The inadequacy of Carter's evidence is particularly apparent when contrasted with that elicited in
Spell. The plaintiff in that case, Henry Spell, sued individual officers and the City of Fayetteville for irreversible injuries suffered when police officer Charles McDaniel kneed him, while handcuffed, in the groin.
Id. at 1384. At trial, Spell presented the testimony of lay witnesses who had “observed or directly experienced acts of brutality by city police officers of the type charged to McDaniel.”
Id. at 1393. Two officers testified that the City trained its personnel in the same groin-kneeing technique that McDaniel had applied to Spell.
Id. McDaniel himself testified that he was taught this technique at the city police academy, which was run by the city police chief.
Id. at 1393–94. Other officers testified not only that a “code of silence” prevented the punishment of officers on the force, but also that the police chief condoned and advocated the use of excessive force on arrestees.
Id. at 1393. Police internal affairs files, also introduced into evidence, “graphically corroborated” this testimony.
Id. at 1394. Finally, the assistant state district attorney testified that he had prosecuted two police officers for assaulting suspects.
Id. at 1393. In sum, Spell introduced voluminous evidence both of prior incidents and of official encouragement of exactly the same constitutional injury that he had suffered.