8 Springfield, MA. officers named in police brutality lawsuit.

A Westfield man is suing eight police officers in federal court, alleging brutality and arguing in his lawsuit that police roughed him up and broke his ankle during a 2008 arrest in the city’s club quarter.

Guy Larkins, 37, was arrested just before 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 16, 2008, as the bars let out on Worthington Street, according to a police report. He was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer following a dispute with a woman in a bar, police said.

Larkins’ lawsuit states that once he had surrendered to police, “he was violently taken to the ground.”

“One officer stepped on his right foot, while another officer tackled him from behind, intentionally breaking his ankle,” states the complaint, filed Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court.

It further argues police made him hop through a metal detector and stand on his broken ankle while yelling at him: “We’re not doctors, we can’t do nothing for you!” and “Jesus Christ, what a baby!”

Larkins was arrested by Toledo and Ward, and his pleas for medical help were generally ignored by the others, the lawsuit said. Randolph flatly refused him medical attention, it says, and Aguirre taunted him during the booking process.


Link:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/westfield_police_brutality_law.html