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Sunday, December 27th, 2020

These are the police misconduct lawsuits the public hears little about

Author:     Paul Schwartzman
Source:     The Washington Post
Publication Date:     Dec. 25, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. PST
 Link: These are the police misconduct lawsuits the public hears little about
Stephan:   There is something seriously wrong with the way law enforcement officers are hired and trained. The rate of thuggery and murder under color of authority in the United States is greater than all the countries of Europe combined. Yet it seems almost impossible to have a rational national conversation about this trend.
Michele Hall at her parents’ house in the Pinecrest neighborhood of Miami. Hall won a settlement from the District of Columbia as the result of a lawsuit against police officers for alleged misconduct. Credit: Angel Valentin/The Washington Post

A Black woman received $150,000 after alleging a police officer yanked her from a public restroom and forced her onto the sidewalk in handcuffs while investigating a reported theft.

A computer engineer, who is also Black, got $192,000 after officers — mistaking him for a robbery suspect — beat him so severely on his front lawn that he was hospitalized.

Five other Black men collecteda total of $116,000 after suing the same officer for assault and violating their civil rights as he cleared sidewalks in a gentrifying neighborhood. In one case, a video showed the officer sitting on a man’s chest and showering him with pepper spray after punching him in the face six times.

Over the past five years, the D.C. government has spent millions of dollars settling dozens of police misconduct lawsuits — settlements that, even as officers acknowledge no wrongdoing, documenta trail of nonfatal encounters […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Sunday, December 27, 2020 at 6:07 am

    The police should be taught psychology and sociology to prepare them to be able to de-escalate situations instead of using hard-core physical means and weapons that hurt people. The methods they use is important in their relations to the public which they use to help the public, and should not estrange them from the public instead of creating a good relationship with the public.