Property taxpayers will have to foot the bill for police beating of black man ($178 per property owner)

[Cali_Democrat]

INKSTER, Mich. (WXYZ) - It's official, taxpayers in Inkster will pay $1.4 million in damages to the man beaten and on video during an arrest in January.

Inkster does not have the money, and state law allows a one-time millage to cover the judgment without voter approval. The millage will go on the summer tax bills.

Floyd Dent had broken facial bones and bleeding on the brain after the beating. The officer who allegedly did it, Bill Melendez, was fired and is charged with assault and misconduct and is headed to trial.

An average house in Inkster is valued at $55,000, so the additional amount would be $178.

Read more....

http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/wayne-county/inkster-taxpayers-to-foot-the-bill-for-floyd-dent-settlement

[Wilms]

1. How about it coming out of all the cops pay?

Then they can think about policing one another.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. +1000

[99th_Monkey]

4. That's exactly right.

Cops have exactly backwards incentives, a cop shoots someone so they get a paid vacation,
a cop gets rightfully sued for excessive force/wrongful death and looses, it costs the
taxpaying public (i.e. the victims)

[peecoolyour]

5. Or their pension fund. nt

[BrotherIvan]

6. +1

That's the winner.

[Ed Suspicious]

8. nice!

[drm604]

3. This is the dilemma, of course, when the government has to pay damages.

It does end up falling on the taxpayers, either explicitly, like in this case, or from the general tax base.

The alternative is for the government to never be liable for legitimate claims against it.

I have to wonder why Inkster doesn't have liability insurance. The premiums would have been paid by the taxpayers, but presumably that would have cost less than this (or at least would have been spread out over time).

[rpannier]

9. The premiums are probably really high

If I ran an insurance company they'd be pretty high because I figure I'd be paying out a lot

Teachers and doctors carry malpractice insurance, so should police. That the officer pays for out of his/her pocket

[BrotherIvan]

7. I would go further and say that if taxpayers have to pay for it, they should have a say

in who works on the police force, top to bottom. They should have a system just like the lowest person at McDonalds of evaluations and complaints. People are so worried about firing "bad teachers" well, how about we instead start worrying about bad cops?

[SoapBox]

10. Outrageous.

Ballot measure to stop this.

[lovemydog]

11. They should also pay me to take my foot

out of that cop's ass.