Kick a biker, go to ja... no, pay a fine.

glhs837

Power with Control
A rather large one, about $180,000. If you are an officer, that is, who rammed the biker when he did pull over, then in the midst of his surrender decided he wasn't acting fast enough and kicked him in the ribs, breaking a collarbone and a couple of ribs. I do love the "Whoops, damn the luck, there's video".

http://thenewspaper.com/news/48/4876.asp

What strikes me as odd, were I to assault a fellow citizen and break bones, I'm pretty sure I would face criminal charges. But not the officer, this was a civil suit the guy filed after his medical bills came to over 30K.

Wilkens quickly stood up, with his arms extended, palms up. Captain Edwards exited his vehicle with his gun pointed at Wilkens. Although Captain Edwards yelled to tell Wilkens to get down on the ground, between the helmet and the active siren, Wilkens said it took him a second or two to realize he needed to get on the ground. As he started moving down, the trooper gave him a karate kick to the chest. The officer later expressed surprise that his kick was preserved on tape.

"I did not think that car's video system was working properly, so I didn't think we had video of this incident," Captain Edwards admitted.

The district attorney's office never filed charges against Wilkens, but the motorcyclist decided to sue for damages after his medical bills and other expenses topped $31,000.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
As far as I know.


http://registerguard.com/rg/news/lo...against-oregon-state-police-trooper.html.csp#

Vid looks pretty bad. Biker makes a clear motion when he sees the officer, then nods that he's pulling over to the right, but appears to be waiting for a safe chance to that that right. Officer just rams the bike, mowing it down. "Brake fade" my ass. And he was clearly hands up and kneeling to get down he Officer Adrenaline Rage kicked him. See, it's stuff like this, when cops back up obvious bullshi$ that makes people doubt them in other cases. That was no freaking brake fade, that was a ramming.
 

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
State police, in a statement released Thursday night, said the agency “is disappointed with the (trial) outcome and feels the actions of our troopers clearly did not violate established procedures or tactics. In situations like these, officers have milliseconds to make what may be life-or-death decisions and those officers should be shielded from the liability of civil damages.”

Edwards testified at trial that his actions were consistent with state police policy and training. State police investigated the incident and determined that the force used by Edwards was justified, and the Lane County District Attorney’s Office validated that ruling, District Attorney Patty Perlow told The Register-Guard on Thursday.

:blahblah:
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Yep, pretty sure there's a class titled "Go for the chest kick when the empty handed perp is trying to submit". What justified the force? His open hands? His attempt to kneel? Why not just say the officer was pissed and went a bit too far? Want to bet a simple offer to cover the guys medical and an apology might have saved the state almost 200K?

On a related note, videos like this should be shown to people who think there is some blanket agreement that is you are unsure it's a cop that you can proceed to the nearest place you feel safe. I'll also note that other than the passes, the only vehicle to cross the double yellow line was the officer :)
 
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