Rights Violated???

[MJS]

http://www.courant.com/community/new-haven/hc-ap-ct-officersindictedjun19,0,2577080.story

The story is very vague, hopefully more will come of this, but in the meantime, I thought I'd just put this out for discussion.

Going on what we read at this time only, do you feel that this persons rights were violated?

 

[Sukerkin]

That's not a lot to go on, MJS.

Very thin story indeed.

Reaction straight off the bat, I'd say that the prisoners rights were infringed, aye; except for the little note that he was damaging the cell.

If he's ripping the place up, I suspect he got off lightly.

 

[Em MacIntosh]

If the damage to the cell wall was extensive I wouldn't want to take chances with the rowdy guy who did it, if that's the case. Way too vague but witches get burned if they don't drown.

 

[Haakon]

I'm kind of surprised there would be that much that could be damaged in a holding cell, but I haven't seen many of them.

Were his rights violated? Which right? The police might have used unreasonable force to stop whatever he was doing (and then again, maybe not), but what right would have been violated?

 

[MJS]

Yeah, I was tossing around the idea of not posting this and probably shouldn't have, instead waiting until more was available, but figured I'd take a shot at it anyways.

I would be interested in knowing how this guy was acting. However, there have been times when inmates in the prison and people brought to the PD and placed in a cell, have refused to come out, flooded the cell, and things of that nature, and have been hit with OC or a Taser.

Many times, I think that people assume that because someone is detained, ie: locked in a cell, handcuffed, etc., that it means they're totally under control. Just because someone is cuffed with their hands behind their back, doesnt mean they can't kick or struggle, difficult as it may be. So you have someone in a holding cell, acting like a jerk, so he gets OC'd.

So far, going on what I've read so far, I dont see anything wrong.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

There's a little more detail here:

http://www.wtic.com/ECSU-Police-Charged-with-Civil-Rights-Violations/5793076

I would say that if the FBI is involved and there was an indictment handed down, there is a chance that something untoward happened. What that might be, I don't know. I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with spraying an unruly inmate with pepper spray, but perhaps this was more than that. Dunno.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

More here:

http://www.justice.gov/usao/ct/Press2009/20091201-1.html

 

[MJS]

Thanks for the additional links Bill. IMO, the only thing that I could see, that may get them jammed up, is the fact that they left him in the cell for 11min, rather than removing him, possibly moving him to a special cell, ie; EDP, washing the OC from him, etc. Then again, does the OC always have the desired effect on people? Its possible that it wasn't having any effect on this guy.

 

[jks9199]

There's a little more detail here:

http://www.wtic.com/ECSU-Police-Charged-with-Civil-Rights-Violations/5793076

I would say that if the FBI is involved and there was an indictment handed down, there is a chance that something untoward happened. What that might be, I don't know. I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with spraying an unruly inmate with pepper spray, but perhaps this was more than that. Dunno.

There's a chance -- but far from a certainty. The vaunted FBI has been known to succumb to political pressure in this sort of case...