Oregon man needs back surgery after cops beat him for riding bicycle while black, suit claims

An Oregon man said he was racially profiled and beaten by police while riding a bicycle near his home.

Jermaine Robinson, who is black, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday that claims he suffered permanent injuries after he was stopped June 15, 2012, by Hillsboro police, reported The Oregonian.

The 41-year-old Robinson said Officers Will Blood and Brian Wilber threw him onto the ground and refused to say why they stopped him.

Wilber used a Taser stun gun twice on Robinson, according to the suit, and Blood kneed him in the back as he placed him in handcuffs.

The officers arrested Robinson on charges of interfering with an officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct, and he was taken to the county jail.

The Washington County District Attorney's Office prosecuted him on one count of resisting arrest, but jurors acquitted him in June 2013 after deliberating for just a short time.

Robinson was found guilty of three bicycle violations, the lawsuit shows.

The suit claims Robinson suffered a herniated disk that will require surgery, along with strained muscles and ligaments and significant mental trauma, as a result of his arrest.

The lawsuit claims the arrest was a malicious act of misconduct that was a result of Blood’s racial profiling of Robinson, who is seeking damages from the two officers and the city.

Prosecutors found that Wilber had properly used his Taser in another 2012 case, in which another officers shot and wounded a domestic violence suspect.

Blood shot and killed a man last year during a traffic stop, and prosecutors ruled his use of force was justified after the suspect fired his gun and struck another officer’s Taser.

[Image: Angry police officer with nightstick via Shutterstock]