Our cops are soldiers now. Thanks to the boatload of money and carte blanche after 9/11. Let me see your ID.

ABQJournal Online » Jury Verdict In Excessive Force Case Overturned

By Scott Sandlin / Journal Staff Writeron Thu, Apr 26, 2012

APD’s arrest of an unarmed, 60-year-old intoxicated man by firing numerous bean bags at him, siccing a dog on him and then repeatedly Tasering him was “clearly excessive” force, says a federal judge who took the unusual step of overturning the jury’s verdict in the case …

“No reasonable person could believe that an inhibited, slow-moving 60-year old individual who made no physical or verbal threats and wielded no weapons could constitute a threat to the safety of any of the 47 armed and shielded police officers who stood 20 feet away,” Black wrote, reversing the outcome of the weeklong jury trial last October in Santa Fe.

“Nothing presented at trial showed that the officers’ extraordinary use of force was reasonably necessary to safely arrest (the plaintiff),” said the opinion Black wrote this month.

ABQJournal Online » Jury Verdict In Excessive Force Case Overturned