nothin East Haven Wins Malik Jones Appeal | New Haven Independent

East Haven Wins Malik Jones Appeal

While there may be a number of racist cops in East Haven, the department as a whole isn’t racist. At least, it wasn’t institutionally racist in 1997 when an East Haven cop shot and killed an unarmed black man from New Haven.

So ruled a federal panel Wednesday, overturning a $900,000 jury award.

That panel of three federal appeals judges handed down a judgement in the case of Emma Jones v. Town of East Haven. They reversed a previous court decision and stripped Jones of compensation she won for the loss of her son at the hands of an East Haven cop.

Thomas MacMillan Photo

Emma Jones emerging from federal court in January.

Jones, who lives in New Haven, sued East Haven after one of the town’s cops, Officer Robert Flodquist, shot and killed her 21-year-old son Malik Jones in 1997, following a car chase from East Haven into New Haven.

Emma Jones won her first lawsuit against the town, but her $2.5 million award was tossed out due to a technicality. In 2010, a jury awarded her $900,000.

The town of East Haven appealed the decision, sending the case to federal appellate court. A panel of three federal judges heard arguments in January, casting a skeptical eye on the arguments of Jones’ lawyer, David Rosen.

On Wednesday, the judges ruled in favor of East Haven, reversing the prior decision for Jones, who will now not receive any compensation for the loss of her son.

Click here to read the decision.

The decision gave the town and its longstanding attorney, Hugh Keefe, an opportunity to claim vindication. Keefe said the decision shows the town did nothing wrong. Keefe and East Haven’s mayor scheduled a 3:30 p.m. victory press conference at town hall.

Emma Jones could not be immediately reached for comment as this story was published. Her attorney said they haven’t decided yet whether to appeal the decision.

Wednesday’s decision offers a stark contrast with another recent federal appraisal of the East Haven police department. Following extensive allegations, starting in 2009, of anti-Latino abuse and harassment by East Haven cops, the federal Department of Justice launched an investigation that found widespread institutionalized racist behavior in the department. The investigation has so far resulted in the arrest of East Haven cops and the resignation of the department’s police chief. Emma Jones has said she felt her longstanding legal fight in her son’s case helped pave the way for that subsequent federal probe.

The 1997 killing of Malik Jones was also a flashpoint event for civil-rights activists. The case led to the creation of a statewide racial profiling law, and sparked years of painful urban-suburban soul-searching and contention.

After the 1997 shooting, Officer Flodquist said that Jones gave him a Go to Hell” look, and the car Jones was driving may have been rolling backwards at the time of the shooting, so he thought his life was at risk. Flodquist shot Jones multiple times at close range, after smashing the driver’s side window with his gun. Jones was unarmed.

Emma Jones’ subsequent case against the town of East Haven hinged on a so-called Monell claim,” an argument that the town had ignored a pattern of police policies and practices prejudicial to African-Americans.

Boyz On The Hood” Shirts Disrespectful,” Not Compelling Evidence

In the 22-page decision handed down Wednesday, three federal judges ruled that she had not provided sufficient evidence to show that such a pattern existed at the time of the shooting.

Rosen, Jones’ attorney, had presented several incidents and phenomena as evidence of institutionally sanctioned — or at least ignored — racism. In the decision, the judges rejected the incidents as evidence, one by one.

The first incident mentioned was the arrest of a black man named Shane Gray by Officer Flodquist in 1991. Flodquist allegedly fired at Gray as he was running away. There was no evidence to link the shooting with Gray’s race,” Wednesday’s decision reads.

In 1996, East Haven cops allegedly beat a white man name Donald Jackman and told him, You’re lucky you’re not a nigger because you’d be fucking dead.” While cops may have made racially bigoted remarks … there is no showing that any policy-maker was aware of these remarks,” the decision reads.

Rosen also presented as evidence the fact that the police department’s softball team had T‑shirts depicting two cops holding two men on the hood of a cruiser, with the phrase Boyz on the Hood.” Then police Chief James Criscuolo became aware of these T‑shirts around the time of the Malik Jones shooting.

The judges rejected this as evidence for a couple of reasons: First, while the message of the T‑shirts was disrespectful of black people, it did not reveal an inclination on the part of officers to abuse the rights of black people. Second, it was not clear that the police chief was entitled by law to order officers not to wear a T‑shirt expressing their personal views while playing baseball off-duty. The Chief’s failure to take action accordingly did not demonstrate a tolerance for abuse of the rights of black people.”

The decision similarly rejects several other pieces of evidence offered by Rosen.

In sum, Plaintiff’s evidence showed two instances, or at the most three, over a period of several years in which a small number of officers abused the rights of black people, and one incident in which an officer indicated a disposition to abuse the rights of black people,” the decision states. This evidence fell far short of showing a policy, custom, or usage of officers to abuse the rights of black people, and far short of showing abusive conduct among officers so persistent that it must have been known to supervisory authorities.”

While any instance in which police officers abuse people’s rights is intolerable, the question before us in this appeal is whether Plaintiff’s evidence was sufficient to support a finding of liability of the Town under the standards of Monell,” the decision concludes. The judgment for Plaintiff against the Town of East Haven is REVERSED.”

Rosen: Jones Paved The Way”

Emma Jones proved that her son was killed illegally and in violation of the constitution,” Rosen said on Wednesday. That is still true and the court’s decision today does not question that it’s true. … We think the jury that actually heard the evidence and decided against the town got it right.”

Rosen said that the appeals court took pains to draft a narrow ruling that will not adversely effect the other civil-rights cases against East Haven.

Rosen said Jones has the option to try to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s a decision for another day.”

As for Jones herself, Rosen said, While she’s disappointed, she can still take comfort in the fact that she proved that the people who killed her son broke the law, and she paved the way for the efforts that have come after. And it’s also just true as can be that for Emma Jones, the money has always been the least of it.”

Keefe, East Haven’s attorney, had a different interpretation of Wednesday’s decision. It means that the taxpayers of the town of East Haven do not have to pay a dime in the estate of Malik Jones.” It also means that the trial judge should never have let the case get to a jury, which is what we’ve been saying for 10 years,” Keefe said.

Keefe said the decision will have an effect on the Department of Justice’s civil complaint. It undermines the claims of the Department of Justice as outlined in a letter to the mayor in December of 2011.” The only specifics cited in the letter is the Malik Jones case, Keefe said. The new decision, takes the water out of that argument completely,” Keefe said.

This decision, which stands to save the taxpayers millions of dollars, marks the end of an unhappy, costly chapter in East Haven’s history,” said East Haven mayor Joseph Maturo at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, according to a release. With this decision behind us, the Town can continue to move forward and heal. This entire case has been tragic for our police department, our taxpayers, and the Jones family. This chapter is now closed.”

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