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Title: A Cop Attacked and Threatened a Man Who Did Nothing Wrong, Then Made His Life Hell for Complaining
Source: Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2018/07/11/arkansas-cop-adam-finley-mercado
Published: Jul 11, 2018
Author: Robby Soave
Post Date: 2018-07-12 07:10:09 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 594
Comments: 4

Video footage shows that Adam Finley calmly followed a hotheaded cop's instructions. But he was charged anyway.

A police officer in a small Arkansas town pulled a man over for driving suspiciously near some railroad tracks. The driver—Adam Finley—turned out to be a railroad employee just doing his job.

Here's what happened next, as evidenced by video footage of the encounter. Even though the cop, Matthew Mercado, had no reason whatsoever to escalate matters, he ordered Finley out of the car, became aggressive with him, shoved him against the car door, handcuffed him, swore at him, and threatened to use a taser on him.

Meanwhile, Finley kept remarkably calm. He didn't get angry, and he followed Mercado's confusing instructions as best he could.

After Mercado let him go free—again, because Finley had done absolutely nothing wrong—Finley went to the Walnut Ridge police station to speak with the chief and make a complaint. For this, Finley was punished: they decided to charge him with obstructing justice during the Mercado encounter. They made this decision only after Finley decided to object to his treatment. They also spoke to Finley's wife, suggesting to her that if she saw the video she would realize that her husband had committed a crime. This was an outright lie, but it apparently played on some suspicion Finley's wife had about him, and they later divorced.

A town's law enforcement apparatus conspired to ruin a man, all for being the victim of a bossy, incompetent cop.

Mercado is no longer on the force. But he appears to have resigned because he didn't get a pay raise he wanted, not because anyone decided to discipline him.

That's all according to The Washington Post's Radley Balko, who has just written about the case:

Finley wasn't shot, or choked to death, or found hanging in a jail cell. He didn't suffer any permanent or lasting physical injury. Mercado didn't even use racist or bigoted language. But Finley did everything he was supposed to. From the footage we can see and hear, he was polite, provided ID when it was asked of him and stepped out of the truck when ordered.

Despite cooperating, he was treated poorly, detained and roughed up. When he then tried to file a complaint, he was harassed, and the chief of police attempted to turn his own wife against him—by citing video she hadn't seen and that ultimately vindicated her husband. Yet even after viewing that video, city officials proceeded to prosecute.

And even after the video was released, city officials maligned Finley in the press and insisted that the residents of Walnut Ridge believe the assertions of authority figures over the video evidence that contradicted them.

The "lesson" Finley learned here is pretty clear. Power usually wins. You can be as cooperative as possible, but if a police officer wants to dish out some abuse, he can. And he'll probably get away with it. Try to hold him accountable if you'd like, but just know that doing so may come with a heavy price.

Having watched the video footage of the initial encounter, and footage of Finley and his wife meeting with the police chief, it is clear to me that the authorities abused their power. No reasonable person would conclude, after seeing Mercado's encounter with Finley, that there was any legitimate reason to rough him up or handcuff him. And yet the police let Finley and his wife believe the video would show that Finley had acted criminally.

As Balko points out, it could have gone worse for Finley. For many others unfortunate enough to come in conflict with hotheaded cops, it does. This incident is a reminder that not ever example of police abuse is a bloody or deadly affair.

Finley has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and the officials who wronged him. He is undoubtedly owed compensation for the indignities he suffered at the hands of some very petty authoritarians.

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#1. To: All (#0)

More on the psycho cop:

...roughly two years before the incident with Finley, Mercado had been arrested for battery, though he was acquitted. Moreover, before he was hired by the Walnut Ridge Police Department, he had left two different police agencies in Colorado in a span of less than three months. He had been on the job in Walnut Ridge for 11 days before he pulled Finley over.

This is not just a case of "one bad apple" :

An Arkansas man complained about police abuse. Then town officials ruined his life.

There’s a steady stream of stories like this one. I was alerted to this particular story by a former police officer who now advocates criminal-justice reform. (He asked me not to use his name, for reasons that will be apparent in a moment.) I asked him: In his experience, how common is this sort of thing? His response:

This is very common in policing. Looking back on my career, I realize just how often I acted similarly and didn’t even realize it. It was subconscious. I was trained and subtly incentivized to do so. You intentionally create conflict and manufacture noncompliance in order to build your stop into an arrest situation. Because that’s what generations of law enforcers who have been steeped in a fear-based, comply or else, us-vs.-them mind-set do. They arrest people. Arrests are a primary measure of productivity and gives the appearance your department has solved a problem.

Most aggressive cops have honed this to an art. They are savvy, know exactly how to weaponize numerous petty laws, ordinances, use-of-force policy and procedure against citizens. This cop was off his game and clumsily went through the motions like a desperate door-to-door perfume salesman. Except when cops manufacture a “sale” like this, the “customer” ends up arrested, criminalized, emotionally and financially devastated, not to mention possibly physically beaten or worse. And the justice system will deem it legal, even when it isn’t.

As far as the police leadership and prosecutors, they knew exactly what they were doing. If someone makes a complaint, you find something, anything to charge them with.

“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul

Trump: My People Should ‘Sit Up in Attention’ Like Kim Jong-un’s Staff.

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-12   7:26:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: All (#1)

More:

City and prosecuting attorney respond after lawsuit filed against Walnut Ridge officer, mayor in federal court

A Lawrence County man has alleged in federal court that he was unlawfully arrested, assaulted and harassed by Walnut Ridge police and that police have not investigated complaints of police brutality and misconduct. 

According to an eleven-page suit filed April 5 in federal court at Jonesboro by attorney Mark Rees on behalf of Adam Finley, Finley of Smithville is asking for punitive damages as well as a jury trial in the case. 

The suit names Walnut Ridge Mayor Charles Snapp, Police Chief Chris Kirksey, and Officers Matthew Mercado and Matt Cook, both individually and in their official capacity. 

"This is an action for damages sustained by a citizen of the United States against police officers of the Walnut Ridge Police Department who unlawfully arrested, assaulted and harassed Plaintiff, against the Chief of Police as a supervisory officer responsible for the conduct of the 'City' Defendants, and for the failure of each of them to take corrective action with respect to police personnel, as well as their failure to investigate complaints of police brutality and misconduct and/or impose discipline, and to ensure proper training and supervision of personnel, and/or to implement meaningful procedures to discourage lawless official misconduct, and against the city of Walnut Ridge, which is the employer of the 'City Officers,' all of which are sued as persons under 42 U.S.C. 1983," Rees said in the court filing. 

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Price Marshall. 

The Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce's office released the following statement Thursday:

In response to recent inquiries to my office regarding citations issued that resulted from a traffic stop made by a Walnut Ridge Police Officer I have inquired into the matter.  The charges were actually made by citation at the recommendation of my deputy prosecuting attorney, Ryan Cooper, after having the events of the traffic stop related to him by Walnut Ridge Chief of Police Chris Kirksey. 

I have also reviewed the video of the incident that led to the citations being issued and feel that the evidence justified the recommendation Mr. Cooper made to the Chief of Police.  Ark. Code Ann. § 5-54-103 states “A person commits the offense of refusal to submit to arrest if he or she knowingly refuses to submit to arrest by a person known by him or her to be a law enforcement officer effecting an arrest.” As used in this subsection, “refuses” means active or passive refusal. It is no defense to a prosecution under this subsection that the law enforcement officer lacked legal authority to make the arrest if the law enforcement officer was acting under color of his or her official authority.  It also bears note that the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in no way, handles the civil actions or liabilities of the City of Walnut Ridge.

On Wednesday, April 18, Mayor Snapp responded to the lawsuit:

We are forwarding the information the City of Walnut Ridge has for the Finley vs Walnut Ridge suit to the Arkansas Municipal League. To date we have not met with the attorney assigned the case. Until we have met with council, the City will not make any statements, other than to confirm that the officer in the December 2016 video resigned his employment with the City of Walnut Ridge in February of 2017. 

The court filing can be seen here: 

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-12   8:01:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: All (#2)

More:

Update [April 19th 2018]: Police Chief and Sgt. now on administrative leave.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-12   8:28:25 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: All (#3) (Edited)

More:

Mercado had been previously arrested for battery – by WRPD

Left three different law enforcement agencies within one year.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-12   8:32:12 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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