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Posted on 01/30/2012 8:28:31 AM PST by Altariel
Every once in a while, amid the stacks of semi-literate, pro se habeas corpus petitions, trademark suits and product liability complaints, there comes a federal filing so disturbing, so completely awful, that it leaves the reader with nothing but questions.
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This week, it's Danny Cantu v. The City of Dallas and a whole passel of named and unnamed police officers. According to the complaint, which made its way to Courthouse News yesterday, Cantu, a diesel mechanic, was making his lunch January 22, 2010, when he saw a few cops streaking across his yard. A deafening explosion shook the room as a flash bomb shot through the door. Nearly 20 officers crashed in.
"Get on the ground!" they allegedly ordered him. Cantu, according to the complaint, obliged and was zipcuffed. Inexplicably, the filing claims, the officers kicked and punched him until he was unconscious, lying in a pool of his own blood on the kitchen floor. Meanwhile, they searched his house and allegedly didn't find what they were after. Cantu's alleged butcher's bill: a broken orbital bone, a broken nose, a concussion, traumatic brain injury, a loss of vision in his left eye and loss of hearing in his left ear. According to his complaint, the "injuries required surgical intervention and caused significant scarring and disfigurement."
Cantu was arrested but never charged with a crime. Indeed, a search of county court records yielded no charges under that name. Dallas Police spokesman Kevin Janse told Unfair Park neither the raid nor the name rang a bell. Nobody from the City Attorney's office was available to comment. None of Cantu's attorneys -- there are three -- responded to many messages left for comment. And nobody answered calls placed to a number listed under Cantu's name.
He's seeking unspecified damages to compensate him for his medical bills, mental anguish and disfigurement, among other things
Now for a little unsubstantiated speculation: If the allegations in the lawsuit are true, did police hit the wrong address? Or did they hit the right address on wrong information?
If the parties don't settle this quietly and if we hear back from Cantu or his attorneys, we'll update accordingly.
The guy needs to get some dogs.
Yet more heroism from our doughnut eating dog-shooters.
Sounds like Dallas is lost and we need to withdraw.
You think if he had dogs the police would have worked out all of their aggression by shooting them, and not beating the man half to death instead?
So the SWAT team can shoot up the place too?
At least there would be some physical evidence left behind.
If that ever happened to me or mine I wouldn’t be so polite as to use the courts for justice.
“Cantu was arrested but never charged with a crime”
Cantu was detained for everyone’s safety and the premises were searched he was given a massage but never charged with a crime.
(fixed)
So, uh, was the guy eventually able to finish making his lunch?
...
Here’s the part that bothers me:
Now for a little unsubstantiated speculation:
If the allegations in the lawsuit are true, did police hit the wrong address? Or did they hit the right address on wrong information?
Sounds like the writer is giving SWAT an “out”.
On a related subject, several months back I was getting into my car in a very crowded supermarket parking lot when I heard the usual “Get down! Get down now!” He kept screaming it over and over. I looked a few rolls over and a Constable had his gun drawn pointing at someone who was getting into his car. The guy looked around like “You talkin’ to me?” The cop kept screaming and finally the guy went to the ground.
I don’t know if the guy was guilty of anything or not. But was this cop going to open fire in a crowded parking lot with kids running around? Sadly, the answer is probably “yes”.
Click the link to be added to the "Whoops. Sorry, citizen. We thought you were someone else" PING list.
It truly is getting to be a weekly thing with these type of stories.I can’t imagine just sitting in my home minding my own business and having something like this happen.When did America become a controlled police state?
The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological. See also antiterrorism; combating terrorism; counterterrorism; force protection condition; terrorist; terrorist groups.
Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.
also quite possible that this is nothing but pure fiction from someone seeking an out of court settlement
How would you account for his injuries, then?
The self-inflicted broken nose was a nice touch..../s
The reporter said they couldn’t contact him or his lawyers and the jail or court had no record of him??
I might have misread something, but it sounds like it hasn’t been confirmed that this actually happened.
*shrug*
I'd still like to read the warrant (and see who signed it).
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