Not really. If it was a random citizen then yes, but as an officer of the law your responsibility to act appropriately is far higher. Because of that any punishment should be far higher.
Compensation? Yes, definitely, but $40 million is just a laughable amount - her stress and discomfort from that incident does not equal that large an amount of money. And imagine the negative impact the loss of $40 million in funding would have on emergency services.
It is gross breach of conduct. The meme forgot to mention that the cops ran up to her while she was getting into her car, did not identify themselves as police officers, then tried to force her out of the car. She then sped off, afraid that she was getting attacked, and hit two of the cops. This is 100% the cops fault, and I hope they all get fired and she gets every penny.
They could've mistaken her for a dangerous drug dealer, tried to arrest her. When she sped off and hit two of them they pulled their weapons and smashed her window.
Why not? Cops are people too. That means they can do horrible things because of stupidity or evil or both.
Looks like smitty posted an article about this.
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Edited 9 years ago
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· 9 years ago
The reward is often far lower than what is in the original lawsuit
the cops are idiots. they just want recognition for arresting someone just so they could probably one-up their co workers. cops get so obsessed its no big deal. that poor girl was probably scared to death for gods sake she haD A LOADED GUN POINTED AT HER FOR BUYING WATER I AM SO UPSET
You are right about what punitive damages are, they are meant to punish the person that did something wrong. Suing the state for $40 million doesn't punish the wrongdoers. Sure, they are probably gonna lose their jobs if it goes through, but they aren't gonna be paying that $40 million. Everybody else in the state is hurt and paying for that instead.
Its like if you had a big group of little kids playing with a ball, and then 1 kid that wasn't really playing came over and kicks the ball in the road. So you "punish him" by taking the ball away from everybody to show what a bad thing he did. The problem is he wasn't really playing with it so it barely affects him, and yet the large group that WAS using it, are now punished for it.
It was a completely shitty thing what those cops did, and there are a LOT of cops that do this kind of thing (Cops shooting people in NM comes to mind). I get part of the reason for them doing it, adrenaline and the constant potential for bad things to happen if they let their guard down and whatever else, but it doesn't excuse them to do whatever they want. That being said, suing the state isn't going to fix anything. Its not directly punishing the people that did something wrong, its punishing everybody else. In fact, it probably makes it even worse. Now the budget is that much less, which means they have to make it up. That means their superiors are going to be on them that much more to pull people over and make arrests, because thats how they generate money. More pressure for arrests and tickets means more they are more likely to do something wrong such as this.
It is actually a round about follow on effect:
• The cops in question lose their job.
• The state end up paying the for the lawsuit, the punitive judgement and/or settlement.
• This is passed on to the taxpayer, who then choose differently at the ballot box.
• Various levels of politicians also lose their job in lieu of different leadership that will make better law enforcement appointment decisions.
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At least that is how it is supposed to work... If you think your political leadership is going to cost you money, vote in someone new.
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Bottom line: Someone fucks up, everyone pays for it.
I recently saw a post on here about a man being shot because of a wii control, and the cops were defended by a large group of users because they had to protect their lifes. It now seems to me that the US might have a problem with overstrained cops.
I am sure figures like $40 million in lawsuits like this are determined with attorneys and it sounds like they are trying to hit them the only way it can hurt a police department/officers and that's financially. To avoid bad press, they will probably settle out of court for a much smaller amount. Or try to anyway.
They pulled a gun on her and broke her window for buying beer while she was underage. You'd think they'd be a little less aggressive. It's
not like she kidnapped or killed anyone...
Exactly! She claimed that she started her car to pull down her windows, but the cops thought she was leaving and broke the window! It would also make sense if she tried to escape, because they were in plain clothes. She said her badges were unidentifiable to at that moment, so she had no idea they were cops! It's completely unfair to her, but one article stated she still had to stay in jail for three nights for "trying to escape."
United States of America - don't expect anything logical or comprehensible. I like north american people - but I also like cats. None of the two should have any authority...
That's actually pretty funny there, guest.
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Douglas Adams once said (in his books) that anyone that is capable of getting themselves elected president, has no business holding the position.
Oh, what, by randomly assaulting innocent citizens without cause?
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Yeah that's only a direct violation of the Constitution of the United States. No big.
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· 9 years ago
Raven, you must be a fucking retard, because that is exactly how Hilter ruled
pay for the window, and give her a complementary pressie
'Failing' is putting it lightly.
Looks like smitty posted an article about this.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/29/virginia-university-alcohol-arrest-charlottesville-bottled-water/2475427/
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Charges are being "dropped" but this is still a case of wrongful arrest and blatant volition of the Fourth Amendment. She has a case. A strong case consitering she was assaulted buy six "plainclothes" state officers.
Its like if you had a big group of little kids playing with a ball, and then 1 kid that wasn't really playing came over and kicks the ball in the road. So you "punish him" by taking the ball away from everybody to show what a bad thing he did. The problem is he wasn't really playing with it so it barely affects him, and yet the large group that WAS using it, are now punished for it.
• The cops in question lose their job.
• The state end up paying the for the lawsuit, the punitive judgement and/or settlement.
• This is passed on to the taxpayer, who then choose differently at the ballot box.
• Various levels of politicians also lose their job in lieu of different leadership that will make better law enforcement appointment decisions.
.
At least that is how it is supposed to work... If you think your political leadership is going to cost you money, vote in someone new.
.
Bottom line: Someone fucks up, everyone pays for it.
not like she kidnapped or killed anyone...
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Douglas Adams once said (in his books) that anyone that is capable of getting themselves elected president, has no business holding the position.
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Yeah that's only a direct violation of the Constitution of the United States. No big.