Brickbat: Park Place

City officials in Des Moines have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who was detained for filming police officers who were illegally parked. Police said Daniel Robbins was behaving suspiciously. They did not arrest him, but they did seize his phone and camera and only returned them two weeks later after his lawyer demanded it.

Comments

[Adans smith]

Somebody didn't get the memo. What the hell, it's just taxpayer money.

[m40195971]

I want to be sympathetic to the guy, but if you’re close enough to police actions to be noticed filming, you’re probably being a dick.

Even in 2018, phones had good enough zoom and high definition to be an amateur journalist, without getting in the way of cops.

Not saying they’re right, but this guy was literally looking for trouble.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Plus his skirt was pretty short.

[Cyto]

Well memed.

[mad.casual]

Ooh...

"We had a civilian female employee getting into her personal car when she saw a guy videotaping her," DMPD spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek told the Register in 2018. "Obviously for reasons that are self-explanatory that made her very uncomfortable."

Official libertarian judgement:
The guy was being a dick, but he has a legal right to be a dick. $125K for a phone and a couple photos is ridiculous. Lower the amount to the amortized cost of the phone and $0.50-25 per photo (average stock footage price) depending on the quality. Divide the judgement among the arresting officers and/or their union. Giving away $125K of taxpayer dollars to anyone able to document a public female employee being unable to park, while sexist but true, isn't feasible.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Semi-seriously: end qualified immunity, for all roles in LE from street cops to DAs, and require personal liability insurance for everyone in those roles. Maybe the market can do a better job of weeding out dick heads.

[Rossami]

The $125k was not "compensation" for the photos. The $125k was to deter the police from making further false arrests.

Yes, I know the police claimed that the subject was "detained" and not "arrested". Distinction without a difference. It was an illegal stop and 'the government' needs to be punished for it.

Yes, I know that penalizing the taxpayers for the misdeeds of cops does not have a great track record of improving cop accountability. But eventually, the impact on local taxes and on other government services does generate enough outrage to force some accountability - sometimes. It's a crappy system but until they start letting us hold the actual wrongdoers accountable (the bad cops), it's the least-bad choice we've got.

[mad.casual]

To you and EBHS above, 'End QI' is implied in the 'divide the judgement' sentence. However, 'end QI' is, IMO, slightly non-specific and insufficient, especially in this case. $125K in judgement for a $500 phone and $50 worth of pictures, even without QI is going to get passed to the Union/Insurer, who's just going to pass it to their lawyers. $750 out of pocket means the union has to figure out whether they want to pay their lawyers' $500 retainer, plus time, or simply hang the officers out to dry. Similar for teachers who risk careers for misgendering someone.

But, of course, then the plaintiff's attorney's don't get to collect $12K on the case.

[Agammamon]

It's not for the phone and pictures.

It's for the theft and illegal detainment.

[mad.casual]

It’s for the theft and illegal detainment.

Pretending they stopped him from showing up at his $125K/hr. job, in order to send a message doesn't help the situation.

If I show up at your place of work and photograph your parking job, we disagree, and you take my phone, do you owe me $125K or my phone and an apology? $750 is pretty generous if his phone was still at roughly approximating original functionality. $125K just guarantees you're rewarding the legal system and punishing the taxpayers.

[Davedave]

It's still not for the phone. What is it about you Nazis that means you don't just lie, you lie about really obvious, clearly established shit in a way that just makes you look ridiculous?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bear in mind that if I take your phone under threat of armed violence, then it will likely cost me more than $125K.

[Naime Bond]

Wrong. All courts reviewing agreed there was no arrest and they had an absolute right to detain and investigate what he was doing. Cops went off the 4th Amendment rails when they illegally seized his property without a warrant. They initially won on qualified immunity, and lost that on appeal. The 4th amendment issue was going to be the issue of the case, not his detainment; instead of rolling the dice with a jury, they reached a settlement and I would presume insurance is picking up a good portion of the tab.

[R Mac]

The police were illegally parked in front of the police station. He wasn’t interfering with anything.

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[Agammamon]

It's amazing how often you're in the comments here defending authoritarians.

[m40195971]

It’s amazing how you take notice. I’m flattered.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

How dare he stand in front a police station!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I bet those cops sure did learn their lesson. They won't be doing that again.

[cgr2727]

Lesson: next time shoot the guy so you at least get a paid vacation. All that trouble of having your union rep argue your case in a sham disciplinary hearing, and you still have to pull a shift? Amateurs.

[Utkonos]

If I’m a Des Moines cop who gets schooled for illegal parking, I figure Iowa lot for a lesson learned!

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[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Um, what kind of pussy are we talking about?

[Utkonos]

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[Stuck in California]

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[Utkonos]

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[Dillinger]

fuck, six figures for losing my phone for two weeks hmmmmm

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