C 05 04045 EMC#N#Torry Smith and Patricia Gray sued the City of Oakland and others on a civil rights violation, claiming that the Oakland police violated their civil rights when they went into their home and falsely arrested him on charges that he had a rifle. The rifle had been planted by OPD to force into custody in order to question him about assumed connections to a “drug lord”. Plaintiffs’ verdict for $5.85 million. The city must pay an additional $100,000 in civil penalties and that Officers Marcus Midyett and John Parkinson must each pay $100,000 in punitive damages, with the bulk of each figure going to Smith, who did not possess any weapon.
Oscar Grant was a fatally shot in Oakland, CA , in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) officers responding to reports of a fight on a train returning from San Francisco, detained Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale Station.
Officer Hector Jimenez then opened fire and shot an unarmed Woodfox dead. Not only was Woodfox found to be unarmed, but a preliminary autopsy revealed that he was shot “numerous times” in his back from approximately 25 feet away. U.S. District Court, Northern District (2008) ROE v.