Hammond Family Sues Police For Excessive Force During Traffic Stop
Updated 10/07/14 - 12:52 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A northwest Indiana man and woman have filed a federal lawsuit against the Hammond Police Department, alleging officers used excessive force during a September traffic stop, which the woman's son recorded on cell phone video.
CBS 2's Jeremy Ross reports Lisa Mahone, her boyfriend Jamal Jones, and her two children were driving to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County on Sept. 25, after she got a call from doctors telling her that her mother was on her death bed.
Hammond police pulled their car over because Mahone was not wearing her seatbelt, according to the lawsuit.
Meantime, Mahone's 14-year-old son Joseph was sitting in the back seat with his younger sister, and began recording the encounter with police on his cell phone.
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Mahone claimed she admitted not wearing a seatbelt, and asked to be given a ticket right away, so she could get to the hospital to see her dying mother, but Hammond officers Patrick Vicari and Charles Turner demanded to see Jones' identification.
Jones told police he did not have his ID, because he had recently been given a traffic ticket, according to the lawsuit. When he reached into the back seat to get the ticket, the officers drew their guns, and refused to take the ticket as a form of ID.
Jones said he wouldn't get out of the car, because he was afraid for his safety after the officers pulled their guns.
"I felt like my civil rights was just going out the window, along with my body," he said.
The family's attorney has released a three-minute YouTube video (above) showing part of the traffic stop.
In the video, one of the officers can be heard telling Jones "Just so you know, we've got a camera recording here, you're on a body mike, I suggest you come out of the car."
Jones responds by asking to see a "white shirt," meaning a supervising officer, and saying "I just gave you my information, I don't know what's going on right now."
The lawsuit claimed the officers "had no reasonable basis to believe that anyone in the vehicle was a threat. The vehicles' windows were clear and the officers had an unobstructed view of every person within the vehicle." The lawsuit also claimed there was no reasonable basis to believe anyone was committing a crime.
However, Hammond Police Lt. Richard Hoyda said police do not need to believe there is a threat, or a possible crime taking place, to ask someone to exit their vehicle during a traffic stop.
"In general, police officers who make legal traffic stops are allowed to ask passengers inside of a stopped vehicle for identification and to request that they exit a stopped vehicle for the officer's safety without a requirement of reasonable suspicion," Hoyda said in a prepared statement.
Attorney Dana Kurtz filed the lawsuit in federal court in Hammond.
"You cannot engage in this type of conduct, and terrorize American families," she said.
Mahone claimed she called 911 to request a supervisor, while the officers continued ordering Jones out of the car. Police eventually broke Jones' window with a large tool, shocked him with a stun gun, and dragged him out of the vehicle, according to the lawsuit. Officers then handcuffed and arrested Jones for resisting arrest.
"At no point during this entire encounter did Jamal physically resist the officers in any way," the lawsuit claimed.
You can read the full lawsuit here.
Hammond police defended the officers' actions, saying they "were at all times acting in the interest of officer safety and in accordance with Indiana law."
Hoyda said the officers repeatedly asked Jones to provide his identification, and later to exit the vehicle, but Jones "refused to lower the window more than a small amount."
"The first officer saw the passenger inside the vehicle drop his left hand behind the center console inside of the vehicle. Fearing for officer safety, the first officer ordered the passenger to show his hands and then repeatedly asked him to exit the vehicle," Hoyda said.
Hoyda said Jones refused repeated requests to exit the car, so the officers requested a squad car equipped with video recording equipment, and again asked Jones to get out of the vehicle.
"By this time considerable time had passed and both the vehicle and the officers were in danger of being struck by passing traffic," he added.
Police said Mahone shifted the car into drive, and tried to drive forward, but officers told her the tires would be deflated by a stop strip police had put down in front of the car.
"The passenger continued to refuse to exit the vehicle after approximately thirteen minutes had elapsed, and upon request by at least three different officers present at the scene of the stop," Hoyda said. "Fearing the occupants of the vehicle may have possessed a weapon, and seeing the passenger repeatedly reach towards the rear seats of the vehicle, the first officer then broke the passenger side window of the vehicle and the passenger was removed from the vehicle and was placed under arrest."
Hoyda said Jones' own actions during the traffic stop prompted police to arrest him.
