Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, I searched and couldn't find it.
Posted on 07/23/2002 9:30:40 PM PDT by JediGirl
The tape, which was made by Ruidoso jail officials, shows 15-year-old Susanne DiPaolo handcuffed by one wrist to a jail cell bench after her arrest, crying and swearing. Then the tape recorded Officer Alfred C. Stinnett as he entered her cell and began arguing with the teenager. DiPaolo could be heard asking for a lawyer on the tape.
Explosive Jailhouse Tape
"You so far are in trouble because you seem to think that you are in complete control," Stinnett is heard saying.
DiPaolo then yelled at him, "I hate you and I didn't say [expletive]. And you're a [expletive] crooked cop!"
Stinnett told her, "If you open your mouth again … are you understanding me?"
"I'm not listening to you. I don't like you," the teen said, and Stinnett could be seen quickly pulling the handcuffed teen from a bench and throwing her face-first onto the concrete floor before wrestling her into a straitjacket.
DiPaolo's parents told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that their daughter's face was a mess after her arrest, but they didn't know what to think of her story before they watched the tape. "It just brought a flood of emotion, disgust, anger amongst others," Phil DiPaolo said. "We called the police to rescue our daughter and for her to have gotten beat up, that should have never happened," he said.
DiPaolo's mother said the officers had no right to touch her daughter, regardless of what she was saying. "He, as a police officer, should be trained to deal with that kind of language and or however she was acting," Jill DiPaolo said. "I don't feel he had any reason to go in her cell and throw her down," she said.
Lawsuit Pending
Stinnett and two other Ruidoso police officers have been sued in federal court for their treatment of DiPaolo during her Nov. 7, 2001, arrest for marijuana possession, resisting arrest and being an incorrigible child. All of the charges against DiPaolo have been dropped.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on June 13, accused Stinnett of abusing DiPaolo, alleging that he slammed DiPaolo's face onto a car hood before mistreating her in the jail cell, where it says she was left lying on the floor in her restraints.
It also names two other officers, alleging one falsified reports, while another tried to cover up the use of force.
DiPaolo's parents say they hope the suit will result in Stinnett's termination from the police force. It also seeks compensatory and punitive damages, though it does not specify dollar amounts.
A Lincoln County Grand Jury in March indicted Stinnett on a petty misdemeanor charge of battery in connection with his treatment of DiPaolo last November. The 38-year-old officer received an undisclosed disciplinary action and remains on the force. The criminal charge is pending.
Another police officer, Jeremy Morse of the Inglewood, Calif., force, was videotaped punching a handcuffed black teenager during an arrest earlier this month. Morse pleaded not guilty to charges related to the July 6 incident.
The Ruidoso police department told ABCNEWS it could not comment on the tape yet since it is the subject of a pending lawsuit.
Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, I searched and couldn't find it.
He's still in uniform?
Then you wouldn't mind if the cops did this to you or your kid?
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