Pittsburgh City Council has approved paying a nice six-figure settlement of $155,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by 53-year-old Daniel Hackett III, of Mount Lebanon. Mr. Hackett exercised his theoretical freedom of speech and criticized a city officer after getting a ticket for not using his turn signal on March 15, 2008. He complained that he saw someone run a red light and another man urinating in public, offering his opinion that the police should ticket people like that instead. For his trouble (and/or other reasons), he was taser-tortured and handcuffed, and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Reportedly none of these classic cover-charges stuck (variously reported as being dropped or acquitted). Mayor Luke Ravenstahl expressed that he was frustrated by "the increasing trend of firefighters and police officers being involved in unacceptable incidents." [LINK][LINK]
A six-figure settlement for a reportedly non-injurious taser-abuse incident. Nice.
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