Wrongful Arrest, Use of Excessive Force and Nefarious Actions

Arbadacarba

   It was 6/25/09, a Thursday, I was on my way home from the store that is around the corner from my house when I experienced a wrongful arrest and the use of excessive force from the Bakersfield Police Department of California.

   When police officers T. Gillespie and O. Miller pulled me over, they said I was cycling against traffic and asked me where I was going.  I told them I lived around the corner and I was on my way home.  I asked them for a probable cause for pulling me over.  They reiterated that they were pulling me over for cycling against traffic, and asked me if I had any more "smart ass questions" for them.  I told them I thought that was a pretty common question to ask a police officer when being questioned by police officers.  They said that smart ass response earned me a citation instead of their initial, intended warning.  I told them they weren't doing a very good job at enforcing law if I was the only fish to fry.  They further reinforced my statement about them by their next course of actions.

   One of the officers asked me to put out my cigarette because it was bothering him (I just bought the cigarettes and had stopped on the sidewalk to open the pack and pull one out before I even saw the police).  I back peddled a couple steps while still sitting on my bicycle and asked him if that would be okay (I was cooperating).  He said it wasn't so I knocked the cherry off of my cigarette.  While I was trying to place the cigarette back into its pack (I already had my pack in my hand so it's not like I reached in my pocket and I'm not naive enough to to be baited into littering) both of the officers lunged at me while I was still sitting on my bike and used control holds on both of my arms that contorted them well beyond comfortable positions.  One of the officers was also grabbing my disabled hand as they did that and slammed me and my bike to the ground and jumped on top of me.  They told me to stop resisting but the only resistance was me involuntarily squirming with pain (like a worm getting cut in half) as I yelled that he was "hurting my broken hand!", "I had surgery on that hand!" and "you're breaking my hand!".  He crushed my hand using both of his hands after I yelled all of that.  The police officer further injured my hand, almost breaking it.  The swelling from my hand went away before I got home (almost a 24 hour hold) and they would not take a picture of my hand when they had their camera out.

   They initially said I tried to assault one of them with my cigarette before putting me in the back of their squad car and telling me I was going to jail.  The only thing that provoked this excessive force and wrongful arrest was my stated indifference to their approach at enforcing the law, in other words my big mouth using freedom of speech.

   While in the back of their squad car, awed at the turn of events, the police officers talked at a distance too far for me to hear.  One of the officers then lit a cigarette of his own and they slowly walked back to the car talking.  One of the officers nefariously blew cigarette smoke through his cracked window at me.  This caused me to become very concerned about their intentions.  I waited for people to drive by with their windows down and started screaming "help" out of the window that was more than cracked on the other side of the car.  A few cars slowed down to get a good look, one almost parked, but to my dismay most of them just looked at me like a crazy person.  However I believe I garnered enough attention to not be taken to a field and get beaten and/or killed before the police officer rolled up all of the windows and told me to shut up.

   When they came to the car I told them they didn't even read me my rights. They started reading my rights and when they came upon my right to attorney I demanded mine present. They said I only have a right to attorney during questioning. Then they asked me for my social security number and I demanded I have a lawyer present.  They wrote down "REFUSED" in the field for my social security number.

  After sitting there for awhile I heard one of the officers mention "that way if he doesn't make bail he won't get released until Monday".  The police truck came to take my bike away  after about an hour.  Their squad car has a bumper that can also carry bicycles.  I know this because a police officer drove me home carrying my bike with the same type of bumper in the past.  This proves these officers were wasting time to prolong the time it would take to get to the police station.  They wrote down 7:20 as the arrest time but I was arrested well before that.

   While speeding and breaking several traffic laws all the way to the station I told them they were "the worse cops I ever had the unfortunate account of meeting" (most of the police officers I have dealt with in the past were just) and "they were the scum of the earth".  They just laughed and said "we agree, we do this for fun several times a day".

   When we got to the county jail a few people were coming in at the same time as me but the officers that brought me stuck around inside the waiting room unlike the others.  One of the police officers said "you are stupid" and I told him my IQ is probably double his.  He mentioned my IQ was probably 30 and when I said that would make his 15 he didn't talk to me anymore.

  A correctional officer was taking my fingerprints and signing me in when the other police officer started an argument with me.  I was winning the argument and the correctional officer gripped my arm as hard as he could and told me to shut up.  I reminded them that freedom of speech was protected by the First Amendment and the correctional officer let go of my arm.

   They put me in a hot, overcrowded, holding tank that reeked of feces because the toilet was broken and full of feces.  Everyone traded their horror stories about the local authorities and passed around their field arrest data like it was a ritual.

Here is my field arrest data:

Arrest Time: 1920 (7:20) Arrival Time: 2004 (8:04)

1 count, cycling against traffic

1 count, battery on police officers

Montgomery was observed riding his bicycle northbound in the southbound lanes of Wible Rd.  Upon being advised he was getting a citation, Montgomery became irate.  Using his right forearm, Montgomery placed it against one of the officers chest, and attempted to push him back.  Officers attempted to take Montgomery into custody, and he physically resisted.  Officers had to use control holds to take him into custody.

   (First of all,  I was calm when expressing my indifference and didn't become angered until after their unnecessary use of force.  They injured me pretty quickly and easily as I didn't try resisting at all. 

   Next we have my disabled hand.  In the past, all of my tendons on one side of my hand and a good portion of blood vessels were severed.  They almost resorted to cutting off a couple of my fingers but I was flown to USC Medical Center in a helicopter where a doctor performed an eight-hour microsurgery (under a microscope) to reattach ligaments, blood vessels and and nerves and saved all of my fingers on my right hand.  I'm saying all of this because I would never attack someone, especially a police officer and with my disabled hand.  I was sitting on my bike trying to place the extinguished cigarette in it's pack and raised up my arm in defense when they lunged at me.

   And just  the thought about how it could go from them writing and giving me a citation to me assaulting and resisting them is absolutely absurd.)

   

   Everyone I traded my field arrest data with agreed mine was the most ridiculous.

   After a few hours I got booked and went through the serial killer screening process.  After getting booked (you have to booked before a bail bond agency will bail you out) they took a group of us to a bigger cell that was freezing.  They had bigger cells that were empty the whole time they were packing almost 15 people into little cells that are big enough for 3.

I used the phone and called a bail bond agency around 3:00 A.M.  The agency told me I can't bail because I was already scheduled for a release.  Everyone in their was already scheduled for release and already served their hold.  All of the people that had been their previously said that we should have been out of there by now.  We stuffed our lunch sacks into the vent that was blowing cold air and the room warmed up.  A drunk guy finally woke up and told us to our dismay that the county jail was on the verge of shutting down (California's budget crisis is affecting them pretty badly) and they were trying to keep people in there as long as possible to make the place seem more significant.

   They only released one or two of us every two hours and everyone sat around and made jokes and talked about how Michael Jackson died the day before.  I didn't get released until 4:30 P.M.  almost 12 hours after I was already scheduled to be released. 

   One of the nice correctional officers in there who did the serial killer screening process on everyone and had to transport all of us around asked us nicely to behave during the transport while we passed his Sergeant. (I felt sorry for this CO because he was doing all the grunt work and most of the other CO seemed to be very unproductive)  So when they finally released me the Sergeant personally signed me out.  He laid my stuff out on the desk that was right next to the cell I had just occupied, and began to criticize me.  He criticized the $2.50 I had.  He called me a stoner because of my Medical Marijuana Identification Card issued by the State of California and bashed one of my lawyers and asked if I was going to sue him.  I never said anything about suing the police or anyone for that matter inside the jail so I know he conspired with one of the officers who arrested me.  And he was making a personal attack on me in front of the other offenders.

   I pointed out that there were making fun of my $2.50 when I had a Visa Check Card right in front of them.  I also pointed out I had more than one business card that lawyers issue to their preferred clients on my person and he was only assaulting one of them.  The Sergeant told me to shut up and I had to remind him he was the one who started it and the freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment.  He gather my stuff and through it and me out of the door.

    The saddest part was when I was leaving.  When I got to the waiting room during my exit and a group of concerned families rushed up to me with questions.  These were the families of the people I was sharing a cell with.  When I had to tell their families the situation I felt horrible and it calmed down the anger I had built up during my argument with the Sergeant.  One of the members of one of the families that didn't even speak English reached out with a cell phone in his hand without even saying anything.  As much as I felt sorry for the people still in there and their families I wanted to leave that place.

   The lesson I learned is that they are arresting people for spitting on the sidewalk to fill their failed system that is one of the first things on the list of being abandoned because of the budget crisis.

   I have a good case against them if I can get survalence footage from the survalence cameras trained on the parking lots full of cars in the several car dealerships right across the street of where it happened.

Wolfenpride

And there you have it folks!

Thats how the law works.

Ekibiogami

And if you had just said Sorry Officer I dident Know and thank you For the info. When asked where are you going you shoulda said Im on my way home Then Cited your address... Smart mouths, get Smart mouth responces..

Arbadacarba

I did tell them I was going home and that I lived right around the corner before I asked for a probable cause.  I cooperated and I spoke my mind.  I am taking out a lot of petty things to make the story shorter.  And I have more to add to it.

And my response to the message after this one is that I already had my pack out.  How did you miss that?  I was already stopped while I packed my cigarettes, opened them, and lit one up before I saw the police officers.  They passed me going the same direction I was going in the normal lanes and had to go to the light ahead to make a u-turn to reach me.

tvalentine

2 things that stood out in this story. You asked for "probabal cause"(rofl) AFTER they told you why they pulled you over. Aggravating the situation, and you reached for your pack (i dunno where or how you motioned i'm going off what you said) to put a used ciggerette in it..... you shouldnt be reaching into anything, not your pocket, backpack or glove compartment unless they ask for something, put it out on the sidewalk with your foot then hold onto it so they cant give you a citation for littering. After that you just gave 2 dick cops to take you to jail, which tbh i doubt they would have if you didnt ask a stupid question like "whats the probabal cause" and if you just went along and just gotten the warning you wouldnt have had to go through all that. All you need to be saying when you get pulled over is, yes sir/officer, no sir/officer, and answer any question they have in a polite manor (even if they are assholes). You could have got away with a warning, but you didnt go along with the ticket and the questions and got a ticket and got taken to jail. After that, well your pretty much their bitch, you can try and take em to court if you want to waste time and money, but i dont think much would be done.

EDIT: also screaming for help at passing cars doesnt help your situation either. Pretty much everything you did gave them a reason to do what they did to you.

Enkindu

Dude, you acted like a brat and pretty much got what you deserved.

Autarch

Honestly, you should've seen what the police did in England during the G20 riots. Stuff like taking their badges off ( so people can't see their names / police numbers ) and punching women. They threw a 60-year-old to the floor AFTER smacking him in the back of the legs with a truncheon, and he managed to die of a heart attack five minutes later. HE was just walking down the street, on his way home.

Ian Thomlinson:

EDIT: There's likely also nothing noticeable going to be done about it. Bloody Margaret Thatcher ruined the country in so many ways, but the worst has to be telling the police to "Break the miner's strike, in any way possible."

Arbadacarba

Originally posted by Enkindu


Dude, you acted like a brat and pretty much got what you deserved.

 

How could cycling against traffic deserve that?  Think about it.  How could a citation for cycling against traffic lead to me assaulting and resisting police officers?  If exercising my basic rights as a citizen of the United States of America is acting like a brat then you got me there.  These police officers did lots of petty things to provoke me.  I had an empty pack of cigarettes from my previous pack and the wrappers from my new pack in my pockets so they made fun that I had trash in my pockets and I was a dirty hippy.  I told them I don't litter and and that littering is dirty so they through my trash on the ground in front of me.

The Bakersfield Police Department has been criticized over the years as being a department that relies on heavy handed tactics and over use of force when dealing with crime.

Not long ago Tony Eddington and Robert Johnson were stopped in the city of Bakersfield for a traffic violation. The two men, who are black, say they were ordered to strip from their clothing inorder to be searched on the roadside. The men contend the search was racially motivated. The two men sued the BPD for damages exceeding $350,000.00. The BPD settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and have since installed a permanent policy detailing rules on when officers may conduct strip searches in the field.

The BPD was one of the last departments in the state of California to still allow the use leather covered saps.  The BPD are horrible.

tvalentine

Originally posted by Arbadacarba

Originally posted by Enkindu


Dude, you acted like a brat and pretty much got what you deserved.

 

How could cycling against traffic deserve that?  Think about it.  How could a citation for cycling against traffic lead to me assaulting and resisting police officers?  If exercising my basic rights as a citizen of the United States of America is acting like a brat then you got me there.  These police officers did lots of petty things to provoke me.  I had an empty pack of cigarettes from my previous pack and the wrappers from my new pack in my pockets so they made fun that I had trash in my pockets and I was a dirty hippy.  I told them I don't litter and and that littering is dirty so they through my trash on the ground in front of me.

The Bakersfield Police Department has been criticized over the years as being a department that relies on heavy handed tactics and over use of force when dealing with crime.

Not long ago Tony Eddington and Robert Johnson were stopped in the city of Bakersfield for a traffic violation. The two men, who are black, say they were ordered to strip from their clothing inorder to be searched on the roadside. The men contend the search was racially motivated. The two men sued the BPD for damages exceeding $350,000.00. The BPD settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and have since installed a permanent policy detailing rules on when officers may conduct strip searches in the field.

The BPD was one of the last departments in the state of California to still allow the use leather covered saps.  The BPD are horrible.

 

whats amazing about this thread is you didnt learn anything. You're still blaming everybody but yourself. Usually when people spend time in jail, they reflect on how not to end up there again ..... You may be intelligent but you arent very smart.

Arbadacarba

Originally posted by tvalentine

Originally posted by Arbadacarba

Originally posted by Enkindu


Dude, you acted like a brat and pretty much got what you deserved.

 

How could cycling against traffic deserve that?  Think about it.  How could a citation for cycling against traffic lead to me assaulting and resisting police officers?  If exercising my basic rights as a citizen of the United States of America is acting like a brat then you got me there.  These police officers did lots of petty things to provoke me.  I had an empty pack of cigarettes from my previous pack and the wrappers from my new pack in my pockets so they made fun that I had trash in my pockets and I was a dirty hippy.  I told them I don't litter and and that littering is dirty so they through my trash on the ground in front of me.

The Bakersfield Police Department has been criticized over the years as being a department that relies on heavy handed tactics and over use of force when dealing with crime.

Not long ago Tony Eddington and Robert Johnson were stopped in the city of Bakersfield for a traffic violation. The two men, who are black, say they were ordered to strip from their clothing inorder to be searched on the roadside. The men contend the search was racially motivated. The two men sued the BPD for damages exceeding $350,000.00. The BPD settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and have since installed a permanent policy detailing rules on when officers may conduct strip searches in the field.

The BPD was one of the last departments in the state of California to still allow the use leather covered saps.  The BPD are horrible.

 

whats amazing about this thread is you didnt learn anything. You're still blaming everybody but yourself. Usually when people spend time in jail, they reflect on how not to end up there again ..... You may be intelligent but you arent very smart.

I attributed "my big mouth" as part of the problem.  Having and expressing an indifference is still not enough to earn anyone the consequences I received.

I reflected on what I did and I wouldn't change any of it.  While I was in there I saw exactly how messed up the situation was.   One guy was in there for assaulting a paramedic while he had alcohol poisoning even though the paramedic said it was understandable he was so belligerent because he had alcohol poisoning.  One guy was arrested for public intoxication with a .08% blood alcohol level while he waiting outside a bar for a cab.  One guy was arrested his third time for a felony cocaine possesion charge and they don't drop the warrent.  Another guy that had turned himself in because a warrant even though he could have went across the street to the sheriffs office and got a form signed and sent straight to court without serving time.  They are trying to fill the jail.  A whole bunch of BS that made me realize how failed the system really was.

When I left and saw the concerned families of the people I was just sharing cell with was the hardest part.

tvalentine

oi nvm

sniperg

Well I hope you find something good in these cameras:)

Bakersfield cops from what I hear from a friend when I visited can be quite a nutcase.

olddaddy

Were you "cycling while black"?

 

tvalentine

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Originally posted by Forumfall
<Mod edit>

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doubt it would happen to the people "justifying" it. Since they know not to be a smart ass when a cop pulls them over.

sniperg

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Originally posted by tvalentine

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Originally posted by Forumfall
<Mod edit>

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doubt it would happen to the people "justifying" it. Since they know not to be a smart ass when a cop pulls them over.

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True that.
In general in such cases it's better to be civil and just give short, precise answers. At least that rule of a thumb had helped me when I've delt with the bakersfield police (long story of epic fail/hillariousness  from my part).
Saves a lot of hassle.

baff

Never let anyone get into a position of power over you.

Should this happen, never be confrontational with someone in a position of power over you.

Be polite, compliant and cowed before them.

 

Cops suck, but you set yourself up for the treatment you got. It doesn't make what they did right, but how you handled them was not smart.

 

 

 

 

Bakersfield police were alright with me when I got stopped by one.

Showed me all his guns too!

I don't like police, but I can get on with them.

 

Rayx0r

the moment you question a police officers authority in a smart ass manner, expect to be arrested.  I think some of you have been watching too much of the keystone cops. 

Enkindu

Just to be clear:

You acted like a brat, and you got exactly what you deserved.

HYPERI0N

Sorry but you really asked for the treatment you got there. If it was me and he asked me where i was going i would ahve first apologised for my mistake and explained i was on my way back home. And throughout the rest i would ahve been polite and apologetic about my mistake afterall i AM in the wrong here.

 

And something tels me things would have worked out a bit better for me.

kazmo

All you people saying he got what he deserved, it's gonna be funny when they take you in or beat you on the street, for nothing. Better yet, it will be funnier when they beat one of your loved family members.



Don't expect anyone to give a shit about your problems, because after all, they probably deserved it right?

sniperg

Originally posted by aeroplane22


All you people saying he got what he deserved, it's gonna be funny when they take you in or beat you on the street, for nothing. Better yet, it will be funnier when they beat one of your loved family members.



Don't expect anyone to give a shit about your problems, because after all, they probably deserved it right?

 

He didn't deserve it yes and the policemen abused their power for sure.

But he made their job easy to bully him. No policeman in first world countries will beat you on the street for nothing. Yes some of them  will try to find something, hence why you answer only with yes or no and keep it civil.

A policeman that searches for a reason to "beat you up" will try to provoke a reaction, so he will have his ass covered when he gets reported. It's your responsibility not to fall for such a bait.

Forumfall

Ok you guys are right. Police officers are humans of a higher class. They can do what they want and we have to lick their feet and kiss their balls right?

On the other hand you guys would be the first to whine and threaten with your lawyer!

sniperg

Originally posted by Forumfall


Ok you guys are right. Police officers are humans of a higher class. They can do what they want and we have to lick their feet and kiss their balls right?
On the other hand you guys would be the first to whine and threaten with your lawyer!

They are not of a higher class, but yes they have an advantage when it's their word against yours.

The point is such cases is to minimize the confrotrations, so your lawyer will be able to have something to work with, that's why all lawyers that deal with such cases they always advice their clients  to "not speak more than needed" and wait for them to come if they take you to the police station. I have not heard a single lawyer saying that you should ask for a cause,  you only have to ask for the policeman's ID.

When you are dealing with bullies with guns,sticks and a good measure of authority, the point is to get done with them as fast as you can and/or report them.