Man awarded $30,000 after video shows cops blatantly lied about arrest

[jct74]

Fort Lauderdale pays arrested man $30,000 when video contradicts cop's report

By Paula McMahon, Sun Sentinel
3:56 a.m. EDT, August 20, 2012

In the police report, it looked like an open-and-shut case: A Fort Lauderdale police officer responded to a complaint of a man blasting loud music in his back yard, the homeowner refused to turn it off and walked away when the officer tried to arrest him.

Winston Dudley was arrested on misdemeanor charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest without violence shortly before 9 p.m. Sept.18, 2010. He was released on bond the next day.

But prosecutors refused to file formal criminal charges and Dudley won a $30,000 settlement from the city of Fort Lauderdale after he produced a home security video that contradicted the officer's official report.

Officer Daniel R. Gowans wrote in his police report that he could hear Dudley's music from seven houses away and had been called to the house on the 1300 block of Northwest 12th Street before for complaints of loud music. He said he asked Dudley, who was 50 at the time, to show him identification and told him to turn off the music.

...

read more and see the video evidence here:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-video-noise-complaint-20120817,0,7799902.story

[Indy Vidual]

Sometimes the good guys win. :)

[DamianTV]

But why is it necessary to have a video of the whole thing? Is it maybe because the Cops and their Judge buddies take each others lies as the and all and be all of honesty, and fuck all of us? We are all just dishonest? We lie about the way cops shoot us when we are homeless and for some reason it is necessary for 6 cops to shoot us 84 times? What if we whittle?

My answer? TRIAL BY MOTHER FUCKING JURY.

We know the cops are corrupt and the judges are bought and paid for. It doesnt matter what evidence we show a judge, if he "feels" like declaring you as guilty, then you are guilty, doesnt matter if you were actually guilty or not. Introduce the JURY. When the JURY sees the kind of shit that these cops are trying to get away with, they have absolutely no choice but to drop the charges with prejudice. Then we look at the people that get arrested for making others aware of TRIAL BY JURY RIGHTS, and how people as JURORS can find people innocent of crimes if they themselves do not feel that a law is just or fair. Think of it this way, Trial By Jury of a guy accused of smoking pot and all the Jurors are total potheads. They can easily nullify the effectiveness of a law by refusing to prosecute.

Informed Jurys are one of our most powerful weapons of recourse against a corrupt judicial system.

[BucksforPaul]

From the article


The city settled for $30,000 to avoid further litigation costs. We have no additional comments on the matter," said Matt Little, a city spokesman.
Fort Lauderdale police said only that the department did not receive a complaint from Dudley and there has been no internal affairs investigation of the matter.

The taxpayers lose an extra $30,000 and the police don't even pretend to investigate themselves. Lol

[mrsat_98]

But why is it necessary to have a video of the whole thing? Is it maybe because the Cops and their Judge buddies take each others lies as the and all and be all of honesty, and fuck all of us? We are all just dishonest? We lie about the way cops shoot us when we are homeless and for some reason it is necessary for 6 cops to shoot us 84 times? What if we whittle?

My answer? TRIAL BY MOTHER FUCKING JURY.

We know the cops are corrupt and the judges are bought and paid for. It doesnt matter what evidence we show a judge, if he "feels" like declaring you as guilty, then you are guilty, doesnt matter if you were actually guilty or not. Introduce the JURY. When the JURY sees the kind of shit that these cops are trying to get away with, they have absolutely no choice but to drop the charges with prejudice. Then we look at the people that get arrested for making others aware of TRIAL BY JURY RIGHTS, and how people as JURORS can find people innocent of crimes if they themselves do not feel that a law is just or fair. Think of it this way, Trial By Jury of a guy accused of smoking pot and all the Jurors are total potheads. They can easily nullify the effectiveness of a law by refusing to prosecute.

Informed Jurys are one of our most powerful weapons of recourse against a corrupt judicial system.

Why you ask ? The answer is found in your states uniform code of military justice. Its a little clearer if you understand that we are the same as a defeated enemy and the government is a foreign military power acting as if we where defeated long ago.

[aGameOfThrones]

Tim Donnelly, head of the Broward State Attorney's Office special prosecutions unit, said the case had not been sent to his unit. "Now that it's been brought to our attention, we're going to review it," Donnelly said.

He said his office is reviewing another case where the Broward Public Defender's Office alleged that Gowans and another officer gave a misleading account of a drug-related arrest. That case is still being investigated by prosecutors, Donnelly said.

Efforts to contact Gowans were unsuccessful. His attorney, Mike Dutko, said he was not aware of the Dudley case but said Gowans has a "credible explanation" for the drug arrest case. "I've not had previous experience with Officer Gowans, but he seeems to be a young, conscientious worker and productive police officer," Dutko said.

Very conscientious worker and productive police officer.

[oyarde]

So , basically , tax payers are out money , every other report put together is now in play as well ??

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

From the article



The taxpayers lose an extra $30,000 and the police don't even pretend to investigate themselves. Lol


Well, we know they'd really just be dicking off anyway. I suppose that's better than bugging citizens.

[TheTexan]

Very conscientious worker and productive police officer.

Shrug. I'm sure the corrupt shit he's pulled has net his department far more than the $30,000 he just lost them. They probably just see it as an operating expense. Even with the $30,000 loss against him, he's still probably their biggest earner!

[QuickZ06]

Talk about buzz kill, sad we cant even enjoy music/drinks in our backyard without getting thrown around and put in a cell by some thugs.

[AGRP]

From the article



The taxpayers lose an extra $30,000 and the police don't even pretend to investigate themselves. Lol

x2

"The city" = tax payers. Theyll just tack on an extra 30k worth of fees or taxes somewhere to make up for it because its unlikely that anyone will lose their jobs or hours.

[Tod]

Sometimes the good guys win. :)

Epic fail.

Good guys exchange $30,000 among themselves, bad guy pays no penalty.

[Brian4Liberty]

The taxpayers lose an extra $30,000 and the police don't even pretend to investigate themselves. Lol

Yeah, what a joke. The officer should be fired. Would McDonald's keep a person as a cook if they were caught on video taking a shit in the food?

[enjerth]

Why doesn't this amount to perjury?

[KingNothing]

From the article


The taxpayers lose an extra $30,000 and the police don't even pretend to investigate themselves. Lol

We wouldn't want an investigation! Then people might be held accountable for their actions, and problems like this would come to an end. What fun would that be?

...oh. wait. Yeah, we do want investigations.

[KingNothing]

Why doesn't this amount to perjury?

Because it's not perjury. It's just a person lying in the court of law, harming another in the process.

Wait. No. That is perjury.

I don't know. Cops are the Law, we're just rabble.

[KingNothing]

x2

"The city" = tax payers. Theyll just tack on an extra 30k worth of fees or taxes somewhere to make up for it because its unlikely that anyone will lose their jobs or hours.

Yep, and if they don't tack on $30k in taxes, they'll pull the funding from some other local service. Either way, the good guys lose and the cops walk away unscathed.

[puppetmaster]

cops lie very very often in their reports.......I know this from watching and listening to them fill them out.

[youngbuck]

In the meantime, this reinforces the fact that it's a very good idea to have video surveillance for your own protection. It's sad that it has come to this, but it behooves us all to set up surveillance at our homes, in our vehicles, and to have a mobile option as well. We all know the police state is brutally and horribly corrupt, and it would be foolish to not protect ourselves against its malice while we, at the same time, try to lobby against and dismantle the beast. I just got done setting up one wireless camera at my house, that records on motion to my harddrive. I can add many more wireless cameras as funds allow and as I see fit. The next step it to get something setup in my vehicle to record all traffic stops, and add a helment cam to my motorcycle helmet. Yes, these steps are not the end-all-be-all, but they are much better than nothing, and, knowing what we all know about the police state, it only makes sense. It's not that expensive, and not that difficult to set up. Do it.

[Anti Federalist]

"Mr. Dudley is very fortunate that he had a videotape that supported his account of what happened. In a lot of these cases, it's one person's word against the police officer's, and most jurors in a criminal or civil trial are going to assume that law enforcement officers who are well-paid and well-trained are going to testify honestly," Koerner said.

Shocked...shocked I am...

[Anti Federalist]

Because it's not perjury. It's just a person lying in the court of law, harming another in the process.

Wait. No. That is perjury.

I don't know. Cops are the Law, we're just rabble.

Yes, Mundane, I see you understand.

[aGameOfThrones]

Cop lies, yet he gets to keep his job.

Cop supervisor knows his subordinate lied, yet does nothing to that criminal.

The Fort Lauderdale City Commission knows the cop lied, yet his employment is not terminated.


And I'm told it's the 5% bad who make the other 95% "good" look bad... riiiiiiiiiight.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0c4viVPJJ1qccfn1o1_500.jpg

[mport1]

I'd venture to guess cops lie 90+% of the time. If only they always had to pay. Too bad they won't be personally responsible though. They will just rob taxpayers for that.

[PaulConventionWV]

We wouldn't want an investigation! Then people might be held accountable for their actions, and problems like this would come to an end. What fun would that be?

...oh. wait. Yeah, we do want investigations.

The police aren't investigating shit.

[DamianTV]

The police aren't investigating shit.

Police are only there to prosecute crimes against the 1%.

[jonhowe]

What makes a police officer "productive"? What does he/she "produce"?

[daviddee]

...

[Travlyr]

What makes a police officer "productive"? What does he/she "produce"?

They do not produce anything. The police are simply common thieves and thugs in uniform ... highway robbers.