I’ve been following the David Eckert Case for some time. The most recent news involved a $1.6 million dollar settlement from the county and city involved, but a suit or suits are doubtless pending against the hospital and doctors involved in Eckert’s serial anal rape. The first four articles may be found here:
The Politics of Police Rape: The David Eckert Case
The Politics of Police Rape: The David Eckert Case, Update 2
The Politics of Police Rape: The David Eckert Case, Part 3
The Politics of Police Rape: The David Eckert Case, Part 4
Local media outlet KOB.com has the story:
It is an unimaginable in America that a doctor would perform enemas and a colonoscopy without consent, but according to a southern New Mexico man’s lawsuit, that’s exactly what happened.
David Eckert says he was taken to two hospitals and subjected to two anal probes, including a colonoscopy. All because, he was told, officers suspected he had drugs.
But drugs were never found.
The county and the city of Deming settled the case for $1.6 million.
Now, New Mexico’s medical review commission agreed unanimously that there was a reasonable probability that the doctor involved, Okay Odocha, committed “professional negligence” and committed harm to David Eckert, according to his attorney, Shannon Kennedy.
‘We were not surprised by the result. But clearly it sends a positive message that doctors and attorneys on the board, that his peers in his profession, are telling him loud and clear to take personal responsibility for his action,’ Kennedy said.
The article contains yet another statement from Kennedy urging Odocha to take responsibility. Normally attorneys suing anyone care little for apologies. What is Kennedy up to? The article suggests an answer:
That unanimous vote by the commission clears a major hurdle required by state law to sue a doctor for negligence or malpractice. Eckert’s attorney says Dr. Odocha still won’t admit that he did something wrong.
Kennedy has a real problem. The $1.6 million settlement is a major admission of fault, whether the City of Deming and its officers speak those words or not. As I noted in earlier articles, Dr. Odocha will surely claim that he was acting in good faith and would never have gone to the lengths he did were the Deming officers not there, claiming to have a court order to do all they were demanding that Odocha do. That’s not an unreasonable stance.
Doctors generally know little about warrants and court orders and trust the police not to put them in a position like that into which the Deming police put Dr. Odocha. When an officer claims they have the authority of the courts to do what they did to Eckert, and actually have the warrant in hand, any doctor would likely have reason to think their authority valid.
Of course, Kennedy can argue that the hospital has attorneys who could and should have been consulted if Odocha had any concerns, and that what was done to Eckert went so far beyond the professional and ethical practice of medicine he should have simply refused to participate, and that too is a reasonable argument. With this in mind, Kennedy would surely love an admission of responsibility on the record to help tip any jurors straddling the fence her way. Odocha’s lawyers are surely telling him to keep his mouth shut.
For the lawyers representing the hospital and doctors involved there are also considerable risks. They’ll need to rely on the testimony of hostile and badly tainted officers to make their case. Putting them on the stand will open them to being forced to admit they were wrong, exceeded their authority, and paid for it. This will not be conducive to painting Dr. Odocha sympathetically in anyone’s mind, particularly if those officers paint Odocha as a willing participant in serial rapes occurring over many hours.
Regardless of the eventual outcome, this is an incredibly ugly case that will hurt a great many people for many years to come. I’ll continue to report as more information becomes available.
This travesty should be contemplated in context of FBI statistics onclearancerates that reveal that less than 2/3s of homicides are cleared either through an arrest or “exceptional means” which are often false clearances.
One should be asking these microcephalic and microphallic cops why they thought that they were justified in devoting so much police time to raping this man when they no doubt had numerous murderers, rapists and robbers running loose in their community whose arrest should have been their priority.
The doctors and cops faces and names are immortalized on the song video below (about half way through). Millions saw it on facebook and 2 million on Youtube.
This is what happens when you call the cops (download money given to burned child)
Lyrics to song above
http://genius.com/Rob-hustle-call-the-cops-lyrics
FWIW, according to the settlement, it looks like everyone was absolved of any wrongdoing, including the doctors. So, any legal recourse to sue anyone else by Eckert seems to be closed.
Further, as of a couple months ago, to no one’s surprise, absolutely no disciplinary action of any type was taken on the so-called police officers involved. It just continues to be business as usual in Deming, albeit with the public coffers a little depleted:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cops-probed-n-m-man-anus-8-times-traffic-stop-job-report-article-1.1815078
Dear Rudiger:
A common part of any settlement agreement is that the bad guys admit no wrongdoing, while forking over millions for their wrongdoing. The speed with which the settlement was reached, and the amount, speak eloquently to the fact that the Defendants knew a jury would slaughter them.
As far as I know, the civil suit against the doctors and hospital is still in the works.
I thought the same thing but in reading the actual settlement, that doesn’t appear to be the case:
The pertinent section is in ‘Underlying Settlement Terms’, paragraph 2, which specifically states all claims against the two named doctors as being dismissed.
So, I’d say it’s pretty much all over. Eckert got a big wad of cash, and business continues as usual in Deming, including absolutely no adverse action against anyone involved in Eckert’s anal rape at the hands of the police.
Dear rudiger:
I’ll have to do some digging, but I believe what you have there is a normal dismissal of claims as a result of a settlement. As far as I know, the case against the doctors and hospital is still on going. I’ll report when I find out.
Thanks!
Yeah, I’m no lawyer, so the settlement may only stipulate that a specific type of lawsuit cannot be filed against the doctors/hospital, maybe in conjunction with the municipalities. It may have nothing to do with a separate lawsuit citing the doctors/hospital, alone, and exclusive of any of the government agencies.
rudiger, the two named doctors are the initial ones who performed the x-ray / digit exams, not the colonoscopy guy Odocha.
Thanks. That makes a bit more sense. The settlement made it seem like Eckert’s lawyers had rolled over and gave up everything for the big $1.6m pay-out. I’m glad there’s still a chance for Eckert to get more money from the doctors/hospital, even though it’s unlikely any of the perpetrators will see any kind of adverse action. The cops responsible all seem to have happily remained on regular duty without so much as an involuntary break.
According to the New Mexico District court website, the case was terminated on 10/31/2015. It seems that Dr. Odocha succeeded in getting claims against him dismissed, and the other law enforcement defendants all hid behind qualified immunity. Eckert had been refused leave to amend part of his complain, so I suspect that he and his lawyers decided to stop trying to get any judgment against the remaining defendants. http://www.nmcourt.fed.us/Drs-Web/view-file?unique-identifier=0007143541-0000000000
Thanks for the update, Graham. One wishes the individuals involved would suffer directly from their part of in their injustice, but the State protects its agents well.
What would the outcome return be for a young women?
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