The city of Vallejo, California, where residents are calling for an outside review after a spate of fatal police shootings and excessive force complaints in recent years, is facing three new lawsuits claiming officers have violated people’s civil rights — including one man who said he was physically attacked while filming a police stop from his front porch.
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In January, Adrian Burrell, a black Marine veteran, was filming a traffic stop from his front porch that involved his cousin about 30 feet away. According to the suit and what is seen in Burrell’s cellphone video, Officer David McLaughlin ordered him to go back inside and stop interfering. Burrell, who said he was exercising his First Amendment right to record, refused. Burrell was then slammed into a wall and swung into a pole, where he knocked his head and sustained a concussion, according to the suit. He was then handcuffed. Only after McLaughlin learned that he was a veteran with no police record, Burrell added, was he released from the back of a police car.
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An NBC News examination in April found that civil rights lawsuits and claims in connection with the Vallejo Police Department have cost the city more than $7 million in settlements since 2011.
Navy Vet
Article URL : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vallejo-police-have-grappled-force-complaints-now-comes-wave-fresh-n1056891