A story of a sorry excuse for a peace officer and the sorry excuses

who tried to get rid of evidence to clear him.
What they didn't know was that they'd been rear-ended by the son of a police officer who was on duty, and dad was about to get involved.

Lawless was standing at the counter of the store, at Comly Road and Roosevelt Boulevard, smiling and chatting with the clerk, when she was grabbed from behind and violently pushed back with a police officer's gun in her face.

"He hit me with his left hand, and he had his gun in his right hand," Lawless said. "He pushed his gun into the left side of my neck. It caused a scrape-type bruise on my neck."

After a chaotic struggle, Lawless was arrested and charged with assaulting the officer.
Be easy to say "Is she telling the truth?" except for one thing:
...But in cases in which it's a defendant's word against a police officer's, the benefit of doubt often falls to the cop(there were multiple witnesses, but they didn't count either apparently).

Except when there's video.

Once surveillance video from the store's four security cameras was released, the case against Lawless collapsed, and disciplinary action commenced against the officer, Alberto Lopez Sr. A lawsuit against the city is likely.
I should bloody hope so.

Bad enough that he did what he did; he then lied about it- repeatedly- on sworn statements and before a judge(gee, I wonder why no prosecution for perjury?) But on top of that
Then, according to the Internal Affairs report of Ruiz's statement, Officer Lopez told him to "do himself a favor and get rid of the camera tapes."
So add trying to destroy evidence. And, on my reference to the other sorry excuses for police officers,
Ruiz told investigators that Lopez mentioned erasing the tape again after other officers arrived. He said that police visited him at the store twice the next day and asked him whether he would erase the tape. He also said that they had advised him to "help the cop out and testify for the cop."
And, as to the other people in the 'Justice Department' of Philadelphia,
The District Attorney's Office reviewed the case and declined to prosecute Officer Lopez in December. Eight days later, he was reissued his weapon and returned to full duty.

But he may yet face discipline from the Police Department.
Oh, wow, I'm sure he's really sweating over that.

So, in front of multiple witnesses this clown
Assaults a woman,
Knowingly, falsely charges her with a crime,
Tries to get rid of evidence,
Makes false statements under oath,
and not only is he not prosecuted, he's on full duty and 'may yet face discipline'. No wonder Philadelphia has crime problems, if their cops are assaulting people, committing perjury and trying to destroy evidence to protect each other; they don't have any time left to mess around with actually chasing crooks.

I hope Lawless sues the ass off Lopez and the Philadelphia PD, and pushes- if possible- for him to be prosecuted for his lies under oath. And how about some action against the other officers who tried to get rid of evidence?

'Only Ones', no kidding.

Thanks to Sailor Curt for pointing to this miserable display of abuse of power.