Grandfather visiting AL from India left temporarily paralyzed after stopped by police during a walk

a reply to: sosobad

Yes, I will say this is not evidence of racism.

It is evidence of absolute stupidity.

Let me ask you, what makes it racist? Because he described the man as a "skinny black man"? That's not racist, that is called describing someone. If a black man were to call the cops on me and describe me as a "short, chubby white guy with glasses" can I then claim racism because he used the word "white"? I don't think so, because I my skin color is white. So when this man says "skinny black man", I do not feel that is racist at all. The guy is skinny. The guy's skin color is black. What do you expect from someone giving a description and calling the cops for assistance?

originally posted by: iDope
What if he was deaf mute? He should be slammed to the street? All the cop had to do was to pat him down, find no reason to arrest him, and maybe listen to the man when he stated the address to where he was staying an check on it. That is it.

The answer to your question is Yes.

This is Standard Operating Procedure it seems.

Meister vs California (pdf) Here is your deaf person, beaten while removing his own property from the backyard of the home of his friend, who gave him permission to be there and remove the property. Of course Police arrived, did not realize the man was using sign language to communicate, so they took him down, beat the crap out of him, and repeatedly tazed him until he passed out and stopped using his hands in "a threatening manner".

originally posted by: FraggleRock

The police officer placed on leave after an incident that left an Indian man hospitalized last week has been charged with third-degree assault.

So urce

This source also has additional video taken from another dash cam as well as audio of the entire incident including the call that was made to the non-emergency line to set everything in motion.

I listened to the entire audio of the initial caller to the police dispatch report. There was a difference in the story from the caller to what the dispatch reported to the police being deployed to the area.

Initial Report
The caller said,

...we've had a guy, he was doin' it yesterday..and today, he was just kinda wanderin' around driveways, and now he's walkin' down Hardaman place lane toward Hardaman Road...
He's kinda walkin' around, close to the garage...

Regarding the Description
The police emergency operator asked,

...what does he look like?...

The caller answered,

...ahhh..he's a skinny black guy, he's got a toboggan (?) on...ahh..he's really skinny...and I don't..I...I..I've lived here four years and I never seen him before...

The police emergency operator responded,

...ok...

The police emergency operator asked,

...alright, blue jeans, sweater, jacket, what?...

The caller answered,

...he's got on blue jeans, he's got on a like a..ahhh...ahhh...like a white or ahh ahh really light colored sweater or toboggan...

The police emergency operator asked,

...ok...about how old does he look?...

The caller answered,

...I can't really tell, I would, I would say he was 30 but...

The police emergency operator says,

...ok...alright...

Now, after some more interactions regarding where he was walking, etc... the police emergency operator asked,

...ok...do you want contact when the officer shows up?

The caller answered, after mentioning he was on his way to work (meaning, he won't wait around for the officer to arrive) and that he was nervous about leaving his wife alone with the guy across the street,

...I'd like somebody to talk to him...

Here is the Police dispatcher relaying the report to the officer

IMPORTANT - Remember, the caller initially stated clearly,

...we've had a guy, he was doin' it yesterday..and today, he was just kinda wanderin' around driveways, and now he's walkin' down Hardaman Place Lane toward Hardaman Road...
He's kinda walkin' around, close to the garage...

The police dispatcher (the voice sounds different from the police emergency operator that took the call), begins by describing the suspects actions, and misrepresents the original call slightly, embellishing the story a bit, which is the start of the escalation IMO, by saying

...he's walking around in the yards, standing by the driveways, and looking in the garages ...

The caller NEVER said he was "walking around in the yards", or "looking in the garages" at all. Now to an officer responding, that escalates the level of response to a possible suspect casing houses, and trespassing in yards, etc... So, I think, in this case, the police dispatcher needlessly (and likely without even knowing) began an escalation that the officer on scene took even further to the completely unwarranted assault on the poor man. The officer likely (IMO) used physical force when the suspect failed to answer him (due to his lack of English language skills), the officer might have taken that as being evasive, and in his mind, was a reason to employ physical force to "get an answer from him".

I believe the officer should bear the vast majority of the blame here, for sure, as he is the one that made the on scene judgement to physically subdue the man. However, there needs to be serious review of the handling of the details in the call being handed from the police operator to the dispatcher, and the dispatchers job to ACCURATELY relay the details to the officer sent to the scene.

Unbelievable! That cop saying "You can walk!" That cop slammed his head and body so hard on the concrete that it paralyzed him.

originally posted by: sean
Unbelievable! That cop saying "You can walk!" That cop slammed his head and body so hard on the concrete that it paralyzed him.

On purpose. And what's even more nauseating is that a couple of MPD cops are arguing with me that nothing should be done to the guy "because our training manual specifies that if someone pulls away from a Terry pat-down, we should armlock them, grab them by the hair, and face plant them as hard as we possibly can! So that's ok! It's standard procedure! Is that not ok? Should we not be doing that?"

They can't see what's wrong with it. I would suspect none of them, the DA, the mayor or any local judge or member of any of the families thereof have ever been treated to standard procedure. You'd hope that common sense would tell you, no, that's not ok for someone who's not resisting or combative. That seems to be a bit much to ask.

a reply to: Bedlam

Of course nothing is ever wrong with police policy, protocols and training. A peaceful pedestrian slammed to concrete and paralyzed because he was walking down the side walk and doesn't speak english and understand why police are harassing him. And they call themselves peace officers. They should be called breach of peace officers.

a reply to: Anyafaj

I hope this man sues this police force for everything it is worth. How many stories how many victims before the good police officers and union say enough.



This is costing the tax payer tons of money and it is happening daily now. This is systemic at this point with no end in sight.

On top of his wrist-slap charge locally, Eric Parker is now being charged with a felony by the FBI over this incident.

Seems as if the FEDS think it's chargeable. So he's going to meet the big guy in the black robes that ISN'T influenced by local politics or FOP. So he won't have THAT going for him.

Also, it seems this isn't Parker's first incident of this type. His lawyer is going ape# trying to keep Parker's use of force record out of the public scrutiny. Seems he's renowned for this sort of thing. Only he's been let slide by IA every time (go figure).

a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks for the update. Good to know.

P

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: rockintitz

Ya I didn't mean to take blame away from the cops, guess I just figured that was a give in.
IMO the cops did 0 police work here and this man paid for it.

My problem is also with the person that called the hounds on the guy.
Getting tired of that person getting off scott free in these cases.

whatever happened to the 6TH AMENDMENT?

"to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,"

originally posted by: pheonix358
a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks for the update. Good to know.

P

I was reading another thread where a cop choke-slammed an autistic guy in an event that was reminiscent of this one, with similar results.

Maybe the DOJ putting the cops on the grill for this sort of thing will reduce the allure of doing this. Although I'm sure the visceral pleasure of "putting the perp in his place" will be there contending with "what if I end up in the federal pen for 10 years even AFTER my IA rubber stamping".

Next, the DOJ needs to start also prosecuting the cop bystanders for their failure to intervene. THAT'S when you will see the thin blue line snap. It quits being fun to watch Sgt Ogre power slam a 'subject' for contempt of cop when YOU go to jail for it, too, I'd imagine.

after 2 hung juries, the judge has thrown this out. the first jury had TEN white men who said the cops did nothing wrong. the 2 ladies of african descent who said guilty could not believe that they saw and heard the same evidence.

more cops who will now think that they are above the law and will never have to face consequences for their actions.

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: blackthorne

That is horrible...

By Grabthar's hammer, I think that's the wrong link.

a reply to: Bedlam

I think you might have a point there.

a reply to: Bedlam

woops! well, at least i paid tribute to dr lazarus from a very under rated comedy by accident! DOH!
here is the link!

www.salon.com...

a reply to: blackthorne

That is crap,what a shoddy excuse for justice,i cannot believe that is how it played out,and to top it off the victim cannot walk or have proper use of his hands as a result of the injury.....

a reply to: MrWendal

Of course you are right, look at all the calls about white people walking in a neighbourhood and then beaten up by the police. Once that happens I am more than happy to say it's not about race.