Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 07/31/2015 12:21:32 PM PDT by archy
Michigan Officer Shells Out $35,000 For Open Carry Stop
Posted by Bob Owens on July 30, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Somehow, I don’t think Flint Township Police will be stopping people who open carry firearms any time soon unless they have a darn good reason.
A man who claimed he was wrongfully arrested on Christmas Eve while legally open-carrying his pistol has reached a $35,000 settlement with the officer who stopped him, according to the man’s attorney.
John David McMorris reached the agreement Tuesday, July 28, after he sued Flint Township Police and Sgt. Russell Fries following his Dec. 24, 2013, arrest. The lawsuit was forwarded to the township’s insurer.
“Mr. McMorris and I are satisfied with our result in this case,” said McMorris’ attorney, Craig McAra. “Civil rights cases for wrongful arrest can be difficult to win given the very high burden of proof placed upon the plaintiff.”
Township police Chief George Sippert declined to comment on the settlement and directed questions to attorney G. Gus Morris, who represented the officer and department in the case.
Flint Township Police maintain that this was a lawful stop, of course, and the city insists that the $35,000 settlement was the most logical way to end the case considering the high cost of litigating the case.
This was the second legal victory for McMorris in the incident, who won the criminal case brought against him in this bogus stop in April:
The basis for the arrest by the unnamed Flint Township officer was a steaming pile of bovine excrement in the first place.
The officer who made the arrest claimed that he saw McMorris when he drove by 15 minutes earlier while responding to another call, and that he didn’t see McMorris have a gun, but that when he came back by and hit his lights, he saw then a gun. Therefore, the officer surmised that McMorris must have illegally concealed the handgun hidden the first time the officer drove by.
That the officer simply didn’t observe the firearm for any number of valid and utterly logical reasons (such as the gun being on the opposite side of McMorris’ body, in the dark, while the officer was focused on responding to a call for assistance) never crossed his mind.
Sadly, the case reeks of vindictiveness on the part of the local authorities. McMorris was only charged with a felony seven months after his arrest, and only after he had filed civil charges of improper arrest against Flint Township police.
It’s a shame that McMorris has to go through civil and criminal cases, and even more of a shame that the criminal case seems to have been filed out of spite in the first place.
Let's hope the incident has led to policy changes in Flint Township so that this sort of incident doesn’t happen again.
And that would open the door for both triple damages and criminal penalties for the officers involved, which, because a firearm was used [by them] in the commission of a felony, the mandatory penalty would have to be applied to them by a federal judge, pursuant to the Federal Safe Streets Act.
The cop paid $35,000? Or the taxpayers shelled it over?
Great question. I suspect the latter.
per story: The lawsuit was forwarded to the township’s insurer.
That would be FILED as a racketeering charge....
Nah.
The title is all I need to read to make a kneejerk post.
The insurance company paid, as it says in the article. The premiums were part of the normal expenses of operations. The premiums on the policy were likely taxpayer paid as part of the operations of the police department, since the officer was acting in the course and scope of his duties as a LEO.
Any lawsuit proceeds against the party sued and then the insurance pays out. In most cases, insurance cannot be noted as involved during trial (if it gets that far).
I’d have settled for a somewhat lesser amount if it came directly out of the cop’s pocket.
Don’t forget 18USC242 and the related Civil statutes.
Nice. The going rate for false arrest for open carry in Virginia is $10,000. Although there is a case in central VA pending that might end up being more pricey.
IOW, the taxpayers shelled it over . . . or eventually will in higher insurance premiums.
We'll see if the insurance company execs serve the mandatory jail time if there's a follow-on case. As well as the 35,000 times triple damages, plus 1,5 times the attorney's usual fee [around here, often $495/hour for federal court work] in a 42 U.S. Code § 1983 action.
A lot of cities are their own insurers. But this place may be too small to carry that burden. When I worked in law offices, a lot of cases we had against cities, it was filed in court and served on the city and when we won the case, the city paid, not some insurance company. Thus, it is tax payer money they pay their losses on, not some insurance company they paid premiums too.
$35,000? Not enough IMHO!
And who pays the premiums, along with the subsequent rise in rates?
We had a local case here in PA which cost the city $22,000.
I would buy a 50 BMG and mount it on my car and pocket the other $25,000.
(The mounted BMG being symbolic).
Damn! Virginians are settling for too little.
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