Report: Ferguson Police Beat Up Wrong Suspect Then Charged Him For Getting Blood On Uniforms In 2009

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. The police chief in the St. Louis suburb where an officer fatally shot an unarmed teenager said Wednesda... Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. The police chief in the St. Louis suburb where an officer fatally shot an unarmed teenager said Wednesday that cyber-attacks on his city's website won't sway him into releasing the officer's name. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) MORE LESS
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Amid ongoing racial tensions in Ferguson, Mo., the Daily Beast reported on a 2009 incident in which city police beat up a wrongfully arrested African-American man and then charged him for getting blood on their uniforms.

The incident occurred on Sept. 20, 2009. The police served an outstanding warrant to one Henry Davis, 52, according to the Beast — but they were actually looking for a different Henry Davis who had a different middle name and Social Security number. But after the police apparently ran Davis’s license plate number and saw his name, he was pulled over and arrested, the Daily Beast reported.

Davis was then taken to the police department and placed in a holding cell, according to the Beast, citing Davis’s testimony. When he complained about being placed with another person in a one-man cell and asked for a sleeping mat, police officers allegedly slammed his head against the wall, hit him and kicking him in the head, per the Beast. Davis was eventually taken to the emergency room.

He was charged with property damage, according to the Beast, with the charging documents stating that Davis “did transfer blood to the uniform.”

The local prosecutor later dropped the property damage charges, the Beast reported, because of conflicting reports from the officers involved. Afterward, Davis sued the department over the incident, but court documents show that a federal district judge ruled in favor of the Ferguson police in the last year.

Davis appealed the district judge’s ruling to federal appeals court in March 2014. Read his original complaint below.

Ferguson 2009 Lawsuit

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