Jonathan Simcox and his partner Steven Ondo were walking home from a bar in Cleveland one night last April when they got into an argument on the street—probably typical drunk-couple stuff. An off-duty police officer at his house heard them and took it upon himself to resolve the matter, telling the couple to STFU.
“I pushed to get past him,” says Simcox, “And as soon as I did that he knocked me on the ground, and just started beating me, hitting me, standing over top of me, and punching me repeatedly.” Police then showed up and took them to jail, where they were released with no charges.
What happened next led the couple to hire renowned attorney David Malik and file a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
A week after the initial arrest, a SWAT team showed up at Simcox and Ondo’s house and arrested them in the middle of the night, saying them had a warrant for “assaulting a peace officer.” Bewildered, the couple was attacked more and more as they asked questions. “The officer in the glasses grabbed me by my shirt,” says Simcox, “and punched me twice in the face, after he punched me, he threw me up against the wall.”
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Simcox’s brother asked if he could get the couple some pants and shoes, seeing as they had been sleeping in their underwear.
“You can go get them shoes, but faggots don’t deserve to wear pants in jail,” one officer said. Now we’ve heard a lot of shitty things said about gay people, but that’s a line we’ve never heard before.
Simcox and Ondo (right) were publicly humiliated in their undies on the front lawn for 10 minutes, then taken to jail and kept pantsless for over a day.
Civil rights attorney Sam Riotte said, “Jonathan and Steven’s rights were violated in part of who they are, because they are homosexuals.”
And we gay people demand the right to pants! (And fair treatment, and protections against excessive force/police brutality, and so on and so forth.)
Source: Fox 8 Cleveland
Phantom
I say throw those pigs in prison and see how they like it when they are force to be pantsless by other criminals
Rico
What fucking assholes do this to people?! And they’re supposed to be protecting the citizens? WAUW. Wauw. Speechless.
Bigg
I live in Cleveland and I don’t really find this all that hard to believe. Cops everywhere are assholes and Cleveland is no exception.
Shannon1981
Another piece of evidence showing that gay people should never rely on the police for anything.
Zeus
Nothing like this even remotely happened to me, but I have had experience with an incident with an off-duty cop and I BET he did not mention to these men that he was a police officer. A friend of mine once got into a slight argument with an off-duty cop who made no attempts at explaining that he was indeed a cop, and he then proceeded to force him to come with him to the station which was around the corner and give him a summons (you know, once he decided that my friend argued enough with someone who is suddenly a “law enforcement officer”). Cops are douches.
Phantom
@Harry: I’m gay so your response was irrelevant and stupid.
Jonathan
@Phantom I think (maybe I’m misspeaking) that @Harry thought you were calling the gay couple “pigs,” rather than the police officers.
Paul
Who are the cops in question? We need to get their names and addresses and phone numbers.
B. Snow
@Jonathan – thanks, I think you’re right about Harry misunderstanding Phantom’s comment. I understood what Phantom meant, probably because I’m old enough to remember when people used to call cops “pigs”. 🙂
Larry
america really needs to get the cops under control…this first decade of the twenty first century has been all about fear…terrorist, bogeymen, faggots are all going to get us and cops seem to be the biggest chicken shits and way over use force.
Gigi
@Harry: Phatom was referring to the police, hence his use of the word “pigs” in reference to the police. Give your head a shake!
KyleW
It’s so hard to have any respect for the police. I know shitty behaviour like this may only be done by a small minority – but it’s a significant minority, and more concerning is the way that they close ranks to protect each other when shit like this happens
shannon
people act rediculous and disgustingly towards homosexuals. sadly, i can actually believe that an officer of the peace would do this to someone. its so WRONG!
HM
Get used to it, folks.
Across the country, Tea Party-fueled politicians are cutting budgets, gutting unions, killing benefits and dropping public sector pay. Starting salaries for cops in many places would make the night drive thru guy at Wendys cringe….which means, kids, the better educated, level headed people who understand rights and boundries are finding other lines of work……
…leaving nothing but bottom-scraping to find new police officers, usually among the low forehead types who leap at the chance to make a career out of thugging and bullying.
TASTEY GOODIES
Power hungry, insecure, homophobic emasculated “men” must not be allowed 2 bcome police.
Roger C
Install security cameras people! We have a security camera at our house recording video and audio. Not only does it deter thieves but it’s great for insurance claims and recording homophobic visitors.
Amanda
‘Merica. wtF. Makes me so damn sick. Sad thing is, this won’t be publicized that much. People don’t give a crap. We repeat the same things over and over. We treat are people like crap. And we expect to ‘lead’ the world??? What a joke.
Scudge
What would have happened if they had used the n-word instead? Why do they think there should be any difference?
Jay P
This is horrible. Just an overuse of force to make themselves feel more manly. This obsession with proving ones masculinity is so stupid and immature. Whats so cool about it anyways?
But why were they arguing in the streets anyways? I hate when people do that. So trashy. Of course they definitely didn’t deserve any of this.
Ben
Well I hope they SUE THE PANTS OFF those police officers! ZING!
Has anyone else made that joke yet? i was too excited to check…
Oh, ok.
So these were white officers with the power to exhibit their bigotry by ruining lives. Where are the comments about white homophobia and white people taking away your rights?
Do you only reserve those comments for black people who cannot ever do this to you?
xamthor
I’m not sure if it can be called police brutality since he was off – duty. at the least it’s an assault.
But No charges were filed.
Then a SWAT team shows up a week later?
Clear police brutality in the jail.
There are some serious problems with the Cleveland police.
emma north
I found these boys on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Dh92-9IzU
Oh dear (John From England 2012)
@Scudge:
Nothing. I’ve been called that so many times on a daily basis…means nothing. And I live with a country that at least protects minorities.
Jaroslaw
Watching the video (thanks Emma #12 for the link) I just kept thinking this is too much be believe even for Cleveland. To keep these guys in their underwear in front of their neighbors at arrest (after being told no charges were filed) and in jail hopefully provided enough witnesses who can be subpoenaed. Trouble is, even if they win, the offending officers don’t pay the lawsuit nor will they even be (meaningfully) punished probably.