Man gets $95,000 after grill ripped from mouth for mugshot, cop/teeth-puller demoted

[Liberal_in_LA]

Man gets $95,000 after grill ripped from mouth for mugshot

NASHVILLE, TN (CNN) - A Tennessee man claimed a sheriff's deputy ripped a gold grill out of his mouth before snapping his mug shot. The problem is the grill was permanently attached to the man's teeth. Now, the man is set to collect $95,000 over the incident.

But last November, Davidson County Sheriff's Lieutenant Tanya Mayhew changed that when she decided the grill didn't belong in McCoy's mugshot.

"He put his head back, she put on her gloves, put her fingers on his teeth and yanked as hard as she could," said Raybin. " pulled the grill out and along with that the enamel off several of his teeth. He started spitting blood and teeth and tissue. They gave him a trash can and said spit into that and get back in line."

Raybin says McCoy, who had been arrested for failing to pay child support, stayed in jail 10 painful days before receiving medical treatment.

"Anyone can be arrested at anytime... but no one deserves to be treated this way," said Raybin.

Rabin reached a settlement with Metro attorneys; McCoy will get $75,000 from the city, and $20,000 from Correct Care Solutions, which provides medical care at the jail.

"This man was a human being," said Raybin. "He had dignity and he has rights."

"My understanding is this is a violation of a number of sheriff department policies," said Ronnie Steine, a Metro Council Member.

----------------------

Raybin says a big chunk of the settlement will go towards having McCoy's teeth fixed. Some of the money will also be used to catch up on his child support payments.

http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12156660

Lt. Tanya Mayhew was demoted and suspended five days as a result of
the incident

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100317/NEWS0202/3170365/-1/NEWS01/Metro+Council+briefs++Man+who+had+grill+ripped+out+to+get+settlement

[vadawg]

1. shit that was extreme, i understand removing jewelry but its the guys teeth

in a case like this if its unremovable then he just gets segregated, no big deal...

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. link to his damaged teeth. It ain't pretty

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5jfqGUcmYPO7kp-75rkUm6iKdCElAD9EG20000?index=0

[vadawg]

9. i would have left the teeth and just put him in solitary for the duration

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. New jail policy is to leave the grill be

[laughingliberal]

16. OMFG! They got off light at $95,000. nt

[dajoki]

69. They sure did, I would think that was worth way more than that n/t

[Fumesucker]

2. While the cop certainly had no business doing what she did..

And I agree with the decision..

Maybe the guy should have paid his child support instead of getting purely cosmetic (and imo ugly) work on his teeth..

[vadawg]

4. rofl holy shit dude, i hope you have nomex undies on :)

[Fumesucker]

8. Heh, I've been flamed so much in the last week or two..

I'm already extra crispy blackened redneck.. :evilgrin:

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. lol n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

74. Really? This DU?

You think anyone at DU is going to defend a guy who had his teeth ripped out by the cops for failure to pay child support?

We're one big passionate ol' church o' believers in equality! Undoubtedly we'd react the same way as if the cops had ripped mom's teeth out for poor parenting. To do otherwise would run directly afoul of our commitment to it, huh?

[vadawg]

82. yup problem is you never know which way the choir will go,

[Luciferous]

5. Exactly what I was thinking when I read this!

[laughingliberal]

15. Maybe he had the grill placed when things were better financially and there is a bad economy now

that has left it harder to find work. I didn't see anything in the article to confirm he had the cosmetic work since he fell behind on his child support.

[Fumesucker]

18. You have a point..

But I still think they are fugly.. :evilgrin:

[laughingliberal]

22. I'm not sure the point here is what we think of his taste. nt

[Name removed]

72. Deleted message

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[jmowreader]

26. Do you have a timeframe for when he got the grill vs when he fathered his children?

It is possible he had the grill before he started getting women pregnant, he could have gotten it when he was married...who the hell knows?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

29. No business doing what she did?

She should've been charged with assault at the very least. It's not like this was a situation out on the street where he was resisting arrest. He was in the goddamn station.

[Fumesucker]

46. I agree, it was assault and completely unwarrented..

[awoke_in_2003]

77. cops do whatever the hell they want to do...

and the "good" cops will just circle the wagons around them

[Iggo]

65. Yeah, fuck him. He deserved it. Motherfucker. (n/t)

[ColesCountyDem]

79. Incoming!!!!!!

Better get in your fox hole!

;)

[Ikonoklast]

3. Everyone in this story is a tool.

Guy can buy a grill, but not pay for his child. Jerk.

Deputy thinks she's a dentist, is actually an asshole.

Only winner will be the child, as the mother should go after the settlement for back child support.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. mom had kid with guy with grill... she's a tool also

[Ikonoklast]

12. Ahh, but maybe he got it after becoming a baby daddy.

You know, to celebrate his manhood.












:hide:

[laughingliberal]

14. I didn't see anything in the article to indicate when he had the grill placed

I bought a few things back when our income was good that I wouldn't buy now. Perhaps he had the grill placed some years back and is now unable to pay child support because his circumstances have changed.

As a matter of fact, I had braces on my teeth when I moved to Texas. Finances got tight and I wound up leaving them in place longer as I ran out of money for a new orthodontist since I moved away from the one who had already been paid. We do like to think the worst of people, don't we.

[Occulus]

20. Strike that- SPECIFIC DUERS like to think the worst of people

And yes, they are very specific individuals not representative of this site or progressives as a whole.

[laughingliberal]

23. One hopes that is the case, yes. nt

[Fumesucker]

42. Everyone likes to think the worst of people..

It's just that the people they like to think the worst of varies according to their specific set of prejudices.

For instance I doubt there are that many DUers who don't think the worst of GW Bush.

[laughingliberal]

55. Some justification for the GWB. Our elected officials are supposed to be accountable to us. nt

[Ikonoklast]

33. Matters not, he's a deadbeat dad.

I'm sure he's been paying support for his child all along, until a reversal in his fortune.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

That's why he was arrested, instead of trying to work something, anything out with the court about payment of child support.

That's what a responsible person does.


I bet the child never saw one dime from this tool.

[laughingliberal]

35. There's nothing in the article to indicate when he got the grill or how long he's been in arrears

You can bet anything you want. It's an assumption. And, whatever he did, the police aren't licensed to do dental work. I don't give one tinker's damn about what someone was arrested for. It does not give the police the right to rip dental work from someone's mouth. Period! They ought to take the money they owe him out of the Lt's paycheck a little every week til retirement.

[Ikonoklast]

36. He's a deadbeat dad. That is NOT an assumption.

That is a fact.

Deadbeat dad unwilling to pay for his adjudicated monetary obligations as a father of a minor child.

And most counties don't waste their time over a few missed child support payments.

But if you owe big, or never pay, they come after you.

And I never stuck up for the deputy. She is an idiot.

In the end, the taxpayers of that county will foot that bill all around; paying the deputy, and the settlement to the doofus deadbeat dad.

[Occulus]

38. The article states clearly that a large part of the settlement will go toward his arrearages. n/t

[laughingliberal]

40. The assumption I was addressing is that he spent money on the grill that he should have paid in

child support. We don't know when he had the work done. I don't owe any child support but I have many bills I can't pay now. That's all I was saying.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

13. Lt. Tanya Mayhew was demoted- should have been charged

should be fired, should be in that jail

[TexasObserver]

17. The officer should be charged with assault and fired.

And denied the right to be a police officer.

She's unfit.

[Occulus]

19. Lt. Tanya Mayhew WAS NOT FIRED.

THAT is what we should be taking from this.

Lt. Tanya Mayhew WAS NOT FIRED for ripping a man's teeth out of his skull. We don't even know if she was suspended with or without pay. If it was WITH pay, she got a PAID VACATION for her behavior. In other words, if it was a suspension with pay, they rewarded her for it.

REPEAT:

Lt. Tanya Mayhew, in spite of the fact that she ripped a man's teeth from his skull, while on the premises of her employer and while discharging her duties as a police officer, WAS NOT FIRED for her actions, and will hereafter retain all the benefits of her employment.

There were several posters here at DU coming || this close to lauding WalMart because an associate was fired for having a medical marijuana prescription and testing positive for marijuana use. They were enthusiastically shoving in our collective faces the fact that WalMart was "only complying with Federal law" and other such bullshit.

WHY are we tolerating this? WHY are we letting assholes like that (here on DU, and this police department) tell us right from wrong in these sorts of situations? This incident very, very clearly illustrates that we are living in a caste society, be it official or not.

Again, WHY are we tolerating this behavior?

[izquierdista]

28. Because she's a good little Nazi

Would have fit in well with the SS.

[jmowreader]

31. That's the first thing that caught my eye too

Isn't there a grill at a McDonald's somewhere she can go work at? I think flippng hamburgers is more her speed.

[Ignis]

39. No criminal charges, either. Despicable.

But what can one expect when--as you astutely point out--she's a member of the Warrior Caste charged with protecting the interests of the oligarchy?

[Occulus]

41. I want to know whether she was suspended with or without pay.

As I said, a suspension with pay, in this situation, amounts to a reward.

I want police officers held to a higher standard than a WalMart associate who drops dirty (in that case, it was more than the reverse!). By the logic of the article in the OP, that WalMart associate should have been promoted to store manager, or at least should have been given a week's vacation to clean up.

[Ignis]

49. I'd like to be suspended with pay for a few days.

Hell, a few weeks would be nice. Preferably somewhere in the Caribbean.

[Last_Stand]

47. Oh, c'mon now...

she was just "one of the bad cops."

:sarcasm:

[Ignis]

48. "Just a few bad apples." "Harmless pranks." "Like college hazing."

Yeah, I think we've heard those authoritarian memes somewhere before, eh?

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Shell Beau]

60. All cops are not this one. All cops wouldn't have done this.

Call that authortirian if you like. I call it not stereotyping.

[Ignis]

66. The "few bad apples" meme is authoritarian when the root cause...

...is a systematic failure in screening, testing, and training of LEOs in the US.

[Ignis]

81. BUT, to show that I don't disagree that all cops aren't bad...

Here's a linky for you:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/18/2010-03-18_grand_marshal_is_cop_first_nypd_commissioner_kelly_attends_to_seriously_injured_.html

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

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[awoke_in_2003]

78. 90% of cops...

give the rest a bad name :)

[Shell Beau]

84. yes that is funny.

not


It is actually tired and old. And completely untrue. Do you know how many cops are out there? And what good gets reported? HArdly anything, and it isn't for lack of good things out there.

[lumberjack_jeff]

76. "WHY are we tolerating this?"

Because this is DU and this was a guy and he was late on his child support.

You haven't been paying attention.

[blueamy66]

80. Because "deadbeat" Dads

are the worst criminals in the entire world, dontcha know?

Some people cannot get past that.

DOs are notorious dickheads and egotistical assholes. They couldn't make it as cops, so they became guards instead.

She should have been fired.

[kestrel91316]

21. What is a gold grill? In the mouth? Some sort of frickin' DECORATION???

She was DEAD wrong to do what she did, but WTF is with the useless crap people are spending their money on? If it's not Hummers it's $300 sneakers or status pets or whatever.......

:banghead:

[Occulus]

24. Gold teeth over bad teeth.

It's like Lumineers, but gold and flashy.

I've looked at the price for Lumineers via Google, compared them to the prices for gold teeth, and to be honest, gold teeth seem to be cheaper.

People need to start realizing that gold really isn't as expensive as dental work to repair this guy's teeth.

[REP]

32. Heh. My gold teeth are strictly business!

They're full gold crowns ... but in back, where they don't show. :-)

[kestrel91316]

54. Whew. I thought maybe it was just some silly decoration, but if it was

done to repair or disguise an actual problem, then I don't care much one way or another what the guy does.

[dustbunnie]

59. It's mostly mouth bling, so yes, it's decoration just like wearing rings and necklaces.

[kestrel91316]

63. I thought it was for covering up defects........please tell me they DON'T

put that stuff on perfectly normal healthy teeth..........

Because that's just STOOPID. Of course so are tattoos, IMHO. And pierced tongues.

[dustbunnie]

64. Lol, it's like having a disco ball in your mouth. :-)

Dazzles the ladies!

Here's just one of many, many sites selling decorative grillz bling. They're cheap too. The removable kind is often less than $100.

http://www.icedoutgear.com/grillz-gold-teeth.php

[pnwmom]

25. Here are some examples.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=gold+grill+teeth&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[kestrel91316]

56. Not so sure how I feel about the ones with the faux diamonds, lol. THAT is silly.

I just think wearing precious metals in plain view like that might pose a risky temptation for thieves.........

[Name removed]

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[REP]

30. Not my money (or teeth); not my business

[laughingliberal]

53. +1000. We certainly are a nation of busy bodies and snoops now, aren't we?

n/t

[Shell Beau]

61. No it isn't, but if he used money for that while he should

be paying child support (which we don't know), then it becomes the business of others. Not us, but the mother, the child, and the people who enforce child support.

My mom is a court reporter in chancery court. The judge doesn't take kindly at all to dead beat dads. And there are way toooooo many out there. And many (at least in her county) are driving expensive cars, etc.

[REP]

27. She should have been FIRED

There are penalties for not paying child support. Having some self-important jackass rip out dental work - even cosmetic pieces - is not one of them, even provided she was the correct person to administer the penalty, which she is not. Shit like this makes me fucking pissed off.

[The Genealogist]

34. The main issue I have is that this cop was not more severely punished

Nobody died and made this woman judge and juror. I don't know what this cop was thinking, but her actions were sorely wrong. I think a firing would be the lightest acceptable punishment, although I think some criminal assault charges might be in order too. With stories like this, it is no wonder there are innocent people who think that cops are the bad guys. And as for "Correct Care Solutions,which provides medical care at the jail.," where in hell were they for 10 days(!) Tooth pain is excruciating; 10 days with no medical care is simply inhumane.

[Grand Taurean]

37. She should be fired.

and her pension cut off.

[newtothegame]

43. WTF is a grill? And what kind of a world do we live in where people have "grills" in their mouths?

:shrug:

[DRoseDARs]

45. A "grill" is a fancy name for a tooth veneer. Unless you're opposed to people having veneers too...

Are they stupid? Maybe, but no more so than any other jewelry, tattooing or body modification.

[backscatter712]

58. Basically teeth jewelry, popular among the hip-hop crowd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grill_%28jewelry%29

[DRoseDARs]

44. Anyone else, this would be a battery conviction. n/t

[Echo In Light]

50. Non applicable for exalted pigs

[dustbunnie]

51. Two question from an ignoramus like me...

1. Mugshots are not supposed to be "say cheese" pics, so wtf does it matter what's in his mouth since he isn't required to smile?

2. Even if he did smile, isn't the mugshot supposed to aid in capturing criminals committing future crimes, so shouldn't the pic be as accurate a rendering of what the perp actually looks like?

[Incitatus]

52. good questions. I guess the sadistic pig just wanted to rip it out.

[Solly Mack]

57. Why wasn't she charged with battery? Prisoner abuse?

[Shell Beau]

62. I hope there is some public outrage in this town and this lady

gets fired. Abuse of power is gross, especially if it is violent.

[ljm2002]

67. $95,000 is not enough...

...not nearly. His lawyer should be sued for malpractice.

No I am not joking.

[RexS]

68. So the cop just reached up into his mouth and ripped his grill

out? Why didn't she ask him to remove it or IF IT COULD BE REMOVED BY HAND. I'm sorry, but she deserves the "stupid person action award" for that. He OTOH should pay his child support and not waste money on mouth ornaments. Nuff said.

[Name removed]

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[RedCappedBandit]

75. She should be in prison. nt

[Odin2005]

83. Fucking Pigs.