MPD Brutality Case Heading to Trial - WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports

MPD Brutality Case Heading to Trial

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By Tametria Conner - bio | email

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MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -

"It's been a long journey almost three year now," Montgomery Attorney Julian McPhillips said.

It was in 2009 when McPhillips filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Montgomery, the Montgomery police department and three officers on behalf of two alleged victims who are disabled: Kamessa Williams and Miguel Johnson.

"You can see the officers whole boot print and the heel print where he kicked me down and then he stumped me in my back," Williams said.

Williams still has the T-shirt she was wearing at the time of the incident.

"It was very excruciating. I was humiliated and I could not get up off the ground," Williams said.

After years of litigation -- claims of excessive force, police brutality and even theft will have their day in court next week.

"I've never been done like this in 42 years. I'm hoping for justice and that something be done about it," Johnson said.

"It's very rare that a case gets this far. First, the circuit court denied the summary judgment on the part of the city back of July of 2011. Then in September of 2011, the city took the case to the Alabama Supreme Court. It was a petition to remove it and then it stayed there for the better part of the year and the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled in our favor that we could go forth and the immunity defenses the city was claiming did not apply," McPhillips said.

Johnson and Williams will take the stand.

"These two are two of the worst cases but there has been many other cases. We say there's a pattern of practice in police brutality and excessive force in Montgomery. Now we're not saying all police are this way by any stretch, we think most police man are good, but there's an element here that believes in rough-housing and the ones that subjected these two to their problems had prior records and histories," McPhillips said.

We requested a response from the city on McPhillips lawsuit. They released a statement saying "The city of Montgomery has investigated his client's allegations and found no wrong doing by the officers."

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