by Bob Walsh
Elaine Brown is a victim, more or less. Maybe not a totally sympathetic victim as she is a former Black Panther leader, be that as it may. She had a confrontation with Desley Brooks, a member of the Oakland, CA city council a while back and Brooks knocked Brown ass over teakettle. Therein lies the tale.
The two women got in a verbal confrontation at a public restaurant in 2015. Brooks told Brown that a pet project of hers was of "no benefit to black people" and threatened to defund it. Things got a bit heated and Brooks knocked Brown, who is 72 years old, onto her ass into a row of chairs. She required hospitalization and ended up with a torn rotator cuff.
The D. A. refused to file charges but Brown sued and won. A jury gave her $3.78 million in damages, plus an award from Brooks PERSONALLY for $550,000 in punitive damages. Both the city and Brooks are allegedly appealing. Also the city agreed to "sell" to Brown a chunk of city property for $1 to aid her nonprofit in setting up housing and business opportunities for ex-cons.
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