Jury Believed Broward Sheriffs 'Freddie Gray Defense'- Black Man Did It to Himself: Skull Fracture, Facial Fracture & Chipped Teeth from a Fall

From [HERE] A Miami jury on Friday cleared three Broward Sheriff's Office deputies accused of using excessive force in a beating that left a 20-year-old man with a factured skull and other injuries.

"I'm thrilled my clients have been vindicated and this was the right result," David Ferguson, attorney representing the deputies, said in federal civil court where a jury of eight had spent the week hearing two contradictory versions of Bryan Atkinson's Aug. 17, 2013, arrest in North Lauderdale.

Deputies Dimitri French, Eddy Hernandez and Todd Yoder were accused in a civil lawsuit of using excessive force and delivering a viscious beating that fractured Atkinson's skull, part of his face and caused a brain bleed during the arrest.

Each deputy testified there had been no beating.

They said that Atkinson injured himself when he fell and landed face first on a sidewalk while running away from the deputies during a traffic stop. They said he fell and then got tackled when he tried to get up and run again.

The 24-year-old says the deputies beat, stomped and kicked him into unconsciousness. And an emergency room trauma surgeon testified that “a picture is worth a thousand words.

With a photograph displayed on a projector of Atkinson in a hospital bed wearing a neck brace, a softball-sized lump on his forehead, and his lips caked in dried blood, Greg Lauer, lawyer for Atkinson, gave his opening statement.

“Bryan remembers before he was knocked unconscious, before his skull was fractured, being surrounded by three deputies who said: ‘If you run like a b----, we’re going to beat you like a b----.’

“And that’s what they did.”

Atkinson awoke in the hospital’s ICU with a brain bleed, a skull fracture and a facial fracture running from his forehead to his lower cheekbone and two chipped teeth, Lauer said.

Atkinson told jurors he ditched his car and ran from police in a panic over an illegal vehicle tag but came to his senses, fell to his hands and knees and surrendered. He said that's when the trio of deputies converged, kicking, punching and stomping him until he passed out.

Two neurosurgeons who treated Atkinson in the emergency room at Broward Health Medical Center said it was doubtful his injuries came from a fall.

“I did not believe that what I was seeing was consistent with a fall. I did not believe that story,” trauma surgeon Ralph Guarneri told jurors. He dictated into his medical report that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Neurosurgeon Amos Stoll concurred: “It seemed like his injuries were not consistent with a fall, you wouldn’t expect this much injury in this many places.”

Atkinson, a graduate of Lauderhill High School, worked at Burger King at the time and was slated to begin studying auto mechanics at a vocational school. He had no criminal record. Tests for alcohol and drugs came back negative and no gun was ever found, Lauer said.

After 10 hours of deliberations over two days, the jury sided with the deputies in a verdict reached around 4 p.m. on Friday. The jury found that Hernandez and French had used force but it was justified, not excessive, unreasonable or illegal.

They found Yoder used no force at all.

Earlier in the day, the jury had sent a note to the judge saying they were hung, as they had been when they convened that morning and when they went home the night before.

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro instructed them to keep trying. Three hours later, they had a unanimous verdict.

As the jury's verdict was announced, sighs of relief were audible around the defense table followed by an exchange of salutes, smiles and hugs. Yoder held his eyes closed for a prolonged moment. French raised a finger as if signaling a higher authority. Hernandez stared blankly.

Atkinson looked downcast as he left the courtroom with his mother.

He had asked for compensatory damages for pain and suffering in the range of $500,000 to $750,000. He also had asked jurors to assess punitive damages equal to one year of the deputies' annual salaries, which range from about $65,000 to $80,000.

Atkinson's lawyer, Greg Lauer said after the verdict that he found it inconceivable that anyone could have thought his client's injuries came from a fall.

"This is just another example of how difficult it is to get a jury verdict against police officers in the line of duty without video evidence,'' he said. "Which is a really good reason why Sheriff Scott Israel should put body cameras on every one of his deputies."