Story Archive

Making Them Pay

Birmingham, Ala., cops’ chase of Anthony Warren ended in mutual violence in 2008. Then the litigation began. Warren was convicted of driving into an officer and trying to kill him, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Officers who beat Warren while he lay unconscious after his car flipped were acquitted. The officer Warren nearly killed is suing him. And in a federal civil rights case, Warren’s lawyers argued that by beating their suspect while he was unconscious, the officers violated the Constitution. They won a settlement of $460,000 — $100,000 in lawyers’ expenses, $359,000 in legal fees, and $1,000 for Warren — which he may lose in the injured officer’s lawsuit anyway. Warren and his family support the settlement, but other people have called the lawyers “crooks, thieves, liars, cheats, and many other names” — and even threatened them with violence, they say. (AC/Birmingham News) ...Would those who don’t like the settlement prefer that cops be able to beat suspects with impunity, or that criminals get big damages awards?