Excessive Force and Destroying Evidence in a Gr Lawsuit

A man is suing a Grand Rapids police officer and an FBI agent, claiming he was brutally beaten by them when they were undercover looking for a different man.

Lawsuit claims Excessive Force in 2014 arrest in GR

Grand Rapids, MI – In a case of mistaken identity, an undercover cop and an FBI agent beat an innocent college student unconscious because he matched a vague description of a different suspect. After a jury acquitted him of felony charges, the young man recently filed a lawsuit against the officers for using unreasonable force and ordering witnesses to delete footage taken of the incident.

On July 18, 2014, Grand Valley State University student James King was walking to his job when FBI Special Agent Douglas Brownback and Grand Rapids Police Detective Todd Allen approached him asking for identification. After King told them that he didn’t have his ID with him, the undercover cops ordered him to lean against an unmarked SUV with his hands behind his head. As King complied and Brownback took his wallet, King reportedly asked them, “Are you mugging me?”

When the unshaven, plainclothes cops refused to reply or identify themselves as law enforcement officers, King fled in fear for his life. According to King’s lawsuit, the then-21-year-old student managed to run three steps before the undercover cops tackled him to the ground. Before being choked unconscious, King screamed for witnesses to call the police.

While later testifying under oath, Allen recalled beating King in the head and face “as hard as I could, as fast as I could, and as many times as I could.

After regaining consciousness, King once again shouted for help and bit Allen’s arm “in a panicked attempt to save his own life.” As uniformed officers arrived on the scene and asked King if he had any weapons, the assaulted student answered, “No, sir. I thought they were trying to mug me.”

When King asked “please guys, is he a real police?” an officer refused to respond and ordered him to stay on the ground while waiting for an ambulance.

Although witnesses recorded the brutal beating on their cell phones, Grand Rapids Police Officer Connie Morris immediately ordered several of the bystanders to delete their videos without the legal authority to do so.

“We got undercover officers there… Delete it, delete it. It’s for the safety of the officers,” Morris can be heard saying in audio recorded through police car dash cam video obtained by FOX17. According to a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, citizens have a constitutional right to record video and audio of officials in a public space. By ordering at least two people to delete their footage, Morris participated in the destruction of evidence without a lawful order.

“They were out of control, pounding him,” one bystander can be heard saying in the only video that still exists. “They were pounding his head for no reason. They were being brutal… We thought they were going to kill him.”

Initially taken to a hospital for his injuries, King was later arrested and transported to jail. Despite the fact that King was not the suspect that the undercover cops were looking for, King was charged with three felonies: assaulting, resisting, and obstructing an officer causing injury; felonious assault; and assaulting, resisting, and obstructing an officer. Following an eight-month trial, a jury acquitted King of all counts in February 2015.

Equipped with a seven-year-old driver’s license photo and a Facebook photo in which the suspect’s face was not visible, the undercover cops working within a joint fugitive task force between the FBI and Grand Rapids were looking for a fugitive named Aaron Davison. Wanted for home invasion, Davison is five years older than King and his vague police description referred to him as a 26-year-old white male between 5 feet 10 and 6 feet 3 inches tall. Mistaking King for Davison, the undercover cops beat him unconscious simply for not presenting his identification while failing to identify themselves.

If he had been found guilty for the three felonies, King could have faced up to ten years in prison. Due to his mounting legal expenses, King dropped out of his computer science program and is currently working to become an electrician. After his family spent their life savings on his criminal case, King filed a lawsuit this week accusing Brownback, Allen, and Morris of violating his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department have refused to comment on the incident or the pending lawsuit.


Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/innocent-college-student-sues-unde...

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John, thanks for scooping me on this, LOL.  I was in the process of compiling the info on this egregious case of undercover officers gone wild so I included the better take on it from the Free Thought Project and a couple of photos that the Daily Mail had available.  The first shows the extent of the damage, the latter shows that these undercover officers remarkably used a seven year old driver's license photo of some bespectacled guy who doesn't look a thing like James King. 

They cream the crap out of this guy then try to pin three felony charges against him.  Outrageous.

Good job' I hope this guy wins millions!

The first two questions I have is why wasn't King  carrying any ID? Just curious, I realize it is not mandatory to carry.

And why didn't the officers identify themselves as such?

The most disturbing thing (aside from the beating) is ordering people to delete the video of the event and more so that people actually following this command. 

The officers had people delete evidence so isn't it also plausible they are also lying and tampered with evidence?

LE are corrupt. Their base is corruption. Without corruption LE would crumble.

I'm thinking he had his ID with him in his wallet which, according to the lawsuit, was asked for by two scruffy looking characters who didn't ID themselves as police/FBI.  In a similar situation, you may say you have no ID, because if you get your wallet out, they may mug you-- which they wound up doing anyway, despite their official professions. 

But this was in the middle of summer, I don't always carry my ID with me during that time, especially when I bicycle, play tennis, or go swimming or go en route to same.   Police and FBI that review this and find nothing wrong with it, are in the wrong occupations, there is just too much wrong in what was done here. 

Side note for EVERYONE in this country, DO NOT EVER TELL COPS YOU'RE RECORDING THEM. Save that for your attorney, save it for your defense or someone else's, just don't tell them. It serves no purpose and you can end up losing your phone or going to jail yourself or worse yet, getting assaulted by cops and jail!

This video explains a bit more of this case and the crazy things police sometimes do.  A little into the dash cam video you hear a friendly officer asking the citizens to delete their video recordings in the name of officer safety.  Sounds like this would be destroying evidence of a serious crime being committed to me.  It is also noted in the accompanying article on Mlive that GR officer Allen and FBI agent Brownback later stated under oath that they were arresting King because he didn't produce identification or answer their questions, according to the lawsuit.  Neither of these is an offense when you're just walking down the street, even had they displayed their IDs.

This is unexcusable. These cops had better be fired and prosecuted because they are no better than the criminals they try to catch.

I've just found this after a few years. Stayed away from searching anything about this, it definitely drudged up a lot of painful memories. Still dealing with PTSD in a lot of ways, but I've overcome and learned from this awful event in the best ways I could. Over 4 years later and the civil suit is still underway, I just want it to be over. I have been given a seriously harsh look at awful the justice system is, and I haven't recovered from that feeling. It's a sad state of affairs, and I wish there was more we could do collectively as citizens. Vote and hope. 

Thanks for joining and giving us an update.  I hope you don't mind me sharing your civil lawsuit that is in progress.  Take heart, you will win, but whether you do in court or by settlement, you won't get the satisfaction of hearing the FBI, GRPD or their agents who nearly killed you and covered that fact up say that they are sorry and that they will make sure it never happens again.  King v USA, et al

By all means, keep giving us updates, and best of luck on your road to recovery.  This shouldn't ever happen to anybody, let alone those who are completely innocent of wrongdoing.

I have a cousin and one of my sons best friends in high school are undercover cops. Both look like the just crawled out from under a rock. If they were walking down the sidewalk toward me I would cross the street. I also hope that King wins big on this terrible injustice.

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