Woman Sues Seattle Police after Video Shows they Fabricated Case Against Her

From: Photography is Not a Crime By Carlos Miller

In yet another typical display of police aggression and fabrication that came to light through video, a Seattle cop grabbed a woman out of a crowd of protesters and pulled her to the ground where several other officers pounced on her.

The cop, Sonya Fry, claimed in her report that she grabbed Maria Morales because Morales had cursed at her and punched her in the chest – not that she would even have grounds to do that if Morales had cursed at her.

Morales was charged with assault.

Then her lawyer came across the video on Youtube, which showed Morales neither cursed nor punched Fry, prompting prosecutors to drop the charge.

Now Morales is suing the Seattle Police Department.

According to Seattle’s Fox affiliate:

“I have somebody’s knee right on my neck, I can’t breathe. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what I did wrong, I don’t know what I’m being arrested for,” Morales, 30, said in an interview Friday, recalling that incident May 1 in downtown Seattle when police took her down, cuffed her and took her off to jail. She was later charged with assault.

Morales’ lawyer, Darryl Parker, said Morales likely would have been convicted of the assault charge. “If it’s your testimony against the testimony of a police officer, you’re going to lose every time,” he said.

Unless one has video proof. And Parker said they found some proof, from a cell phone video posted on YouTube.

The video shows Fry grabbing Morales and throwing her to the ground, where Morales is swarmed by other officers.

“Maria’s just lucky that that video’s out there,” Parker said. “That changes the whole case.”

William N. Grigg comments:

If not for video, the victim of this gang assault would be facing charges of aggravated battery on a police officer. Her uniformed assailant attacked her without cause, and then — per established procedure — perjured herself in the official report. The predictable thugswarm left the helpless victim suffocating.

If the right to resist arrest were legally recognized, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for lying cops (forgive the pleonasm) to charge their victims with assault.