Washington D.C. Police Chief May Be Held Personally Liable

[donsu]

http://www.justiceonline.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr006=anuh57y491.app7a&page=NewsArticle&id=5183&news_iv_ctrl=1003

The D.C. Circuit today ruled that "The mass arrest at Pershing Park violated the clearly established Fourth Amendment rights of plaintiffs. . ." The Court of Appeals ruling rejects the appeal by Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey, in which Ramsey claimed that he should not be held personally liable for these sweeping constitutional rights violations, clearing the way for a trial on Ramsey's responsibility. The Court also upheld the District Court's denial of qualified immunity to Assistant Chief of Police Peter Newsham who also commanded the arrests.

Click here to read the Court of Appeals Ruling In Favor of Protestors

- - - - - - -

-snip-

"A police badge is not a shield from personal responsibility. Those who use their authority to target and jail others for engaging in free speech and political action must know that they cannot act with impunity," stated Ms. Verheyden-Hilliard. "This ruling is a vindication for the Barham plaintiffs who have been steadfast in insisting on accountability at the highest levels for this massive violation of constitutional rights."

On September 27, 2002, the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, working with federal law enforcement authorities, undertook a political sweep and mass arrest of people who were engaged in, or in proximity to, First Amendment protest activities against the IMF and World Bank and the war in Iraq. The police trapped and arrested nearly four hundred protestors, legal observers, tourists and passers-by in Pershing Park in downtown Washington, D.C. Despite never being allowed to leave the park, and no order ever being given for people in the park to disperse, all those swept up were charged with "failure to obey" an unidentified order that was never given.
-snip-
-----------------------------------

right on!

now to get the Nazi that runs Miami cops

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. His pennance may could be..... to

stand in a blue square reading the bill of rights 1000 times over... in Times Square... On Sunday morning... wearing a feathered tutu, or a pink and green mumu... riding a unicycle, or something of the sort...

[AX10]

2. Good. It's about time that they are PERSONALLY held responsible...

for their CRIMES. What Ramsey ordered was no better than what the Soviets did. How can you block people into the park and arrest them? You can't! Take Ramsey's house away and stuff him in jail!

[toymachines]

3. "failure to obey"

ah fuck

[soothsayer]

4. Tho black, freckles is a spitting image of Chief Wiggum