on sale now at amazon

on sale now at amazon
"I don't like this book because it don't got know pictures" Chief Rhorerer

“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”

“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”
“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”

.....And the cops in question got away without paying a dime from their pockets and got to keep their jobs too

 Lauderdale pizza-ordering arrest leads to $65,000 settlement
By Larry Barszewski Sun Sentinel
Man receives $65,000 settlement after being arrested by Fort Lauderdale police after ordering a slice of pizza
Fort Lauderdale settles false arrest lawsuit for $65,000.
FORT LAUDERDALE — Commissioners approved paying $65,000 Tuesday to a man who sued the city last year after being arrested while trying to buy a slice of pizza at a beach restaurant.
The suit is at least the fifth the city has settled in the past year involving police actions, costing the city $435,000. Hospodavis, 50, has been with the department for 24 years.
Gluck, 46, a former commercial airline pilot from Plantation, had spent the night of March 4 partying with some friends, first at Lulu's Bait Shack at Beach Place and later at the Elbo Room, and then went to one of the friend's apartments to watch a soccer match, according to the lawsuit.
When a taxi dropped him off near the Quarterdeck Seafood Bar the next morning so he could retrieve his car, he stopped off at the Boccaccino Cafe and Pizzeria on South State Road A1A to get something to eat.
At about the same time, Hospodavis was responding to a call that two men were "threatening customers and throwing their shoes" at Spazio's restaurant, according to the police report. The two men had already left Spazio's by the time Hospodavis arrived. He then reported seeing Gluck and another man fitting the suspects' descriptions at Boccaccino's.
According to the suit, Hospodavis shouted at Gluck and another man to "get out here." When Gluck said he had just ordered a slice of pizza, he said Hospodavis responded by saying "I'm sick of coming down here for you punks," according to the suit.
Gluck started to pick up a closed beer bottle that was on the counter next to him, at which point Hospodavis said he "felt threatened and took him into custody," charging Gluck with disorderly intoxication.
Gluck said Hospodavis handcuffed him and only made the cuffs tighter when Gluck complained about his hand being in pain. The suit said the cuffs caused nerve injuries to his hand.
The charge against Gluck was later dropped. Police spokeswoman DeAnna Greenlaw said she was unaware of any disciplinary action against Hospodavis and that no complaint was filed with internal affairs.



Settlement reached in Michael Ververis' Springfield police brutality suit
SPRINGFIELD - This is a screenshot from a website set up to support Michael Ververis, who accused Springfield police of police brutality in a federal lawsuit. (The Republican file)
By Stephanie Barry | sbarry@repub.com 
Fired Lee Police Chief Joseph Buffis moves to suppress evidence in upcoming extortion, fraud trial
•           Springfield man faces more than 7 years in prison after police caught him with illegal, loaded gun during a foot chase
•           The week in review in U.S. District Court
•           Drug trial in federal court in Springfield stymied by allegations of sexual improprieties between defendant, DEA task force member
•           Settlement reached in Michael Ververis' Springfield police brutality suit

SPRINGFIELD - The city has reached a settlement with Michael Ververis, a FedEx driver from Connecticut who sued police after he said he was beaten and choked during an unjustified arrest in 2011.
The settlement, the terms of which have not been released, comes a week before the case was set for trial in U.S. District Court and at the urging of Judge Michael A. Ponsor.
Lawyers for the plaintiff, city and four police officers named in the lawsuit gathered at federal court on Thursday for a final pretrial conference to discuss brass tacks issues such as scheduling and jury selection. The trial was set to begin Feb. 23.
However, Ponsor asked why settlement talks had fallen apart between the parties and called the attorney into his chambers for several hours. A settlement notice was filed in the case late Friday.
David P. Hoose, a lawyer for Ververis, 26, declined comment. Lawyers for the city could not immediately be reached.
Ververis alleges in a complaint filed last year that police targeted him as he was driving away from the city's entertainment district on Jan. 9, 2011. He argued police struck his car with a flashlight as he was traveling out with two friends. When he demanded a badge number, they dragged him out of the car, choking and beating him in front of a crowd of bystanders, the complaint states.
Police countered that Ververis had been disorderly, resisted arrest and grabbed for an officer's gun during the confrontation just after 2 a.m. In their report, however, they failed to document that they grabbed a bystander's cell phone after spotting her apparently taking video of Ververis' arrest.
The phone was returned to the woman almost three months later, but the video wasn't there, according to court records and separate proceedings related to the incident.
Ververis was ultimately acquitted of resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer after a trial in Springfield District Court in 2013.
The settlement caps a rough six-month stretch for the city in terms of court settlements and jury awards. In October, a Hampden County Superior Court jury awarded bar owner Will Quarterman $350,000 after finding the city License Commission and former Mayor Charles V. Ryan retaliated against him over a liquor license eight years earlier. That award jumped to $675,000 with annual interest.
In September, a jury in U.S. District Court awarded the mother of Delano Walker Jr. $1.3 million. The panel found Police Officer Sean Sullivan violated the 15-year-old's civil rights by using excessive force during a stop, forcing him into traffic on Columbus Avenue where he was struck and killed by a car.
The city negotiated with plaintiff's lawyers, Hoose and Luke Ryan, to reduce the award to $1 million and pay it almost immediately.


Man sues city, police officer for $1.5 million
A 36-year-old Oak Ridge man has filed suit against the city and Oak Ridge police officer Jeremy Upham for false arrest stemming from a Jan. 14, 2014, shoplifting incident at Walmart.
 By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger
A 36-year-old Oak Ridge man has filed suit against the city and Oak Ridge police officer Jeremy Upham for false arrest stemming from a Jan. 14, 2014, shoplifting incident at Walmart.
A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Jan. 23, 2015, by Clinton attorney Phil Harber, alleges that Trevis Reynolds, of 119 West Hunter Circle, was arrested and charged with shoplifting on Jan. 15, 2014. The complaint further alleges Reynolds loaned his car on Jan. 14, 2014, to his roommate, 23-year-old Randy Armes of 119 Wester Hunter Circle and that Armes drove the car to Walmart and shoplifted merchandise from the store.
The complaint said Walmart surveillance video captured Armes shoplifting the items from the store. Walmart security reportedly followed Armes out of the store and wrote down the tag number of the vehicle he was driving before calling the Oak Ridge Police Department. Upham was dispatched to the store to investigate the theft.
The complaint alleged that Upham wrote in a General Sessions Court document that he viewed the video and the person on the video matched the picture of Reynolds on his Tennessee driver’s license.
The complaint then states that on Jan. 14, 2014, Reynolds had no and still has no tattoos and that Armes had “multiple tattoos …visible on Armes’ neck and hands in the video surveillance from the Walmart allegedly provided to and viewed by Defendant Upham.”
The lawsuit also alleges Armes and Reynolds “have such different appearances that no sensible, reasonable, normal person with normal sensory perceptions could mistake the two men.”
The complaint filed in federal court alleges that because the two men’s appearances are so different, the only logical conclusion was that “Upham did not actually view the Walmart surveillance video before seeking a warrant and arresting the plaintiff … his allegations in his affidavit of complaint are false and were made knowing they were false, and therefore constitute the offense of perjury.”
The complaint also said on Jan. 15, 2014, Upham went to Reynolds’ residence to arrest Reynolds for shoplifting. When Reynolds protested his innocence, Upham allegedly said “shut up” and told Reynolds he had viewed the surveillance video at least four times and it was “unquestionably the plaintiff (Reynolds) who Upham saw in the video.”
According to the complaint, on Jan. 23, 2014, all charges against Reynolds were dropped. A check of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office website on Monday showed the arrest of Reynolds for shoplifting on Jan. 15, 2014. There was no record of a criminal case against Reynolds from any of those dates on the Anderson County Court Clerk's website.
The complaint alleges Reynolds’ “suffered economic damages in that he now has an arrest record and he cannot secure employment as a result of his false arrest and his subsequent arrest record.”



Federal jury: Franklin cop too rough in arrest; lawyer seeks $220G
Sergio Bichao,
Arrested at front door in 2009 after locking out daughter.
A federal jury said a Franklin Township police officer used excessive force in a woman’s arrest in 2009.(Photo: FILE)
•           Franklin woman was arrested in 2009 after she refused to let cops in her home.
•           Woman sued Franklin in 2011 claiming police used excessive force. A federal jury awarded her $1,000.
•           Her attorney is seeking $220,000 in legal fees and costs.
FRANKLIN (Somerset) – After a federal jury found that a township cop's arrest of a township woman was too rough, township taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
A jury in December found that now-retired police Officer Robert Nemes violated Patricia Roccisano's Fourth Amendment rights when he barged through her front door and arrested her in 2009.
The jury awarded Roccisano $1,000 for her damages. Previously, the township had settled Roccisano's punitive damage claim for $18,000, bringing the total she won to $19,000, according to documents obtained by MyCentralJersey.com.
But now Roccisano's attorney, Jae H. Cho, of New Brunswick, is seeking reimbursement of legal fees and costs totaling $220,000.
Plaintiffs who win civil-rights cases in federal court are entitled to recoup reasonable attorney fees. But the township's attorneys say Cho's fees are "excessive, duplicative and vague."
Roccisano sued in 2011 claiming that she suffered serious injuries to her right shoulder, back, neck and head when Nemes stormed through her front door, causing her to hit a wall.
Police were called to the house by Roccisano's daughter, who had been locked out of the home after an argument with her mother. The daughter wanted police to let her in so that she could retrieve some belongings.
Roccisano refused to let police in and said she began to record the event on her phone and told Nemes and Officer Elliot Smith that she would call the police on them.
Nemes claimed that Roccisano tried to slam the door on him and that he arrested her because she was interfering with their investigation. He also claimed that Roccisano "struggled" and resisted during the arrest.
Roccisano denies she struggled and says she did not know she was going to be arrested until it happened. She also admitted to copping a "tone" with the officers.
Efforts to settle the lawsuit or have it dismissed were unsuccessful.
A federal judge refused to throw out the case in 2013 saying that Roccisano did "not appear to pose an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others."
"It also cannot be said that (Roccisano's) attempt to close the door was an attempt to evade or flee from arrest, because, by Officer Nemes' admission, he did not intend to enter the premises and arrest (her) until she attempted to close the door," U.S. District Court Judge Freda L. Wolfson said.
The township refused Roccisano's attorney's offers to settle the suit for $375,000 and then for $290,000. The township counteroffered with $10,000, which the plaintiff denied.
The original lawsuit listed 17 counts against the officers and police department, but by the time the lawsuit reached trial, the counts had been reduced to two excessive force claims against the two officers. Cho says Roccisano's legal team spent 628 hours on the case since 2011.
In a court filing by the township's attorney, Kurt J. Trinter of Dvorak & Associates of New Brunswick, Cho's billing hours are described as "shockingly excessive."
The jury found that Nemes violated Roccisano's rights in his arrest of her, but not in handcuffing her, which she had claimed had injured her.
The jury also cleared Smith of violating her rights with respect to the handcuffing.
Smith retired in November 2009, a month after the arrest, while Nemes retired in July 2012.
News of the lawsuit first was reported Monday by open-government activist John Paff, a township resident.