Black Man to Get $10M. 3 White NJ Cops Pounced on His Back as he Laid in the Street and Stepped on his Neck, Cracking it Audibly. Paralyzed for Life. Cops Claim He Injured Himself [like Freddie Gray]

From [HERE] A Black man paralyzed in a 2014 police encounter with 4 white cops will get $10 million in what might be the largest police brutality settlement in state history.

The county agreed to a settlement last week after years of litigation and a mistrial was declared on March 29 in Camden federal court, when a jury became deadlocked on whether the officers were responsible for Ingram's injuries.

After the mistrial, the judge presiding over the case asked the magistrate judge to intercede and mediate to determine whether the parties could agree to a settlement. The county made the settlement offer that was approved by both parties, bringing the case to a resolution, Ingram's attorney Beth Baldinger told CNN.

The lawsuit accused the officer of using unnecessary, unjustified, excessive force, and of violating Ingram's right to be free of unlawful and unreasonable seizure as protected under the Constitution. The lawsuit also accused Merck of failing to provide medical care as required by their training and failing to intervene, which resulted in the violation of Ingram's constitutional and civil rights.

The incident occurred on June 12, 2014, when Ingram encountered three white county police officers who were on foot patrol conducting a 'sweep' of an apartment complex, according to the lawsuit. Ingram was walking to a liquor store where he met up with a friend, the lawsuit says. When he exited the store with his friend, the lawsuit alleges, he was approached by officers Gennetta and Marchiafava.

Ingram ran into the parking lot of a restaurant while the two officers continued to pursue him, according to the lawsuit, and then ran out into the street and he fell on a rain-slicked street. He surrendered while laying down on the ground with his hands in front of him.

[At this point it is not clear what he was under arrest for. Flight alone is not a basis for arrest - at least in regards to white citizens in the free range prison. As such, it appears that the arrest is unlawful. Apparently, the cops later found out that he had an outstanding warrant for a driving violation.]

That's when a Camden County police officer stepped on his neck, cracking it audibly. The officers stomped on the back of Ingram's neck and back and then proceeding to "viciously strike him," according to the lawsuit. One of the officers "placed his boot on the back of Ingram's neck and intentionally stepped down forcefully," causing him excruciating pain as he screamed for the officers to stop, according to the lawsuit's allegations.

Ingram said he fell on his side and that when Officers Gennetta and Marchiafava caught up, one put a knee on his neck while the other kneeled on his back. They punched and kneed him, he said. Officers Ingram said Merck ran up and, moments later, stepped on his neck.

“I never felt this pain before. It was hurting bad. Two, three seconds later, I blacked out,” he said in his deposition. 

The injuries that left him a quadriplegic, and that police worsened his situation by mishandling him in the wake of his injury.

The officers also failed to provide medical care despite hearing him complain of extreme pain in his neck and was unable to feel his arms and legs. The officers observed Ingram's state but forcefully moved him and failed to stabilize his spine in violation of their emergency medical training, the lawsuit claims says.

One witness said police were “whooping his ass” as he lay on the ground. There are also at least four eyewitnesses who have described what they saw of Ingram’s arrest either to police or in court filings, according to a report completed by one of the plaintiff’s experts. Three witnesses said they saw Ingram being assaulted by police, the report said, while one said he didn’t see any blows but saw police push Ingram’s head and neck down “aggressively.”

Ingram, now 25, will live the rest of his life in a hospital bed at a rehabilitation facility, unable to move anything below his neck. He eats and breathes through tubes surgically implanted in his body. According to his criminal attorney, Robert Dunn of Morristown, “He’s a quadriplegic in a nursing home and right now there’s no chance of him ever improving,” Dunn said. “Unless there’s a medical breakthrough.”

Police denied wrongdoing, saying the Black man caused his own injuries when he fell. In other words they lied to the public.

Dr. James J. Yue, an orthopaedic surgeon in Connecticut, Dr. William D. Matuozzi of Maryland, who specializes in radiology, and Paul C. Ivancic, a spinal biomechanics researcher from Connecticut were prepared to testify for Ingram. 

All three said they believe his injuries — a damaged spinal cord, a displaced vertebrae, and other issues — are consistent with force being applied to the back and side of his neck as he lay on his stomach with his head turned to the right.

They said the force it would take to cause such a violent injury is inconsistent with a slip and fall, and the lack of head trauma or swelling means he did not hit his head hard.

Yue said he believes that the first officer’s knee on Ingram’s neck started the dislocation of the vertebrae and that the compression from Merck’s foot on his neck completed or worsened the dislocation and caused the spinal cord injury.

The two doctors also concluded that the officers’ moving and dropping Ingram, after he repeated that he couldn’t feel his legs, made his injuries worse.

They said the force it would take to cause such a violent injury is inconsistent with a slip and fall, and the lack of head trauma or swelling means he did not hit his head hard. [MORE]

Ingram’s lawsuit contends one officer jumped on his back and two officers punched and kicked him “as soon as he hit the ground.” 

The city man alleged he “was screaming that he could not breathe and that he could not feel his legs” when a supervising officer, Jeremy Merck, told him to ‘shut up,’ stepped on his neck, and … Ingram heard it crack,” according to Simandle’s ruling.

Ingram’s lawsuit alleges excessive force by Merck and two other officers, Nicholas Marchiafava and Antonio Genetta. Among other claims, it also contends the officers showed deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of a person in custody.

Dickerson alleges excessive force against a fourth officer, Nigel Shockley.

This was before Camden cops had body cameras, so the only video of the incident is from one of department’s “eye in the sky” cameras, operated by staff at the police station. The quality of the video is poor, other than a 10-second span when the camera operator zooms in to the scene, but then zooms out again. 

It shows the two officers crouching and moving over Ingram’s body, and Merck running up to join them.

Previously, when the court denied the white cop’s motion for immunity a judge disputed the defense claim that the surveillance video supported the officers’ actions against both men. Simandle said the video “is of such low quality that it cannot be used to definitively ascertain the amount of force” that police used in arresting both men.

The judge also said officers involved in the incident could not claim legal immunity for their actions, asserting a jury might find they had knowingly violated the men’s civil rights.

The settlement reached last week still needs approval from a federal judge.

"Based on the settlement, the county maintains, and continues to maintain, that no wrongdoing took place and is not liable for any of the actions and circumstances of the aforementioned incident," Camden County spokesperson Dan Keashen said in an email to abc7. The government never does anything wrong and is accountable to no one, unless It says so. "Based on the settlement the county maintains, and continues to maintain, that no wrong doing took place and is not liable for any of the actions and circumstances of the aforementioned incident,"