(message to non-white people: you are not in Utopia) Reading (PA) to pay $250,000 to Black Man in "Mistaken Identity" Brain Damage Beating by Police Officer

While walking down the street Mr. Nunez looked up and saw a white police officer charging at him. He was not engaged in any criminal activity. The police were responding to a description in a radio run for a Black man wearing a grey sweatshirt. He did not make any threatening movements and no weapons were visible. According to the Supreme Court under such circumstances the police did not have any lawful basis to stop him [MORE]. To victims of white supremacy, such rules have little meaningful value in the instant moment - & to the extent that a white supremacist has anything to do with it, such rules may also have no value later on in court (white judges, jurors & prosecutors do not want to believe that a uniformed white officer is a liar).  Nunez ran. When dealing with police never run. You have been labeled as an enemy from birth by color. In a system of white supremacy - you are not in a position to show opposition to police - just comply [MORE]. From [HERE] and [HERE] The city acknowledged Wednesday that it has agreed to settle for $250,000 a federal suit brought by Reading resident Francis Nunez, a Black man whose skull was fractured in May 2009 when a city police officer beat him with a heavy flashlight in a case of "mistaken identity."

Above his left eye, cuts and abrasions mingle with patches of new pink skin. A large C-shaped scar on the right side of his skull marks where surgeons operated on his brain. His nose is as misshapen as a boxer's. After leading police on a brief middle-of-the-night foot chase Nunez, 22, was beaten with a heavy-duty flashlight by a Reading officer who outweighed him by more than 100 pounds.  [MORE]

The officer, Mark S. Groff, was fired a month later for other reasons. Groff also sued the city, but a federal jury upheld the firing in December. Nunez, now 26, was seeking more than $500,000 in the suit that claimed Groff's use of excessive force caused him severe and permanent brain and facial injuries. He had undergone emergency surgery and spent a week in the hospital.

Nunez was walking west in the 1000 block of Robeson Street about 3:30 a.m. May 14, 2009, when Groff pulled up in his police car and charged at him. Groff responded to an accident at 10th and Spring streets a half-hour earlier and was told someone walked away from the scene wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt.

Groff began a search, and saw two men walking on Robeson Street. One of them, Nunez, was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt.

When Groff charged, Nunez ran, jumped over a wooden fence but fell on the other side and was having trouble getting to his feet when Groff caught up to him. Nunez said he put his hands up and wasn't threatening. 

Groff ordered him to the ground, and when he did, Groff said he hit him three times with the metal flashlight, then pounced on him. The flashlight rolled away and Groff said he began using his fists. He claimed Nunez - though prone - continued to resist until backup arrived. The beating caused a subdural hematoma, or bleeding on the brain. 

Police said later that when Groff was trying to arrest Nunez, Nunez pulled a silver object from his waistband. Police later learned the object was a pair of pliers.

City solicitor Charles D. Younger declined to comment on the settlement. Nunez's attorney, Robin J. Gray, could not be reached for comment.

Groff was fired in large part for repeatedly fraternizing with the Pagans motorcycle gang while he was off-duty and violating a contract clause banning police from associating with a felon or someone with a reputation for criminal behavior, city officials said.

He also was accused of alcohol abuse and lying during the internal affairs probe.

However, the official allegations against him did not specifically include the Nunez incident.

City sources said that if they had, the settlement would have been for a far larger amount.