Despite constitutional guarantees, Americans’ civil rights and liberties are constantly in danger of violation, whether by individuals, corporations or government institutions.
Regardless of whether personal prejudices or national security concerns lie at the root of these violations….
Challenging them – and holding wrongdoers accountable – is imperative for the sake of constitutional integrity and the preservation of The American Way.
Trial Lawyers advocate for awareness, the truth, and a person’s right to know.
They believe that in the absence of the truth, all of us stand helpless to defend ourselves, our families, our health, and our way of life.
Often times we don’t think about or worry about or understand what is happening to another…. until it happens to us.
Deceits have no boundaries.
Disease doesn’t recognize the color of our skin or our political party’s affiliation.
When it comes to cover-ups and false allegations by Agencies of the State and the Federal Government, there is not a soul amongst us who does not have a cringing fear of their Overwhelming Awesome power ….
It is at these times that we need experienced and dedicated Trial Lawyers….the Warriors in the Courtroom … who are willing to battle for us “tooth and nail” in the Halls of Justice…. To protect our cherished way of life”
When a person with disabilities, or anyone else for that matter, calls the police seeking assistance they expect to receive help. Sadly, people with disabilities and their family members or friends do not always receive the help they expect. In fact, they may receive something that is quite the opposite. People who experience forms of developmental or mental disabilities are often times doubly targeted by police violence due to high rates of poverty and homelessness.
The brutal murder of a homeless man with schizophrenia in Fullerton, California presents what happens…. when homelessness, mental illness, and police brutality meet. Kelly Thomas was sleeping on the streets when he was murdered; he was approached by six police officers in July of 2011.
When Kelly allegedly refused to comply with his arrest two police officers held him down… while four more police officers took turns beating him with their batons and stunning him with Tasers for eight minutes. The beating left Kelly comatose and disfigured – he died less than a week afterward.
This is how Kelly Thomas looked like just before he died.
To be plain, very little information is collected on a national level concerning police injuring and killing of people with disabilities.
The problem comes from a larger failure to gather information on a national basis about police injuring and killing civilians as a whole.
Police departments either do not collect, or are reluctant to collect, this kind of information. Reports of police injuring and killing civilians are scattered and imprecise.
All across this great nation of ours, we see horrific examples of some cops beating and mistreating persons with developmental or mental disabilities because the cops are not properly trained.
More training and better awareness of the complexities of interacting with people with disabilities will help decrease and maybe eliminate these unspeakable crimes against society’s less fortunate.
In Maryland, Ethan Saylor died because police responded with rapid and unnecessary force to his disability.
In San Diego, 21-year-old Antonio Martinez, who has downs syndrome, was walking to his parents’ bakery around 8 p.m. when he was stopped, pepper-sprayed and beaten by a San Diego sheriff’s deputy.
In Los Angeles, a LA County sheriff’s deputy was caught on a cell phone camera throwing a punch in a girl’s face. What makes it more outrageous is that it is obvious he hit a person with special needs that was struggling to break loose from the grip of the cop and a female deputy as they were trying to make her get off the bus.
In Dayton Ohio a mentally disabled teen was harassed and abused by police officer.
In Washington D.C. Police Assaulted a Homeless Man In a Wheelchair
In Idaho Police Arrested and Handcuffed an 8 year old Autistic Girl
In Hillsborough County, Florida, police were caught, by their own surveillance cameras, dumping a quadriplegic man from his wheelchair onto the ground. Apparently, they were trying to determine whether or not he actually needed the chair.
These are just a few of the hundreds of daily examples improperly trained police officers perpetrate on those less fortunate than us.
In this The Insider Exclusive “Justice in America” Network TV Special, our News team “Goes Behind the Headlines” in OAKLAND CALIF …with Dewitt Lacy, Ayana Curry, Partners at Burris Nisenbaum Curry & Lacy,
To cover another horrific story perpetrated against a mentally disabled American in Justice in America – Justin Perkins’s Story,
As Dewitt and Ayana has often said….. “the problem of Police Brutality is much more widespread than most Americans are willing to admit. …….Our nation practices….. a selective blindness…In this great and strong nation, we have all become unwitting accomplices to the continuation of the conflict”.
Dewitt and Ayana have earned the highest respect from citizens and lawyers alike…. as some of the best Civil Rights Trial lawyers in California….. and across the nation. They have seen many innocent & hard-working people become VICTIMS of Police Brutality. They understand that Police brutality is one of the most serious, enduring, and divisive human rights violations in the United States. The problem is not just in California…BUT nationwide….AND its nature is institutionalized.
AND BECAUSE OF THAT…..they are driven to fight for people who had been harmed by the willful or negligent actions of others.. They…Learned A long Time ago ….that “IF A PERSON hasn’t discovered something that he will die for… He isn’t fit to live.” Their goals….. Not ONLY To get Justice for Their clients… BUT To make sure ALL Americans have the right to a fair trial, honest cops, impartial prosecutors, and fair judges with NO AGENDAs…BECAUSE “INJUSTICE ANYWHERE…..IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE” !!! “AND Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just …..may be powerful, AND… whatever is powerful may be just.”….
To contact Dewitt and Ayana, please visit Burris Nisenbaum Curry & Lacy https://bncllaw.com/ or call 510 839 5200