More Reasons to NEVER Trust Cops
At least two Fresno police officers involved in a bloody 2005 arrest are under investigation for possible federal civil rights violations, an attorney representing the officers confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
The investigation could reopen a painful chapter in the city’s history. It comes after a relatively quiet spell for a Police Department that in recent years has been the target of such strong citizen complaints about alleged excessive force that city officials last year hired Fresno’s first independent police auditor.
Attorney E. Marshall Hodgkins said the FBI is “actively looking” into whether his clients, Michael Manfredi and Sean Plymale, should be indicted for allegedly using excessive force in connection to the Oct. 10, 2005 arrest of Rolando Celdon in southeast Fresno.
Celdon was punched and kicked, bitten by a police dog and shot with a less-than-lethal shotgun in the wake of a domestic dispute.
Hodgkins said Plymale currently is an officer with the Madera Police Department, and Manfredi is a sergeant with the Fresno Police Department. “The feds are considering indicting them,” Hodgkins said.
Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/31/2061312/fbi-investigates-2-officers-in.html#ixzz0yILY4MEq