Parents sue Winslow Police (PA) - Officers Beat Black Man to Death in front of Convenience Store
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The suit alleges that officers held the man down, collectively using excessive force as he lay in the prone position |
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PHILADELPHIA — The family of a Waterford Township man who died during a scuffle with police has filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging authorities and civilians caused the man's death while an officer attempted to make an illegal arrest. Keith Briscoe's parents, Keith Robinson and Virgin Briscoe, allege in the federal lawsuit filed last month that their son was going through his usual routine when he stopped for a soda at the Winslow Township Wawa on May 3. Briscoe was treated for schizophrenia as an outpatient at the nearby Steininger Behavior Care Services. "It just amazes me that someone can go to a Wawa to get a cup of coffee or something cold to drink and end up dead," said Woodbury lawyer Stanley King, who filed the lawsuit and alleged that Winslow officers are poorly trained in dealing with the mentally ill.
Richards told authorities he heard Briscoe ask a passerby for money, but Briscoe's family has insisted that he was always given the money he needed and had no reason to panhandle. On his way out of the Wawa, Richards confronted Briscoe a second time and attempted to arrest him when Briscoe refused to leave, be handcuffed, or get into Richards' cruiser. According to the lawsuit, the situation quickly escalated as the Wawa manager ran to assist the officer and held Briscoe's legs while two customers also jumped in to help. All are named as defendants in the lawsuit. "As Briscoe was lying facedown in the rain, Richards was pressing one knee into the back of Briscoe's head and the other knee into Briscoe's shoulder," the lawsuit said. Other officers responded as well, some coming from nearby Pine Hill and Berlin. The lawsuit alleges that several officers held Briscoe down, collectively using excessive force as he lay in the prone position. "Throughout the ordeal Briscoe grunted and screamed," the lawsuit said. "He kept asking the defendant to let him get up, stating that they were hurting him." Eventually Briscoe lay dead. A medical examiner concluded he died of traumatic asphyxia. Briscoe stopped breathing shortly after he was handcuffed. According to the lawsuit, Briscoe suffered rib fractures, head trauma and abrasions over his body. |
Richards, the officer who initially attempted to arrest Briscoe, pleaded guilty in October to simple assault. As a part of his plea, he is barred from being an officer.
Officials with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said Richards was charged because his initial attempt to arrest Briscoe was illegal. However, because resisting arrest is illegal even in cases of unlawful arrest, officials found the use of force to detain him after he resisted was lawful and not excessive.
But in the lawsuit, King argues the officers did use excessive force, a practice the suit alleges Winslow, Pine Hill and Berlin Borough departments often overlooked and tolerated.
According to the lawsuit, Winslow police investigated 20 complaints of excessive force from 2004 to 2009. None of the complaints was ruled as sustained.
Similarly, none of the five excessive force complaints investigated by Pine Hill police during the same period was ruled as sustained either. Pine Hill, Berlin Borough nor Winslow officials returned calls for comment.
