SAN JOSE, Calif. — A San Jose man has hired a lawyer after police wrestled him to the ground, handcuffed him and kicked him in the face in a case of mistaken identity.
The victim, 23-year-old Henry Stevens Amador, had walked into his neighborhood convenience store Friday to buy a lottery ticket.
As Amador was walking to his car, he says he was rushed by a police officer with a gun pointed at him and another who knocked him to the ground.
Several officers surrounded him on the ground, where he was bloodied and blacked out after being kicked in the face. Amador later received eight stitches in his eyelid.
San Jose Assistant Police Chief Chris Moore says officers mistook Amador for a drug suspect. Moore says an internal investigation of the incident is under way.
I am guessng he won't need the lottery to become a millionaire...
Bingo !!!
But seriously....I wonder what the Law Officers defense will be on this one.
I hope he gets a really good lawyer so these idiot cops can't get a job in law enforcement anywhere.
Exactly. Also a reminder to be careful what you wish for. You never know what avenue it will take to get to you... ah, I could tell you stories...
I'd gladly take a beating by the CA infamous cops for some scars and a million bucks after a lawsuit!
I was in the shower at the pool when vandals destroyed the ceiling. I was taken naked to jail for the crime and later released. Naked in jail, what an experience. Nobody appologized to me. I was completely innocent. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wish I could have gotten a million.Would have changed my life. Instead, I have the memory.
Did you consult an attorney?
It has become almost routine for some law enforcement agency to beat up on someone here in Maryland. But I haven't heard of anyone getting compensated for the beating. An apology maybe.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Fou4Me....
I believe, the FBI shot a young man,(in the Glen Burnie MD area) in the face after mistaking him for a bank robber. I do not remember him getting anything from that.Last year, Santa Paula agreed to pay $250,000 in a lawsuit by a man who claimed he suffered a serious back injury when he was taken to the ground and shocked twice in 2006.
http://www.latimes.com/sns-ap-us-odd-taser-lawsuit-award,0,435997.story
I think he was awarded $1 Million.
"Several officers surrounded him on the ground" <snip> so tough lol. Takes several men to take down 1 guy, so much for training. Next stop....after a nice beat down to:
ouch.
Prime example why I dont take showers in public places if I can help it. And when I do, they are fast.
Like Thrust says, did you consult an attorney?
It is good to know that the San Jose Police Department is training their police officers to kick people in the face! After all, it is always good 'surprise strategy' to do this. Another benefit is that putting a blacked out/unconscious suspect person (rather than a conscious person) into a squad car is a superior on-the-job-workout. Plus, the tax paying citizens haven't refused to pay for any blood removal cleanings thus far.
What a nightmare. I would probably have received a heart attack if I saw someone running at me with an extended gun! I think that the tax paying citizens in San Jose can be very pleased with the psychological make-up of people who they are paying to be employed as San Jose Police Department officers. What happened to "peace maker/police officer"?
Who will be paying [I say dock the police/law enforcement officer with the irritable foot] for the stitches and the psychological aids that this shocked person will now have to pursue?
I am truly shocked at the remarks here! My goodness these are civil servants, Here to protect us folks from crime! So often PRAISE and GLORY goes out to them ...and now they are being downcasted????Think of how brave they had to be to have loaded guns and tasers in hand to approach this innocent man who had no weapon at all! . WHat fear must have been under the surface for them! ANy Good lawyer will defend these officers as Protecting the community!
Okay with that ludricous statement from above out of the way Lets get real folks:, who here really thinks that justice ever is served when a public servant uses their job duties as a defense. I still cant get over the Rodney King incident....Truly far too many extra priveldges are given officers ...being above the law ..and lets not even say how often we the public jsut turn the other way when such happen's occur.....
Jeffrey- call me a doubting thomas...just find that story hard to swallow ....
Correct me if I'm wrong, Fou4Me
All depends on who you are the guy that got beat up after a basketball game was some big shots son so they will file a law suit.
Us peons would be lucky if we weren't killed instead of beat up by the cops in the city. Especially with their shoot first answer questions later stance they have adopted.
We just had a cop here shoot a man to death in an ally behind a bar a few weeks ago the cop said he assaulted his woman in the bar... the guy who got shot was a two tour Iraq marine vet... witnesses said he had his hands up when the cop unloaded his gun.... the cop is now indited for murder.
Some cops are good a lot of them are scared to death, carry a gun because it's their only defense mechanism.
Ha Ha Ha, it occurred at NMIMT in 1987. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. I was a Dean's list student with a 4.0 GPA in Physics, Mathematics, and minors in Engineer and Astrophysics. I worked as a computer programmer in the lab and I was at the campus pool. Many details, hard to make up eh. Doubting Thomas? I have also been cuffed and stuffed for bank robbery later released. I looked like the general description and drove a similar car. While transporting scientists from Alb. NM to Socorro, NM I was ticketed for 1 MPH over the speed limit in 1988. (66 in a 65 zone-fine $75) Don't get me wrong, I think of cops as friends and family and during no incident have I been physically abused.
Rodney King was a criminal by the way. OJ Simpson was a hero until he murdered his ex-wife and that poor boy. Evidence planted, my aunt Fanny's butt. His fingerprint in blood was on the gate by the way.
A man was cuffed and hit his head and died in my neighborhood. Nobody was charged. He was retarded and innocent. A victim of the justice system.
I live in San Jose and the police are horrible here. I hope this guy sue them good. This was on my local news. Another reason why I want to get out of this city. The education, job, and surrounding are horrible in San Jose. San Francisco is much better.
I don't think you can compare this case with the Rodney King case. Rodney King was a common criminal, fleeing police and resisting arrest when finally caught. A lot of innocent people lost their lives in the aftermath of that idiot's actions.
The guy in this case had done nothing wrong.
okay where you folks FAIL to stand back and be realistic is that He (R King) was excessively beatn and held. I dont care if he had a record or not, it was EXCESSIVE force!!! Which part is so difficult to understand?? Somehow you are each of the mind set that its contingent on your "education" or where you stand in the eyes of society as to whether its OKAY to beat the heck out of someone or not. SOrry No one and I mean no one is ABOVE another in life. We are equals and deserve the same rights to fairness. Enuff said. Now go get some WD 40 to open up the mind...its getting rusty.
Fourme- Sorry to hear of this incident in your town....Let me know how the indictment fairs....Not a fan of some police forces and how they practice....The family deserves justice....
I agree 100%.
What part of "Stay on the ground" did he not understand?
I cannot believe with all the innocent people murdered by people like you and the rest of his supporters going on a killing spree, that anybody would have the unmitigated gall to come out in his support.
Innocent people were dragged out of their vehicles and beaten to death in front of their families and you want to whine about a criminal being tased and having his arms and legs whacked with batons while resisting arrest?
Are you insane?
tiggs is moving as we speak to San Jose that's where all the action is..Some guys have all the luck..Some cop threatened to beat up tiggs when tiggs was 20 years old and a punk..Man did tiggs ever miss the boat..
53 innocent people brutally and viciously murdered and over 2500 shot, stabbed or beaten survivors.
And who are our libs concerned about?
The criminal who started the whole thing, as usual.
Just like when they have their candlelight vigils for murderers on Death Row.
They don't have any candlelight vigils for the victims of the murderers though.
Ever.
Now tell me who's wacked in the head?
tiggs agrees ridge but some,many,people will never see it that way..So sad..
Yeah, and he was on parole on top of it and then he gets awarded 3.8 Million Dollars and then spent it all on booze, dope and hookers.
Poor, poor Rodney. I feel so sorry for him.
well this case should be settled out of court .......he will get a large settlement
I agree and if he doesn't settle out of court I hope he takes them to the cleaners in court.
He was an innocent man.
dang now I gotta go change my name and identity how'd you know I am a six shooter gun toten Rupublican who shows no mercy . Gosh I am shakin in my gucci boots.. Normally I am fair minded but really I dont right care for your insults, so place them in your pocket and be somewhat civil on here. Thank you !
and to be fair ..my signature really holds true here....
"...to be fair..."
To be fair? You libs always come out on the criminals side, the murderers side, the rapists side, the bad guys side, every time! To be fair?
Couldn't you just once consider the victims of these animals you rush to defend?
Do you know the devastation placed on the families of the 53 people murdered?
Do you know the psychological damage done to 2500 innocent people shot, stabbed and beaten for no reason? Men and women? Can you imagine the nightmares of the women and children who saw their husbands and fathers beaten to death before their eyes?
You insult the memories of those innocent victims when you defend the man who started it all and profited from it and partied on it.
You want me to be civil?
Do you deserve more civility than that received by those who have been murdered at the hands of those you defend?
Wow.
Would you agree if it was a member of your family that was viciously murdered?
You people amaze me.
Liberalism truly has to be a psychotic condition and genetic in origin.
Nobody teaches their kids to root for the bad guys when they're growing up, do they?
i agree with the fact that excessive force was used and that is all....dont drag me into all that other crap.....
I didn't drag you into anything, you posted that you agreed and it was completely voluntary. If you don't stipulate what you're agreeing to, well, we're not mind-readers.
They used excessive force?
He refused to be cuffed and he refused to stay down.
What would you have done, just let him walk away?
Are you just a teeny bit concerned that excessive force was used by you Rodney supporters in the murder of all those innocent people?
Or are you only worried about poor little Rodney who got 3.8 million of the taxpayers money and partied it away on dope and hookers?
fugg da police
While more than often enough you can't tell the police away from the criminals, it is almost kind of incredible that some people defend criminals, I of course don't go by shoot and or beat up now and ask questions later, that of itself is criminal behavior, but people have to have something very wrong with them to defend proven criminals.
I more than completely agree with what rdgrnr has said so far on all of his posts here on this thread.
It seems to me that it is insane behavior to defend criminals and also to treat as criminals those who are innocent, police do more than often enough behave as criminals, if you behave as a criminal then you most be a criminal.
But to defend proven criminals is to patronize crime.
People should not defend police who act like criminals nor should they defend proven criminals, crime is crime no matter who does it.
But not all police act like criminals, while ALL criminals act like criminals, because that is what they are.
I know that often you can't tell who is who.
rdgrnr is right!
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I myself believe that, "The right to be armed is the right to be free!"
Ahh, another Rodney supporter... join your friends here, you're in the majority.
Thank you LANTERN.
Thanks for standing up for what's right even though it's not politically correct.
That's what a lot of these people are afraid of - not looking sympathetic enough to the plight of today's cause celebre.
It just wouldn't be cool.
You hit the lottery. And then you get hit, and then win the lottery. suey suey suey. Now if he played a QP..............
Reginal Denny...Nuff said...
In somewhat related news.....
I have 19 days left in the law enforcement academy.
Because I have a full-time job, it has taken me almost one year of weekends to complete the academy.
Over half of the academy has been spent studying and understanding the U.S. Constitution and the rights of citizens.
You may now resume your bashing of law enforcement personnel.
ridge runner and tiggs wish you the best in your career..Do good it sounds like you will..
Okay rd,. Where you fail to concede is: Excessive force was used. And until you can fairly agree it was we have no further need to talk.
I respect life and differences, pity you toss mud at folks when they disagree with you. I shouldnt be surprised that you cant separate the actions of a person from the person themself.
Congratulaltions! Hopefully you will bring honor to your badge. Too many laws make your job very difficult. Presume innocence always.
My philosophy is that it's not about how many people you can arrest, it's about how many people you can help.
I will refrain from commenting on the article until more details are released.
However, if the law enforcement officers violated Mr. Amador's rights, then they should be tried and punished through the criminal justice system.
I think I get it. If the cops are looking for someone and find the correct person then and only then are they justified to use a taser, brass knuckles, kicking, punching, nightsticks and bullets. Fully justified.
The problem with that philosophy is they make more mistakes than you or I will ever know about. That is why they have rules to play by. Not using excessive force would be one of those rules. It is a total shame that Rodney King became the poster child for excessive force because after all he was the one they were looking for and a criminal. However, the lawsuit was decided in his favor and caused the L.A. Police force to reconsider their tactics.
Hopefully, if one of the good guys (i.e. me and you) are a victim of excessive force, we will benefit from the Rodney King episode. Definitely 23-year-old Henry Stevens Amador should benefit since he wasn't the guy they were looking for. More importantly, the officers involved should lose their jobs.
Au contraire, mon frere. Excessive force was not used. They were trying to subdue and cuff him - he was resisting.
I'll ask you the same question I asked the other lady: Seeing that the force you call excessive wasn't working, what should they have done? They had already tased him twice to no effect and pummeled his arms and legs with their batons and it wasn't working. He still wouldn't allow them to cuff him at that point.
What is your answer to that question?
What should they have done differently?
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You say unless I can fairly "agree" with you, we have no further need to talk. That is so typical of you people. Anybody else's opinion is simply dismissed out of hand. There is no debate, you are right, we are wrong and if we don't agree there is no need for further talk. Well, alrighty then.
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You respect life and differences? For who? You never once mentioned all the people killed and shot and stabbed and beaten for no reason. You were only concerned about poor Rodney getting a few bruises on his dope-smoking, drunk-driving, arrest resisting, worthless self. I have to wonder if it's a physical attraction that makes you not care about all the innocent people who died because of him. I mean we hear of these women all the time who fall in love with death row killers and sometimes even marry them.
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I don't toss mud at folks who disagree with me. But I do shine the light of truth on people who are being disingenuous, obsequiously servile to political correctness or just blatantly wrong about something.
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You shouldn't be surprised that I can't separate the actions of a person from the person themself? What kind of mush-mouthed, touchy-feely, mumbo-jumbo is that?
Well anyway, you're absolutely right on that count. I don't believe in blaming "society" for every bad thing every person does. I believe the person gets the blame.
That's called personal responsibility.
And it used to be common before your crowd took over.
I think we could agree (maybe not) that the lawsuit was found in his favor to avoid more bloodshed.
53 people dead and they make him a multi-millionaire for causing it. Wow.
Not only a multi-millionaire but the dreamboat and heart-throb of multitudes of swooning women.
Oh, Rodney!
History lesson, I think this is correct:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots
This part is the most revealing of the true capabilities of law enforcement and why I never worry about the govt. TAKING OVER as long as we got 2nd amendment. Police are human and are seriously outnumbered don't let them take your firearms!
From the article:
"Although the day began relatively quietly, by mid-morning on the second day violence appeared widespread and unchecked as heavy looting and fires were witnessed across Los Angeles County. The Korean American community, seeing the police force's abandonment of Koreatown, organized armed security teams composed of store workers, who defended their livelihoods from assault by the mob. Open gun battles were televised as Korean shopkeepers were forced to shoot at the mob to protect their businesses, and most likely their lives, from crowds of violent looters.[29] Organized law-enforcement response began to come together by mid-day. Fire crews began to respond backed by police escort; California Highway Patrol reinforcements were airlifted to the city; and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew at 12:15 AM. President George H. W. Bush spoke out against the rioting, stating that "anarchy" would not be tolerated. The California National Guard, which had been advised not to expect civil disturbance, responded quickly by calling up some 2,000 soldiers, but could not get them to the city until nearly 24 hours had passed because of a lack of proper equipment, training, and available ammunition which had to be picked up from Camp Roberts, California (near Paso Robles)."
Remember this was local. They could not handle this without bringing in the national guard! A hood in LA! Do you think they could handle anything without outright bomb dropping? The cops are human and have caved in Michigan, DC, Philly, LA..............
They are human and they are fellow citizens.
That thing about Rodney King. I am on the side of the ladies saying police used excessive force.
There was 4 policemen kicking and bludgeoning 1 man, right? They could have easily pinned him
down and hand cuffed him unless they didn't care for his life and were trying to arrest, prosecute and sentence him all at once..
I'm convinced, it's genetic.
Thanks for the link Jarasan.
I read the whole thing which further bolstered my position.
Maringoman saw the picture and that was enough for him to join the ladies in devotion to Rodney.
I was hoping that maybe he might have at least read the part about the lady police officer who Rodney spat blood on while laughing in the police car who later killed herself.
Not that he or the ladies would care.
What I do not understand is why names like "liberal" and " conservative" are tossed around like they hateful meanings to them. I thought " right was right" and " wrong is wrong". The bottom line is police have a difficult job to do. Some policeman do their jobs and do it well. Some abuse their power... just like many people who have power sometimes tend to do. There are many people who were wrongfully abused by cops and some who deserved to have their arses handed to them on a platter. Let me also say that this is just my opinion.
I agree with your opinion.
And Rodney was one of those who "deserved to have their arses handed to them on a platter."
No doubt about it.
Your eyes didn't lie to you Weezy. You saw what the liberal news media wanted you to see. They cut out the first minute and a half where he was attacking the police. And you continue to believe everything they tell you and everything they show you. They count on people like you to believe them and you never let them down. People like you, who can't think for themselves are the life-blood of the mainstream news media.
I think you can stop worrying about Rodney's bruises now though Weezy. They're all healed up. Don't worry about the 53 dead or the thousands shot, stabbed or beaten and what their families still endure to this day. Let's worry about the criminal driving drunk and leading police on a 100 mph chase while on parole for robbery who attacked them and resisted arrest after finally being stopped. Let's make sure he's comfortable.
You said you hope he's compensated. He was compensated Weezy. He got 3.8 million dollars for his bruises. Then he compensated every hooker and drug dealer and liquor store for miles around with it. He had a big party with that blood money.
And that makes you happy, doesn't it Weezy?
I hope he is well compensated too. I'm glad we can agree on that.