Former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson
Ferguson, Missouri police once wrongly arrested a man, beat him, then charged him with destruction of property. What property?
His blood got on the uniforms of the four officers involved in his beating:
“On and/or about the 20th day of Sept. 20, 2009 at or near 222 S. Florissant within the corporate limits of Ferguson, Missouri, the above named defendant did then and there unlawfully commit the offense of ‘property damage’ to wit did transfer blood to the uniform,” reads the charge sheet.
Henry Davis' booking photo after mistaken identity arrest and police beating
Even worse, they had the wrong man all along, arresting the wrong Henry Davis after he pulled off the highway into Ferguson to ride out a heavy rain storm. The wrongfully arrested Henry Davis suffered a brutal beating at the hands of the police and then the Ferguson police had the audacity to charge him with "property damage" for the blood on their uniforms.
Henry Davis has been trying to sue them and a federal district court recently sided with the police:
“As unreasonable as it may sound, a reasonable officer could have believed that beating a subdued and compliant Mr. Davis while causing only a concussion, scalp lacerations and bruising with almost no permanent damage did not violate the Constitution,” the district court ruled in tossing out the case.
Infuriating. Outrageous. Davis' attorney immediately appealed and the appeals court
agreed:
The court went on to say, “That an officer’s conduct caused only de minimis injuries does not necessarily establish the absence of malice or bad faith as a matter of law.”
At long last, Henry Davis is finally going to be able to take the four officers who severely beat him to court.