In a case of porn interrupted, a jury has ruled that two San Francisco police officers did not use excessive force in arresting a 73-year-old man after he allegedly got angry at his estranged wife for refusing to watch an X-rated movie with him.

By the time police arrived at the home of Raymond J. Miller, a retired city employee, on the night of Jan. 7, 2006, he had settled into an easy chair in his living room for a viewing of the movie “Asian Coed Butt Babes.” His wife of 35 years, who was still living with him, had declined his invitation to join him and called 911.

“She had no reason to call police,” Miller, now 76, testified. “I told her, 'If you don't want to watch it, it's up to you.'”

According to Jean Miller, he threatened to kill her after she refused to sit on his lap and have sex while he watched the porno movie. And a San Francisco Superior Court jury deliberated for only 10 minutes before deciding last week that officers Steven Coleman and Kevin Rightmire did not commit a battery on him or use unreasonable force to arrest him.

Raymond Miller, who was seeking $50,000 in damages, claimed the officers broke his arm and cut his wrists as they subdued and handcuffed him. “He was a large, 275-pound man, who was upset and wanted us out of the house,” Coleman testified. “He was screaming and cussing. I thought he might try to attack me, try to hurt me.”

Jean Miller's 911 call was disconnected before she spoke to a dispatcher. She said her husband pulled the phone away from her -- which he denied -- but the cutoff automatically resulted in police being sent to their home.

After the officers arrived, Raymond Miller, wearing only shorts, initially ignored them as they spoke to his wife. When they tried to arrest him for threatening her, he allegedly told them to “Get the fuck out of my house!” and did not comply with a verbal command to put his hands behind his back.

The complaint used more delicate language. “Plaintiff was angry at the intrusion, told the police officers that they had no right to be in his home and demanded that they leave,” it said.

Coleman and Rightmire applied a “bar-arm takedown” maneuver to wrestle Miller to the ground and then hoisted him up by the handcuffs. “He was upset,” his attorney, Norman Newhouse, said. “But however he acted, that doesn't give them the right to pull him up by the handcuffs.”

But the jury obviously agreed with the defense that the officers did what they had to do to protect a potential domestic violence victim. "We felt that Mr. Miller's allegations had no foundation at all and we're thankful that good cops can protect the safety of domestic abuse victims like Mrs. Miller without having to fear frivolous lawsuits,” Deputy City Attorney Daniel Zaheer said.

Miller's arrest interrupted his viewing of something of a porn epic -- “Asian Coed Butt Babes” runs for six hours.

By Matthew Heller
12/22/08