Mark Henderson was a hostage held at gunpoint in a room at the Woodbury Red Roof Inn on August 30, 2012.  He fled the room and approached Woodbury police officers with his hands raised.  He complied with their commands to get on the ground.  As he lay unarmed in a prone position approximately 10-12 feet in front of them, the officers shouted conflicting and contradictory commands that even they couldn’t hear or understand.  Within seconds, they opened fire and killed him.

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The cases brought in the names of Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray never made it to trial. Each was brought to a halt earlier in the civil court process. This is an all-too-common occurrence, says Joshua Newville, a civil rights attorney in Minneapolis.

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Just last week, I complained that courts are too often rubber-stamping excessive police force. On cue, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a great decision today for Minnesotans who care about police accountability.

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A Minor Cannot Consent to Sex.

Minors under the age of 18 can’t consent to sex with adults under Minnesota state law.  An adult over the age of 22 who has sex with someone younger than 18 has engaged in statutory rape.  That includes police officers: police officers and law enforcement officials may not have sex with women under the age of 18.

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On February 24, 2017, Ashwin Madia was one of the panelists at Mitchell | Hamline’s Journal of Public Policy and Practice’s Policing Symposium for their Police Accountability Through the Law session.  The other panelists were Drew Evans, the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Pete Orput, the Washington County Attorney, Zorislav Leyderman, another civil rights attorney, and an FBI agent.  The discussion was lively and engaging.  It is available below:

Today, presidential nominee Donald Trump said he would resume the practice of giving surplus military-grade equipment to local police departments, which President Obama banned in 2014. Trump said, “I think it’s ridiculous that they’re not” given the equipment.

I spoke with a journalist at the Wisconsin Reporter about the issue in 2014. It probably won’t surprise you that I disagree with Mr. Trump.

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A Riviera Beach, Florida police officer in now on paid administrative leave after a video recorded on a mobile phone showed him confronting a disabled U.S. Army veteran parked in a parking space reserved for individuals with disabilities. Although the veteran had a properly displayed handicapped parking permit, the police officer confronted him because, according to the officer, the veteran didn’t look disabled. The veteran began recording the incident and says that the officer slapped the phone out of his hand, damaging it. The police department says the incident is being investigated.

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A Virginia police officer has resigned after being accused of using excessive force when responding to a call about a potential hit-and-run. Fredericksburg, VA Police Officer Shaun Jergens was among several who responded to a reported accident on May 4, 2015. Jergens, apparently like the other officers on the scene, assumed that a black man in a stopped car was being noncompliant.

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In an article published in The Week on Friday, Scott Lemieux reminds readers of one of the most troubling aspects of the murder of Walter Scott in North Carleston, South Carolina: if it wasn’t for the fact that it was captured on video by a bystander the police didn’t know existed, chances are Michael Slager would not only not have been charged with murder, but he’d still be a uniformed police officer.

From the article:

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A problem with officers who engage in violations of the 4th Amendment (excessive force, unlawful arrest, and unreasonable search and seizure)  is that they fall into the habit of acting out of a perceived sense of superiority and/or anger, and generally are not held responsible for that behavior. Thus, they get used to being obeyed regardless of the situation and often forget that the people they interact with are human beings deserving respect and fair treatment under the law.

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Practicing in civil rights litigation, we see a lot of police officers abuse their power. Unfortunately, there are many reasons police misconduct usually stays out of the public spotlight. There are myriad systemic barriers to holding bad cops accountable for discrimination, excessive force, illegal search and seizures,  unlawful arrests, and more. They include:  gutting of civilian review authorities, failed oversight, use of squad and body cameras, non prosecution of officers by prosecutors, the militarization of police, powerful police unions, pocketed arbitrators, institutionalized racism, victims with criminal records, and many others.

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In August 2012, I wrote about the problem with the City of Minneapolis dispensing with civilian review of police officers’ conduct. That year, the Minneapolis Police officers’ union, Velma Korbel and Susan Segal collectively took a nail gun to the coffin of the now-defunct Civilian Review Authority.

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Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure contains an interesting and nuanced option for civil defendants to settle a case. Rule 68 states in part, “At least 14 days before the date set for trial, a party defending against a claim may serve on an opposing party an offer to allow judgment on specified terms, with the costs then accrued.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 68(a). Essentially, the defendant may offer the plaintiff a settlement amount to try and end the case.

Here’s the catch for the defendant: if the plaintiff accepts the offer, judgment is entered against the defendant. Similar to a plea bargain in a criminal case, the defendant is admitting liability to avoid going to trial.

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In an alarming video posted to YouTube this week, two St. Paul police officers violently arrested and tazed a black man who was simply waiting in the skyway to pickup his children from New Horizon’s Academy. The CityPages reports that the man is Chris Lollie; his mugshot is posted below.

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Since the police shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old black male in Ferguson, Missouri last week, the town of 21,000 people has become a focal point in the country’s discussion of excessive force and police misconduct. Within days of the shooting, lawyers announced that they were looking at civil rights claims related to the shooting death. Then, reports of clashes between police and protestors demanding answers began flooding social media.

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On June 24, 2014, after a two-day trial, a federal jury found that officer Robert Thunder violated Madia Law Client Michael Flowers’ constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Madia Law Attorney Ashwin Madia represented Mr. Flowers at trial, which was presided over by Chief Judge Michael Davis of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Mr. Flowers is a 51-year-old disabled black male who has Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (“AIDS”), a serious and potentially deadly condition that has an extreme effect on daily life activity and enables him to receive “limited mobility” designation on his Minnesota drivers license. A designation of “limited mobility” allows for reduced fare with Metro Transit.  (more…)

On Monday, Madia Law filed suit in United States District Court on behalf of Plaintiff Tammy Liddle against Bloomington Police Officer Jeff Thibert.  Ms. Liddle’s federal lawsuit (14-CV-431-JNE/JSM) alleges unreasonable search and seizure, unlawful arrest, and excessive force.  Ms. Liddle is also in possession of squad cam video of the subject incident.

Bloomington City Hall

Below is a copy of the Complaint, with some names redacted: (more…)

The Stolen Lives Project determined that during the entire decade of the 1990’s, over 2000 deaths occurred at the hands of police officers.  Seven years ago, a bureau of the U.S. Department of Justice released a similar report that focused only on the years 2003 thru 2005.  That report indicated that over 2000 people died while being arrested by police officers during those three years alone, and that during each of those three years, the rate of such deaths increased by 13%.  There is also myriad evidence to indicate that police officer deaths at the hands of suspects is increasing at an alarming rate; for example, the FBI determined that from 2007 to 2008, the rate of officer deaths at the hands of suspects jumped 25%.

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