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Baton Bob Receives $20,000 Settlement For Coerced Facebook Post
McGruber writes: After arresting him during a June 2013 street performance, Atlanta Police Officers forced costumed street performer "Baton Bob" to make a pro-police statement on his Facebook page before they would allow him to be released on bond. Social media coverage of the incident triggered a six-month internal police investigation into the arrest. Atlanta Police Officer H.J. Davis was given a one-day suspension, then resigned from the Atlanta Police department a few weeks later. Atlanta Police Lt. Jeffrey Cantin received a five-day suspension for "violating responsibilities of a supervisor".
Baton Bob also filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing that officers made a wrongful arrest that violated, well, nearly every constitutional right you can name. Those included Jamerson's "right to free speech, his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, his right to remain silent while in custody, his right to be free from compelled speech, his right to counsel, and his right to privacy." The City of Atlanta's legal department reviewed the case and determined that a $20,000 settlement would "be in the best interest of the city" rather than fighting the claims in court.
Baton Bob also filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing that officers made a wrongful arrest that violated, well, nearly every constitutional right you can name. Those included Jamerson's "right to free speech, his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, his right to remain silent while in custody, his right to be free from compelled speech, his right to counsel, and his right to privacy." The City of Atlanta's legal department reviewed the case and determined that a $20,000 settlement would "be in the best interest of the city" rather than fighting the claims in court.
Screw the Atlanta taxpayers while Davis and Cantin skate. Typical.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
I was formally involved with city government. The $20,000 settlement was less than going to court would have cost. Even a declaratory judgment was said to cost at least $20,000.
They should be put on some type of national-level "bad cop list" so no jurisdiction in the US can ever hire them as law enforcement again. Unfortunately, nothing like that exists and these "bad cops" just move somewhere else and end up violating people's rights in their new town.
What's that, about $4-5,000 per amendment?
It's time police misdeeds settlement be paid for from Police pension funds, if they lose a case, I suggest 50% from the officer responsible, and the other 50% from his collegues to help incentivise them to police themselves.
People decry huge settlements and suggest that the victim doesn't "deserve" it.
It's not about deserve. It's about preventing something from happening again. If $20k was in the "best interest of the city", then it wasn't enough.
The cops who did this were fired. Good enough. Their supervisors were suspended...not quite good enough. The Police Chief and his staff, who are ultimately responsible for hiring these people need to be punished. The people who hired the Police Chief need to suffer some consequences to. and the only way you can do that is to piss off the voters. And how do you piss off voters? Take money out of their pockets.
The settlements should be high enough so that everyone's property tax goes up a significant amount for a few years. And on the statements, the reasons should be laid out directly....$150 surcharge to pay for settlement against the city for Police Misconduct.
Only then will you have politicians lose their jobs and the remaining ones decide that it's in the best interest of their careers to hire a chief, who will hire staff, who will correctly train the officers. This goes for all other parts of the government too, not just for police.
Punitive damages is to punish. And the way you punish government or large companies is to take money out of of their pockets.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
I would not bet that way. There are pnumerous private security companies, and even mercenary companies listed as "security contractors", who pay very nice hiring bonuses for trained policemen. And for tough districts short of capable policemen, such as Ferguson, Missouri this year, they're going to be taking whatever they can get.
They may not work for a police department again, but there are probably many places where they can be hired as a sherriff's deputy. Even working as a police officer isn't beyond the realm of possiblity -- none of them was fired.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Whining that some money might end up in the hands of lawyers, and out of the hands of abusers (or those who insure abusers), is simply dumbfuckery. Always has been, always will be.
That's not as true as you might think. Here are the most dangerous jobs (# of deaths per 100,000):
More recently, policing has gotten even lessdangerous.
And yes, people do in fact "line up" to be police officers. I live a block and a half away from the police academy here in Chicago, and I've seen the lines that form when the police exam is taken. It's a lot of people. And as far as "low reward", that's debatable too. We're talking about a lifetime guaranteed pension after 20 years (not a 401k, but an actual pension. You have that at your job?
You are welcome on my lawn.
Oh stewardess, I speak racist. He said:
Such a group of people I despise. The powers that be want the people to view any incident not in terms of the individual, but rather that person's group, as it is easier to control by group or type rather than many separate and rational individuals.
Translation: Another loser blaming everyone else for his inadequacies.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.