Facts

On Nov. 15, 2008, Plaintiff Kenneth Carrethers was involved in an altercation with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officers, including then Officer Johannes Mehserle.

Carrethers alleged in his civil action that after he criticized BART police officers for being lazy and incompetent, and then walked away from the interaction, defendant Mehserle grabbed plaintiff from behind (it was undisputed at trial that there was no verbal warning by Mehserle prior to this physical contact being initiated), and took plaintiff to the ground using a leg sweep. Defendants testified that the take down was necessary because Carrethers had raised his fist in a manner that suggested he was about to attack another officer.

Plaintiff Carrethersalleged that the five defendant Officers then "piled on" top of plaintiff, kicked and punched him, hog tied him, and carried him by the strap of the hog tie to a police car.

Defendants argued that they used force because Carrethers was resisting arrest, and deny that a hog-tie occurred. Plaintiff was subsequently transported to the hospital for medical treatment, and then incarcerated. The criminal charges against plaintiff (threatening an officer and resisting arrest) were ultimately dismissed upon the District Attorney's motion, due to insufficient evidence.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff alleged that the defendant Officers retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment right to criticize the police, arrested and prosecuted him without having a valid basis to do so, and used excessive force and battered him during the arrest.

At trial, central issues were the defendant Officers' failure to follow procedure requiring documentation of the force used, and defendants' admitted failure to collect video of the incident (cameras blanketed the Coliseum station), and admitted failure to obtain citizen witness statements (despite there being multiple officers on the scene and a large number of citizens in the Coliseum station).

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that Plaintiff Carrethers cursed at the officers and raised his fist toward one of the Officers. Defendants denied that Carrethers was hog-tied.

Damages

Carrethers sought compensatory and economic damages, as well as general, punitive, and exemplary damages against the Officers. He also sought attorney fees and costs and other relief. Plaintiff requested that the jury return a "significant" verdict in the 7 figures.

Result

The jury decided that Mehserle and the other defendant Officers behaved lawfully in forcibly arresting plaintiff Carrethers. Judgment was entered in favor of defendants.

Deliberation

six hours

Poll

7-0

Length

seven days