Plaintiffs, two African-American teenaged boys, were stopped by City of Poughkeepsie police because one (Dancy) supposedly matched the description of a suspected robber. When the other, Elting, tried to call his mother on his cell phone, he was taken to ground by defendant McGinley and beaten by McGinley and other officers while restrained. Elting was arrested for OGA and later the police claimed he possessed crack cocaine. Meanwhile, another officer, Williams, slammed Dancy’s head against side of patrol car, resulting in hairline jaw fracture. Jury hung on Dancy’s claim because he could not say for certain that Williams was the officer who injured him, although all other evidence indicated that it was Williams. Elting, the winning plaintiff, had bruising and abrasions that were documented by hospital upon his release from police custody approx. 36 hours after the arrest. He also was held in custody for 24 hours. He was an honor student with no prior legal issues and his mother was a corrections officer.
1 plaintiff (Elting) won on his false arrest ($115,000) and excessive force ($100,000) claims. The jury hung on the other plaintiff, Dancy’s, excessive force claim and found for defendant on Dancy’s false arrest claim.