hero cops break silence code

[Hugh R Manes]

Hugh R. Manes dies at 84; lawyer fought for victims of police misconduct

He tried more than 400 cases in his 40-year career in Southern California, winning a record-setting $23 million for a group of Samoan Americans beaten by L.A. County sheriff's deputies.

Hugh R. Manes, a veteran civil rights lawyer who for 40 years fought for victims of police misconduct, died Saturday at his Los Angeles home after a long battle with emphysema, according to his law partner, Carol Watson. He was 84.

Manes began representing victims of police misconduct in the 1960s, nearly three decades before the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police officers threw a harsh spotlight on the issue of police brutality.
"He was a voice in the wind," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, who called Manes the dean of police-abuse lawyers. "Doing police-abuse cases is not fashionable now and was even less fashionable then. Hugh did as much as any citizen to keep the Los Angeles Police Department in check."

Manes, a prodigious litigator who tried more than 400 cases during his career, was "probably one of the finest" advocates for police-abuse victims in Southern California, said retired California Court of Appeal Justice Robert R. Devich, who presided over a 1995 police brutality trial that resulted in a record-setting $23-million award to a group of Samoan Americans represented by Manes and two colleagues.

"He really took his position to heart and went out for his client. He could be contentious at times, but always with a lot of respect to the other lawyers up against him and ... to the court. I had a lot of respect for him," said Devich, who had been a Beverly Hills police officer and Los Angeles County deputy district attorney before joining the bench.
The attorney, who looked like Winston Churchill and could fill a courtroom with his baritone voice, encouraged and trained dozens of lawyers to handle cases involving excessive force or other allegations against law enforcement officers. He offered free monthly seminars for years at his office in the mid-Wilshire area and helped establish the Police Misconduct Lawyers Referral Service, which matched attorneys with potential clients.

According to colleagues, Manes (pronounced MAY-ness) routinely took on cases with little expectation of success or remuneration, particularly in the early years when few people believed that police officers could be guilty of misconduct.

"He did it so that they [police] would know someone was watching," said attorney Garo Mardirosian, who regarded Manes as his mentor.

Mardirosian joined Manes in representing the group of Samoan Americans who had been beaten by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at a bridal shower in Cerritos in 1989. The $23-million award to 35 plaintiffs was believed to be the largest then imposed on an American police agency.

Manes was born in Chicago on July 7, 1924. Although Jewish, he attended an Episcopalian high school -- St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wis. After graduating, he joined the Army as a second lieutenant and served in Europe during World War II. Injured in combat, he was fond of telling people that he was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart while sitting on a bed pan in a military hospital.

After the war, he earned a bachelor's degree at UCLA and a law degree at Northwestern University in 1952. He began his career at the Los Angeles law firm of Wirin, Rissman & Okrand, which was headed by A.L. Wirin, the longtime chief counsel of the ACLU in Los Angeles.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-...

[Officer Brian Hagen]

Officer files whistle-blower claim against Eugene Police Department

(“negligent and unintended firearms discharges” FROM A SWAT TEAM????? WHAT A SURPRISE!)

A Eugene police officer has filed a $600,000 lawsuit against the city and his supervisor, alleging violation of Oregon’s whistle-blower law.

In a seven-page complaint filed in Lane County Circuit Court, officer Brian Hagen charged that he was wrongfully discharged from the department’s K-9 unit May 20 and suffered other retaliation for reporting to supervisors “negligent and unintended firearms discharges” he allegedly witnessed when working with the department’s SWAT team.

The only individual named in the suit is Sgt. Thomas Eichhorn, Hagen’s direct supervisor on the K-9 team.

Hagen said he earned and prized the K-9 assignment he received in March of 2004.

In that post, he was one of three Eugene officers trained to work with tracking dogs typically used to locate fleeing or hiding suspects. The assignment paid an additional $458.33 per month, according to the suit.

Acting Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns on Monday called Hagen’s claim “completely without merit.”“We look forward to defending it in court,” he said. He declined to comment on details of the case.

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/we...

[Sgt Tim Baxter]

"Earlier Thursday, the prosecution called several rebuttal witnesses, including Sgt. Tim Baxter, who refuted claims made during officer Thompson's testimony.

Baxter testified that Thompson had a reputation at the Leon County Sheriff's Office for being untruthful, saying he told exaggerated stories about a military career that was later proven not to exist."
---

Congratulations to Sgt. Tim Baxter of the Leon County Sheriff's Office for crossing the line and breaking the code of silence against a sadist cop named Mark Thompson.

He handcuffed his own wife to the bed and beat her so badly she had to be hospitalized and have her spleen removed.

In part, because of Officer Baxter's bravery,
Thompson was found guilty on all charges against him following the domestic violence incident.

Thompson remains in jail while waiting sentencing. Thompson stands a good chance of being sentenced to life in prison.

We can only hope that Thompson gets what he sorely deserves.

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090703/N...

[Chief Keith Guthrie]

City settles with police chief over federal whistleblower lawsuit.

(Thanks Chief, for having the guts to cross the line and break the code of silence.)

Township officials and a former Wilkins police chief have reached a settlement to end a federal whistleblower lawsuit.

Keith Guthrie, 56, retired in March as part of a deal, which also paid him nearly $100,000 and provided full health insurance for him and his wife until age 65. A joint document filed today in U.S. District Court, Downtown, shows the two sides ended an ongoing squabble concerning the health insurance. Guthrie said the deal guarantees he and his wife will receive the same level of coverage that he enjoyed while chief.

Guthrie became a Wilkins police officer in 1981 and chief in 2000.

He sued the township and its officials in 2006, claiming they retaliated against him for exposing a ticket-fixing scheme and other alleged improprieties.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtri...

[Capt Cliff Hardy]

Jury rules for white cop who says he was forced out for speaking out for black colleague
By Associated Press
12:12 PM CDT, July 25, 2009

ABERDEEN, Miss.(AP)— A federal jury finds that a white captain was forced out of the Tupelo Police Department because he spoke out for a black deputy chief.

A verdict Friday said the city should pay former Capt. Cliff Hardy $100,000 for lost wages and $200,000 for mental anguish.

Hardy says he feels vindicated.

City attorney John Hill says an appeal is likely.

In 2006, Hardy said he believed racism was behind what he called the persecution of Robert Hall. Hardy was soon removed as INTERNAL AFFAIRS OFFICER, and five months later given a job answering apartment calls.

(Which should indicate the high esteem PD's hold for "internal affairs" investigators - who don't come up with the "right" answer.)

Hall was being investigated for releasing a drunk driver who hit a child. Hall was indicted on felony charges including obstruction of justice; he resigned after pleading guilty to misdemeanors.

http://www.wreg.com/sns-ap-ms--tupelopolice,0...

[OffcThomas Wallace]

Jury: Cop harassed by fellow officers wins $1 Million

A former Suffolk County Police Officer has received an almost $1 million verdict from a federal court jury ruling that the Suffolk County Police Department and three of his superiors harassed and retaliated against him following a boat explosion that left him injured and unable to work.

On March 11, 1998, Thomas Wallace, 47, was injured by a massive boat explosion while on the job with the department’s Emergency Services Unit. As a result of the explosion, he underwent numerous surgeries and is suffering from a severe degenerative joint disease in his lower left leg, a herniated disc, a bulging disc in his lower vertebrae and arthritis in his left hip.

After the accident, Wallace attempted to notify the department of improper training and equipment that led to the explosion and his injuries, only to be repeatedly rebuffed by his superiors in the department.

“He was injured in the course of doing his job protecting the public,” said his attorney, Tom Ricotta of Leeds, Morelli & Brownin Carle Place.“And he comes to them with these issues rather than biting the bullet. He was doing right in making sure these issues with respect to training and equipment are addressed.”

As a result, he was also threatened to keep quiet, put back on light duty despite doctor’s orders and had his retirement papers sent in without his consent, Ricotta said.

The suit was filed against the department, former Police Commissioner John Gallagher, former Chief of Department Phillip Robilotto and former Deputy Commissioner James Abbott.

The jury awarded Wallace $200,000 from the department and $225,000 from each of the defendants.

“The jury found a clear pattern of harassment,” Ricotta said.

“The gist of it is that it’s sad.

It is a shame.

You expect the department to protect the public and protect its own in order to assist in protecting the public.”

http://libn.com/blog/2009/07/27/judge-cop-har...