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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMan Attempting To Help Mentally Disabled Boy In His Care Wrongfully Arrested In Gay Sex Sting
Man attempting to help mentally disabled boy in his care wrongfully arrested in controversial gay sex sting (full title)Last March, Charles Couch was attempting to aid a mentally disabled boy in his care when he was arrested in a controversial Manhattan Beach, California bathroom sex sting that resulted in the police releasing his name and photograph to the public. Now, Couch is suing the city, alleging he was subjected to a false arrest, unlawful search and seizure, and a number of other civil rights violations.
The sting in question took place in a Manhattan Beach bathroom that, according to police, is notorious for homosexual men seeking anonymous sex. City police arrested eighteen men during the sting, then published their names, ages and photographs.
Couch is seeking $5 million in damages because, he claims, he wasnt propositioning strangers for sex when he entered the bathroom he was attempting to help a fourteen-year-old mentally disabled boy under his care.
According to the lawsuit filed today, Couch said the boy in his charge needed to use the restroom, so he allowed him to go into the bathroom and waited outside. It wasnt unusual, the suit alleges, for the child to take an abnormally long time in the restroom. Eventually, an undercover officer entered the stall next to the child, who soon bolted from the stall and told Couch a man was looking at him through a hole in the bathroom stall.
Couch and his ward tried to leave, when they were confronted by five plainclothes officers. Not realizing they were police and fearing for his charges safety, Couch tried to leave with the boy, but was tackled, choked and handcuffed by officers, who then detained him for several hours.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/18/man-attempting-to-help-mentally-disabled-boy-in-his-care-wrongfully-arrested-in-controversial-gay-sex-sting/
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Man Attempting To Help Mentally Disabled Boy In His Care Wrongfully Arrested In Gay Sex Sting (Original Post)
Purveyor
Oct 2013
OP
msongs
(67,420 posts)1. information on arrested people should be withheld until a conviction is obtained nt
Lochloosa
(16,066 posts)2. That is a slippery slope but I understand the sentiment.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)3. Or at least not before formal charges are filed. n/t