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MAN FILES EXCESSIVE FORCE LAWSUIT AGAINST
POLICE
AT SALT LAKE VA HOSPITAL -- Claims he was beaten
and
injured after VA police accused him of being
drunk in public.
Claci Lawrence and Greg Davis
Be sure to watch the video of this story at the
link below.
Story here...
http://www.ksl.com/
?nid=148&sid=5111487
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
-------------------------
Man files lawsuit against VA hospital
By Whit Johnson
A man is filing a lawsuit against the George E. Wahlen Department of
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, claiming he was beaten and injured after
the Utah-BYU football game.
This is a civil rights action that claims VA police used excessive force
when they arrested Greg Davis for being drunk in public. Davis and his
attorneys say they have the witnesses and the evidence to back up their
case that police went too far.
After leaving the football game, Davis and his fiancée, Claci
 Lawrence,
were passing through the hospital parking lot to meet up with their ride
home. They were approached by VA police, who were accusing them of being
drunk in public. They say that's when the situation escalated.
"I made no threats to him, no threatening move at all. I was completely
cooperative," Davis said.
According to their complaint filed today, Davis was "slammed into the
fence several times," "elbowed ... in the head," sprayed in the face with
pepper spray and "dragged across the road by the handcuffs."
"When I seen that, it was just like way too much," witness Paul Loya told
us back on Nov. 25. He says he witnessed everything and recorded the
incident on cell phone video; then he says his phone was confiscated by
the arresting officers and returned days later with the video erased.
Recently, Loya says VA investigators took his phone again and replaced it
with a new one in an attempt to retrieve possible evidence.
"He had no right to do this. If it were just a normal citizen who did this
to me, he'd be behind bars," Davis said.
 Davis
was cited for four violations, including public intoxication and
interfering with an arresting officer -- charges he says aren't warranted.
Today the VA hospital spokeswoman Jill Atwood released a brief statement,
which reads: "This medical center takes these allegations very seriously,
and while we do not discuss ongoing litigation, we want everyone to know
that we consider the safety and security of staff, patients and the
general public a high priority."
Davis' attorney says the VA regional director has a team of out-of-state
investigators looking at the case.
"[We want] to have awareness brought to these officers' actions,
especially if this is a system-wide problem that they're having," attorney
Alyson Carter said.
After we did the original story, we were contacted by a few people
reporting similar incidents involving VA police officers. Under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) we've filed a request to view documents
relating to these incidents and should receive those in the next few
weeks.
We'll continue to follow this story and give you updates.
E-mail: wjohnson@ksl.com
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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