Police Brutality Victim Speaks Out for First Time After Settlement
The man at the center of a police brutality lawsuit is speaking out for the first time since he received his settlement. KLBK's Michaela MacDonald sat down with Robert Campbell as he recounted the night he says police beat him back in 2009.-->
By: Michaela MacDonald
Updated: December 31, 2012
"There is no money in the world, not enough in the world to pay me for the pain and suffering I went through," said Robert Campbell, who says police beat and tased him in his home, back in July of 2009.
"Officers are not supposed to lie, they are supposed to protect the public. And it was real upsetting, it really bothered me, made me mad knowing that an officer would lie," said Campbell.
The night of the incident Campbell's fiancee had called police because their neighbors were yelling at them from the street. That neighbor claimed Campbell had thrown something at her, prompting police to go to Campbell's door.
Now three and a half years later Campbell has received a $425,000 settlement from the City of Lubbock. But he says this could have ended much earlier.
"An apology would have solved a lot of problems and them admitting that hey we messed up we made a mistake. It would have made me still believe in law enforcement, I don't believe in law enforcement anymore," he said.
Campbell says if they hadn't settled, he's sure the dash cam audio recording would have won him the case.
"Well when he got here they were working on me on the floor and he made the comment that I was lucky, that if he'd have been the first responder I wouldn't have been breathing," said Campbell.
Campbell, who is a former Sheriff's Deputy and Vietnam veteran says he's pushing for changes in police training.
"These police officers are going to continue doing what they are doing. Its going to get worse if they're not trained proper and its going to cost the city a lot more money before this is over with, if they don't stop this," he said.
Campbell told us he had such a bad experience, that he would rather die of a heart attack or have his house burn to the ground before calling 911 again.
