http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States
A
rough ride is an unsanctioned
police practice in which a
handcuffed prisoner is placed in a
police van without a
seatbelt, and is thrown violently about by driving the vehicle erratically.[SUP]
[1][/SUP][SUP]
[2][/SUP] It can be regarded as a form of
police brutality,[SUP]
[3][/SUP] although its delivery of excessive force is not as obvious as in other forms of police brutality. Other terms for the practice include "
bringing them up front",[SUP]
[1][/SUP] "
screen test" (as the prisoner may hit the protective screen behind the driver),[SUP]
[3][/SUP][SUP]
[4][/SUP] "
nickel ride" (a reference to
carnival rides),[SUP]
[5][/SUP][SUP]
[6][/SUP] "
cowboy ride",[SUP]
[2][/SUP][SUP]
[7][/SUP] and "
joyride".
[8
lawyer Phil Federico described the practice as "definitely intentional", saying "they're unbelted, the inside of these wagons are not padded, they can't protect themselves, and they get thrown from one side to the other, usually landing on their head, and fracturing their neck."[SUP]
[2][/SUP] University of South Carolina professor Geoffrey Alpert, an expert in police use of force, has asserted that the practice was common in the 1980s and 1990s, but has become less so with the increased presence of
video recording equipment in police vehicles.[SUP]
[1][/SUP] There are no reliable records of the frequency of these incidents.[SUP]
[5][/SUP][SUP]
[7]
In 2004, Jeffrey Alston was awarded $39 million after becoming paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a ride in a Baltimore police van
[/SUP]In 2005, Dondi Johnson Sr., a plumber, was arrested in Baltimore for public urination. Apparently uninjured at the time of his arrest, Johnson emerged from the police van paralyzed with a broken neck, and died two weeks later from pneumonia resulting from his injuries. Johnson stated he had been thrown face-first into the interior of the van during a sharp turn. His family sued the Baltimore police and were awarded $7.4 million, which was reduced to $219,000 under a cap imposed by Maryland state law.[SUP]
[1][/SUP][SUP]
[7]
[/SUP]
In 2012, Christine Abbott, a 27-year-old assistant librarian at
Johns Hopkins University, was arrested at a party she was hosting at her home in Baltimore's
Hampden neighborhood. She was handcuffed and put into a police van. Abbott later sued the officers in federal court, describing her ride as "like a roller coaster", and accusing the officers of braking short and taking "wide, fast turns" which slammed her into the walls. Police acknowledged that Abbott was not buckled in during her ride.[SUP]
[1][/SUP][SUP]
[2][/SUP][SUP]
[7][/SUP]
[SUP]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_ride_(police_brutality)
[/SUP]
