03/05/2020
Victory for Jimmy Harris:
Jury awards driver more than $1.67 million for police stop over car color that led to excessive force, false arrest
Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal SentinelPublished 7:07 a.m. CT March 5, 2020
Dashcam video shows a traffic stop over a car's color that turned into a violent arrest that re-injured the driver, who had just had shoulder surgery. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A federal jury late Wednesday awarded more than $1.67 million in damages to a driver who said a Milwaukee police officer stopped him unlawfully over the color of his car and then falsely arrested him and damaged his surgically-repaired shoulder in the process.
Much of the stop was recorded on the dashcam video which was played repeatedly during the three-day trial.
Jimmy Harris, 47, was driving his 1999 Chrysler Sebring on North Ave. near Oakland Ave. in November 2010 when he was pulled over by Milwaukee police officer Frolian Santiago. Harris said when he asked the reason, Santiago accused him of driving a stolen car.
Even though Harris was the registered owner, and the plates and VIN matched, Santiago thought the car looked black, and the DMV record listed it as gray.
"Mr. Harris and his family are elated the jury finally determined that Officer Santiago illegally stopped him for the color of his car," said Harris' attorney, Nade Cade.
"It's shameful the city had every opportunity to settle this and chose not to," Cade said.
The jury found that Santiago had made an unlawful stop, search and arrest, and had assaulted and battered Harris, used excessive force, and that the police ruined the Sebring. The jury did not attribute any fault to Santiago's two co-defendants, Milwaukee police officers Steven Stelter and Mark Kapusta, who had responded to assist Santiago and helped handcuff Harris.
Among the total damages were $90,000 in punitive damages -- $40,000 against Santiago, now a detective, and $50,000 against retired officer Walter McCullough, a sergeant when he also responded to the incident after Harris had been handcuffed and failed to intervene or order Harris freed.
McCullough did not honor subpoenas for a deposition earlier in the case, or appear for the trial, where he was also a defendant.
On the video of the arrest, you can see Harris first pulling away from Santiago when he reaches for Harris' left arm to handcuff him, and hear him repeating that he was recovering from rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder just ten days earlier. He repeatedly asks why he's being stopped.
When he and Santiago move off camera, you can hear Harris screaming as he's being handcuffed. He's then taken to a hospital, given medications for pain, and spent the weekend in jail.
When he was released on a Monday, he filed a citizen complaint with the department and later with the Fire and Police Commission. Internal affairs didn't investigate the complaint until more than a year later, and no one ever took a statement from Harris' fiance, who was in the car that night.
He sued the city of Milwaukee and the officers in 2014. By 2016, his shoulder pain had finally worsened to the point he had a different kind of surgery, that helped keep his should blade in place but left him permanently disabled.
Jurors heard testimony from Harris, his fiance, two of his doctors, the defendant officers, and an expert on police training and use of force.
In his closing argument, Deputy City Attorney Jan Smokovicz said all the answers to verdict questions about whether officers violated Harris' rights should be no. He said the evidence showed Santiago used only reasonable force in arresting Harris, who had become argumentative and was interfering with Santiago's investigation.
Cade reminded jurors it was unlawful to stop Harris solely for the color discrepancy, and that it was only years later, after the lawsuit, that Santiago said he'd also seen Harris weaving within his lane.
Jimmy Harris, right, had recently had shoulder surgery when he was pulled over because his black car was listed as gray in DMV records. He sued police officers he says badly injured the shoulder when they arrested him. He wasn't charged with any offense. Attorney Nate Cade, left, represents Harris, whose case is now being tried before a federal jury.
Jimmy Harris, right, had recently had shoulder surgery when he was pulled over because his black car was listed as gray in DMV records. He sued police officers he says badly injured the shoulder when they arrested him. He wasn't charged with any offense. Attorney Nate Cade, left, represents Harris, whose case is now being tried before a federal jury. (Photo: Bruce Vielmetti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Cade said Harris had every reason to be hostile after being accused of having a stolen car, then frisked, even though the car matched the records in every other way, Harris had a valid license and no criminal record.
Harris did pull his arms away because he feared being handcuffed would hurt because of the recent surgery. Ultimately, Santiago took him to the ground, and two other officers who responded to an assist call helped handcuff him.
After a prosecutor declined to file obstruction charges, Santiago gave Harris a municipal ticket for the offense, which was also later dismissed. "Ladies and gentlemen, that is spite," Cade said.
He suggested $2.4 million would compensate Harris for past and future medical bills, and his pain and suffering.
Smokowicz said Harris has embellished tales of his pain and limitations for the purpose of the lawsuit, noting he fathered two of his four children after the incident and waited four years to have more surgery. He said it wouldn't have been responsible of Harris to have more children if he knew he'd be unable to help care for them.
In rebuttal, Cade told jurors they should be insulted by Smokowicz's remark about Harris' children. "I can't believe I heard that here," he said. "That if Mr. Harris fathered children, he can't be in that much pain? Really?"
Cade also asked jurors to impose punitive damages against the city and the officers, Santiago and two who rolled up after his call and helped arrest Harris, Steve Stelter and Mark Kapusta.
An internal affairs review prompted by Harris' initial complaint did not result in any discipline for the officers involved, though it noted a sergeant failed to write a use-of-force report.
Harris said he tried physical therapy for years to address pain and limited motion from his injured shoulder but eventually needed more surgery in 2016 that took muscle from his left chest and reconnected it to his shoulder blade area. He said it reduced his pain but only improved his left arm's range of motion a little.
He said the range is about ten percent of what it used to be. He tore his rotator cuff moving a refrigerator, he said.
RELATED: Nearly 10 years after a driver was stopped for the color of his car, a jury hears about his violent arrest
Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at .
