Who is Devin Carter? California cops attacked Black teen, 17, like a 'pack of wolves', claims lawsuit
The family of a black teen named Devin Carter has filed a lawsuit against the city of Stockton and four California police officers who “viciously beat” the 17-year-old boy during a 2020 arrest.
According to the lawsuit filed by the family, Carter was pulled over by the cops for speeding on December 30, 2020, in Stockton, California. The footage that was released after the incident showed that an unidentified police officer was forcibly pulling him out of his car. The police officers did not stop there and laid him on the ground in a “fetal position,” according to the complaint.
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Citing the officer’s body camera footage, the family also claimed that multiple officers started hitting Carter as he laid in a fetal position. “As Devin Carter laid on the [ground]in a fetal position, one officer viciously struck [him]in the face with his knee. Officers’ body camera footage shows that multiple officers began to repeatedly punch, knee, and kick Devin Carter in his face, neck, and back as he laid in a fetal position screaming in agony,” the lawsuit reads.
The family, who has seen the entire body cam footage, also noted that the video clearly shows that Carter was “not resisting” when the officers pulled him from the car. However, things got really ugly and turned “violent” when police started punching him and kick him with their knees.
The entire incident has left him physically injured and emotionally drained. The complaint also suggested that Carter’s hands were “visibly raised” above the steering wheel while waiting to come outside.
The footage, which was released by the family’s attorney John Burris, saw Carter screaming in pain as one of the police officers ordered him to “give him” his hands.
“It was unnecessary for multiple officers to repeatedly punch, knee, and kick Carter in the face, neck, and back when Carter demonstrated no signs of resistance,” the lawsuit claims.
The attorney also released a statement regarding the lawsuit and revealed that the officers’ conduct was so atrocious that “they should be criminally prosecuted.” He also said those police officers acted as a "pack of wolves" while attacking Devin.
In his statement, Burris compared the entire episode with a similar incident that took place in March 1991. A black man named Rodney King was beaten by the officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1991. The incident caused an outrage in the country and led to riots when a jury acquitted four white officers who were caught on video footage.
Speaking about the incident, Jessica Carter, Devin’s mother, said that it was extremely hard for her to see her child being so “helpless” in the footage. “No mother should see or hear her son beaten by the police and helplessly crying from the pain. This has been a mother’s worst nightmare,” Jessica said in a statement.
Two of the officers involved in the incident, Michael Stiles and Omar Villapudua, have been fired “well outside the scope of both our policy and training,” Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones said. Meanwhile, the other officers, Daniel Valarde and Vincent Magana, have been disciplined.
All four police officers are currently being investigated by the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office.