slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2008
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When three Virginia police officers put Linwood Lambert in a squad car around 5 a.m. on May 4, 2013, they said they were taking him to the ER for medical attention because he was speaking delusionally. Just over an hour later, Lambert died in police custody.
He was never given medical care, though the officers of South Boston, Va. did drive him to the hospital. He was not initially put under arrest, though the officers ultimately arrested him, shackled his hands and legs, and tased him repeatedly. While in custody he was agitated and ran from the officers. Ambulance workers say police later claimed he fought them at a time when videos show he was actually unconscious. Police dispute that account and deny allegations of excessive force.
Over two years later, there have been no charges and no full public accounting of what happened. But a new investigation, including police videos obtained exclusively by MSNBC, shows the deadly trip for the first time.
Linwood “Ray” Lambert, a 46-year-old man who worked in construction, was staying at a Super 8 motel in South Boston, a town of about 8,000 people in Southern Virginia. In the middle of the night of May 4, 2013, police received calls about noise complaints at the hotel. When three officers came to Lambert’s door just before 5 a.m., they say he was acting paranoid, hallucinating and telling them there were bodies buried in the ceiling.
Since Lambert was unarmed and not suspected of any crime, the officers did not arrest him. They thought he needed medical care, so they told him to come on the short trip to Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital.
The officers cuffed Lambert’s hands for the ride, but assured him, “we’re not locking you up, we’re going to the ER”
The three officers, Cpl. Tiffany Bratton, Officer Clifton Mann and Officer Travis Clay, departed the hotel in three police cars. Video from one shows an officer calling the hospital, asking for the mental health care worker on duty.
On the ride, Lambert looks increasingly agitated. The video shows him asking about a light in the backseat, and then about a squad car trailing them. An officer tells him, “you good, trust me.”
A few minutes later, though, everything changed.
As the officers pulled up to the hospital, Lambert kicked out the squad car window.
Video from inside the car shows officers yelling at him to stop. When they cracked the passenger door, Lambert jumped out, sprinting roughly 20 feet towards the ER entrance and crashing into the building’s glass doors.
The officers ran after him and began tasing him. In response, Lambert’s body goes stiff and, with his hands cuffed, his arms could not break the fall when he hit the cement. The three officers surrounded him on the ground.
One ordered him to “stay down;” another, Officer Bratton, told him, “Every time you get up, I’m going to pop you.”
Lambert told them, “I didn’t do nothing,” and can be heard moaning in the recording. The officers tell Lambert to lie down, stay down, get on his belly, and roll over – while warning they will taser him again.
“I’m going to light you up again – roll over, roll over, turn over!” Bratton says.
Lambert remained on the ground, saying OK, but the officers tased him again. They restrained his legs with shackles.
Then, as Lambert appears subdued on the video, the officers warned Lambert they would taser him again. “I’m going to hit you again,” Bratton tells him.
Then Lambert says, “I just did cocaine.”
For the first time that night, officers tell Lambert he is under arrest, calling it in for disorderly conduct and destruction of property.
cont at
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/driven-h...dies-police-custody?google_editors_picks=true
(watch the video there, too)
He was never given medical care, though the officers of South Boston, Va. did drive him to the hospital. He was not initially put under arrest, though the officers ultimately arrested him, shackled his hands and legs, and tased him repeatedly. While in custody he was agitated and ran from the officers. Ambulance workers say police later claimed he fought them at a time when videos show he was actually unconscious. Police dispute that account and deny allegations of excessive force.
Over two years later, there have been no charges and no full public accounting of what happened. But a new investigation, including police videos obtained exclusively by MSNBC, shows the deadly trip for the first time.
Linwood “Ray” Lambert, a 46-year-old man who worked in construction, was staying at a Super 8 motel in South Boston, a town of about 8,000 people in Southern Virginia. In the middle of the night of May 4, 2013, police received calls about noise complaints at the hotel. When three officers came to Lambert’s door just before 5 a.m., they say he was acting paranoid, hallucinating and telling them there were bodies buried in the ceiling.
Since Lambert was unarmed and not suspected of any crime, the officers did not arrest him. They thought he needed medical care, so they told him to come on the short trip to Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital.
The officers cuffed Lambert’s hands for the ride, but assured him, “we’re not locking you up, we’re going to the ER”
The three officers, Cpl. Tiffany Bratton, Officer Clifton Mann and Officer Travis Clay, departed the hotel in three police cars. Video from one shows an officer calling the hospital, asking for the mental health care worker on duty.
On the ride, Lambert looks increasingly agitated. The video shows him asking about a light in the backseat, and then about a squad car trailing them. An officer tells him, “you good, trust me.”
A few minutes later, though, everything changed.
As the officers pulled up to the hospital, Lambert kicked out the squad car window.
Video from inside the car shows officers yelling at him to stop. When they cracked the passenger door, Lambert jumped out, sprinting roughly 20 feet towards the ER entrance and crashing into the building’s glass doors.
The officers ran after him and began tasing him. In response, Lambert’s body goes stiff and, with his hands cuffed, his arms could not break the fall when he hit the cement. The three officers surrounded him on the ground.
One ordered him to “stay down;” another, Officer Bratton, told him, “Every time you get up, I’m going to pop you.”
Lambert told them, “I didn’t do nothing,” and can be heard moaning in the recording. The officers tell Lambert to lie down, stay down, get on his belly, and roll over – while warning they will taser him again.
“I’m going to light you up again – roll over, roll over, turn over!” Bratton says.
Lambert remained on the ground, saying OK, but the officers tased him again. They restrained his legs with shackles.
Then, as Lambert appears subdued on the video, the officers warned Lambert they would taser him again. “I’m going to hit you again,” Bratton tells him.
Then Lambert says, “I just did cocaine.”
For the first time that night, officers tell Lambert he is under arrest, calling it in for disorderly conduct and destruction of property.
cont at
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/driven-h...dies-police-custody?google_editors_picks=true
(watch the video there, too)
I really think we need some sort of 'police' that's protecting us from psychopaths and such, but the current system is causing much more damage than it helps.
