On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 8-9, I’ll be co-presenting a civil rights seminar in Charleston, West Virginia on behalf of the National Business Institute.

The seminar is called, The Ultimate Guide to Police Liability Claims.  It is ideally geared towards lawyers, but would be beneficial to anyone related to the business of policing.  The seminar will come with a manual containing probably thousands of hours worth of experience and research into federal civil rights issues, and other information related to the civil liability side of policing.  Attorneys for both sides of the spectrum will be presenting.

Topics include federal constitutional law related to search and seizure, excessive force, and other common issues, as well as information related to police disciplinary issues.

I was fortunate enough to place 2nd Place in the Men’s Open Heavyweight Division at Chocolate Thunder II, in Lewisburg, West Virginia – a sanctioned United States Strongman Nationals Qualifying Event.

We recently filed a federal lawsuit against two West Virginia State Police officers for use of excessive force on a man they were interrogating.  Our client is Bruce Bird.  The defendant officers are Trooper Bass and Trooper Young out of Clay County, West Virginia.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail recently published a story on the case:

The lawsuit alleges Bird, 30, was subjected to excessive force by the troopers and that the troopers withheld medical treatment to Bird, whose spleen was ruptured as a result of the alleged beating. Bird is represented by Monroe County lawyer John Bryan.

Bird was arrested, his lawsuit states, without incident on Feb. 13, 2015, and charged with robbing two gas stations. He was taken the State Police detachment in Big Otter and led to an interrogation room by Young and Bass.

As Bird was escorted to the chair he was to sit in, Bass, who was behind him, allegedly told him, “you know what we want you to say … the first word that you say that we don’t like, I’m cracking you in the ear,” the complaint filed Feb. 9 in federal court in Charleston states.

Bird’s complaint states that he wanted to say, “I don’t [expletive] know nothing,” but as he began to say the expletive, Young and Bass allegedly began beating him.

“The defendants were punching [Bird] with their fists, kicking him, stomping him,” the complaint states. “The officers struck him mostly in the back of the head and the ribs.”

. . .

After more alleged kicking and hitting, Bird said, “alright, alright, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just quit kicking me,” his lawsuit claims. “I think you done broke my ribs anyway,” he said, according to the complaint.

“No, I know when ribs break,” Young allegedly responded. Young then “delivered one final blow which seriously injured [Bird].”

. . .

The medical unit at the jail immediately sent Bird to Braxton Community Hospital. While there, he passed out on the floor and was taken by helicopter to Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.

At CAMC, doctors told Bird his spleen had ruptured and that he might not live another hour without emergency surgery, according to the lawsuit.

Bird told the nurses, his lawsuit alleges, that “if I die, I want you to write this down, it was state trooper Young and state trooper Bass who did this to me. I want this out there so it doesn’t happen to somebody else.”

– See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-cops-and-courts/20170219/lawsuit-claims-troopers-beat-robbery-suspect#sthash.xe9yAAJN.dpuf

Along with several other lawyers, including Ian Masters, I am co-presenting a legal seminar on gun laws in West Virginia on April 25, 2017 in Charleston, West Virginia.

The topics include West Virginia laws related to the concealed carry of firearms, relevant state and federal statutes pertaining to firearms, liability concerns, and more.

Although the seminar is geared towards lawyers, the information is necessary for all people who value, and who want to protect, Second Amendment rights.

Here’s a photo of me hard-at-work preparing my lecture:

Here is a link to the agenda and signup information.

Today the Charleston Gazette-Mail published an article about the retired West Virginia state trooper we represent in a federal police brutality lawsuit.

Retired trooper John E. Bumgarner filed a lawsuit against the town of Alderson last July in which he accuses three of its officers of excessive force. Monroe County lawyer John Bryan, who represents Bumgarner, told the Gazette-Mail that he’s been contacted by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in Charleston, and officials with the Department of Justice, in Washington.

“They have requested the video footage and documents, which we are providing,” Bryan said Wednesday.

– See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-cops-and-courts/20161228/feds-look-into-retired-wv-troopers-beating-claims#sthash.fDa5lseT.dpuf

An attorney friend if mine in my county told me about this case he had.  Apparently it was in the news and I missed it.  But I think it bears repeating.  A client of his was injured driving an ATV on his family’s (private) property.  He was charged with DUI.  The local court system threw the criminal charge out.  But the gestappo-esque DMV proceeded to suspend his license and litigate the matter all the way to the WV Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that the WV DUI statute applies anywhere in the state, including on your own private property – even on an ATV.  God bless the nanny state.  I feel safer already.

Read the opinion here.

Read the Charleston Gazette-Mail article on the opinion here.

As reported in the Charleston Gazette-Mail this morning, last week we filed two new excessive force lawsuits against West Virginia State Police troopers.  Both suits have the same primary defendant trooper.  An excerpt from the article:

Two men claim in separate lawsuits filed in federal court that they were beaten in a hallway with no surveillance cameras inside the Welch detachment of the West Virginia State Police.

Aaron Akers claims in a lawsuit filed Friday that State Police Trooper Ralph Justus broke Akers’ back during a beating inside the detachment. Akers is also suing Trooper B.D. Gillespie, who he claims was in a nearby room with Akers’ brother and could hear the beating but did nothing to stop it.

Antonio Tolliver filed a separate lawsuit Oct. 27 against Justus, as well as Troopers Christopher Kane and Jacob Mann and another trooper who has yet to be identified.

Tolliver claims he was brutally beaten by the troopers two years ago in the hallway, which is located outside the booking room.

Both Tolliver and Akers are represented by Monroe County lawyer John Bryan, who said Friday that he is encouraging any witnesses to the alleged incidents involving Akers and/or Tolliver, or any similar incidents, to contact him. Sgt. Michael Baylous, a spokesman for the State Police, did not return requests for comment Friday or Sunday.

– See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-cops-and-courts/20161106/lawsuits-claim-state-police-beatings-in-welch#sthash.wLxxCKom.dpuf

Today the charleston Gazette-Mail featured our client, Mark D. Messer, who has been on life support since August 18, following a use of force incident during his misdemeanor arrest by the Logan County Sheriff’s Department.

Katrina Seabolt says she witnessed a Logan County Sheriff’s deputy throw her brother to the ground about three weeks ago….

Mark Messer, 54, has been on life support in a Charleston hospital ever since an incident on Mud River Road in Logan on Aug. 18.

“It’s under investigation right now,” Logan Chief Deputy Mike Mayes said on Friday. “Whenever it involves use of force, this office investigates it.”….

Messer’s family has hired Monroe County lawyer John Bryan. He said last week that no one from the sheriff’s department has reached out to the family since the incident.

“My goals are to find out what happened,” Bryan said. “I want any documentation from law enforcement about the incident.”

– See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-cops-and-courts/20160905/man-on-life-support-after-beating-from-logan-deputy-family-says#sthash.RsJhU9yB.dpuf