News
Update:
Settlement in Failure to Train Case
Fred Gittes, attorney and NPAP member in Columbus Ohio reached a settlement with the Franklin County Sheriffs Department regarding the 2005 shooting death of Nasir Abdi, a young Ohio resident from Somalia.
Nasir Abdi was shot when four Sheriff’s deputies went to pick him up on a probate court detention order to take him to a hospital after the family had called for help because he had stopped taking his medication for paranoid schizophrenia. The deputies reported Nasir was shot when he attempted to stab one of the deputies. They admitted, however, that until one of them ran toward Nasir, maced him and tried to grab him, Nasir did not strike at them or move toward them. All four deputies were at a safe distance behind protective cover with guns drawn screaming at him until the deputy ran toward Nasir. No one else was anywhere in the vicinity except Nasir and the deputies. The plaintiff’s expert testified that this was a case study in how NOT to approach someone suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and that the deputies should have been trained not to rush and to call for special assistance if the deputies were not trained themselves.
Settlement includes continuing jurisdiction of the court to enforce new initial training requirements, continuing training requirements, implementation of a Crisis Intervention Team, creation of a data base recording all background and interactions related to detentions/arrests of mentally ill individuals involving the warrant squad or CIT, and payment of $500,000 to the family.
To read the settlement agreement click here
City of Oakland Settles with Victims of Police Shooting
On June 18, 2008, Bay Area civil rights attorney and NPAP member John Burris reached a $975,000 settlement with the city of Oakland in the case of two residents who were shot by police officers.
William Caldwell and Leona Savoy were both injured in March 2006 when officers involved in an undercover drug operation fired 26 rounds at a suspect. Both Caldwell and Savoy were hit by bullets while cleaning their cars at a carwash that was full of customers at the time of the shooting.
The lawsuit argued that the officers did not give “adequate consideration to the obvious danger their rash decision to fire such an amount of bullets in such a short span of time and in the direction of the car wash posed to the numerous bystanders …” City officials argued that the officer “reacted reasonably” to the deadly threat the suspect presented to the officers and the public but decided to settle the case to avoid an adverse jury verdict.
Taser International Held Responsible in Landmark Decision
On Friday June 6, 2008, NPAP member John Burton and co-counsel Peter Williamson obtained a landmark victory against Taser International, an Arizona based stun-gun manufacturer. A federal jury held Taser responsible for the death of Robert Heston who died in 2005 from a combination of methamphetamine intoxication, health issues related to drug abuse, and multiple Taser shocks. The six jurors awarded the parents and sister of Heston more than $6 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
The suit alleged that the company failed to properly warn consumers that Taser shocks can be dangerous or even lethal when used repeatedly and in combination with chest compression on individuals under the influence of drugs. The jury exonerated the other defendants in the suit, the Salinas police department as well as the four officers involved in the lethal altercation.
The verdict is especially remarkable as it is the first time that the stun-gun manufacturer has been held responsible for a death or injury linked to its product. Following the verdict Taser stock fell 10% to its lowest level since December 2005. It is expected that Taser will appeal the verdict.
To read the verdict click here
$1.25 Million Settlement Reached in Michigan Wrongful Death Case
On May 21, 2008, Southfield attorney and NPAP board member David Robinson achieved an important victory when he settled the wrongful death case of Tim Curry v. Clinton Township for $1.25 Mio.
The case began in February 2001, when Tim Curry was shot and killed by officers of the Clinton Township Police Department (CTPD). Curry was shot 14 times, and all the shots, except for a contact shot to the side, were into Curry’s back as he lay on the floor. The defendant police officers claimed that the shooting was justified because they feared for their life after Tim Curry allegedly shot and killed police officer Richard Vauris. However, Robinson and his team uncovered facts that strongly suggested that the officer’s death was the result of a fellow officer’s accidental discharge of his service weapon. The evidence at the scene, the ballistics /forensics and eyewitness testimony contradicted the defendant’s version that Tim Curry ever had a weapon or shot the officer. According to Robinson, the use of a ballistics/firearms expert was critical in determining causation to defeat the police version of events.
Beside the claims against the officers for excessive force, wrongful death and gross negligence the cause of action furthermore contained claims against Chief of Police Alexander Ernst for failure to investigate the death and circumstances surrounding the death of Tim Curry and failure to supervise.
Bush Administration Violated Protestor’s Rights, Judge Rules
On March 20th, 2008, NPAP members Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Carl Messineo and Carol Sobel received a very important ruling in a First Amendment case they litigated on behalf of the antiwar ANSWER Coalition. The case goes back to the 2005 Bush/Cheney Inaugural parade where protesters were limited to specific, small areas mostly off of Pennsylvania Avenue. The lawyers won an injunction in US. District Court (DDC) against the federal government forcing it to stop its repeated practice of essentially privatizing the Inaugural parade route for the near exclusive use of the supporters and wealthy donors of the incoming administration. The Court declared that practice unconstitutional.
The lawyers established that the National Park Service (NPS) violated its own regulations in order to give preferential treatment to a favored group, the private Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC), and that it engaged in illegal content-based viewpoint discrimination by excluding those whose views do not conform to the administration. The NPS takes most of the land abutting Pennsylvania Avenue during the parade and provides it to the PIC, a private entity created every four years to serve as the receptacle for wealthy and corporate donors to pour in tens of millions of unregulated dollars as the administration starts its term.
To read the verdict click here.
To read the order click here.
Settlement reached in Four Chicago Torture Cases
As much as there can ever be closure to this outrageous chapter of Chicago police history, it came within reach on December 7 when the city of Chicago agreed to pay nearly $20 million to four victims of police torture.
The settlement goes back to events during the 1970s and 80s and the systematic torture of African American suspects by former Police Commander Jon Burge and his fellow officers at the South Side Area 2 station. African American arrestees were routinely burnt, electro shocked and otherwise abused at Area 2.
It was the perseverance of the lawyers at the People’s Law Office, G. Flint Taylor, John Stainthorpe, Joey Mogul and Ben Elson, that exposed the systematic abuses and finally led to this settlement. The case started when NPAP members G. Flint Taylor and John Stainthorpe represented Andrew Wilson, a man accused and later convicted of killing two police officers. Wilson claimed that his confession was obtained by torture and he had the burn marks to prove his allegation. Subsequently, Taylor and Stainthorpe uncovered evidence that Wilson’s case was not isolated but rather representative of a pattern of abusive behavior against African American arrestees.
The tireless efforts of the lawyers at PLO were instrumental to the wrongful conviction movement in Illinois that led to Governor Ryan commuting all pending death sentences in Chicago and pardoning many of Burge’s victims. The lawyer's efforts included a report, supported by over 200 individuals and organizations, exposing the countless shortcomings of a biased inquiry into the torture cases by special prosecutors Edward J. Egan and Robert D. Boyle.
To read the report on the flawed investigation into the torture cases:
Entire report click here
Appendices click here
Jury renders 'not guilty' verdict in trial against M.D. Catherine Wilkerson
On Monday 12/3/07, after an 8 day jury trial, medical doctor Catherine Wilkerson was found not guilty on two counts of attempted resisting and obstructing police officers and EMS techs. Wilkerson was standing trial in Ann Arbor for trying to render medical help to an unconscious man at the University of Michigan. Dr. Wilkerson is represented by NPAP member and civil rights lawyer Buck Davis, Detroit, as well as attorney Bill Tanner of Ann Arbor.
The case began on November 30, 2006 during an on-campus speech by Raymond Tanter, a foreign policy advisor in the Reagan administration, who has repeatedly proposed that the United States should consider a nuclear strike against Iran. Campus police intervened when the speech drew verbal protest from listeners. Dr. Wilkerson observed a campus police officer on top of one protester, pinning the handcuffed man to the floor with his knee. When the man complained that he could not breathe, Wilkerson grew concerned about the possibility of positional asphyxia. She introduced herself as a medical doctor and tried to get the vital signs of the man who by now was unconscious. After getting shoved by the officer, she was finally allowed to check whether the man was still alive. Dr. Wilkerson continued to offer verbal advice to the paramedics who subsequently arrived on the scene accompanied by city police.
When she protested the unprofessional and punitive treatment by the paramedics, which included the administration of several doses of ammonia inhalant, she was told by city police to leave. As she attempted to do so, she was seized by one officer and her arm was twisted unto her back causing excruciating pain and exacerbating an existing shoulder problem. Superior officers later determined that there were no grounds for an arrest and released her. Two months later, Wilkerson filed a complaint alleging police misconduct. Seven days after that, she was charged with two counts of allegedly attempting to "assault/resist/obstruct" police and ambulance personnel.
To read more about the case and hear an interview with Dr. Wilkerson click here
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