Jury awards $18 to innocent black man who was punched, tasered and arrested

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The internal affairs investigation found that the officers used excessive force and unlawfully entered the Franklins’ home. They were disciplined for their actions, including written reprimands, Kevin Lawler, spokesman for the city, told the Indianapolis Star. The police department also trained the officers on Fourth Amendment rights and developed new classes on ethics and diversity, the Star reported.

The same three officers involved in the Franklin lawsuit were named in a 2013 case filed by Jonathan Ferguson, a 7-Eleven store clerk with a learning disability. According to a federal complaint, the officers slashed Ferguson’s tire, and two of them challenged him to eat a teaspoon of cinnamon in exchange for $30 and a dinner coupon at a local Applebee’s. Ferguson did, and he vomited for several hours.


The officers took a video of the “cinnamon challenge,” as it had become locally known, and posted it on YouTube, according to the complaint. The parties have reached a settlement in that lawsuit.

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Although the jury found constitutional violations, there was no evidence presented in court that supported the amount of damages that the Franklins were seeking. He said the Franklins asked for more than $1 million in damages.

In civil rights lawsuits, damages are usually measured by medical bills, lost wages, property damage, post-traumatic stress, psychological treatment, impairment and others, Agostino said. But in this case, no such evidence was presented, so the jury awarded the plaintiffs the default amount of $1, he said.

“You can say that they experienced a deprivation of their constitutional rights,” Agostino said.

“But other than the deprivation of constitutional rights, the jury did not find other damages that go along with that,” he said. “They did exactly what they were instructed to do. They applied the law and determined the facts.”


According to Agostino, the city did offer $15,000 to settle the case.

Johnny Ulmer, the Franklins’ attorney, was not available for comment on Monday. But he told the Star that damages for other similar cases are between $100,000 and $300,000.

“If they would have put an amount on the table that I felt was appropriate, we would have settled,” Ulmer told the Star. “What happened that night, the physical abuse that DeShawn suffered — they were slapping my clients in the face with the offer they put out there.”

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The total award was $18 in damages.

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In civil rights lawsuits, damages are usually measured by medical bills, lost wages, property damage, post-traumatic stress, psychological treatment, impairment and others, Agostino said. But in this case, no such evidence was presented, so the jury awarded the plaintiffs the default amount of $1, he said.

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