"After his hands were cuffed, Jackson was able to reach out and grab my client's testicles," he said. "And on that occasion the punch was seen in order to make that activity cease."
Actually, they may have a good case..
I just watched the video about 12 times in a row, focusing carefully on different portions of the action each time to make sure I caught all details.
Jackson's legs *were* clearly limp. The cop first picked Jackson up off the ground (since it's hard to get up off the ground with your hands handcuffed behind your back), and set him on his feet. Instead of keeping his legs under tension, ready to have them take his weight as he's set down, Jackson lets his legs be completely limp -- they clearly swing and sway like a rag doll's.
The cop stands Jackson up vertical and begins walking forward with him.
Only 2-3 steps later (the cop's steps -- Jackson appears to still be letting his legs dangle as the cop half guides him, half carries him forward), Jackson drops about six inches. What he's doing with his legs can't be discerned now because they've just passed behind the rear of the car and the video can't see Jackson's legs.
Only then, after Jackson drops, does the cop yank Jackson upwards (like you would throw your strength into holding up something heavy that was falling, jerking it up to halt its drop), and swing Jackson over onto the car trunk.
Jackson hits moderately hard, but *not* as hard as if he had been intentionally slammed onto the trunk with full force by the cop. It's about as hard as you'd expect for having been dropped face first onto the trunk under your own weight without using your hands to break your fall, give or take.
The "trunk drop" *is* consistent with the cop's story. So is being tossed there out of spite, too, but at least the "he was falling, I dropped him on the trunk so he wouldn't go face first into the pavement" story is not out of the question. It looks plausible. The cop may have even tripped over Jackson's dangling feet and plopped him down on the trunk to regain his own balance so they both wouldn't go down.
What's really interesting is that at this point the cop looks a bit annoyed, and very definitely *not* angry. Nor was he looking angry when he picked up Jackson in the first place and turned him around to head him to the police car. He looked pretty bored, actually. Nor did he yank Jackson off the ground, or swing him around roughly.
And as soon as Jackson bonked down onto the trunk, the cop did nothing else aggressive. He just seemed to be holding Jackson to keep him from sliding down off the car, and says something to Jackson with an irritated but not angry expression. (Maybe "now cut that out" or somesuch).
Even Jackson didn't seem all that upset.
The black cop, who was facing away when the trunk incident occurred, turned back (when he heard the noise, apparently), and walked up to the first cop to talk to him. He appears to ask a "WTF?" question, and the first cop responds with something, then the black cop seems satisfied and walks around them both to the back of the car as if he considers it settled.
What happens next is a little hard to tell because the camera guy zooms in close enough that we can no longer see the cop's face.
About 40 seconds after the drop to the trunk, during which Jackson is conscious and active (contrary to some earlier posts), raising his head and turning it from left to right, and during which the cop is not abusing Jackson but instead is moving slowly and deliberately, we see Jackson's right arm lift up a few inches. But his hands are obscured by his body, so we can't tell quite where they are.
They are somewhere in the vicinity of the cop's groin, however, because the cop is standing close behind Jackson and leaning over him slightly, presumably to hold him and keep him from sliding off the trunk (or standing and running, perhaps).
About 2 seconds after Jackson's right arm lifts a few inches, the cop grabs the back of Jackson's neck with his left hand, and then after another 2 seconds he punches Jackson once.
*NOW* he looks pissed off all of a sudden. It doesn't seem to be a "boiling over of rage" at all, it looks like something just happened to suddenly enrage him towards Jackson. He yells at Jackson for a few seconds, then the incident is over and they pack Jackson into the car.
To me this seems very consistent with the lawyer's claims.
And the punch, especially, doesn't seem to be something that the cop had had any intention of doing up to that point. It wasn't like he was acting upset and had been on the verge of violence the whole time. It appeared to be triggered by something.
The testimony of the other cops will be crucial, because although they don't appear to have been able to see the cause for either the trunk drop or the punch, in both cases the cop in question appears to explain his actions to them.
Since they didn't know they were on video, he'd have had no reason to whip up a quick "for the press" excuse. He just thought he was telling his fellow officers what was happening. Even if the reason was "I don't like him", he'd probably have honestly just said so.
If he told them the "limp legs" and "he grabbed my crotch" stories at that time, that's most likely what happened. And I think a jury would acquit in that case.
Nor do I think the fellow officers would lie to cover up what happened if he had told them something different -- they are in no way involved in the altercation (unlike the other Rodney King officers), and would probably be more likely to flush away a bad cop than put their own necks on the line for a cop who's already nationally vilified as a violent racist.
Their necks aren't on the line -- in fact they have more to lose if they back him. So if they do back his story, it's because it's what really happened.
If the cop plea-bargains, however, it's because his story is bogus and his fellow officers are refusing to cover for him.
We'll have to wait and see.
Why not a radical change of facial expression at the time of the "balling"?
and set him on his feet. Instead of keeping his legs under tension, ready to have them take his weight as he's set down, Jackson lets his legs be completely limp -- they clearly swing and sway like a rag doll's.
Almost as if he was unconscious. Which that was how it was reported on the news on Wednesday evening -- ABC, CBS, or NBC, I forget which I had on. Yes, I know those three news sources are about as trust worthy as lawyers. The report that Jackson was unconscious was consistent with his limp state. It's possible that slamming him on the car was either to "wake" him up or a bad temper in thinking he was faking it.
Only 2-3 steps later...
It looks plausible. The cop may have even tripped over Jackson's dangling feet and plopped him down on the trunk to regain his own balance so they both wouldn't go down.
There's three cops standing around that should have been helping lift him up and move him around. It's plausible that Jackson was unconscious but one cop thought he was faking it and took matters into his own hands. As if to say "get up punk, quit faking it." If Jackson had attacked the cop and caused the cuts to the cop it's possible that one of the cops knocked him unconscious.
Even Jackson didn't seem all that upset.
"Jackson suffers from a disability that Sweeney termed "auditory processing delays," which makes it very difficult for him to follow instructions given to him orally, Sweeney said." If he had been unconscious, from my experience of "coming to" everything is just a mass of unfocused confusion. I used to box with a few friends and got knocked out four or five times.
*NOW* he looks pissed off all of a sudden. It doesn't seem to be a "boiling over of rage" at all, it looks like something just happened to suddenly enrage him towards Jackson. He yells at Jackson for a few seconds, then the incident is over and they pack Jackson into the car.
Three or four seconds after the cop punched Jackson another cop reaches his arm and shoulder in-between Jackson and the other cop in what appeared as a means to back the cop away from Jackson.
If he told them the "limp legs" and "he grabbed my crotch" stories at that time, that's most likely what happened. And I think a jury would acquit in that case.
Note that the "grabbed my testicles" comment was not released until after Crooks who shot the video footage was in custody. Which was almost three full days after the incident occurred. It could mean nothing or it may point to the cops wanting to know if they had all the video footage from Crooks before releasing the "grabbed my testicles" comment. If the comment was a fabrication waiting to be released then they would want to ensure that there wasn't footage that would contradict it.
As far as I know there has been no report on what the cameras from the gas station showed of the incident or if they showed any footage of the incident. The Sheriffs collected those.
Their necks aren't on the line -- in fact they have more to lose if they back him. So if they do back his story, it's because it's what really happened.
Considering the Rodney King riot history it would weigh heavy on a cops mind should he lie on the witness stand and it caused Morse to be acquitted and as a result a riot ensued.
If the cop plea-bargains, however, it's because his story is bogus and his fellow officers are refusing to cover for him.
While there's plenty of laws that I disagree with, I think plea bargaining in the case of a violent crime is flat out wrong. The person is charged with a specific crime and must be held accountable to the charges that address that crime, not some lesser charge. I realize the prosecutor does that to ensure a conviction but that does not justify the practice. Also, a plea bargain is not always a forward admission of guilt. It does happen that an innocent person has either a week defense or the State has a strong case or a combination of both that causes the person to accept the lesser of two evils. One scenario, two words: planted evidence. One word, perjury. Not saying that it would happen in this case. The point is, there should be no plea bargain.
We'll have to wait and see.
I'll wait and see what transpires.