Black motorist says Rockford police falsely arrested him in traffic stop
Updated Apr 28, 2021;
Posted Apr 28, 2021
A Black motorist, Thurman King, 55, of Rockford, says he was victim of a false arrest after he was arrested by Rockford police in a March 20, 2019, traffic stop in his driveway. He was arrested for resisting and obstructing police, operating while intoxicated and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle. Prosecutors dropped charges after reviewing in-dash police video, his attorney said. King is suing City of Rockford, Rockford Department of Public Safety, and officers Zachary Abbate and Jason Bradley. (Screenshot from Rockford Department of Public Safety dash camera)
Apr 27, 2021
A Black driver has filed a lawsuit against the city of Rockford over a traffic stop arrest from March 2019.
Footage from the dashcam shows the incident involving Thurman King and Rockford Police Officer Zachary Abbate.
King s attorney Stephen Drew says the officer claimed King s license plate light was out and that he ran a stop sign.
However, footage from the dashcam shows King stopped at the stop sign.
The video does not clearly show the license plate light.
King says he was half a block from home and did not want to stop in an isolated area, so he pulled into his driveway.
Rockford police sued for unlawfully arresting, jailing resident after traffic stop
All the charges against 55-year-old Thurman King were later dismissed by a prosecuting attorney in the interest of justice. Author: Emma Nicolas Updated: 11:42 PM EDT April 23, 2021
ROCKFORD, Mich. A little over two years ago, Thurman King was on his way home from work when a Rockford cop started to follow him.
Within a matter of minutes, King would be thrown to the ground by police, handcuffed and eventually taken to jail on charges that a prosecuting attorney would dismiss in the interest of justice, months later. All it takes is a falsified police report and you find yourself in essence fighting for your life, King, 55, said.
Such incidents are again drawing protest after two violent episodes following traffic stops. In suburban Minneapolis, not far from where George Floyd was killed in a police encounter, a veteran cop recently killed a 20-year-old Black man, Daunte Wright, after he was stopped for expired registration tags. (Wright’s mother told reporters that when she talked to her son moments before he was shot, he said police raised concern about an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.) In Virginia, a Black and Latino Army officer sued after he was pepper spraying, struck and handcuffed after being pulled over for not having a permanent license plate on his new SUV.