DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Taxpayers in Daytona Beach will again have to cover the mess created by City Manager Jim Chisholm and the corrupt City Commission in yet another Bad Cops case.
The yoga instructor shot with a Taser stun gun by a former Daytona Beach officer at Best Buy (See Abuse of Power in Daytona Beach: Cop uses Taser on Innocent Best Buy Customer ) will likely receive a $38,000 settlement from the city as recommended by City Attorney Marie Hartman in order to avoid further exposure in Court.
The claim against the city focused on false arrest and excessive force by Daytona Beach Police Officer Claudia Wright who intentionally used her Taser weapon to cause pain and injury to Yoga Instructor Elizabeth Beeland, an innocent customer at Best Buy.
As typical in these cases, Beeland was taken to jail by Officer Wright on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The City later quietly withdrew and she was not prosecuted.
Police Officers are trained to always file "resisting arrest" charges whenever they are involved in situations of abuse of power in the hopes of later coercing the victims to settle Abuse of Civil Rights charges as a "trade".
According to the Daytona Beach Police Department, Wright was not found to have violated department rules in the case. However, the Police Department's Taser policy was reviewed and changed in early 2008, soon after the Best Buy episode.
Officer Wright was fired from the department last year when the State Attorney formally charged her after allegations surfaced that she had forged the signature of Annie Robinson - her own grandmother - in order to buy a car. Investigators learned of the crime after her grandmother filed a criminal complaint, records show. The grandmother, found out her name had been forged by Wright when she went to buy a car for herself.
Only after the mounting criminal evidence was publicly exposed against one of their own did the City of Daytona Beach decide to fire the officer.
Thanks to connections, however, Wright was offered a deal that will allow for the felony charge in the check fraud case to be dropped if she stays out of trouble for 12 months.
Wright had also been trouble before; The News Journal reported that in 2009, Wright warned a Daytona Beach family they were the targets of a drug investigation, according to a police investigation. The suspects were related to someone close to Wright. Although another officer was fired in the investigation that followed, Wright was allowed to keep her job at the time.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The Grass Roots movement Occupy Daytona will hold its first demonstration at Tuscawilla park at the corner of Nova Rd. and International Speedway Blvd. This Saturday October 15th from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
