Police Brutality..need some info or help...

damasa · #1 10-12-2001, 02:59 AM

So, as I type this I am bleeding from my right elbow.

I just got back from being harassed, heckled and whatever else anyone can call it.

Here's the situation, the TKE's had a little thing go on tonight, so a few brothers and I decided to head on down and check it out. At the same time, the UW-Milwaukee Rugby house was throwing a party, their house is right next to my fraternity house. All is well at TKE and we decide to leave and head back to our house. So, as we are walking back, we see the lights of a police car, and we figured that they were busting the rugby house. Well apparently they were tryin to bust the rugby house, but no one was answering their door. As we are walking to our house a cop comes flying out of nowhere and tackles me to the ground. All I hear is "you god damn college kids, stupid fucking frat boys, do you like to party, do you like to make my life hell." He just kept shouting a whole bunch of shit at my brothers and I...pushing us, and crap like that. Well since he tackled me on the cement, my elbow got completely tore up, it's still bleeding. He claims that he had probable cause to do what he did because he thought we were coming from the rugby house, because we were wearing letters. OK, you stupid prick, those are greek letters, the letters that are on the house next door to the rugby house. He continues to go on and on about getting a complaint about the house next door, and he keeps telling us that what he did was right. In the end, none of us got tickets because we finally told this idiot and convinced him that we were really from the frat house next door.

So..what should or could I do. I definately want to file a complaint, press charges, do what I can to get this guy off of the force. I have his name, badge number, the district he works for.....hell i even got the number on the cop car he was driving. So what can I do? I don't know if I can go beyond filing a complaint or what..but this guy is a serious mental case.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

d

The1calledTKE · #2 10-12-2001, 08:18 AM

First file a complaint to make it offical. Then try to contact anyone you in the media to try to get them to air the story. If the story comes out in anything that cop will eventually get in trouble.

Jeff OTMG · #3 10-12-2001, 01:07 PM

Get medical attention for your injury. File a report in person with the internal affairs division of the police dept. If the dept is too small to have an IA division file a complaint of assault and battery, a felony, with the detectives. Go with a witness and record everything. Although it is legal to record your interaction with the officers without their knowledge, inform them that you were told by your attorney to have a witness and record all interaction in regards to this situation. The reason being that their action, or lack thereof, will determine whether or not any civil action will need to be taken by you. Contact your own attorney immediately. It may be necessary for all witnesses to give depositions as soon as possible while the incident is still fresh in everyone's mind. This cop sounds like he has been on the street too long. He is prone to jumping to conclusions and is taking out his aggression on innocent people. A dangerous situation. In fact, in Texas you may legally have been able to use lethal force to prevent the unwarranted aggression. This guy has gone over the deep end and needs to be psyched out to a desk job if not removed from the force. A person like that with access to a gun is a dangerous combination. One thing to remember is that an officer is exempt from prosecution if he inadvertently breaks the law while in the performance of his duty. A key ingredient here will be at what point you informed him that he had made a mistake. I would also question the intelligence of an officer who works in a college town and does not know what greek letters go with which frat house and doesn't realize that the rugby house has no such lettering. At best he is in serious need of retraining and anger management. Good luck to you.

SigmaChiGuy · #4 10-12-2001, 03:31 PM

You obviously were not traumatized too badly, or hurt all that bad if the first thing you did when this happened was run to your computer to look for some cyber-advice.

You probably should have marched your arsh down to the Police Station right away and talked to the Officer in Command and made a report. Secondly, you should have gotten medical attention and have that documented. Thirdly, you should have talked with an attourney the next day.

But, I am assuming a lot of that is too late. You may have screwed yourself on this one pal.

damasa · #5 10-12-2001, 03:36 PM

Well hey there juicenuts...too bad it wasn't too late huh? I did all of that earlier today...so I didn't really lose my arse on any of it now did I? I decided to post about it because it was a crazy situation, yes, I wasn't traumatized or hurt too badly...but it was still crazy..so I decided to post about it..

so what do you say about that buddy?

d

Lil_G · #6 10-12-2001, 03:41 PM

hey i don't know about you d but i thought the thread said something about asking info or help....
maybe the literacy levels with this guy's chapter isn't very high...

SigmaChiCard · #7 10-12-2001, 03:43 PM

But, I am assuming a lot of that is too late.

Wow, nice outlash damasa. juicenuts, eh? Is that new? I believe if you read his post clearly rather than thinking of these cool, creative words to lash back with you would have understood his intent to say you should act more quickly in such circumstances. Which was an effort to help, mind you. By waiting, you could have screwed yourself...we're glad that you didn't though.

damasa · #8 10-12-2001, 03:48 PM

LOL...yea..maybe I did lash out a little..but...you can note the sarcasm in that post...iit's mockery...not a summation of what I could have done to screw myself over with it. Saying things like running to get cyber-advice right after isn't a helpful tip, it is a snittering, useless remark, something I need nothing of at this time.

d

Lil_G · #9 10-12-2001, 03:50 PM

Maybe some ppl need time to clearly think of a situation for cause of action when it comes to something as serious as this.
Judging by his four posts, i don't think this guy understands how this place works.

damasa · #10 10-12-2001, 03:58 PM

Yea...let's take it from my perspective...

I basically get my ass kicked by a cop...What am I going to do?
It was a campus cop..I was scared crapless to go right over to the campus police station for a few reasons.
1. What if the guy was there...he might have took me down again.
2. Judging from what this guy did, he has been on the force, on the street, in that job for far too long. I wasn't the only one he assualted, he pushed every other brother that was with me except one.
2. What do you really think his fellow officers were going to think?
Believe one of their own, or a frat boy? You think about that, think about that well.
3. I was still in shock, didn't know what to do, thought it was crazy, and scary at the same time, so I thought it needed to be posted, this isn't the only board I posted on.
4. Although I wasn't drunk, I did have alcohol in my system..I didn't want to risk getting an underage ticket, yes I know..extreme circumstances, but if I had gone to the campus police station, refer to #2.

Think about it...have you been in this situation before? What would you have really done?

d

SigmaChiGuy · #11 10-12-2001, 07:26 PM

First off, thanks fellow Sig for my back. Secondly, I didn't mean to stir any grief here. It is just obvious to me, that if I were tackled by a cop for no apparent reason, and ridiculed about it by him...etc...etc., I would have done something about it RIGHT AWAY. Thats all I tried to say.

Maybe it is not as clear to everyone else, or maybe the whole story is just blown a little out of the water. Who knows? But if the truth was really told here (which I am not saying it wasn't) any normal human being with any bit of common sense, would have acted right away. Whether you were underage drinking or not, or if it were a campus cop, FBI Agent or President Bush, something should have been done right away, otherwise they just might get to do it again some day.

In Hoc,

damasa · #12 10-12-2001, 09:35 PM

Well, refer to the post right before yours, those are my reasons for not doing anything right away. The truth wasn't altered and nothing was blown out of the water. I honestly had no idea what to do at the time, but I have gotten advice and everything has been taken care of.

d

SigmaChiGuy · #13 10-12-2001, 10:49 PM

Well, best of luck to you my fellow Wisconsinite.

aephi alum · #14 10-14-2001, 06:20 PM

damasa, I'm sorry to hear this happened.

I'm assuming that you have made a report and gotten medical attention. Did the doctor who treated you document the injury? Did s/he take photos? That is evidence. If there are no pictures, have some taken NOW.

You say this was a campus police officer. Do your local town police have any jurisdiction on your campus? If so, you may want to contact them also.

Definitely consult an attorney. S/he can tell you what to do to ensure that, at least, an internal investigation of this cop takes place. If you don't take the right steps, this guy may get away with it.

I'm no legal expert, but it sounds like he did not have probable cause, which makes what he did assault and battery.

Good luck!