After Black Teen Expressed Contempt at White Rochester Cops who Unlawfully Stopped Him to Examine His Bottle of Juice, said Cops Grabbed Him by the Neck, Punched & Maced Him During False Arrest

From [HERE] and [HERE] New claims of police brutality and excessive force by another white Rochester police officer were filed Friday. The lawsuit claims a 16-year-old Black boy was beaten, handcuffed, and then pepper sprayed in the back of a police car.

The teen's mother says she cried when she found out what happened and the teen's lawyer, Rochester City School Board President and civil rights attorney Van White, says the policeman involved should be criminally charged just like anyone else who beat someone up would be.

According to the lawsuit, on May 25, Maddox was approached by officers who believed he was drinking alcohol. But, the lawsuit states, Maddox was only drinking a bottle of juice he bought from a store on his way home from school.

LARKEN ROSE STATES, It is very telling that many modern “law enforcers” quickly become angry, even violent, when an average citizen simply speaks to the “officer” as an equal, instead of assuming the tone and demeanor of a subjugated underling. Again, this reaction is precisely the same – and has the same cause – as the reaction a slave master would have to an “uppity” slave speaking to him as an equal… The state mercenaries refer to this lack of groveling as someone having an “attitude.” In their eyes, someone treating them as mere mortals, as if they are on the same level as everyone else, amounts to showing disrespect for their alleged “authority.”

Similarly, anyone who does not consent to be detained, questioned, or searched by “officers of the law” is automatically perceived, by the mercenaries of the state, as some sort of troublemaker who has something to hide. Again, the real reason such lack of “cooperation” annoys authoritarian enforcers is because it amounts to people treating them as mere humans instead of treating them as superior beings, which is what they imagine themselves to be. [MORE]

During the incident, Maddox says he was handcuffed, but later released. As he walked away, the lawsuit says he called on of the officers, Perelli, a name. The lawsuit doesn't specify what exactly was said.

But, according to Maddox, the utterance led to Perelli slapping then grabbing Maddox around the neck. At that point, the lawsuit alleges:

After violently attacking Mr. Maddox, several officers wrestled Mr. Maddox down to the ground. After these officers wrestled Mr. Maddox to the ground, Defendant Perelli began to punch Mr. Maddox repeatedly – who at that point was completely defenseless.

After putting handcuffs on Mr. Maddox for a second time, officers placed Mr. Maddox in the back of a police vehicle.  Once Mr. Maddox was secure in the vehicle, Defendant Perelli sprayed mace on Mr. Maddox as he sat a defenseless and handcuffed in the back of the police vehicle. With the vehicle windows and doors closed, Mr. Maddox could barely breath. In court documents, Maddox's attorney Van White alleges that this was done "in order to torture" his client.

Maddox was charged with resisting arrest, harassment and a violation of the alcohol beverage and container law. The lawsuit says after the arrest, Maddox was taken to Monroe County Jail, but the charges against him were ultimately dropped by the district attorney's office.

In other words, after he was unlawfully stopped for having juice, he was unlawfully searched and detained [put in handcuffs]. Then after he was released a white cop initiated a criminal assault against him. Subsequently he was falsely arrested, incarcerated and faced a malicious prosecution that ultimately was dropped. The system of white supremacy/racism is based on violence and predicated upon black people's belief in many, many lies. The 4th Amendment so-called right to be free from unreasonable seizures and searches and right “to be secure" or to move freely without apprehension of oppression as you come and go is one of those lies. Brazen cops so frequently abuse their power that no Black motorist, juvenile, adult or professional of any kind—could make a compelling argument that constitutional rights afford Black people any real protection from the Government. 

During a news conference on Friday, White played a clip showing surveillance video of the altercation. The teen's family and White say the damage he suffered was unfair and shows a severe problem with the Rochester Police Department.   

"He doesn't feel safe, not even walking the streets, not going to the rec center, not doing anything. He is very afraid of the police," said Lucrecia Maddox, mother of the teen. 

"If you saw that happening to somebody you love, you would be saying 'what is wrong with that police officer? And what is wrong with a system or police department that would let him and others treat people that way,'" added White.