A University of New Mexico law student named Jeremy Martin is suing the city of Albuquerque and Officer Pablo Padilla after the police officer allegedly kneed him in the groin during a traffic stop, and it was all caught on film, much to the officer’s chagrin. The footage shows an uncooperative Martin being told to do something — when he refuses, the police officer knees him repeatedly in the groin and then the officer appears to beat him, even as Martin yells, “I’m not resisting, I’m not resisting!”
Martin’s attorney Sam Bregman claims Padilla acted “intentionally, maliciously and willfully” and says his arrest of Martin on drunken driving and possession of marijuana charges was unjustified.
The incident was caught on video by a passenger in Martin’s vehicle, but the lawsuit says that Padilla also initially destroyed evidence by deleting a video from the passenger’s cell phone. (The passenger was not under arrest or charged with anything.) Bregman says the city has fostered “a culture of violence and excessive force in the police department”, and cited findings in a Department of Justice investigation. Bergman says that the city has been deliberately indifferent to the rights of the general public, including his client.
I really wish law enforcement would collectively get these issues under control because it makes them all look bad. The more incidents we have like this, the less the general public is going to trust those who are supposed to be protecting and serving.