Paine

This is a civil suit arising out of a claim of police brutality. Though there are others, the main, issue is adequacy of the voir dire.

Paine’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 case went to jury trial. The events had occurred on a July 4 evening at Pismo Beach Pier, after a fireworks display. The jury trial lasted 5 1/2 weeks.

Facts

According to the witnesses for the police officers and municipalities that were sued, they got a report of a fight going on in the parking lot. A witness testified that she directed them toward a circle of spectators watching the fight. Paine and another man, with a bloody shirt, were in the middle of the circle. Someone yelled “Cops!” and the crowd scattered. Paine and the fellow with the bloody shirt went separate ways. The police saw Paine walking away very fast, and tried to stop him. Paine sprinted away. One of the police yelled at him to stop and chased him. When he grabbed Paine by the elbow, Paine pushed him away, so other officers helped get control of Paine. They had a lot of trouble accomplishing that, so one of them used pepper spray. They eventually got Paine handcuffed, tied his hands to his feet, and carried him into a patrol car. They took him to a…