No City for Old Men: L.A. Police Commission finds lung-collapsing blow to chest of unarmed Black 60-year-old “in policy”

Although Officer Brian Kolke failed to voluntarily report the use of force and prolonged Earl Roots' agony for several hours, he only received a comment card on his personnel file

When reached by phone, 61-year-old Earl Roots said he was dismayed but not surprised to hear that, on October 31, the Police Commission had ruled the punch LAPD Officer Brian Kolke delivered during Roots' arrest on a narcotics warrant – a blow to the chest that collapsed Roots’ lung and put him in the hospital for a total of three weeks – "in policy."

The justification proved more difficult to swallow.

The "in policy" finding meant the Commission bought Kolke's claim that he had punched Roots to prevent the scrawny chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) sufferer he was sitting on from throwing Kolke off his back, gaining control of the handcuffs already clicked around one of his wrists, and battering both Kolke and bulky veteran officer Michael Klee to a pulp with them.

Roots, who weighs 140 pounds soaking wet, was aghast. “I'm a little bitty guy!” he exclaimed.

It was true he had initially taken a few unconvincing steps away from Kolke and Klee when they pulled up on him in front of an encampment off Central Avenue on December 19, 2022. But he only got about 20 feet before he ran out of breath and abandoned his flight, throwing up his hands and telling the officers he had asthma (below). It was also true he was not thrilled about being cuffed, Roots acknowledges. But he maintains, as he did in a September interview about the assault, that he was upset about being manhandled over a warrant he didn't know he had. He had no desire, intention, or capacity to harm the officers.

Little did he know how little any of that mattered to the department or the adjudicating bodies.

read more  https://la.streetsblog.org/2023/12/11/no-city-for-old-men-police-commission-finds-lung-collapsing-blow-to-chest-of-unarmed-black-60-year-old-in-policy

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