The case of a UC Berkeley student who is suing a UCPD officer for allegedly violating her constitutional rights during a campus protest in 2009 began Monday in a federal court in San Francisco.
Zhivka Valiavicharska — a graduate student in the rhetoric department — claims that UCPD officer Brendan Tinney “severely and permanently” injured her left pinky finger when he allegedly hit her hand with a baton during a Nov. 20, 2009, protest outside Wheeler Hall, according to a December court document. Valiavicharska filed the lawsuit on Oct. 26, 2010.
The document states that Valiavicharska received four surgeries as a result of her injury, though the defendants claim that at least one of the surgeries was necessitated by her failure to properly care for her injury.
The trial, which is open to the public, is scheduled to take place Monday through Friday in San Francisco at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, according to the court’s website.
Valiavicharska claims Tinney violated her right to free speech and used unreasonable force and that campus UCPD Chief Mitch Celaya and UCPD Capt. Margo Bennett failed to supervise and adequately discipline the officer, according to the document. In addition, Valiavicharska made state law claims for battery against Tinney and negligent supervision against Celaya and Bennett.
The judge dismissed all of the named defendants besides Tinney because of lack of evidence to support Valiavicharska’s claims, campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore said in an email.
According to the document, Tinney was called to work on Nov. 20, 2009, after a group of protesters barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall to protest UC fee increases and layoffs.
The police placed metal barricades around the perimeter of the building, and officers were instructed to keep additional protesters from crossing the barriers toward the building, the document states.
Valiavicharska, who was among the protesters standing outside, was allegedly warned by Tinney to remove her hand from the barricade. When she did not comply, he struck the barricade a few inches from her hand and issued her verbal warnings to move it, according to the document.
A video of this incident was allegedly submitted to the court by Valiavicharska, but it was presented too late and also could not be authenticated, according to the document.
Reclaim UC — a blog that follows UC protests and budget cuts, among other issues — posted a video that allegedly portrays part of the interaction between Tinney and Valiavicharska.
What happened after after Tinney allegedly struck the barrier is not completely clear.
The campus contends that Valiavicharska began to shake the barrier and was repeatedly warned to remove her hands, Gilmore said in the email. Valiavicharska continued, and Tinney then struck her hand with his baton, according to Gilmore.
“The university contends that given the chaotic circumstances that day, the importance of holding the barricade line for crowd control, and the repeated warnings, the use of force was reasonable,” Gilmore said in the email.
Valiavicharska, on the other hand, claims she was holding the barricade for support, not shaking it, when her hand was struck by Tinney, according to the document.
“The police aren’t really adequately prepared to deal with protest situations on campus,” said Robert Dudley, a campus professor of integrative biology who was arrested on Nov. 20, 2009, but later had all charges against him dropped.
Betsy Vincent covers academics and administration.
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I think it is a matter of degree.I don’t question the fact that the officer had the right to use force after the student ignored a lawful order.And lets be honest:after being yelled at by the officer AND having your hand smacked at,Ms Valiavicharska showed a stunning lack of common sense by putting her hand on the barrier again.Clearly,what happened to her was in part her own stupid fault.But the officer overreacted.All he would have had to do was LIGHTLY smack her hand with his baton;I guarantee that it still would have smashed the woman’s fingers and have been more than painful enough for her to get the message and keep her hands where they belong.And other than some swelling and the residual pain,no lasting damage would have been done.Instead,he did what he did.Yes,the student acted foolishly,but that didn’t give the officer the right to smash her fingers into little pieces!It was not only unwarranted,it was cruel.
Frivolous law suit. She should be made to pay all the court costs.
Waaaa poor baby.
I got an e-mail about her case from other students. It claimed she was “disabled for life” and this was an “atrocity.” And this is why I can’t get behind the protests. “Disabled for life”? It was your pinky finger. I’m sorry it happened, but my God, you’re comparing yourself to someone who’s going to die young from muscular dystrophy, or someone who can’t walk at all, or someone with a permanent chronic illness? Give me a break! If a broken finger counts as disabled for life (and it’s not like she’s a concert pianist who can’t make a living because of the injury), then you wouldn’t last a day in the life of a friend of mine who has brittle bone disease. And “atrocity”? The Holocaust was an atrocity. Darfur was an atrocity. What is happening right now in Syria is an atrocity. Behind hit by a baton when you were repeatedly warned to move away is NOT in the same category.
You’d think graduate students would understand the importance of correct language. Drop the histrionics and you might get some support. This is exactly why people think Berkeley students are nuts. You are not a victim of some great atrocity. Sorry if this hurts the feelings of some special delicate snowflakes, but welcome to the real world.
There were extensive complications from both the initial injury and from the surgeries that resulted. You do not have to have muscular dystrophy to be disabled for life. Considering that she is now a professor and relies on typing for her livelihood (and voice dictation software is still in its infancy), I’d say that being in pain for the rest of your life, every time you type, should be considered a life-long disability.
That greater atrocities exist should not negate our recognition of smaller ones, especially when they occur among members of our community.
As for your delicate snowflakes: The delicate snowflakes are those who comfortably keep their mouths shut and their heads in their books while others, who understand that no positive social change in the U.S. has ever occurred without acts of civil disobedience, are out there on the front lines being beaten by the police. It is precisely *because* of their understanding of the real world that they fight, and that they understand the possible consequences of their actions. But simply because they understand them does not mean they see them as legitimate.
Okay, wannabe revolutionaries, I know many of you are suddenly away from your mommies and daddies for the first time, going away to college and all, but check this out: UCPD are actual police officers, not pretend cops. They are not chaperones, nor are they baby sitters. Recall they had to fatally shoot a depressed guy flashing a gun at HAAS school of business recently. You’re not “just college kids”. You’re all grown up now (sorry, those of you who can’t drink … you should be able to).
Anyway, when barricades are put in place and you are told to stay off of them, shaking them is going to have some consequences, like getting a finger busted. Freedom of speech? This is America, and you’re entitled to that. Freedom to lawfully assemble? This is America, and you’re entitled to that. Freedom to do whatever you want under the murky banner of “freedom of expression”? That no one is entitled to EVER.
Many condolences for Zhivka, though. Permanent injury no one deserves.
If you knew anything about the case, you would know that after she was asked to stop shaking the barricade, she stopped. It was only later, while distracted by an eruption of police violence nearby, that she placed her hand on the barrier. Rather than smack the barricade with his baton, which had previously been effective in getting Zhivka to do what he wanted, he smashed her hand. You are not “free” to disobey officer’s orders, but that does not mean we should give officers carte blanche to diagnose and handle public assemblies however they please.