My buddy Dan got beat up in court!

My buddy Dan got a parking ticket that he never paid. He ended up going to court to fight the ticket. He had parked his car on his private property, which is at the end of a dead end road.

When he got there, the ticket issuing officer did not show. A 'higher up' (I'm not sure if it was the deputy chief or the chief of police) offered to reduce the ticket to a $5.00 fine. Dan refused.

Dan is a rowdy Green. The cop threatened him, and suggested that Dan was high while in court (which I'm sure he was). Dan refused to back down and insisted that they go to trial.

The cop kept insisting that Dan "shut his mouth" and "watch himself". Dan, the instigator that his is, stated "Until the Judge call the courtroom to order, I have the right to talk as I please."

Then things got physical. To everyone's surprise, the cop threw Dan against the wall. Dan kept screaming at the top of his lungs, "What gives you the right? I am being illegally searched! I am being illegally detained!"

The court officers tried to get the cop off Dan. I think that the cop mistook the court officers for friends of Dan's or something. The cop "tripped" Dan over his leg and slammed him to the ground.

The court officers quickly broke up the situation and removed the the cop from the court. The judge dismissed Dan's ticket, and quickly offered to have Dan taken to the hospital.

Dan is suing the town that this happened in. At first the cop claimed that Dan had resisted arrest, but by the time they got into court, it was obvious that the judge and court officers, and other witnesses were not going to back the cop at all.

Dan is suing for 2.8 million dollars, which is a small percentage of the annual budget of the town. They offered to settle the case for 120,000 dollars, but Dan's lawyer won't even consider it.

that's quite a fiasco!

:hi:

aA

it takes forever cause he is so spacey. WHen I first read it in the paper, I thought, "That crazy Dan. Always startin trouble." I never thought that he was the victim. Turns out he was.

:thumbsup:

I would take the $120K and feel like a crook even then. Once again, apparently it pays to provoke people.

...plus, the sheer story-telling value is worth millions. "No shit, man, (puffff) there I was!" :rofl:

:rofl:
He is confrontational, but he knows his rights. He did have lots of pain and suffering.

and his civil rights were violated (he was illegally detained and he was illegally searched).

He had over $60,000 of medical bills (concussion, teeth, bruises, and he fucked up his knee). There was some talk about harassment because city council officials tried to convince Dan to settle for the good of the community.

Stick it to the fucking man, Dan!!

You did not say that, it sound like he was just shoved into a wall and thrown to the ground. In that case, I want $120K per tooth and reimbursed medical expenses.

Illegally detained and illegally searched? When did this happen? During the fight? Is this story getting bigger?

I kinda wish I had sued over my incident, but it seemed frivolous to me, and I did not lose any teeth either, although I was detained and searched.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=3432248#3432607

and when he slammed him down on the floor, he was attempting to "contain" him. It was the cops intention to arrest Dan (disturbing the peace, resisting arrest), but when the court officers intervened, the cop got physical (apparently the cop did not realize that the court officers were court officers - Dan thinks that the cop might have thought that the court officers were Dan's friends). The cop wanted to present the story as if Dan resisted arrest, but the court officers and the judge were impeccable witnesses.
Part of the problem with the situation was that Dan never backed down, but also didn't fight back physically at all. Dan was talkin (like everyone in the court room), and the cop went to town on him. The cop was able to inflict so much damage because Dan didn't resist him at all. I think Dan's hands were clasped behind his head even as the cop threw him to the ground.

I'm a gonna check out your link.
peace to you.

But, on the other hand, it looks like he is going to be a fairly rich jerk.

the cop was a real jerk. the cop used his power in a way that was illegal. the cop put the town's money in jeopardy. This is the worst kind of authority.

I would have paid money to see this. Cops who bully like that don't deserve to be cops. I love to hear stories of people standing up to abusive authoritarians. Mouthing off to cops when you're wrong is being a jerk. Standing your ground isn't.

I don't know what the magic number is but your friend deserves more than 120K if he's already incurred 60K in costs. After paying the lawyer he'd have little left to address future work that might be needed because of those injuries. Good luck to him.

Isn't that what a court is supposed to be for?

SHUT UP! I SAID SO! STAND BEHIND THE LINE! I SAID SO!

Violent unless in complete and total control.

You might want to keep some of these details out of print until after the trial.

Go Dan. Behavior of City Officials and the police is rightly held to a high standard. For the policeman to behave that way inside a courtroom betrays an unbelievable amount of seething inner venom. They might want to think about whether he should be walking around packing heat.

You've landed a particularly fine crew in this thread this afternoon, man. I hope your weekend is fuckin'great! :thumbsup:

You must keep us posted. Hope your buddy is okay. That cop needs a permanent vaction from his job.