Chicago Police Captain Kevin Navarro
was driving a marked police car down the wrong way of a busy street when he
collided head-on with a motorcycle last year.
The incident just happened to be caught
on camera because a group of citizens had been video recording their friend on
the motorcycle.
And they continued shooting photos and
videos of the aftermath, documenting the police SUV in the wrong lane.
But by the time a multitude of cops
showed up to the scene, they began arresting the citizens with cameras and
deleting their footage.
The citizens were acquitted and now
they are suing:
The following is from the lawsuit, which was
posted by Courthouse News.
"Defendant officers observed
plaintiffs using their cell phones to record the collision scene, and
immediately took plaintiff Perez's cell phone and placed handcuffs on him,
taking him into custody even though Perez was not doing anything illegal,"
the complaint states.
"Defendant officers placed Perez
in the back of a police car and demanded that Perez show them how to delete the
photographs he had taken with his cell phone.
"After plaintiff Perez was taken
into custody, plaintiff Milton, who had also been using his cell phone to
record the scene, was seated on his motorcycle, when defendant [Officers] Frahm
and Hernandez approached him.
"Defendants Frahm and Hernandez
grabbed plaintiff Milton, forced him off of his motorcycle, and threw him to
the ground.
"Defendants Frahm and Hernandez
placed plaintiff Milton in handcuffs, and then took him to a police car as
well."
At the police station, "Defendant
officers demanded that plaintiff Perez provide them with the password to his
cell phone, so that they could delete the pictures he had taken at the scene of
the collision," the complaint states.
"Defendant officers told plaintiff
Perez that if he did not give them the password to his phone, he would be
charged with a felony offense.
"Plaintiff Perez gave them the
password, and defendant officers then deleted the pictures of the scene of the
collision from plaintiff Perez's cellphone.
"While at the station, defendant
officers also strip searched plaintiff Perez, in an apparent effort to see if
he had any other cameras or recording devices on his person.
"Defendant officers also demanded
that plaintiff Milton give them the password for his cellular telephone.
"However, plaintiff Milton refused
to do so."
The cops then tried, unsuccessfully, to
delete the video on Milton's phone, and falsely accused him of battery and resisting
arrest, and accused Perez of assault, according to the complaint.
I spoke with attorney Torreya Hamilton
earlier today who said she might send me that video later on today. If she
does, I will post it here.
Please send stories, tips and videos to
carlosmiller@magiccitymedia.com.
CARLOS MILLER'S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
I am immersed in a legal case where I
not only want to clear my criminal charges stemming from my arrest in January, but I want to sue the Miami-Dade Police
Department for deleting my footage, which I was able to recover.
My goal is to set some type of
precedent to ensure this does not happen as often as it does today where cops
simply get away with it.