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posted by janrinok on Saturday August 01 2015, @04:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the stepping-on-toes? dept.

Who would have felt comfortable in these circumstances?

A Massachusetts man was driving in the town of Medford last Saturday night. He admits he took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way down a traffic circle. The angry man steps out of a truck and approaches him. Michael, seemingly -- and perhaps understandably -- frightened, reverses. The angry man follows him and Michael stops.

The angry man appears to show his badge and identifies himself as a police officer. Some, though, might be troubled by the officer's greeting: "I'll put a hole in your head." Michael is apologetic and explains to the officer -- now identified as Det. Stephen LeBert -- that he is being recorded. LeBert suggests that he will seize the camera.

"I'm a f***ing Medford detective and you went through that f***ing rotary," says LeBert. As Michael insists he didn't see a sign, LeBert demands his license. "You're lucky I'm a cop, otherwise I'd be beating the f***ing piss out of you right now," LeBert adds, shortly after calling the driver an a**hole. LeBert ultimately calls for on-duty cops who at least do a little to calm the situation. However, the fact that Michael posted his video to YouTube has led to an investigation.

Medford Police Chief Leo Sacco told MyFoxBoston: "It's not the proper behavior, but we only know about it when people tell us. And unfortunately, we had to get up this morning and see it on a YouTube video."

In the days before cameras proliferated, you had to rely on witnesses and hearsay. The police were more likely to be believed by those in authority. Cameras have begun to change that -- on both sides.

Sacco told the Medford Transcript: "The video is troubling enough, and it requires investigation just based on what we see here. The driver does not have to file his own complaint. He may, but he does not have to."

[...] Sacco told the Medford Transcript that LeBert was a good policeman. He added, perhaps unfortunately: "If you work hard you do step on people's toes, which generates complaints."


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday August 01 2015, @06:42AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Saturday August 01 2015, @06:42AM (#216675) Homepage Journal

    but they don't have enough cash to install toilets in the bare concrete cells where they imprison without recourse those who are perceived as mentally ill.

    I wrote this a couple months ago, intended to send it but hesitated while I discussed with a friend who is a professional legal research consultant. That is, he is not an attorney but attorneys pay him to write briefs for them.

    I do the same kind of research he does, not for pay but so as to advise others about the law. My friend and I both regard attorneys as total slackers.

    To Wit:

    Michael David Crawford
    650 NW Irving St
    Portland OR 97209
    mdcrawford@gmail.com
    (503) 688-8345

    Oregon Health & Sciences University
    ATTN: Janet Billups, General Counsel
    3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd.
    Portland, Oregon 97239-3098

    RE: Security video of March 2012 assault by OHSU police

    June 13, 2015

    Dear Ms. Billups,

    It has been well over a year since you and I spoke regarding the vicious assault upon me
    by two OHSU police officers after Officer Angel unlawfully imprisoned me in a bare
    concrete cell without food, water, a toilet, any means to communicate nor legal counsel.

    My simple request to you was that toilets be installed in each of those cells.

    Had I been permitted to urinate into a toilet rather than onto the floor, the two
    officers would not have slammed my head against the wall, turned me upside down then
    slammed my head onto the floor. When I regained consciousness almost three days later
    while I could correctly visualize the spelling of my name when I thought about it, I was
    unable to spell it correctly when I tried to write it on paper with a pencil.

    Neither would those two alleged public servants have felt the need to cover up their
    crime by filing a false police report. I was arrested by the Portland Police Bureau
    then held in jail for sixty days because the OHSU “officers” claimed I had assaulted
    them as well as a nurse.

    After fighting for sixteen months for the right to act Pro Se, that is, to speak for
    myself in court but with the advice of a legal counsel, upon being granted that right by
    Superior Court Judge Angel Lopez, the Multnomah County Prosecutor dismissed the charges.

    As yet no one has lifted a finger to compensate me for my lost wages, my pain and
    suffering, the seizures I now suffer which may well kill me someday, my time in jail, my
    time in court nor the damage to my professional reputation as a Physicist and a
    Consulting Software Engineer.

    I repeatedly told you “I want to do the right thing” by getting those toilets installed
    in your Medieval oubliettes but clearly OHSU does not want to do the right thing.

    I am now preparing a Federal Civil Rights Complaint. Central to the evidence required
    to prove my case is the video from the security camera that was in my cell; Officer
    Angel will be happy to fetch it for you from your police evidence locker.

    Upon regaining consciousness I demanded the psychiatric unit staff impound that video
    for my civil complaint. Once so notified, despite that security videos are commonly
    deleted after some time OHSU became been bound by the laws regarding Spoliation of
    Evidence and so must produce the video of those two gentlemen damn near murdering me.

    Settlement is no longer possible; only judgement creates precedent.

    Good Day,

    Michael David Crawford

    cc: United States Department of Justice
    Multnomah County District Attorney
    American Civil Liberties Union
    Attorney General of the State of Oregon
    www.kuro5hin.org

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
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