we can't see exactly what's happening inside the rear seat of the police cruiser but we can see that when you emerge and you come over to the camera you have blood all over your knuckles correct in your job now you don't find the occasion to punch people I probably will but I haven't yet [Music] I've done several videos on this case where my client was handcuffed in the rear of a police cruiser where his wife was filming outside I'm serious and you quite see exactly what happened inside the police car but then you see the police officer emerge with his bloody armored gloves and approach the camera [Applause] so this is the final update for that case it's over it's settled and my client got paid so this is the case where I previously posted the video depositions here are a few bits of those video depositions that were important in reaching a settlement here then I'll tell you the settlement amount which may surprise you now when you punch Melvin were you wearing gloves I was tell me about your gloves uh they're a cloth mixed with a type of UFC type knuckle covering to protect my Knuckles and anything I come in contact with all right I'm going to show you what's been previously marked as exhibit number five for this deposition yes I'll represent to you that that is a screenshot that I took out of the video that we have in this case does that screenshot accurately represents your hand and your glove on the data to sensitive it does it'll also show you what's been marked as exhibit number six I know this isn't the greatest quality but that is a close-up of your glove also from the same video it is would you agree with that yes listen when I tell him to put his hands on his hands I understand and he goes to grab his back I'm going to take me or him I know they're gonna get your info I'm taking the office well I know you both so you know know my info you both know my info I know she's going to get shrimp from it it's your testimony that these gloves they have reinforced knuckles I wouldn't say they're reinforced um you know the UFC type gloves that have like a little padding that's all it is it's a thing it's just I broke my hand a few times so I wear it so I don't do it again and right you broke your hand a few times punching people um yes it was in a fight while you were working as a police officer yes in your job now you don't find the occasion to punch people I probably will but I haven't yet you said you threw those gloves away because they had blood on them right correct and that blood was Melvin Sergeant's blood not sure well they didn't have blood your your the knuckles of your gloves did not have blood on them already on your first arrival at Melbourne Sergeant's house correct my mouth was bleeding as well all right well you you punched Melvin Sargent you said in the face yes in the cheek right and he was bleeding I'm not 100 sure if he was or wasn't I didn't notice any Cuts or all right so you have no idea if that's Melbourne Sergeant's blood correct you're saying it could be your own blood it could be on your knuckles yes you didn't punch yourself right no I did not you punch Melbourne surge correct he was treated subsequently for lacerations inside his mouth you have no idea how that could have occurred inside of his mouth no I have no idea that's not from you punching him in the face okay coma you have no explanation for that no that is the criminal complaint that charged Melvin sergeant in this case yes in that criminal complaint includes a narrative written by you correct yes the same narrative would you agree with me that the report that you submitted to the magistrate is part of this criminal complaint was under oath yes okay so you're telling me here today that there are these inaccuracies in your report but you never informed the magistrate that there are inaccuracies in your report did you I didn't notice them so you didn't notice the inaccuracies in your report until today August of 2022. yes I'll show you what's been marked as exhibit number three and that is a court order or a motion form indicating that the two charges of battery on an officer were dismissed by the court correct Melbourne Sergeant was not convicted of those allegations or of those charges was it of the of the batteries now that shows you in the video right yes and you're placing Melvin Sergeant in the rear of that police cruiser correct you saw and you heard Melvin Sergeant asking you to loosen his handcuffs yes that section of the video would you agree with me that it shows you engaging in a use of force against Melvin Sargent it does you also agree with me that that section of footage 0 through 32 seconds does not show Melvin Sergeant kicking you in the chest correct it does not show Melvin striking you in any way correct what would you characterize as the nature of the force that you used what did you what did you do the push in and while he was inside the vehicle I held his head down with my right hand because he kept trying to come up trying to spit on me and again your report mentions nothing about Melvin trying to spit on you correct are you saying that you didn't strike him at all I never hit him in the back of the cruiser now well we see in the first 30 seconds of this video you're saying that no punches were thrown by you no no look stop being that [ __ ] you're just holding him down yes hold him down trying to talk to him tell him calm down quit as soon as we get the officer we'll figure everything out what stop being that [ __ ] the use of force that you you did engage in at this point the first 30 seconds of the video you didn't mention anything about that in your report no Melbourne Sergeant was handcuffed at this time yes when plaintiff alleges that you struck him or you punched him in the rear of that police cruiser you deny that yes you it's your testimony that you were just holding him down yes other than holding him down did you do anything else physical with Mr Sargent in the rear seat of the police bruise no nothing he didn't strike him no you didn't punch him no look this is the time period where as we can see you were wearing those reinforced gloves padded gloves I wouldn't call them reinforced so from 53 seconds to a minute you approach the camera right yes and watching this video we can see you walk up with your black gloves yes and we can see that those black gloves have blood all over the knuckles yes listen of your right hand yes over the more of the Ring looks like the ring knuckle you're right-handed yes would it be fair to say that that's your your punching arm if you were to punch somebody um if I punch it goes with whichever one is would be more efficient all right so we can't see exactly what's happening inside the rear seat of the police cruiser but we can see that when you emerge and you come over to the camera you have blood all over your knuckles correct but you don't know whether or not that's Melvin Sergeant's blood I'm not 100 sure no and you have no idea what may have caused any injuries to development Sergeant no but it wasn't you I don't know would you agree with me that it wasn't necessary for you to strike him there was no use for a strike in the back of the cruise I didn't do it so you didn't strike Melbourne Sergeant the rear of the police cruiser because it wasn't necessary to do so correct so you would agree with me that had a police officer in those circumstances struck them or punched them in the face that would have been excessive very much yes so this case ended up settling for twenty five thousand dollars and that may be less than you were expecting the reality of civil rights lawsuits as I discussed in a prior video with Kentucky lawyer Chris weast is that generally you don't have a whole lot of actual damages such as medical bills or lost wages in these cases many times the majority of your damages and a constitutional injury case is just attorneys fees in other words that's just how much time I spent on the case now nobody has paid me for that time but I keep track of it so that we can request it from the judge at the end of the case if we win in turn that causes the defendants to Value settlement negotiations accordingly prior to trial so you always run the risk that a jury could only award a dollar or a thousand dollars you just don't know and if that happens the lawyer will still get paid if you win but the client may not and that's why it's the client's decision on whether to settle prior to trial and in this case that's exactly what happened could we have gotten more from a jury maybe maybe not in this particular case the video deposition clips that I showed you were the strongest aspect of the case in my opinion although there was there were more issues at play including unnecessary pepper spraying the officers denial about what took place in the rear of the police car coupled with the video of his bloody armored gloves as he exited the car made it extremely likely that a jury would conclude that punches were thrown despite his denials according to the officer's own testimony had punches been thrown while my client was handcuffed in the back of the car he agreed that would have been excessive thus I think we would have won on that issue assuming the jury disbelieved the officers claim that he threw new punches which if they're being honest with themselves they would but as I said who knows what the jury would have awarded for that 25 Grand is still 25 Grand at the end of the day especially for people who could really use that money also this is the reason that there was no part 3 to the video depositions because the case sound for those of you who have asked and here's another interesting thing about this case I was contacted by a major TV network who was interested in starting a new prime time TV series based on this case on these videos so it focused on video depositions and civil lawsuits against the police sort of like a first 48 type deal with interrogations but now the tables have turned where the police are now being questioned so I actually really think it is a a fascinating idea and I hope that somebody does run with that thanks for watching please subscribe and let me know in the comments if you would have accepted that settlement amount had this happened to you you'll find my contact information in the description if you have a case that you think I might be interested in or if you think that I can help you let me know also if you want to contribute to the fight in the qualified immunity please donate to the institute for justice using my custom donation link which is in the description so we're tracking this now so let's pump up those numbers to show how much we're donating and let's keep those IJ civil rights lawyers running at full speed so doing the government remember freedom is scary deal with it foreign foreign