Lawsuit claims Cobb police beat motorist

<p>A 23-year-old Smyrna man says four Cobb County police officers dragged him from his car and beat, stomped and kicked him while shouting obscenities and racial slurs as he tried to protect himself and figure out what he did wrong.</p><p>Lawyers for Kalu Ugah filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against the department and five of its officers, alleging an unprovoked attack on Ugah during a traffic stop while he was returning home from visiting a friend.</p><p>The night of the alleged beating, Feb. 3, Ugah was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving and driving without his headlights.</p><p>"I just want justice to be served and for the whole world to see that racism still exists in this country," Ugah told reporters at a news conference. "This is something I had to do to let the world know that it's not going anwhere until we do something about it," he said.</p><p>Cobb County Police Department spokesman Dana Pierce said the department had not yet been officially served notice of the lawsuit, and declined comment. He also declined to comment about the alleged beating, but did say that the incident is under investigation by the internal affairs department.</p><p>When asked to provide a copy of the incident report, Pierce declined, saying that document is now part of the internal affairs investigation.</p><p>According to the complaint, Ugah was returning to his Smyrna apartment when a Cobb County patrol car pulled in front of the complex entrance, blocking him.</p><p>Ugah said one of the officers drew his gun and ordered him out of the car, but he was unable to exit because he was blocked by the apartment complex's security gate.</p><p>He said a second police car pulled behind him, an officer jumped out and dragged the 5-foot-11, 190-pound student from the passenger's side of his car onto the ground, throwing him onto the cement curb.</p><p>"I just kept asking, 'Sir, what did I do?'" Ugah recounted. "I couldn't do anything. I was just defenseless."</p><p>He said he was beaten on the head, back, neck and ears, and his face and right eye bled after the beating, which he said lasted at least five minutes. Afterwards, he said, the police informed him he was driving without headlights and under the influence.</p><p>Ugah said he was offered a breathalyzer test, but refused.</p><p>"After being beaten up, why should I take it?" he said, adding that he had not been drinking that night and had never been arrested before.</p><p>Ugah spent several hours at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center. He said that afterward, a friend took pictures of his injuries outside the jail. A mug shot also shows a bruise to his right cheek.</p><p>He then complained to the internal affairs office, which he said has not responded.</p><p>The following day, he went to a hospital for treatment of his injuries, which he said included bleeding in his eye, cuts and scrapes on his cheeks and bruising and lacerations on his knees.</p><p>Ugah's attorney, Adam S. Jaffe, said the handling of the case shows deliberate indifference by authorities.</p><p>"It looks like they're trying to cover up some bad behavior," Jaffe said.</p><p>Ugah, who is studying to be an heating and air conditioning technician at Chattahoochee Technical College, said he is healing from his injuries but is still in pain and haunted by that night.</p><p>"I saw my life flashing in my hands," he said. "I thought I was about to get killed."</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/2/129756