Black man arrested for #LaughingWhileBlack settles case for $80,000
Robert Spencer is laughing all the way to the bank after Garfield Heights, Ohio city officials settled a First Amendment lawsuit where he claimed that he was unlawfully arrested for laughing at the police, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
The city agreed to an $80,000 to settlement after Spencer was handcuffed and taking into custody in 2017 for chuckling at the officers, who he then said allegedly trumped up bogus charges against him to justify the arrest.
The Garfield Heights police officers Kenneth Falzini and David Simia, also said that Spencer threatened and shoved them as he resisted arrest, but his girlfriend was recording the whole ordeal which contradicted their claims, the Plain Dealer reported.
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“I was arrested and prosecuted for laughing while black,” Spencer said.
Spencer called the officer “Beavis & Butthead” and “Elvis,” and he trash talked them saying in the video “y’all got the motherf*cking right to remain rank.”
Spencer’s wisecracks angered the cops.
“All you had to do was shut the f*ck up,” Simia said, according to the lawsuit. “We weren’t even going to arrest you.”
Spencer spent three days in jail and while there he had to clean not only his jail cell but others or risk getting pepper sprayed.
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The charges against Spencer was ultimately acquitted by a jury and the 30-year-old went on to file a lawsuit in July.
This week, the city decided to settle the case.
His lawyer, Patrick Kabat said, “we commend Garfield Heights for promptly committing to addressing the issues Mr. Spencer’s ordeal exposed.”
The Garfield Heights police also agreed to train officers on the First Amendment rights and on forcing labor inmates and expectations of their policing with community members.
Spencer is awaiting trial in two unrelated cases that include charges of failure to comply, obstructing official business and drug possession and trafficking.
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