Broken License Plate Leads To Near-Fatal Beating

SACRAMENTO (CN) – **City of Weed police **Officer Chris Young stopped a man for having a broken license plate light, thought he was chewing on contraband, slammed his head into the steering wheel, then dragged him from the car, threw him to the ground and dropped a knee on his head, putting him into a coma, where he remains today, 51 weeks later, attorneys for Thomas Lee Williams claim in Federal Court. Young and his partner, co-defendant Steven Shannon , allegedly let Williams lie unconscious on the road for 25 minutes, “without attempting to remove the item from Williams’ mouth so Williams could breathe.” He suffered irreversible brain damage. Lead attorney Thomas Petersen of Medford, Ore., demands punitive damages for assault and battery, negligence and constitutional violations. See complaint.