Black store owner reports robbery, gets punched by officer

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ECATUR, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama liquor store owner has sued after a police officer responding to a robbery call at his store punched him in the face and broke his jaw in March 2020.

The Decatur Daily reports that Kevin Penn sued the city of Decatur and police officer Justin Rippen on March 11 in federal court. Penn is Black and Rippen is white.

The suit alleges the incident is an example of systematic use of “excessive force” by the Decatur Police Department that the city often ignores.

The lawsuit alleges Penn’s constitutional rights were violated by illegal seizure, false arrest and excessive force, seeking money damages.

City Attorney Herman Marks said Thursday his department hasn’t yet received the lawsuit and declined comment. Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling said he regrets a lawsuit has been filed but referred questions to Marks.

The lawsuit alleges the city regularly receives complaints that officers “react with unjustifiable violence and false charges when a citizen speaks up or otherwise asserts his rights as an American citizen.”

The suit also accuses officers of “using common charges like obstructing governmental operation, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest” against local citizens.

“It is well known in the Decatur legal community that Decatur officers frequently use these charges, commonly referred to as POP (p--- off police) charges, without a legal basis,” the lawsuit states.

Penn had trapped a shoplifter with an electronic lock and the suspect was lying on the ground, with Penn holding him at gunpoint. Surveillance video shows Penn unloading his gun as police arrive. The video appears to show Penn setting the gun magazine down as the officers approach.

An officer walked past the suspect and told Penn to put down his weapon. Penn refused saying, “I have a right to have my gun," according to body camera video.

But police said in 2020 they believed Penn was reloading the gun. An officer, who has been identified as Rippen, then appears to punch Penn. Rippen and two other officers wrestled Penn to the ground and handcuffed him, the video shows. Penn was arrested and charged with obstructing a robbery investigation.

Penn's lawyer, Hank Sherrod III, said using the obstructing governmental operations charge “is standard procedure for most police jurisdictions and 100% used in north Alabama.”

The lawsuit says city officials failed to ensure officers were properly trained and supervised.

City leaders were aware of numerous situations “in which citizens were subjected to unconstitutional stops, searches, arrests and uses of force but took no action to investigate and discipline officers,” the lawsuit says.

Penn spent six weeks with his jaws wired shut as he recovered.

Sherrod said the misdemeanor charges against Penn are still pending.

“I don’t know why they’re still active or they haven’t set a court date,” Sherrod said.

Sherrod said Penn “promptly” filed regarding the assault and false arrest complaint after he was punched “and the city did nothing. Mr. Penn hasn’t heard from the city to this day.”

Rippen wasn’t disciplined, the Penn lawsuit says. No investigation began until the video became public in June 2020, three months after it happened.

Is That REALLY What They Discovered, Or Is This An Attempt To Placate the Public?

 From The Root:

DOJ Findings Accuse Ferguson Police of Pattern of Racial Bias

Finally the Department of Justice has completed its investigation, and are going to release their findings; do they honestly see what so many of us have known for years? Or is this an attempt to smooth things over with the angry Ferguson residents after the Grand Jury came back with the decision not to indict Darren Wilson?

During an extensive review that included hundreds of interviews and more than 35,000 pages of police records, Justice officials find a huge discrepancy in treatment toward Ferguson, Mo.’s black population.   

Police advance through a cloud of tear gas toward demonstrators protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown Aug. 17, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo.  Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Department of Justice is preparing to release findings this week alleging that the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department practiced routine racial bias and violated the constitutional rights of residents, the Washington Post reports.

According to the report, department officials discovered that although 67 percent of Ferguson’s population is black, black people made up 93 percent of all arrests 2012-2014.

Currently, Justice officials are trying to reach an agreement with the Police Department to prompt a change in practices, which the DOJ says includes use of excessive force and unjustified arrests and traffic stops. If no settlement can be reached, the Justice Department could file a lawsuit against the department.

The Post notes that the findings indicate that black residents made up about 85 percent of all individuals stopped by police officers in Ferguson and 90 percent of all citations issued.

Police were also more prone to use excessive force against black citizens, who were involved in 88 percent of all cases in which force was used. All 14 canine-bite incidents for which race was available involved a black person, the Post notes.

Full evidence is set to be released this week as early as Wednesday, according to the Post. Part of the evidence showing racial bias included an email written by Ferguson police and municipal court officials, one of which, dated November 2008, claimed that President Barack Obama would not be president for long, since “what black man holds a steady job for four years.”

According to the Post, the review concludes that racial bias and prioritizing revenue above public safety have heavily affected Ferguson’s police and court practices, putting them in violation of the Constitution and federal law. 

Read more at the Washington Post.