Eimers Case: Accusations of Perjury and Destruction of Evidence Could Land Default Judgment In Favor of Eimers Family
by Naja and Arnaud Girard
[SEE VIDEO DEPOSITIONS BELOW]
Attorneys in the federal wrongful death case filed by the Eimers family against KWPD officers and the City of Key West were heard for the first time before Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman on Plaintiffs’ Motion For Sanctions. In their motion the family accuses Defendants of perjury and destruction of evidence.
The City filed a 24-page response to try to curb the damage done by an unexpected video that appears to contradict sworn statements made by several police officers involved in the in-custody death of Charles Eimers on Thanksgiving Day 2013. [See Plaintiffs’ Reply here.]
Let’s try to summarize the arguments on each side:
The Eimers Family’s Point of View
According to the Eimers family [Plaintiffs] the Defendants have buried themselves so deep in lies, perjury, admissions of murder, intimidation of witnesses, destruction of evidence, all with intent to conspire and to cover-up, that they cannot possibly climb out of the hole, wash off the mud, appear in front of jurors and hope to convince them that reasonable force was applied in the arrest of the 61-year old tourist on South Beach.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys contend that the cover-up has so impaired the Eimers family’s ability to prove their case that a judgment should be entered in their favor as a logical consequence of such extensive malfeasance.
Eimers’ lawyers argue that the City’s Chief of Police deliberately allowed the cover-up to run its course and did so according to the City’s custom not to ever challenge or reprimand its officers regarding use of force or the type of abuse which led to Eimers death. Even at the eleventh hour, when all the facts were set in stone, the City’s Internal Affairs investigation report, signed by the Chief of Police himself, once again proffered excuses rather than reprimands for taping over video records and not timely reporting the death to the medical examiner and also failed to look into obvious issues of perjury, intimidation and dispersal of essential witnesses.
If Plaintiffs have their way, the Judge will grant a default judgment against the City and its officers or alternatively enter a ruling which would direct the jurors to consider that all of the missing evidence would have been adverse to the Defendants. Either measure would be disastrous to the defense.
The Defendants’ Point of View
The Defendants point out the inherent problem with ‘disappeared’ evidence: the difficulty in showing that the records, videos, witnesses and audio recordings ever existed at all.
The Plaintiffs, they claim, have not proven, clearly and convincingly, that the evidence once existed, nor have they shown who had the duty to safeguard it and who actually took the fateful decision to destroy it. Defendants argue that even if that evidence did in truth exist, it has no bearing on the case itself. It has nothing to do with the key question: reasonable use of force.
Defendants point out that before the Judge can rule in Plaintiffs’ favor, the what, who, when, and how need to be clearly established and need to have dispositive force on the case in chief.
Those are the basic points of contention before the Court.
THE EVIDENCE IN QUESTION”
The Dash Cam Videos
Officers Lovette and Garrido swore during depositions that their dash cam video systems had been activated. Lovette even recalled reviewing his video and commenting about how some of it was missing. Now both videos are missing. The Chief of Police, Donnie Lee, explained that several dash cam videos from the Eimers incident were inadvertently erased because they had never been identified as evidence, copied, and secured as evidence in the Eimers case. Innocent mistake according to Defendants, however, according to Plaintiffs, it was a deliberate failure to protect crucial records in a potential murder investigation.
Officer Lovette’s Taser Video
Officer Lovette testified that he believed that his Taser had been recording during the arrest from the moment he pulled it out, activated it, and pushed it into Eimers’ back. But upon cross-examination by his attorney, he stated he could not be absolutely sure. The Defendants say the Taser’s recording device was activated only later, by accident, after the altercation was over when officer Lovette inadvertently turned the Taser recording device on when placing it back in its holster. The Taser recording provided by KWPD begins after Eimers was removed from the beach but, interestingly, Lovettes’ Taser is seen in the second bystander video, already holstered, while Lovette is on the beach next to Eimers administering CPR. Shouldn’t the Taser recording have begun much sooner if KWPD’s version is correct?
The CAD Report
The transcript of the police radio communications associated with the incident [the ‘”CAD Report“] indicates that the “subject [was] Tased.” Entries in CAD reports are created based on radio transmissions between officers and dispatch, however, the audio recordings of the communication channels don’t contain any such communication. Was the audio file edited, as the Eimers family contends? The City denies the audio files could have been edited but according to the Eimers family attorneys, the audio was provided to them in two separate files split precisely at the point where that statement shown on the transcript would have been.
The Conspiracy & Perjury Claims
During their sworn depositions, Officers Lovette, Galbo, and DelValle, and to some extent Garrido, described in somewhat consistent detail how Eimers never had his head in the sand and was still kicking and yelling at the time officers attempted to raise him to his feet. That story was later shattered by the second bystander video and was, Plaintiffs claim, the result of a plan by the officers: They are heard on Lovette’s Taser recording saying, “We’re going to have to do supplementals [reports]. Let’s get together and work that shit out.”
Defendants claim that after nearly a year, officers had simply forgotten much of what had occurred, showing only that there had been poor recollection, not perjury, during their depositions. In their responses to the Motion for Sanctions, Defendants’ attorneys argue the issues raised are not so crucial to the case as to warrant a default judgment.
Plaintiffs disagree. They claim the central issue is whether Eimers was a ‘walking heart attack’ who should have had the good sense not to fight the police [KWPD version] or whether Eimers died fighting for air while being aspyxiated in the sand by multiple police officers.
Obviously if the officers’ ‘kicking and yelling’ story had not been contradicted by the unexpected second bystander video, that version would have established that Eimers was still breathing after his head had been removed from the sand, which would mean that he had not been smothered by the officers.
Below are portions of the deposition testimony taken in the civil action.
Officer Lovette’s “17 Million” Text Messages
According to the Defendants, just as Charles Eimers was being taken away in an ambulance, officer Lovette’s Taser mysteriously began recording without anyone knowing that the mic was open. What sounded like an hour and a half of garbled noise turned out to be, once enhanced, a litany of damning admissions by a police officer: It was “in custody murder,” “we might as well bury him,“ “I tased a motherfucker in custody today,“ “I dropped like a fucking bomb on his head,” “He [Eimers] has blunt force trauma to the head from me,” “We just killed someone.”
Another thing officer Lovette says he did that day was to exchange “17 million” text messages. Obviously what he said in those messages and how other officers responded could help clarify what happened to Charles Eimers. Unfortunately officer Lovette claims he longer has any of those messages.
In a post hearing order Judge Goodman ordered all parties to file briefs specifically addressing the destruction of those text messages: Was there a duty to preserve the text messages? Did the Plaintiff put Lovette and the City on notice that the text messages should be preserved? Were the text messages considered KWPD records? Yesterday, the Eimers family attorneys filed their brief, arguing that the City and Officer Lovette both had a legal duty to retain all records, even emails and text messages, from the moment they knew that a criminal investigation had been initiated or that possibly civil litigation was at hand. A response by the Defendants is due on January 30, 2015.
On January 29, 2015 the parties and their attorneys will meet in an effort to settle the case via mediation.
The risk of the Court granting the Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions might weigh heavily during those negotiations.
Stay tuned…
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For access to all Blue Paper articles by Naja and Arnaud Girard on the in-custody death of Charles Eimers click here.
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Again, WONDERFUL coverage of the Eimer’s travesty!
My great grandfather was a “beat cop”. He was so appreciated by the populace of his beat that when he became unable to walk the distance, they bought him a horse so that he could continue to serve. What happened to shift public perception of police officers from trusted peace keepers to fascist bullies? Probably there is no going back. I am grateful that TheBluePaper still tells it like it is. There appears to be no other objective source of reliable information. Yours is a great public service and “good karma” building. Kudos.
I have been following this case for almost a year and am able to remember details better than these officers. For approximately 8 years I was the Safety Specialist for the USPS. As a Safety Specialist I was trained in accident investigation. Reports for these accidents were almost identical to each other because we used a basic system of who, what, where and how. Taking this into account each of our reports had at least one paragraph that was different in all cases. This paragraph was our interpretations of the data we collected. It is unlikely that these officers did not copy their reports, but most courts will not agree since courts have almost always found excuses for an officers perjury. What happened to Mr. Eimers is frightening to me more than any other case of killing by police officers. It is time that we not only change our police procedures but also our court system. Perjury like any other crime isn’t just black or white, but a very grey area, but like politicians say if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it probably is a duck. I really enjoy reading your paper, but wish that it was not do to these circumstances.
I too have been following this case as are likely thousands of others. The city of Key West is at risk of the image that tourist are viewing. What I see upsets me in that up till now I had an opinion of a respectful police department but have lost it now because of this attempt of a cover up. Do hope the city understands that by allowing this cover up that many tourist will think twice about this town. At stake is the future of Key West. Without tourist the economy will fail. This is the age of cell phones and recorders and cops are being watch and recorded. Video does not lie. They murdered a tourist. The amount of force went way beyond that needed. There is no question as guilt and it will cost millions of tax payers money. Do hope they clean house and many need fired and some need prison..Think about on election day.
You are very perceptive JIMINKEYWEST. I have already advised half a dozen families to think twice about visiting Key West. I told them to go anywhere else in the Keys but Key West because of the killing of Charles Elmers.
Love to see the trial. Offficer Galbo best learn how to lie. Anyone notice how often he was rubbing and scratching. That lawyer made him look like a fool. His days as a cop will soon be over. I understand cops lieing to save their job and possably doing prison. They all should be charged with murder.
Galbo is not a very convincing liar, is he? He only watched snippets of the short video of an in-custody death in which he was a participant? Right. Short attention span, huh? My impression is that he was coached to not recall anything. His deposition is so close in character and responses to that of a certain FKAA engineer’s recently that one would think they were trained by the same deposition coach. Oddly enough, Galbo seems to clearly remember that there was no sand on Eimer’s face. But the second video very clearly shows plenty of sand and is an image that is damned hard to forget. Call me Isaac Parker, because if I was the judge, I would probably send him to the gallows just on principle. Is Galbo a representative example of “Key West’s finest”?
Lies never work out because dates and times never work and the truth comes out.Most learn that as a kid. As soon as a judge catches you in the first lie your credability is over. The old days of a cops word meaning anything are long gone. What a stupid ass to copy a statement and use it in his report. That alone should get him time behind bars. We all know that the cops are liars and we next will see what type of judges we have.That was a very sharp lawyer that set the trap and Galbo took it. He was reminded he is under oath and asked if he wished to change his story. Any arrest cases by Galbo will be easy to beat with the above video. His word is not worth shit. Correct me if I am wrong but if anyone is murdered in a crime all that took part in that crime are charged with murder. Also each and every cop at that seen had the duty to stop it. Lee should resign as he allowed such actions of officers under his control. Am also upset about the cavity searches in public. Games is over and many will go down soon. Clean your city up.
Some police officers are extremely accomplished when it comes to psychologically detaching, while putting on their game face, when confronted with questions identifying their alleged criminal conduct.
However, stress and anxiety will make themselves known one way or another. They will physically be manifested as symptoms, usually via one of the bodies’ ‘involuntary systems’.
The twitch, throbbing and pulsating “Internal Jugular” vein in the neck of Officer Gabo, as I viewed it, was rapidly firing away throughout the deposition. It appeared to pick up in intensity several times during the questioning, as he was pressed on the alleged inconsistencies, conflicts and contradictions contained within some of his statements and supplemental reports.
It would be interesting to track the visual disturbances in his neck, in terms of their number, frequency and duration; as they ‘situationally relate’ to each question. There appears to be other ‘tells’ (physically displayed behavioral patterns) that may indicate deception.
Shucks, John Donnelly, just watching the video of Lovette’s and Galbo’s depositions was enough for me to call Naja and say they both lied through their teeth, and I didn’t need no angels to tell me that. Lovette seems to have perfected lying, Galbo is still learning. The plaintiff lawyer as much as told Lovette he is a psychopath. He came to the deposition in uniform and armed on purpose, to make a statement. Naja told me the US judge moved Lovette’s deposition to the federal courthouse on Simonton Street, where Lovette could not take his weapons.
I have known federal judges who would have told Lovette to leave the lawyer’s office pronto, shed his weapons, and return to the lawyer’s office pronto for the rest of his deposition. I may have known lawyers who would have sat across from Lovette with their own gun in their law office, where they had a right to be armed in plain view. It could have gotten wild, but Lovette got his way. His demonic possession is complete. That’s the difference between him and Galbo, who is still sliding down into that black pit.
I wonder how a jury will feel about Lovette saying all that incriminating stuff he said right after they killed Charles Eimers was decompression and boasting? Of course he has to say that; otherwise, he is the plaintiffs’ star witness against himself and his fellow cops and KWPD and the City of Key West. He’s still the plaintiffs’ star witness. And the demon’s star witness, too. I’d love to be able to testify about that :-).
I described in today’s “Rainbow Alchemy, a shaman way to begin restoring the internal feminine and effectuating external change, explained at goodmorningkeywest.com, and what looks to me like a young woman oozing the feminine vibration” post, an alchemy ritual people can use on something like the Eimers case, and on anything else, including themselves. In a dream this morning before dawn, I had told Naja I was returning to the time in my life when I learned that ritual, and taught it to others.
I see Governor Scott seems to be up that smelly creek a bit over firing the head of Florida Department of Law Enforcement, not over the Eimers case, not over the prison scandal, but over political stuff. FDLE didn’t do a thing about Kathy Smith, until she got caught perjuring mortgage loan documents, FDLE was fine with her fine investigation of the Eimers case.
Maybe some blue paper readers will try out the alchemy ritual on the Eimers case, KWPD, Mayor Cates and the 6 city commissioners, FDLE, State Attorney Catherine Vogel, Gov. Scott, President Obama, etc. First, though, read the fine print in my post today. The ritual works two ways: on the target and on the person doing the ritual. Equal due process.
Brother Sloan,
Great to hear from you. Was the deceit that obvious??? I do believe so…
‘Right On’ with the Rainbow Alchemy Training. Beautifully described and excellently laid out on your web site. I find it similar to one of the introductory techniques for Kryia Yoga, which is the Hong-Sau technique. The Sanskrit translation of Hong-Sau is very similar to the wording used in your Rainbow Alchemy Training.
Love, Blessings & Respect
In a nap dream today, John, I heard “big blue car.” Waking, I went online and to the blue paper and found your comment. The wording used at the end of the ritual, “I am you, you are me, we are one,” seals the ritual. Ihe internal work preceding the sealing came to me from out of nowhere in late 1993. In late 1995, Antonio de Nicholas, a fellow older than I, a noted poet and retired poetry professor who had spent considerable time in India and was deeply interested in and had written about mystical matters, told me what I had been given did originate in India a very long time ago, and “they” would try to take it away from me, and I should not let that happen. After that, I went into something far more rigorous, which what had preceded set up, and I no longer was able to use the ritual, although sometimes I did use it to initiate a vision so I could get a different or better look at something in which I was involved. Only in the dreams the night before I submitted the comment to which your responded did I get direction to share the rainbow alchemy ritual with other people, again. I taught it to many people from late 1993 through 1996. I did all three variations yesterday, to kick start it again. Based on my dreams last night, that stirred up quite a commotion in the spirit world, and I wrote about that in today’s “the cure to humanity and Mother Nature’s ails, and other fantastical attractions, Key West electric chair” post at http://www.goodmorningkeywest.com. I might write more about it there tomorrow. It’s a spirit technology anyone can use who has the spirit wiring for it. Not everyone has the wiring, but a lot of people do. As I warned in my first comment, it works two ways: on the person doing the ritual, and on anyone or anything the person targets with the ritual. Imagine a witch casting a spell on someone or some situation, and the spell is cast on the witch, too. I don’t think I ever met or heard of a witch who would have cared for that kind of spell :-).
Brother Sloan,
Your technique is masterfully woven into, and a part of, ‘Creation Itself’…
Your description and presentation of ‘Rainbow Alchemy Training’ has stirred and rekindled an energy within me. Reminding me that all human beings have the potential to be ‘Awakened’.
Your stimulating offering agitates a longing for many of us to turn within, and ‘come back home’.
Thanks for the distinguished and liberating ‘Word’…..
Love, Blessings & Respect
As I published it, below, it is not the entire schmele, it was a step along the way for me, but it was really important when I came in the fall of 1993 and ran though 1996, and, based on my dreams starting three nights ago, it is available now to those who wish to use it, who are spiritually wired to be able to use it.
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Rainbow Alchemy ritual.
First variation:
Get to some place quiet where you will not be interrupted. Set everything aside. Sit or lie somewhere comfortable. Close your eyes. Relax. Then ask in your thoughts (silently) for what you most need help with right now to be shown to you. Wait. Something might come into your thoughts, or you might just now know it. It might be something you see in your inner vision. It might be something you hear in your inner hearing. It might be an emotion or a body sensation. It might be a memory. It might not be what you are expecting.
It might come right away. It might come in half a minute or a minute. If nothing comes in a minute, end the ritual. That sometimes happens when the ritual is used. And, some people are not able to use the ritual.
If something does come, ask it to let you feel it in your body, if you are not already feeling it in your body. Wait. When you feel it in your body, say, “I am you, you are, me, we are one.” That’s it. Get on with whatever you were doing, but stay on your toes for something, or somethings, happening in your life, and perhaps in your dreams, or in a vision or visions.
Actually, the ritual is a vision, which requires no chemical assist, nor any guided meditation facilitator. It’s between you and the angels, or, if you wish, the spirit world.
Second variation:
Get to some place quiet, where you will not be interrupted. Set everything aside. Sit or lie somewhere comfortable. Close your eyes. Relax. Then focus on something you think needs help. It can be you. Or something about you. It can be another person, or other persons. It can be an external situation. Ask for help with it, if help is available. Wait. Something might come into your thoughts, or you might just now know it. It might be something you see in your inner vision. It might be something you hear in your inner hearing. It might be an emotion or a body sensation. It might be a memory. It might not be what you are expecting.
It might not come, either.
If it does come, ask it to let you feel it in your body, if you are not already feeling it in your body. Wait. When you feel it in your body, say, “I am you, you are, me, we are one.” That’s it. Get on with whatever you were doing, but stay on your toes for something, or somethings, happening in your life, and perhaps in your dreams, or in a vision or visions.
Second variation shortcut, I have used this one on the fly, surrounded by people, even when talking with people:
I think if a situation I feel needs help, I ask for help with it, and I wait to see what comes into my inner vision, or a memory, or a song tune in my head, for example. If it’s coming, it comes fast, and that’s the ritual. I get on with whatever I was doing.
The second variation and its shortcut are proactive, the first variation is passive. The first variation is pure feminine. It recovers and restores the feminine quicker than the second variation. The second variation usually is more “fun” to use. However, I have seen the second variation produce odd and sometimes jolting results in external situations, including jolting me. Best to receive external results as calmly and humbly as you can muster. Strong reaction, counterattack, boasting, gloating, strongly not advised.
Again, make no mistake. If either variation of this ritual is used, the user is the first target, anything external is the second target. The point is to change the ritual user, anything else that changes is bonus. Become the light you wish to see in the world, comes to mind. As does, first take the beam out of your own eye.
I have taught both variations of the ritual to people from various religious/spiritual traditions, including Christians. They used it. Something happened. And, as I said, some people were not able to use it.
The two variations can be used over and over again. In the early going, I used the first variation several times a day. After some time passed, I realized I could use the second variation on external situations. Then I came to use the second variation shortcut. Sometimes I use it today, but not often. Maybe that’s changing.
Telling other people what you experience internally and see happen externally might interrupt the ritual’s process, and it might really upset or freak out people who are jolted by a ritual you did, and people who are not open to this approach to spiritual development and action.
The ritual can be used in a group setting. Somebody names a situation needing help, everyone remains focused inward, receives whatever comes, silently using the process described above. Probably best to keep to yourself what you experience during a group ritual.
The less you say about doing the ritual and what happens afterward, the more heat and alchemy you produce in yourself, the quicker the internal feminine is restored.
I came to view all observable or palpable phenomena the ritual produced as parts of myself returning, or me returning to them.
Hello Sloan Bashinsky, I was asked to contact you (via church member) on a key west city police incident that happened to me on Jan 22, 2015…unconstitutional and outright theft of all I have. I need advice and desire to help fight this overreach of government by police…thank you Billy personal email: [email protected]
After doing much reading on this I now understand why Lovette wanted to wear his gun. He had plenty to be concerned about. He was about to face the family of a man he murdered. Given the situation he just might have been shot at.