Dave Hardy has some thoughts on the legal aspects of the Canton, OH, police department situation. It’s quite interesting. One thing to ponder is that what this situation essentially creates, is a great example of how coming down on like a ton of bricks on the wrong kind of person (in this case, concealed carry permitees) can cause some amazing resources to be marshaled against you, including some very talented attorneys contributing ideas to the people who are ultimately going to be suing your ass.
I’m going to bet, when all is said and done, Canton, OH police officers are going to be treating permit holders much differently in the future.
I doubt this incident is the first time that Canton PD officers generally, or this TWB in particular, have treated citizens with such disdain…. There is never one rotten apple in the barrel.
And sending this ‘roid raging lunatic with a gun and a badge off to a paid vacation isn’t going to fix the problem, it will just make it go off the radar screen.
I hope Sebastian it actually translates into treating everyone, not just permit holders, differently in the near future.
I’d hope so too, but let’s face it, if it had just been the prostitute and her pimp, with some poor unconnected schlub in the drivers’ seat, we’d never have heard of this.
When I posted it on my Facebook page my friend Billie from Seattle (http://lawyerforthelittleguy.com/) put together a FOIA request and promptly sent it off to the relevant parties. I would *love* to see her get involved in this, the video had her completely incensed and she’s not someone you want on the wrong side of you!
I hope this costs Canton a boatload of money. That’s the only way local governments ever seem to learn. And then I’m not so sure.
I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the motion for qualified immunity is going to be denied.
@Comrade
Nah, they’re typically insured against this kind of thing. Best we can hope for in the way of actual financial effect is that their premiums rise. That’s one of the big problems; where the government is concerned, there’s usually no actual financial disincentive to harm individual citizens.
In other news, the “Madison Five” open carriers and Wisconsin Carry filed a second suit yesterday against the Madison Police Department for damages for their unlawful detainment/arrest.
Interesting story in the local paper. Seems the cop not only worked in Virginia at one time (I’m wondering where) but that since 2000 the Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit has done 16 investigations into his behavior. Regarding insurance coverage, that strikes me as the kind of willful neglect of a problem that leads not only to very justified punitive damages but to an insurance company refusing to honor the policy.