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Cop's scuffle with suspect leaves attorney injured
Paula Sen was hit in the head when a police officer allegedly threw a punch at an agitated defendant in a courthouse hallway last week. (PHOTO: BRADLEY BRIDGE)
DANA DiFILIPPO | Daily News Staff Writer
Last updated: Thursday, April 16, 2015
MORE THAN a half-dozen Philadelphia police officers jumped and beat an agitated defendant in a hallway outside a Criminal Justice Center courtroom last Friday, a takedown in which an officer's errant fist punched a female public defender in the head, the defender and other witnesses said.
.......
"The officers overstepped their authority," said longtime lawyer Richard Hoy, who was sitting on a hallway bench when the violence erupted a few feet away. "He was no threat to anybody. He was loud and obnoxious. He wasn't threatening them - or anybody. The officers are there to protect people, but they didn't protect anybody. They abused their power."
The incident started about 11 a.m. last Friday, when a court crier in Courtroom 706 ordered Jones to remove his hat and then booted him out when he became upset, Sen said.
In the hallway, Jones yelled and cursed, and Sen hurried to defuse things, Hoy and Sen said. (Sen didn't represent Jones, but her employer, the Defender Association of Philadelphia, did.)
About a dozen officers stood gathered down the corridor, Hoy said.
...........
Of Jones, Hoy said: "There was obviously something wrong with him. But [the] PD [public defender] had him 75 percent calmed down."
Still, about six officers suddenly swarmed, Sen said.
"A very large officer got into [Jones'] face and was yelling at us," said the petite Sen, who is 105 pounds and stands 5-foot-3. "I was scared for [our] client. I stood directly in front of him with my arms outspread. I said: 'Everybody, calm down.' I was just trying to get people to act like grown-ups."
Instead, Officer David Chisholm lunged and swung his arm, Sen said, adding, "I think the intent was to put [Jones] in a chokehold and take him to the ground."
But Chisholm's fist caught Sen in the back of the head and knocked her to the floor, as he took Jones down, she said.
Chisholm and two other officers punched the downed defendant several times as more officers piled on, handcuffing him and dragging him to his feet, Hoy and Sen said.
"He was bleeding fairly profusely and the cops continued taunting him," Sen said, adding that while she was treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for bumps and bruises, police did not take Jones for medical care.
When the hubbub subsided, and Hoy told an officer he had seen no need for violence, "the officer told me to 'mind your own f---ing business,' " Hoy said.
And when one of Sen's supervisors arrived to investigate, Chisholm allegedly refused to identify himself.
"He said: 'If you let these animals act like this, this is what happens,' and, 'If you keep pushing this, we are going to have a conversation,' " said Jordan Barnett, chief of the Defender Association's Southwest Division. "I find it troubling that the officer would refuse to give his name and make statements like that in a public courthouse."
...............
The officers will not be charged, said Cameron Kline, spokesman for District Attorney Seth Williams.
Kline disputed witnesses' version of events, saying Sen wasn't punched but rather "fell over" after she "walked into the scrum."
"[Chisholm] didn't do anything wrong; the public defender was knocked down in the course of him handling the defendant," Kline said.
But the incident earned Jones new charges: He's now in jail on $2,500 bail for terroristic threats, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, court records show. He'd been in court on Friday to stand trial on similar charges stemming from a Feb. 21 offense, court records show.
Sen said she was "deeply offended" that Kline denied she was assaulted.
"It is ridiculous to think that I would jump into a fight involving at least six police officers and then just somehow fall," Sen said. "This young man was attacked. It was unprovoked, and I was collateral damage. If this is how these officers behave in the Criminal Justice Center with that many potential witnesses, how do they act on the streets when there are no witnesses?"
Full Story:
Cop s scuffle with suspect leaves attorney injured
How do they act on the streets?
Well, cameras in the hands of ordinary people are telling us that police murder, torture, rape, steal, lie and file false police reports. And more. Much more. What could possibly be more over the line than the threat "If you keep pushing this, we are going to have a conversation"? Worse still, they get away with it far too often.
Best thing these lawyers could do would be to file civil suits against these players and their managers, then move the trial to a different area. Obviously, this district area has serious problems. Just as obviously, this cop needs to explain his behavior to a jury.
Paula Sen was hit in the head when a police officer allegedly threw a punch at an agitated defendant in a courthouse hallway last week. (PHOTO: BRADLEY BRIDGE)
DANA DiFILIPPO | Daily News Staff Writer
Last updated: Thursday, April 16, 2015
MORE THAN a half-dozen Philadelphia police officers jumped and beat an agitated defendant in a hallway outside a Criminal Justice Center courtroom last Friday, a takedown in which an officer's errant fist punched a female public defender in the head, the defender and other witnesses said.
.......
"The officers overstepped their authority," said longtime lawyer Richard Hoy, who was sitting on a hallway bench when the violence erupted a few feet away. "He was no threat to anybody. He was loud and obnoxious. He wasn't threatening them - or anybody. The officers are there to protect people, but they didn't protect anybody. They abused their power."
The incident started about 11 a.m. last Friday, when a court crier in Courtroom 706 ordered Jones to remove his hat and then booted him out when he became upset, Sen said.
In the hallway, Jones yelled and cursed, and Sen hurried to defuse things, Hoy and Sen said. (Sen didn't represent Jones, but her employer, the Defender Association of Philadelphia, did.)
About a dozen officers stood gathered down the corridor, Hoy said.
...........
Of Jones, Hoy said: "There was obviously something wrong with him. But [the] PD [public defender] had him 75 percent calmed down."
Still, about six officers suddenly swarmed, Sen said.
"A very large officer got into [Jones'] face and was yelling at us," said the petite Sen, who is 105 pounds and stands 5-foot-3. "I was scared for [our] client. I stood directly in front of him with my arms outspread. I said: 'Everybody, calm down.' I was just trying to get people to act like grown-ups."
Instead, Officer David Chisholm lunged and swung his arm, Sen said, adding, "I think the intent was to put [Jones] in a chokehold and take him to the ground."
But Chisholm's fist caught Sen in the back of the head and knocked her to the floor, as he took Jones down, she said.
Chisholm and two other officers punched the downed defendant several times as more officers piled on, handcuffing him and dragging him to his feet, Hoy and Sen said.
"He was bleeding fairly profusely and the cops continued taunting him," Sen said, adding that while she was treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for bumps and bruises, police did not take Jones for medical care.
When the hubbub subsided, and Hoy told an officer he had seen no need for violence, "the officer told me to 'mind your own f---ing business,' " Hoy said.
And when one of Sen's supervisors arrived to investigate, Chisholm allegedly refused to identify himself.
"He said: 'If you let these animals act like this, this is what happens,' and, 'If you keep pushing this, we are going to have a conversation,' " said Jordan Barnett, chief of the Defender Association's Southwest Division. "I find it troubling that the officer would refuse to give his name and make statements like that in a public courthouse."
...............
The officers will not be charged, said Cameron Kline, spokesman for District Attorney Seth Williams.
Kline disputed witnesses' version of events, saying Sen wasn't punched but rather "fell over" after she "walked into the scrum."
"[Chisholm] didn't do anything wrong; the public defender was knocked down in the course of him handling the defendant," Kline said.
But the incident earned Jones new charges: He's now in jail on $2,500 bail for terroristic threats, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, court records show. He'd been in court on Friday to stand trial on similar charges stemming from a Feb. 21 offense, court records show.
Sen said she was "deeply offended" that Kline denied she was assaulted.
"It is ridiculous to think that I would jump into a fight involving at least six police officers and then just somehow fall," Sen said. "This young man was attacked. It was unprovoked, and I was collateral damage. If this is how these officers behave in the Criminal Justice Center with that many potential witnesses, how do they act on the streets when there are no witnesses?"
Full Story:
Cop s scuffle with suspect leaves attorney injured
How do they act on the streets?
Well, cameras in the hands of ordinary people are telling us that police murder, torture, rape, steal, lie and file false police reports. And more. Much more. What could possibly be more over the line than the threat "If you keep pushing this, we are going to have a conversation"? Worse still, they get away with it far too often.
Best thing these lawyers could do would be to file civil suits against these players and their managers, then move the trial to a different area. Obviously, this district area has serious problems. Just as obviously, this cop needs to explain his behavior to a jury.
