OSU Student Wins Lawsuit After Brutally Beaten by Cops

A Jackson, MI man has won thousands of dollars in a police brutality lawsuit. Joseph Hines was beaten while attending Ohio State University.

Hines filed a federal lawsuit in 2013 against the officers who beat him.

Hines was awarded $30,000 less than two weeks ago.

This all stems from an incident in August 2012 when Hines says he was brutally attacked and beaten by police in Columbus.

Joseph Hines is the son of well-known Jackson pastor Reverend James Hines of Lily Missionary Baptist Church.

After a successful academic and athletic career at Jackson high school, the younger Hines went on to attend OSU.

He says he was 20 years old on August 9th when he was approached by officers near campus. He admits he and some of his friends had been drinking.

Hines says he was attacked by those officers, punched in the face, handcuffed, and knocked unconscious.

Hines was then arrested and charged with five crimes, all except for a littering charge, were eventually dropped. Those records have since been expunged.

In court documents, officers claimed Hines resisted arrest throughout the incident.

Ultimately, jurors found that only one officer used excessive force, and awarded Hines $30000. He had sued for the minimum of $75,000.

After a long court battle, Joseph Hines says he’s now just trying to move forward with his life.

“I’m just thankful and appreciative for everyone that’s been there for my family,” says Hines.

Sgt. Rich Weiner with the Columbus Police Department says the internal investigation into the case is still ongoing. That investigation was opened as soon as a complaint was made.

Sgt. Weiner says from what police understand, the complainant and witnesses refused to talk on advice from an attorney. Because of that, Police had to wait until the case had ended. Now, they will review the transcript and testimony from the witnesses.

Sgt. Weiner tells News 10 the department respects the opinion of the federal jury. He points out that the jury found that two officers did not use excessive force, and that they found that one officer did use more force than was necessary.

The jury awarded Hines $30,000 for that claim, much less than was requested by Hines.

He says the Department does not want to minimize the incident, and admits there were issues on both sides.

Police wish there would have been more cooperation at the beginning of the incident. The department will move forward from here.