Update: Officer Kevin Corcoran was subsequently found guilty of Obstruction of Justice for his illegal arrest of Roderick King. Common Pleas Court Judge Robert P. Coleman then made sure everyone knew that he was serious about holding Philadelphia police accountable by sentencing Corcoran to one whole day in jail.
The following post was shared with the CopBlock Network by a reader who wishes to be identified by the pseudonym “Ghost,” via the CopBlock.org submissions page. The article was originally published at RT.com on March 13, 2014 under the title, “Philly Cop Charged After Wrongfully Arresting War Vet.”
A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officer who has been investigated by internal affairs a dozen times since 2009 has been suspended after being charged this week with false imprisonment and other counts related to a March 2013 incident caught on film.
Officer Kevin Corcoran, 33, was suspended on Wednesday morning this week after being faced with multiple counts stemming from an altercation last spring in downtown Philly in which he handcuffed a local man, hauled him into his SUV and drove him around the city for roughly 16 minutes before releasing him without charge. The first moments of the incident were captured by the cell phones of eyewitnesses and uploaded to the internet last year.
Corcoran turned himself in to the Philadelphia Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit early Wednesday and was promptly stripped of his gun and badge before being processed that evening with unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and official oppression — all misdemeanors — as a result of a nearly year-long probe launched by city officials to investigate the officer’s handling of an incident between an Iraq War veteran and himself that occurred at around 2 a.m. last March 31.
On Wednesday, the Office of the District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia issued a statement to say that the 11-month joint investigation conducted by the DA’s Special Investigations Unit and the Philly PD’s Internal Affairs Department had concluded with charges being filed against Corcoran, a nine-year veteran of the force.
The DA Office’s statement largely corroborates witness accounts and what can be clearly seen in the YouTube video uploaded last year: Corcoran was on duty at the time of the incident when, provoked by comments made by a group of people on a street corner concerning his driving, he exited his vehicle, approached one of the individuals and unlawfully detained them.
According to the official statement, Corcoran first slapped the cellphone out of the hands of one of the witnesses and then approached the victim — Roderick King, formerly of Philadelphia — and barked “Don’t fucking touch me” at the man as he inched closer.
“Corcoran continued to walk toward the young man who was backing up with his hands out in front of him making no contact with the officer,” the statement reads. “Corcoran then pushed the young man, grabbed him by the chest, threw him against the side of his police vehicle, handcuffed him and threw him into the back of his vehicle.”
“Corcoran then sped off with the victim in the back seat,” the statement continues.
Attorneys for King filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city shortly after that altercation occurred, and at the time accused Corcoran of unlawful search and seizure, assault and battery and multiple violations of constitutional rights. Corcoran was placed on desk duty pending the results of the lengthy investigation, but the city elected to press charges against him only this week after completing their probe.
The suspension, handed down by Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, was made with intent to dismiss the officer.
“It’s good to see the city is finally, after 11 months, firing [Corcoran] for something that was clear as day to see,” King attorney Kevin Mincey told the Inquirer.
“It’s a scary thing when the people who are sworn to protect and serve just take liberty with their power and can throw you in the back of a car take you away and no one responds,” Mincey added to a local Fox affiliate. “It just shows the importance of recording your interactions with police officers you have a right to do it. Sometimes it’s the only way to get action to be done.”
But as the local media was quick to point out, last March’s incident is actually but one of many in which Corcoran was accused of unlawful conduct. Philadelphia Inquirer staff writers Mike Newall and Aubrey Whelan dug deep to expose more of the officer’s sordid past this week, and reported that the Internal Affairs Division conducted 12 investigation into Corcoran since he joined the force, including six just in the year 2009.
Sam Wood, a reporter for Philly.com, found yet more details about some of the most extreme of the alleged incidents:
“Previously, Corcoran was sued in US District Court for allegedly entering a home on 1630 S. Taney Street without a warrant in Nov. 2008 and beating up a resident, leaving the man with two broken vertebrae, a broken nose and a broken eye socket,” Wood wrote. One year later, he was again sued in federal court, this time “for the Nov. 2009 beating of a South Philadelphia man who Corcoran and another officer ‘kicked, stomped, beat, punched and otherwise assaulted’ leaving the man with broken bones and requiring stitches.”
Both of those cases were dismissed, Wood wrote, but a 2011 case in which Corcoran allegedly “violently man-handled” an individual after arresting him without probable cause remains open. Two other civil lawsuits against Corcoran have also been filed since 2009, but were settled for an undisclosed amount a year later before trial, Wood wrote.
According to the local Fox station, counsel for King believes the charges brought Wednesday may never have materialized if it wasn’t captured by eyewitnesses. King, a US Air Force veteran, left Pennsylvania following the events of last March, his attorneys said.
– Ghost
Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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Connect with Kelly at these social networks; Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
If you touch a cop, I mean, if you accidentally let a finger brush up against him, it’s a felony (remember the soap bubbles moron?). But this jackass commits armed kidnapping, assault & battery, all manner of crimes all committed under color of authority, and he’s charged with misdemeanors. And after being investigated only 12 times in the 4 previous years. 6 times in one year. All unfounded, of course. This was the first time he actually did any of the stuff people were accusing him of for the past 4 years.
LOL, there’s the good old just-us system at it’s finest!
misconduct complaints are almost aways merit antlers. Having lots of complaints means nothing.
You mean nothing you drunk piece of shit. Your a fucking moron. The article is solid and you hate that fact. I hope you get thrown under the bus. Literally.
t, you prove your corrupt nature with that statement. It means nothing to you, because a POS cop on a power trip can’t affect your life as easily as it can others.
As for lots of complaints, “Where there is smoke, there is fire.” Heard of it? But of course you see nothing wrong with modern policing and police corruption, so you dismiss it all.
( settled for an undisclosed amount ) that’s code for a lot of money
If he has done all of this, then he deserves to be prosecuted. The author points out two incidents of the officer being sued but the lawsuits were dismissed If they were dismissed, the lawsuits were not valid.
This link tells the story a little better. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dncrime/Philly-cop-arrested-suspended-for-false-imprisonment.html
Post the address, slaps. Nobody wants any more of your commentary until you prove you have some tiny shred of credibility. Post the address, tell us all where you work. Because other wise you’re still a douchebag lying troll, slaps, Who makes claims he can’t back up, yet tells others to prove stuff.
12 IAD complaints, slaps. In case you missed that part. Douchebag bestiality video poster with no credibility.
Invalid? Or just the pig was able to control the evidence against him?
The same standard applies to arrests and charges by police I hope. So, when charges an officer makes are dismissed does that make him equal to those who had their lawsuits against a cop dismissed? People can only file complaints against and sue cops. Cops can arrest, charge, and sue.
The officer isn’t getting sued. It’s the city who gets sued. What is baffling is these lawyers are out to get as much as they can. If you google lawsuit, it brings up the definition but soon after it is nothing but lawyer ads. If the police officer is fired and taken off the streets, why do you need millions of dollars? What does that fix?
You said, “So, when charges an officer makes are dismissed does that make him equal to those who had their lawsuits against a cop dismissed”? When the charges are dissmissed, does that give you the right to sue? It’s a catch 22.
You say, ” People can only file complaints against and sue cops”. What’s the other alternative(s)?
Compensation for being unjustly victimized. Hopefully it leads to the police force retraining their agents of FORCE, educating them on the actual law and not what they believe it to be and disciplining any officers who step beyond the lines of their power.
You say, “Compensation for being unjustly victimized. Hopefully it leads to the police force retraining their agents of FORCE”. Why not just educate, retrain, and move on? I understand if you are injured and the arrest was way over the top there can be compensation, but I gather by what you are saying is retrain so it doesn’t happen again.
Jake,
I was pointing out the level of difference in power.
“If the police officer is fired and taken off the streets, why do you need millions of dollars? What does that fix?” Again, it’s making you whole from the harm by another. Firing the cop, pulling his cert, is for society. It prevents him from doing it to others. It doesn’t make the one harmed whole. It prevents future harm, unless he gets hired by Maywood, CA.
If the charges by the cop are dismissed, then yes you may have the right to sue. Remember there’s a whole lot happening to you between handcuffs and charges dismissed. And there are repercussions after because you have a record of arrest. The only time I was handcuffed and arrested, the charges never made it to being dismissed because the cop never filed. I had no reason to sue, and looked at it as an education on how cops vary in behavior.
“The officer isn’t getting sued. It’s the city who gets sued.” And that is part of the problem with government and it’s employees. On the private side, I cause my company to pay out a lot of money I may be gone. I will also be sued alongside my company, I have no qualified immunity by way of ignorance.
“What is baffling is these lawyers are out to get as much as they can.” Really not baffling whatsoever if you see there is the exact same ploy used by prosecutors. In civil cases the amount is a bargaining chip; in criminal cases, the charges piled on with the maximum possible years and the implied or explicit “if you don’t take my offer and we go to trial…” is a bargaining chip. Jake, they are all lawyers and they try to get the best outcome for their client.
You said, ” Again, it’s making you whole from the harm by another”. In a previous post, you said nothign will make you whole. When a police officer arrests you, he is following policies and proceedures. You also have to take into account years of experience and judgement calls. If the officer feels you meet the criteria, you will be arrested. If the case is thrown out in court, I don’t see where a lawsuit is going to fix or change anything.
Jake,
“Whole” is two concepts, and I should have been more explicit and concise. So, no amount of money will truly make you whole but all we have to do that is to award money to compensate. It’s an approximation. The legal idea is to make you whole through money.
I had a good case to sue over a simple operation but didn’t. I felt the hospital and surgeon owned up to it. If you want more of the story, ask.
I have no problem with a cop who actually follows the policies and procedures of his police department. What I do take exception to is the belief that those policies and procedures are somehow correct just by being policies and procedure. There was an incident in El Monte, CA, where a cop kicked a “gang-banger” in the head, a “distraction strike”, that both the LAPD and the LACSO called excessive force. P&P aren’t carried down from the Mount.
As for experience and judgement, the cop should never feel he should know. And we have three levels of dismmissed: at the station by a supervisor; by the prosecutor; and by the court. All of those point to the worth of the experience and judgement of a cop that has had his on-scene charges dismissed.
“If the case is thrown out in court, I don’t see where a lawsuit is going to fix or change anything.” Jake: until you’re arrested; spent time in a jail cell; paid a lawyer; lost time at work; had to explain to your family, your friends, and your employer; and only to have the charges thrown out, only then will you understand how a lawsuit fixes things for that. If you mean make the system better? No it won’t do that. Please remember, the cop that made the bad arrest was paid for it.
Hope this worthless pig gets jail time!
This is the kind of customer service you should expect from a business(police dept) that violently forces their monopoly onto their customers(tax payers) in a compulsory “protection” scheme. Ironically their collusive partners in the courts have said that the cops have no duty to protect a member of the public at large although presumably that is their function and ostensibly that is what the taxpayers are paying them to do.
” nd was promptly stripped of his gun
and badge before being processed that evening
with unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and
official oppression — all misdemeanors”
Whe the hell are such crimes only misdemeanors? They seem pretty serious to me.
Again how many times do I have to explain this to you. There is no misconduct. This is all just a political shitstorm and the officer was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. you copblockers want accountabilty. Sorry, guy, there’s nothing there so don’t cry okay?
Even if you weren’t already proven a liar, I’d say you were full of shit on this one.
This cop is a nut. Why do departments hire nuts, and when they have clear evidence that the guy is nuts, continue to cover for him?
You take a hatchet job from a cop hater sight and you think it represents what really happened. coplockers want to try to make it seem like misconduct happens and its nornormal. Guy, I got news for you. Misconduct almost never happens and this aint it. get over it and eat your copblock cookies.
Looks lick good police work. too bad the department threw him under the bus..
Uh, it wasn’t just the PD. This was an 11-month investigation that included the District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia and his Special Investigations Unit. The statement “largely corroborated” the witnesses’ accounts.
Sometimes you just have to let it go to avoid being a parody. There are bad cops, and they get away with a lot until it finally catches up to them. This wasn’t accountability?
You want us to get it right. Thats fine, guy.. But just dont try to lie about the facts. and again the facts prove I am right.. That;s fine you incandescent to uit by now.
My only facts were on the investigation, who was involved, and that it “largely corroborated” witnesses. Your facts were at the time I replied “Looks lick good police work. too bad the department threw him under the bus.” That’s called opinion without expositions facts.
Moreover, I had to reply to this excrement ‘You want us to get it right. Thats fine, guy.. But just dont try to lie about the facts. and again the facts prove I am right.. That;s fine you incandescent to uit by now.” You had no facts at the time I replied, and looking at your later comments, you are still asserting opinion as fact. It’s the fallacy of confusing opinion with fact and then asserting opinion as fact.
So here are your facts: ‘”misconduct complaints are almost aways merit antlers. Having lots of complaints means nothing.”; “Again how many times do I have to explain this to you. There is no
misconduct. This is all just a political shitstorm and the officer was
just in the wrong place at the wrong time. you copblockers want
accountabilty. Sorry, guy, there’s nothing there so don’t cry okay?”; “You take a hatchet job from a cop hater sight and you think it
represents what really happened. coplockers want to try to make it seem
like misconduct happens and its nornormal. Guy, I got news for you.
Misconduct almost never happens and this aint it. get over it and eat
your copblock cookies.”; ‘Looks lick good police work. too bad the department threw him under the bus..; and finally, “You want us to get it right. Thats fine, guy.. But just dont try to lie
about the facts. and again the facts prove I am right.. That;s fine you
incandescent to uit by now.”. If I were teaching middle school, you just failed. You presented no facts,
To bad you’re a lying troll. You and slaps should have an official credibility contest. See who has the least.
The police departments, in general, are in shambles. You can blame that on dirty politics, fear and downright stupidity. The *boys in blue* are protected when they do wrong and the citizens end up * black and blue*. Every now and then, some jerko cop finally gets prosecuted. TIME TO PUT OUT THE RUBBISH!
Oh my gosh that makes my ass feel so warm and red .
I challenge all fellow “Copblock” followers to a little game…It’s “Ignore “t” and he’ll go away!” Can we do this please??
When we comment on his assanine remarks it gives him his little kicks for the day. At least 31bravo isn’t a complete Troll…he’s a typical LEO, but at least he just doesn’t spout off completely ridicolous garbage to read his own crap.
Winners get some pride & peace!
Why? Look at some of the other comments that have been posted. t. doesn’t seem to mix words. He just tells it the way he sees it. How you react to it is your reaction. Not his. Comparing him to 31B is not a fair statement. Everyone is an individual and has individual thoughts and ideas. You don’t have to like it but there it is. WHat gives you the right to “police” this forum? There is more back biting and bashing of others ont his site then “sharing” ideas that relate to the articles. You have to ask yourself, how much of what you say pertains to the articles.
Fuck you pantie waste. 31B is a cop. t is a joke just like you are. I’ll dedicate a portion of everyday to troll your comments just like you do to this site. What’s my name and address bitch? Fucking moron.
I was leaving you out of this because you’re just the step brother of t…you 3 are clowns and are only here to get your kicks by being trolls. You guys would be on Police1 if you were really cops, you’re not, so you come pretend here that you are and spout your nonsense. Just go away…the 3 of you. I only responded cuz you asked…I’ll not ever respond to another of your 3 comments. Get lives.
You guys? You haven’t posted anything about this article and you call people trolls. I choose to be here, if you don’t like what I or anyone else writes, don’t read it and certainly don’t respond to it.
YOU replied to ME! I never mentioned you before your assanine response, again to ME! = TROLL and fake LEO! You can bet I’ll not reply to any of your comments, or “t’s”…if you 2 are real popo…go to Police1, but we all know better. Go away!
Wow. This guy has serious issues. Sounds like he should’ve been gone well before this incident. This guy really deserves some jail time. It sounds like the guy could be sued personally too. Philly will probably pay another undisclosed amount for this.