Tag: Excessive Force

ACLU Investigates Martinsburg Police For Alleged Use Of Force In Protest Arrests

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia is investigating the treatment of several protesters recently arrested by the Martinsburg Police Department.

At least 11 people were arrested in Martinsburg the weekend of May 30 and 31 during demonstrations protesting police brutality and racism. 

 

On Thursday, the ACLU of West Virginia filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Martinsburg City Attorney’s Office and the Martinsburg Police Department on behalf of the Berkeley County Unity Coalition, a newly formed group of civil and human rights organizations, educators, faith leaders and others.

The FOIA asks for bodycam and dashcam footage, names and badge numbers of officers involved, official law enforcement policies and procedures for interacting with community members at protests, and use-of-force policies.

Additionally, according to the ACLU, the protesters who were arrested were forced to sit in jail with “excessively high bails” amid the coronavirus pandemic that has hit jails and prisons in the United States especially hard. A news release also said multiple video recordings appear to show police using “excessive force” and “escalating tensions” during the protests.

“This situation could have been handled in a way that de-escalated the situation and afforded a learning opportunity for both sides,” said Damon Wright, president of the Berkeley County Schools Diversity Council in the release. “Some of the young people were school aged and these incidents could further traumatize them to think twice about the role of police in helping.”

Wright said de-escalation training is “desperately” needed for officers.

Dr. Zakee McGill, president of the Berkeley County NAACP, also called for transparency from the authorities.

The Martinsburg Police Department wasn’t immediately available for comment.

On May 31, someone fired at least eight gunshots during an evening protest in downtown Martinsburg, according to police reports. No one was injured, and the shooter fled on foot.

Court In West Virginia Police Excessive Force Suit: 'This Has To Stop'

A federal appeals court has vacated part of a finding that cleared five West Virginia police officers on qualified immunity grounds in an excessive force lawsuit, which was filed by the estate of a homeless black man shot 22 times.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled this week that shielding five Martinsburg police officers for their actions during the summary judgment stage of the lawsuit “would signal absolute immunity for fear-based use of deadly force, which we cannot accept.” The panel sent the case back to U.S. District Court for further proceedings.

Police had stopped Wayne Arnold Jones as he was walking on a Martinsburg street in March 2013. Jones was shot 22 times after police said the 50-year-old Stephens City, Virginia, resident shrugged off two jolts from a stun gun, fought with officers and stabbed one of them. The officers were white. 

A Berkeley County grand jury declined to indict the officers in the fatal shooting. The U.S. Justice Department later said there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal civil rights charges against police. Civil rights leaders had pressed for the investigation. 

U.S. District Judge Gina Groh dismissed a $200 million lawsuit filed by Jones’ family against the officers and the city. But the appeals panel said in reversing the granting of summary judgment to the officers on qualified immunity grounds that “a reasonable jury could find that Jones was both secured and incapacitated in the final moments before his death.” 

“By shooting an incapacitated, injured person who was not moving, and who was laying on his knife, the police officers crossed a ‘bright line’ and can be held liable,” the panel wrote. 

The panel noted that Jones’ death occurred about a year before the shooting by a white police officer of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. 

“Seven years later, we are asked to decide whether it was clearly established that five officers could not shoot a man 22 times as he lay motionless on the ground,” the appeals court said. “Although we recognize that our police officers are often asked to make split-second decisions, we expect them to do so with respect for the dignity and worth of black lives.”

The court also referenced the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after white police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for several minutes. That death prompted protests by millions of people around the world.

“Although we recognize that our police officers are often asked to make split-second decisions, we expect them to do so with respect for the dignity and worth of black lives,” the panel said. “This has to stop.”

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