Posted on 10/12/2013 3:46:18 PM PDT by servo1969
A woman is suing a police officer and the town of Skokie, Illinois, after she was seriously injured when a cop threw her into a jail cell face-first following a drunk driving arrest.
Cassandra Feuerstein, 47, claims in a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday, that excessive force was used in the incident and that she needed reconstructive surgery to 'replace the bones that had been shattered' after being pushed into the cell on March 10.
The video of the incident clearly shows the 47-year-old being roughly shoved into the cell by an officer, who was later identified as Michael Hart.
The beginning of the prison video shows her complying with a female officer during the pat down and search and gives them her bra and shoes.
As she is shoved, she falls forward and strikes her face on the concrete bench. When she lands on the ground, a pool of blood spreads on the floor under her.
Another officer enters the cell and pulls her head onto his lap as he attempts to stop the bleeding.
A paramedic arrives soon after and she is taken to hospital in a stretcher.
Feuerstein claims the officer then filed a false report claiming she resisted police to explain his actions, according to CBS.
'Apparently I was not looking into the camera the way the officer wanted me to', she said at a press conference yesterday, referring to having her mugshot taken right before the incident.
Her lawyer Torreya Hamilton said: 'The video speaks for itself. She does nothing to justify what this male police officer does.
'If this was a tavern fight, which of course it wasn't, it'd be like she got sucker-punched.'
The 47-year-old was charged with resisting an officer as well as drunk driving.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
He wanted to show her he was the man. I bet he's shoved a hundred people into that cell. But this time he ----ed up and the person tripped and smashed their face right into the concrete. Now he's in trouble. So what do they do? Charge her with resisting for getting her face caved in. The other cops will circle the wagons.
Oh, I forgot:
FULL TITLE: The shocking moment a woman was shoved face-first into a concrete jail cell bench by cops: 47-year-old landed so hard she shattered facial bones and needed reconstructive surgery
I hope skokie has deep pockets. What am I saying. Of course they do.
This story has been around for a little while now, maybe a month or so. There are several updates. I think the pig who dunnit is on “payed leave” or some such drivel.
She was drunk. Get over it. If you, sober, have to resort to this to get control of a drunk, you are NOT mentally stable enough to carry a weapon.
That is not a police officer, that a thug with a badge who needs to find a new job in a new field right after he is released from from serving the maximum prison sentence a judge can impose for assault and what ever else they can pin on him.
I was occasionally treated roughly by cops 25 years ago when I was an unresisting, physically passive pro-life vigiler at a clinic: once thrown off a brick porch into a snowbank, once a cop yanked the flex-cuffs so tight (deliberately, after I'd asked politely if he could loosen them) that I had a deep black gash in my wrist and didn't regain sensation in my thumb for weeks.
I don't have a bias against police. My son Ben, in the Marine Reserves, is a Law Enforcement major, graduating this December. But some of them, I think, get a big hot flush of satisfaction from being cruel to helpless people.
They have their money and money they haven’t taken from the taxpayers... yet.
The whole police department should have to pay for abuse of power for falsely charging her for resisting arrest. This would hopefully prevent other lying and abuses by the police.
No big deal hare. This is typical cop behavior. They all
do it. Most cops are just impotent punks with badges
and a gun. Take away the gun and badge and they couldn’t
fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
Obama’s cops, ready for duty at FEMA command.
Face it. Many cops are psychopaths who enjoy bullying over people.
So cops are “pigs” and they get “payed?”
You didn’t know that?
Right penalize the on going criminal conspiracy too.
Careful now, did NOT say 'cops' were pigs. Said THIS PIG. He, himself, alone. And if you can justify his extreme actions, I'd like to hear it. Been in the business of corralling drunks.
Lose your temper, like this, you are NO better than the drunk.
And yes, I believe he was suspended WITH PAY.
You wanna twist words, find someone who doesn't write for a living.
Get a brown paper bag, breath into it and stop hyperventilating. READ WHAT WAS WRITTEN, and get a thicker skin.
If you really are 'on the job,' you know that scoundrels really are out there. Have a good weekend, I really do mean that.
Don’t forget they are all part of a gang with the other gang members backing them up at all times.
Granted the cop was nasty but are we not dealing with a miserable little piece of fate? Drunk drivers kill a lot of people. Maybe too much pity is being spent on this creature and too much venom spent on the cop. Most of us go through life without being arrested and are in little danger from the police. I’ve had traffic stops-(no tickets)- and the event has been uneventful and business like. Maybe we should stop feeling sorry for the criminal element. Just a thought.
Shut that bitch right up. Good job officer.
“Granted the cop was nasty but are we not dealing with a miserable little piece of fate? Drunk drivers kill a lot of people. Maybe too much pity is being spent on this creature and too much venom spent on the cop. Most of us go through life without being arrested and are in little danger from the police. I’ve had traffic stops-(no tickets)- and the event has been uneventful and business like. Maybe we should stop feeling sorry for the criminal element. Just a thought.”
Seems she was a ‘drunk sleeper’.
Had not heard sleeping drunks were a problem.
At least the, ahem, ‘officer’, enjoyed his beat down of a girl.
In that case, let's just let cops shoot drunk drivers.
This is clear abuse of a vulnerable individual.
The officer easily outweighs her by about 100 pounds. Guys like this give the 99% of hard working law enforcement a HUGE black eye.
"Little danger from the police" Sounds like having a vicious dog in the neighborhood. See anything wrong with the concept?
That’s right, who cares if the law is followed or not. Just let cops make the calls and do what they want.
Says the anonymous person on the internet.
In that case, let’s just let cops shoot drunk drivers
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
First they shot the drunk drivers and I said ‘Not to worry, I don’t drink’.
Then they shot the speeders and I said ‘Not to worry..etc’
When they shot the jay-walkers, I said ‘Not to worry..etc’
Finally they got around to ‘shooting’ at me as they had run out of ‘law breakers’.....<: <: <:
I wonder if he’ll get suspended with pay for more than a month.
Anyone have a copy of the police report, the use of force report, the internal affairs report? The written statements of the other officers, the video that is in the other sections of the jail?
No?
Then you haven’t a complete story.
If you were on trial, would you want full disclosure or partial?
Remember, this woman is not making the statement, her attorney is.
Ok, now then. The officer will most likely get fired, lose his license to be police officer and the woman will get paid handsomely.
But let’s be fair. Don’t operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated and these chain of events are most likely never to happen to you.
“That is not a police officer, that a thug with a badge...”
According to a friend of mine who used to be a cop and his dad has been a sheriff for decades, that is what roughly 50% of them are.
All you have to be on these police threads is rational. A rational person, without an axe to grind, knows that there are a few rotten apples in every barrel. And even a good cop on a bad day can make a poor decision. Unless this police officer has a bad record, and I believe I read this guy didn’t and was a police officer for many years, it sounds like he made a bad decision on one bad day.
When he pushed her, I’m sure he was not expecting that she would hit the bench with her face and shatter bones on the way down. He was probably saying to himself “oh sh*t” when it happened. The bad apples need to be weeded out, but blanket statements about all police being bad is way out of line, especially when you may need a cop yourselves one day.
Just be rational, not irrational folks, if possible. A cop lives in my condo building and he’s a really nice guy. Has a beautiful female German Shepherd also, one of my favorite dog breeds. I had one many years ago, and dearly loved her, but that’s an aside.
Well said. Bad cops need to go. Good cops need to be thanked.
First they went for the mugged husbands calling them batterers and estranged...
The comment about just not being drunk and you’ll be safe is incorrect. A corrupt and viscious man operating under the color of authority is a mortal threat to the community. No one is safe because he is using the power of the state, often in concert with other corrupt union cops, and has no restraint. Any officer doing this should be made a into a example with extreme punishment so they will fear abusing citizens. Make them personally liable to lose their property’ pension, liberty, and in some cases their lives (Abner louima case, lying under oath, etc.)
In any case, give him a fair trial by a jury of the community, and if guilty, a fast hanging, so to speak.
Ah yes, the predictable "We haven't heard both sides of the story"...B.S.
"But let’s be fair. Don’t operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated and these chain of events are most likely never to happen to you."
So, If I were to come across a cop driving drunk, it is just fine to smash his face into the pavement a few times because he was driving drunk?
What's that? It is not permissible for a peasant to pound a drunk cop, but understandable to you why a cop would do it?
I never knew it was that easy for police officers to get a paid vacation.
That was the attitude citizens had in Nazi Germany.
“That is not a police officer, that a thug with a badge...”
According to a friend of mine who used to be a cop and his dad has been a sheriff for decades, that is what roughly 50% of them are.
That has not been my experience and I have spent a good bit of time around LEOs.
I have enormous respect for those guys.
NYC has a style all its own.
People without guns and badges have bad days too. They sometimes push or punch someone on their bad days too. THEY GET ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH CRIMES, just like this guy should be too.
He gets one free face-smash on a defenseless woman.
It confirmed my experience with them. To complete the picture, he said that that the other half are made up of two groups: Those that truly do want to make a difference and have integrity and those that don’t even want to pull people over for obvious violations because it’s a lot of work and risk.
Before I moved to Kentucky, I got pulled over roughly 3 or four times a year and averaged a little less than one ticket a year (just below the threshold for “special treatment”). I met all kinds of cops in my personal life as well. What my friend said pretty much lined up with my personal experience. In all seriousness, with some of them, if I came into contact with them in the wrong situation, I’d shoot first and ask questions later, badge or not. Sometimes it’s mano a mano and a matter of survival against a wild animal. The reason is simple: A thug is a thug, badge or not, and your life may depend on responding accordingly.
Truth be told, the odds of the situation above actually happening to me is slim to none, since I always respond very well with cops (hence so few tickets regardless of the number of stops - and most of them are drastically reduced from the actual infraction), but I see all men, badge or not as, at the end of the day, flawed men, as am I.
Wow.
Hope someone drops this A-hole on his a couple dozen times.
“People without guns and badges have bad days too. They sometimes push or punch someone on their bad days too. THEY GET ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH CRIMES, just like this guy should be too.”
That’s if they get caught by those nasty cop guys.
He gets one free face-smash on a defenseless woman.
Well, he didn’t get away with it for long, and it’s not going to be so free anymore. This woman will end up a lot richer for it.
I am not the one excusing criminal activity by saying someone had a bad day, you are.
“I am not the one excusing criminal activity by saying someone had a bad day, you are.”
I never said there would be no consequences, toots. Put your specs on.
'And I would have gotten away with too, if it hadn't been for those meddling videos!'
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.