PDA

View Full Version : Lawsuits accuse Philly police of resuming 'nickel rides'




jct74
12-08-2013, 07:30 PM
Lawsuits accuse Phila. police of resuming 'nickel rides'

Sarah Smith and Craig R. McCoy, Inquirer Staff Writers
Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2013, 1:00 PM

This is what Philadelphia police say about James McKenna's conduct: He was drunk and belligerent - and broke his neck banging his head against cell bars.

McKenna has a different account of what happened that June night in 2011.

He says police arrested him outside a Center City bar and tossed him unrestrained into the back of a police wagon that sped along, then stopped abruptly again and again until he fell and broke his neck.

"I went down two or three times," McKenna said. The fourth time he fell, he said, he couldn't get up. "I couldn't muster the strength."

The next sudden stop, he said, threw him into a slide toward the front of the van. According to McKenna, his skid was halted when he crashed against the barrier separating the driver's seat from the rear compartment.

...

McKenna alleges police subjected him to a form of abuse - a jolting and dangerous ride in a police wagon - that has a long, dishonorable history in Philadelphia.

The practice was entrenched before the department vowed to end it a dozen years ago after an Inquirer investigative series. The articles detailed crippling injuries, including paralysis, suffered by people placed unrestrained in the vans.

...

read more:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131208_Lawsuits_accuse_Phila__police_of_resuming __nickel_rides_.html