Cops beat man, you pay!

So, Inkster MI cops beat a motorist at a traffic stop. He sues and wins 1.38 million. City says they are going to have a one-time tax increase to pay him. The average income in Inkster is 26K/yr and they're going to hit residence up for the judgement?!
Is this normal? How do you think the residents are going to feel knowing they are paying more taxes because of one cops actions? This really just blew my mind.

Wouldn't they be insured for that?

I see more and more municipal depts closing up and being replaced by county services. Issues like this are a big reason I'm sure. With the militarization and federal outreach seen of late I also see nationalization and possibly even privatization.

Get out your tinfoil hats everyone, a national police force with a Halliburton patch on their shoulder would not surprise me.

Shouldn't the PD have had some kind of insurance to cover stuff like that? I remember hearing a story on NPR a few years ago about police insurance auditors. They are very good at turning up bad eggs in the local PDs. Too many bad eggs results in very high insurance rates. One of the auditors interviewed, who was himself a retired state cop, said the insurance companies are far more effective at getting bad cops of the force than any internal mechanism in the PDs. Of course all that is useless if they don't identify them in time. Anyway, the whole point of the story was about the high cost to taxpayers of police insurance, and why some towns are paying much more than others.

If the town is really a small town, they should just disband the local PD.

A friend of mine lives in a small rural PA town that did that a few years ago. Everybody's taxes went down. The State Police now cover the towns territory, and no one has suggested that the local PD should be reinstated.

bentwrench wrote: Get out your tinfoil hats everyone, a national police force with a Halliburton patch on their shoulder would not surprise me.

Dude, you just gave me a great idea for a dystopian science fiction novel! the plausibility of the premise makes it all the more chilling, it should be a best seller.

Ok, so I'm not the only one that thought there was insurance for this sort of thing.

HappyAndy wrote:

bentwrench wrote: Get out your tinfoil hats everyone, a national police force with a Halliburton patch on their shoulder would not surprise me.

Dude, you just gave me a great idea for a dystopian science fiction novel! the plausibility of the premise makes it all the more chilling, it should be a best seller.

Meh, it's been done a million and one times in dystopian sci-fi, it's a staple of the cyberpunk genre.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

You're probably right. Besides by the time I get it done it will be reality anyway.

Now I need to get back to work on my screenplay based on Yoshimi battles the pink robots.

HappyAndy wrote: Besides by the time I get it done it will be reality anyway.

That's why the 3rd Halting State book was cancelled:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/12/psa-why-there-wont-be-a-third-.html

One would think they would be insured, but I don't think having insurance is mandatory for township PD's.

Another possibility is the coverage is written so that the insurance only pays for "no-fault" claims (accidents) and not for actions judged as crimminal wrong-doing.

Who knows... but I'm guessing if said motorist is a local, he and his lawyer won't be very popular after this. That $1.38M (figuring about half might go to the plaintiff) won't last very long.

If I'm reading that article correctly (grammar mistakes are really bad), the town is going to levy a 6.45 million dollar fee on its citizens to pay a 1.38 million dollar bill.

foxtrapper wrote: If I'm reading that article correctly (grammar mistakes are really bad), the town is going to levy a 6.45 million dollar fee on its citizens to pay a 1.38 million dollar bill.

Double the fee to $12.90 and I'll sue for $1.38 million too!

I'll tell you what. I'd take that beating for the $700,000 he'll clear after attorney's fees.

Even if they have insurance, where do you think the money comes from to pay those premiums?

DrBoost wrote: How do you think the residents are going to feel knowing they are paying more taxes because of one cops actions?

One can hope the answer will still be mad as berkely by the time the elections roll around.

foxtrapper wrote: If I'm reading that article correctly (grammar mistakes are really bad), the town is going to levy a 6.45 million dollar fee on its citizens to pay a 1.38 million dollar bill.

They are changing the 'millage rate' to reflect the settlement.

http://www.millagerate.com/blog/explained/

The taxing authority decides how much revenue it needs to provide necessary services. This is known as “setting the budget.” As part of this process, the jurisdiction computes how much revenue will be generated by licenses, fees, fines and penalties, user fees and service charges, as well as interest on reserves and investments. The remainder of the budget must be funded by property taxes, borrowing or the sale of bonds.

To determine the millage rate, you divide the “A” — the portion of the budget to be funded by tax dollars — by the second number, “B”– which is 40% of the net tax digest. The product of this equation is “C,” the millage rate(2).

I think I'd take that same ass beatin' for $700K myself.

I'll be right back...

Ian F wrote: Who knows... but I'm guessing if said motorist is a local, he and his lawyer won't be very popular after this. That $1.38M (figuring about half might go to the plaintiff) won't last very long.

..and blame the victim? I'd hope they be upset with the cop who beat the person he's sworn to protect. Next they could go after the police department that did not protect the citizenry from a brutal employee trusted to uphold the law.

From another article on the topic. This is in regards to the officer who beat the person he pulled over for a traffic stop. The officers name is William Melendez. He's since been fired from this department as well as one other. The article was unclear if he was fired from the other dept. prior to this or after.

"He has been charged with misconduct in office, a five-year felony, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, a 10-year felony." Link.

There's one cop who pulled someone over north of Bentonville, AR, shot and killed him, was convicted of murder, did a year in the joint for that (???) and is now the chief of police of some po-dunk other town in Arkansas. Don't be speeding through little towns in Central Arkansas. Hey, in line with the other thread, "If you don't want to get killed, then you should be going 26 in a 25. It's your own fault."

DrBoost wrote: I'll tell you what. I'd take that beating for the $300,000 he'll clear after attorney's fees, federal, state, and local taxes.

FTFY.

Legal judgements like that are not taxable.

I noticed he was a Ford worker driving a Cadillac.

Heard on the radio that the city does have insurance, but the deductible is 2 million.

ALL costs of operating local governments are paid for by tax payers.

That includes both settlements AND insurance premiums (or self-insurance costs).

If your local police or government make mistakes, YOU PAY.

They certainly don't!

GameboyRMH wrote:

HappyAndy wrote:

bentwrench wrote: Get out your tinfoil hats everyone, a national police force with a Halliburton patch on their shoulder would not surprise me.

Dude, you just gave me a great idea for a dystopian science fiction novel! the plausibility of the premise makes it all the more chilling, it should be a best seller.

Meh, it's been done a million and one times in dystopian sci-fi, it's a staple of the cyberpunk genre.

Been done allright...

And remade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd37cGbdUCA

As far as everyone hating the guy, $700k is enough to get out of Michigan, isnt that the popular thing to do (or is that just Detroit?).

In reply to Xceler8x:

The snopes will blame both.