Taser Victim is Awarded $250,000 in Excessive Force Case Against Three Pittsburg Police Officers

Online, July 23, 2010 (Newswire.com) - San Francisco, California, July 23, 2010-An eight-person jury awarded $250,000 today in compensatory damages for excessive force to a Pittsburg man who was simultaneously tasered by three police officers.
In Federal Court in San Francisco the jury listened to testimony for nearly eight days before returning a verdict for the Plaintiff Frederick Jackson, who was hospitalized for five days following being tasered by police in March 2008.
Police said that Mr. Jackson posed a threat to their safety as a justification for the tasering. However, the eight-person jury unanimously determined that the police did not have reasonable justification for the heavy-handed use of force against Mr. Jackson.
Frederick Jackson and his two daughters were relieved with the verdict and can finally move forward from this incident. "The jury was able to see what really happened here and this verdict brings closure to this family after two years of litigation," says attorney Jessica Barsotti, who helped represent the plaintiffs.
Lead attorney for the Plaintiffs, Panos Lagos, delivered a heart-felt closing argument asking the jury to look at the case with common sense. "We are pleased that the jury saw the facts for what they were," he said after hearing the verdict. Mr Lagos has been an attorney in Oakland for over thirty years and specializes in police brutality and misconduct, as well as some other areas of law