There is a disturbing video out of Skokie, Illinois where Cassandra Feuerstein is shown being thrown face first into a concrete bench by officers after her arrest for DUI. Feuerstein, 47, is suing for the alleged abuse, which included four deputies stripping her and leaving her in a cell without her clothes. Several bones were broken in her face.
Feuerstein was arrested for DUI after officers found her pulled over at the side of the road and asleep behind the wheel. The video below shows a calm Feuerstein who asks to call her husband and kids. Officer Michael Hart calls her out of the cell, and less than 20 seconds later, the video shows Hart throwing the 110-pound woman back into the cell — face-first into a cement bench.
A police report says that Feuerstein was not looking at the camera when being processed and then charged her with resisting arrest while being brought back to the cell. The subsequent charge raises obvious concerns. We have previously seen where, after an abusive arrest or seizure of property, police will add charges against the alleged victim. Notably, in this case, the State’s Attorney later dropped the resisting arrest charges and Feuerstein pleaded guilty to drunk driving. What is not clear is if the prosecutors saw this video and failed to take any actions. There is no report of any discipline for the officers.
The police report states that the resisting arrest charge was based on the grounds that Feuerstein “knowingly resisted … in that she pulled away from (the officer) and placed both her hands on the sides of the cell door all in an attempt to not be placed into the holding cell.” That charge appears entirely spurious and abusive and reads like a transparent effort to coerce a victim into silence in hopes of a plea deal. Yet, again, the officer does not appear to have been disciplined and the prosecutors took no action other than dropping the obviously baseless charge.
Neither the police chief nor the city would make any comment. The pictures and video below however speak for themselves.
Source: NBC
Check this comment posted on the NBC story…
I hope that her attorney noticed that Officer Hart intentionally placed his left foot in front of her client’s in order to intentionally cause her to trip and fall when he shoves her forward.
That he knowingly and willfully intended to cause her to injure herself in the fall is also indicated by the fact that he was holding her arms locked behind her when he launched her forward in her stocking feet on a painted cement floor, where she would have had almost zero traction. Anyone having experience of working in a detention facility would know what would happen under the conditions involved when he shoved her forward with such velocity, proving that Officer Hart acted with the specific intent of making her fall head-first like that. This was nothing less than aggravated assault, possibly even attempted murder, by the officer with an avenue of plausible deniability in order to avoid punishment for his actions.
He knew full well what the outcome of his actions would be, just not necessarily the level of actual injury, but his actions were absolutely intentional and specifically directed at causing serious bodily injury or death.
… Death.
When you place someone under arrest, you strip away their ability to physically care for themselves in almost every way. You must take onto yourself that responsibility. Remember, this is an INVOLUNTARY condition. Then going out of your way to INFLICT that bodily harm.
Satanic.
This abominable police brutality is but a symptom of a much larger problem: authoritarianism, or as I sometimes call it, brutalitarianism. This is not a Democrat or Republican problem–but a national problem at the highest levels of government. What can you expect from a nation that elects politicians that actually give a standing ovation for the Washington D.C. police shooting an unarmed black woman? And I mention the race of the woman because you won’t hear a peep of disapproval from racists Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. They are also part of the problem.
This did happen in a Muslim country, right?
Big beasty males assaulting a woman. They need to be beat to a pulp. No civil suit, no criminal charges. Just someone beat each one involved to a pulp. Men who beat up women. What lowlifes.
That should read “lived in Skokie while growing up”!
Having living in Skokie growing up, this video is especially disgusting to me. I have made a couple of “visits” to this station in my younger days and even then this kind of brutal assault would not have been allowed. This officer and every officer on the Village of Skokie police force who is hiding the facts should be immediately terminated.
It seems obvious from the video that the officer got frustrated because a drunk woman was having a hard time looking right at the booking camera. If this officer is does not get terminated and indicted for assault, something is really wrong in my home town.
Isolated incident yes; but out of control if this cop is still in uniform. I’m guessing the other officers on shift were intimidated into submission by this ogre.
Blood boiling.
I know this is a ridiculous suggestions, but what if we had an “Eye for an Eye” provision in the law, that permitted victims like Mrs. Feuerstein to demand that her attacker must likewise suffer a smashed face; or perhaps more significant, what if Mrs. Feuerstein could demand that the WIFE or DAUGHTER of the cop that assaulted her would have to take that punishment.
Would cops might think twice if they knew what they do onto others might quite literally be done onto themselves, or worse, onto their MOST beloved? If that doesn’t do it, we could go after the cop’s supervisor, or HIS wife.
Jill,
Yep, was gonna post.
http://cpj.org/reports/2013/10/obama-and-the-press-us-leaks-surveillance-post-911.php
Max-1, in a similar vein: “It’s hardly news that the Obama administration is intensely and, in many respects, unprecedentedly hostile toward the news-gathering process. Even the most Obama-friendly journals have warned of what they call “Obama’s war on whistleblowers”. James Goodale, the former general counsel of the New York Times during its epic fights with the Nixon administration, recently observed that “President Obama wants to criminalize the reporting of national security information” and added: “President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.”
Still, a new report released today by the highly respected Committee to Protect Journalists – its first-ever on press freedoms in the US – powerfully underscores just how extreme is the threat to press freedom posed by this administration. Written by former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie, Jr., the report offers a comprehensive survey of the multiple ways that the Obama presidency has ushered in a paralyzing climate of fear for journalists and sources alike, one that severely threatens the news-gathering process.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/10/cpi-report-press-freedoms-obama
If I were her husband I would hunt down that cop and give him what he deserves.
The corporations in charge of our politicians are working overtime to privatize the police forces (and fire fighters) which will make all this abuse even worse. At least, we the public, now have some kind of oversight over the abusers within the police. Privately funded police, as with privately funded soldiers, won’t have oversight at all!
Reblogged this on Taking Back America.
Previously I mentioned someone who was charged with resisting arrest for asking “for what” in response to a “you’re under arrest”. No one wanted to have a trial but the defendant wasn’t going to plead guilty to something he didn’t do. He pleaded to something akin to “no contest”. The explanation was: it wasn’t a guilty plea but that there is enough evidence to convict. The evidence was the report from the lying cop and presumably, from his back-up-the-lie partner. Sentencing hasn’t happened yet.
“Feuerstein was arrested for DUI after officers found her pulled over at the side of the road and asleep behind the wheel.”
So, now you can be charged with DRIVING under the influence while
ASLEEP in a PARKED CAR at the side of the road.
Is this the standard now needed for a DUI? Being asleep in a parked car? I mean, even if your BAC is above the legal limit, you’re not technically driving if you are asleep in a parked car. Are you?
Did they have to wake her up to cuff her?
Typically, if the keys are in the ignition, it’s a DUI.
In CA if the keys are in the ignition you can get a DUI while parked on the side of the road.
I forgot, this is pretty brutal from start to finish.
Oops, sorry about that. Maybe this one will work:
She deserves each of the cops’ pensions and their homes.
https://www.facebook.com/michael.hart.397501?fref=ts