In the late-night hours of April 28, 2012, Arnold Black, a 42-year old African-American landscaper and resident of Cleveland, Ohio, was arrested while driving home, beat up by police, and locked in a storage closet for four days before being placed in jail, because East Cleveland police thought Black’s truck allegedly looked like one that belonged to a drug dealer.
Little did Black know at the time that his whole experience was part of an unwritten policy and custom of using violence against community members, promoted by former police chief Ralph Spotts, who also made sure that all police reports, evidence, internal affairs documents, and dashboard camera video of Black’s arrest and confinement were “lost” by the City. The plan was that Black’s prosecution would go forward, the drug case would likely fail because there were no drugs in the first place, and no one would suspect East Cleveland’s police had done anything wrong.
However, through the investigative efforts of lead trial attorney Robert F. (Bobby) DiCello-and his brother, Mark DiCello and Justin Hawal of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC-the attempted coverup of Arnold Black’s violent attack and his shocking confinement was uncovered. They also exposed one of the most graphic examples of department-wide police misconduct and corruption.
Counting the time lost to multiple appeals, Black’s case against the city of East Cleveland took eight years to work its way through the criminal and civil justice systems since the case was first filed in April 2013. DiCello took the lead, re-telling Black’s ordeal in front of eight jurors in two separate trials-one in 2016 and one in 2019-while uncovering a history of organized violence and attacks on ordinary citizens in the city of East Cleveland that was the moving force behind what happened to Black, which was endorsed by the chief of police and other policymakers within East Cleveland.
The first trial, resulting in a $22,000,000 jury verdict, was overturned by the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals on jurisdictional grounds following the city of East Cleveland’s appeal. However, thanks to the continued efforts of the legal team, a second trial occurred in August 2019, further exposing the police department’s unwritten policy and culture of violence and resulting in a verdict of a $50 million award to Arnold Black, including $20,000,000 in compensatory damages against all defendants and $15,000,000 in punitive damages each against the co-defendants Randy Hicks and Ralph Spotts.
During the trials, testimonies of police officers revealed that many of them felt powerless in holding Hicks accountable. There were three infamous approaches to police work in East Cleveland: the right way, the wrong way, and “The East Cleveland Way.” In his testimony during the second trial, Hicks revealed his participation, along with other officers, in a group of officers called the “Jump-Out Boys,” in which they would ride together in the back of an unmarked vehicle looking for “possible drug dealers”, targeting young men, old men, some women-almost always black people-without probable cause. Hicks testified that he would never become a supervisor if he did not follow along with “The East Cleveland Way.”
Black’s unbelievable story of abusive confinement and his perseverance in obtaining accountability for himself and all others who had been impacted by the police force’s corrupt ways captured the nation’s attention, cementing this case as one of the most significant civil rights verdicts in U.S. history and the catalyst for much-needed change. DiCello continues to work with community leaders within the city of East Cleveland to drive police reform and improve the relationship between police and the community.
Team: Robert F. (Bobby) DiCello, Mark A. DiCello, and Justin Hawal of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, Mentor, Ohio
Негізгі бет 2021 Trial Lawyer of the Year Winner: Black v. Hicks
Пікірлер: 3