Black Ex-Cop Files Suit After He And His Son Were Beaten By Other Cops

Black ex-cop files suit after he and his son were beaten by other cops

byFrank Vyan WaltonFollow

Providence Police Department veteran Christopher Owens was enjoying a day off when he witnessed a tow truck crash into a car, and went to aid an injured woman. He then saw the person responsible for the crash—Sean Sparfve, who like Owens is African-American—attempt to flee the scene. Owens tackled him and was in the midst of a struggle to apprehend him when other officers arrived on the scene. It turns out they had been chasing Sparfve for auto theft.

That's when things went sideways.

Owens claims in the lawsuit that a half-dozen police officers — including his own colleagues — assaulted and handcuffed him instead of helping him subdue Sparfven.

The off-duty officer said he repeatedly identified himself as a Providence police officer, but his claims were ignored and he was placed in the back of a patrol car — where he watched as officers then attacked and beat his son, Tyler.

The younger Owens, who had done undercover work for Providence police in the past, was also handcuffed and arrested after officers punched and beat him, the lawsuit claims.

Christopher Owens, who suffered multiple injuries in the beating, never returned to work and has been approved for a disability pension.

Naturally, the department has admitted no wrongdoing and circled the wagons. Spokesmen for Providence Police claim Owens failed to follow procedures for identifying himself at the scene, although exactly why he would fail to do that when he's in the process of having his ass kicked isn't really explained.

It’s unfortunate he was injured,” said Col. Steven G. O’Donnell, state police superintendent. “It was a dynamic scene, but he has some responsibility for what transpired in that backyard.”

Even if Owens wasn't a fellow officer, the fact is they beat him badly enough that he had to go on disability when he had nothing to do with the car theft or the accident and was only trying to help. The fact that they then went on to beat his son, who also had nothing to do with it, shows a tendency for vicious overreaction and brutality without first determining who the innocent and guilty parties are. Even if he did fail to identify himself, or they failed to hear it, he'd done nothing wrong and nothing like this should have ever happened to him or his son.

If anyone should understand the confusion that can occur in the "heat of the moment," it would be a 10-year police veteran. He of all people should know how they feel. Instead he's suing for $1 million on the claim that Providence police are racist. This type of thing can happen to someone who isn't walking around with his pants sagging, isn't wearing a highly suspicious hoodie and oh-by-the-way is a cop. Just like black off-duty NYPD officers who say they get profiled, harassed, and assaulted too. What it is that any other black person can do? How nice and polite and deferential and compliant and respectable do they have to be  to prevent this kind of thing from happening to them also?

Or perhaps, it's not up to them. It's up to the standards of justice we train for and expect from our police forces—particularly in the "heat of the moment."

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