Posted on 04/23/2011 3:02:32 PM PDT by DariusBane
When Mitchell Crooks checked out of the county jail last month and checked into a Las Vegas hospital, the 36-year-old videographer knew he had a fight on his hands.
His face was bloodied and bruised. His $3,500 camera had been impounded by police, and he faced criminal charges for battery on a police officer.
One month later, things have changed for Crooks.
The Clark County district attorney's More..office has dropped all charges, and Crooks has retained an attorney of his own. The Metropolitan Police Department has opened an internal investigation into the Las Vegas police officer, Derek Colling, who Crooks says falsely arrested and beat him for filming police.
And his camera -- which captured the entire March 20 altercation between Crooks and Colling -- has been returned.
The words are friendly enough, but the tone is tense:
"Can I help you, sir?" Colling asks from his patrol car after parking it in front of Crooks' driveway and shining the spotlight on Crooks.
"Nope. Just observing," Crooks responds, fixing his camera on the officer.
Crooks had for an hour been recording the scene across the street from his home in the 1700 block of Commanche Circle, near East Desert Inn Road and South Maryland Parkway, where officers had several young burglary suspects handcuffed and sitting on the curb.
As Las Vegas crimes go, the activity was fairly boring. Crooks wanted to use his new camera, and he figured his neighbors would like to see the suspects' faces.
When Colling loaded suspects into the back of his car and drove in a circle through the cul-de-sac, Crooks said he thought police were leaving. Then the officer stopped his car.
"Do you live here?" Colling asks.
"Nope," Crooks says.
Colling steps out of his patrol car.
Crooks said he now regrets not telling the officer that he was in fact standing in his own driveway. He realizes his response seemed cheeky, but he said the officer made him nervous. Colling walks toward Crooks, left hand raised.
"Turn that off for me," Colling orders.
"Why do I have to turn it off?'' Crooks responds. "I'm perfectly within my legal rights to be able to do this."
The officer repeats the command several times; each time Crooks reiterates his right to film.
"You don't live here," Colling says, now close to Crooks.
"I do live here!"
"You don't live here, dude."
"I just said I live here!"
As Crooks backs away, Colling grabs him by the shoulder and throws him down. On the ground, Crooks grabs the camera and turns it toward his face.
Colling's leg then enters the video frame. Crooks says he believes that was the kick that broke his nose.
The camera records the sound of Crooks screaming. He said that's when Colling was punching his face.
"Shut up!" Colling yells. "Stop resisting!"
YOU'RE IN A WORLD OF HURT,' OFFICER SAYS
In his arrest report Colling wrote that Crooks grabbed his shoulders "and attempted to take me to the ground. I in turn took him to the ground."
At Clark County Detention Center, Crooks was booked for battery on a police officer and obstruction of justice. He was released from jail the next day. On March 26, the Review-Journal reported on his case. Four days later all charges were dropped.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said he dismissed the charges because the police report was vague.
"I asked for a more definite description of the battery because battery requires a violent touching," Laurent said. Police never provided that information.
Crooks said he always believed he'd be vindicated, but after police returned his camera he knew he had proof.
"I was confident I was doing the right thing, but I was excited they (the DA's office) weren't wasting any time, and that somebody was smart enough to know I was acting within the law," he said.
Crooks said the incident looks worse on tape than he remembered.
What bothered him the most, he said, was Colling's attitude after he was placed in handcuffs.
"Why did you do that? I live here," Crooks is heard pleading on the tape.
"You just told me you didn't live here," Colling says. "You live right here, in this house?"
Crooks asks for paramedics. Colling tells him to shut up and follow orders.
"If you fight again, dude Hey, if you (expletive) fight again, dude, you're in a world of hurt. You hear me?
"You're not in charge here, buddy. You hear me?"
Colling mocks Crooks' labored breathing.
"Oh yeah, buddy. Hey, when you don't do what I ask you to do, then you're in a world of hurt. Then you're in a world of hurt. Aren't ya? Huh?"
Crooks was later diagnosed with a deviated septum and a chest wall injury. Crooks believes his ribs were broken, but never got X-rays that could prove it.
ACLU LAWYERS SAY OFFICER WAS WRONG
Allen Lichtenstein, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, reviewed Crooks' video and said Colling was clearly in the wrong. Officers are trained to avoid escalating situations, but Colling initiated the incident and created a physical confrontation without provocation, he said.
"It raises serious questions about whether the officer used good judgment and whether he was properly trained," Lichtenstein said. "Those questions require answers."
Police have no expectation of privacy, and it's perfectly legal to film officers as long as it does not interfere in their investigation, he said. Colling erred in claiming that Crooks was trespassing. By law, only a property owner or resident can make a trespassing complaint, Lichtenstein said.
"Even if the officer didn't think he lived there, that doesn't mean he didn't have permission to be there,'' Lichtenstein said. "In the video I heard, that question was never asked."
Crooks' attorney, David Otto, on Thursday sent police a statement from Crooks, along with a demand for $500,000 to cover Crooks' medial care, pain and suffering.
Colling had no legitimate reason to approach Crooks that night, Otto wrote.
"Officer Colling was aggravated that a citizen should have the audacity to video tape, him -- a Las Vegas Metropolitan Patrol Officer,'' Otto wrote. "Officer Colling decided to use the fear and terror of his physical ability to beat Mr. Crooks into submission -- to teach Mr. Crooks and, by example, all citizens and residents of the Las Vegas Valley."
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie declined comment, saying the internal investigation remains open. Colling remains on duty, and Crooks has declined requests to be interviewed by detectives.
The suspects in Colling's patrol car may have witnessed the event and given statements to detectives, but their names have not been released. Police said they were not arrested or booked, so their names are not public record.
Crooks said he doesn't want to talk to detectives.
If you don’t like him - you’re gonna hate ME.
Does that change the Constitutionality of the cops actions?
Do you know what gestures the guy taping the video was making etc?
Does that change the Constitutionality of the cops actions?
Do you know what was going on before the COP stopped or why he was there in the first place?
Does that change the Constitutionality of the cops actions?
Do you know what action was taken by the police department against the officer if he was acting out of line?
Does that change the Constitutionality of the cops actions?
What other than the so expertly advice of some babel head do “you” actually know about this event?
Does that change the Constitutionality of the cops actions?
Other than speculation, conjecture and hyperbole, what do you have in terms of facts outside of a video?
Does that change the Constitutionality of the cops actions shown in the video?
You are correct. I don’t want to transfer risk, so I don’t want the safety enforcement culture.
I don’t want to participate in the village so I home school my children.
I don’t want to outsource my protection so I have learned to shoot handguns. I am army trained with rifles but it is an entirely different skill set to shoot handguns.
So I have opted out. Not with my mouth, but with my actions.\
To many conservatives still want the “village”. I think the village is highly dangerous.
No. Increasingly, the police are not sworn peace officers; they do not take the Oath to protect and defend the Constitution. They are merely tools of the state to enforce slavery of the sovereign citizenry.
Is this just another "isolated incident?"
No again. The thug attitudes of the likes of the ATF, Border Patrol and FBI is being transferred to local police departments via federal training. I have been in such trainings; there is NO emphasis on Constitutional rights; in fact, the police gloat after taking cash from a citizen, as if they just won a big score. It doesn't matter if you are a drug dealer or not, if you have a wad of cash, and a cop finds out, he is taking it.
I believe the time will come in America, and come soon, when the sovereign people will have to fire upon such thug cops. I do not relish it, for I would rather have them on our side, but I have no hope for such an outcome. Present-day cops are against the people, plain and simple.
Makes me smile to see folks are getting it and those who understand are speaking up here. Federally trained local officers and union beholden employees not required by the courts to protect and serve are not the friends of the people like before. Times have changed. As evidenced by non action in Wisconsin even. Best protect yourself and be wary of anyone behind a badge and who they really are.
THe article says he got his camera back with the video
still in it. Strange they didn’t erase it.
Amen, bro, to all of the above I say: ME TOO.
No..I don’t think Officer Codpiece acted appropriately. Whatever gave you that idea?
its the union/civil service rules...its practically impossible to fire a cop or other "civil servant"...
we had a local cop, became addicted to coke while doing undercover work apparently and he sued for dissability and got it!
and then there's the local cop who filed for "stress" disability because his job was so tough.....he had been going to night school full time while working as a cop during the day, and as soon as he nearly had his law degree....shazzzammm....he was too "stressed" and received a disability...so now this poor guy has his law practice and his cop disability....
I could be wrong, but was thinking it was a digital SLR camera and he (Crooks) was taking video with it, all the while the cop (Colling) probably thought he was taking still pictures and didn’t know it was still running.
(1) The cop was on duty making a bust of burglary suspects
(2) The cop (and his buddies) had had the suspects lined up on the neighborhood curb ACROSS the street from the guy with the video camera.
(3) None of the cops expressed any suspicion of the guy with the camera until they were ON THEIR WAY OUT OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD with the suspects.
A smile and a bye-bye wave would have probably set a different scene leading to a far different ending.
Here's what set off the cop ~ he'd just caught bad guys robbing this guy's neighbors! Yet, the guy just kept filming them ~ like for what?
Then, the guy lied, and once you lie about why you were there filming a crime scene, whatever you say after that is a lie. So, he lived there and said he didn't. Now he said he lived there.
In a hyper situation where you got a carload of badguys and this guy's been filming them, and him, it's probably just beyond human endurance to maintain an "Officer Friendly" demeanor. Still, this had a positive outcome ~
Ok, how did this have a positive outcome?
Classic control freak...
http://www.lvrj.com/news/national-police-group-honors-two-officers-involved-in-erik-scott-shooting-119926284.html
Dr_lew goes you one better.
A policeman earns his respect by becoming a policeman. He is henceforth issued a badge, a uniform, and most notably a gun, and stands as the embodiment of civil authority in any and all situations. As far as I am concerned, this authority is ultimate, with respect to the command of respect and obedience in the field. When I have intercourse with a cop, I am a mouse, mindful of my position.
He's a mouse, trembling in the presence of such ultimate authority.
I’m not giving that site any hits. But I know what it is. Screamingly disgraceful.
Here. Use this one:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/apr/15/national-group-honors-2-metro-officers-fatal-erik-/
The source of your original link is the Las Vegas Journal Review, of “Righthaven” infamy. This website was one of their victims.
Google “Righthaven” and look around a little and you’ll understand.
Colling has been involved in two fatal shootings in his 5½ years as a Las Vegas police officer. In 2006, he and four other officers shot Shawn Jacob Collins after the 43-year-old man pulled a gun at an east valley gas station. In 2009, he confronted a mentally ill 15-year-old Tanner Chamberlain, who was holding a knife in front of his mother and waving it in the direction of officers. Colling shot him in the head. Both shootings were ruled justified by Clark County coroner's juries.Huh.
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