Didn't hear about this one before, prob cuz unlike Freddie Gray, this guy didn't die. Yet again, despite video showing an officer plain as day slamming a handcuffed suspect head first into the pavement for absolutely no reason other then a clearcut desire to cause physical harm(as nothing else can be gained from such an act), a grand jury didn't indict. INormally i give grand juries a pass, as we've seen a pattern of prosecutors only pursuing charges that are going to be an extremely difficult sell, it's why the Gardner thugs got away with it, it's why the Gray stormtroopers got away with it and will go on to hurt more people, and i'm sure it had something to do with this case here. The gov't is to blame, not these grand juries, usually. However, this grand jury report is outrageous. I don't know how much of a limb i can go out on in order to assume the prosecutor twisted their actual words around to make that report, or does the jury themselves throw that shit together? Pretty shocking stuff.
http://www.westword.com/news/buddin...awsuit-accuses-cops-of-paralyzing-him-8008560
Duran was paralyzed after being slammed to the ground by cops last December. He's now filed a lawsuit against the police department over the incident, which was captured in body-camera footage featured below.
A grand jury declined to indict Fraker and the other La Junta officers involved in the incident.
Upon their arrival at the hospital, the grand jury report maintains, Duran was ordered to get out of the vehicle. In response, he's quoted as saying, "Don't touch me," after which he "put his handcuffed hands forward past his butt and behind his knees."
That's when Fraker grabbed Duran and "rolled him out," at which point he "landed headfirst on the pavement."
Sergeant Sam Varela, an expert witness from the Castle Rock Police Department, who "found nothing objectionable about the way Sergeant Fraker rolled Duran from the backseat on the pavement in an attempt to control him and prevent him from getting his handcuffs in front of his body" — a potentially dangerous act, since doing so would leave him "able to fight, use the handcuffs as a garrote, kick or run."
The grand jury report is outrage. According to the article, it describes officers as merely "rolling him out" of the vehicle. WOW. He straight throws him out of it and right onto his head. No attempt whatsoever is made to control him in the slightest. Seems pretty clear there was a deliberate intention to do harm, no other reason you'd so forcibly throw someone, cuffed or not, to the ground.
Gotta love this expert cop testifying that slamming a helpless, handcuffed person head first into the hard ground is a proper thing to do. I don't care if there was a legit concern of him escaping the cuffs(which i firmly believe there wasn't and these stormtroopers are playing cover up), intentionally spiking someones skull into the concrete should never be the counter move. This Sergeant Sam Varela should have his past looked into, likely a great deal of citizens rights he's violated no doubt.
http://www.westword.com/news/buddin...awsuit-accuses-cops-of-paralyzing-him-8008560
Duran was paralyzed after being slammed to the ground by cops last December. He's now filed a lawsuit against the police department over the incident, which was captured in body-camera footage featured below.
A grand jury declined to indict Fraker and the other La Junta officers involved in the incident.
Upon their arrival at the hospital, the grand jury report maintains, Duran was ordered to get out of the vehicle. In response, he's quoted as saying, "Don't touch me," after which he "put his handcuffed hands forward past his butt and behind his knees."
That's when Fraker grabbed Duran and "rolled him out," at which point he "landed headfirst on the pavement."
Sergeant Sam Varela, an expert witness from the Castle Rock Police Department, who "found nothing objectionable about the way Sergeant Fraker rolled Duran from the backseat on the pavement in an attempt to control him and prevent him from getting his handcuffs in front of his body" — a potentially dangerous act, since doing so would leave him "able to fight, use the handcuffs as a garrote, kick or run."
The grand jury report is outrage. According to the article, it describes officers as merely "rolling him out" of the vehicle. WOW. He straight throws him out of it and right onto his head. No attempt whatsoever is made to control him in the slightest. Seems pretty clear there was a deliberate intention to do harm, no other reason you'd so forcibly throw someone, cuffed or not, to the ground.
Gotta love this expert cop testifying that slamming a helpless, handcuffed person head first into the hard ground is a proper thing to do. I don't care if there was a legit concern of him escaping the cuffs(which i firmly believe there wasn't and these stormtroopers are playing cover up), intentionally spiking someones skull into the concrete should never be the counter move. This Sergeant Sam Varela should have his past looked into, likely a great deal of citizens rights he's violated no doubt.