In Canada, Const. Geoff Mantler has racked up quite a record of assaulting citizens. The officer now stands accused of three separate assaults on citizens, including one assault caught on camera. The government, however, has decided not to press charges in the third case.
In January, Mantler was caught on camera kicking a man in the face during an arrest. This latest alleged assault occurred on Aug. 10, 2010 when Jeremy Packer, 30, said he was ordered at gunpoint to get out of his car after being pulled over by Mantler and another officer. He said that his seatbelt became stuck and he was trying to unbuckle it when punched repeatedly in the face. The officers suspected him of stealing a boat that he was towing when he was actually repossessing the boat.
What is curious is that the prosecutor decided not to charge Mantler in the Packer matter because, according to one article, it was not convinced that the use of force was excessive because Packer failed to notify the police of the repossession. Yet, that is the basis of the suspicion for the stop. It does not excuse the degree of force used by the officer. Packer was not only innocent but unarmed. The government, however, insisted “Const. Mantler’s recollection is that he struck the complainant several times, possibly two or three times, on the back right side of the head because the complainant was resisting [arrest] but did not strike him again after he presented his hands.”
That is a pretty odd standard. You are allowed to beat a citizen for failure to show his hands?
Source: CBC
The quotation relates directly because it shows how a law suit can be filed for the exact conduct described in the article.
Kay, what the hell does your comment have to do with the story being discussed? You are not a lawyer. Stop trying to play one on the intertoobs.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois publishes “Filing a Civil Case without an attorney: A guide for the Pro Se Litigant”. On page 45 there is a fill in the blank “complaint for violation of constitutional rights”.
when defendant violated plaintiff’s civil rights as follows(Place X in each box that applies)
___ arrested or seized plaintiff without probable cause to believe that plaintiff had committed, was committing or was about to commit a crime;
____searched plaintiff or his property without a warrant and without reasonable cause;
____used excessive force upon plaintiff;
_____failed to intervene to protect plaintiff from violation of plaintiff’s civil rightsby one or more other defendants;
_____failed to provide plaintiff with needed medical care;
_____conspired together to violate one or more of plaintiff’s civil rights;
_____Other:_______________________
Lotta and AY,
Thanks for the links… Heartburn starting early today. 🙂
Pete,
Wasn’t that in the Dallas area… But then again…a school decided to charcoal and did some of the student….
KELLER (CBSDFW.COM) – Nicholas Chaney’s parents trust he’s taken care of at school just like he is at home. Nicholas, 18, has cerebral palsy. “I admire the teachers they do a very good job with them,” says his mother Pauline Chaney.
But now that trust is shaken. “As I got closer he smelled like burned hair and burned skin,” says Nicholas’ stepfather, Rudy Moreno.
Moreno says on Wednesday his son’s special needs class at Keller High School went outside. At the time other students were using charcoal grills as part of a cooking class.
http://dallasinformer.com/6035/special-needs-students-accidentally-burned-at-keller-school/
Sgt. Wes Talley said the officer stood between a group of students and the animal because he thought it may have been rabid,” myfoxny.com reported.
It wasn’t clear why the students weren’t just moved away from the squirrel
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not enough pepper spray?
Darn baby squirrel is lucky he wasn’t tazed!
“Officer pepper sprays baby squirrel as students beg him not to”
Posted on 04.8.11
By David Edwards
Categories: Say What?
Outraged students at Kimbrough Middle School begged an officer not to pepper spray a baby squirrel in a video that was uploaded to YouTube this week.
“No!” they shouted. “Don’t spray him!”
“I’m going to cry!”
“Sgt. Wes Talley said the officer stood between a group of students and the animal because he thought it may have been rabid,” myfoxny.com reported.
It wasn’t clear why the students weren’t just moved away from the squirrel.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/04/officer-pepper-sprays-baby-squirrel-as-students-beg-him-not-to/
Buddha Is Laughing: “And I just don’t know if I can muster feeling sorry for the cops that are good at doing their job anymore. If they really took “To serve and protect” seriously? They’d protect us all from their criminally deviant Brothers In Blue.”
—
I’ve seen interviews wherein police being interviewed whined about how hostile the public is toward them in general. Really, maybe when they clean their own house I and others will feel more empathy. Until then, it’s just juvenile whining.
BIL,
“Yes there is in most jurisdictions. The questions are:
“Are you an asshole?”
“Are you willing to shoot first and ask questions later regardless of circumstances?”
Lol – so true …
“And I just don’t know if I can muster feeling sorry for the cops that are good at doing their job anymore. If they really took “To serve and protect” seriously? They’d protect us all from their criminally deviant Brothers In Blue.”
I agree – IMHO, the Blue Code of Silence is damned hypocritical. They have a duty to protect the citizen and uphold the law … except when ti comes to their fellow brothers in uniform.
But, stories like this do make it hard for those who are good cops.
SL,
Yes there is in most jurisdictions. The questions are:
“Are you an asshole?”
“Are you willing to shoot first and ask questions later regardless of circumstances?”
And I just don’t know if I can muster feeling sorry for the cops that are good at doing their job anymore. If they really took “To serve and protect” seriously? They’d protect us all from their criminally deviant Brothers In Blue.
Is it more or does it seem like there are an awful lot of lose cannons becoming police these days? And, don’t recruits go through any kind of psychological testing prior to getting their badge??
Judges afraid of cops here and in Canada and in Mexico the judges are afraid of the drug-lords … hmmmm
The amazing part of this is that the government can refuse to prosecute with a straight face! Are they going to wait until this maniac in uniform kills somebody for “not showing their hands”?
Not too surprising with Harper’s group still in power.
Michaelb wrote:
“When will we see the thin blue line snap and honest cops say they are not going to take this anymore from the bad cops?
Someday, I keep hoping, but I’m not holding my breath…
“I get the impression that the judges are afraid of the police.”
They are, IMHO.
When will we see the thin blue line snap and honest cops say they are not going to take this anymore from the bad cops? I get the impression that the judges are afraid of the police.
A lot of angry cops out there…
What’s worse here is that the Kelowna,BC officer was a member of the federal RCMP. Kelowna is a relatively remote area of BC which, like many similar remote communities, contracts the federal agency for local policing. The Canadian RCMP is more or less equivalent to the FBI in the US. I say this to demonstrate the degree of deviation this officers behavior from the expected professional norm of the RCMP by the public and by the agency itself.
This guy is a violent rogue a**hole and should be dismissed from the force.
Of course they are allowed to beat you….why else would they be cops….
I see the U. S. outrageous standard for protecting police when they commit stupid, brutal attacks on the people they are sworn to protect has spread northward. I had expected better in Canada. How naive of me.