Brudney v. Ematrudo

414 F.Supp. 1187 (1976)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P was attending a demonstration conducted at the Yale-in-China building to protest the presence of a Marine Corps recruiter on the Yale campus. The crowd had grown to over 100, and about 10 to 15 police officers in plain clothes moved in and formed a line in front of the building to ensure access to anyone who might wish to talk to the recruiter. When several Yale students attempted to gain entrance to the building to see the representative from the Marine Corps, the demonstrators sought to block the visit, tempers flared, and physical confrontations between the protestors and the police ensued. P claims she was passively standing by at the fringe of the crowd when D, without warning and without provocation, walked over to her and wilfully and viciously struck her on the head with a blackjack, causing her injuries which required immediate medical treatment at the Yale infirmary. Robert Yuhnke, at the time a Yale law student and presently an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, testified that only a 'peaceful' demonstration was occurring when D reached into the crowd and struck out with his blackjack three times. He saw a woman's head being hit and then observed Ms. Brudney being led out of the crowd by her friends. Another witness stated there was some 'pushing' on the part of the police just prior to P being struck. That witness later confronted D with P seeking an explanation for the assault. D denied striking P. Yet another witness affirmed that P was hit 'without provocation' at a time when there might have been some type of altercation taking place, but not in the area where P was standing. D and his three witnesses presented an entirely different version of the situation. Detective Giannotti was being assaulted when police officers came to his aid. Detective Giannotti asserted that demonstrators were fighting with the police when he and officer Caccioli were knocked to the ground and kicked by the crowd. At this point, D lunged into the group to aid the fallen policemen and Giannotti saw D's hand 'go by.' However, he did not see P being struck. Detective Caccioli stated that during the course of a violent confrontation between police and students, he, officer Grasso, and D rushed to detective Giannotti's side to rescue him from the crowd. However, he did not observe the incident between P and D. D testified that he used his blackjack to subdue a male demonstrator identified as 'Cruz' who was attacking Giannotti. He denied he struck P and had no explanation to account for her claim. P sued D for assault and battery.