DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Woman settles for $82,000 after police officer punches her unconscious for trying to recording him

Oct 1, 2015 by Liron Samuels 10 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Minneapolis-Police-2

Madelyn Milton, a doctoral student from Minneapolis, was out last year with her friends when an argument with a taxi driver over the fare led to police being called.

The young women decided to record police sergeant Tyrone Barze, and when Madelyn stood up for her right to record him she ended “lying unconscious and bleeding in the street”, according to the lawsuit.

Despite this being the fourth lawsuit against Barze, Minneapolis police union president described him as an “excellent” officer.

The police union chief’s response to the lawsuit was even more infuriating.

The Minneapolis City Attorney offered Madelyn and her lawyers to settle the lawsuit instead of going to court, and eventually they agreed on a payment of $82,000, out of which $44,000 will be paid to her attorneys.

According to the Star Tribune, the incident itself took place on June 1, 2014 when the group of friends were returning from a night out and disagreed with the taxi driver over the face. The driver called police and Barze, who took the call, told the group to pay the fare. When they disagreed with him and started recording him with their cellphones, Barze started confiscated phones and allegedly arrested two people for recording him.

The suit claims that when Madelyn’s phone was confiscated as well she “took a step or two after Barze” to get it back. Instead of returning the phone, Barze is said to have turned and punched her in the face, “knocking her to the ground, where she struck the back of her head and she lay unconscious and bleeding in the street”.

Despite the City Attorney’s decision to settle the case, very possibly because she thought taking the case to court could end up much worse for the city and police, Barze has been receiving support from police chiefs.

Minneapolis police union president Lt. Bob Kroll, who said Barze is an excellent officer, told the Star Tribune that “When you’re a hardworking cop, these are the kinds of situations you get in”, adding that “just because you get sued doesn’t mean you did anything wrong.”

While that’s certainly true, if a young woman finds herself unconscious and needing staples to close the gash in her head, all over a disagreement over a taxi fare and exercising her legal right to document police, then chances are you did in fact do something wrong.

Police union chief John Delmonico defended Barze when the lawsuit was filed, saying that “it appears that she obstructed him doing his job” hence the use of force was justified.

“If she obstructed the police officer we can use force and in the event of use-of-force…as long as he got her medical attention…then he did what he was supposed to do”, said Delmonico, who has obviously never heard of the term “excessive force”.

The chief added that “It’s too bad with these civil suits that these allegations come out and they’re public and everybody wants to jump to conclusions that the cop did something bad. I believe that in the end, officer Barze will be absolved of any wrongdoing”. I guess that’s not going to happen, and my guess is Barze is lucky he won’t have to see this case go to court.

Kroll also thought the city was too quick to settle cases against officers, but perhaps he should talk to Barze about that, as he’s certainly been keeping the City Attorney’s hands full.

During the seven years Barze has been on the force, he has been named in at least four lawsuits.

Previous accusations included “unreasonably” pepper spraying the general manager of a bar (settled for $34,000), using a “neck restraint” (aka the illegal choke-hold) on a combative high school student who eventually passed out ($140,000 settlement), and finally – using excessive force during an arrest of an outreach worker outside of grocery store and later threatening to shoot witnesses.

Indeed, an “excellent” officer.

We haven’t found footage from any of the cellphones from the night Madelyn was attacked, but the video below shows Barze arresting a woman who asked him why he threatened to shoot them outside the grocery store.

“In the…end, they send the message that they’ve got deep pockets”, Kroll said about the city settling lawsuits against police officers, but it seems the only message they are sending is that they don’t give a damn about their citizens or the law.

Sadly this kind of behavior and disregard to the law is not limited to Minneapolis. Just last week we reported about a woman from Illinois who received $117,500 in a settlement after she was arrested for recording police on her friend’s property.

[Star Tribune via PINAC | Lead image: Tony Webster]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Woman receives $117,500 in settlement after being arrested for recording police Police tells attorney he can’t film them, Police Chief invites citizens to film the police in response Drone records woman trying to steal it, falsely telling police it “almost killed” her Complaint Upheld Against Police Officer Who Threatened to Make Street Photographer’s Day a ‘Living Hell’

Filed Under: news Tagged With: legal, Madelyn Milton, Minneapolis, photography is not a crime, Recording Police, Tyrone Barze

Liron Samuels: from diyphotography.net

About Liron Samuels

Liron Samuels is a wildlife and commercial photographer based in Israel.

When he isn't waking up at 4am to take photos of nature, he stays awake until 4am taking photos of the night skies or time lapses.

You can see more of his work on his website or follow him on Facebook.

« 500px & Google Chromecast Partnership – Exclusive Interview With 500px
Brazillian Photographer Makes It Rain Light In Compelling Light Painting Series »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing
  • Nanlite announces powerful AC-powered FC500B and FC300B LED lights

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy