Hecubus2000
Senior member
quote:
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Mardi Gras victims lose suit against Seattle
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik was clearly not a happy man yesterday when he ruled in favor of Seattle and its police chief, who ordered officers to stand on the sidelines four years ago while roving bands of thugs brutally beat Mardi Gras revelers in Pioneer Square.
Eleven victims sued the city, saying that a decision by police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to pull officers out of the Pioneer Square melee put innocent people in jeopardy. Innocent bystander Kristopher Kime was beaten to death in the February 2001 rampage that also resulted in thousands of dollars in property damage.
"After considering the events of Fat Tuesday, including reports of the ongoing and escalating violence, one is inevitably left wishing the police had stepped in sooner," Lasnik wrote in his ruling.
And while Lasnik noted that we now have the luxury of 20-20 hindsight, "it is easy to imagine alternate, and better, courses of conduct."
Despite Lasnik's obvious sympathy for the suffering of the victims at the hands of the thugs, he granted summary judgment to the city.
The victims' attorney, Mike Withey, contended that the police pullout violated his clients' due process rights to be protected by the police. But Ted Buck, who represented the city, convinced Lasnik that "the 14th Amendment (due process clause) does not guarantee competent law enforcement."
Lasnik quoted case laws that "a state's failure to protect an individual from private violence, even in the face of grave danger," doesn't violate constitutional rights. He also rejected exceptions to that rule, particularly one that requires that the police put someone in greater danger than that in which the officers originally found themselves.
It was Withey's contention that his clients were in a more dangerous position when police leaders decided to change their plan for controlling Fat Tuesday crowds from one of aggressive, high-visibility tactics to one of non-intervention. Lasnik rejected that argument, saying the police "did not place plaintiffs in harm's way."
"The Constitution does not require the police to make the correct decision at all times, especially in highly volatile and fluid situations as these," he wrote.
Ruling otherwise, he said, would expose municipalities to "an impossibly high standard and expose them to expensive litigation in a potentially unlimited number of situations."
"At the end of the day, however, it was not the police, but rather private assailants who inflicted those harms upon them. Although the injuries that occurred on Fat Tuesday are tragic, the state of the law in this circuit and this state simply does not impose liability on the city, the chief of police, and the former mayor in these circumstances."
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Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local...ardigras17.html
I know, I know, its common knowledge. I just thought I would throw it out here just to show that you alone are responsible for your own protection. This article popped into my head when gun control came up in another thread.
