In June of 2017, Citrus Heights, CA police held a shirtless James Bradford Nelson III on the scorching hot pavement at a KFC restaurant. The asphalt was estimated to be 170 degrees that day. Human skin is instantly destroyed at 162 degrees.
Nelson, who was 27-years old and diagnosed with schizophrenia, was being detained by police after a mental episode where he was accused of trying to take a restaurant employee’s wallet. That charge was later dropped.
Police held Nelson face down on the pavement for approximately five minutes as he screamed and flailed in pain. After the officers picked him up and saw the burns, they poured water on him and called an ambulance.
When Nelson arrived at the medical center, his body temperature was 108 degrees, he had second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body, suffered kidney failure, and was in shock. Nelson would be left permanently disfigured with scar tissue on his face, chest, and stomach.
According to the excessive force lawsuit filed last year, “Nelson nearly died from these injuries and required months of immediate care at the UC Davis Medical Center.” The lawsuit sought $26 million in damages from Citrus Heights, CA.
Two weeks ago, Citrus Heights, CA officials settled the suit and agreed to pay $1.2 million to Nelson. The settlement also included a written promise by Nelson and his attorneys not to contact the media or discuss the settlement.
The Sacramento Bee obtained the settlement through a California Public Records Act request to the city clerk.
The settlement also states that the city and the officers sued for their actions that day are not liable for any wrongdoing.
35 comments
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Did his lawyers grab the first offer
same chief didnt help me at his previous dept. im cynthia s in placer county. same chief allowed nebraska huggins n johnny banks to be abused. google new yrs smack down rocklin pd. n google nebraska huggins kicked in face kolasky
We are seeing police officers get away with far too much misconduct and not be held accountable for their actions. We all know from historic facts as well as recent events that the African American male is targeted for oppression, incarceration and other inhumane activity , but most people don’t seem to care unless the situation results in a tragedy or death. I remain hopeful that our people will finally rise up, speak out and stop overlooking the real issues we need to collectively address.
Hey Tyrone!
Loved your comment. Send me a friend request on FB!
Todd Loney
My profile picture is President Obama.
I’m in Ashland, VA.
This is so horrendous, what they did to this man. Cops are hard core sadists and a lot are KKK on the QT.
I had rehab care for a huge very bad scar at a place in NYC- the Ostrow Pain Management Center, 625 Madison Ave. & 58th St. 10th Floor.
If this man and his family want to come to NYC, I will go with them to the clinic on his first visit so he can get treated, now that he has the settlement.
They do lidocaine injections to treat scars. There is one other person who I think doe this in NYC, who used to work there. His name is Dr. John Juhl, 61 Broadway NY NY.
I urge him to ge acupuncture and pain management care as well as treatment of the scars, which interfere with the body’s energy flow.
I hope the author is reading this. Please pass this information to the family. I can be reached at Liptonlegal@gmail.com.
This bs is so tiresome. If financial loss does not stem the abuse Black people suffer at the hands of these sadistic people nothing will. Everything they touch they destroy. They are evil and do not deserve to inhabit the planet with others living creatures. I’m not given to violence but it seems to be the only thing they understand and respect.
As the holiday season approaches, again, I I say an Economic Boycott (by ALL people who cares that Black Live Matter), should be a tactic used to stop the massacre. Stop SHOPPING at the Big Box stores seen all across the country like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, department stores, CVS/Walgreens, etc. as well as Amazon. These are corporations that influence legislation (ALEC) & is the only way to stop this madness! Hit them in the pockets has always been the only way to get attention & the change we must demand!
I don’t understand why when our people see these so called cops who are supposed to protect and serve. Beating on one of us or any foul ass violent shit. Get that piece of shit. If you see police abusing us dont record it get the pig! And I bet this shit will stop.
First of all we need to convince each other as Black People that Black Lives Matter. We cannot keep waiting on white to rid us of these atrocities. There needs to be legislature to enforce that the offending race soldiers be held financially accountable as well as Incarceration for their abuse and taking the law into their own hands. Place pressure on our city, state and federal representatives to create laws and hit these thugs in their pockets and stop the abetting of taxpayers to cover the financial retributions…
Call them pigs and I hope you get baconed
I’m so sorry about what happened to your son. As a black woman who also is also diagnosed with a mental illness, it’s so hard because it’s an invisible illness that cannot be seen. Law enforcement needs some kind of training for invisible illnesses so they can stop this!!! And please tell your son that he is still handsome and beauty comes from the inside. Prayers for him and you!!!
I keep telling people that training has nothing to do with it because one can train a little boy or girl and build them up to be a man or a woman but it’s just simply impossible to try and rebuild and train a grown assed man or woman to be the man or woman that they should already know how to be because they know exactly what they are doing when they’re doing it so please stop this shit about training.😡😎
It’s like those idiotic sensitive training courses… if hatred is in the heart all the training in the world will not change’s character…
Slap in the face!
1.2 million dollars is nothing for the rest of this man’s life. I do not know if he could have appealed the deranged financial disgrace, but what the hell was the judge thinking or doing. This young man in spite of his mental condition will be further scarred for the rest of his life mentally as well as physically. Nothing was taken into consideration…
https://petitions.moveon.org/p/N_2d6 one way we can stop police brutality is to stop police agencies from investigating themselves. i would go as far as to say that the arresting officers held him down on the asphalt purposely to create injury. who doesn’t know asphalt is hot to the touch in the summer, with the sun beaming down on it?!?!?! regardless of whether or not they knew before hand the type of injury this man would have, they colluded to injure him. it’s like pulling the trigger, then finding out they murdered someone, then responding, “i didn’t mean to kill him.” please read, sign and share this petition if you agree that we need to stop police officers from investigating themselves. these officers should be fired, pensions taken, sent to prison and banned from police work.
https://petitions.moveon.org/p/N_VU7 please read, sign and share this petition of you agree this nation needs to establish mandatory minimums for police officers.
This man came into that restaurant acting like a maniac, people act like that when intoxicated or high off drugs not just from a mental illness. he attacked the workers first!! The police did their job. They did exactly what they’re trained to do. Him getting burned like that is unfortunate but that whole incident wasn’t malicious or intentional. The Mom has no one to blame but herself. She knew her kid had those mental problems. She should of had him on the correct medication. I’m sure that would of prevented him from that whole situation…
I Agree With You Remi
Forreal bruh, I agree witchu. They was just doin they jobs, my mans shouldna been actin so violent
Is yall dumb or is yall stupid? The man is a schizophrenic you fucking morons
Remi. I dont think cops are trained to do sadistic damage on people. They had to know the pavement was too hot for flesh contact. They need training in sensitive Situations like mental illness. . They’re too gong ho on getting physical without addressing the issues at hands first through simply finding out what the situation is. And why couldn’t they arrest without keeping him on The scalding hot ground for 5 minutes?? That’s a lifetime when ur burning alive. Imagine someone submerging u in boiling water for 5 minutes!!!! Insane!
Sheeyiiit… I a bussem in da dam head.
They finna buss you back boi
Can you explain why he was robbing the place!!!
I thing no money for him since the contacted the media !!
Remi u are an Idiot in real life
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Something clearly had to be wrong with the cops it’s a certain scream that let out to let you know there in pain. So what took them so long to get that man up. I wish all the wrong shit these cops are doing it come back on them 10 times fold!!!
We need more to the story. If I was in the line of duty and someone was acting in a violent manner then I too would apprehend them. Whether or not he tried to fight the police or escape from their grasp would further render more force to be used for it to be on a hot day as well, perhaps the officers weren’t mindful of the concrete but again there needs to be more details as to why this was done.
Did the money for this crime against humanity come out of the retirement accounts of the filthy pigs? Or did it come from the tax payers. I’m betting the latter, and therefor the filthy pigs will feel no loss, and were therefor not punished.
We need to stop having the Police handle mental illness incidents in this country.
This is a job the paramedics should handle.
If the police come onto a seen and previously not told to them it is a clear case of mental illness, they should clear people out of the way, call the paramedics and give the guy space until the paramedics arrive.
While waiting they can take statements from witness of whatever crime the person committed, as taking statements should be the PRIMARY job of the police, not dragging people to jail. Dragging people to jail should only be done when people don’t comply with clear court orders.
In many other countries, when a sane person commits a crime, they go and take down everyone’s statement to determine who has detailed information (victim and perpetrator alike) then take down those ones to the station for a more detailed report. Then it is determined if the criminal courts or civil courts should handle it, often by consulting with the victims and determining if the perpetrator is a clear and present danger to society. If the perpetrator is not a threat to society, they are assigned court dates for resolving civil restitution and/or criminal charges, and the matter is resolved.
Meanwhile in the US cops are so obsessed about “getting their man” they sabotage their ability to be mediators. I blame the whole system for this.