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Shoot & Sued!
June 21, 2010
OAKLAND — A drug suspect shot by Oakland police is suing the city for $1.5 million, disputing police reports of the shooting. Tavares Cobb, a 29-year-old Oakland resident, was shot June 5, 2008, after police approached him during a drug stakeout. Police said after the shooting that officers were conducting a surveillance operation in the 2300 block of 88th Avenue when they observed Cobb, stopped behind the wheel of a Cadillac Eldorado, making a transaction. Police said they chased Cobb north along city streets to 82nd and Bancroft avenues, where he rear-ended a vehicle stopped at a traffic light. As two officers approached the stopped car, one of them reached inside the car to restrain Cobb, but Cobb put his car in reverse, brushing another officer and bumping the marked police car officers had used to pursue him, officials said.
Police officials said after the shooting that Officers Christopher Cardona and Christophe Marie opened fire when Cobb (pictured left) began driving forward again and that Cobb was using the car as a weapon. Cobb was badly hurt and hospitalized. John Burris and Adante Pointer, Cobb's attorneys, said that police accounts of the shooting are inaccurate and that witnesses have come forward contradicting their version. "The facts of what the police did are in dispute," Pointer said. "We don't agree with the way in which the incident is being described. Police reports don't always tell the full story, and if you do some digging, you can find they get it wrong."Pointer declined to say who his case's witnesses are, but the suit disputes some events in the police version of the shooting. In it, Burris and Pointer say Cobb had been detained after Cardona, Marie and two other officers surrounded Cobb's car. "Without warning or provocation," the suit reads, Cardona "fired his gun into the vehicle." Because of this "unwarranted use of deadly force," the suit says, Cobb feared for his life and tried to drive away, at which point Cardona and Marie fired into the car, shooting Cobb in the chest, abdomen, forehead, groin and hands.
Cobb was shot so badly, according to the suit, that he suffered "physical disfigurement" in addition to pain, suffering and lost income. Cobb seeks $1.5 million in general damages, plus special and punitive damages, attorney's fees and court costs. Both parties agree that no guns were found in Cobb's car. Police said they did find drugs, and Cobb later was convicted of a related crime.
Police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason declined to comment on the case Monday, deferring to the City Attorney's Office, which has not responded to the suit and also declined to comment.
SJSU Student Sues cops!
SJSU student in videotaped beating case files suit against cops
04/30/2010
A San Jose State student has filed a federal lawsuit alleging San Jose police officers, whose violent and secretly videotaped arrest earlier this year sparked community outrage, violated his civil rights by using excessive force. Phuong Ho, who is here from Vietnam studying to be an actuary, contends police had no reason to strike him with a metal baton more than a dozen times and use a Taser against him when they came to question him about an alleged threat. "The police used unreasonable force on our client and violated his constitutional rights,'' said Duyen Hoang Nguyen, Ho's attorney. "The officers attacked him without cause.'' Ho's lawyers are asking the city and police department, who they say did nothing to curb an environment of officers filing false charges to cover up acts of excessive force, for $6 million in damages. Neither City Attorney Rick Doyle nor police brass would comment on the suit. But Terry Bowman, who represents the officer who used his baton on Ho, said: "It makes me sick that people can disobey a lawful order from police and expect to make money off of it.''
The lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose on Wednesday comes about two months after the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office declined to press charges against the officers in the case. District Attorney Dolores Carr has said the video was disturbing but that the officers used force to gain compliance with their instructions. Just a week before that, Carr decided to drop all charges against the 21-year-old Ho, who had been cited for resisting arrest and brandishing a deadly weapon.
Corrupt Justice™ first reported the existence of the cell phone videotape of the beating in October, igniting community protests and helping to spur a series of examinations of the use of force by members of the department. The lawsuit alleges Chief Rob Davis and the city established an environment in which officers "routinely" generate "false charges to cover up the use of excessive force.'' Ho has alleged the officers' violently overreacted on September 3, 2009 when they were called after he picked up a knife and said something threatening to a roommate who had slopped soap on his dinner steak. Captured on cell phone by another roommate, the now infamous, murkily shot video shows an unarmed Ho seemingly cowering on the floor as one officer strikes him repeatedly. The officers "simultaneously yelled different and confusing orders at Ho — while How as being beaten and "Tased,'' the lawsuit says. "Ho, scared and confused, screamed in pain to no avail.''
Although the District Attorney's investigation reported otherwise, the lawyers continue to insist that Ho was struck by the officer after he was handcuffed. Ho's attorneys also contradict the prosecutors' investigation findings by saying Ho suffered a head injury during the police arrest. Corrupt Justice™ posted the video on its Police Brutality Remedies website after it was shown to police commanders, who immediately launched a criminal investigation. All four officers were placed on administrative leave at the time, where they remain pending an internal investigation.
Strange v. Entercom Sacramento LLC!
October 30, 2009
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Sacramento County jury has awarded $16.5 million to the family of a 28-year-old woman who died after participating in a radio station's water-drinking contest. Jennifer Strange, a mother of three, died of acute water intoxication in January 2007 after the challenge to see which contestant could drink the most water without going to the bathroom. A Nintendo Wii video game system was the prize for winning the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. On Thursday, jurors found Entercom Sacramento LLC, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Entercom Communications Corp., liable for the actions of its employees at Sacramento radio station KDND-FM. The station fired 10 employees after the death.
Oakland Sued Again!
OAKLAND -- The city has agreed to pay $412,500 to a man whose arm was broken by an Oakland police officer during a Raiders game in August 2008. Raymond Castillo filed the federal civil rights lawsuit against Oakland and the Oakland Police Department in October 2009. In his suit, Castillo argued that Officer Bryant Ocampo and possibly others used excessive force that caused his arm to break at the elbow. According to court records, Castillo was a union plumber's apprentice and was working full time when the incident occurred. Due to his injuries, he was unable to work for a year and must still undergo medical treatments, said Castillo's attorney, Michael Haddad. Castillo likely will have residual effects from the break for the rest of his life, the lawyer added.
Castillo, a San Francisco 49ers fan who lives in the East Bay, attended the exhibition game between the Raiders and 49ers and sat in the Black Hole, the end-zone area of the Coliseum known for hosting the most die-hard Raiders fanatics. A fight broke out about two rows away, and Castillo said in his lawsuit that he was "jostled and pushed" by Raiders fans but was not involved in the fight.
Still, Castillo said he was tackled by an Oakland police officer, thought to be Ocampo. The officer twisted and bent Castillo's left arm behind his back to apply handcuffs, causing his arm to break, despite the fact that Castillo was not resisting arrest, the suit said. The suit also asserts that the police officers singled out 49ers fans for arrest and berated them. Castillo was treated by paramedics at the scene, then transported by ambulance to a hospital. He was never charged.
The department conducted an internal affairs investigation, but it is not known if Ocampo was disciplined. He currently serves a patrol officer. Haddad said the injuries sustained by his client could only have been caused exactly the way he said it happened. "That's why (the city) paid, there was no way to justify that severe use of force," Haddad said. "There was a lot of rowdiness at that game, but he was taking it easy because he had to work the next day."
Haddad also said it was unfortunate that the city waited to settle until two business days before the trial was scheduled to start because it caused both sides' legal bills to skyrocket. Of the settlement, Castillo will receive $167,500, and Haddad will receive $245,000 in fees and court costs. Alex Katz, spokesman for the city attorney, said the city did not admit liability but recognized that a trial carried risks and settled to limit liability to taxpayers. The city spent $21,000 to hire an outside firm to help with the case.
The hefty settlement comes on the heels of a $300,000 payout last month to Lorenzo Hall to settle a lawsuit that accused Oakland police of planting a gun on him. Hall spent nearly two years in jail.
The city also paid out substantial settlements last year on behalf of the police department, including $6.5 million in July to settle two federal civil rights cases that accused Oakland police of falsifying sworn affidavits to obtain search warrants on homes in East and West Oakland. In October, the city agreed to pay $1.2 million to a woman who was severely burned when police threw a flash-bang grenade into a room after breaking down the door of the home to serve a search warrant.
Larry Reid, president of the Oakland City Council, said every council member is concerned about the amount of money being paid to outside attorneys to handle city cases, as well as the nature of the cases that are being filed against the city and the police department. "It's a real big issue with everybody on the council," he said. "I could probably make money selling tickets to closed sessions if I could. People are concerned over the amount of these large payouts."
October 1, 2009
Oakland police breaking up a brawl in the "Black Hole" at a Raiders-49ers exhibition game at the Coliseum singled out the Niners fans for special abuse and snapped a San Francisco fan's elbow, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed today. Raymond Castillo says Officer Bryant Ocampo tackled him for no good reason Aug. 8, 2008, in the Black Hole. The end zone seating area gets its name, the suit notes, from the "extreme fanaticism of the Raiders fans who sit there." It takes a brave man to try to turn the Black Hole into the Red Zone, but there was Castillo, wearing his 49ers sweater, and several friends in their Niners finest. During the fourth quarter of the exhibition game -- won by the Raiders, 18-6 -- a fight broke out two rows from where Castillo and his friends were sitting, the suit says. Castillo says he didn't lift a finger but that he was "pushed and jostled by Raiders fans."Up rushed Officer Ocampo, who twisted Castillo's left arm behind his back, eventually "snapping" it, says the suit. According to Castillo, Oakland police working the game apparently doubled as fans. His suit says OPD officers "singled out people wearing 49ers jerseys" and taunted them with such comments as, "F-- you, Niners fans," and, "You come to a Raiders game wearing 49ers gear, and now look at you crying."
The suit names Oakland, the Police Department and Ocampo as defendants, and seeks unspecified damages. Sgt. Ray Backman, chief of staff for acting Police Chief Howard Jordan, said he could not comment on pending litigation.
Oakland Settles!
September 25, 2009
The city of Oakland has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by an unarmed burglary suspect who was left a paraplegic after a police officer shot him in the back. Charles Davis Jr., 46, was shot once in the back Jan. 15, 2007, by Officer Hector Chavez inside the Koinonia Apostolic Church at 9429 MacArthur Blvd.The incident began about 4:30 a.m. when police arrived at the church to investigate a burglar alarm. Chavez encountered Davis inside the church and shot him, believing he was armed, authorities said. But Davis did not have a gun, and the shot left him a paraplegic, said the suit filed by Davis' attorney.
"It's wrong to shoot an unarmed man, offering no resistance, in the back," said the attorney Friday. "We all hope, on both sides of this case, that both Chavez and Davis will move forward with their lives in a much more positive manner." In court filings, the city denied wrongdoing. The City Council discussed the settlement in closed session in June and is expected to ratify it in October 2009.
In a memo to the council this month, Assistant City Attorney Randolph Hall urged that the deal be approved "as a compromise of this matter and to avoid a potentially adverse jury verdict."
South Gate Settles!
October 6, 2009
LOS ANGELES — A southern California city has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by current and former police officers who said they were discriminated against and harassed because of their connection to two local Hispanic leaders. The $7 million settlement announced Tuesday, October 6, 2009 ends years of litigation by 14 officers who claimed that they were harassed, unfairly disciplined and denied promotions.
The details of the settlement were made confidential at the request of South Gate, a working-class city just south of Los Angeles with an annual budget of about $100 million.
The officers' lawyer had previously said his clients would receive a total of $19 million, the maximum permitted by the city's insurance policy with American International Group Inc.
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