PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: May 1, 2024
Militarized cops lock man in pysch ward over 'depression' :: 04/22/2016
A federal court has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Albemarle County in Virginia where several police officers confronted, surrounded and violently detained for psychiatric examination a man who hadn’t committed any crime, made any threat or exhibited anything that would indicate he was mentally ill or needed hospitalization.
They just blockaded his pickup, released a flash-bang grenade, smashed his window and dragged him out, injuring him. Then they locked him up for three days.
“This is just one more example of how a relatively benign situation (a routine welfare check) gets escalated into something far more violent and dangerous through the use of militarized police, armed to the teeth and trained to react combatively,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, which is working on the case on behalf of Benjamin Burruss.
“The unnecessary use of force by police officers in response to a situation that should have – and could have – been handled non-confrontationally did not, in this instance, result in a loss of life, but that is small consolation to those who have learned to tread cautiously in their interactions with police,” he said.
It was U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad who refused a request by law enforcement officials to dismiss the case against the county, and individuals Garnett Riley, Jatanna Rigsby, Kanie Richardson, Robert Warfel and Peter Mainzer. The government officials had claimed police officers are immune to such lawsuits, and that they acted in “good faith” and according to “clearly established rules.”
The situation developed in 2013 from a “welfare check” demanded by Burruss’ employer, who is not identified in the complaint.
It noted that Burruss was planning a trip to Montana to camp and hunt “in order to relieve stress he had been encountering due to difficulties at his job and in his marriage.”
The employer contacted the Albemarle County police agency for a “check on his welfare,” and police were told he was staying at a Comfort Inn “that he was intending to go hunting, that he may have a firearm, but that Burruss had not made any statements indicating he wanted to hurt himiself, or anyone else.”
In fact, according to the complaint, which was filed late in 2015 and this week faced its first challenge in the government’s unsuccessful request for dismissal, “At the time of the seizure, transportation and detention of Burruss, none of the defendants had probable cause to believe that Burruss had committed any crime, nor did any defendant have probable cause to believe (1) that Burruss had a mental illness and was in need of hospitalization, or (2) that there was a substantial likelihood that Burruss would cause physical harm to himself or others, nor did any defendant have any other legitimate or lawful basis to seize, arrest or detain him, and as such acted with reckless and callous indifference to the rights, federally protected and otherwise, of Burruss.”
The background of the case which involves alleged violations of the state false-imprisonment ban, violations of the Fourth and 14th Amendments and battery is that on Nov. 21, 2013, police were asked to do the “welfare check.”
According to the institute, “Police confronted Burruss as he was leaving the Comfort Inn and preparing to leave for a hunting trip to Montana. Burruss informed officers that he was fine, had no plans to hurt anyone, and just needed time to think through things, hence the trip to Montana. For two hours, officers persisted in asking Burruss to exit his truck and speak with them, with Burruss continuing to reiterate that he had no intention of harming himself or others and just wanted to be left alone and allowed to go on his hunting trip.
“During this time, police deployed a ‘stinger’ device behind Burruss’ truck. Police also surrounded Burruss’ truck with their squad cars, blocking his exit. The officer speaking with Burruss informed the other officers that they had no reason to hold Burruss because he had not threatened to harm anyone and he was not mentally ill. Nevertheless, a tactical team of heavily armed police launched a flash grenade at Burruss’ truck, smashed the driver-side window, dragged Burruss out by his arms, handcuffed, searched and arrested him. Burruss was forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and locked up under a mental-health hold.”
Contacted by WND, officials in Albemarle County declined to respond to a request for comment.
The case seeks nominal, compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
When officers first blockaded Burruss, who was clad in a T-shirt, camo pants and a blaze orange hunting cap, he asked if they had a warrant. He said if not, he “did not want to speak to them.”
Soon more officers arrived, they used four police vehicles to blockade his truck, they deployed a device to damage his tires if he tried to move his truck, they asked his wife, who explained to them he had made no threats, to get an order from a magistrate to take him into custody, and then they blew out his truck window despite the fact his wife had offered to let them use a key, according to the complaint.
Some details likely remain hidden, it explains, because “proceedings relating to Burruss’ attempt to obtain records and documents concerning the incident are still pending in the Virginia state court system.”
Throughout the two-hour blockade, Burruss refused to get out of his vehicle “and continually stated that he was not going to harm anyone, that he did not want to come out of his truck, but only wanted to be allowed to drive away.”
At one point, one of the officers told others, “We got nothin'” and said Burruss should be allowed to leave, but other officers refused, the complaint states. The officer reportedly described Burruss’ depression as “no different from that of many other persons,” the complaint said.
Eventually Magistrate Rovelle Brown issued an order authorizing police to “seize” Burruss, claiming it was based on a “sworn petition,” however, the complaint notes “no sworn petition is contained in the court records … nor was any such petition provided in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.”
This was after Burruss’ wife told the magistrate “Burruss had not made any statements indicating that he intended to cause harm to himself or any other person,” according to the complaint.
The officers’ actions violated Burruss’ “constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures as guaranteed by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments,” because he was detained “without probable cause or legal justification.”
http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/militarized-cops-lock-man-in-pysch-ward-over-depression/
