this story will show clearly that being innocent is no protection from the 'law' and it could easily happen to you;

Boston, MA — The taxpayers of Boston were put on notice this week that they will be paying out a historically large settlement thanks to the incompetence of their police department. Officers accused Al Copeland, 62, of being drunk and arrested him instead of getting him help for the stroke he had just suffered.

On that fateful night, Copeland was driving home when he says he began feeling nauseous, so he pulled over right away. The feeling got worse after he pulled over and he eventually lost consciousness. He didn’t know it but he was in the midst of a stroke.

“I was afraid,” he told WBUR. “I say, well, at least if anything happens to me, somebody will find me.”

It is widely known that the longer a stroke goes untreated, the greater the potential for brain damage and disability exist which is why health experts advocate the F.A.S.T. program. Unfortunately for Copeland, however, he wasn’t found by experts that night. He was found by cops who mistook his life-threatening condition for driving under the influence.

When police found Copeland that night, he was slumped over the wheel and parked in front of the Berklee College of Music. Despite Copeland being unresponsive and in clear medical distress, police didn’t call him an ambulance. They handcuffed and brought him to jail instead.

Police claimed — without evidence — that Copeland “smelled like alcohol,” and they charged him with DUI. But Copeland, a gainfully employed official with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority with no criminal record, hadn’t had a sip of alcohol since 1995.

Valerie Copeland, Al’s wife — who is a pastor at Life Church Boston — says her husband was arrested instead of given medical help because of the color of his skin.

“Why didn’t they assume he was sick?” Valerie asks. “I can only and strongly believe it’s because he’s a Black male.”

Because cops wrongly accused Copeland of being drunk,.........read more.......