Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508210026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He sued his accuser for slander; this week, he was awarded $2,500 in damages.
Levert Jackson took the unusual step of filing a lawsuit not because he wanted to collect any money, his attorney said, but because he wanted to set the record straight.
"He's a young cop with about three years on the force under his belt," said Barry Tatel, who represented Jackson this week in Roanoke General District Court. "He wants to move up, and this guy has made an egregious complaint against him that he felt could have a chilling effect on his future promotions."
But the American Civil Liberties Union argues that Jackson's case and others like it could have an equally chilling effect on citizens who use a legitimate process to make complaints about police.
"This is a dangerous trend," said Kent Willis, executive director of Virginia's ACLU office in Richmond.
Earlier this year, David S. Whitmore filed a complaint with the Police Department's internal affairs division, claiming that Jackson stomped his feet and called him names on three different occasions while arresting him on charges of being drunk in public.
Testimony showed that, on two of the dates in question, Jackson was not even working. The third complaint was dismissed after a supervisor said he witnessed the arrest and saw nothing improper.
Jackson lost sleep worrying about the internal affairs investigation, Tatel said, and was concerned about questions the case might raise even after it was dismissed.
"He feels it might give somebody who doesn't know him some pause, even though it was totally unfounded," Tatel said.
In order to keep the civil case in General District Court, also known as small claims court, Jackson sued for $9,999. Cases that seek $10,000 or more in damages go to Circuit Court. At a hearing Monday, Judge William Broadhurst ordered Whitmore to pay Jackson $2,500.
Whitmore, who represented himself during the hearing, could not be reached for comment.
Had the ACLU known about the case, Willis said, it might have been able to intervene and argue that Whitmore had a First Amendment right to make a complaint against a police officer without having to worry about a lawsuit.
The ACLU has been successful in having similar lawsuits by police officers dismissed, Willis said.
"Police officers are public figures, and we have long held that public figures come under a certain amount of scrutiny," he said. "People have a right to have an opinion about what government does, and government includes the police."
Willis said he was aware of about a half-dozen lawsuits such as Jackson's being filed over the past two years in Virginia. If such action becomes more common, he said, people may be reluctant to file complaints, even in legitimate cases of police brutality.
Roanoke Police Chief M. David Hooper said he does not think that will happen, especially when "the basis for the lawsuit is so clear," as it was in Jackson's case.
While it is unusual for an officer to file suit, Hooper said, it's "clearly his prerogative." Officers are often the subject of groundless accusations by people who are angry about being arrested, Hooper said.
The judge's decision in Jackson's case is "an excellent incident" to remind such people that there are consequences to making false allegations, he said.
In a letter to Whitmore informing him of the results of the internal investigation, police wrote that not only were his claims found to be without merit, but they were made with "malicious intent."
Whitmore, 29, of Roanoke, was convicted of using abusive language during his encounter with Jackson outside a Grandin Road restaurant in January.
The letter also stated that Jackson was "needlessly subjected to an internal investigation," and that he had "been advised of his rights to seek civil action."
by CNB