This racist bullshit has got to come to an end. I think all police officers need to attend classes on how not to treat our black brothers and sisters.

Sorry, the police have the legal right to detain people they think MAY be criminals. That includes handcuffing them and even taking them to jail. Now, to hold a person beyond a set time period (Generally six hours, but varies by state) the Police have to take the suspect in front of a Magistrate and actually CHARGE the suspect with something, but that does NOT mean they have no right to detain ANYONE they have "good cause" to arrest. Notice I use the term "Good Cause" which can include they THINK you may be doing something illegal (Which the Supreme Court has ruled can be something a court has declared unconstitutional, but the Police NOT being lawyer can still rely on such unconstitutional laws to detain someone).

In cases where someone wins a lawsuit, the police either used force on someone, did damage to that person's property (including his body by hitting the suspect) or some other act NOT related to merely arresting and detaining the person (One such event would be holding someone beyond the time period that person should have been taken to a Magistrate to be arrainged).

I hate to say this, but merely arresting this person is NOT ground to pay damages. This is one of the reasons Police get away with such acts, for unless the Police do something stupid, liking beating someone up, the detained person generally gets nothing.

One last comment, most magistrate end up agreeing with the Police (In my state of Pennsylvania most Magistrate are ex police, you do NOT have to be a Lawyer to be a Magistrate in Pennsylvania). If you are arrested on the weekend you will not see a Judge will Monday. Worse all of this is perfectly legal for the police to do.

The guy was denied a phone call, denied explanation of charges against him, was not read his rights, denied being able to speak to his lawyer for a lengthy time — if the cops had taken the time to do those things, as they are obliged by law, the guy would have been released quickly.

And they whole arrest might have been avoided altogether by checking his ID and listening to his story about why he was walking on the street. He needed to feed his car meter.

DUH!

Police and their apologists seem to think just being black means you're automatically their suspect.

And with no questions, no need to be given Miranda Rights. The "Phone Call" people are told they have the right to, is just a courtesy of the Police, not a real legal right. In front of a Judge you can demand that your lawyer be present, but he was NOT retained that long (they police finally looked at the video and saw it was not this person so they released him).

I am one of the first people to say what the Police did was wrong, but that is NOT the same as it being illegal. The Police have the right to detain people they SUSPECT of a crime. All the evidence they need is "probable cause" which is just SOME evidence that a crime MAY have taken place and the defendant MAY have done it (Notice no actual requirement for a crime actually took place and the defendant did it, but that they is some evidence of both).

The police had both, a report that someone rob a store AND that the person was an African American.

African Americans and other minorities have been complaining of this rule for decades, but NO one has proposed any rules to forbid such stops and arrests for the simple reason no one wants to pay for such stops and arrests when it results in the detention of someone innocent of any crime. The only effective rule would be some sort of strict liability rule, the police stop someone and there is no evidence of any wrong doing, the police pays the person they stop. The Courts can NOT impose such a rule of the Police and the State Legislatures have refused to. Thus the police can stop people, arrest them and detain them for up to six hours (longer on the weekends (if possible do NOT get arrested on Friday, your hearing date will be the same day as the people arrested on Monday, that is Monday).

Yes, if the Police had checked the man's ID and looked at the video they would have seen they had the wrong person, but till the victim gets in front of a Judge they do NOT have to review that evidence. No illegal acts by the police no liability.

This seems to be a violation of that because the cops were either too lazy to do just the least amount of "serve and protect" by checking out his ID and/or story, or they just wanted to get a black guy – any black guy.

The legalities are irrelevant. Peace officers should, as a matter of course, engage with those who they have chosen to detain. Not because of some legal theory, but because they could move on to real suspects faster! Get a grip!

Are you serious?

You are actually saying if someone in detention has demanded an attorney, then the police should continue to speak with them?

I am saying that instead of leaving the guy sitting on the curb, maybe someone could have talked to him, found out who he was, why he was there, and let him go without incident. If someone was really hearing him, he would not need a lawyer.

"maybe someone could have talked to him, found out who he was, why he was there"

Once someone is in custody, there is no "maybe talk to him" to find out "why he was there" if the person has demanded an attorney.

Whatever happened there was a time that they could have "seen" him as a human being and talked to him, learned he had nothing to do with anything and let him go...

Cops asking questions while you are in handcuffs is not an in custody interrogation. I hope I can sue to get all that tuition back.

Most of the interesting 5th amendment statement cases come up as a result of a conversation that someone didn't think was an "interrogation". Clearly you are familiar with different cases.

Cops are humans. The people they put in cuffs are humans as well. If they see these detainees as humans they might ask a few questions before putting them in jail. I just watched, in the last day or two, on DU, a story about a cop in Milwaukee who believed a kid had no idea drugs were in his garage. That kid went on to play in the NBA. If not, he would be another prison statistic.

Wake up and smell the crap you are shoveling. There is always time for human interaction.

skill set and the connections to do that.

You know Cops Gone Wild. Every week documenting police abuse in the country.

than criminals.

I hope he sues them for millions. And someone made a point earlier, that suing them means Tax Payers pay. So perhaps there is a way to sue them personally, to attach their income, their pensions, or maybe sue their Unions. But make THEM pay, not the tax payers.

I've stopped saying 'unbelievable' as it is all too believable in this violent society we live in.

Perhaps this is another case for the Feds. The more they have to deal with the consequences of the actions of these thugs, the better chance something might be done to stop these abuses.

That is a possible path to creating the community pressure to reel these fuckers in.

He said had it not been for a text he got, he would have ran to his car to put more money in the meter. That is why he went outside. He said had he been running, he may not be here now.

Blacks just aren't safe in this country.

You should see the way BHPD treats "undesirables " such as the homeless (especially minorities)

This guy should sue the pants off the city

He should have worn a hoodie.



just in case...

If you're going to arrest someone for bank robbery, he should at least have some of the cash on him.

But to get back on topic if this story is accurate then the police appear to have screwed up big time especially if they denied him his right to make a phone call and he should sue them for it and the officers who made the decision to deny him his right should at the very least be suspended if not fired.

with a big dollar sign.

I just got done reading this on LATimes.com...unbelievable.

They detained him for SIX fucking hours? Really?

And...the pic on the LA Times site...the police standing off to the side...white.

Sue, Sue, Sue!

Next up on Fox so-called News, a fund has been set up for the police officers who were victimized from allowing an innocent black man free. The indignity!

Thank you, Playinghardball!

Maybe finally something will happen that will change the consciousness of the police -- at least in LA. Black or Hispanic? You done it. White. We need to investigate.

I just can't read any more of these stories. I'm white. I can do nothing.

Slavery could be ended with a war. Segregation could be ended with demonstrations. I don't know what can end the subtle discrimination of our time. I just don't know. This discrimination is not as systematic, not as blatant, not even as intentional or as self-righteous as slavery or segregation.

I feel helpless. I don't have even the inkling of a solution.

All I can do is say that I am sorry.

he should thank the cops for showing restraint in not shooting him. Then , again, it was in Beverly Hills.

Any black man or woman who worked there had to be gone by sun down even if they were the live in help on one of the estates. They had to stay indoors once the sun went down. So I'm not surprised that the police are so backwards still.

while, I don't know all the details, but all the back men who worked at the plant had to be loaded on a bus and be driven home early, for their own protection, because if they worked until the normal end of the shift they would have been exiting the building at night, basically walking out into the middle of a riot... and in grave danger from both the rioters and the cops.

I wish I remembered more of the details of the story...

gives a shit whether or not the city gets sued over its conduct. The city may pay, but they cops won't. I get the feeling that the cops there don't enforce the law on the street. They are the law on the street and don't care who knows it.

happened in Beverly Hills which is a seperate police force that is an entirely different thread.

*smdh*

eom

"...under different circumstances would have had to wait until Monday to have their freedom restored."

And thereby losing their jobs, because who wants to employ someone who doesn't show up for work on time on Monday because he spent the weekend in jail.

it is getting very tiresome

the road while her 4 young children cried in terror in the car that her car "matched the description" of the car with 4 black men that they were looking for because one of the men seemed to have pointed a gun out the window as the car drove down the highway.

The car they were looking for was tan or beige, and it held 4 black men.

The woman's car was burgundy, and it held a young mother and her 4 children, ages 6 to 10. The *only* part of the description that was matched was the skin color!

And then, when her little 6-year-old boy exited the car (with both hands in the air, thank goodness, because that probably is the only reason they didn't pump him full of bullets right off the bat!), one cop *still* wasn't sure they had the wrong people. He actually said to his partner, "Does he look young to you?"--as though there could be *any* question of whether this 6-year-old child was the scary, gun-brandishing black man they were looking for!

This incident occurred in Texas, but it could easily have occurred almost anywhere in the US these days.

Until the police are held accountable for their actions in the same manner as any other citizen, which means that they'll be similarly handcuffed and treated at the first sniff of impropriety and jailed etc. ..... these bozo cops with the "I AM THE LAW" attitude will never learn.

violated in daily life and it is not just the criminals. Criminal law and due process is the thin blue line of constitutional protection for everyone, it is the courts that protect that, not the police.

The police are ignoring the courts and the constitution systemically, there are no consequences.

In a way I can understand the attitude, the American public is militarized, handle with caution, deem dangerous until proven otherwise, another consequence of Guns Gone Wild.

Who is in charge of enforcing the constitution on the street in daily life?

You. Try not to get killed doing it.

If no questions are asked by the Police, no Miranda Rights need to be given. Now, the police can detain someone for a time period, but then that person has to be released OR taken to a Magistrate. If no questions are being asked, no right to ask for an attorney until you get to the Magistrate.

Sorry, I see nothing ILLEGAL in the actions of the Police. The law PERMITS them to detain people they suspect of being criminals (Through only for a limited time period, generally less then six hours). If that means putting hand cuffs on them, that is permitted. I do not agree with it, but it is permitted under the law.

because they spend so much of the local tax payers' money paying out millions in settlements for false arrests, and other various and sundry police misdeeds.

on their dept in Beverly Hills.

And,.. Follow procedure Much ?!

Movie cred and money for a good lawyer? Oppsie Daisy!

Perhaps this is an opportunity for change in the US. Once it is clear that it is going to cost the taxpayers through the police force lots of money, then settle for an alternative, much less costly, POLICE WILL FROM NOW ON WEAR CAMERAS ON THEIR UNIFORM SHIRT. Since the taxpayer is footing the bill, which do you think they will ultimately choose.

This happens often enough across the country, real change may really happen.

This is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in my life. This thing is nicer than my apartment. - Eddie Murphy

The rich often do.

Count me in with the othrt attorneys. This is what cops do, sadly enough. Most of us are privileged not to experience it.