UPDATE on officer who kicked and shot dog, must read!

Those of you kind enough to stop by my thread yesterday and give your feedback on the actions of the Lubbock, Texas police officer who kicked and then summarily shot a pit bull who appeared to be playing in the parking lot of a grocery store may be interested to know that this officer seems to be a violent sort of cop.

First, the original thread: www.abovetopsecret.com...

As I'm going through the news this evening, officer Clinton Lewis' name comes up again, this time concerning a lawsuit against he and another officer for using excessive force against an older, off-duty cop. The title of the article is "Judge takes note of missing evidence in LPD lawsuit".

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) -
A federal judge refuses to throw out a lawsuit against Lubbock Police Officers Clinton Lewis and Jeffery Simpson. The officers are accused of excessive force in the July 2009 arrest of an off-duty law enforcement officer.

Robert Campbell was a specially-deputized U.S. Marshal for court security, and he was also a retired Sheriff's Deputy.

He was at home drinking beer when there was a disturbance with a neighbor. Lewis and Simpson responded, talked to Campbell and others at his home. They then went to talk the neighbor.

Campbell then remembered he left his duty weapon in his vehicle so he retrieved it and put it in the waistband of his pants. When the officers returned they wanted to see Campbell's ID so he backed into his house so as to not show the weapon. Campbell claims that officers forced their way into his home, then saw the weapon, over-reacted and beat him as they arrested him.

The officers see it differently, instead saying that Campbell disobeyed orders and they pursued him into the home for that reason. In the process they saw the weapon. They say they used physical force because Campbell continued disobeying and because he resisted arrest.

Either way, U.S. District Court Judge Mary Lou Robinson made a ruling that, "Campbell did not pull the weapon, brandish it, or display it in a threatening manner."

No one disputes that Campbell was bloodied up in the scuffle. He suffered a fractured sinus bone, cuts and bruises. Officers admit Campbell was hit in the face and shocked with a Taser.

All charges against Campbell were later dropped.

The judge said in her ruling that because the officers are asking to have the lawsuit tossed out, she must look at the facts in the "most favorable" light to Campbell.

Assuming Campbell's claims are true, the judge ruled, "... The Court concludes that the need to arrest Campbell, and the level of force allegedly used by the officers to do so, was both excessive to the need and objectively unreasonable."

But that was not the only factor for the judge. She also ruled, "Simpson testified at his deposition that there were audio and video recordings made by the responding police vehicles' recording equipment."

The judge continued, "Simpson testified that after he had received notice of this lawsuit, it was discovered that all of that evidence is missing. He looked for it, and could not find it."

"Plus all additional copies of the police recordings which were turned over by the Lubbock Police Department to the Lubbock County District Attorney's office for the DA's use as criminal trial evidence in the charged cases, are missing, apparently destroyed or lost," according to the ruling.

The newest court documents do not mean that Campbell wins the lawsuit. Instead, they mean that the lawsuit stays on the books as disputed facts are resolved and the lawsuit could very well be headed for a jury trial.

www.kcbd.com...

Notice several things: The severity of the way officer Lewis responded to the incident, resulting in the horrible beating of this man (see pic in link)....and how, conveniently, ALL THE recordings and evidence relating to this case are somehow missing.

This is what I mean by police using excessive force and totally getting away with it. Anybody who saw the original video of Officer Lewis shooting the dog quickly after giving him a hard kick in the side could see that he was just a real mean guy with a gun and a badge.

Apparently, he has been violent and using excessive force on the job for quite a while now (this lawsuit is from an incident that happened in 2009).

I applaud the judge for not tossing the case out. It is obvious that the cops at LPD are covering for each other as they commit acts of brutality while on the job. This cop is also a liar in the way that he writes his reports, apparently. Yet he remains active on the force and is patrolling the streets, quick to anger and quick to lie about it afterwards.

Anybody who lives in Lubbock feel any safer now?

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Some people have no business being a cop....This is one of those. I hope people do not hold the corrupt actions of this single officer against the entire department or cops as a whole...But I know they will.


I think it is safe to assume that the majority of cops in Lubbock are nice,honest and caring people....

Don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch for you.

reply to post by DirtyLiberalHippie


I get what you're saying, Hippy, but more than one cop is involved in this if ALL the evidence has been removed and destroyed, not just at the police department but ALSO in the District Attorney's office.

My daughter has had occasion to speak to a few officers in Lubbock (related to her car being broken into), and they were nice guys, but there is most likely a corrupt core of "good ol' boys" who are protecting each other.

I think they need to be exposed and rooted out. I know that cops have a hard job, but there is no excuse for violence, lying and tampering with evidence.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


I'm from Lubbock (from, not in, thank god) and I can tell you that this is about typical. Not only is it disgusting, violent, and inhumane, it's also a waste of police resources, and taxpayer resources by extension. The police don't do anything, surely not solving crimes given the state of things in Lubbock. And that really is typical. Lubbock's got the same people who "misplaced" plague virus, the same people who elected Randy Neugebauer, the same people who elected a mayor who used his newfound political resources to evict half of the "ghetto" so that his real estate mogul father could buy the land and build condos on it, and more besides.

I'm not sure if it's just a sign of the times (recent memory includes a young golden retriever shot and killed near its yard by a police officer, for no reason) or just Lubbock being Lubbock. All I know is that I wish my hometown would make the news for something other than being a great example of the worst humanity has to offer.

reply to post by lycosa


I apologize for these stories! My husband was born in Lubbock, his family has been here on the south plains since the 1800s, when his great grandpappy was a Texas Ranger. Lubbock has some great things about it, to be sure. There are some kind, intelligent people there. Sadly, this thread isn't about them.

You seem to be fully aware of the "good ol' boy" nexus which runs deeply through this part of the country, and there are some cops who are just mean as the day is long. Sadly, they are being protected. I guess, since I'm not a native Texan, but a native Californian, I find this to be utterly reprehensible.

When I saw the video of the dog being shot, I could tell by the officer's mannerisms and cruelty towards both dogs that he was a "bad apple". And if the story was simply that he was in trouble for another violent action, I wouldn't have posted it.

What got my goat was that there is more than one cop involved (besides the partner), if the evidence was stolen and destoyed in TWO different locations.

People in Lubbock will shrug their shoulders and say "oh well". It is this attitude that allows this B.S. to continue unabated.

How much you wanna bet that Officer Clinton Lewis attends church each Sunday like a good ol' boy should?

Resisting arrest???
Did the officers indicate to him what he was being arrested for? You can't resist arrest if you don't have an indication your being arrested for something.If you've done nothing wrong walking away from a cop is not grounds for arrest, or a claim by the officers of resiting arrest.Disobeying orders? What orders? What exactly did they want him to do?Once an officer indicates what your being arrested for then its a different story. It just goes to show that the hiring of police officers now a days is completely based on psychological profiling rather than IQ or physical fitness. If you are dumb, and a control freak your a cop.

reply to post by mark1167


True. Seems to me that all a cop has to do is say "they resisted arrest", and that is supposed to excuse the beatings, broken bones and tasering. The whole process of proper arrest, informing the arrestee as to what they are being detained for, and using the minimal force necessary to get the job done are things of the past.

What should have been a simple case of telling the neighbors to behave and not make so much noise had turned into a terrible, violent altercation. Then the corruption on top of it....yikes!!

reply to post by FissionSurplus


I know the good ol' boy system too well. I got canned from the last job I held in that town because my little brother broke up with the boss's daughter. And of course, there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it, and nobody was gonna stick their neck out for me because they'd just get their heads cut off, too.

That is the problem with Lubbock. "Lubbock or leave it." Don't dare try doing anything that could rock the boat, or get out. So, you care about the dog that valiant policeman shot? You dare? You're some kind of hippie, you aren't welcome, you're not moral, you're not Christian, you're not a patriot, you have no family values, you should be ashamed, you should be shunned. That's Lubbock. And the ramifications of that shunning can range from your family not speaking to you, to job loss, and worse.

It's not that there aren't people who want things to get better, it's that the great majority of everyone else beats them down til they shut up about it or they leave. Apathy is just a survival mechanism.

And to bring it closer back to the topic... I worry that a lot of the US is like that. That apathy comes with the thickening of the skin, when everyone around you would kick your ass down the block (sometimes literally) if they knew you saw something wrong with the way things are.

reply to post by lycosa


LOL....I'm just some liberal hippy trash from Cali, I have no business pointing out something like this, huh?

Yeah, I can tell the way they idolize cops and the military out here that my voice is a lone one in the wilderness, but the one ray of hope in this otherwise backwards part of the country is that the judge refused to throw the case out, even after the evidence had been stolen. Good for her!

Let's hope that justice will be served this time.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Perhaps these bad cops will get thrown to the legal wolves, and a Lubbock story will at least have justice in it, though in cases of police brutality and dog killing "happy" can hardly describe any ending. But at least there is the possibility that somebody is gonna do the right thing, somewhere along the line.

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
LOL....I'm just some liberal hippy trash from Cali, I have no business pointing out something like this, huh?

No, you should do like the rest of the Llano ladies and vie for the Guinness record for Largest Turquoise Ring.

But in all seriousness, keep up the good fight. You don't fight it alone out there, even if you rarely see your allies.

reply to post by lycosa


Thanks, lycosa! I don't wear jewelry, other than my wedding ring....largest turquoise ring.....LMAO.....Those look soooo ridiculous.

I know there are intelligent and thoughtful members of the Lubbock community, and I'm sure the judge isn't part of the good ol' boy crowd, which is probably why she wasn't able to be swayed when the evidence turned up missing.

After talking to my husband about these stories, he feels that maybe, in their own way, TPTB in Lubbock are going after this bad apple. If justice is served, he will no longer be able to be a cop, in Lubbock or any place else.

The cops with the least favorable intentions out weigh the officers with moral intentions.


Shooting a dog that was playing with another dog?? I mean seriously how IGNORANT can you be?


Gun totin' hot head ignorant goon..

just watch the video on your other thread , its unbelievable if that had been my dog i would kill the cop without a second thought , and id make sure he died slowly just like the dog did , evil man he is how do cop in america get away with doing things like this , all i can say is america never give up your gun's not when there are cops like him around ,,

You know how some Americans like to mock the British for handing in their guns, and say loudly that the right bear arms guarantees their freedoms from tyrants and injustices?

Doesn't seem to be working out that way to me.