We have another case of a citizen cleared of a charge after review of a videotape. Officer Derek Middendorf of the Melbourne Florida Police is shown in the tape attacking Albert Flowers, 66, without provocation. As shown in the video below, he not only attacked Flowers but tried to disable his dash camera before the attack. After Middendorf assaults Flowers, another officer tasers Flowers in the face.
Flowers was charged with two crimes that appears facially at odds: assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence. Presumably, he first attacked Middendorf and then resisted without violence. The first problem is that you can be charged with resisting without violence, a crime so ambiguous that it invites abuse. The second problem is that he didn’t assault Middendorf.
Middendorf’s report says that ““Flowers walked towards him in an aggressive manner” and “refused to stop at a safe distance.” So that is justification for kicking him in the groin and proceeding to beat him down?
Middendorf thought that he had disabled his camera but the film was able to be extracted later.
What is astonishing is that statement of Wayne Holmes, chief of staff for the Brevard State Attorney’s Office, when his office belatedly dropped the charges: “although there is probable cause to support the legality of the arrest, a full review of the in-car video, the written reprimand by the Melbourne police of their officer’s actions that prevented an audio recording, and the documented mental health history of the defendant would not support a successful prosecution.”
In listening to Mr. Holmes, it is easy to see why Melbourne officers think that they can assault citizens. “[P]robable cause to support the legality of the arrest”? Exactly where does Holmes see that? Middendorf spent most of his time trying to disable his camera and barely spoke to Flowers before assaulting him. Holmes gets this week’s Anita Alvarez Award For Willful Blindness In The Face Of Police Abuse.
Now here is the real kicker. Middendorf is still on the force and there is no indication of discipline for assaulting the man. He was disciplined for tampering with the camera. Why wouldn’t an officer be simply fired for tampering with a camera before an assault? How about firing him for the assault or the less than truthful police report?
Source: Florida Today
@ Chris Brown I think Orange County has taken Brevard’s title for abuse this year. lol I too live in Brevard.
This is just one case of many in Florida. I have lived here 3 years and it blows my mind of the amount of police abuse that is always found to be justifiable after an investigation. IMO there should be a rotating group of citizens that review each and every case involving LEO. Each group should consist of 12 people with no more then 2 that have any ties to LE. and also allow two people that have been arrested or in prison and equal numbers of people from different races. The people called should be put under oath and if are found out to be covering by lying for the LE under review, they too will be charged and brought before the real review board. If these thugs with badges know their future will decided by the citizens that pay their salaries, they will think twice before breaking the law.
I can dream, can’t I? lol
This example has to be by far one of the most heartbreaking cases of outright abuse. What is not mentioned in this article is that one of the guys who got beat up was the son of one of the deputies involved in the shooting. Explains their over reaction, but does not excuse it.
http://www.thetallahasseenews.com/index.php/site/article/police_shoot_and_kill_innocent_man_in_lake_county_sheriff_claims_it_was_jus
Reply to Anon on how I’m jailed for underage drinking at 24: It was 70 or 71 in Texas. They just wanted to collect $24 per person as a fine (worth over $100 today) to pay for their excessive show of unnecessary force, helicopters, armored buses, as many officers as there were private concert goers! Pay the fine & they let you go. No courts & probably no records. So it didn’t matter if the charge was nonsense! For me it was an interesting experience, being my first three months in North America. The San Bernardino cops, on the other hand, in 2004, were another story.
this is what happens when you start hiring cops right out of the military. they are trained to kill, not serve and protect.. not like cops anyway. so now they not only have to deal with what they went thru in the military but being on the streets to… the people need to wake up and begin to stand up. its darn near to late
I was at a council meeting last week in San Diego. The chief of police stated that currently 30-40% of the police academy students is former military. They were concerned with PTSD liability issues.
these cops are so bad..they harrase (sic) and intimidate -chris brown
I’m sure that it’s as you say it is in Brevard, but it’s bad in many other areas of the U.S., too. And they’re using their informants, snitches and others to do some of their dirty work.
The cops in Brevard are some of the worst I have ever seen… Im from NYC…lived in many places. Here we have a small beach area….these cops are so bad..they harrase and intimidate. never around when you need one..but always there when you don’t. Uneducated, pill heads..temper problems, violent…the police force is the only thing growing in this place…no jobs and such..but the cops get more and more toys….The really are a disgrace to other areas….I have never lived in a place that barely anyone has anything good to say about the police. We are not talking detroit here…we are talking beach towns….its riduculous.
feemeister,
There’s more on Adrian Schoolcraft upthread (posted yesterday), in case you missed it. And, yep, some very dangerous trends in the U.S. with regard to the political abuse of psychiatry.
I have always thought politicians, judges and law enforcement should be held to a higher standard. They are basically judging others. So why not? OH! I forgot to mention, especially, the president!
But really, there is no ”higher” standard to it with cops. Because they are held to ”no” standard. They are allowed to do whatever the h_ll they please and are never charged criminally and go to trial for the horrible things they do.
And let’s not forget! Normal people held to normal standards, are not holding people in their ”custody” where they have all the rights over them and the other person is stripped of all theirs. You can’t talk to them or explain yourself to them, because they will throw on charges of obstructing justice and resisting arrest. How is this due process for the people they bully and beat and kill? Look at the people they have actually KILLED and their superiors say they acted properly. Even while the person was having an epileptic seizure and they’re supposed to be helping, but they KILL the guy and they’re not at fault. In his own HOUSE on his own FLOOR! But he was a ”lucky” one, because the paramedics were able to bring him back, even though he had brain damage. But no, the mollycoddled thug cops were clearly doing their duty as prescribed by their department. This is bullcrap. These people are put on paid vacation during investigations and then put back and given pats on the backs, to bully and kill people another day.
Cops can and do act correctly all the time. The ones that do not should be tried by jury. And the panels that look over their misdeeds should be consumer members, not cops. And the guilty ones should be recognized as such and should face criminal trials, instead of just loss of their jobs.
These cops that do stuff like this are just reprehensible. Abuse of positions of authority like this should be held to higher standards in my book. They should not step out of their lines AT ALL! This country should have police forces that they are PROUD of! That they can turn to when they need help.
I have often wondered if people like this can even feel pain. Actually, if they can feel at all. Do they realize that these are people just like them, just like their friends and family? Because it doesn’t seem like it. They seem more like unfeeling robots, who have no inkling of what it’s like to be hurt. It’s almost like they’ve snuck robocops in on us or something.
Im not a slippery slope kind of gal but refusing due process to the police could start that ball rolling downhill towards other groups.
P Smith,
While I agree with you, Darren has a valid point….about due process…. Maybe extra time should be in place…. But as you infer…. The cops committing crimes against individuals…. They get no due process….
Interesting that in the Adrian Schoolcraft case there are no wire tap charges against him.
P Smith wrote:
When pi…uh, “cops” commit crimes and are caught (such as in this case), they should be deemed guilty automatically without trial and sentenced to longer prison terms than you or I would get.
~+~
Yep, that will go a long way in preserving due process rights and equal protection under the law… NOT !!
travelinglimey and AP, thanks very much for posting the information. TL, is RP also looking for info on the other people that ran from the school grounds that the police were chasing and caught? Off duty cop or something, wasn’t it? There are hundreds of things that need to be cleared up from Sandy Hook before they even THINK about worrying about AL being on psychiatric drugs. But at least RP is trying; that’s nice to know. That’s awful, all the things you’ve had to endure like that. It’s all just sick!
AP, that is very interesting info on Schoolcraft; thanks for posting it. don’t you LOVE it? You get permission to go home an hour early sick, and later the big kahuha bossman shows up with thugs and busts into your house and roots you out of bed and ORDERS you to go back to your workplace? OH MY GOSH! I think his question though of ”Is this Russia” is rather out of line. I don’t think they do stuff like that in Russia anymore! I think in Russia now they ask, ”Is this the United States?” and they flat out don’t CARE that the world knows this country has turned into the ”new” Russia!