posted February 2, 2009
A $21 million federal lawsuit has been filed against the city of Chattanooga and two city police officers in connection with a Christmas Eve incident in which a 71-year-old greeter was shoved to the floor at the Collegedale Wal-Mart.
Attorney Robin Flores asked $1 million compensatory damages in behalf of William Walker and $20 million in punitive damages against officers Kenneth Freeman and Edwin McPherson.
The suit charges that Detective Freeman used excessive force against the greeter and a customer who came to his aid. It says Lt. McPherson stood by and did not stop Det. Freeman.
It says Mr. Walker, who is 5'4" and wears a hearing aid, was required to check receipts of customers leaving the store if the security device sounded an alarm. It says the two officers were leaving with bags in their hands.
The complaint says the greeter asked the officers for their receipts. It says Lt. McPherson complied, but Det. Freeman walked around the greeter and continued toward the door. It says the greeter asked Det. Freeman to produce the receipt and he ignored him.
It says when the greeter touched him on the shoulder, he "suddenly and without any warning to plaintiff" turned on him and pushed him to the concrete floor.
Mr. Walker "struck the floor with the length of his body about five to six feet from the point of Freeman's push," it was stated.
It says Freeman stood over the greeter as he struck the floor.
The suit says as a result of the "physical assault" that Mr. Walker lost consciousness for a moment and defecated in his pants. It says his supervisor later allowed him to change clothing and get a clean pair of underwear.
The complaint says many members of the public came to the greeter's aid, including one "Good Samaritan" who "attempted to come between Freeman and the downed plaintiff, but Freeman pushed this person with such force as to drive him through the glass doors of the store."
Members of the public, including a security guard, then called police.
The suit says Lt. McPherson did not call for police help, did not render aid to the greeter and did not help the customer who was shoved.
The complaint says the city police department in the past has "shown favoritism toward certain officers who commit misconduct, but not others."
The suit says, "No reasonable officer or person would have acted in such a manner toward the diminutive and elderly plaintiff, to have stood over plaintiff once he was downed or have ignored his helplessness under the circumstances."
Attorney Flores said Det. Freeman "has a history of violence" against members of the public, claiming that "the most recent assault" was against attorney Lloyd Levitt.
The suit claims the city did not properly train the officers on handling such situations and says the city police department "has a history of failure to discipline or otherwise prosecute its officers who exhibit a lengthy history of complaints from the public."
It says:
Gary Davis was fired for misconduct and then rehired and promoted to sergeant before being arrested by federal authorities.
Steve Campbell was fired for his conduct in a beating and tasering of two men after a high-speed chase, then was re-instated.
Jeannie Snyder, "a former assistant police chief, her conduct in a Marion County wood, and a Georgia shopping mall led the city to take extraordinary measures to retrieve her from the wood and mall, and all comments about her conduct were attributed by the city and department as protected by HIPPA."
Jamie Riddle "was injured in an off-duty vehicle accident. The department disseminated her condition and did not give her the same privacy concerns as those of Snyder."
Senior members of the department "held a mandatory shift change meeting in 2004 wherein they directed their officers to use whatever means was at their disposal; to be 'warriors,' and if the officers made a mistake, that they 'had their backs.'
Officer Glen Lemley remains an officer "though he testified to a long history of prescription pain killer use for chronic back pain, testified that the city did not require him to undergo a second mental evaluation for his fitness as a police officer when the city hired him a second time, even though he put on his initial background application that he took medications for a nervous or psychological condition, testified that he was once arrested in Georgia for terrorist threats against a former wife, and he was found in contempt of court for harassing, harming or abusing a former wife.
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