You can’t be serious… DeShawn Franklin And Family Awarded Just $18 In Civil Rights Settlement The case of a innocent black man brutally beaten by police in a case of mistaken identity is making national headlines. Four years ago 18-year-old DeShawn Franklin of Indiana was awoken out of his sleep by police beating and tasering him. Why? Because they mistook him for another black man with dreadlocks. Now in 2016 his family is reeling after being just awarded $18 in a civil rights violation settlement for his unlawful arrest. The IndyStar reports: DeShawn Franklin, a slim, soft-spoken young man, hops on a city bus most days to travel 4 miles to the University of Notre Dame campus, where he works setting up equipment and moving furniture. […] It’s the night four years ago when three police officers entered his family’s home without a warrant. They rousted him from the bed where he slept. They punched him six times: three times in the face and three times to the body. They used a Taser on him. Then they loaded him into a squad car in view of the neighbors. All because of a case of mistaken identity. All because he wore dreadlocks. Even South Bend’s mayor and police department acknowledge that the officers that July night in 2012 used excessive force and violated the civil rights of Franklin and his parents by entering the house without permission. A federal jury in Fort Wayne agreed this month, determining that the officers were liable for unlawful entry and unlawful seizure. But then another maddening thing happened: The jury decided that those violations of the Fourth Amendment were worth only $1. Yes, $1. Each police officer who ignored the U.S. Constitution was ordered to pay a dollar to DeShawn and to each of his parents for each rights violation. The family was awarded an insulting total of $18 in damages. It is their only compensation for a night that left a then-18-year-old high school senior bruised, embarrassed and afraid. And his parents wondering about whether a poor black family can find equity in the American justice system. This…is…ridiculous. Hopefully this case picks up more traction and an attorney can get this young man the real compensation he deserves.
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911 Is A Joke: Family Of Innocent Black Man Assaulted By Police Awarded $18 In Civil Rights Settlement
