Appeals Court Strips Immunity From Abusive Cops Who Assaulted A Compliant Black Man... And The City That Allowed This To Happen

from the all-hail-Lamar-Wright,-slayer-of-unicorns dept

It is exceedingly difficult to overcome qualified immunity in civil rights lawsuits against law enforcement officers. It often seems no matter how egregious the rights violation, qualified immunity still gets awarded because no previous law enforcement officer has egregiously violated rights in this exact way prior to the current case.

It's a rigged game -- one rigged by the very same institution that cursed the nation with this judicial construct more than 50 years ago. The Supreme Court conjured up this atrocity in 1967 and has spent the last several decades making it even more difficult for cops to be held accountable for their actions.

In this case [PDF], via Gabriel Malor, it's a pair of unicorns. Not only does the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court strip the qualified immunity the lower court awarded to a couple of Ohio cops, but it also strips the immunity from the city of Euclid, Ohio. It's a very rare occurrence when courts actually find a "pattern and practice" argument worthy of a sustained Monell claim and this is one of them.

Let's jump right in and see what led to this lawsuit. Surprise, surprise: it's the beat down and bogus arrest of an unarmed black man. Lamar Wright was conversing with a friend while sitting in his SUV. Unbeknownst to Wright, he and his friend were being surveilled by plainclothes cops on the lookout for drug activity. The officers presumed any short conversation between black men must be drug-related and rolled up on Wright. Here's what happened next:

After Wright pulled out of the driveway, [Officers] Flagg and Williams followed him. He turned right onto Recher Avenue and then left onto East 212th Street. The officers maintain that at both turns, Wright failed to use his turn signal…

"Maintain," eh?

but there is no dash-cam footage or other evidence to confirm the officers’ word.

No camera here, but the cops were only getting started with Lamar Wright.

The situation escalated after Wright pulled into a second driveway to answer a text message from his girlfriend. While Wright texted in the SUV, the officers exited their vehicle, drawing their guns as they approached the SUV. One of the men caught Wright’s eye when he glanced up from his texting. In his side mirror, Wright could see this man dressed in dark clothing with a gun pointed at the SUV. Believing that he was about to be robbed, Wright dropped his cellphone in the center console and threw the car into reverse.

Hey, Wright was in a "high crime area." I mean, that's what officers use to establish reasonable suspicion for warrantless stops and searches. So, someone in a high-crime area might reasonably expect people pulling guns on them are about to rob them.

A second look cleared things up:

Glancing to his left, he saw another armed man, but this time he noticed a badge. Wright heard the men yell: “Shut the car off!” and “Open the door!” Now realizing that the men were police officers, he put the car in park and put his hands up.

Finally, we have some camera footage.

These events are corroborated by the body-cam footage.

"Just comply and nothing bad will happen to you," say a bunch of dudes with Blue Lives Matter bumper stickers.

At this point, Flagg stood beside the driver’s side door while Williams was next to the front passenger door. Both officers holstered their guns.

"Just comply..."

Next, Flagg yanked the driver’s side door open and demanded that Wright shut off the vehicle. Wright complied and then raised his hands once more.

"... and nothing bad will happen to you."

Flagg grabbed Wright’s left wrist, twisting his arm behind his back. The officer then attempted to gain control of Wright’s right arm in order to handcuff him behind his back while he remained seated in the vehicle. Flagg was unsuccessful in his efforts. As Flagg continued to twist the left arm, Wright repeatedly exclaimed that the officer was hurting him, to which Flagg responded, “let me see your hand,” apparently referring to Wright’s right hand.

Flagg then tried to pull Wright from the vehicle, but the latter had difficulty getting out. As noted, Wright had recently undergone surgery for diverticulitis, which required staples in his stomach and a colostomy bag attached to his abdomen. Though the officers apparently could not see the bag and staples, these items prevented Wright from easily moving from his seat. Wright placed his right hand on the center console of the car to better situate his torso to exit the car. By this point Williams had moved over to stand behind Flagg on the driver’s side. Williams responded to Wright’s hand movement by reaching around Flagg to pepper-spray Wright at point-blank range. Flagg simultaneously deployed his taser into Wright’s abdomen. The besieged detainee finally managed to exit the car with his hands up. He then was forced face down on the ground, where he explained to officers that he had a “shit bag” on. Officer Williams next handcuffed Wright while he was on the ground.

Two cops vs. a compliant man with a colostomy bag. All caught on video. And all of it unjustified. The court notes the cops tried to make it appear to be justified by talking it up for the benefit of their body cams.

As the body cam continued to record, Flagg made various arguably self-serving statements, including that “[Wright] was reaching like he had a f***ing gun,” and that Flagg had been afraid that Wright was going to shoot him.

But Wright had no gun. Also, no drugs. But they arrested him anyway because what else are you going to do after you've assaulted a compliant man and his colostomy bag.

Not helping their case any -- at least not at this level -- the cops admitted they really had nothing when they decided to run Wright in.

The officers conceded that they did not have probable cause to arrest Wright until after they believed he was resisting, and that they had not seen Wright engage in any illegal activity prior to the arrest apart from his alleged failures to use his turn signal.

Wright spent five hours in jail. Prior to that, the officers demanded the hospital perform a CT scan of Wright's abdomen, apparently hoping to find some drugs stuffed up in there. But the hospital refused after consulting with its legal department -- one apparently was more cognizant of applicable laws than the law enforcement officers looking to retcon their bogus arrest.

Wright was in jail for five hours for one reason: to be subjected to a full body scan -- the scan the hospital had refused to do. Again, nothing was found. Seven months later, the bullshit obstruction and resisting arrest charges were dropped.

Now, here's where it gets really interesting. Wright had to prove the city was responsible for these officers' actions. To do so, he needed to show the police department -- and its ultimate overseers -- had something to do with the brutality he experienced. Lo and behold, he could. The PD gave him everything he needed. Officers received training on "defensive tactics" -- training that included a lot of offensive content.

This training contains a link to a YouTube video of a Chris Rock comedy skit entitled “How not to get your ass kicked by the police!” The video shows numerous clips of multiple police officers beating African-American suspects. During the video, Rock says things such as:

“People in the black community . . . often wonder that we might be a victim of police brutality, so as a public service the Chris Rock Show proudly presents: this educational video.”

“Have you ever been face-to-face with a police officer and wondered: is he about to kick my ass? Well wonder no more. If you follow these easy tips, you’ll be fine.”

“We all know what happened to Rodney King, but Rodney wouldn’t have got his ass kicked if he had just followed this simple tip. When you see flashing police lights in your mirror, stop immediately. Everybody knows, if the police have to come and get you, they’re bringing an ass kicking with ‘em.”

“If you have to give a friend a ride, get a white friend. A white friend can be the difference between a ticket and a bullet in the ass.”

The city and PD claimed this was all in harmless fun. It was just supposed to lighten the mood for trainees being given implicit instruction that black people know what's coming to them if they resist. Wright did not resist, but he still got the treatment described in Chris Rock's act -- jokes that pointed out the disparity in treatment between whites and blacks when interacting with law enforcement.

But that's not all. There was also a PowerPoint presentation containing this too-on-the-nose graphic, insinuating that the best defense is a good proactive beating -- one that included the phrase "protecting and serving the poop out of you."

This was explained away by the cop shop's expert witness… who had no explanation for it.

Sergeant Murowsky testified that he did not believe that the graphic conveys that the Euclid Police Department “beat[s] the hell out of people,” R. 25 at PageID 1200, but he didn’t know what other message could possibly be taken away from the image.

The end result is this: no qualified immunity for the officers, including immunity for the false arrest and unreasonable detention claims. And the city itself must stand trial for its failure to ensure its police department didn't instruct officers to "beat the poop" out of citizens under the guise of protecting and serving. Let's ask some reasonable jurors, says the Sixth:

A reasonable jury could find that the City’s excessive-force training regimen and practices gave rise to a culture that encouraged, permitted, or acquiesced to the use of unconstitutional excessive force, and that, as a result, such force was used on Wright. Therefore, we REVERSE the district court’s grant of summary judgment on Wright’s Monell claim based on failure to train or supervise.

And here's the court's final word on the case -- a single paragraph that implicates the city in the police department's inability to control its officers.

It is very troubling that the City of Euclid’s law-enforcement training included jokes about Rodney King—who was tased and beaten in one of the most infamous police encounters in history—and a cartoon with a message that twists the mission of police. The offensive statements and depictions in the training contradict the ethical duty of law enforcement officer “to serve the community; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all to liberty, equality, and justice.”

Garbage in, garbage out. That's the city of Euclid and its police department, which is so laxly overseen it's creating bad apples by the barrel using little more than Chris Rock jokes and shitty PowerPoints. Everyone being sued will continue to be sued. And when it's all over, the city that can't protect its citizens from bad cops will ask citizens to pay for everything it -- and its bad cops -- inflicted on Lamar Wright. How about them apples?

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Filed Under: 6th circuit, civil rights, euclid, lamar wright, ohio, police, qualified immunity


Reader Comments

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  • icon
    That One Guy (profile), 26 Jun 2020 @ 7:41pm

    'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Since when?'

    When your training material includes jokes about beating suspects you've given up any pretense of not being filled with and run by thugs, and the idea that it's just a 'bad apple' or two goes right out the window.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2020 @ 9:33pm

      Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Since when?'

      At the very least it can be said the training material lacks professionalism if they're going to make jokes like that. It's a police station's official training material - not a comedy club skit.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
        identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2020 @ 9:58pm

        Re: Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Since wh

        What a humorless bunch you are.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2020 @ 10:33pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          You lose, Hamilton. Better luck next time being such a fuck-up!

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2020 @ 10:54pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            How can I lose? What did I lose? I laugh every day. Lighten up.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2020 @ 11:13pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              A cop lost. That means you lost.

              Sucks to be you that authority got the shaft this time, innit?

              link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          PaulT (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 1:04am

          Re: Re: Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Sinc

          Nah, we laugh at you all the time.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Stephen T. Stone (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 2:12am

          Police officers should not joke about beating up the general public.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2020 @ 4:47am

          Re: Re: Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Sinc

          Alright you tell us: What's the punchline?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            JoeCool (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 5:59am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny?

            The line of officers punching the suspect.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Uriel-238 (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 2:11pm

          "Humorless bunch"

          Anonymous Coward I take you haven't been schooled in taste?

          Springtime for Hitler and Germany!
          Deutchland is happy and gay!
          We're marching to a faster pace
          Look out! Here comes the master race!

          Sing along, AC, don't you know the words?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      David, 27 Jun 2020 @ 3:41am

      Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Since when?'

      To be fair, I doubt the training material is intended to convince policemen that it is a good idea to gratuitously beat up citizens. Rather it is designed to make those quit in disgust who rather wouldn't.

      Because you really wouldn't want to dilute this barrel of bad apples with good ones.

      This actually is a no-brainer case for a police department where nobody should have any qualms about dissolving it, barring all officers and particularly all trainers from further work in positions of civic responsibility, and starting over.

      It's a curated barrel of bad apples.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2020 @ 7:45am

        Re: Re: 'What do you mean 'beating people' isn't funny? Since wh

        Rather it is designed to make those quit in disgust who rather wouldn't.

        No, I don't think they'd care that some cops don't want to beat people. They'd care if those cops were reporting (or even arresting) those who do. Or, worse, what if someone "forgot" to turn off their body camera before a beating, or "overlooked" a bystander with a camera?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Peter (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 3:49am

      Not funny at all! You don't joke about the perks of the job!

      Sorry, no budget for better salaries, and you'll have to do night shifts. But hey, you get to beat up whoever you want, not questions asked. And you can buy a lot of "team building" with the guys with whatever money you confiscate from anybody you like under the pretext of "drug searches".

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2020 @ 6:21am

        Re: Not funny at all! You don't joke about the perks of the job!

        Really?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 26 Jun 2020 @ 8:42pm

    Maybe...?

    ...but he didn’t know what other message could possibly be taken away from the image.

    I suppose, "Officer in fear of his life defends self from pleading inferior," wouldn't fly.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Peter, 27 Jun 2020 @ 1:32am

    Obvious, isn't it?

    Just take moment to realise that this was a reversal of ruling that had given them qualified immunity.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2020 @ 2:44am

      Re: Obvious, isn't it?

      Reversal of qualified immunity? Are you sure?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Upstream (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 8:12am

      Re: Obvious, isn't it?

      Good point. And let's take another moment to ponder just how rare a double unicorn this is: both the cops and the city were denied QI. It is vanishingly rare for the courts to allow a claim to proceed against a city because they, the courts, make it nearly impossible to show a "pattern and practice" of bad behavior, even when that pattern and practice is blindingly obvious to everyone except the courts. We have all seen how the cops have apparently made it their mission to demonstrate just what murderous, sadistic, lying thugs they really are. We should also pay close attention to the court system that has aided and abetted the cops, first by creating QI, then by expanding it to cover essentially everything. The courts have been largely successful in hiding their complicity. That needs to end. ACAB can be an abbreviation for more than one thing.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pixelation, 27 Jun 2020 @ 6:58am

    Defensive training tactics

    The graphic makes the case that we need to learn how to defend ourselves against the police.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    rangda (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 7:02am

    99% of cops give the rest a bad name.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Peter, 27 Jun 2020 @ 7:12am

    Justified force

    "he didn’t know what other message could possibly be taken away from the image".

    He could not have been trying.

    It is obvious that the guy on the ground is failing to put his hands behind his back as ordered and is rising up off the ground in readiness to lunge at the officer with an unseen knife. Both good reasons for the officer react with justified force.

    /S

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Bobvious, 27 Jun 2020 @ 3:34pm

      Re: Justified force

      Can't you see the person on the ground has an exclamation mark exploding out of their elbow, and the peace officer is simply standing back with their arms held away shrugging their shoulders.

      Alternatively, it's a welder looking down at their latest anthro-sculpture.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2020 @ 2:47pm

    Aw geez damnit, Euclid. Come on.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Eldakka (profile), 27 Jun 2020 @ 3:32pm

    Ironic?

    The offensive statements and depictions in the training contradict the ethical duty of law enforcement officer “to serve the community; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all to liberty, equality, and justice.”

    Surely the Justices meant this ironically? Isn't there a SCOTUS case, a precendent, reported here on Techdirt a while ago, that rules that the police don't have a duty to "serve and protect"?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2020 @ 4:49pm

      Re: Ironic?

      The quoted statement speaks of an ethical duty. SCOTUS ruled that the police don't have a legal duty to protect people.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Uriel-238 (profile), 28 Jun 2020 @ 5:15pm

        Ethical vs. Legal

        An interpretation might be to say it's not illegal for police officers to fail to do their job, which is true for many occupations. However what remains a point is that police officers stay hired when they fail to do their job. Keeping a job is, for the rest of us, the incentive to seek to actually do it, and perform well. Law enforcement officers seem to not be motivated by the same factors.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2020 @ 6:47pm

          Re: Ethical vs. Legal

          I don't know if cops actually take any oath, but this one is certainly a joke.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Uriel-238 (profile), 28 Jun 2020 @ 10:14pm

            Law enforcement oathbreakers

            Maybe that's a direction to take superhero fiction. Batman could make quite a career making off-duty visits to law enforcement oathbreakers. Year One was a step in that direction.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2020 @ 4:27pm

    Big difference between legal duty (SCOTUS) and ethical duty (the rest of us).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Justin, 27 Jun 2020 @ 9:31pm

    Nice.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
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  • icon
    zboot (profile), 29 Jun 2020 @ 7:07am

    Actually, the cops did get their Body Scan

    See, after the hospital refused and a friend posted bail, instead of releasing him, they had him transferred to a jail passing along that he was arrested on drug related charges. Guess what happened at that jail?

    If you said full body scan that found no drugs after he was already supposed to be released on bail, you win!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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