Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/63/6342.asp

11/24/2017
Louisiana: Black Motorist Beaten For Pulling Over In Safe Location
Waiting to pull over in a safe, well-lit location resulted in police beat down for a black motorist in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Shreveport squad carA black motorist who failed to instantly pull over when a Shreveport, Louisiana police officer turned on his overhead lights ended up beaten and hospitalized. The young man, Gregory V. Tucker, last week sought $250,000 in compensation for his injuries in a lawsuit filed in a federal district court.

On December 1, 2016, Officer C.B. Cisco decided to order Tucker to pull over so that he could issue him a ticket for having a defective tail light. As it was after midnight, Tucker thought it would be safer to pull over in a well-lit location. He drove on slowly to his cousin's house and stopped in the driveway.

Infuriated, Officer Cisco ordered Tucker out of the car and told him to place his hands on the hood of the patrol car so he could be searched. Nothing was found, but three more officers arrived on the scene to handcuff Tucker, who was thrown to the ground and punched, according to the complaint, while the officers shouted "quit resisting." Tucker was later taken to the hospital, battered and bleeding, where he was treated for injuries. The incident was recorded on a dashcam.

The Rutherford Institute, a civil rights group based in Virginia, decided to take up Tucker's cause.

"What this case makes clear is how easy it is for Americans to be charged with any of the growing number of contempt of cop charges (ranging from resisting arrest and interference to disorderly conduct, obstruction, and failure to obey a police order) that get trotted out anytime a citizen exhibits anything short of total compliance to the police state," the group's president, John W. Whitehead, said in a statement.

This is not the first time Officer Cisco has been accused of impropriety. Earlier this year, a couple in Caddo Parish filed a lawsuit against the officer after they say they were falsely arrested. One of the plaintiffs in the suit was hospitalized after being denied her medication. The couple's suit faces dismissal after their attorney resigned from the case.

With the Rutherford Institute's backing, Tucker's suit seeks not only payment for his medical costs but also punitive damages for the violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.