A man who said a police officer lifted him off of the ground, body slammed him into the pavement face first and put a knee on his neck and said, “Yea, your ****ing neck gonna be bleeding soon,” was awarded over $100,000 in damages.
In a November 30 ruling by Senior Justice Indra Charles, the judge said she believed the evidence of Lynden Saunders who said he was beaten by two officers during an altercation on Prince Charles Drive in September 2018.
“Although, as I stated, I believe that Mr. Saunders was initially resistant to the directions of the officers, having considered all of the evidence, I do not believe that the force used by the officers was commensurate with the
circumstances,” she ruled.
“The officers used more force than was reasonable necessary.”
Saunders sued Inspector Jeron Thompson, Corporal Jamecko Thompson and the attorney general after he said the officers used excessive force in arresting him. He argued that his arrest and detention were unlawful and alleged malicious prosecution for charges he was acquitted of in the magistrate’s court.
Saunders said he was riding his motorcycle on Prince Charles Drive on September 17, 2018, when he encountered a traffic accident. To bypass the accident, Saunders, who said he was on his way to work, said he rode his motorcycle on the pavement. The officers investigating the traffic accident asked Saunders to stop his bike and dismount.
Saunders said he did as he was told, but the officers, in their testimony, said that Saunders initially refused to dismount and later became combative.
Saunders said he told the officers that he did not have a driver’s license. He said the officers confiscated the bike and told him he would need to walk or catch the bus.
Later, Saunders said Inspector Thompson kicked his bike to the ground and in “an aggressive manner held his hand in a position as if he was about to hit him”.
Eventually, after a back and forth, Saunders said Inspector Thompson “punched him in the face”.
He said the other officer, Corporal Thompson, punched him in the back of his head.
In her summation of Saunders’ evidence, Charles said, “[Mr. Saunders said] Inspector Thompson then picked him up off of his feet and literally body slammed him to the ground with his face hitting the ground first.
“He alleged that, as a result of being body slammed to the ground, his mouth and teeth were injured and his nose was bleeding. There were other minor scratches on his face.
“He further stated that while he was on the ground on his stomach, his hands were cuffed behind his back with one officer kneeling in his back and the other officer using his two hands to pin his legs to the ground.
“The officers then turned him onto his back and Inspector Thompson knelt down with his knee onto his neck and throat area and forcefully pressed down. He said that he complained that he could not breathe, he was in pain and his mouth and wrist were bleeding.
“Mr. Saunders asserted that Inspector Thompson started using obscene language toward him, telling him to ‘shut his ****ing mouth’, so he used obscene language in response and begged him to ease the pressure from his knee. He said Inspector Thompson said, ‘Yeah your ****ing neck gonna be bleeding soon’, when he complained of being in pain.
“Under cross-examination, Mr. Saunders admitted that, at the time of the incident, he was not wearing a helmet and the motorcycle was neither licensed nor insured. He also admitted that it was reasonable for him to have been pulled over for riding his motorcycle on the sidewalk.”
Saunders said he is five feet tall.
During his testimony, Inspector Thompson, who said he is six feet two inches and weighs 245 pounds, denied “lifting Saunders off the ground or slamming him to the ground face first”.
“Later on, when confronted with his report, which he acknowledged was correct and which he made on 17 September 2018, he said that his report is correct – ‘I took him to the ground, not lifted him,’” the ruling stated.
“In the report, he stated, ‘In an effort to subdue this individual, I responded by striking him to the face and bringing him to the ground face first.’”
Inspector Thompson admitted that he put his knee on Saunders’ neck and explained “that is what he is trained to do” because Saunders was being combative, the ruling noted.
“He (Inspector Thompson) said that it took three officers to subdue him,” it read.
“He stated that Mr. Saunders turned himself onto his back and he heard him complaining about his position.
“He said he could not recall hearing Mr. Saunders complain about being unable to breathe or that his vein was cut or that he punched him in his mouth and his teeth were out.
“He said that he may have said, ‘Yeah your ****ing neck will be bleeding soon.’”
He also acknowledged that he told the other officer, Corporal Thompson, sometime after the incident started, to record it on his cell phone, the ruling stated. While he forwarded the video to his commanding officer, Inspector Thompson also said that he “may have accidentally forwarded it to the WhatsApp groups for the station’s division”.
Charles said she believes that Saunders initially refused to dismount his motorcycle when asked by the officers.
But insofar as the accounts of the physical altercation, she said she preferred the evidence of Saunders to that of the officers. Three officers testified during the case.
“In my opinion, the officers distorted the true account of what took place on the day in question,” Charles said.
She ruled that Saunders’ arrest and his 30-hour detention were unlawful and that the officers’ use of force was not reasonable. But she ruled that Saunders failed to prove that the criminal proceedings brought against him constituted malicious prosecution. As noted earlier, he was acquitted of those charges.
Charles ruled that Saunders, as the successful party, is entitled to costs, which were agreed at $35,000.
He was also awarded $80,000 in damages for assault, battery and false imprisonment; $15,000 in damages for breach of his constitutional right; and $8,000 in special damages, for injures to his hand, mouth and loss of teeth. In total, he was awarded $103,000 in damages.
“There will be interest at the statutory rate of 6.25 percent from the date of the filing of the writ of summons (17 April 2019) to the date of payment and costs agreed at $35,000,” she ruled.
