BERLIN – Settlement discussions continue between the Town of Berlin and the local woman confronted by a police officer at Henry Park.
The attorney representing Ronshell Shockley, the woman threatened with arrest for sitting on top of a picnic table at Henry Park, says settlement discussions have been extended to the end of the month.
“I am optimistic that if each side is prepared to compromise we can make a deal,” said Luke Rommel, Shockley’s attorney. “It would certainly be beneficial to all involved to avoid a multi-year federal litigation process.”
The potential lawsuit stems from a June 30 incident at Henry Park that occurred as Shockley and her husband were watching their son’s basketball game. She was sitting on top of a picnic table when she was approached by Lt. Jeffrey Lawson of the Berlin Police Department. He told her she was sitting on the bench wrong and when her husband questioned the officer’s behavior, they were told to leave or be arrested.
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14 comments:
Pay the $75K, spank the BPD and the officer (every Sunday morning for a year until noon attending church services in the complainant's church - we'll call it sensitivity training, followed by a 500 word essay on what he's learned, if anything), pay Mr. Rommel, get one more story out of it, then everybody go home.
Stick it to the cops, Pieces of shit is all they are...
Tell them you want a police accountability panel formed by civilians not cops who will look out for other cops, so that when corrupt pieces of shit like this cop (who is a lieutenant at that) can be held accountable... OR better yet, tell them you want legislation enacted where cops have to pay for legal battles and judgments or settlements out of their own pocket, with no help from state, county or city or the union... Their tune will change if that were to be the case... Every cops in this area would be broke and living on the street...
Like a $75k settlement solves anything but giving into their scheme to pay their debt. It has nothing to do with the incident. They were in the wrong didn't want to listen to authority( no shock there) agreed the officer should have walked away because there was no outcome in the incident except falling into their trap of looking for free money
No then the cops would not do there job
They already aren't doing their jobs. I'm writing a story as I type on how our wicomico county sheriffs deputies refused to go into the woods after perps who were armed and fired shots.
Here's the major downside of settling:
If they do settle, it sends a message to every Black person within earshot that if you disobey a cop (rightly or wrongly) you just may get $75,000 for doing that.
Hey, I'm an old white guy, and I feel that way - so why shouldn't they? I've been lookin' for somebody to rear-end me for years. Times are tough!
1:23 those people didn't go to that ball game looking for money, they just wanted to watch their son play. That ignorant cop just thought he could order people around for no reason at all and everybody is supposed to kiss his butt.To hell with him I hope those people get every penny they are sueing for and that POS cop gets fired. By the way is there a law against sitting on a picknic table if there is I must be a criminal because I've done it dozens of times.
How about a public apology and some sort of disciplinary action against the dumb ass officer. Why does she need a pay day? Were her feelings hurt? A lot of cops are on a power trip due to low self esteem and small penis size. Get over it.
You are just plain stupid. Whatlaw did they brak? NONE. A tin badge does not give you special rights.
From what i have read so far that was all they asked for with no luck. Now it time to make them pay for their stupidity.
This women owes not only the police but the whole town an apology or she should be locked up.
Sadly she got it double because she is black AND a woman on the eastern shore.
There sure is a lot of misunderstanding on the part of some of these commenters.
IF, you read the article. it states that she tried multiple times trying to file a complaint with BPD. Then months later she received a letter from BPD stating that indeed a violation occurred by their officer and action had been taken. It doesn't state what the action was that was directed towards their officer.
In lawsuits such as this, monetary awards act as a form of punishment. How many of you have had to pay a fine for speeding for example? That fine was punishment and acts as a deterrent to not commit the same offense.
We are supposedly a nation of laws, where no one is above the law. That would include this police dept. and its' officers.
Just obeying someone because they are a figure of authority is not a requirement when that authority figure makes an illegal demand. And he should have known that, at least his dept. did.
Just like everything gee gets involved in. This will be done secret. Gee has gotten the town in lots of trouble but it always gets resolved in secret and costs the taxpayers.
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