Iowa cops shot unarmed bystander 5 times, lied about the incident

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24 July 2015

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On April 5, witnesses of a fist fight at the New World Bar and Grill at 504 Riehl Street in Waterloo, Iowa, called the police. They just wanted the cops to stop the brawl.

However, when officers arrived at the scene, the scuffle was over and participants and bystanders were leaving.

Waterloo citizen Jovan Webb, 27, a black man, who was preparing to pass a commercial driver's license test and had nothing to do with the fight, left the bar to watch the fight and was about to drive off from the parking lot.

“Soon after getting into his car, a man wearing civilian clothes knocked on the driver’s side window of Mr Webb’s car. It is thought the man was a Waterloo police officer and that he singled Webb out because of his race,” Webb’s lawyer, Mark Loevy-Reyes, stated in a suit. “Mr Webb pulled out of his parking spot to get away from the man, whom he did not know.”

However, the cop wasn’t shaken off easily. He chased the car with a handgun at the ready and shot the driver. Webb’s suit claims that one “or more” police officers shot at him.

“The man, one of the defendant cops, chased after Mr Webb as he was pulling out of the parking lot. Running alongside the passenger side of the car, this defendant fired multiple shots from a firearm into Mr Webb’s car,” the lawsuit says. “Trying to escape this attempt to kill him and fearing for his life, Mr Webb drove out of the parking lot.”

The shooting took place in a public place full of people, who had scattered and run for shelter when they heard shots.

Waterloo authorities maintained that Webb intentionally drove his vehicle at Officer Steve Bose, who had allegedly been standing in front of the car in full uniform demanding Webb to stop, while another police Officer Thomas Frein was knocking on the car window.

Webb's attorney accused Waterloo police of lying to cover up an unjustified shooting, insisting that Webb was not posing a threat to police or anybody else.

Attorney with Loevy & Loevy detailing the night his client Jovan Webb was shot by Waterloo police,

on Apr 5...#kcrg Brady Smith @bradysmithkcrg

The WCF Courier cited city Attorney David Zellhoefer, who said “We intend to vigorously defend it and see it through to its conclusion.”

Although Webb suffered multiple wounds – two in his arm, one in his chest, and two into his abdomen – he managed to drive his car to the Unity Point Health-Allen hospital, pursued by a police car. There, dripping with blood, he was handcuffed. His life was saved by medical personnel who insisted the cuffs were removed in order to treat the severely wounded patient.

Notwithstanding extensive surgery (doctors removed part of his intestine and made an incision from his chest to his lower abdomen), Jovan Webb still has two bullets in his body, because it is not safe to extract them without causing more injury. Webb also suffered a collapsed lung and he requires the support of a breathing machine.

Having caused all these injuries, the Waterloo Police then did not charge Webb with any crime.

It has been discovered that one of the two officers being sued, Thomas Frein, was involved in a shooting incident in 2013, when he prevented a suicide-by-cop attempt.