8 mo. ago • 98%

After a handcuffed ride in the back of a police van, a man was left paralyzed and needed his legs amputated, lawsuit alleges

edition.cnn.com After a handcuffed ride in the back of a police van, a man was left paralyzed and needed his legs amputated, lawsuit alleges | CNN

A man filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging he was paralyzed and needed his legs amputated after police officers in St. Petersburg, Florida, put him in restraints, placed him in the back of a police van without a seatbelt and then drove in a reckless manner.

Cuffed in the back of a van with no seatbelts. You can get a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt in your car.

36 comments

The incident bears similarities to what is known as a “rough ride,” a term used to describe police placing a detained person in the back of a van, without a seatbelt, and then driving erratically. The term came to mass prominence after the controversial 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, who suffered severe injuries as he was being transported in a police van.

Wish we could stop tip-toeing around it. This was clear extrajudicial punishment but everyone from cop to judge will pretend it's some kind of accident or misunderstanding and ignore the totally systemic source of the problem- that cops have zero accountability.

216
- Speaking of not tip toeing things:
  
  controversial 2015 death of Freddie Gray
  
  The murder of Freddie Gray. The cops knew that what they did was dangerous because they have to clean up car accidents. Choosing to give someone a 'rough ride' is premeditated murder or attempted murder and anyone other than a cop would be charged.
  
  135
  
  It is also not in their job description to disperse "justice", or do anything but apprehend suspects and then allow the Justice System we have in place to deal with that. The second they step outside of that description they should be treated like any other citizen who took vigilante justice into their own hands, being charged and tried as such.
  
  71
- This was clear extrajudicial punishment
  
  I think it's great how Americans mistrust the police so they live vigilantes but apparently the police also wants to play vigilante even though they would be in the perfect position to ensure that vigilantism isn't needed.
  
  14
- Permanently Deleted
  
  2
A homeless guy slept in public too many times, and the police decided to arrest him.

They handcuffed and chained him then drove fast and slammed the brakes on purpose with him in the back of the van. That broke his neck - paralyzing him from the neck down. Both legs needed to be amputated as well.

For falling asleep in a grass lot...

183
- Call me crazy, but I would be happy to pay extra in taxes to make sure everyone had a roof over their head, healthcare (including dental, vision, mental health care), and their basic needs of life met (including hygiene products). If that comes out of police budgets, so be it.
  
  103
  
  What's crazy is it would likely cost less in taxes to do!
  
  70
  
  that's called socialism.
  
  28
  
  Yeah but then you'd get people trying to be homeless on purpose
  
  spoiler
  
  This is a joke, please don't hurt me
  
  Edit: how the fuck does spoiler text work
  
  23
As always, ACAB.

(I hate that this is becoming a daily occurence.)

57
- It's always been like this, friend. We just have better optics on it now.
  
  32
  
  So true. Still depressing as hell tho. :(
  
  6
  
  It has, but exposing enough people to injustice like this as much as possible as loudly as possible is how to peacefully change entrenched systems.
  
  3
- Spell it out for me?
  
  -6
  
  All cops are bastards. No exceptions.
  
  19
American cops are Nazis

20
From watching the video, it's honestly hard to say whether this is extrajudicial punishment or just gross incompetence and negligence.

The first thing that's immediately clear is that departmental negligence is involved at minimum. It really seems like police vehicles should have the ability to have seatbelts in them, and if there's reasons they can't (say anti-suicide or something), then they should not be allowed to drive more than like 20mph with someone in them unrestrained without a medical emergency.

But whether it's intentional assault or not is not clear to me. It absolutely could be an intentional rough ride, they didn't turn the camera on for the majority of the ride, but that does beg the question of why they would turn the camera on when they heard a loud crash in the back and incriminate themselves rather than just leave it off. Even the victim's lawsuit doesn't quite allege that they were intentionally driving to hurt, so much that they were incredibly negligent:

Thacker drove “in a reckless manner and at an unsafe rate of speed,” before he suddenly came to a hard stop at an alleged red light, the suit states

It honestly seems like this could be a case of criminal negligence on the cops for driving too fast and then having to stop quickly as often happens when you're driving too fast (as opposed to attempted murder / assault).

And then given that cops presumably have first responder training, it also seems like criminal negligence the way the cop handled the guy who clearly had a likely spinal injury.

I doubt anywhere close to appropriate charges or accountability will come from this since they're cops, but at first blush this doesn't seem like an intentional rough ride to me the way that Freddie Gray was.

-8
- Falsely arrested, maliciously prosecuted, and taken on a rough ride where he received permanent life-altering injuries.
  
  I'm done giving cops the benefit of a doubt on this shit. I cannot see this incident under these circumstances to be accidental.
  
  12
  
  Well it's a good thing I used the word negligent and not accidental then.
  
  0
  
  Yeah, well, you're an idiot then. There's a video you can watch and a lawsuit you can read where he doesn't even allege a rough ride so much as one bad stop.
  
  Giving into your biases doesn't make you cool or in touch, it makes you a cop.
  
  -6

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