ACLU settles brutality suit with City of Thibodaux
6th March 2023 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
The ACLU of Louisiana, on behalf of its client, a Black man with cerebral palsy who was brutalized by police from the city of Thibodaux, announced on Feb. 22 a settlement with the city in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU in representing the victim.
The victim, Yohann Jackson, was abused and treated violently by Thibodaux police officers who were responding to a claim of a stolen debit card in August 2020.
Although terms of the settlement in Jackson v. Snow et al. were not disclosed, ACLU of Louisiana staff attorney Meghan Matt said the legal conclusion to Jackson’s horrifying case brings a sense of closure to the unnecessary and cruel experience he endured.
“It’s a long time coming,” Matt told The Louisiana Weekly. “We definitely consider this to be a win, especially with how difficult these cases are.”
The lawsuit was filed in October 2021 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Matt said the August 2020 incident was particularly egregious, given that it occurred in Jackson’s own home, that Jackson repeatedly informed the officers of his disability and weakened state, and that at no time was there any threat of violence from the victim. She said the officers displayed a “reckless disregard” for Jackson’s welfare.
Matt said that even in the context of George Floyd’s murder and the aftermath that gave birth to the Black Lives Matter movement, the officers who attacked Jackson still acted flagrantly violently and seemingly without fear of retribution.
She said that although Jackson did have the debit card in his possession, it was on the ground, not on Jackson’s person, a fact the officers disregarded. When Jackson, because of his disabling cerebral palsy, was physically unable to comply with the officers’ orders despite trying as well as he could to do so, they forced him into bodily positions that caused him extreme pain and physical distress.
“They just kept yanking and yanking and yanking, to the point where he screamed so loud that his neighbor across the street heard him,” Matt said. “They didn’t care.”
She added that the brutal encounter was the culmination of long-running harassment of Jackson by the TPD. Matt said that Jackson is steadily recovering from the appalling incident, but that the recovery process is a long one that’s made even more difficult by his disability.
“Mr. Jackson suffered an extreme amount of physical and emotional injury,” she said. “He is very traumatized, but he’s glad he now has some closure.”
But, she added, “I don’t know if he’ll ever completely recover from this. It will always be in the back of his mind.”
In a prepared statement, Jackson said he is relieved that he has received support with his case. “I am just glad to be in a place that sees a need and a sense of duty to help their fellow man in his time of need,” he said.
Matt said Jackson’s case adds to a staggering body of abuse and murder of people of color for no other reason than unchecked, violent racism.
“We’re learning that this is a systemic problem, but nothing is being done [to change it],” she said. “[Police] can no longer say it’s just a few bad apples when they’re coming from a rotten tree.”
She added that people with disabilities are disproportionately victimized by police violence because their physical limitations are viewed as noncompliance and resisting arrest.
The lawsuit was brought by the ACLU of Louisiana’s ongoing Justice Lab project, in which the organization seeks out and represents citizens of color who say they have been abused and attacked by police officers. The Justice Lab effort was launched more than two years ago in an effort to chronicle and fight violent, racist policing in Louisiana.
Thibodaux PD public information officer Lt. Clint J. Dempster told The Louisiana Weekly that the department has no comment at this time regarding Jackson’s case. Several emails to the Thibodaux city administration were not answered.
Assisting the ACLU of Louisiana in Jackson’s case was Fish & Richardson, a global law firm based in Boston, Mass.
Matt noted last week that the ACLU of Louisiana is about to file its 50th lawsuit under the Justice Lab project.
This article originally published in the March 6, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
