Federal

In custody death due to alleged positional asphyxia resulting from several officers dog-piling on top of a prone suspect.

On March 16, 2006, Somerville officer Freitas, who was off-duty and had been drinking, confronted Gerard Contaldi (15) and his friends about kicking a recycling bin near Freitas’s sports car. Freitas called Gerard an idiot and slapped him. One of Gerard’s friends pushed Freitas, then the boys ran away. Officers stopped Gerard, threw him to the ground, and cuffed him. An officer pressed Gerard’s face in the gravel. Freitas hit Gerard in the eye with a flashlight.

Plaintiff, Gerald Wilcox, 43, was arrested in his home in a quiet Detroit suburb by two Detroit Police Dep’t. officers looking for a Gerald Wilcox in his 20s who robbed a Family Dollar store in Detroit the previous day. The warrantless arrest, without consent or exigent circumstances, occurred in front of Wilcox’s wife and teenge son. Wilcox spent 15 days in the county jail before the Officer-in-Charge admitted that he learned the night of the arrest that the plaintiff was the wrong person. Charges were dismissed 6 weeks after the arrest when an eyewitness told the prosecutor that Mr.

Sidney Gurley, 46 African American inmate at Gus Harrison, died of peritonitis from an undiagnosed appendicitis. Sidney reported, on multiple ocassions, abdominal events. Kited, but not seen by healthcare until day before his death. Even then, he was misdiagnosed as suffering urinary tract infection. Officers ignored obvious signs of illness and other inmates complaints on behalf of Sidney. Of course, officers reported during rounds they checked for breathing and signs of life, even up to the point of rigors. Also settled for confidential amount with attending physician assistant.

The City of Madison and its insurance company have agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle the civil rights claims of the family of Paul Heenan, the thirty-year old musician and recording engineer who was shot and killed by Madison Police Officer Stephen Heimsness, on November 9, 2012, after he mistook a neighbor’s Baldwin Street house for the one he had moved into a week earlier, prompting a 911 call.

Nantucket Police Officer John Hubbard used unreasonable force on Eric Kaminskas, fracturing his skull. On September 4, 2011, Defendant Hubbard was investigating an altercation at a nightclub on Nantucket Island. He approached Mr. Kaminskas outside the nightclub to question him about his involvement. Defendant Hubbard tackled Mr. Kaminskas with so much force that Mr. Kaminskas’s right frontal skull struck the pavement and broke into pieces. Mr. Kaminskas was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (MGH). After the swelling in Mr.

Plaintiff was arrested for a homicide in 2006, underwent two jury trials, was convicted and served 7 years of a life sentence before one of the perps of the original crime was picked up by the feds. He gave a proffer statement which led to a re-investigation of the homicide by the feds and one lamplighter LEO, where it was discovered that 2 police reports containing exculpatory information for Plaintiff and INCULPATING the true killer were removed from the homicide file. After motion for new trial, prosecutor dismissed in 2014.

The Settlement Agreement covering the Baltimore City Detention Center was negotiated long after a previous Consent Decree had been entered and administratively closed. The settlement is comprehensive as to medical and mental health care, with some general physical plant provisions. The fees may also cover up to $100,000 in fees for formal post-settlement enforcement activities. Previous phases of the case prior to the old Consent Decree go as far back as 1965.

A 77-year-old retired psychologist with no criminal record, 5 feet 2 inches tall, 140 pounds, was falsely arrested, and injured by jail guards during book-in after expressing annoyance and confusion when denied access to his attorney’s phone number. One guard grabbed plaintiff’s left arm; a larger guard lunged suddenly from a side room, grabbed plaintiff’s arm and pulled it behind plaintiff’s back and upward, and slammed his left forearm behind plaintiff’s neck. This arm-bar maneuver caused a massive full-thickness rotator cuff tear of plaintiff’s right shoulder.