This happened in Pinellas county Florida in Feb 2005. This is a case of police brutality, witness tampering/ obstruction of justice and evidence tampering. This is my boyfriends story and of the hell we have been going through.
Daniel went out to explore our new home area of Largo and Saint Petersburg, Florida. I had been very sick the week we moved there and he had been in taking care of me and working his new job that he had started the week before. He went out at 10 pm on a Friday to explore and to play a few games of pool and had a couple of beers. About 2 am he started to drive down Ulmerton going home. Ground fog was very heavy that night. As he passed a gas station/store he saw a sheriffs car pull out and start to follow him. He wasn't worried as he had a valid license and a new truck. He was paying to much attention to the sheriffs car that was following him and didn't notice that the road came to a fork with a right lane solid line, it was hard to see due to the fog, he was in the right lane and realized he needed to go straight and instead of going to the right he stayed straight and crossed the solid white line. The sheriffs car was in the left lane and also going straight and thats why he was pulled over. He was asked if he'd had anything to drink and he told him he had a couple of beers earlier but was not intoxicated. He was given a field test and only missed stepped once on one leg which he felt was not bad for a 52 year old man. He was asked why his eyes were watery and Dan explained to him he'd had a cold. The sheriff told him he was taking him in. He put Dan in the car with no problem. Daniel is very polite to officers. They went to the booking area to get signed in and then over to the Breathalyzer machine. The officer and Daniel were at this time were uncomfortable with each other. Dan refused to blow due to the fact the same officer was going to operate the machine and Dan asked that someone else do the machine due to the fact that was the officer was the same one charging him with DUI. The officer got very upset at this point and would not uncuff him. He was taken to a room for an interview still cuffed and it was videoed. This is the only tape left of this all others were taped over. He was taken back to booking, there were people sitting in chairs waiting their turn. Dan was standing there still cuffed with his hands behind his back, thinking about our new phone number and address as I had the phone just turned on that day and he couldn't remember the new number or the street address of the campgrounds that we were staying in, He was suddenly tackled and knocked off his feet, the officer was on top of him punching him, then another two officers ran up to them and tasered Dan multiple times all over his stomach, chest and upper thigh, he couldn't even yell out, he was paralyzed. He told them to stop but they wouldn't. He heard at least 2 other people in front of them yelling at the officers to "Stop you are killing him" they were told to shut up or they were next! They picked him up and put him in a holding cell and then removed his cuffs. In the jail the doctor had his blood pressure taken twice a day due to the fact the tasering had given him very high blood pressure. He now has pre-hypertension that sometimes raises to hypertension levels. He has burn marks on his stomach from the tasering. To cover up this he is now charged with a L.E.O. and DUI. I have since found out this happened the week before Pinellas county was voting to raise the taser voltage level. The Officers are now claiming Dan kicked him and was violent when he stopped him but dropped that one. They have now stated this happened in another room , with no wittiness except the three officers. That any video's of this have been destroyed or taped over. Officer now states he was sitting down when he supposedly kicked him. Booking has the list of names of the people who saw this but state now says their are none. Public Defender are over worked and can not take the time to handle this properly. Dan has stated from day one that he is willing to take a polygraph to prove he is Innocent but is todl by public defenders that they won't do it and the officers who are guilty do not have to take one. We have gone through 4 or 5 public defenders and 3 DA's. We are looking for an attorney who will sue the state on brutality and take the L.E.O. and DUI with it. Please help! I can be reached at my email address
brutalmeister@msn.com or at my daughters at 337-918-6058
Need An Attorney Who Does Civil And Criminal Law In Florida, Help
