Cop ordered to pay victim $250,000 out of own pocket.

[Bob Hubbard]

I thought the towns usually took the heat when a rogue cop goes vicious? I mean, this guy sounds like someone lawyers love and taxpayers loathe. I don't think I've come across a case at this level where a cop when found guilty got hit personally. I've seen the big busts where people are fired, get locked up, etc. But this is the first "out of own pocket" I've seen.




Atlantic City Cop Ordered to Pay $250,000 From Own Pocket to Citizen He Abused
http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2...cop-ordered-pay-250000-pocket-suspect-abused/

The cop is none other than Sterling Wheaton of the Atlantic City Police Department, whom we became familiar with back in September when he drove up to a group of five fellow officers beating on a suspect and sicced his dog on him in an incident caught on surveillance video.
Then we later learned that Wheaton was already named a defendant in three unrelated lawsuits alleging abuse over the five previous years, including one where he is accused of ripping the phone out of the hands of woman recording him, only for her never to see the phone again.
Now we are learning that another of those three lawsuits involved him beating up a prosecutor from the state attorney’s office nonetheless, which is probably the last person you want to beat up if you’re one of these ******* cops like Wheaton who think they can do whatever they want.
A jury awarded Michael Troso $500,000, half which the city must pay, the other half which Wheaton must pay, who incredulously, is still employed by the Atlantic City Police Department, despite the liability he has proven to be.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_0a849eb0-6901-11e3-8a37-001a4bcf887a.html

A jury awarded a man a half-million dollars this week after finding that Atlantic City police Officer Sterling Wheaten used excessive force in a 2008 arrest and that the city did not properly train him.

Wheaten must pay half of the award, or $250,000 in compensatory damages. The jury found he did not owe punitive damages, which are assessed to punish a defendant.

The city is responsible for the other half.

A separate suit pending against Wheaten in federal court will include opening up the full Internal Affairs reports against him and another officer accused of excessive force in an incident at Caesars Dusk nightclub in 2010. That suit revealed Wheaten had 26 complaints filed against him from Sept. 19, 2008, to April 26, 2012. One was marked “administratively closed,” while he was cleared of the rest.
That does not include a videotaped apprehension Wheaten made of Connor Castellani this summer shortly after joining the K-9 Unit. A lawsuit by the family alleges the dog was put on Castellani after he was already under control by several officers and that Wheaten also punched the man. No outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation into that case has been released.

The 2nd link has more details on the actual case, including 4 other officers were cleared of wrongdoing.

 

[ballen0351]

Hard to pay a fine when your in prison and if those stories are true that's where he should be

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I liked the specification that the $250k was non-punitive. Has to mean something legally I'm not aware of because getting a bill for that would be pretty painful to most folks I know.

 

[Makalakumu]

Do LEOs have to buy insurance for this type of thing?

 

[ballen0351]

Do LEOs have to buy insurance for this type of thing?

No

 

[Scott T]

No

Good.