Timothy Epifan, already convicted for illegally camcording Bruno back in 2010, is suing Connecticut authorities after he was “mowed down” by a police car that pursued him after he fled outside the theater. Attorney claims police used “deadly force” to arrest him for a nonviolent crime.
In one of the more bizarre CAM piracy cases to come to light over the years, a 23yo Connecticut man who was “mowed down” by a police car in pursuit of him after fleeing the movie theater has filed a civil suit against local authorities.
Timothy Epifan and his brother were confronted by police in an MPAA-assisted sting operation following a showing of the movie Bruno in a parking lot outside of a Manville, Connecticut theater on July 9th, 2009.
His brother was arrested without confrontation, but Timothy decided to flee the scene. The suit claims a police car then “slammed into his backside” after he stopped behind the theater, “dragging him under the vehicle.”
“It left a 10-foot trail of skid marks of bone, blood and skin,” claims his attorney, Gerald H. Clark. “Epifan sustained severe leg fractures, has undergone multiple surgeries, incurred hundreds of thousands in medical bills and now walks with a cane.”
Authorities claim he stopped to delete the recording, and that he was only injured when he tried to run between a pair of police cars.
“The community needs to know police will not needlessly maim citizens, and that if they do, they will be held accountable,” said Clark. “Otherwise, police will feel free to do it again to others.”
Clark claims police used “deadly force” to arrest him for a nonviolent crime.
Epifan eventually plead guilty third-degree theft by deception, fourth-degree pirating audiovisual work, resisting arrest and attempted tampering with physical evidence for trying to destroy the camera in April of 2010.
Stay tuned.
I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
