Remember Scott Olsen? He is the Iraq War vet who stood between Occupy Oakland protesters and the Oakland PD in an effort to show solidarity with the Occupy Movement and help keep the two groups apart.
A member of the OPD fired a "beanbag" round (or was it a teargas cannister?) which struck Scott in the head - fracturing his skull. When others from the Occupy crowd came to his aid, a flashbang was fired into their midst. Undaunted, they continued to help him and eventually carried him from the field to find him the aid of medical professionals.
This all happened in a place called Oscar Grant Plaza - named for the man who was murdered by a BART cop while he was being arrested and handcuffed - as he was face-down on the subway platform.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the event, here's a YouTube vid of it:
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All of this happened on October 25, 2011. Of course, the Oakland PD maintains that they did nothing wrong. Watching just the one-minute video clip to which I linked proves that to be a blatant lie.
Scott has filed against the City of Oakland, CA; the Oakland PD (OPD); Officer Robert Roche (the prick who lobbed the flashbang into the group trying to help the badly-injured Scott Olsen); and 50 (count 'em - 50!) John Doe cops. Nobody in OPD is willing to name the cop who fired the original, injurious round.
Mr. Olsen's suit does not ask for a specific amount in monetary compensation/damages. It also demands attorney's fees.
The filing isn't that long. You can read it here (Standard "PDF" Warning applies) at Scott Olsen's blog.
His injuries continue to plague him. I hope that he takes them to the cleaners! I also hope that the DOJ takes over that PD for a couple of years, weeds out the thugs, and sets some concrete rules for them to follow.
Thought you folks would want to know about Scott's lawsuit.
Celtic Merlin