Mathias Bolton was wrongly attacked and beat in his residence by at least two police officers. He blames anabolic steroids for causing one of the officers to attack him in a lawsuit filed last week; no explanation was provided explaining why the other officer(s) attacked him (“Cop “shot up” before attacking: Claims ‘roids fueled beating on wrong man,” September 3).
The lawsuit claimes Vargas was a target of a Jersey City Police Department investigation into steroid use by cops and “was using a steroid, testosterone or other prescription substance when he assaulted Mr. Bolton which was a proximate cause of his attacking and beating Mr. Bolton.”
Mathias Bolton called the police to report a burglary in progress at his residence on August 20, 2007. Plainclothes officers Victor Vargas and Kevin Hill of the Jersey City Police Department arrived on the scene and allegedly beat and assaulted Mr. Bolton after mistakenly assuming he was the burglar; the police justified their use of force by charging Mr. Bolton with two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and one count of resisting arrest. The charges was subsequently downgraded to misdemeanors.
Mathias Bolton filed a lawsuit against Officers Vargas and Hill, the City of Jersey City and various unidentified officers accusing them of assault and battery; false arrest; state constitutional violations; federal constitution violations of the fourth, fifth and fourteenth amendments; civil conspiracy (false police reports and coverup); and negligence.
It appears that Mr. Bolton has a strong case. No individual should fear being beaten and assaulted by the police after calling them to report a crime. But WHY would Mr. Bolton blames Officer Victor Vargas’ use of anabolic steroids as the “proximate cause” of the police assault and battery?
It would require proof that Vargas was using steroids immediately prior to the incident. In addition, even though it is widely “assumed” that steroids cause “roid rage,” the cause-effect relationship between anabolic steroids and aggression is inconclusive at best.
Mr. Bolton seems to claim that the assault and battery would not have occurred if Vargas was not using steroids since steroids were the “proximate cause.” But Bolton offers no explanation why Kevin Hill or Officers John Does attacked him. Perhaps anabolic steroids are responsible not only for aggression seen in the individual steroid users; maybe the alleged use of steroids by Vargas acted as social contagion that became the “proximate cause” of the behavior exhibited by ALL of the police officers? Maybe it was a steroid contagion epidemic!
Steroid use by Jersey City cops has been a major issue after dozens of officers were implicated in the Lowen’s Pharmacy steroid scandal; the New York Police Department (NYPD) has also been connected to Lowen’s Pharmacy. A separate steroid investigation involves cops at nearby Trenton Police Department.
Definition of Proximate Cause (Law.com)
[A] happening which results in an event, particularly injury due to negligence or an intentional wrongful act. In order to prevail (win) in a lawsuit for damages due to negligence or some other wrong, it is essential to claim (plead) proximate cause in the complaint and to prove in trial that the negligent act of the defendant was the proximate cause (and not some other reason) of the damages to the plaintiff (person filing the lawsuit). Sometimes there is an intervening cause which comes between the original negligence of the defendant and the injured plaintiff, which will either reduce the amount of responsibility or, if this intervening cause is the substantial reason for the injury, then the defendant will not be liable at all.
Mathias Bolton v. City of Jersey City et al (PDF)
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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