Posted on 05/16/2007 7:52:39 AM PDT by E Rocc
Iraq war veteran tells of beating at airport
Soldier accuses Las Vegas police
By DAVID KIHARA REVIEW-JOURNAL National Guard Sgt. Mark England came out of a tour of duty in Iraq with just a hand injury from an insurgent attack near Baghdad in 2004.
His trip to Las Vegas last month, however, ended with a police beating at McCarran International Airport that left him with three broken ribs, he said.
"I could understand if I was in Germany or a foreign country, but we're supposed to be on the same side," England said. "If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone."
The 37-year-old Orange County, Calif., resident said the officer beat him with a nightstick after England got into an argument with a Transportation Security Administration agent who refused to let England take a soda through the security checkpoint last month. England said he also was shocked three times with a Taser before being taken to jail.
England, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 205 pounds, said he was not aggressive and was polite to all of the authorities he dealt with that night. He and his wife say surveillance footage from the night in question will prove him innocent, but England can't get copies of it.
"It will show I was never a threat to the officer," he said.
Officials said police will get the surveillance tapes within the next few days.
Elaine Sanchez, public affairs and marketing manager for McCarran, said release of the tape must be approved by the Clark County Department of Aviation and the Transportation Security Administration, because the airport owns the equipment and the federal agency has jurisdiction over the tapes. She said a copy of the tape was not given to England because of the ongoing investigation.
Police Internal Affairs investigators are looking into England's allegations but can't discuss it because it is an ongoing investigation, said Bill Cassell, spokesman for the Las Vegas police.
England is facing charges of resisting arrest and violating airport rules. He and his lawyer have been unable to get anyone to tell them exactly what airport rule he violated. England's arraignment is slated for April 10; but his lawyer, Cal Potter, expects that to be postponed because the district attorney hadn't received the case as of Thursday.
England had been sightseeing and gambling in Las Vegas during NASCAR weekend and was scheduled to fly out of McCarran on March 10. He arrived at the airport a little before 6 p.m. Before he went through the Concourse C security checkpoint, he bought a hot dog and a $3.25 soft drink in a cup.
England said he tried to go through the security checkpoint, but a TSA agent told him he couldn't proceed with the food and soda. England told the TSA official he believed that he could bring a soda through the security checkpoint as long as he could show a receipt proving it was purchased at the airport.
According to McCarran officials, you can't take a soda through the security checkpoint even if you have a receipt. You can, however, purchase a drink after passing through the checkpoint.
The TSA official refused to let England pass. England asked to see a supervisor. The supervisor also didn't allow England to pass through the checkpoint. The supervisor also asked to see England's identification and then made copies of his military ID and boarding pass.
"I know it sounds weird, but I have a problem being in the military and having some civilian tell me I'm wrong when I actually thought I was right," England said. "If I'm wrong, I'll admit I'm wrong. But it was their attitude they were giving me" that bothered him.
What really angered England, he said, was the TSA supervisor told him he was a lieutenant in the Army but refused to show any proof of this claim. England pressed him to show a military ID, but the TSA supervisor wouldn't budge.
"I said, 'Sir, with all due respect, that's (expletive) up,' " England said.
A Las Vegas police officer told England to go to his plane's boarding gate, which England did. But he missed his flight.
With several hours to kill before he could catch another flight, England decided to find the TSA supervisor. He met the TSA supervisor and the police officer by the security checkpoint and asked to see the TSA supervisor's boss.
At that point, the Las Vegas police officer asked England to walk with him, England said. They walked about 50 feet from the security checkpoint, and the officer asked to see England's boarding pass.
England fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a dollar bill that he said the officer pulled from his hand and threw on the floor.
England said he asked the officer, "Would you mind picking up that dollar bill from the floor?"
The officer pulled out his handcuffs and told England to turn around and put his hands behind his back. England said the officer placed a hand on his shoulder and that England instinctively rolled his shoulder out from under the officer's hand. The officer then pulled out a baton and yelled at him to get on the floor, England said.
He said the officer hit him multiple times with the baton, breaking three ribs on his left side and injuring his hand and head. Another officer then shocked him with a Taser at least three times, England said.
"I've never seen this much pain in all my life," he said.
When England was released from the Clark County jail the next day, he was bruised and looked horrible, said his friend Ken Dorton who bailed him out.
"My first reaction was, 'Oh my god. What did they do to you?' " said Dorton. He said England had dried blood on his hand and face and a swollen eye.
England admits that he had two beers over several hours before he went to McCarran but said he wasn't intoxicated. He also said he was never disrespectful toward the officer.
"I was raised to honor the police and I've always done that," he said.
Over the top. Are you the cop in the video? What danger did his questions pose. I am truly stunned that anyone, especially a Freeper, would think asking the wrong questions deserves broken ribs and being tasered.
If the police are in the wrong, you don't get to resolve it there. You resolve it in court.
But neither side gets to conduct a trial at the event.
All I saw from that dumb video was the Sgt. going back to TSA (for God knows what), headless figures discussing something (with no apparent confrontation) and then cut to the beating. Do me a favor. Watch it without sound. Maybe you won’t be so swayed by the over-the-top voiceovers.
Yawn.
"I think Sgt. England will agree."
Make up your mind.
Go away nitwit.
Did you bother to watch the video? The man---a sergeant, no less---was assaulted by a police officer, and then tasered by another, for what, exactly? For asking for an explanation?Your punk-ass attitude is beneath contempt. I most certainly hope that you're on the receiving end of one of these official beatings someday, buddy boy. You sound exactly like a poseur wannabe who'd get off on beating up a civilian with a nightstick and a taser while hiding behind your badge.
Ridicoulous. And silly. Your defense of out and out brutality is over the top.
So, when a cop says “get down” this is an invitation for an argument?
That, we agree on.
The cop needs probable cause and this cop had none.
And exactly how does one adjudicate whether or not the officer had probable cause?
I swear to God, some of you dumbasses are a big part of what is wrong with this country.
If this idiot [with a bad case of little man’s disease] had obeyed the rules, not gotten an attitude and then disobeyed the police. None of this would have occured.
In this case...
I refuse to entertain the moronic notion that TSA screeners unfairly singled him out.
-&-
I refuse to entertain the notion that the Police did anything inapproriate.
No cop zaps someone in a crowded airport with a ton of witnesses without a justifiable reason.
I have zero remorse for him.
Humble yourself, throw away the soda, shut your damn mouth and move along, dummy. There are more important matters at hand in an airport than whether or not your stupid ass is a noncomm in the military or what you ‘think’ about airport security proceadures.
Whether or not he got what he deserved..I cannot say, nor can anyone else on this thread...but what happened is his responsibility...and his alone.
FRIGGIN EVIL, AUTHORITARIAN, JACKBOOTED, ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-TERRORIST, ANTI-LAW BREAKER...COPS!!
Who the hell do they think they are?! Them and those friggin TSA screeners! Just what do they think they’re doing?! It is not like they are protecting the rest of us or something.
Their job is to humbly cowtow to the whims of every other, slack-jawed, contrarian nitwit who believes he or she is more important than they actually are and proceeds to grace the TSA screener’s metal detectors.
HARUMGH!
Who the hell do they think they are?! Them and those friggin TSA screeners! Just what do they think they’re doing?! It is not like they are protecting the rest of us or something.
Their job is to humbly cowtow to the whims of every other, slack-jawed, contrarian nitwit who believes he or she is more important than they actually are and proceeds to grace the TSA screener’s metal detectors.
HARUMGH!
Just as I suspected---this kind of tripe is about all you can muster, and just about the best we can expect from you. And your post to "All," above, proves you didn't watch the video, in any event, so you have no idea what you're talking about.Asshat.
Probable cause for arrest - a fair probability that a crime was committed and a fair probability that the suspect committed that crime.
Definitions of Probable Cause on the Web:
a reasonable belief that a crime has or is being committed and is the basis for all lawful searches and arrests
the reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime.
http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/315/315lect06.htm
I. Direct Sources of Probable Cause (Officer sources of knowledge)
FLIGHT : Attempting to flee, evade or elude, is in evidence law a presumption of guilt.
FURTIVE MOVEMENTS : "Furtive" means secretive or concealing, and the law requires a totality of circumstances here. The movement cannot possibly be construed as an innocent gesture (looking both ways before crossing the street). Nervousness alone is not sufficient as the law recognizes the right of people to be nervous or fearful around police. The movement cannot also be possibly the sign of a mental condition. There must be something secretive given the time, setting, weather, and audience. It would be best if the furtive movements were identifiable with a particular type of crime.
OBSERVATION OF REAL EVIDENCE : "Real" evidence is demonstrative evidence (Exhibit A) that speaks for itself. ADMITTED OWNERSHIP : This involves, for example, a type of consent in which a person, say, accidentally empties the contents of their purse or pockets, and the police ask them if they own something, and they say "yes", and then the police look inside it and find contraband, they are said to have had probable cause for the search and seizure.
FALSE OR IMPROBABLE ANSWERS : This is not normally a basis of probable cause alone, but it tends to trigger subsequent police inquiry or action. Examples might include a person being asked who the car belongs to, and they say "my cousin" but they don't know their cousin's name. Or, a girlfriend answers the door and says the apartment is rented under her boyfriend's name, but she doesn't know what kind of car her boyfriend drives.
PRESENCE AT A CRIME SCENE or IN A HIGH-CRIME AREA
ASSOCIATION WITH KNOWN CRIMINALS
PAST CRIMINAL CONDUCT
FAILURE TO PROTEST
Who determines this and when? I don’t care what it is, I care who decides that the cop acted in the wrong and when that decision is made.
Surely this is not so difficult.
I. Direct Sources of Probable Cause (Officer sources of knowledge)
Once again, who decides? Why won’t you answer the question?
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