Animal advocate wins suit

Animal rights advocate Jeremy Beckham has won a lawsuit against a U police officer who he said unrightfully grabbed him.

On April 6, 2008, Officer Mike Richards approached Beckham, a senior in history, while he was acting as an observer for activists protesting animal rights in a U researcher’s neighborhood. According to court documents, Richards placed an arm around Beckham and pulled him close to intimidate or frighten him, and when the student repeatedly asked him to remove his arm, he did not.

“What, you’re out here and you’re not intimidating (the neighbors),” Richards said, pointing to the houses Beckham’s associates were marching around with signs and a bullhorn. The officer was not officially detaining Beckham for a crime and had no cause to physically hold him, according to the records.


Beckham sued, and a 3rd District Court judge approved a $500 judgment on Monday in favor of the student. The U also had to pay Beckham’s $3,200 attorney fee and make an admission of wrongdoing. An admission is what separates a judgment from a settlement—paying off the complainant to drop the case—but the U Police Department argues that’s exactly what happened.

“It was a nuisance fee,” said Sgt. Arb Nordgran, spokesman for U Police. The U decided it was best to find out “what it’s going to take to pay (Beckham) off, to go away,” instead of spending thousands of dollars to fight the case during a time of heavy budget cuts, Nordgran said.

The student believes the U Police’s explanation is simply a spin.

Beckham donated the $500 to a collection for Jordan Holladay, a fellow animal rights activist who was arrested for targeting a U researcher’s home during a separate protest. He said the money is meant to help pay for Holladay’s court fees.

Two other U students are also defendants in Holladay’s case, but Beckham said he isn’t sure if they’ll be as successful as he was. Beckham largely credits his victory to a video taken of the entire incident, so he said “there was no question.” For the other students, their case isn’t cut-and-dry and will likely move to a jury trial later this year.

m.mcfall@chronicle.utah.edu

4 comments

Miss Clearity

Tue Apr 7 2009 22:53

TO Rich Hawkes,The court did not find the officer guilty of ANY crime. If you re-read the article, it states the court merely accepted the the U's thought of spending tens of thousands to win a case fruitless. Beckham's speech was not hindered as the article states he was observing the illegal protest. If you read the law, protest at a residence must be 100' away and they can't cover their heads. If these protesters want to make a point lawfully, they need to protest the source of the professors, the University of Utah. They pay to have them on campus, protest Presidents Circle away from children and near the money source. That's if you truly want something done

Rich Hawkes

Thu Apr 2 2009 20:46

The person posting as "annoyed" is annoyed at the wrong person. The U Police might not believe that the officer's conduct was wrong. They might not believe that harassing protesters is wrong, but a court of law found otherwise. Because of Beckham's lawsuit, even if the U Police still mistakenly believe their actions are justified, they will not engage in further attempts to forcefully squelch free speech, or if they do, they know it will cost them. If "Annoyed" is annoyed, he should focus his annoyance on the party the court found liable for unlawful conduct--Officer Richards.

Fellow Student

Thu Apr 2 2009 16:03

I love how we're taught in the classroom to resist intimidation by social forces that would discriminate or cow us into obedience - and then in real life we're made to feel ashamed of that activism because "tax and tuition dollars" might be spent as collateral damage. The U is going to get your money and spend it (you're not going to get it back, so get over it) and this experiment in social justice seems as reasonable as any other. Congratulations Beckham on following through with this - I bet there were plenty of ways of rationalizing not making a big deal out of this - but that officer should have gotten his hand slapped. No one should go around intimidating people for peacefully demonstrating - especially since this student was just observing!

Annoyed

Thu Apr 2 2009 12:32

Thanks Beckham, i'm so glad that you won your pity case against an officer who put his arm on your shoulder. Thanks for putting my tax and tuition dollars to such a great use. I hope next time you have someone at your door intimidating you and yelling and screaming about what you do you don't depend on those police to proect your rights and do something else non-violent to try and remedy the situation.

You did the very American thing of suing and costing everyone money. And I'm sure that cop "learned his lesson" about who to mess with. Hope you feel like such a big man now.

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