Police

Taser Company Makes ‘Defective,’ Dangerous Stun Guns

The company that manufactures Tasers is knowingly putting “defective, unreasonably dangerous” products in the hands of police, according to a lawsuit from a teenager who was nearly killed by the stun gun. The suit comes just three months after former Independence Police Officer Timothy Runnels was sentenced to prison for violating the civil rights of the teen, Bryce Masters, when the officer …


Chicago Heights Pays $15M to Settle Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit

On the day he came into a $15 million windfall, Rodell Sanders said he is considering a much-deserved vacation. During 20 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit, Sanders studied the law and devoted himself tirelessly to overturning his conviction for the 1993 murder of Philip Atkins in Chicago Heights. On his way to successfully appealing his guilty verdict, Sanders told relatives not …


City of Erie, Police Want Excessive Force Lawsuit Dismissed

In a written response to the lawsuit filed by 47-year-old Tyrone Morrow Sr., lawyers representing the city denied many of Morrow’s claims, and said that “the stop and investigation of the Plaintiff were lawful and supported by probable cause and reasonable suspicion.” The lawsuit also claims that the city, and officers involved in the incident, “are entitled to the defense of qualified immunity …


Cleveland Settles ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Wrongful Death Lawsuit With Black Man’s Family

Kim Palmer| CLEVELAND CLEVELAND The family of a African-American man who died in 2010 after being tasered by Cleveland police will receive a $375,000 settlement from the city, the mayor’s office said on Thursday. Rodney Brown died on New Year’s Eve after a police radio caught him telling officers “I can’t breathe.” First responders were unable to resuscitate the 40-year-old, 12 minutes after …


‘Gotta Cover Our Ass’: Connecticut Police Made Up Charges, ACLU Lawsuit Charges

“Our client is a guy who is very concerned with privacy, and who protests DUI checkpoints around the capital region here in Hartford, Connecticut,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement on the lawsuit. “He feels they’re both unconstitutional and a waste of money. He has done public records investigations, for example, and recently found that for every two man hours put into a …


Attorney for Defendants in Ryan Ferguson Lawsuit Says They Have Immunity

COLUMBIA — The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday that Ryan Ferguson’s $100 million lawsuit against six people in the Columbia Police Department should not go forward because the defendants have qualified immunity. Ferguson was convicted for the murder of Columbia Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt in 2005. He spent nearly 10 years of his 40-year sentence behind …


Cops Accidentally Record Themselves Fabricating Charges Against Protester, Lawsuit Says

Michael Picard was filming a protest near a police DUI checkpoint in West Hartford, Conn., in Sept. 2015 when troopers confiscated his camera. The ACLU says this recording proves the officers fabricated criminal charges against Picard. (ACLU-CT) Three Connecticut state troopers fabricated criminal charges against a man protesting at a DUI traffic checkpoint, according to a lawsuit filed against …


$66 Million Civil Lawsuit Filed in Oakland Police Sex Scandal

Attorneys filed a civil lawsuit Friday against the City of Oakland in connection with the police sexual misconduct scandal. Jasmine Abuslin, the woman at the center of the scandal, returned to the Bay Area Thursday with civil rights attorneys Pamela Price and Charles Bonner. She is asking for $66 million, documents said.


Dallas Cop Files Lawsuit Against Black Lives Matter

A Dallas police officer has filed a class action lawsuit against several people associated or perceived to be associated with the Black Lives Matter movement for speaking out against police brutality and allegedly enflaming anti-police sentiment. Sgt. Demetrick Pennie, a 17-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department and the president of the Dallas Fallen Officer Foundation, filed the lawsuit …


Dallas Cop Files Lawsuit Against Black Lives Matter, Obama

A Dallas Police sergeant filed a lawsuit on Friday against Black Lives Matter and its supporters, alleging the group is inciting a race war. Sgt. Demetrick Pennie, a 17-year veteran of the force, is seeking between $500 million and $1.5 billion in the complaint filed in federal court, the Dallas Morning News reported.