Woman claims officer berated her as she grieved

[Sequoia]

A Lake County woman and her husband have filed a $1.4 million federal civil-rights lawsuit against Burlingame police, accusing an officer of berating and belittling her as she wailed over her brother's death.

Officer Jarel Peters shoved Angela Ostini into a chair, yelled at her and threatened to haul her in for a mental evaluation if she didn't stop crying, according to the suit the couple filed last week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Peters said something to the effect of, "Listen, b -- , who do you think you are? You are not the only one that ever lost someone close to you! My brother-in-law blew his brains out two weeks ago!" the suit said.

"It was the worst experience of my life," Ostini, 54, said Thursday through tears in a phone interview from her home in Nice. "He tortured me. He took away my rights. He used his badge as a weapon against a citizen who did nothing. I just learned my brother died."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/23/BAGFRO9U6C1.DTL

[redqueen]

1. I wonder if the other officer tried to say something...

to his partner.

What a sad situation... and the neighbors... how neighborly of them. Ugh.

[Dorian Gray]

2. Very sad

losing a family member is horrible. We all grieve differently. Her last quote, however, was strange. This one incident makes her mistrust all law enforcement, including her own husband, who works for the Sheriff? She looks at HIM (her husband) differently?

I also don't know if a lawsuit of 1.4 million $ is warranted. An apology and some act of contrition from the police department should suffice. But, I suspect she's not acting rationally in her grief.

[WinkyDink]

19. Excuse me?? It's that NUT COP who wasn't "acting rationally".

Is even grieving to be policed??

[LSK]

3. what the fuck is going on with cops in this country???

:wtf:

[frogcycle]

4. how is one cop's apparent problem dealing with with a personal tragedy

extrapolated to "cops in this country?"

get real

[CBGLuthier]

8. You must not follow the news

First the two assholes in Kansas City that refused a bleeding pregnant woman's pleas including belittling her and the next day (after a night in jail) she lost the baby.

Then there were the lovely examples of the "finest" who arrested a RAPE victim because of an outstanding warrant.

Shootings left and right. Tasering as an occupational sport.

To repeat and amplify. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE COPS IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!

[frogcycle]

11. so comment on those

and yes, I read the news.

[CBGLuthier]

17. We have, as each has happened

And the trend is that the police in this country are getting more fascist and brutal every day.

But then again, so is the whole god damn country.

We are heading down a dark and dangerous road that may just be a dead end.

[LSK]

9. sorry, I just happened to read this a few min ago too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=272761&mesg_id=272761

[kestrel91316]

12. You must not have ever had to deal with LAPD. They are notoriously

cold, uncaring, even rude and hostile to crime VICTIMS. I know from personal experience, and I'm a white woman, medical professional, business owner.

They're REALLY not nice to minorities and the underclasses here.

SFPD being the same is no big surprise. IMHO cops are fascists with their own little publically-funded gang.

[Sequoia]

15. Uh boy, do I have expereinces with the LAPD.

The CHP is another matter, they were nice to me.

[kestrel91316]

16. Yeah, CHP are gentlemen. LAPD are knuckledragging thugs.

[Sequoia]

24. Now, now...did I say that?

Our car broke down near Coalville or Oilville, out in the middle of nowhere and it was dark okay. We were in a little side road in a orchard of some sort when we spotted a CHP car coming down the road. I had a baby at the time carrying her as we are walking towards somewhere, and he pulled up and told us he never comes down that road but at the last moment got off the freeway to cruise down the dark road and saw us. Lucky us had AAA and got the car to a hotel and in the morning we started right up. Then, that afternoon near Fort Tijon the car broke down again, and yet another CHP dude came to our rescue called a tow truck and we spent some time at the Fort until my brother-in-law come up from Los Angeles.

By the way that car was a Cadillac which tends to overheat a lot and I hate them, those crappy cheap cars. My dad had one when I was a kid and we spent our vaction at garages and pulling over along the side of Blue Ridge Parkway because that car too overheated all the time. I will never ever own one of those lemons.

And the LAPD, well he was kind to give me a ticket for jay walking in Venice where others were jay walking and I ended up doing community service, but that's the nice LAPD story. But then again, I used to go out for a brew or two after work with LAPD cops so you get good apples and bad apples and I'm reading The Onion Field right now.

[frogcycle]

23. you all miss my point

I agree that the current warmongering and rights-canceling atmosphere is emboldening domestic terrorists, some of whom masquerade as cops. NO ARGUMENT!

My point was that this particular article is not a particularly compelling example. The tendency for many, on either end of the political spectrum, to latch on to every tidbit and say "see there, i told you so" diminishes their credibility and makes them (both RW and LW) sound like chicken little.

It is a generally biased attitude. One has an opinion, and then all facts support that opinion. To a racist, one African American on welfare is enough to elicit a "see there, they are all shiftless and lazy and taking my hard-earned tax dollars"

I don't like that coming from any quarter. It diminishes dialogue and turns every discussion into a Jerry Springer show.

[fla nocount]

6. Remember the guy in high school

Who couldn't get a date, who didn't make the team, who couldn't make the grade, who's momma dressed him funny........yep, that's him.

[WinkyDink]

20. Now, see, I'd have figured it WAS the guy who made the team, the fawned-over, the party-animal.

Still could've been a momma's boy, though. On 'roids.

[Wcross]

5. She has the right to feel offended but.........

1.4 million? She is due an apology and that is all. Why should the taxpayers reward her for an officers breach of etiquette?

[Lars39]

10. Threatening someone with an involuntary psych eval

goes beyond a "breach of etiquette". It's an abuse of power.
Looks like the PD was lax in evaluating the officer, imo.

[WinkyDink]

21. "Etiquette"?? OMG. A damn THREAT is not "a breach of etiquette".

The cop didn't e-mail a wedding-present thank-you. THAT is a BoE.

[Solo_in_MD]

7. The suit seems silly on the face of it...maybe she should just go the Jerry Springer route instead

[ensho]

13. you think grieving is silly? you think the cop had a right to push

her into a chair and tell her to stop grieving?

are you human?

[WinkyDink]

22. Have you ever faced an angry or even insistent cop? Now add stunned grief, and yes,

that cop needs his a** SUED.

And do you even know of the Jerry Springer Show? JS would not likely side with the cop, let me tell you, but his show is about co-equals---friend, lovers, relatives.

[Tsiyu]

14. Some people have a sadistic streak that shows when other humans cry

or show fear.

It sucks when that streak is found in a public servant.

Cruelty is king, these days, too.

[WinkyDink]

18. THIS will be the excuse: Cop was "distraught".

"My brother-in-law blew his brains out two weeks ago!" the suit said.

Here's the nitty-gritty, for those who are trivializing this:
This was an armed authority-figure male ASSAULTING and further THREATENING an unarmed female citizen, not suspected of criminal activity, in her grief.

[BreweryYardRat]

25. Sounds like two people getting messed up by their respective grieving...

...and freaking out at each other. The cop, however, had a duty to keep his own grief under wraps while on duty, or take leave until he'd dealt with it.