Beating victim faces shoplifting charges
By Associated Press | Monday, January 10, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield man who filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was beaten by police during a traffic stop has been arrested on shoplifting charges.
Police say 29-year-old Melvin Jones III was charged with taking 33 pairs of jeans and six shirts worth about $700 from a J.C. Penney store on Sunday afternoon.
He will be arraigned Monday or Tuesday.
Jones claims in a lawsuit that his constitutional rights were violated when he was beaten unconscious with a flashlight during a November 2009 traffic stop. The incident was caught on amateur video. His suit names six officers, the police commissioner and the city.
Jones was arrested on cocaine and resisting arrest charges at the traffic stop.
His lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1308494
