Michael Bennett and his lawyer sat down for an interview with ABC News recently, and two things became very clear after that appearance. First, Michael Bennett and his lawyer are not going to backtrack on the claim that Bennett was racially profiled, and second, Bennett plans on suing the Las Vegas Police Department.
Bennett claimed in a Twitter post, that he was detained by police for being, “a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.” What’s rather curious about this, is that Bennett’s own attorney contradicted his client and claimed the detainment had nothing to do with race, during an interview with KOMO in Seattle:
Attrny for Michael Bennett says race wasn't a factor in arrest but lack of probable cause was May file civil rights lawsuit #komonews pic.twitter.com/q7G8Hdoyce
— Matt Markovich (@mattmarkovich) September 6, 2017
One would think that an attorney nuking his client’s case on television prior to trial, might become problematic. Then of course, there’s the video of the incident released by the LVMPD, which showed that, if Michael Bennett was a “black man at the wrong place at the wrong time,” then he was one of hundreds of black men at the wrong place at the wrong time. The video clearly showed that hundreds of black men, and women, were in the casino at the time of the reported active shooter.
Yet, the only person cuffed and detained by police in the video, was the guy who allegedly ran, Michael Bennett. One would think that could become problematic when trying to make a case for racial profiling as well.
Pursuant to the incident where Bennett alleges he had a gun pointed at his head, with officers threatening to “blow his f***ing head off,” if he moved. Well, no one knows for sure, except Bennett and the officers on the scene. However, the video released by TMZ and the LVMPD doesn’t show officers doing or saying that. While Bennett’s defenders have been quick to point out that the police video doesn’t show Bennett running from the police, as the officers allege he did, those who would defend the Seahawks star defender must also concede the video doesn’t show the officers threatening to kill Bennett either.
Bennett’s lawyer summed up his client’s position, bluntly: “Unless something changes drastically that we don’t know of, we’re gonna file a lawsuit.”
This will be interesting to watch.
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