Woman claims cop beat her and took her phone for recording them

[GarfieldtheCat]

Yup, yet another "i'm a cop, do what I say no matter if it is legal or not thread".

Woman recording her husband getting arrested, cops come up to her and tell her to stop, and when she asks why, it's "because I said so".

Gotta love cops that ignore the law right?

http://www.news4jax.com/news/woman-claims-she-was-wrongly-arrested/35726886

"He asked for it, he demanded it again, and I gave him the same, 'Why do you want my phone? What do you need my phone for?' He told me he would punch me in my face," said Wilson. "I eventually got punched and beaten and the sergeant that was on the scene joined in the beating."

Perhaps our cops experts here can quote the dept regulations that allow cops to punch people for not turning over their cell phone?

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2...-return-her-phone-claiming-they-never-had-it/

Cops took the phone from her...but it has mysteriously gone MIA....police claim they don't have it.....so cops destroying evidence is OK now to I guess.

Luckily, the entire confrontation was caught on a surveillance video, especially since the Jacksonville Police Department says they do not have Wilson’s phone, which was not returned to her upon her release from jail. Convenient, right? The phone with audio and video of what went down is suddenly MIA. Wilson said of the phone going into the custody of the police,

Cops also admit to beating and kneeing her after they planted her on the ground, but they claimed they thought she was reaching for a weapon....yes, I am not making that up. The old "reaching for a weapon" excuse.

Any bets the cops all get off with nothing? Perhaps our apologists will tell us how this is yet another isolated instance, and we have nothing to fear from cops?

 

[kage69]

We need to start seeing job termination and jail time for cops who flagrantly violate the constitution, this has to stop. Maybe a nation wide PSA for everyone, cops and citizens: you can film cops at work in the public domain in all fifty states, no matter what. Cops who disagree can take it up with the USSC.

I hope this couple sues the living shit out of them, these cops need to be examples.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

If they're convicted, they won't have the grounds for a successful civil suit.

Wilson asked the court to throw her case out, but on October 6, 2015, the judge denied the motion.

 

[kage69]

I think people would settle for just seeing bad cops convicted, instead of the standard 'leave with pay' prior to being absolved in the face of damning video evidence (if anything happens at all).

The 'interfering with an arrest' explanation is bullshit, that woman wasn't interfering with anything and has the right to openly record police in the public domain, as do we all - in all 50 states, even the 12 with all party consent laws, and yes even in MA and IL.

Orders from police to stop recording are unlawful orders. Period. It's not surprising this is coming from the Jacksonville PD, who has been bitching and moaning and dragging it's feet about adopting officer body cams for awhile now. If this woman had been arrested for simple obstruction, there wouldn't be cops on camera demanding her cel phone, struggling for her cel phone, and keeping her cel phone.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHpQtvIxBJ4

Must watch for anyone interested in their rights wrt recording police in public.

 

[Perknose]

Looks bad, especially her phone going missing, but there is this right in the article:

"When you look at the video, compare it with the report, you can tell it's not true, it's a false report and a false arrest. That's probably the biggest crime in this case, nothing Ms. Wilson did, but what they did to her," said Wilson's other attorney Richard Brown.

News4Jax showed the convenience store surveillance tape to News4Jax Crime and Safety Analyst Gil Smith and he doesn't agree with Wilson's lawyers.

"It's just so difficult because we don't have the audio. We can't hear the police commands," said Smith. "We can't hear if she's complying, or refusing."

Without audio, Smith says it's not an open and shut case to him.

"They say she was yelling back at the person in the police car. That would be interference with an investigation. They ask her to stand back, and she does, but then she comes back again. The problem is we can't tell what the police are saying, or what she's saying to them. So it's difficult to know how she's interfering in the investigation," added Smith.

Wilson tells us she believes recording the officers with her phone's video camera is what got her in trouble with the officers. News4Jax asked Smith if officers can be justified in demanding someone's phone. He says yes, depending on the circumstances.

"There's a possibility, if she's on phone, calling people to come to the scene - then that could be a danger to police officers. So you definitely want to stop that," said Smith.

Without knowing what's being said in this instance, Smith says the officer's commands may have been lawful orders and officers may have been justified in arresting Wilson.

Please note, I am not taking the cops side in this. I'm just illuminating that there is some doubt. It would be vital to recover the woman's phone if the cops aren't lying and they simply neglected to take it into evidence. If they did take it into evidence and lied about it, then they are lying scumbags and should be prosecuted as such.

 

[BurnItDwn]

So, what was the husband in trouble for? Driving while Black?

 

[Darwin333]

I don't care if she was complying or not. Two men beating the crap out of a woman who is on the ground is just unacceptable in every way. The cops use "I thought she was going for a weapon" is just plain fucking BS. That excuse basically gives them free reign to beat the shit out of anyone walking down the street who reaches into their purse of pocket to grab a smoke, phone or whatever.

The life of a police officer is not more valuable than the life of the citizens that they freely signed up to supposedly "serve and protect". If you are so afraid while doing your job that you and your buddy must beat the shit out of a woman while she is virtually immobilized on the ground then you aren't qualified to handle that job. Then there is the issue with the cell phone, she had it in her hand when the officers pounced on her and all of a sudden it's "missing"? It also happens to be the only source of the audio that they claim is required to know if the officers are in the right or the wrong. What a coincidence...

 

[master_shake_]

i guess i'll say it.

they're very, very lucky that those police officers did not shoot or taze them.

seriously lucky.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article36271329.html


Newspaper looks at the cost of cops getting sued for their actions in South Carolina. Over $16 million last year in payouts.

Read some of the case examples.

Police testified an officer had made a “knee strike” aimed at Brown’s upper thigh that ended up near his rib cage after Brown moved.

Although Brown complained he could not feel his legs, an emergency room doctor received no information indicating any significant trauma, the records show, and did not look at his vertebrae before clearing him to be transferred to the detention center.

Oops...cop accidentally missed his thigh, and kneed him so hard he broke 3 vertebra in his back. Honest mistake I am sure.

Among the more costly claims was one related to an incident that occurred on Feb. 25, 2014, when a York County deputy stopped 70-year-old Bobby Canipe at night for driving his pickup with expired North Carolina tags.

Canipe, a truck driver, had exited his vehicle, then reached in the truck bed to get his cane, which the deputy mistook for a weapon and fired multiple shots, hitting Canipe in the chest.

Double oops. Cop is still a cop.

According to a lawsuit, Wilson was an alcoholic and went through severe alcohol withdrawal at the jail. Staff failed to properly examine Wilson, the suit alleged, failed to prescribe an adequate dose of a drug for alcohol withdrawal, did not have Wilson examined by a doctor, and when he went into seizures, three officers “climbed on top of Mr. Wilson’s back, cuffed his hands behind his back, shackled his legs and used excessive force against him by smothering Mr. Wilson and kneeing him in the back, buttocks and head.”

By the time Wilson was taken to the hospital, according to the suit, he suffered from severe brain injury with no hope of recovery. He was taken off life support a week later.

Triple oops....nothing like basically hog-tying someone and chocking him to death essentially.

Jerome Laudman, a mentally ill inmate at the state Department of Corrections who died in 2008 after spending 11 days naked in solitary confinement. By the time he was taken to a hospital, he was suffering from hypothermia.

No problems here right? I mean solitary for 11 days, and it was so cold he was hypothermic and later died? Can't be anything wrong with that right?

It's almost like cops don't care about our lives, but our apologists assure us that these events are rare and uncommon, and he don't need to be concerned for our safety when dealing with the police. Anyone want to buy a bridge? I've got a nice one for sale.