Miami to pay man hurt by police

Wed, Sep. 13, 2006

FREE TRADE SUMMIT

Miami commissioners agreed to pay $180,000 to a filmmaker injured during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.

BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ
mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com
Miami Herald

The city of Miami agreed Tuesday to pay $180,000 to a man injured when a police officer fired a beanbag at him during protests at the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in 2003 -- its first settlement of a suit related to police tactics at the gathering.

Carl Kesser, an independent Miami filmmaker, was seriously injured when the beanbag hit him in the head and lodged under his skin near the eye. Kesser suffered nerve damage and partial paralysis on one side of his face.

After medical costs and attorneys' fees, Kesser said that he was ''breaking even'' by taking the offer. Kesser said he was disappointed the courts did not find Miami violated his constitutional rights, as he'd hoped to make a statement with his suit against the city. On the plus side, he said, ``there's probably 150, 170 cases behind me.''

A massive police presence -- composed of multiple local law-enforcement agencies -- patrolled downtown Miami during the November 2003 summit.

Hoping to deter riots that occurred at previous free trade summits, police achieved their goal of preventing widespread property damage by protesters but faced allegations of heavy-handed, unconstitutional crowd-control tactics.

Miami police higher-ups have acknowledged mistakes but overall characterized their crowd-control efforts as a success.

Labor union activists and protesters have filed complaints and suits against the city.

FAVORED FTAA

Far from being a free-trade protester, Kesser said shortly after he was injured that he had traveled to the trade summit 'to do a pro-FTAA thing . . . a `feel-good piece.' ''

Kesser's lawsuit alleged that Miami police violated his civil rights. Attorneys for the city got that claim dismissed, but the city faced an uphill battle fighting Kesser's negligence claim, and for that reason decided to settle.

''The guy was lucky that he's alive,'' City Commissioner Tomás Regalado said before the commission voted to compensate Kesser.

Assistant Miami Police Chief Adam Burden told Regalado that Miami is examining other non-lethal weapons technology but that for now, firing beanbags is still allowed in certain circumstances.

A report by Miami's Civilian Investigative Panel, which looks into allegations of police misconduct, found that while certain officers acted inappropriately, ``most officers conducted themselves admirably, professionally and with considerable restraint and discipline even when they were subjected to acts of violence and other indignities.''

FEW CONVICTIONS

While hundreds of protesters were arrested during the trade summit, the report said only four of the arrests resulted in convictions, and three of those were for misdemeanors.

In August, Broward Sheriff's Maj. John Brooks apologized for derogatory comments he and other officers made in a police training video following the summit. The tape shows Brooks and other deputies praising each other over shooting nonlethal rubber projectiles at protesters. They congratulated each other for shooting Elizabeth Ritter, a 45-year-old Coral Gables attorney, five times as she cowered in the street.