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.
And it's not hindsight. I actually bothered to view the tapes. And I belive it's illegal AND immoral to beat someone that committed no crime.
Heh. Point taken-- assuming that's what actually happened.
My take on it is: we have one side of the story, and even that isn't all that convincing-- or leaves questions in my mind. I'd like to get the whole story before making a judgment.
As someone pointed out to me, there's a link to video in post #16. That looks like the news story-- I'll have to check it out when I'm able.
Which of the 30 odd armed ethno/sectarian groups currently involved in the civil war are you referring to?
Are the viciously anti-Sunni anti-Al Qaida fighters people we need to worry about?
If the Badr brigade helps us fight the Baathists but fires on British troops and terrorizes people who sell Western DVDs do we need to fight them too?
Are the Muqtada al-Sadr supporters who executed Saddam terrorists? I bet the Sunnis they target think so.
Help me out here, this Neo-Wilsonian social engineering is tricky.
According to the video, he has NOT been charged with anything.
Next point?
How about the foreign terrorists pouring into Iraq?
I completely agree that this guy was being an arrogant jerk and showed poor judgement. I just haven’t heard anything yet that would convince me that he deserved the beating he got. I’ve seen too many instances of people supposedly “resisting arrest” where the cops went way overboard on the application of force. Maybe this isn’t one of these cases. I’m reserving judgement.
He even had a chance to cut and run but he just had to come back for more.
This is not to say the officers were right. But Sgt. England was WRONG on many counts.
I don't care if his name was Sgt. York.
A pox on both their self-centered houses.
Leni
TSA tapes in news link at Post 16.
I like the part where he knows more about the rules than the supervisor. The part about the receipt was interesting. I guess a terrorist would never think to buy a drink and then switch them.
I’ll call BS on the “two beers”. It almost sounds like a snootful turned him into an airport security expert.
Just watched it, it’s really hard to tell anything from it. It does appear that he kept standing through most of the confrontation - he probably should have hit the floor face down when he was told to. Whether the cop had any particular business trying to cuff him in the first place in also in question.
I suspect this veteran of honorable service may have imbibed on something stronger than coke before running to the airport to catch his flight.
Could you provide some numbers.
Most of the number I've seen indicate this is only a tiny minority of the people shooting at us.
And could answer my previous question do we need to fight the Badr brigade and Muqtada al-Sadr supporters?
The current definition of success seems to be the transformation of Iraq into a liberal democracy. In order to do this you are going to have to pretty much destroy every armed group in the country as they all are terrorizing somebody. Currently we don't have enough troops to secure Bagdad. How many more troops and money do wish to invest in Iraqi's "freedom"? Because we haven't even spent 10% of the lives and cash we are going to need to realize this nation building project.
The most telling thing was that England has never been charged with a crime. If you or I beat someone for being annoying we’d be in jail.
Hence, a Mexican standoff. If he starts suing, they start charging. If he lets it go, they let it go.
Whether he's right or wrong, when a cop says "Down on the ground," you had better be on the ground.
You can prove your rightness later.
If we leave Iraq now, Al Quaida will completely take over. Stop reading liberal BS.
The last that I heard, cops can’t beat you, break ribs and taze you for being annoying. Did you bother viewing the tapes in the news report in post 16?
They can do so for resisting arrest. Sorry. They can.
Whether you choose to be annoying while doing so is a different matter.
Arrested for what?! He was never charged. Ever. With anything. Did you view the link in 16.
“Rubbish. As a defendant in a legal proceeding, he has the RIGHT to have a copy of the tape as evidence.”
What legal proceeding? He hasn’t been charged with anything yet.
You don’t have to be charged formally before you are arrested.
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