Business Law

A family of a man, who died shortly after he was arrested, is suing the city of

Rochester saying that the police beat and smothered him to death.

On October 15, 2003 a lawsuit was filed in a federal court on behalf of Lawrence

Rogers. The lawsuit says that Rogers died shortly after he had arrived to Rochester

General Hospital due to being beaten and also smothered so that he couldn't breath. The

reason for this is due to the negligence of the Rochester Police Department in his arrest.

The family's lawyer says that the way Rogers was restrained was warned to be dangerous

and should be avoided by the FBI (Morrell).

Rogers was arrested in the parking lot of Wegmans Food Market after a struggle

with a Rochester City Police Officer right after he had bitten off part a of an officer's

finger. Videotapes showed that Rogers was not being a threat to the officers at all prior

to the officers taking him to the ground (Morrell).

An autopsy of Rogers's body shows that he had 27 injuries to his body, mainly all

cuts and bruises. This shows that he was beaten at the time that he was arrested.

Rogers's lawyer did not say how much the Roger's family was suing the city for but he

said that the amount would be enough to send Roger's children through college (Morrell).

Kant says that one should treat others with respect: as people with value rather

then of means to an end. His categorical imperative sets up a rule that asks what would

happen if everyone acted the same way (Jentz, Miller, & Cross, 2002). In this situation I

don't think that the police were handling Rogers in a way that would be respectful.

According to the article Roger's wasn't even in a position that he was being a threat to

the officers. If everyone was to act the same way that the officers did that day then this

world would be even unhappier then it is right now. Police officers are to be an example

to us in the way they present themselves and act. Unless Roger's has some sort of

weapon that he was threatening the officer's lives with they had no right to physically

hurt him let alone kill him.

According to Bentham's utilitarianism weighing the consequences of a decision in

terms of cost and benefits for

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