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Lawsuit filed in Ferneau beating


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Updated: 10/30/2012 8:51 am Published: 10/29/2012 5:14 pm
LITTLE ROCK, AR – Two men arrested at Ferneau restaurant last year, one beaten badly, filed a civil rights lawsuit in US District Court Monday.

The lawsuit names LRPD Lieutenant David Hudson, LRPD Chief of Police Stuart Thomas, the City of Little Rock, Donnie Ferneau, Ferneau LLC, and FF Restaurants LLC.

On October 29th of 2011, Chris Erwin and Blake Mitchell were arrested outside of the Ferneau restaurant in Hillcrest for trespassing at a private party. Cell phone video shot at the scene shows Hudson repeatedly hitting Erwin in the face prior to his arrest.

The lawsuit alleges that the beating and arrest violated Erwin and Mitchell’s rights under the 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th amendments. It also says Thomas and the City of Little Rock failed to properly train officers and permitted the use of excessive force.

You can read the full lawsuit here.

Erwin was charged with criminal trespass, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. Mitchell was charged with criminal trespass, obstructing governmental operations, disorderly conduct, and public intoxication. In March, a judge dismissed the charges against the pair.
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ArkansasYankee - 10/31/2012 12:59 AM
0 Votes
I'm with you guys; sort of. You can take any demographic group and find good and bad in it. Cops, bikers, soldiers; you name it, there will be the occasional rotten apple in the barrel. You can't judge all fireman because of the one recently busted for kiddie porn on his 'puter. You can't judge all soldiers because of the one's busted for killing innocent women and children. You can't judge all bikers because of certain clubs that peddle drugs, weapons, women; and steal other's bikes. And you can't judge all cops because of a few bad ones. Took a good beating in El Paso once by 4 hispanic officers; all because I said something. Yes, I had been drinking; but I wasn't resisting, so no reason for the beating. In Tucson, part of becoming a trainee in the academy is going before a panel and being called all kinds of names; and your mama's too; they want to see how you handle it before allowing you to continue on. The 4 officers in El Paso obviously didn't get that kind of training. Anyway, I do hope these guys win something for the beat down. And yes, the taxpayers will be the losers; but what can you do about it? We gotta have cops, just like we have to have firemen, EMT's, doctors, soldiers, and so on.

Butch54 - 10/30/2012 9:53 AM
0 Votes
Pays to know your rights. Or be smart enough to hire someone that does. A Judge dismissing all charges will not hurt their cause at all. Get ready for higher taxes Little Rock citizens. Ignorance of rights or law is no excuse. Looks like the police are going to have to come up with a new catch line. They have beat down the old "Serve And Protect".

itsjustme - 10/30/2012 7:42 AM
0 Votes
From the video, it does appear the officer hit him repeatedly in the face, when the "suspect" never made any type of physical advancement towards the officer.
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