Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Florida Police Dump Quadriplegic Man From His Wheelchair

In Hillsborough County, Florida, police were caught, by their own surveillance cameras, dumping a quadriplegic man from his wheelchair and onto the ground. Apparently they were trying to determine whether or not he actually needed the chair.




Orient Road Jail surveillance footage from Jan. 29 shows veteran deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, dumping Brian Sterner out of his wheelchair and searching him on the floor after he was brought in on a warrant after a traffic violation.

Sterner, 32, said when he was taken into a booking room and told to stand up, Jones grew agitated when he told her that he could not.

"She was irked that I wasn't complying to what she was telling me to do," he told The Tampa Tribune. "It didn't register with her that she was asking me to do something I can't do."
....As for Sterner, he was arrested at his Riverview home and taken to the jail Jan. 29 on a charge of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, according to records. He posted $2,000 bond and was released Feb 3.

A warrant for Sterner's arrest was issued after an Oct. 25 incident, in which Tampa police stopped him in Ybor City. He was stopped while driving a Mini Cooper that had been fitted with hand pedals and was cited for blocking an intersection.

"My client was stopped that night and was given a traffic citation, so how could he be fleeing and eluding?" Sterner's lawyer John Trevena said. "We're very skeptical about the basis for the charge itself."

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The police fuck with people all the time everywhere. This is not unusual. They especially tend to fuck with people they know can't hire a lawyer. This just happened to backfire.I hope this guy sues the hell of out them and wins...But the said part is they will all gang up in their own little gang and say it wasn't their fault, it was the guy who was handicapped.

I hope these ass hats all get fired...especially the guy who laughed about it.

This is sad, and cops wonder why people are afraid of the them. I've heard of children being tasered so many time that I'm sick of it. They said that tasering would only be used in the most dangerous situation. It is used when ever they want to.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have seen a troubling change in the American police force. Sure, there have always been a few bad apples, but for the most part, not so long ago most police officers viewed themselves as part of their community (thankfully many still do), and not a skin-head occupying force; they saw their duty as "to protect and serve" and not to harass the people and serve themselves.

I think things started to go seriously wrong with the "war" mindset and paramilitary mentality that came with the "war on drugs" (BTW? How's that going; turns out after decades of trashing civil liberties and blowing billions of dollars, all we have to show for it is less rights, the world's largest prison population, and they can't even keep the drugs out of the prisons).

But then after 9/11 every jerk with a badge became a "hero" who could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted without question, and if you did question their "authority", they beat the sh-t out of you, and if you didn't have it on tape it never happened or it was your fault.
Turns out Lord Acton was right about power and it's inevitable abuse.

One of the defining steps toward fascism is a corrupt and brutal police force willing to turn the weapons on their own people.

We are well on our way at this point.

Avoid the storm troopers when you can; and try to re-institute an honest police force, fully subject to civil oversight and authority, the rule of law, and acting under a "protect and serve" mandate a.s.a.p.

Abusive jackasses should not have a badge and a gun.

Good people make good cops.

Bad people make very bad cops.