Legal??

[scared01]

I was placed in custody do to some back child support in Mississippi in 2008. In my second day there I was taken into a meeting room where my exwife and her "friend" who is a detective was waiting on me. While in the room I was handcuffed and shackled to a chair. My exwife was asking me several questions and when I didn't respond the detective knocked me to the floor a couple of times and threatened to put a bullet in my head. He also told me that if I didn't respond he was fixing to take me out back of the jail and smash my head in with a cement block (there was construction at the jail). When he stood me up he told me that if I ever get pulled over within "his" county he would make sure that I would get detained until he got there and he would personally beat my ass. Is this legal for him to do? Is there anything I can do to him legally? Help please.

[Citicop]

Obviously if the story is true as you told it, that behavior is not legal.

You can file a lawsuit or complain to his department.

Citicop.

[scared01]

Citicop, thanks for responding. Yes, it is most definitely true. What type of assault would this be? I am honestly very scared. So I could file a lawsuit for assault and him threatening me? What could he possibly face?

[Citicop]

Again, assuming what you said is true...

Contact his department and make your allegation to them. Also, contact an attorney and give him your story and he will be able to better answer that than I.

The department will investigate, and if there is a civil trial, then that will also allow both sides to give their stories.

Citicop.

[scared01]

Again, thanks for responding. I am in the process of finding an attorney. What type of assault would this fall under? Are his threats on my life also illegal? Sorry for all the questions. Since he is friends with my exwife, was it ethical for him to bring her in to question me also?

[Citicop]

I don't know anything about Mississippi law, so I have no idea what the different kinds of assault are.

It would be illegal in my state to threaten someone's life in the way you say he did in your story.

I am not going to comment on the ethics involved in the incident that you allege occurred.

There are two sides to every story; I am not buying that what you wrote is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Citicop.

[scared01]

Citicop, I am sorry you do not "buying" my story. It is in fact 100% true and I would say the same thing under oath in court. What part of my "story" are you having trouble believing?

[Citicop]

Citicop, I am sorry you do not "buying" my story. It is in fact 100% true and I would say the same thing under oath in court. What part of my "story" are you having trouble believing?

When you do this job long enough, you learn not to accept anything someone tells you just because they say it.

Your story may well be true. You may even be minimizing things in the way you wrote it. I don't know.

What I DO know is that it falls far, FAR outside the boundaries of anything I have witnessed in my time in Law Enforcement.

You fell behind on your child support to the point where you were arrested. Then your wife and a detective who is a friend of hers show up that the jail and SHE questions you while you are handcuffed to a chair and shackled. When you refuse to answer, the detective physically assaults you, knocking you to the floor (which would be hard if you were handcuffed to the chair, right?)

He threatened to shoot you, kill you by smashing your head in with a cement block, and have you held until he can beat you if you ever get pulled over in "his county."


Here are some potential issues I see:

1.) We are absolutely forbidden to have a firearm anywhere there is a prisoner. I cannot even get INTO the jail without someone verifying that I have locked up my handgun, TASER, pocket knife, and ammunition. Maybe it's different where you are.

2.) There would be a record somewhere of him seeing you that day where I am. There would also be a record of her signing in at the jail as a civilian visitor. It would be easy to prove that it did or didn't happen.

3.) Were there visible marks left on you from the assault? If you were knocked to the floor by him several times, I bet there were some... Did you document them?

4.) Were you in a city jail or the county jail? Is this person a detective in the same county in which you were arrested? Does he work for the county or a city inside the county? If you are dealing with him working for a different department, the odds of someone covering for that kind of behavior go WAY down.

How would the detective say everything happened?

Citicop.

[Piggy]

If you paid your child support I imagine you could have completely avoided this situation.

About the only thing you can do is file a complaint.

[scared01]

The child support is another issue, I was ordered to pay my exwife directly but the Dept. of Child Svcs had my account there and therefore my payments were not posted. I was released of those charges. You say you find it hard to believe??? There are quite a few of you who feel that you have the right to treat inmates anyway you like. This happened in a small county facility. I was knocked to the floor with the chair still connected to me by the handcuffs and shackles. When I was brought up from the pod, the detective took me into the administrative area and into a conference room. I did have a bruise on my head and when I was taken back to my pod I asked to go to the nurse. I told the nurse how it happened so it IS on record. And yes, he is a criminal detective within the county I was held in. I just joined this forum to get some advice from members with experience in this field. Can I just get some advice and not smart remarks please?

[Roger Dat]

If you felt you were assaulted you would have called the police when it happened and thus would know your options at this point.

[Curt581]

Can I just get some advice and not smart remarks please?

First, this is Ask-A-Cop, not Ask-A-Lawyer. Cops are specifically prohibited from providing legal advice. We're generally not inclined to tell criminals how to get back at other cops, even if we were allowed to.

Second, those of us who post here are under NO obligation to give anyone the answers they want. If you are dissatisfied with the answers you've gotten, please, by all means, contact Site Administration for a full refund of your purchase price.

All that aside... here is the advice I have for you.... HIRE A LAWYER.

[Legoate]

Geez that Vic Mackey sure does get around. I thought he was normally in Los Angeles but apparently he has other states in his jurisdiction.

Just a question, did he unplug the camera right before the interview got rough? He always does that. Hopefully the captain won't catch on to it.

[Creeker]

If this had actually ocurred, this guy would have already found a Lieyer and the Detective would already be under Investigation.

Its nearly Feb. in 2009 for crying out loud... Even Mississippi isn't that far behind.

Its just taken this long for Bubba to develop a story... and he got it from "NYPD Blue"... just missing the Phonebook.

Watch a "Judge Judy" or two to get the gist of what you'll need as Evidence...

[scared01]

To those of you who responded:


Fu*k Off