Brickbat: Good Work
Kary Jarvis spent more than a year behind bars after a traffic stop left two Daytona Beach, Florida, police officers injured and Jarvis facing multiple felony charges. But when a judge finally saw video of the stop and what followed she ruled that "Mr. Jarvis was unlawfully detained after his first denial of consent. Had officers allowed Mr. Jarvis to leave, as he was entitled to, no one would have gotten hurt. The injuries resulted from the officers' own illegal activity." Video showed officers initially gave Jarvis a warning but asked to search his vehicle. He refused. And he refused multiple times when they repeated the request. The officers ordered him out of his vehicle and prepared to search it. Jarvis asked if he could watch. When they said he could not, he got back in and drove off, injuring the officers as they tried to stop him. After the judge's ruling, prosecutors dropped all charges against Jarvis, who is now suing the police department.