Botched raid victims William and Sharon McCulley, whose case I also mentioned in Overkill, were awarded $325,000 this week after a botched drug raid last year hit them and their grandchildren.

That’s when, without a warrant authorizing entrance into the home of William and Sharon McCulley, but rather with an “anticipatory search warrant” that authorized them to search any property where the marijuana was transported, police entered their home.

Though the Toyota truck they had been following and the transported box wasn’t at the McCulley’s home, police then threw Sharon McCulley on the ground next to her grandchild and handcuffed her, pressing a gun so hard into her head it left a circular mark, according to the complaint.

Her husband, William McCulley, who has a severe nerve disorder and has a walker and leg brace, was also ordered to lie on the ground, but was unable to do so quickly because of his disability. Thrown to the ground by an officer, William McCulley’s implanted electronic shocking device to alleviate pain malfunctioned causing him to convulse, court documents state.

Hearing things like that makes my blood boil. They should've received A LOT more than $325K!

Actual awards in police misconduct cases are, by and large, a lot lower in reality than either in common belief, or (IMHO, and all that) enough to force change.

In a lot of cases, the inability of police superiors (as opposed to the willingness, a whole 'nother story) to get rid of bad cops is enabled by the unions, which have generated an environment where it takes a preposterous amount of evidence to get a cop punished, and, by and large (there are some exceptions) it's usually with a slap on the wrist.

It would take, I think, multiple seven-figure judgments in a given year to get the Minneapolis City Council worked up enough to take on the union, and, even then, I'm not sure that they could win, as they'd definitely have to go to court, and there is quite literally no judge appointed in HennCo without the blessing of the union.