Some things are just so ridiculous that you couldn't possibly make them up.
Seven years ago an Oakland police officer forced two men he had stopped to pull down their pants in front of spectators. After a lawsuit was brought and the City refused to settle, last year's verdict resulted in losses to Oakland's taxpayers of more than $1,000,000. You might have thought that at this point the City would have said no mas.
But you would be wrong. You have no concept to what depths of ass-kissing the people of Oakland's representatives will go when there are police involved. (And quite frankly, even I was surprised at the giant sucking sounds emerging from City Hall last evening...)
The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to pay $40,000 in punitive damages that a judge had ordered a former Oakland police officer to pay for making two men pull down their pants in public.
The city had no legal obligation to make ((officer)) Mayer's payment, but the council voted 5-3 to do it anyway.
((City Council member)) Brooks said the police union had recently asked council members to indemnify Mayer.
A police officer costs the City of Oakland more than $1,000,000 for being a complete and utter asshole, and what happens? Five of eight City Council members step up to kiss his and every other member of the police union's buttocks by paying the $40,000 that Meyer would have otherwise been on the hook for.
And the policeman himself? He
... retired on disability after serving 11 years on the force...
having been cleared by an internal police review...
Mayer's attorney, John Verber, wrote in a memo to the city that his client had been cleared of any wrongdoing by police internal affairs. "The punitive damage award issued by the court is particularly upsetting for Mr. Mayer because he knows he did nothing wrong," Verber wrote.
I'm sure Mr. Mayer is "particularly upset." It's expensive to pay for so many tiny violins playing all at once. But is this shocking? (Not!). The police cleared one of their own after
Mayer testified that he had stopped the car for a traffic violation but could not provide a reason for having done so...
This is yet one more aspect of
what a police state looks like (and
here, and
here and believe me I could keep going far beyond the margin).
When the police can so thoroughly dominate the politics of a city that they can demand -- and obtain -- the City's politicians' votes to indemify a policeman who was ordered to pay punitive damages after costing its taxpayers more then a million dollars,, can there be any doubt what kind of state exists within Oakland's city limits?