MILWAUKEE MAN AWARDED OVER 500,000 for false arrest a search.... PLEASE READ Two police officers must pay a Milwaukee man more than half a million dollars for violating his civil rights by searching him without a legal reason and wrongfully arresting him, a federal jury ruled Thursday. In issuing the decision, jurors determined that Milwaukee police officers Michael Gasser and Keith Garland Jr. did not have a reason to stop and search Leo Hardy, 40, outside his mothers home at the Mayfair Court housing complex in March 2012. With the verdict, jurors were essentially saying that Milwaukee police, like their counterparts in New York, had used unconstitutional stop and frisk tactics. The officers did not have reasonable suspicion — the lowest level of proof required for officers to search someone — that Hardy had committed a crime or posed a threat, the jury found. The jury believed Leo Hardy, and they sent a message that no police officer can stop a man and put their hands on him simply because he is black in Milwaukee, said Russell Ainsworth, Hardys lead attorney. The jury found that both Gassers and Garlands actions were either malicious or involved reckless disregard for Hardys civil rights. The verdict, handed down after three days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was the first in potentially dozens of civil rights trials alleging illegal strip and cavity searches by Milwaukee police. More than 60 people have sued the city and the Police Department in connection with such searches. In Hardys case, jurors did not find that the officers conducted improper searches by putting their hands inside Hardys underwear and pulling down his pants on the street, as he contended. Rather, jurors concluded that officers did not have a valid legal reason to search Hardy at all or to arrest him for resisting and obstructing officers. A third officer, Michael Valuch Jr. was not found liable by the jury. U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller did not ask Assistant City Attorney Sue Lappen in court if the city planned to appeal. She left the courthouse without comment and did not return a telephone call late Thursday. The officers also left the courthouse without comment. Jurors awarded Hardy a total of $506,000. Of that, $6,000 was to compensate him for being illegally searched and wrongly arrested. The remainder was in punitive damages, which are designed to punish improper behavior and to deter similar actions by Milwaukee police in the future. The damages were assessed against the two officers, but since they were on duty at the time, the city is responsible for paying.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 01:12:42 +0000