Ex-Philadelphia Officer Testifies In Stop-and-Frisk Lawsuit
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former Philadelphia police officer is testifying in his lawsuit against the city over injuries he says he suffered when he was stopped and frisked.
City lawyers say ex-officer Herbert Spellman has "an ax to grind" against the police department after he was denied disability and workers' compensation over an on-duty car accident.
A city attorney in opening statements Monday says that Spellman's confrontational demeanor escalated the September 2013 stop.
The city says the officers thought he had been talking to a known drug suspect. Spellman says he was trying to find a bus stop after leaving his son's school.
Spellman's lawsuit says the city's stop-and-frisk policy often targets blacks and Latinos. Spellman is black while the two officers involved are white.
Spellman says the stop aggravated his back and neck problems and left him emotionally wounded.
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