Black Columbia University Professor Marc Lamont Hill Sues Philadelphia PD & Officer Richard DeCoatsworth for Violating His Constitutional Rights

Columbia University professor Marc Lamont Hill has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit this week against the Philadelphia Police Department and Officer Richard DeCoatsworth, who was hailed as a hero when he survived a gunshot blast to the face in 2007, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Hill is a regular guest on Fox News and has appeared on CNN and MSNBC.

Hill, 31, who lives in Philadelphia, claims that around 12:30 a.m. on June 12, as he was dropping a passenger off at 11th Street and Lindley Avenue in North Philadelphia, DeCoatsworth and his partner pulled up behind him and motioned for him to move his car. Hill indicated to the cops that he was dropping someone off and the cops drove away, the suit said.

But as Hill pulled away, he claims DeCoatsworth pulled him over. Though he wouldn't tell him why at first, DeCoatsworth's unnamed partner later said it was for "illegal discharge of a passenger and blocking the street," according to the suit.

During the stop, Hill claims DeCoatsworth and his partner searched his car without a warrant or permission and that DeCoatsworth went through his pockets and drug him out of the car by his left arm. DeCoatsworth then slammed Hill against his vehicle, pushed his fist into Hill's back and threatened to take him to jail, the suit alleges. Hill claims that DeCoatsworth also asked whether he could afford his car and went through his checkbook. Hill was eventually let go and told to get out of the neighborhood without ever being cited or arrested, the suit said. Source

I don't blame Hill for filing a lawsuit if he was wronged, but I am surprised this isn't being played up by the mainstream media. Hill alleges in the lawsuit that the Constitutional violations he suffered were as a result of the "the City's policies, procedures, customs and practices of allowing its officers to make stops without reasonable suspicion, and to use unreasonable and excessive force thereby violating the civil rights of those with whom they come into contact," the newspaper said.