Florida Officer On Leave After Harrassing Disabled Veteran

Update: Riviera officer on leave amid probe of incident with veteran
Palm Beach Post
August 11, 2015

“If I had done the same to him, I would have been cited, or at least I would be shot with a Taser,” James told The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday.

RIVIERA BEACH — A 20-year city police officer was placed on administrative leave Tuesday night while authorities investigate an incident caught on film of him knocking a smartphone out of a 28-year-old Army veteran’s hands during an argument over the legitimacy of his handicapped tag.

Sgt. Garry Wilson’s encounter Sunday morning with Isiah James has drawn widespread attention on social media, city spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown acknowledged Tuesday.

During the 13 minutes of video that James caught on his smartphone — and that went viral after he posted it on Facebook — Wilson berated James, saying he has no right to be in the handicapped space and that he isn’t disabled. Ultimately, Wilson grew so heated that he knocks the phone out of James’s hands, damaging it.

At the end of the video, Sgt. Frank Laporta, also a veteran, talks James down. Off camera, James said Laporta handed him his IDs back and told him he is free to go.
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I don't bother anybody. This is the shit that pisses me off. You harass me, assault me, profile me, then think I'm supposed to be ok with it? Fucking wrong. You picked the wrong guy to fuck with today that's for damn sure. Police harassment is real folks. This just happened to me and my farther about 10 mins. ago. What the hell is going on in this country. Share share share~Isiah
Posted by Liberal Lions on Sunday, August 9, 2015

Vet wounded in Iraq, Afghanistan forced to FIGHT with cop over handicapped spot
BIZPAC Review
Nicole Haas
August 13, 2015 Nicole Haas

According to the Post:

James served three tours with the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2006 and 2011. He was injured multiple times by improvised bombs and other explosives. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and other elements, and today wears braces on both legs, has numerous screws in his legs and struggles to walk long distances.

A tussle between a disabled veteran and a cop who thought he wasn’t disabled enough to use a handicapped spot is making national news — and getting the police officer some unexpected administrative leave.

The incident occurred Sunday in Riviera Beach, Florida, when Sgt. Garry Wilson ordered army veteran Isiah James to move his car from a handicap parking spot despite Wilson’s having valid credentials, the Palm Beach Post reported.

James recorded the incident on video and later posted it to Facebook — where it has gone viral.

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James explained repeatedly that he is a disabled veteran.

But Wilson wasn’t buying it.

“Do that make you any better than a citizen or old lady in a wheelchair that really needs that plate?” Wilson said according to the Post. “I’m just saying. You walking.”
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