Brian Chaney says he asked for a supervisor during his arrest in Keego Harbor, Michigan, and Police Officer Richard Lindquist told him that another officer present was in charge. The problem: That second officer was not a supervisor or even a member of the Keego Harbor Police Department.
Lindquist was never disciplined and his chief says that while a suspect has the right to request a supervisor, what the officer did was OK.
“An officer can lie in the field when he’s not under oath,” Keego Harbor Police Chief John Fitzgerald said in a deposition in Chaney’s $10 million wrongful detention lawsuit.
I agree completely. That’s why I said a judge should have to sign off on it. An officer actively arresting someone could not legally lie in that scenario. Only cops in specific scenarios where judges approved of it could lie. That would be far from perfect, there are plenty of rubber stamp judges, but it would also be a lot better than what we have now.