White Brooklyn Park Cop who Piledrived Handcuffed Black Man Faces $500K Excessive Force Lawsuit

From [HERE] A white Brooklyn Park police officer caught on tape in a violent confrontation with a handcuffed DWI suspect in a department holding area denies he used excessive force during the incident, which left Amos Togbeson, Jr., a Black man, lying in a pool of blood, according to a filing Thursday in court. Togbeson needed 13 stitches and had a concussion. He now has permanent head injuries. 

In the written answer, Wrobel's attorney says that the officer "denies he utilized excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment..." Togbeson had been arrested by Brooklyn Park police in April 2012 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol (months later, he would enter a guilty plea).

Togbeson claims he repeatedly asked Ofc. Wrobel if he could go to the bathroom. Ofc. Wrobel refused to allow him to do so.  After Togbeson urinated on himself the officer was trying to mop it up and asked him to stand in the corner. On a department recorded videotape from the holding room, Wrobel clearly orders  a handcuffed Togbeson to stand in a corner and not move. Togbeson does initially move into the corner, but soon staggers a little bit. When Wrobel tries to restrain him, Togbeson begins screaming (it is not clear if the officer slammed his head against the wall).

Warning a female officer in the room to "watch out, watch out," Wrobel then piledrives the black man head first in the floor. He was unable to break his fall or defend himself as his hands were handcuffed behind his back. In his official report, Wrobel claims he was warning the detention officer to back up "so that she did not get urine on her," and that he did not intend to use force on Togbeson to get him on the ground. Instead, Wrobel wrote, "my boots began slipping," on the urine and the two of them "ended up on the ground."

Attorney Jeff Storms, who represents Togbeson, accuses the officer of lying in the official statement.

"(Wrobel) knew he was going to take this man to the ground," Storms said in an interview Wednesday. "He turns his body, he plants his foot and he pile-drives him head-first into the ground... Mr. Togbeson's head splits open."

After the fall, a pool of blood can be seen on the video underneath Togbeson; the puddle appears to grow larger than the size of Togbeson's head.