What those officers did was CRIMINAL, not juvenile–CRIMINAL assault. Not to mention the lies in the police report about bar patrons making sexually suggestive movements toward the officers. Not to mention the FWPD Police Chief repeating the false allegations in a news conference and failing to note that the falsely accused patron was female…..just leaving the allegation hanging out there as if a bunch of gay men started coming on to the police officers.

The officers who assaulted patrons that night need to be thrown in prison. The officer who filed the false statements needs to be thrown in prison. The police chief who deliberately distorted the false allegations in order to (further)prejudice the public against gays and lesbians needs to be fired.

And don’t forget about Patrick Pogan, the rookie NY cop busted on Youtube for attacking a bicyclist during a Critical Mass group bike ride, and then LYING on the police report to say that the bicyclist rode directly at him. (No, cops NEVER lie on police reports.) Pogan was fired from the force and is facing criminal charges for the assault. The victim filed a $1.5M suit against the city about a week ago. I’d give him triple that

Just as Federal wiretap laws require either a warrant or notification and permission for one to record much less record and use as evidence any phone call, that is made via wire – cellphone conversations are all fair game as they are broadcast. Our patchwork of laws is weird.

I was told about the not-recording-cops from an Internal Affairs investigator while discussing a complaint against one in his department. I have heard it from cops and ex-cops since. Of course you *can* record them it’s just not legal evidence. It’s something you could show cops investigating cops so they’d know but you’d never hear what happened from it. However he did recommend video without sound. Specifically mentioned was a Rodney King style video, with documented false arrest with injury. Less than that – Good Luck. [Tough Shit.] Of course we work with what we have and what we can get, non-admissable audio + internet humiliation and outrage always good.

My complaint went into a black hole somewhere from my perspective but no doubt went into a file and added to what all his co-workers undoubtedly knew. The officer in question was an angry perverted martinet with issues making my neighborhood miserable. (No beatings or false arresting, of me.) When I was done citing my reasons and asking what I could do (I asked if I could carry a recorder for legal evidence) the IA detective paused and smiled and said “Why don’t you just go on a date with him and get it over with?” To which I stammered, after I picked my jaw up of the floor, “…I might if I thought it would.” [I wouldn't have.] I really had tried to not go into the closet-case homophobic voyeuristic etc. part of the behavior, but, of course, the cops really do know their own. I hear the officer had since gotten desk duty, partially due to bad knees. All that squatting to peep, etc. And that he wants to run for a Judgeship after brown nosing around the courthouse enough. Power may corrupt but those who desire to seek it are already more than halfway there.

In NYC a police detective was dismissed from the force and will serve jail time in regards to physically abusing a suspect and lying about it to investigators. It turns out the person who was violently interrogated had hit the record button on his $12 MP3 player and got this guy red handed from beginning to end. AND IT WAS VIOLENT AND PHYSICAL WITH THE WORD FAGGOT USED MANY TIMES.

Another officer faces jail time as well because he was caught on audio planting drugs on an 18 year old kid who hit his record button just in time to catch the officer not only wishing him luck on getting a jury to believe him when he protested and tried to runaway but telling him if he did not shut up he would put crack on him instead of pot and shoot him.

I am 100% behind police officers in NYC who are not trying to fatten their paycheck via bogus arrest and ruin peoples lives forever due to a record that will never be removed or cleared because of the nature of what they are charged with.

What these officers did was so juvenile and dangerous goes beyond comprehension. I wonder if they were on overtime when this occured. Nothing surprises me. There entire story from beginning to end sounds like high school football players are running around town with the power of life or death on their hips and the law on their side. This is dangerous and should not be taken lightly.

Oh and just to let you all know this one last thing. The officer who fired 32 bullets at a car that was not firing back at him (nor was a weapon even found on the victims) from his .40 caliber pistol not only had been recommended for termination from two different supervisors for insubordination before the car incident is still on the force, gun and all.

The local police know this and are glad of it, Ft. Lauderdale police & BSO have generally civilized relations with the bars and those LGBT.

I have been told it’s illegal or inadmissible to record the police. (Without their permission which they will never give.) Yet those laws were written only regarding audio recording. Security video is visual. Rudimentary security system? – a few hundred dollars. Catching the police assault your customers and lie about it? – priceless.

There were two male officers and I didn’t even have a single drink of alcohol at the time all of this went on. The psychological aspect of it is that I hate cops and every time I see a cop or a police car I see them as a violent thug instead of someone that would be helpful in any given situation. However, I didn’t sue and just dealt with it. Oh, and I never again had a pride sticker on my car.

These guys come in ARMED and wrestle a man to the ground causing him to go into a coma. Had his partner or whomever he was with intervened in what was clearly an unjustified act they too could have been in the same situation/condition and have no doubt guns would have been drawn. If they “saw” a reason to slam the man on the floor imagine if they “saw” a weapon in the hands of a bar parton and drew their guns and “accidentally” fired hitting a customer whose only crime was going to a bar filled with other gay men?

And let’s not go into the psychological effect it will have on the customers the bar needs for survival, many of whom I would not be surprised used it for happy hour and just general socializing. Ever wonder what it does to the psyche of other patrons when a police car stops in front of that bar next time for whatever reason? You are correct, frivolous lawsuits regarding name calling or being told “were full” while others seem to have a VIP pass to enter a bar does sound frivolous but in this case it sounds more like borderline terrorism on behalf of the FWPD and company.

Whether they realize it or not every person in that bar was in danger because it is clear they were all guilty and the FWPD considered it more or less a turkey shoot before they walked in there. I would sue. Sitting in a bar in Missouri back in the 1980′s a cop told two men who were sitting together “he” was going to ignore their cuddling “this time”. You go figure.

Let us also remember frivoulous is all in the eye of the reader, not the victim(s).

@Helga von ornstein: I disagree entirely. I think that they see frivolous lawsuits as un-American but suing the agency that left you in a coma for days isn’t frivolous its justified. That being said, I think the person that was left in a coma is the only one that should sue in this case.