Category Archives: Lawsuits

Shocking Arrest During City Council Meeting | Bodycam Released | Lawsuit Filed

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The Supreme Court has made clear that “one of the most precious of the liberties safeguarded by the Bill of Rights” is the sacred promise to every American, enshrined in the First Amendment, that citizens enjoy the freedom to complain about their leaders. Lozman v. Riviera Beach, 585 U.S. 87, 101 (2018). But the city of Surprise, Arizona and its mayor, Skip Hall, broke that promise, arresting Plaintiff Rebekah Massie in front of her 10-year-old daughter for criticizing a public official at a city council meeting.

The complaint:

Massie v. City of Surprise – Complaint_2Download

UPDATE October 24, 2024:

Surprise Police Chief Piña recorded an internal message video for his police officers about a week after the arrest. In it, he defiantly and irrationally claims that there was no First Amendment violation. He also has another officer, who gained valuable experience in First Amendment (and other) violations, while working at the Phoenix Police Department, give the officers advice on how to respond to encounters with so-called First Amendment Auditors.

Cops Paralyze Handcuffed Man (He Died) | What Happened to the Cops?

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On the afternoon of October 8, 2022, Anthony Silva’s life was irrevocably altered when Stanislaus County deputies unleashed a brutal assault, leaving him quadriplegic and eventually causing his death on September 10, 2023. Renowned California Civil Rights Attorney, Dale Galipo, filed a lawsuit on Anthony’s behalf. He joined me to explain the current status of that litigation, including the outrageous fact that no government investigation ever occurred regarding the circumstances of Silva’s injury and ultimate death.

Read the lawsuit here.

Watch the prior video here.

How Cops Scammed my Client and Took an Innocent Guy to Jail (and got sued)

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DJ was driving to the store to get feed for his numerous farm animals. He was driving his crappy little “farm car” that did not have a valid inspection sticker. He was pulled over for that reason by the Martinsburg (WV) Police Department. Instead of being issued a warning or citation for the inspection issue, within seconds he ended up being arrested. Despite having committed no crime, other than the inspection sticker violation, he ended up being taken to jail in handcuffs and charged for being a drug dealer. All charges were subsequently dropped. A lawsuit was filed.

Here’s my first video on this incident, from about a year ago.

Video Catches Cops in a LIE

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In Alaska, the Anchorage Police Department shot and killed Kristopher Handy, following several 911 calls by a neighbor alleging a domestic disturbance and that Handy had a gun and was waiting for law enforcement to arrive. By the time they arrived, Handy, who had gone back inside the apartment, emerged from the apartment holding a shotgun in one hand. Officers opened fire, killing him. At their initial press conference, the APD said that Handy “raised the longarm towards the officers” prior to deadly force being used. But then neighbors produced surveillance footage showing that Handy did not actually make any movement towards raising the shotgun prior to being shot.

Here’s the raw footage showing the moment he was shot – a view not captured on the officers’ body cams, at least one of which was covered:

Here’s the full video released by the APD.

Here’s the 9th Circuit opinion in Calonge v. City of San Jose, 22-16495 (9th Cir. Jun 07, 2024) that was discussed the video:

Calonge v City of San Jose 2216495 9th Cir Jun 07 2024Download

Here’s the full video from the Colonge shooting, including Officer Carboni’s bodycam footage.

Here’s the media report on the female juvenile recently shot and killed by the APD.

City Pays $250,000 for Abusing Elderly Man for Looking at a Police Car

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A 70 year old man in Ada County, Idaho was arrested by police officers at a police station, after he dared to look into a police cruiser window. The charges were later dismissed. He filed a lawsuit, which just settled for $250,000, along with mandatory additional training for sheriff’s deputies in that county.

Here’s Sherriff Matt Clifford’s troubling statement, as discussed in the video:

Earlier this week, we settled a lawsuit with Mr. Heikkola, stemming from an incident in January 2023. It wasn’t our best day. It is the expectation that Ada County deputies perform to the best of their abilities every day — while keeping people’s constitutional rights in the forefront of their minds, while also keeping our community safe.

For anyone to claim we are trampling on someone’s constitutional rights simply isn’t true.The reality is, we have hundreds of contacts every day with people of all different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities and socioeconomic standings. While the vast majority of those interactions go well, occasionally we fumble and miss the mark.

Part of the settlement was to include additional constitutional policing training; fortunately, we had already implemented this training prior to the settlement. We will now also include a scenario similar to Mr. Heikkola’s in our scenario-based training. We are one of few law enforcement agencies across the country with routine built-in training time. Every patrol deputy receives 9.5 training hours per month. These blocks of training include topics such as firearms training, scenario-based training, legal updates, EVOC, de-escalation techniques, arrest and control techniques, CPR and first aid, and more.

Part of our culture at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office is to always strive to be better – and learning from this incident will help us to do just that.

– Matt Clifford, Ada County Sheriff

Here’s the full lawsuit:

Heikkola-ComplaintDownload

Cop Resigns (AGAIN) After Barging in Woman’s Home (AGAIN)!

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One particular police officer in Kentucky, Larry “Gus” Curtis, has repeatedly resigned while under investigation, subsequently appearing somewhere else. This last time, he was fired, and as far as I know, his current whereabouts are unknown. Prior to resigning from the Frankfort Police Department, he was sued twice for barging into women’s homes without a warrant. In one such case, a Kentucky judge lambasted Curtis for bodycam footage showing him barging into a woman’s home as part of a CPS investigation, even after the woman asked for a warrant.

Media report here.

The lawsuit filed by Ms. Myers:

Myers-Complaint-KYDownload

The lawsuit filed by the other couple that was settled:

show_temp.pl_Download

Cops KILL Man for Driving ATV in Neighbor’s Yard!

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A federal lawsuit was filed after a man was shot and killed by a Princeton (West Virginia) Police Officer inside his own house, following allegations from his neighbor that he had been riding his ATV through the neighbor’s yard. The officers were captured on bodycam footage engaging in an investigation within the curtilage of the man’s yard, and ultimately kicking in the door and shooting him. The officer who shot and killed the man claimed that the man had a baseball bat and refused to drop it. Conveniently however, he wasn’t wearing a bodycam, despite a department policy mandating that he do so. Some of the shooting was captured on another officer’s bodycam. It was recently released by the family’s lawyers.

The full lawsuit, with deposition transcript:

731302973-Princeton-Police-shooting-lawsuitDownload

Cop Slams Birthday Girl to the Pavement | Lawsuit Settles After 7 YEARS!

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Seven years ago, in Fort Collins, Colorado, the Fort Collins Police Department slammed this girl to the pavement. The obviously-unnecessary use of force was caught on video. A lawsuit was filed. The officer was denied qualified immunity. He appealed to the 10th Circuit. In a published opinion, the 10th Circuit found that the officer indeed used excessive force – a Fourth Amendment violation – but, since the plaintiff wasn’t able to point to a similar prior case finding a similar violation, that the officer gets qualified immunity. The remaining claims against the city were just settled for $300K.

Here’s the video (for some reason it won’t embed).

Media report here.

Raw footage here.

Cops Send 71-year-old FLYING out his Front Door!

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In a quiet neighborhood, chaos erupted when police were called to the home of a 71 year old man. His wife, battling dementia, mistakenly called 911, alleging he shot her. But as officers arrived, they immediately escalated the situation, trying to kick in the door first, and ask questions later. When the homeowner answered the door, they forcibly pulled him out –  in his bathrobe –  and threw him down his own front steps, injuring him. Then they lied about it. What followed was a legal battle that just ended in a six figure settlement. 

How did a routine morning having coffee in your robe spiral into a nightmare? It involves serious problems at this particular police department on a large scale, that recently were exposed in a federal investigation.

Media report here.

Here’s the DOJ report:

2023.3.8_lmpd_findings_report_0Download

CRAZY Store Security DETAINS a Subscriber! | Then Real Cops Show Up

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This footage was submitted by Meika Prince, who went into a two-story Walgreens in Seattle, Washington, only to be accosted by a huge private security guard, who was wearing – not-one – but two, in-operational bodycams, as well as two police badges, one of which appears to be an actual police detective badge from New York. The footage made the local news, after which the security guard was apparently fired. She’s already filed a lawsuit. But can she sue a fake cop for civil rights violations?

Her original video is here.

The lawsuit:

ComplaintDownload