. "The Street" has changed a lot, and my understanding is that law enforcement is rather lacking in subtlety and politeness. IOW, I am not surprised by this particular story, as it fits in with other incidents.

One odd thing is that during the 1980s on Sixth Street, I thought that a lot of the LEOs working the area were "too nice for their own good". Why the apparent change? I've no idea...

Art