Most have heard of George Floyd by now but who knows or remembers Tony Timpa?
He was killed by cops despite his supposed "white privilege" and despite pleading for help more than 30 times. After killing him the cops laughed and joked.
But his death didn't matter since he was white. No riots, no looting, no beating up innocent bystanders, no taking down statues.
Now to add insult to injury, his killers enjoy the travesty known as "qualified immunity".
Federal judge tosses excessive force suit against five Dallas officers in Tony Timpa caseA federal judge in Dallas has thrown out an excessive force lawsuit filed against five Dallas police officers who handcuffed and pinned a mentally ill man to the ground shortly before he died.
In a 27-page ruling, U.S. District Judge David Godbey granted the officers’ motion for summary judgment in the case of Tony Timpa. The unarmed Rockwall man died in 2016 from “sudden cardiac death due to the toxic effects of cocaine and physiological stress associated with physical restraint,” court records show.
Godbey based his decision, signed Monday, on the controversial doctrine of qualified immunity. Under that standard, Timpa’s family had to identify a specific case in the Fifth Circuit court of appeals that clearly established that the officers’ conduct at the time was unconstitutional.
A private security guard handcuffed Timpa before Dallas officers arrived. Timpa was unarmed, in shorts and barefoot. The responding officers mocked the 32-year-old as he screamed for his life, with one officer’s knee pinned in his back for about 14 minutes as he lay face down in the grass, according to court records. They joked after he became unresponsive that he was going to be late for school, the lawsuit says.
The officers involved were Dustin Dillard, Raymond Dominguez, Kevin Mansell, Domingo Rivera and Danny Vasquez.
Three of the officers later faced misdemeanor deadly conduct charges in connection with the death.
But last year, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot dismissed the charges against Dillard, Mansell and Vasquez. Creuzot said he met with three medical examiners who told him they did not believe the officers acted recklessly.
All but one of the five officers remain on the force, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday. Mansell retired in August 2019, the spokeswoman said.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2020/07/07/federal-judge-tosses-excessive-force-suit-against-five-dallas-officers-in-tony-timpa-case/
