Occupy Oakland protesters hit by car sue

[alp227]

Source: SF Chronicle

Two Occupy Oakland protesters hit by a car as they marched down Broadway during the movement's general strike filed a lawsuit Friday against the vehicle's owner.

Lance Laverdure, 29, of Fremont and Margaret So, 36, of Oakland were hit by the driver of a silver Mercedes-Benz at 11th Street and Broadway about 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2. BART police, who were first on the scene, briefly interviewed the driver and got his information, decided he wasn't drunk and let him go. They turned over the investigation to Oakland police.

No charges have been filed against the driver, whose name is not publicly known.

But Laverdure and So filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court against Sara Abu-Nasser of Davis, saying her family owned the Mercedes that hit them. Their attorney, Carla Minnard, said she believes Abu-Nasser was sitting next to her boyfriend when he hit her clients, a crash that was caught on amateur video.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/17/BA1G1NMG0C.DTL

[sakabatou]

1. Again?!

What happened to that first driver? Did he get off scott free?

[lunatica]

2. Good. If the video shows the driver hitting them, he's toast.

And I hope the police who let him go get punished.

[Booby]

9. Agreed

[Downtown Hound]

3. They should sue the cops also for failing to enforce the law

I have a hard time believing that that driver would have escaped prosecution if he had hit anybody other than an OWS protester. That was a blatant hit and run. The guy didn't even stop after he plowed through him.

How is that legal again? Fuck the piece of shit domestic terrorist police. They'll go out of their way to make life miserable for protesters but let a dangerous felon go free.

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. Probably can't sue the cops- there is no right to police protection.

See Castle Rock v. Gonzales and DeShaney v. Winnebago County

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-278.ZS.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Rock_v._Gonzales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeShaney_v._Winnebago_County

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0489_0189_ZS.html

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Nope

The courts have repeatedly ruled that the police have NO obligation to enforce the law. In NC back in the 80's, the Forsythe Co. sheriff's department allowed unsuspecting motorists to drive right past a man with a rifle on a shooting spree. He killed 2 or 3 people while the police just watched. They were sued and the case was thrown out.

[Downtown Hound]

7. Okay, can we get rid of the police now?

[minavasht]

6. And suing the owners of the vehicle

will punish the driver how???

The attorney believes????

Yeah, justice will prevail.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

8. They'll settle out of court.