"This is not who we are in America. This is Nazi Germany kind of style. We have policies and procedures that we have to follow under the Constitution." - attorney. [white supremacy/racism is carried out by violence and/or deception. If you can avoid it, don't call the police on your people]
From [HERE] and [HERE] All charges against Alonzo Grant, the Black man who has claimed police brutality in his arrest by Syracuse Police, have been dropped. Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick announced Wednesday that the resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment charges against Grant have been dismissed.
Grant, bloodied during an encounter with the Syracuse police, also accuses the two white officers of telling outright lies in their description of the charges filed by the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office. Grant, 53, filed a notice of claim with city officials today as part of a police brutality lawsuit. His lawyers counted 62 lies they say officers documented to justify their actions.
Due to being struck repeatedly by officers, Grant suffered a broken nose, concussion, split lip, cut on his eye, a twisted arm, numerous cuts and serious post-concussive syndrome, including nightmares flashbacks and fear of the police department, his claim stated. His attorney, Charles Bonner also said Grant also suffered brain damage.
The incident started after Grant called police to report an argument between his daughter and a neighbor in the front yard. But when officers arrived, the dispute had ended.
An officer ordered Grant out of his house to talk to another officer. As he left, Grant opened (prosecutors say "punched") the screen door. That appeared to trigger officers to bring Grant under arrest (breaking his own screen?). "Almost immediately following Mr. Grant's action, the police decided to arrest for him disorderly conduct," the DA's office stated.
According to his attorney, Charles Bonner, Grant started walking down his front steps, an officer behind him violently, without warning, charged Mr.. Grant from behind and flung him viciously across his wrought iron railing face down to the ground. He says the second officer put on his black leather gloves, dropping his knees on Mr.. Grant's back. During the scuffle, Bonner claims one of the officers held Grant in a choke hold, pulled back his arm and struck him repeatedly in the face.
Here are five lies that Grant claims police told, in their own words:
1. Police Officer Damon Lockett: "Grant was extremely upset, he went back up the stairs and began yelling and flailing his arms violently at (his wife) S. Grant and said, "I don't care. I don't want that (expletive) here any more. I don't care about the police, I'll go to jail."
Grant says he was not yelling. "I was talking to my wife about taking care of the house," he explained later. His wife, Stephanie Grant, agreed: "We were talking. He was not yelling. Alonzo has a loud voice."
2. Police Officer Paul Montalto: "...We observed that Grant appeared highly agitated. Grant stated, 'We don't need the (F-word) police my daughter is gone....'"
Grant says he was not yelling and did not swear at police. Another witness, Corey McMullin, said: "Alonzo was tellin' them his daughter was gone and they didn't need them no more. If I'm not mistaken his wife yelled the same out the window." A fourth witness, Sharon Hayes, corroborated that account in an interview with Grant's lawyers.
3. Officer Lockett: "Grant said, 'Get your hands off of me,' and then he turned violently and grabbed me around my waist."
Both sides agree that Lockett grabbed Grant's hands to place him under arrest.
But Grant says he never turned violently and grabbed the officer. "I wasn't fighting with them. I wasn't looking back, the (officer) was behind me. He grabbed me, my arms behind my back, the other (officer) grabbed my feet and they threw me over." His wife agreed that Grant never fought with police.
Witness Corey McMullin said: "He was blindsided. He never saw it coming. He wasn't even aware of what was happening." And Sharon Hayes said: "Alonzo never turned around at all."
4. Sgt. Brian Novitsky: "Stephanie (Grant) said both Alonzo and (his daughter) Alyssa have a bad temper and sometimes can't control themselves."
Stephanie Grant said she never talked to Novitsky at all. In fact, her only contact with police was a female officer who took her name, age and birth date, she says.
"Novitsky did not interview me," Stephanie Grant said in the notice of claim. "No male officer spoke to me. The lady officer is the only one who spoke to me."
5. Novitsky, describing Alonzo Grant's reaction to a question at the hospital, where he was being treated: "Alonzo's body posture changed dramatically when he answered this question. Initially, he was sitting on the side of the hospital bed with his legs over the side, back straight and looking at me in the eyes. When he answered my last question, his head dropped, he looked to the floor, his shoulders slumped down and he let out a long sigh. Alonzo told me he just couldn't stop himself. He knew it was the police but he just could not stop fighting with them."
Grant says he never made that statement. His lawyers criticized Novitsky's description as something out of a book by crime author John Grisham.
Grant described his recollection: "Yes, my legs were over the side. I never told him that. I never told him anything like that. I wasn't fighting with them. He grabbed me, my arms behind my back, the other one grabbed my feet and they threw me over. Never said that! That's false."
The DA's office has ruled out criminal charges against the police officers, Chief Assistant District Attorney Alison Fineberg has said. There's an internal investigation going on, Police Chief Frank Fowler said.
One of Grant's lawyers, Jesse Ryder, said that he expects the lawsuit to eventually wind up in federal court. The notice of claim did not say how much money Grant was seeking. [MORE]