Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

February 28, 2013

Former Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Jonathan Josey lost his job after slugging an innocent woman named Aida Guzman during last September?s Puerto Rican Day Parade. The assault was captured on video.

On February 27, Municipal Judge Patrick Dugan dismissed the video evidence after Josey testified that he had intended to knock a beer bottle from the woman?s hands, despite the fact that she clearly wasn?t carrying one. As he acquitted Josey, Judge Dugan claimed that the assault took place amid ?a violent, fast-paced, real-life situation.?

Police officers who packed the courtroom celebrated and embraced Josey after the case was dismissed.  Among the cops on hand to congratulate Josey was Officer Nancy Farrell Dugan, who has been on the force since 1997. More importantly, she is married to Judge Dugan, whose verdict she was celebrating. When asked by a reporter about a potential conflict of interest, Dugan insisted that he was forbidden by the Code of Judicial Conduct to answer that question.

Guzman, who was falsely arrested by Josey and charged with assault, is suing the former cop. Josey?s union is demanding that he get his job back ? and given the history of officially sanctioned police misconduct in Philadelphia, he most likely will.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.