San Diego Gestapo...uhhh police...Arrest Innocent Jet Fan

People ask sometimes ask me "what can be worse than the murder of an innocent person by a violent criminal?
For me that is an easy answer: Members of the government allegedly acting on my behalf,and at my expense, who abuse their authority and arrest an innocent person. I am not going to get into the whole thing about allowing 100 guilty men to go free so that one innocent man is not imprisoned, but watching this tape enrages me just as much as the acts of these two idiots in Connecticut.

Thank goodness, a thoughtful fan from San Diego used his camera to record what can only be described as a totalitarian behavior from San Diego's men in blue.

These cops shamed their city, their taxpayers and their badges/uniforms. If I were Mayor of NY I'd be calling for an investigation, and if I were Mayor of San Diego there would be one ongoing right now. A bunch of cops would be on desk duty and a few would be looking at demotions and other discipline! Here is the story in the NY POST

Around the Blogosphere the Week of 12/14/08-12/20/08: Part III- In and Around NY and Long Island

IN part III of this trip around the Blogosphere I found myself looking at some of the things happening in legal life around "here." ("Here" is Long Island and the five boroughs of NYC)

1. In the News on Long Island; Freaky Driving stories:

A. From Newsday (off twitter feed): A Long Island woman jumps from a moving SUV because the driver didn't want to take her to a bar. He wanted to eat dinner. She died. I heard of dying for a drink, but this one is ridiculous.

B. Also from Newsday Suffolk County Cops taze a 62 year old driver who is experiencing bleeding on the brain. He refused to follow orders of cops, they pull him over, he won't get out of car, they taze him, have to then take him to the hospital and wind up saving his life... Now that is making Lemonade from lemons.

2. The Agitator has this post on the indictment of a NYC Police Officer who attacked a guy on a bike, then arrested the guy for running into him!! The officer probably would have succeeded in getting the bicyclist busted on Felony charges had there not been somebody there with a camera phone taking a movie of the incident. The camera man gave his recording to reporters and the cop is now the first cop to be indicted for "Testilying" in as long as I can remember. Radley of course uses the indictment as a teaching opportunity. He scolds Pennsylvania prosecutors for using an old privacy law to allow cops to prosecute people who take photos of them while they "fail" to do their jobs.

3.NYS Governor David Patterson will be appointing a new Jr. Senator from NY to replace Hillary Clinton if she becomes the new Secy of State. So far we have Caroline Kennedy and Fran "The Nanny" Dresher. I would love to throw my hat in the ring too, as it seems the only qualification you need is that you have no qualification...
Ok you have to be at least Thirty years old.

Anyway, Kennedy is campaigning for the job (Dresher was on Larry King but she has a snowball chance in hell of getting the job unless she runs for it and gets a voice coach) Now here is the thing
In this story Caroline says she is a "Clinton Democrat". Now that does nothing for me but assuming it does something for a democrat, How can she call herself a Clinton Democrat when she supported Barack Obama against Clinton for President??? (Maybe Caroline is more qualified for the US Senate than we think, she clearly already knows doublespeak.)

Then I notice her voting record in general elections is "spotty". That means sometimes she doesn't chose to vote. Now while it is popular to say that it is everyone's duty to vote, I for one do not agree. I refuse to vote when I think that I am voting for the lesser of two evils. That is usually how I feel when I vote for President and sometimes Governor but at least there are lesser offices I might care about. I also do not vote when I don't know anything about the candidates or their opinions. I see nothing wrong with that. (About not voting, not knowing positions is a different post entirely, sometimes that is not my fault.)

Ms. Kennedy-Schlossberg is not unqualified to be a Senator from NY because she has missed votes, nor because she has never held nor run for public office. She is unqualified because she knows nothing of the needs of New Yorkers and we do not need another celebrity senator coming from this state when there are a number of people who do know what they are talking about and what to do about the issues. Unfortunately none of them are even in Congress right now.

Finally there is this interesting choice for US Senator, one that the Governor should really think about, one who has served our state very well over the last 20+ years and who is well aware of the needs of the people of our state. I think Eric Turkewitz of New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog is on to something when he recommends Chief Judge Judith Kaye who retire in 2 weeks to be our new Junior Senator. The only qualm I have with Eric's post is that he compares Ms. Kennedy with Pres. G.W. Bush. I am sorry Eric, there is no comparison. Caroline was an excellent student and a very good child. She has always been thoughtful and concerned about others while she guarded her privacy. Comparing her to Bush is like comparing the Pope to Saddam Hussein. Still I think Judge Kaye would make a great democrat possibility for US Senate.

4. Finally, The New York State Bar Association has a general Practice committee. It has a blog. The blog written by Leonard Sienko has a lot of important stuff on it. You don't have to be a member of the State Bar to read the Blog. So READ THE BLOG!!

Two important posts:

A. NY has finally adopted the Model Rules for Professional Conduct. It goes into effect in March 2009. I will be blogging on that I imagine a lot in the next few months.

and

B. The IRS is willing to help struggling homeowners refi and sell their homes by allowing Federal Tax liens to take a secondary position to some mortgages. It's a start anyway.


5. Over at the Divorce hotline, Janine Barbera (aka MatMaven) has a post about the way some judges just lord over a court, forgetting the people that use the court are not there to serve them so much as to be served by them. The post is short on facts but that is fair, Janine wants to be able to continue to practice law. Besides if any judge she appeared before in the last couple of days sees himself, then he should CHANGE HIS WAYS!!!

Q: In the meantime here is a quiz... What is the shortest time span known to man??

A: The period of time it takes for a newly minted judge to forget he was ever a practicing lawyer...

Ok that is a generalization, but sadly it is true way too often. Maybe it is something they should address in judge's school.

OK so much for Part III.

Stupid Cops Are As Big a Threat To Kids as Stranger Pedophiles: Two Cases of Keystone Kops Actions That Will Scar Innocent Children For Life

My first civil rights case, was on behalf of a Haitian kid who had the temerity to cut his grandfather's lawn while being black and wearing dreads... no joke.

Three dolt cops were looking for a car with the license plate WTZ 469 my client had a plate, WZT 469. The car they were looking for, a stolen vehicle, was a white SUV. My client's car was a green coupe.

They watched him as he took a lawn mower out of the back of his car, and started to mow the grass at his Grandfather's house. Then these dyslexic cops jumped out of their car, without identifying themsleves, jumped him onto the cement sidewalk causing contusions to his face, and set off a mini-riot as people were yelling at them for arresting an innocent kid. His mom (the rightful owner of the kid's car) pulled up and tried to tell these idiots that the car belonged to her. No matter. They slammed the kid into the vehicle so hard that his face broke the window!!

Backups had to be called in to quell the disturbance, and while that was going on one of the jerks calls into the precinct only to learn they had the wrong car. Now one would figure that such a finding would result in releasing the kid, apologizing and of course telling the kid to contact the department to pay for the damages to his face...Right.

No the cop on the radio informs the patrolman to switch to another "unmonitored" channel and then they have a conversation about how they better arrest the kid and the mother and charge something or they are going to pay a lot of money out to some "%^&ing Lawyer and the kid". So they arrested the kid and the next day his mom.

Case got dismissed and then I sued. Why? Turns out an amateur radio operator was "monitoring" the band the cops used to come up with the story that they were going to tell. There was an internal investigation... No charges brought. My case settled for just under $25k + free medical and attorney's fees. Kid was happy, and at the time, I was happy. Looking back, I wish we had gone whole hog on it, you know trial and all. On the other hand, it was the early 90's and pre-Louima so who knows maybe it would have gone no where and $25K was all we would have gotten. Maybe the press could have cared less. One thing I know, though is that this wasn't isolated in Nassau County NY and it sure as hell isn't isolated in America.


So you can imagine my frustration and anger at reading these 3 posts by Tony(c) award Winner in News blogging The Agitator's Radley Balko

The Dymond Milburn case (posts one and two) especially has my attention. Here is a 12 year old girl, black doing a chore on her own property in Texas. 4 plainclothes cops who are supposed to be looking for 3 white sex workers attack a little girl thinking she is one of the white sex workers??? I am sorry but WTF!!!!.

They are trying to take her away and she is holding onto a try screaming for help. They are beating her up with flashlights and she is afraid she is about to be abducted! Her father comes out and he is tries to explain to these "officers of the law" that the child is 12, a middle school honor student and not a prostitute.

His protests are met with: "I don't care if she is twenty-two, thirty-two or forty-six, tell her to calm down."

Ok, tell me why that asshole shouldn't be shot on the spot by the father? Maybe he had identified himself to the family at that point. Ok don't shoot, but still "I don't care if she is twenty two thirty two or forty six..."??? Screw him, all he wanted was to be in control of a situation that he caused to be out of control in the first place. Oh and did I mention they told her they were gonna shoot her puppy which had come to her aid with barking and biting.

Now for those of you who say that this is only one side, I agree and I still do not care...SHE IS 12. Can anyone imagine what would have happened if one of these Keystone Cops had a taser??

Finally it comes to an end, the kid goes to the hospital for her physical injuries which are fairly serious (two black eyes and wounds to the head consistant with being struck with a flashlight), and the Chief of Galveston Police sends her a dozen roses and an apology right? WRONG!!! No, they go to her SCHOOL three weeks later and arrest her in front of everyone else for resisting arrest and injuring AN OFFICER!! Geeez can they be more arrogant?

If you have the stomach for it, take a look at the complaint. Trust me, if you care an iota about what is left of Civil Rights in this country you better have a barf bag available.

Now even if the first part were entirely made up ala Tawanna Brawley, why did they have to arrest her at school??? SHE IS 12. What part of "12" do these dumb bastards not understand. Call her in, go politely to her home. Why embarass the child? Why is the Governor or Texas not sending his best Assistant Deputy Attorney General and his top State investigator down to Galveston with an order to bring him back some badges?? Maybe it is because Dymond is black, and her parents are poor, and so, well, maybe they think it will go away.

Has anybody seen this on the MSM??? Is Katie Couric focusing on this mess? No, but trust me, I have seen the power of Radley Balko's blog following, and there is about to be some hell to pay. I don't have his readership, but I too am pissed and I want some answers. I will be forwarding this post and a letter to my Congressman and asking that we fix 42 USC 1983 to give it the teeth it had before the SCOTUS and friends dismantled it.

As for the child, Dymond Milburn, she has nightmares about being carried off in the night and being raped by cops. Surprise!


BTW Balko got his story from the Houston Press

Then there is the attack on three kids when SWAT came into their bedroom... well maybe I will have more time for that one later. Oh yeah, the police are still shooting innocent animals too.

Sharpton Reaction To The Bell Verdict: The Reverend Has The Right Idea, Just The Wrong Place ( Do Not Protest in Front of The Judge's House.)

Let me begin by saying, if one is not happy with a policy or action by there government, one of the best ways of expressing that dissent is through peaceful civil disobedience. Another good idea is to protest in places where your words will have an effect. Pressuring legislators and executives is a part of our liberty rights.

This type of pressure is inappropriate in front of the house of a Judge, even if you don't like him, trust him, or understand his rulings.

The Rev. Al Sharpton can be a polarizing force here in NY. Unlike the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, "The Reverand Al" as we sometimes refer to him, hasn't always sounded like someone who was seeking a peaceful protest. As he has gotten older, and as he has moved toward understanding the possibilities that he could actually be the leader that black America has sought since the Death of Dr. King, He has gotten far more studious of King's way. He is also taking advice from better advisers and lawyers (Michael Hardy who is Mrs. Palwtry Bell's lawyer for one) than he used to get.

One has to remember, Rev. Al is a Brooklyn boy who grew up on those mean streets. He is loud and occasionally obnoxious. He is like a mix between the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Muhammad Ali.

Sharpton has been at the side of some of NY and America's neediest families as they face the devastation of racial prejudice at the hands of Authority. He was there for the family of Amadou Diallo, the Jena six and now for Sean Bell's family.

After hearing Queens' Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman's decision in the Bell manslaughter shooting case, He went back to his Harlem Headquarters and said he intended to close New York City down. He called for peaceful protest and peaceful disobedience in front of One Police Plaza in Manhattan, in front of the Supreme Court House in Queens and in front of the home of Justice Cooperman. Given the position he and his followers are taking in this case, one could argue he has the right medicine but in calling for protests in front of the home of Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman, he has prescribed the wrong dose.

No matter how peaceful, a large protest in front of some one's home is threatening and scary. It is wrong. It is meant to send a message. I understand the messages being sent from the protest in front of One Police Plaza (we will not stand for police officers who risk the lives of innocent people to spare their own) and the one in front of the Courthouse (we do not believe we received a fair verdict in this case) but the only message I understand from protesting in front of Justice Cooperman's home is "if you are the next judge in a case like this, and you rule against what we want, we will be in front of your house and it may not be a peaceful protest we bring." Even if that is not the message Sharpton wants to send, it is the one that the legal community and the court system will get. He should not ring an attack on judicial independence and as lawyers and citizens we need to criticize his decision to do so. His decision is both short sighted and dangerous to the very people he claims he wants to help.

Judicial independence is important. It is especially important to the people who Sharpton says he speaks for, the poor, the minorities, the disaffected. Judicial independence means that judges are free to decide cases fairly and impartially, relying only on the facts and the law. It means that judges are protected from political pressure, legislative pressure, special interest pressure, media pressure, public pressure, financial pressure, or even personal

http://www.justiceatstake.org

It is very difficult for people charged with heinous crimes to get a fair trial. If Judges think they or their families face potential danger, what is the chance they will stick their neck out to help the accused. Far more poor, minorities, and disaffected people are charged with heinous crimes than Police officers.

Judges like juries experience the world through their own eyes. Much like many of us, judges believe what they hear based not only on the words but also the demeanor and background of the person giving the testimony. When there is a culture clash like in this case and such as in the of O. J. Simpson and Bernhardt Goetz, the view the finder of fact sees may be far different than what the supporters or detractors of the parties views. Sharpton is right to admonish the court that some one's prior criminal record does not mean he can never be believed on the stand or that he gives up his right not to be shot down by police. On the other hand, Judges have a right to be wrong. It is one of the ways they get the other branches of government to look at issues and think about them differently. In the area of criminal justice, Judges who make mistakes sometimes force change in the system which in the long run will favor Sharpton's supporters far more than if they fear to make those mistakes.

As the late Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., said: "Judicial independence is the judge's right to do the right thing or, believing it to be the right thing, to do the wrong thing."

The Reverend Sharpton is wrong to call for any protest at Justice Cooperman's home. Hopefully someone will remind him of this and he will call off any such protest there.

Suffolk NY District Att'y Spota Investigates Fire Island Police Dept For Brutality: Newsday Cites Case Brought By That Lawyer Dude

Long Island's Newsday daily paper quotes me in today's article on the brutality of the Ocean Beach Police Department. I am also featured on today's Radio News broadcast on WCWP 88.1FM Long Island's Public Radio station. This Just in I will be quoted in a national Associated Press article being written by fellow lawyer Pat Noltan.

Anyway enough bragging. The fact of the matter is that it has been an open secret among the defense bar that police brutality on Fire Island and especially in Ocean Beach has been horrendous. Unfortunately because the hamlet has its own court and private prosecutors the police department charges misdemeanors and violations and sweeps the brutality under the rug. In situations where the brutality does come to fore, the Police and the hamlet's private insurance company settle the cases with gag orders and without having to take responsibility for the actions.


In January, NY is getting a new Governor and the State house will be back to business. If the state wants to pass bills to reduce brutality and acknowledge the importance of the rule of law and of a civil police department it needs to act this year to:

1 Require no less than 4 full weeks of training for every village and hamlet police officer or part-time cop.
2. Make it illegal for a municipality to settle a civil rights claim under seal and without an admission or finding of fault (Even if the claim is settled under a different theory such as harassment or false arrest)
3. Set up a full time commission of civilians to oversee police complaints. It would function the same as the State Grievance Committees that investigate complaints against lawyers. It would employ investigators and prosecutors who would then proffer complaints for the state attorney general or local District Attorneys to prosecute.

In the meantime if you have been a victim of Police Brutality on Ocean Beach, Fire Island, NY, please contact District Attorney Thomas Spota. You can also speak to myself or Diane Petillo who heads up the Civil Rights and Constitutional Law division of our Law Office.