Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody [Archive]

Tuff Stuff

10-27-2015, 03:22 PM

I was pulled over this spring by a young CHP officer..this is how it went down.

I was driving home and I usually take the main highway,it's about 100 miles to and from work.There are about a dozen small communties/towns in between.I was coming home and stopped at one of these small towns to grab a bite to eat and right away I notice a cop car and inside it an officer who was watching me,very closely.I have stopped in this town many times before and I know most of the CHP around here by sight.My instinct told me trouble..it was by the way he kept looking at me.I'm part native american and this town is not known to treat POC kindly..but thank goodness I have seen big changes in all the 20 some years I have lived in this part of the state,slow changes,but changes..and I suspect mostly because of the younger people running off and going to college and then coming back here to work and raise their families and all those older people dying off right and left.It's these older white folks who hold on mostly to their racists ways yet.I had a strong feeling i might get pulled over by this young white male officer..my intuition is pretty 98% right on the dot about things.So,I pull out of town and its another 15 miles to the next one and in the back of my mind I knew me and this cop were going to meet up somewhere down the road.It happen about 10 miles before the next town and who should pull right up behind me..it's that cop.He follows me for another 5 miles before he decides to flash his lights..now,in my mind,i'm not breaking any laws..i'm going the speed limit,not driving dangerously,and my vehicle is up to code.When he flashed his lights I knew this is bulls**t.Thing is,I hear all this bad press about cops and how people are harrassed and killed by simple traffic pull overs.Most of the police officers I know are good cops but I still get leery when ever i'm around them. This was a whole new face to me and hell if I was going to pull over my van on the side of a somewhat busy highway and possibly get struck by a passing log truck because this new cop wanted to check me out..he could of pulled me over back at the last town..but see,things don't work out that way if the officer is up to no good.I felt angry,and sure,I could of pulled over and give him a piece of my mind..and in return,he could of shot me and claim self defense.No,I let him follow me to the next town(another 5 miles down the road) and it being daylight yet,follow me where there would be some witnesses..I also stayed calm and continued to do the speed limit.We finally reached this town and I pull over in front of this busy restaurant with a full window view of main street,hello people,here's some dramatic real life entertainment,more salsa for your chips?.By this time,he was bumper to bumper with me,all lights flashing wildly,siren on..*snort* and we both pulled in front of this business,he was pissed off at me no doubt.As I sat there,waiting for his next move,three more police cruisers pull up behind my van...yes,four cop cars and all these officers jumping out at once,guns drawn and pointed straight at me..I thought,sweet Jesus,i'm coming home..my one regret was that I would not be able to kiss my woman goodbye and hug my fur babies one last time before I ended up with 50 bullets inside me.As they did this my mind said stay calm and keep both my hands on the steering wheel..one officer shouted get out of my vehicle with hands in plain view..yeah right,motherf***er,and kill me as I reach for my door handle..f*** you!..so I waited and the next thing I knew i'm face to face with the cop who started all this crap.I smiled at him and I believe he said "why didn't you stop back there?"..I was thinking,because,I wanted to stay out of jail and most importantly,stay alive..but my answer was "I didn't see you,or hear you,my music was playing loudly"..he looked at me as if I was out of my mind.Of course they all had a good laugh and he checked me for warrants and let me stay there for about a half an hour before letting me go on my merry happy to be alive way,no ticket,no jail time.That was a good day.

Btw,his excuse for pulling me over was because I had one of those little tree air fresheners hanging from my rearview mirror...yeaah,right.

Cin

10-28-2015, 03:54 AM

Well they discovered who was the cause of the incident at that school in SC. It wasn't the cop who assaulted that young girl, it wasn't the teacher who stood there and watched, it wasn't even the student who apparently brought this violence on herself by not following orders and maintaining the most calmly non aggressive way of sitting I've ever seen. Surprisingly all this was caused by the student who filmed it.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/south-carolina-teen-who-filmed-school-cops-assault-arrested-disturbing-schools

I guess we have the answer to that age old philosophical question "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it does it make a sound?"
It would seem the powers that be there in SC think the answer is NO.

However, I do see some holes in their logic.
There were people around to hear the sound of that girl being assaulted. If you muzzle them that doesn't erase the deed. Controlling the flow of information forever changes the integrity of the scenario. Not to mention what it says about the integrity of the people in power.

Andrea

10-28-2015, 05:45 AM

Cin

10-28-2015, 08:49 AM

I do not read that article the way you appear to have read it.

No one made the officer throw the girl across the room. He is at fault. Not anyone else. Doesn't matter what she did to have the officer called (short of physical violence on another), nor what another student did, the response was excessive. The officer was abusive, and should be fired and charged.

Of course the officer should be fired and charged with assault. It certainly was not Officer Ben Fields first rodeo, he has a history of being abusive, so in my mind that makes a host of people, his superior officers, the entire police department and whoever else turned a blind eye to his violent behavior, accountable for what he does. I don't know what article you are referring to that you read that I took a different way, but this is the article I posted:

South Carolina Teen Who Filmed School Cop's Assault is Arrested for "Disturbing Schools"
This story keeps getting worse.

By Adam Johnson / AlterNet

October 27, 2015

UPDATE: This has gotten much worse. Niya Kenny, 18, who filmed the now infamous arrest has been arrested herself for "disturbing schools." She's out on $1000 bail.

WLTX reports that Kenny was trying to "stand up for her friend" when she filmed the assault, telling Loren Thomas of WLTX, "I was crying, screaming and crying like a baby. I was in disbelief." Both Kenny and her mother are understandably skeptical as to why she was arrested for "disturbing schools."

"But looking at the video, who was really disturbing schools?" Kenny's mother told WLTX. "Was it my daughter or the officer who came into the classroom and did that to the young girl?"
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/south-carolina-teen-who-filmed-school-cops-assault-arrested-disturbing-schools

I was being sarcastic when I said "Well they discovered who was the cause of the incident at that school in SC. It wasn't the cop who assaulted that young girl, it wasn't the teacher who stood there and watched, it wasn't even the student who apparently brought this violence on herself by not following orders and maintaining the most calmly non aggressive way of sitting I've ever seen. Surprisingly all this was caused by the student who filmed it."

I was also trying to point out that it's insane to spend time trying to cover up incidents like this by intimidating the people who bring them to the attention of the public, as though if no one sees the abusive incident it did not happen. Thus the reference to if a tree falls in the woods.

Instead those with the power should be doing something about the individuals who perpetrate this type of violence. To me it is particularly despicable when those people whose job it is to protect and serve, instead harm.

Also just for clarity's sake when I said "the student who apparently brought this violence on herself by not following orders and maintaining the most calmly non aggressive way of sitting I've ever seen", I was once again trying to be funny (when will I learn that while I may be a lot of things, funny ain't one of them). I find it ludicrous to imagine that someone sitting as passively as that student was sitting when that police officer assaulted her could ever be seen deserving that kind of treatment. I don't doubt she was being difficult and that's why the officer was called. That's a problem in and of itself. Why when a student is not presenting as violent is it ever necessary to call for police back up? When are teenagers not being difficult? It's their job. (trying to be funny again). What I mean is that as long as a student is not being violent no one has a right to attack them the way that police officer did. There are plenty of ways to deal with someone who won't leave when you ask them to. I have worked with difficult populations through the years, including troubled adolescents, and I've found that it is way too acceptable to deal with teenagers aggressively, much more acceptable than with many other populations. I see that attitude at the route of the problem although at this point it has gone beyond that and needs to be dealt with as a crime. But it would also be a good idea to examine this inherent belief that aggression and violence is acceptable in dealing with non violent students. And we haven't touched on the reality of how black students are going to be treated more aggressively than white students in any given scenario. We need to take systemically sanctioned violence out of schools. In this incident it was ridiculous to drag that girl like that. She was asked to leave after refusing to hand over her phone and she refused according to what I read. That hardly merits that kind of violence. In my mind if you want to separate someone and they are being passively resistant, perhaps you could consider moving everyone else? But I think I digress here.

Anyway back to the issue, this is not the first time attempts have been made to punish people for filming crimes.

Andrea

10-28-2015, 09:15 AM

I am sorry. I read your post to say the young woman that objected to how the girl was treated had started the incident. Thank you for clarifying.

Kätzchen

10-28-2015, 09:54 AM

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics

The scholarly article, featured above, talks about difficulties in establishing stricter methods of accountability, concerning excessive force (read: brutality) -- with regard for the slow growing body of research on this social issue since the race riots of 1992.

Item of interest noted: It's not clear how the public can utilize a reporting system (which is supposedly already in place at local, state or federal levels in the justice system). If I read the article correctly, the DOJ claim is that the reliability of aggregate information culled from established reporting system (s) is not and cannot supply accurate samplings of case material for the DOJ to recommend or draw new standards of accountability, so that police brutality can be monitored more closely and enforce efforts to eradicate police brutality.

I thought it was an interesting article, for those who would like to read about this social issue.

Eta: thank you Miss Tick for your commentary. I appreciate your take on this issue.

Cin

10-28-2015, 01:31 PM

I am sorry. I read your post to say the young woman that objected to how the girl was treated had started the incident. Thank you for clarifying.

Ah, I see. Well that was me trying for levity, poking fun at the ridiculous and whatnot. I don't know when I will accept that humor in my hands is unrecognizable at best. I'm glad the second post made a little more sense. Sorry about the confusion.

You know it's kind of sad how I say it, but I must not believe it because I know I will try to funny again, probably my very next post. :|

SirenManda

10-28-2015, 04:15 PM

I've been reading over a few of the articles, and I'm heartbroken for the child. It's a failure on any adults part to stand by and watch a child get brutally pulled from a chair. I do not care if she didn't get up, I don't think it warrants the level of brutality she received. I would feel the same if it were my own child, no one should be putting their hands on your children. I would start a civil suit, something is wrong with how much force the officer believes was needed. We aren't talking about a riot outside, we are talking about children in a class room. It's shocking to see how everyone stays silent and doesn't try to help her.

Blade

10-28-2015, 05:03 PM

I have to say when I saw this video my first reaction was, if someone did that to my kid, they would be arresting me, cuz I'd be on him like a duck on a june bug. I'd deal with her at home. Some of my family who are SC educators and administrators and some in law enforcement didn't agree with me.

First of all I would have been mortified not to comply with what the teacher said to begin with. Secondly I heard she threw a punch at him (felony). Third, she hadn't actually done anything to be thrown around the room and I felt the officer was way out of line and excessive in his choice of how he responded to the situation and allowing it to escalate clearly on his part.

This evening I saw on the news that he has been fired which I agree with. However there are still charges against the girl. I haven't heard what they are, I'm betting they will be dropped, due to the circumstances.

The Sheriff said on the news that the officers actions were not consistent with his training. That he had several other options. He said his decision was made by asking himself is this the kind of person I want wearing our badge. The answer was no.

I stand with Jackhammer, pick the desk up and carry her to the hallway. No confrontation.

Kätzchen

10-28-2015, 10:05 PM

Unless you're a person of color, which my biological sons are, it's hard (really hard) for people who are not of color to grasp the tidal wave of no feasible recourse or available remedies of any immediacy when things go really wrong.

Wrong as in losing your life to immediate death or being locked up in prison based on false facts, and then on top of it being assaulted by law enforcement officials, then let down by the justice system.

I know it first hand.

: (

Cin

10-29-2015, 02:37 PM

Cin

10-29-2015, 03:13 PM

No charges for Volusia County deputy who shot, killed unarmed man

The state attorney announced Wednesday that a grand jury has decided that a Volusia County deputy who shot and killed an unarmed suspect will not face charges.

Derek Cruice’s loved ones have been protesting since Deputy Todd Raible shot and killed him.

“After two days of testimony and in deliberation, the grand jury declined to indict Deputy Raible on a manslaughter by culpable negligence charge,” said State Attorney R.J. Larizza.

Investigators said Raible shot Derek Cruice in the face while serving a search warrant for drugs in March. Cruice was not armed.

“I want justice for him because he did not deserve to die so young, and not in this manner. Not in this manner,” said Sheila Cruice.

She had been waiting for more than six months to find out if the deputy who killed her son will face criminal charges.

“Why did they use so much force? But it’s just hard. It’s a struggle,” said Sheila Cruice.

Officials said Raible perceived a threat as he entered the home on Maybrook Drive in Deltona and fired one time, shooting Derek Cruice in the face.

Derek Cruice’s friends in the home at the time said they want to know what that threat was, and argue he could not have had a weapon, since he was only wearing shorts with no shirt.

Later, investigators said items they found in the home included 217 grams of marijuana, scales, baggies and $3,000 in cash, but no weapons.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/state-attorney-announce-if-there-will-be-charges-a/nn7Kd/

*Anya*

10-29-2015, 03:20 PM

Cop harasses two women for holding hands and acting affectionate in a grocery store while on vacation in Hawaii. He bumps and pushes one while she tries to call 911 and punches the other in the face when she tries to step between him and her girlfriend. She was denied medical treatment at the scene and after she was arrested. Pictures of her injuries weren't taken until two days after the assault.

The Hawaii News Now article says they don't know if the cop is still on duty, but the Chicago Tribune reports that he remains on full active duty. The women have a lawsuit pending.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/30378453/officer-accused-of-arresting-lesbians-kissing-in-store

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-lesbians-kissing-arrested-20151028-story.html

All of this is horrifying but this is just the final horror:

"As a condition of their release, they couldn't leave Oahu and wound up sleeping in a park.

After five months, prosecutors threw out the case, said their attorney, Eric Seitz."

I hope that they win tons of money and that cop is fired. It is unbelievable that he is still on full duty!

We now have a totally militarized police force in the USA.

To what end?

"Not Just Ferguson: 11 Eye-Opening Facts About America’s Militarized Police Forces
by Alex Kane

The “war on terror” has come home — and it’s wreaking havoc on innocent American lives. The culprit is the militarization of the police.

The weapons that destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq have made their way to local law enforcement. While police forces across the country began a process of militarization — complete with SWAT teams and flash-bang grenades — when President Reagan intensified the “war on drugs,” the post-9/11 “war on terror” has added fuel to the fire.

Through laws and regulations like a provision in defense budgets that authorizes the Pentagon to transfer surplus military gear to police forces, local law enforcement agencies are using weapons found on the battlefields of South Asia and the Middle East.

A recent New York Times article by Matt Apuzzo reported that in the Obama era, “police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.” The result is that police agencies around the nation possess military-grade equipment, turning officers who are supposed to fight crime and protect communities into what looks like an invading army. And military-style police raids have increased in recent years, with one count putting the number at 80,000 such raids last year.

In June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) brought more attention to police militarization when it issued a comprehensive, nearly 100-page report titled, War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing. Based on public records requests to more than 260 law enforcement agencies in 26 states, the ACLU concluded that this police militarization “unfairly impacts people of color and undermines individual liberties, and it has been allowed to happen in the absence of any meaningful public discussion.”

The information contained in the ACLU report — and in other investigations into the phenomenon — is sobering. From the killing of innocent people to the almost complete lack of debate on these policies, police militarization has turned into a key issue for Americans. It is harming civil liberties, ramping up the “war on drugs,” impacting the most marginalized members of society and transforming neighborhoods into war zones."

NOTE: the article is long so I am not including them but it is very worth reading

Also NOTE: this article was written in 2014 but I do not see much has changed, if anything, since that time. VICE also did an episode on the militarization of the police which aired on HBO previously.

"...11 important — and horrifying — things you should know about"

http://billmoyers.com/2014/08/13/not-just-ferguson-11-eye-opening-facts-about-americas-militarized-police-forces/

Cin

10-29-2015, 04:20 PM

Thank you for that article Anya!

It is interesting to note that it has never been safer to be a cop. This article is from mid September, but it has noted that so far 2015 is one of the safest years for American policing in history, both in absolute terms and adjusted for population. The most dangerous time to be a police officer was during Prohibition, since then it's only gotten safer. As a matter of fact it is more dangerous to be a fisher, logger, pilot, roofer, miner, trucker or taxi driver. It’s actually safer to be a cop than it is to simply live in many U.S. cities.

http://www.newsweek.com/it-has-never-been-safer-be-cop-372025
Excerpt:
"There are real liabilities to inflating the threats to police. If you tell cops over and over that they’re in a war, they’re under siege, they’re under attack, and that citizens are the enemy—instead of the people they’re supposed to protect—you’re going to create an atmosphere of fear, tension, and hostility that can only end badly, as it has for so many people.

There is no war on cops. Not now, not last year, not any of the times that ideologues and media hacks have tried to invent one.

Cops need to know this. And so do we.

As I wrote in the Freeman last year, “Disproportionate fears about officer safety are leading inexorably to the disproportionate use of force”—as well as leading many people (especially those who have never witnessed police misconduct) to excuse obvious brutality in the name of officer safety."

Andrea

10-29-2015, 08:59 PM

Corey Jones death: New questions about the latest police shooting in Florida

http://news.yahoo.com/corey-jones-death-new-questions-about-the-latest-police-shooting-in-florida-215620083.html (http://news.yahoo.com/corey-jones-death-new-questions-about-the-latest-police-shooting-in-florida-215620083.html)

"A plainclothes police officer who fatally shot a stranded motorist in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 10 days ago, apparently wasn’t qualified for his undercover surveillance assignment, according to documents obtained by Yahoo News."

Andrea

10-30-2015, 12:15 AM

Video Shows NYPD Officer Tackle, Pepper-Spray Skateboarder

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nypd-officer-yibin-mu-skateboarder_563124f4e4b0c66bae5ab018?ncid=fcbklnk ushpmg00000013&section=politics (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nypd-officer-yibin-mu-skateboarder_563124f4e4b0c66bae5ab018?ncid=fcbklnk ushpmg00000013&section=politics)

"Video of the incident, which Mu posted on his Facebook page on Monday, shows the officer pulling Mu's head back by his hair before putting him in a headlock. After tackling Mu, the officer pulls out his pepper spray and shoots it in the skateboarder's face."

The 2IC

10-30-2015, 04:31 AM

RIP Officer Holder - one black man forgotten by many because he wasn't wearing the right clothes when he was killed.

Andrea

10-30-2015, 07:25 AM

RIP Officer Holder - one black man forgotten by many because he wasn't wearing the right clothes when he was killed.

Welcome to the Planet. Perhaps you could expand on your thoughts here.

Are you referring to the NYPD officer that was shot and killed? If so, how does that fit the subject of this thread.

Thank you for any clarification you can provide.

Cin

10-30-2015, 07:32 AM

Still thinking about school sponsored violence against children. When a 12 year old kid playing with a toy gun gets murdered by the police in a park isn't bringing armed officers into schools like inviting the fox into the hen house? I mean I know cops have been in schools for years now, but really it ain't working and it was never going to.

School systems around the country have armed uniformed police arresting children on a daily basis and making criminal offenses out of normal everyday disciplinary issues which really should result in detention. Instead these kids end up with criminal records as well as battered bodies.

The racist and classist criminalization of children continues, feeding our big business prison industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/police-officers-in-schools.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

http://www.alternet.org/education/how-assault-spring-valley-high-brutally-demonstrates-school-prison-pipeline

Shystonefem

10-31-2015, 05:08 AM

Were any charges filed against the officers? Did anyone do anything about the beating?

No. Here police can do just about anything. That same officer was caught, on video, slamming a person into a brick wall .... He got fired but, when taken to court, the jury couldn't find him guilty and it was a mistrial. .. the ex-cop subsequently pled guilty. His wife is a Chief of Police in another town.

The kid that got hurt has permanent brain damage ... oh, and did I mention that the kid was in custody, at the police station, when he was attacked by the officer?

You can still Google it (I think)" Seabrook NH Police officer assault". The video may still come up. It's on YouTube too.

The Lt. On duty was demoted to patrolman and then his wife got a felony indictment for aggravated dui. There were allegations that he messed with the crime scene and caused big trouble at the hospital where his wife was (In MA). He didn't get in trouble for any of that either and he is, again, a Lt.

http://m.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/seabrook-officer-s-wife-indicted-in-drunken-driving-accident/article_d151f257-f61c-57fd-b972-99bd58ae45b8.html?mode=jqm

Andrea

11-05-2015, 08:58 AM

Dash-Cam Video Shows Ala. Cop Shoot Suspect Who Did Not Point Gun, Contrary to Police Reports

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/11/dash_cam_video_shows_ala_cop_shoot_suspect_who_did _not_point_gun_contrary.html?utm_content=bufferbb5 65&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer (http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/11/dash_cam_video_shows_ala_cop_shoot_suspect_who_did _not_point_gun_contrary.html?utm_content=bufferbb5 65&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

“This video provides evidence that Police Officer Daniel Aguirre shot Aubrey Williams twice despite the fact that Williams was on his hands and knees and not in a position to fire a weapon,” activist Frank James Matthews III, head of the Outcast Voters League, said in a statement. “It is clear that the Birmingham Police Department attempted to prevent the release of this footage, and it seems that Officer Aguirre’s actions were rewarded based on outright lies.”

Jesse

11-05-2015, 06:42 PM

Andrea

11-06-2015, 07:06 AM

Police Union Threatens Quentin Tarantino With 'Surprise'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-union-quentin-tarantino-surprise_563bfddde4b0411d3070793c (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-union-quentin-tarantino-surprise_563bfddde4b0411d3070793c)

Jim Pasco, executive director of the largest U.S. police union, offered the creepy statement Thursday to The Hollywood Reporter, vowing to get back at the "Pulp Fiction" director for comments decrying police brutality at a rally last month.

Cops are enraged because of what Tarantino said at a rally in Manhattan in October. "I'm a human being with a conscience," he told the crowd. "And if you believe there's murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I'm here to say I'm on the side of the murdered."

Andrea

11-07-2015, 12:02 PM

Louisiana man whose 6-year-old son was fatally shot as he was fleeing marshals had no gun in his car.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/la-state-police-probe-shooting-killed-son-suspect-article-1.2424300

This is horrible! This child is dead now because of the stupidity of grown men, father included.

KATC Investigates: Several lawsuits pending against Marksville officers accused in death of 6-year-old

http://www.katc.com/story/30460349/katc-investigates-several-lawsuits-pending-against-officers-accused-in-shooting-death-of-6-year-old (http://www.katc.com/story/30460349/katc-investigates-several-lawsuits-pending-against-officers-accused-in-shooting-death-of-6-year-old)

Andrea

11-08-2015, 11:03 AM

WATCH: Arizona cops assault unarmed man for pulling out his phone during profiling stop

https://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/watch-arizona-cops-assault-unarmed-man-for-pulling-out-his-phone-during-profiling-stop/ (https://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/watch-arizona-cops-assault-unarmed-man-for-pulling-out-his-phone-during-profiling-stop/)

As Arthur Velazquez was riding his bike down the street, police claimed that he ‘fit the description’ because he was wearing a hoodie and on a bike, so they stopped him.

While he was detained, he simply pulled out his phone and called his sister out of concern that something bad was about to happen.

Police claim that they feared for their lives when Velazquez told them that he was calling his sister, so they had no other choice but the escalate the situation to violence and beat an innocent man.

“You have additional people coming to the scene, and you are in fear,” Detective Steve Berry, with the Mesa Police Department said in regards to this innocent man using the phone. “Who might be armed, and showing up to assist.”

Andrea

11-10-2015, 02:42 PM

Overlooking police misconduct doesn’t start with Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, life-long Wash. cop is now a murder suspect

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-police-misconduct-lt-joe-gliniewicz-article-1.2429641?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-police-misconduct-lt-joe-gliniewicz-article-1.2429641?cid=bitly)

Now, after a lifetime in law enforcement, Aguirre who was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman in his home, could actually be a serial killer. When Aguirre was forced to submit his DNA in the 2014 rape case, it immediately became a match for a 1986 cold case murder of a sex worker in nearby Spokane.

Jesse

11-10-2015, 04:16 PM

This is kind of a beside the point post. The term "serial killer" would not be appropriate in this case unless they find that he has killed more than this one woman he is accused of murdering.

Overlooking police misconduct doesn’t start with Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, life-long Wash. cop is now a murder suspect

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-police-misconduct-lt-joe-gliniewicz-article-1.2429641?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-police-misconduct-lt-joe-gliniewicz-article-1.2429641?cid=bitly)

Now, after a lifetime in law enforcement, Aguirre who was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman in his home, could actually be a serial killer. When Aguirre was forced to submit his DNA in the 2014 rape case, it immediately became a match for a 1986 cold case murder of a sex worker in nearby Spokane.

Cin

11-10-2015, 07:13 PM

This is kind of a beside the point post. The term "serial killer" would not be appropriate in this case unless they find that he has killed more than this one woman he is accused of murdering.

Ya, I thought that was a bit odd to use that term. But then I clicked on the link "could actually be a serial killer" in the article and read how "Investigators also revealed they were looking back at similar unsolved homicides in Spokane to see if there is a connection to Aguirre. They plan to test evidence collected from the scenes to see if it implicates him.

Police have investigated whether a series of murders between 1986 and 1987 are connected...
The cases of Mary Ann Turner, 30, and Kathleen D. DeHart, 37, remain unsolved, according to a story from the Spokesman-Review newspaper. Turner, a prostitute, was found strangled next to a garage in 1986. DeHart, a topless dancer, was strangled in the basement of an apartment in 1987.

Spokane Detective Kip Hollenbeck determined Aguirre was stationed at the base from January 1984 to early 1988, court documents said."

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article32227011.html#storylink=cpy

Still the article could have simply said he was being investigated for other homicides.

Jesse

11-10-2015, 09:24 PM

Oh okay, thanks Miss Tick. That makes much more sense.

Ya, I thought that was a bit odd to use that term. But then I clicked on the link "could actually be a serial killer" in the article and read how "Investigators also revealed they were looking back at similar unsolved homicides in Spokane to see if there is a connection to Aguirre. They plan to test evidence collected from the scenes to see if it implicates him.

Police have investigated whether a series of murders between 1986 and 1987 are connected...
The cases of Mary Ann Turner, 30, and Kathleen D. DeHart, 37, remain unsolved, according to a story from the Spokesman-Review newspaper. Turner, a prostitute, was found strangled next to a garage in 1986. DeHart, a topless dancer, was strangled in the basement of an apartment in 1987.

Spokane Detective Kip Hollenbeck determined Aguirre was stationed at the base from January 1984 to early 1988, court documents said."

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article32227011.html#storylink=cpy

Still the article could have simply said he was being investigated for other homicides.

Andrea

11-12-2015, 02:54 PM

Officer Nouman Raja fired from Palm Beach Gardens Police Department after Corey Jones shot, killed

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-n-palm-beach-county/palm-beach-gardens/officer-nouman-raja-fired-from-palm-beach-gardens-police-department-after-corey-jones-shot-killed (http://www.wptv.com/news/region-n-palm-beach-county/palm-beach-gardens/officer-nouman-raja-fired-from-palm-beach-gardens-police-department-after-corey-jones-shot-killed)

Cin

11-13-2015, 05:16 AM

Cop Who Killed Tamir Rice May Not be Charged

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/tamir-rice-another-leaked-grand-jury-report-911-call-squad-car

It is horrific enough that these officers just opened fire immediately on this child, but I find it particularly appalling that they left a 12-year-old boy bleeding and dying on the ground without administering first aid.

There is an interesting study that was published in 2014, The Essence of Innocence: Consequences of Dehumanizing Black Children, that examines the differences between dehumanization and prejudice.

"prejudice may prompt one to devalue a job candidate
from a disliked group (e.g., Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000), prejudice
would not predict endorsement of genocide or extreme violence
toward that individual or group (Staub, 1989, 1990, 2000). Dehumanization,
on the other hand, would. Consequently, although
prejudice toward Black children might result in negative academic
evaluations and social exclusion (Farkas, 2003; Lareau & Horvat,
1999; Skiba, Trachok, Chung, Baker, & Hughes, 2012), dehumanization
of Black children might conflict with perceptions of children
as needing protection. In other words, children may be
afforded fewer basic protections in contexts where they are dehumanized,
making them vulnerable to harsh treatment usually reserved
for adults."

I found the study extremely disturbing. Seriously disturbing. But it certainly explains a lot.

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-a0035663.pdf

However, if you find it too much, here is a somewhat whitewashed and much shorter explanation of the study.

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/11/study_police_see_black_children_as_less_innocent_a nd_less_young_than_white_children/

Cin

11-14-2015, 01:10 PM

/irh3JUch7Hg

Public Defender Jeff Adachi said the encounter was “reminiscent of Rodney King,” and excessive force was clearly used by the two deputies.
“From what you can see on the video, he’s turning the corner and they’re able to subdue him. They clearly had him on the ground. He didn’t pose any threat at that point, and they are clearly using excessive force and trying to seriously hurt him when he was on the ground and subdued.I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t be handcuffed and taken into custody. The blows, after they took him to the ground, were excessive by any measure, any standard. It’s shocking to see,” said Adachi.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/reminiscent-of-rodney-king-san-francisco-cops-investigated-after-video-release-of-savage-beating-of-man/

Andrea

11-16-2015, 07:40 AM

Minneapolis protests erupt after police shoot black man allegedly in handcuffs

http://www.startribune.com/police-officer-shoots-north-minneapolis-assault-suspect-during-physical-struggle/349730171/ (http://www.startribune.com/police-officer-shoots-north-minneapolis-assault-suspect-during-physical-struggle/349730171/)

A man suspected of assault was shot on a north Minneapolis street by a police officer early Sunday while allegedly hindering emergency responders from aiding his victim.

The shooting ignited a chaotic scene of shouting and taunting bystanders who believed the man was handcuffed before police opened fire.

Jesse

11-16-2015, 03:56 PM

As important as this thread is, and it is very important, I feel physically sick when I log on and see that yet another person has been killed. This time, "supposedly shot in the head execution style", and possible in handcuffs! WTF! I have a whole rant inside of me regarding this, but I will save you all the read, because I am much to pissed to type it out!

Do you know> From Jan 1 2015 to Nov 16th that 1038 people have been killed by the police in the US?

Do you wonder why we don't hear about all of them?

Oh and just to be fair, here is the official list of officer deaths for 2015. As you can see not all are duty related.
Line of Duty Deaths: 109

9/11 related illness: 5
Accidental: 2
Aircraft accident: 1
Assault: 3
Automobile accident: 27
Duty related illness: 2
Fall: 1
Gunfire: 33
Gunfire (Accidental): 2
Heart attack: 17
Motorcycle accident: 3
Struck by vehicle: 5
Vehicle pursuit: 4
Vehicular assault: 4

Andrea

11-25-2015, 09:16 AM

Blade

11-25-2015, 08:32 PM

Hundreds protest as Chicago releases video of cop shooting teen 16 times

http://www.abc10.com/story/news/2015/11/24/chicago-cop-charged-shooting-black-teen-16-times/76303768/ (http://www.abc10.com/story/news/2015/11/24/chicago-cop-charged-shooting-black-teen-16-times/76303768/)

Hundreds of protesters chanting "16 shots" wove their way through downtown streets Tuesday night after the city released a dramatic video showing a white police officer firing a fatal barrage of 16 bullets at a black teenager.

#Laquan McDonald

It's my understanding that this happened over a year ago. I don't recall seeing or hearing anything about it at that time. I did see the video this morning which stopped just as the first shot was fired. So that is all I saw and needed to see of it. I don't see where there was a need for a first shot let alone 16 shots. The young man wasn't even close to him, nor was he behaving in a threatening manner IMO. I don't know where all of the trigger happy police have come from, or are we just hearing more about these things due to social media?

Andrea

11-25-2015, 09:02 PM

It's my understanding that this happened over a year ago. I don't recall seeing or hearing anything about it at that time. I did see the video this morning which stopped just as the first shot was fired. So that is all I saw and needed to see of it. I don't see where there was a need for a first shot let alone 16 shots. The young man wasn't even close to him, nor was he behaving in a threatening manner IMO. I don't know where all of the trigger happy police have come from, or are we just hearing more about these things due to social media?

I believe this is an ongoing issue and we are hearing about it because of the use of video cameras and social media, as well as people speaking out about it in spite of fear of retribution.

Andrea

12-06-2015, 04:53 PM

Department Of Justice To Investigate Chicago Police: Report

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/doj-investigation-chicago-police_5664a222e4b08e945fefdddf?ncid=tweetlnkushpm g00000067 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/doj-investigation-chicago-police_5664a222e4b08e945fefdddf?ncid=tweetlnkushpm g00000067)

The Department of Justice will open an investigation into potential civil rights violations by the Chicago Police Department, The Washington Post first reported Sunday.

Full details of the probe are expected to be announced later this week.

Andrea

12-07-2015, 07:53 AM

Head of Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority Resigns

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Head-of-Chicagos-Independent-Police-Review-Authority-Resigns-360742831.html?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=33b54ac543c192bd10623fa9ed8b4dfb (http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Head-of-Chicagos-Independent-Police-Review-Authority-Resigns-360742831.html?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=33b54ac543c192bd10623fa9ed8b4dfb)

With an impending investigation of the Chicago Police Department by the U.S. Department of Justice, the head of the Independent Police Review Authority Scott Ando resigned Sunday evening, effective immediately.

Andrea

12-10-2015, 01:01 PM

King: As Chicago pledges more transparency, video of cop killing unarmed teen Cedrick Chatman in 2013 still not released

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-chicago-hasn-released-2013-video-killing-teen-article-1.2461458?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-chicago-hasn-released-2013-video-killing-teen-article-1.2461458?cid=bitly)

Thirty-five months ago, the Chicago police shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Cedrick Chatman on a sunny afternoon.

As many as five different cameras filmed his death.

At the time, Lorenzo Davis, a black man who was a retired captain for the Chicago Police Department, was heading up the review board which investigated police shootings. His investigation determined that the shooting of Cedrick Chatman was unjustified and that the officer who shot and killed Chatman should be indicted. As revered as he was, Lorenzo Davis was fired for refusing to change his findings.

To this day, the city has refused to release the video of Cedrick's murder and no charges have been filed against the officer who shot and killed him. This makes the ridiculous 400-day wait to press charges against the officer who killed McDonald look short.

The officer who fatally shot Chatman said that while Cedrick was running from police, he turned around and pointed what looked like a gun at him. The thing is, Cedrick was unarmed.

Not only that, but three people who've actually seen the videos all say that in addition to Cedrick Chatman being unarmed, he did not turn around and point anything at police. Those three people who've seen the video, retired Chicago Police Captain Lorenzo Davis, an unnamed investigator hired by the city to determine if charges should be filed, and the attorney for the Chatman family, all tell the exact same story.

Andrea

12-11-2015, 09:50 AM

Ex-Oklahoma City cop Daniel Holtzclaw cries after jury convicts him of rape

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/11/us/oklahoma-daniel-holtzclaw-verdict/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/11/us/oklahoma-daniel-holtzclaw-verdict/index.html)

For about six months, Daniel Holtzclaw preyed on women in one of Oklahoma's poorest neighborhoods, exploiting his police badge to intimidate them into keeping quiet.

Andrea

12-11-2015, 11:18 AM

DA plays dash cam video in accidental shooting; no charges will be filed

http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/da-plays-dash-cam-video-in-accidental-shooting-no-charges-will-be-filed/ (http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/da-plays-dash-cam-video-in-accidental-shooting-no-charges-will-be-filed/)

Bolding mine

The Paradise police officer who investigators say accidentally shot a suspected DUI driver in the neck last month will not face criminal charges, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced Thursday.

Ramsey said the evidence in this case shows the shooting to be accidental, and possibly negligent, but not criminally so. “This shooting is not justified, but also not criminal."

Paradise Police Officer Patrick Feaster, a five year veteran of the department, was parked on the Skyway around midnight Thanksgiving morning, when he saw a Toyota Four-Runner speeding out of the Canteena Bar parking lot without headlights on.

Feaster followed in his patrol car, as the Toyota ran a red light and turned onto Pearson Road where the driver, 26-year-old Andrew Thomas struck the median and flipped, ejecting his 23-year-old wife Darien Ehorn from the vehicle. Ehorn was killed in the crash.

Ramsey said Feaster drew his gun when Thomas “popped” out of the car, believing he would flee. As Officer Feaster moved towards Thomas, the gun discharged and struck Thomas in the neck. The shot hit Thomas in the C7 and T1 vertebrae and could lead to him being paralyzed for life.

When backup arrived on the scene, Feaster did not mention anything about having fired his weapon. According to Ramsey, Feaster notified his commanding officer about the discharge only after Thomas’ gunshot wound was found.

As the commanding officer suggested an investigator return to Canteena and try to find out if Thomas had been shot at the bar, Feaster revealed that he may have shot Thomas.

Ramsey said nearly 11 minutes passed before any other officers, medics or firefighters learned Thomas had been shot.

According to Ramsey, several factors led investigators to believe the shooting was accidental. “The dash cam video shows Officer Feaster was not prepared for and was surprised by the guns firing. The pistol discharges in mid-stride and the officer both flinches his head to the right and does a stutter step indicative of an officer not prepared for nor intentionally firing his pistol. Additionally, officers normally train to fire a minimum of two shots. There was no second shot and the officer immediately holstered his weapon after the discharge.”

*Anya*

12-11-2015, 01:38 PM

*Anya*

12-11-2015, 01:42 PM

Jesse

12-11-2015, 04:20 PM

Florida Deputy Indicted for Killing Jermaine McBean
by TRACY CONNOR

A Florida deputy has been indicted for manslaughter in the shooting death of Jermaine McBean, who was killed while walking home with an unloaded pellet gun he had just bought a pawn shop.

Broward County Sheriff Peter Peraza — who was given a bravery award for the shooting by his bosses while it was still under investigation — surrendered early Friday and was expected to be released on $25,000 bond, prosecutors said. He was suspended without pay and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-deputy-indicted-killing-jermaine-mcbean-n478171?cid=eml_nbn_20151211

Andrea

12-12-2015, 01:19 PM

New video reveals details in fatal shooting of Gilbert Flores by deputies in San Antonio

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/New-video-reveals-details-in-fatal-shooting-of-6692051.php (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/New-video-reveals-details-in-fatal-shooting-of-6692051.php)

In the tense minutes before two Bexar County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Gilbert Flores last summer, the knife-wielding man said he wanted to die and ignored orders to surrender, according to a video of the altercation released Friday by the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.

“I’m not going to prison,” Flores yelled at deputies in the first moments of a video shot by neighbors inside their house across the street.

Andrea

12-13-2015, 07:10 AM

Video Appears to Show Sheriff’s Deputies Fatally Shoot Man in Lynwood (Warning: Graphic Video)

http://ktla.com/2015/12/12/1-person-struck-by-gunfire-in-deputy-involved-shooting-in-lynwood-authorities-say/

Investigators say a man was armed and turning toward sheriff's deputies when they fatally shot him in Lynwood Saturday, as video emerged showing the man apparently walking away as a barrage of bullets were fired at him, video provided to KTLA shows.

<snip>

At least a dozen gunshots can then be heard being fired, and the man falls to the ground.

Once on the ground, the camera panned to focus solely on the man, who crawls next to the gas station and away from the gunfire.

After a pause in audible gunfire, at least a dozen additional shots are heard.

The camera then panned back to two deputies, who both had arms raised and were pointing guns in the man's direction.

At least one of the deputies then fired additional shots before the video ends.

It was not clear from the video if both deputies had fired their weapon, but when slowed down, more than 30 shots can be heard.

Andrea

12-16-2015, 02:06 PM

Video: Cop Shatters Window With Handcuffed Teen's Face

http://gothamist.com/2015/12/16/cop_teen_window_smash.php (http://gothamist.com/2015/12/16/cop_teen_window_smash.php)

The lawyer for a teen who almost died after an NYPD sergeant shoved him through the glass window of a Bronx hookah bar has released video of the incident in an attempt to pressure prosecutors to reopen their criminal case. Sergeant Eliezer Pabon nearly killed then-14-year-old, 89-pound Javier Payne on May 17th, 2014 after arresting him and a 13-year-old boy inside the Hookah Spot on Arthur Avenue in Belmont on suspicion of punching a man.

The Daily News obtained the video below, which shows Pabon pacing near where another officer is holding Payne in cuffs facing the window. There is no sound, but something Payne said evidently enraged Pabon, who in the footage rushes over and slams him into the window. It explodes on impact.

The glass pierced Payne's lung, lodged in his windpipe, and took four hours of surgery and 50 stitches to patch up. Payne spent four days hospitalized. Charges against him were later dropped.

Jesse

12-16-2015, 05:17 PM

In what is a perceived legal blow for prosecutors, the jury was hung and the judge declared a mistrial in the trial of Baltimore police Officer William Porter in connection with Freddie Gray's death after he sustained injuries while in custody.

Porter was charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office in the April 19 death of Gray, 25, a week after his neck was broken during a ride in the back of a police van....

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hung-jury-trial-baltimore-cop-freddie-gray-case-n481296?cid=eml_nbn_20151216

Andrea

12-19-2015, 08:29 AM

Nevada Refuses To Say How Many Inmates Employees Shot. That's A Problem.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nevada-inmates-shot-birdshot_56745e31e4b014efe0d55a98?ncid=tweetlnkush pmg00000067 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nevada-inmates-shot-birdshot_56745e31e4b014efe0d55a98?ncid=tweetlnkush pmg00000067)

Last year, a trainee officer shot and killed a handcuffed inmate in a Nevada prison, then blamed another inmate for the death. Since 2012, Nevada Department of Corrections employees have fired more than 123 live rounds. But we don't know how many of those shots injured inmates, because Nevada refuses to tell us.

Shystonefem

12-19-2015, 08:40 AM

I don't know what happened. When I was young, police were very different. I remember walking to school, with my cousin, smoking some pot. A cop pulled up beside us and just said "put that out girls". So we did.

If this was today, we would have been handcuffed and probably sent to juvenile detention.

It is getting worse and worse. I think that, in general, the populous gives police a license to kill by either refusing to indict or refusing to convict.

If any one of us "regular citizens" did this stuff, we would be in jail..... nobody would say we shot a person in self defense when it wasn't actually self defense.

Andrea

12-19-2015, 08:53 AM

Los Angeles Deputy Shoots Partner, Blames Suspect; Both Kill Suspect in Retaliation (Updated)

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/12/los-angeles-deputy-shoots-partner-blames-suspect-both-kill-suspect-in-retaliation/ (https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/12/los-angeles-deputy-shoots-partner-blames-suspect-both-kill-suspect-in-retaliation/)

A disturbing video emerged Friday showing two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies killing a man after they had chased him for riding a bicycle while wearing headphones.

The incident took place more than a year ago with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department initially telling the media that they shot and killed 23-year-old Noel Aguilar, a “known gang member,” after he pulled out a gun and shot a deputy.

But now a video shows the two deputies struggling to arrest Aguilar when one deputy pulls out his gun and shoots the second deputy before placing his gun back into its holster, then putting the blame on Aguilar.

Jesse

12-19-2015, 11:15 AM

That's so messed up!

Los Angeles Deputy Shoots Partner, Blames Suspect; Both Kill Suspect in Retaliation (Updated)

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/12/los-angeles-deputy-shoots-partner-blames-suspect-both-kill-suspect-in-retaliation/ (https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/12/los-angeles-deputy-shoots-partner-blames-suspect-both-kill-suspect-in-retaliation/)

A disturbing video emerged Friday showing two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies killing a man after they had chased him for riding a bicycle while wearing headphones.

The incident took place more than a year ago with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department initially telling the media that they shot and killed 23-year-old Noel Aguilar, a “known gang member,” after he pulled out a gun and shot a deputy.

But now a video shows the two deputies struggling to arrest Aguilar when one deputy pulls out his gun and shoots the second deputy before placing his gun back into its holster, then putting the blame on Aguilar.

Shystonefem

12-19-2015, 11:48 AM

That's so messed up!

It's all messed up.

Andrea

12-20-2015, 07:55 AM

Balto. Co. police reviewing video of officers arresting, punching man outside Towson bar

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-co-towson-arrest-video-20151219-story.html (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-co-towson-arrest-video-20151219-story.html)

Baltimore County police are reviewing the arrest of a young man outside a bar in downtown Towson early Saturday after a video of the incident, showing officers taking him to the ground and punching him repeatedly in the face, went viral online.

Okiebug61

12-20-2015, 09:43 AM

We have to be careful not to stereotype police officers. While there are many that take advantage of the citizens they have sworn to protect. There are many more that do their job and put their lives on the line for us every time they step out wearing their uniform.

I am glad the bad apples are being brought to lite and I am thankful we are seeing the people's voices being heard. I hope this trend continues and I hope our communities look to working together with our police officers to form a safe environment for all citizens.

Andrea

12-21-2015, 11:24 AM

Mapping Police Violence

http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/2015 (http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/2015)

Police killed at least 1,152 people in the United States from January 1 - December 15, 2015. Nearly one in four of these people was killed by one of America's largest 60 city police departments.

Andrea

12-21-2015, 09:49 PM

TruTexan

12-21-2015, 10:35 PM

Grand jury decides against indictments in Sandra Bland case

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/us/sandra-bland-no-indictments/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/us/sandra-bland-no-indictments/index.html)

A grand jury in the case of Sandra Bland has decided not to return any indictments, according to Darrell Jordan, a special prosecutor handling the case.

Bland, an African-American woman, was found dead in her cell three days after she was arrested for allegedly failing to use her turn signal on July 10. She was 28.

Officials in Waller County, Texas, have said she hanged herself with a plastic bag. Her family and others have questioned that account.

Her case attracted widespread attention amid national discussions about excessive force and the role of race in policing.

This was on our Dallas News Tonight at 10pm Central time. It seems they aren't done trying to get something prosecuted, but didn't say if it was the family persuing it or the prosecutor and what it entailed.
I find it hard to believe that a jailer didn't know anything about what happened in her cell. I would put money on it that there were prisoners calling for help if she was the only one involved and did it to herself.

Andrea

12-22-2015, 07:28 AM

Ch. 2 Investigation of Georgia police shootings finds nearly half shot in back, unarmed

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/ch-2-investigation-georgia-police-shootings-finds-/nppnL/?ecmp=wsbtv_social_twitter_sfp (http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/ch-2-investigation-georgia-police-shootings-finds-/nppnL/?ecmp=wsbtv_social_twitter_sfp)

A Channel 2 Action News - Atlanta Journal Constitution investigation found Maurice was one of 90 Georgians killed by police since 2010 who were either unarmed, shot in the back or both. That's nearly half of all 184 cases reviewed

Andrea

12-22-2015, 07:39 PM

Video shows tased East student wasn't moving

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2015/dec/22/video-shows-tased-east-student-wasnt-moving/ (http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2015/dec/22/video-shows-tased-east-student-wasnt-moving/)

A student resource officer tased a 16-year-old Victoria East High School student who was standing still against a wall in November, a video posted to YouTube shows.

The video, posted Sunday by an anonymous source, shows a Nov. 3 incident in which school officials cordoned off the student in a hallway.

Andrea

12-22-2015, 08:18 PM

NYPD Cop Indicted For Falsely Arresting Man Who Recorded Him

http://gothamist.com/2015/12/22/cop_watch_season_2_the_reckoning.php (http://gothamist.com/2015/12/22/cop_watch_season_2_the_reckoning.php)

Manhattan prosecutors have done something rare indeed: indicted a cop for allegedly falsely arresting someone and lying about it. NYPD Officer Jonathan Munoz, 32, was arraigned this morning on two felony charges of filing false reports, and three misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and false statements.

"Had this officer’s attempts to conceal his alleged misconduct succeeded, an innocent man may still be facing charges for a fabricated crime," Manhattan DA Cy Vance said in a statement.

Munoz's prosecution stems from his role in arresting Jason Disisto, then 21, in the spring of 2014. From our report this April:

Disisto was standing outside of a Puerto Rican restaurant around 1 a.m. when he saw Officer Jonathan Munoz reaching into his friend's pocket. Disisto asked a friend to give him his phone so he could record, but as he lined up the shot, Munoz spotted him and rushed over to grab him. A brief struggle for the phone ensued, with two other officers joining in, and it ended with Disisto in cuffs in the back of a police car.

Before the officers drove away, one threw the cellphone out the window.

Andrea

12-23-2015, 10:45 AM

Baltimore County officer placed on administrative duty as second video of Towson arrest surfaces

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/towson/bs-md-co-towson-arrest-folo-20151222-story.html (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/towson/bs-md-co-towson-arrest-folo-20151222-story.html)

A Baltimore County police officer was placed on administrative duty Tuesday, three days after a video began circulating of him repeatedly punching a 19-year-old man during an arrest in Towson early Saturday, officials said.

A second video that emerged Tuesday showed two police officers struggling to take down Zachary Blumenstein, with one of the officers grabbing him by the back of the neck and punching him at least five times in the face as he resisted.

Blumenstein was also pepper-sprayed twice before being handcuffed and charged with resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, trespass and failure to obey a police officer, county police have said.

Andrea

12-23-2015, 05:35 PM

Dearborn cop fatally shoots unarmed suspect in Detroit

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/12/23/detroit-shooting/77835932/ (http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/12/23/detroit-shooting/77835932/)

The off-duty officer — who has reportedly only been on the Dearborn Police Department for a few years — spotted the 34-year-old man suspected of a larceny from a few days ago.

The officer tried to stop the suspect who then ran.

According to the source, the officer and suspect got into a wrestling match before the suspect broke free and ran again. The officer caught up with him and tried to subdue him with pepper spray.

The suspect then reportedly tried to grab the officer’s weapon, at which point he was shot by the officer, according to the source.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad confirmed the suspect was wanted for a misdemeanor warrant out of Redford Township, near Dearborn’s border with Detroit.

There was a brief chase on foot and a struggle leading to the fatal shooting, Haddad said.

The officer was taken to the hospital, Haddad said.

The officer is white and the suspect was black. Police did not release the name of the man nor information about the officer.

Bolding mine

Andrea

12-24-2015, 10:47 PM

Sanctions likely in controversial police shooting case
Black teen’s shooting by white officer typified many AJC findings about fatal police shootings in Georgia.

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/sanctions-likely-in-controversial-police-shooting-/nprLz/ (http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/sanctions-likely-in-controversial-police-shooting-/nprLz/)

Waiters, who was black, was both unarmed and shot in the back. The 19-year-old ran when police arrived to break up a neighborhood fight he’d been watching, and was already lying face down on the ground with one arm handcuffed when Lewis shot him twice in the back. The teen hadn’t committed a crime.

Andrea

12-26-2015, 12:43 PM

Andrea

12-26-2015, 07:40 PM

Phoenix police shoot and kill man accused of hurling rocks at officers

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/phoenix-police-shoot-and-kill-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-officers/ (http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/phoenix-police-shoot-and-kill-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-officers/)

Arizona police shot and killed a man who they say attacked an officer with a rock on Saturday morning, AZCentral reports.

The man, described only as white and about 30 years old, began hurling rocks at a police officer leaving a Phoenix Police Department precinct station, Sgt. Jonathan Howard told reporters. After the officer called for back-up, the man began throwing rocks at the police precinct.

The man shattered a door with a rock and threw a rock at an officer who was coming out of the building.

Jesse

12-28-2015, 02:09 PM

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Officers in Tamir Rice Case
by CORKY SIEMASZKO and DANIELLA SILVA

The fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by two Cleveland cops was a "perfect storm of human error" but not a crime, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor announced Monday...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/grand-jury-declines-indict-officers-tamir-rice-case-n486876?cid=eml_nbn_20151228

Andrea

12-28-2015, 02:24 PM

Jesse

12-28-2015, 10:13 PM

Even though the court refused to indict the officers involved today, I think they opened themselves up to the family suing via civil court.

How many times will they victimize this child and his family?? I am beyond angry.

Kätzchen

12-29-2015, 07:37 AM

Chicago Cop Shoots Dead Teen, 56-Year-Old Woman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chicago-cop-fatally-shoots-mentally-ill-teen-56-year-old-woman_567ecb6ae4b014efe0d850f6?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg 00000067 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chicago-cop-fatally-shoots-mentally-ill-teen-56-year-old-woman_567ecb6ae4b014efe0d850f6?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg 00000067)

A Chicago officer responding to a domestic disturbance call fatally shot a teenager being treated for a mental illness, along with a 56-year-old woman.

A second victim, who has been identified only as a 56-year-old woman, was a downstairs tenant and bystander. The woman's daughter, Latisha Jones, told the Tribune she found her mother dead with a gunshot wound to her neck.

Andrea, I read an article published yesterday (?) concerning the same incident. I read that Quintonio was an engineering student at an Illinois college, a foster child, that he was experiencing trauma from a past traumatic event in his life before his foster family took him in. Quintonio's foster dad called the police, hoping they could help somehow, but instead of helping, responding officers shot and killed both Quentino and his foster mother. By mistake. How could it be a mistake?

Quintonio had a loving foster family that cared about him, was trying to give him a better chance at life than the sad life he was rescued from by his foster parents.

It's heartbreaking. It makes me angry and sad, too.

http://rollingout.com/2015/12/27/chicago-police-kill-black-college-student-59-year-old-mother-mistake/

Andrea

12-30-2015, 08:09 AM

The Death Philly Cops Won’t Explain: Is Omar Lopez the Next Freddie Gray?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/30/the-death-philly-cops-won-t-explain-is-omar-lopez-the-next-freddie-gray.html (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/30/the-death-philly-cops-won-t-explain-is-omar-lopez-the-next-freddie-gray.html)

The city’s transit authority won’t release video showing what turned a peaceful encounter into a deadly one after a cop tased a man who then lost consciousness in his car.

PHILADEPHIA — This Christmas the family of Omar Lopez placed a small toy tree at a gravestone to honor their son who was killed in mysterious circumstances by police this fall.

Lopez, 24, died following an altercation with a transit officer in October. More than eight weeks later, his family is no closer to understanding the circumstances surrounding Lopez’s death. Despite public officials’ recent parades of claims that transparency is a priority, so far city officials are being of no help to the Lopez family in their search for answers.

Andrea

01-05-2016, 11:09 AM

Cop savagely beats Hawaiian man after he performs native ‘healing prayer’ near seal on the beach

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/cop-savagely-beats-hawaiian-man-after-he-performs-native-healing-prayer-near-seal-on-the-beach/ (http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/cop-savagely-beats-hawaiian-man-after-he-performs-native-healing-prayer-near-seal-on-the-beach/)

A police officer, and the city that employs him, after the cop savagely beat him for praying next to a sun-bathing Hawaiian monk seal on the beach.

According to Courthouse News, Jamie Kalani Rice was on Nanakuli beach on Sept. 10, 2014, when he approached a seal laying on the sand, believing it to be injured or dying. Rice then sat about ten feet away from the seal, chanting and rubbing sand between his hands and on his body as part of a ritual prayer.

Andrea

01-09-2016, 08:43 AM

Denver Inmate's Death At Hands Of Deputies Ruled A Homicide

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-marshall-homicide_569002c0e4b0c8beacf6d9db?section=politics (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-marshall-homicide_569002c0e4b0c8beacf6d9db?section=politics )

On Nov. 11, 2015, deputies at the Denver jail forcibly restrained a man who was experiencing a psychotic episode. When the man became unresponsive, he was sent to a nearby hospital, where he was put on life support and died nine days later.

The man, 50-year-old Michael Marshall, was originally arrested on charges of disturbing the peace and trespassing at a motel where he had been staying.

Now, nearly two months after the fact, Marshall's death has been ruled a homicide.

A report released Friday by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner concludes that Marshall died from "complications of positional asphyxia to include aspiration pneumonia due to being physically restrained by law enforcement during an acute psychotic episode."

In other words, Marshall vomited during the incident, and law enforcement officers restrained him in such a manner that he choked on it, going without oxygen for 10 to 15 minutes, his family members told ABC7. Marshall also went into cardiac arrest.

Andrea

01-09-2016, 03:19 PM

New Video Appears To Show Exonerated Cop Shooting Handcuffed Man

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/matthew-taylor-james-barker-video_56915b38e4b0a2b6fb7056df (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/matthew-taylor-james-barker-video_56915b38e4b0a2b6fb7056df)

Authorities are reopening their investigation into an exonerated Utah police officer's fatal shooting of a suspect after newly discovered video appears to show the officer pumping several rounds into the suspect as he lies handcuffed on the ground.

Andrea

01-12-2016, 06:34 PM

Ex-Las Vegas police officer indicted on federal civil rights violation

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/ex-las-vegas-police-officer-indicted-federal-civil-rights-violation (http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/ex-las-vegas-police-officer-indicted-federal-civil-rights-violation)

A former Las Vegas police officer was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on felony charges of roughing up a woman he suspected was a prostitute.

Richard Scavone, 49, was charged with violating the civil rights of the woman when he used excessive force while arresting her in January 2015 and falsifying his report of the encounter to obstruct an FBI investigation, according to the Justice Department.

The woman was identified in the indictment only by her initials, A.O.

Scavone, who also faces a local misdemeanor battery charge in the incident, has been summoned to answer the two felony counts in federal court on Jan. 20. He is to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court that day, as well.

According to the indictment, Scavone, while acting under color of law, handcuffed the woman on Jan. 6, 2015, and assaulted her several times.

He grabbed the woman around her neck and threw her to the ground, struck her in the forehead with an open palm, slammed her face into the hood of his patrol car two times and slammed her into the door of his car, the indictment alleges.

The actions resulted in "bodily injury" to the woman, the indictment alleges.

Scavone also falsified a use-of-force report about his confrontation with the woman, according to the indictment.

Authorities last year said Scavone was wearing a body camera during the scuffle, but police have not made the recording public.

Scavone had stopped a woman about 5 a.m. near Tropicana Avenue and Interstate 15, where he said she was loitering and trying to solicit work as a prostitute, according to authorities.

His supervisors concluded his use of force was "excessive" and "unreasonable," Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters after the district attorney's office filed criminal charges in March.

The woman was charged with littering and loitering, but those charges were dismissed, McMahill said.

Scavone was initially put on paid administrative leave after he was charged last year, but police on Tuesday did not immediately respond to a request to explain his departure from the department.

The federal case was investigated by the Las Vegas FBI and is being prosecuted jointly by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., and the Nevada U.S. attorney's office.

homoe

01-12-2016, 06:49 PM

FVVvTVwjg9c

Who in the world is training hospital staff and police officers these days! Has common sense gone right out the door?

Andrea

01-15-2016, 10:13 AM

3 Baltimore officers charged in alleged assault on juvenile

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-officers-charged-20160114-story.html (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-officers-charged-20160114-story.html)

Three Baltimore officers have been charged in an alleged assault on a juvenile at Sinai Hospital a year ago, police announced Thursday.

Officer Duane Williams Jr., a seven-year veteran assigned to the Northwest District, was charged with second-degree child abuse, second-degree assault and misconduct in office, police said. He has been suspended without pay.

Officer Bijay Ranabhat, a two-year veteran, was charged with misconduct in office and suspended with pay.

Officer Lonnie White Jr., who has been with the department for two years, was charged with perjury and misconduct in office and suspended with pay.

"Misconduct by police officers is an insult to the good and noble work our police officers do every hour," Commissioner Kevin Davis said in a statement.

Police said the assault occurred Jan. 14, 2015. Further details were not released, and court records were not immediately available.

Prosecutors have declined to comment, citing the pending cases.

The department's internal affairs division was notified of the incident last January, police said.

An indictment against two of the officers was handed up Wednesday, police said; the other officer was charged on a criminal summons.

"The union has not been given enough information to comment," said Lt. Gene Ryan, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which represents Baltimore officers.

This week, the Police Department announced a restructuring of its internal affairs unit, a move that Davis said will improve the ability to hold officers accountable for wrongdoing.

"I will defend cops when they're right. I will train and counsel cops when they make mistakes while trying to do the right thing," Davis said Tuesday. "And if I have to, I will discipline, fire, criminally charge police officers who betray their fellow officers and our community."

Andrea

01-15-2016, 10:17 AM

Attorney says video disputes police account of shooting

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-mouzon-police-shooting-lawsuit-20160114-story.html (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-mouzon-police-shooting-lawsuit-20160114-story.html)

The lawyer for a man shot by Baltimore police three years ago is claiming a new video shows that officers lied about the circumstances that led up to the shooting.

When police officers shot Shaun Mouzon in January 2013, an officer wrote in charging documents that they did so because Mouzon had driven his car at them. But attorney A. Dwight Pettit said surveillance camera video he obtained from the city under a public records request tells a different story.

"The car was stopped in traffic," Pettit said. "The allegation that their lives were in danger by the movement of the car is absolutely ridiculous and is an absolute misstatement of the facts."

The video, also obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a records request, shows Mouzon's vehicle pulling into traffic at a stoplight on Edmondson Avenue, with several officers following in an unmarked patrol car, their lights activated.

Officers run up to the driver's and passenger sides. It is unclear when the officers begin firing, but none appear to be standing directly in front of the car as it slowly pulls off and then flees the area.

Pettit said he believes the video shows officers firing even before the vehicle starts to move.

Mouzon eventually crashed his vehicle several blocks away. Police found no weapon, but nevertheless Mouzon was charged with two handgun-related counts. All charges were eventually dropped.

Andrea

01-15-2016, 10:47 AM

Alabama ex-cop acquitted of slamming, paralyzing Indian grandfather

https://www.rt.com/usa/329006-alabama-police-indian-national/ (https://www.rt.com/usa/329006-alabama-police-indian-national/)

After two previous mistrials, a federal judge has acquitted former police officer Eric Parker, who was charged with violating a Indian citizen's civil rights after throwing him to the ground and partially paralyzing him during a sidewalk stop last year.

In February 2015, Parker, who was responding to a call about a "skinny black guy" walking suspiciously in a Madison, Alabama, neighborhood, encountered non-English speaking Indian national Sureshbhai Patel, who was walking near his son's house. Police dashcam video captured Parker slamming the grandfather, then 57, to the ground, leaving him partially paralyzed.

Andrea

01-20-2016, 06:05 PM

Westlake cop accused of punching, choking man during interrogation, new court filing says

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2016/01/westlake_cop_accused_of_punchi.html (http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2016/01/westlake_cop_accused_of_punchi.html)

According to the filing:

Toth and another officer went to T.A.'s apartment building in Cleveland on April 24, 2014. The officers wanted to talk to T.A. about a guns and firearms investigation, and he took the officers to another unit because his girlfriend was sleeping.

T.A. sat down and Toth, who was standing, started interrogating him. Getting angry because he wasn't getting the answers that he wanted, Toth punched T.A. in the face, threw him ground and kicked him in the ribs.

He then handcuffed T.A. and took him suspect to his SUV and and restrained him with a seat belt. As he drove, Toth continued to question T.A. and got even more agitated when he didn't hear what he wanted.

Toth told T.A. that he was going to take him to cemetery and put him in the ground. He also said he would kill T.A.'s dog.

Toth then drove T.A. to a cemetery in Rocky River and wrapped a seat belt around his neck.

As a result, T.A. had open wounds in his mouth, bruises on his face and body and scratches on his neck.

Andrea

01-21-2016, 07:14 PM

Grand jury indicts officer accused of fatally shooting unarmed naked man

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/grand-jury-indicts-officer-accused-fatally-shootin/np9L4/ (http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/grand-jury-indicts-officer-accused-fatally-shootin/np9L4/)

A DeKalb County grand jury has indicted the officer who shot and killed an unarmed naked man.

DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James presented his case to a grand jury Thursday seeking criminal charges against veteran DeKalb County Police Officer Robert Olsen.

Olsen shot and killed Anthony Hill, 27, in March claiming that Hill made an aggressive lunge toward him after responding to a call that a man was running around an apartment complex naked.

Andrea

01-23-2016, 10:59 AM

Inmate Dies in Durham County Jail After Medical Neglect by Detention Staff

http://amplifyvoices.com/2016/01/21/inmate-dies-in-durham-county-jail-after-medical-neglect-by-detention-staff/ (http://amplifyvoices.com/2016/01/21/inmate-dies-in-durham-county-jail-after-medical-neglect-by-detention-staff/)

Sheriff’s Department Remains Silent About Death

Durham, NC – A man incarcerated in the Durham County Detention Facility died in his cell on Tuesday, January 19 at approximately 5:30 am. The sheriff’s office has not made this death known to the public. According to those who were incarcerated with the man, his name is Matthew McCain. Eyewitnesses have reported that other inmates in Pod 3D were aware of McCain’s physical distress and pressed the emergency buttons in their cells several times, but their calls for help were ignored by Officer Boria, the detention officer on duty in Pod 3D that morning. McCain was not given medical attention and died as a result. His body remained in the cell for two hours until the coroner arrived at approximately 7:40 am.

Inmates have reported that Officer Boria has ignored emergency call buttons in the past. While Boria bears responsibility in McCain’s death, this tragedy occurred within a widespread system of abuse in the Durham County Jail. Inside-Outside Alliance has heard many reports over the past few years which point to rampant medical neglect inside the jail, with prisoners routinely being denied care, including basic medical procedures and prescription medications. Inside-Outside Alliance has been forced, on several occasions, to publicly pressure Sheriff Andrews and his staff so that inmates can receive basic medical procedures. Detainees pay $20 for every medical visit, which is four times as much as a medical visit in a state prison. Medical care inside the jail is provided by Correct Care Solutions, a private healthcare corporation that is currently being sued in connection with the death of a Forsyth County inmate.

As of the writing of this release, Sheriff Andrews has not released any information to the public about this criminally negligent homicide committed by his staff. In recent months, public pressure has been mounting for more transparency at the jail and for a community-based investigation into human rights abuses occurring there. Sheriff Andrews has insisted that inmates’ health and safety in detention is his highest priority. Yet not only has he kept Matthew McCain’s death a secret, but he has deliberately misled the public, listing McCain as “out of custody” due to “general release” on the jail’s website. Even as McCain’s body was lying dead on the floor of the Durham County jail, Sheriff Andrews and his staff appear to have been plotting to make it look as though he had simply been released. This is unacceptable and must be challenged by the public and the press.

Finally, it is important to note that this act of violence has taken place amid a nationwide onslaught of police murders and jail deaths in a country marked by a deep history of racist state violence. The same structure that killed Sandra Bland and LaQuan McDonald has taken yet another life in the Durham County Jail, and just as lynch mobs used to leave their victims’ bodies exposed as a mechanism of terror, Durham detention staff left another body where it lay for over two hours.

UPDATE: This post has been updated with Matthew McCain’s name in the hopes that his friends, family, and all those who knew him might be able to join in demanding justice for his death.

Andrea

01-25-2016, 09:41 AM

Animal cruelty charge sought in police killing of cat

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/northampton-county/index.ssf/2015/12/animal_cruelty_charge_sought_i.html (http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/northampton-county/index.ssf/2015/12/animal_cruelty_charge_sought_i.html)

A Northampton County resident whose cat was killed by police wants the officer fired and charged criminally, the resident's attorney said Monday.

The nearly 6-year-old cat, Sugar, escaped Dec. 6 from the North Catasauqua home of Tom Newhart and wandered several houses away to the home of Mike Lienert, said Newhart's attorney, Jenna Fliszar. Unable to catch the cat and concerned she may be injured, Lienert called police.

Borough police officer Leighton Pursell responded, and his actions will be the subject of an investigation, borough solicitor Steve Goudsouzian said Monday. North Catasauqua Borough Council next meets Jan. 4, when it will determine what kind of investigation is warranted and who should conduct it, he said.

Andrea

01-26-2016, 09:26 PM

Oakland: Body camera shows man screamed "I can't breathe" before death

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29435600/oakland-body-camera-shows-man-screamed-i-cant (http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29435600/oakland-body-camera-shows-man-screamed-i-cant)

The video -- never released by police -- shows officers ignoring Jaramillo's pleas for help and continuing to restrain him, a tactic associated with in-custody deaths and sharply criticized after the 2014 death of Eric Garner in New York. Garner's family settled a lawsuit last year for $5.9 million.

It raises questions about how Jaramillo -- who was never a suspect and has no criminal record in Alameda County -- ended up bloody, unconscious and eventually dead.

Andrea

01-27-2016, 06:37 AM

Athens woman sues Athens-Clarke County, Clarke sheriff over son's jailhouse death

http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-01-25/athens-woman-sues-athens-clarke-county-clarke-sheriff-over-sons-jailhouse-death (http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-01-25/athens-woman-sues-athens-clarke-county-clarke-sheriff-over-sons-jailhouse-death)

An Athens woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Athens-Clarke County, Sheriff Ira Edwards and several of his deputies for the death of her son at the Clarke County Jail in 2013.

Tiffany Cooper alleges in the lawsuit that jail officials repeatedly ignored requests by her 22-year-old son to be taken to the infirmary for chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness and other symptoms he was experiencing prior to being found dead in his cell.

An autopsy found no signs of foul play in the death of Marcus Sanchez Cooper, or any drugs or alcohol in his system, and indicated he died of “possible arrhythmia,” according to the lawsuit.

The county and sheriff were aware of at least two previous cases of prisoners dying after being denied medical attention for cardiac-related complaints, yet still failed to provide adequate medical care for prisoners at the jail, the lawsuit alleges.

“The failure to properly train and supervise jail personnel in the proper procedures in dealing with medical complaints show a deliberate and conscious indifference...to the constitutionally mandated requirement that incarcerated individuals receive appropriate medical case,” the lawsuit states.

At the time of his death, Cooper was in jail because he was arrested for a non-violent probation violation, having tested positive for marijuana. On the evening of Dec. 19, 2013, he “continuously pled with the on duty deputy sheriff/prison guards to be taken to the Athens-Clarke County Jail infirmary located at the jail,” the lawsuit states. “The guards refused to honor Cooper’s requests.”

Those requests allegedly were witnessed by several other prisoners, as they were made by Cooper to deputies Michael Davis and Richard Lowery, who are personally named as defendants in the lawsuit, as well as unknown deputies who are identified in the lawsuit as John Does 1-10.

“All such requests for a visit to the jail infirmary made by Cooper...were ignored by all the aforementioned guards,” the lawsuit alleges.

After Cooper returned to his cell from having breakfast at about 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2013, Cooper was seen lying on his bed in the same position and unmoving, the lawsuit states. While dinner was being served some seven hours later, at 5:30, several prisoners asked Davis to check on Cooper, but the deputy “refused to at first.”
Cooper’s cell mate then “proceeded to go into the cell to wake up Cooper and found Cooper to be unresponsive, cold and stiff,” the lawsuit states. The cell mate then alerted the deputy, and “only at that time did Prison Guard Michael Davis proceed to check on Cooper,” according to the lawsuit.

The jail nurse who responded to the cell determined Cooper, based on rigor mortis, had been dead for six to eight hours, the lawsuit states.

During a subsequent coroner’s inquest, the nurse testified she was not aware of Cooper’s complaints that he was feeling ill, which “lends credence to the fact that Cooper’s request for medical intervention went ignored by the guards,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Over a period of two days prior to his death, Cooper complained to guards in front of witnesses that he was having chest pains, shortness of breath and symptoms that would justify a trip to the jail infirmary at the very least,” the lawsuit states.

Andrea

01-27-2016, 09:56 AM

Family says dad who died at Durham County Jail was ‘neglected’

http://wncn.com/2016/01/26/family-says-dad-who-died-at-durham-county-jail-was-neglected/ (http://wncn.com/2016/01/26/family-says-dad-who-died-at-durham-county-jail-was-neglected/)

Canady said McCain, age 29, complained from jail he wasn’t getting necessary medication to treat his diabetes and epilepsy.

Andrea

01-27-2016, 09:24 PM

Ex-Marion deputy indicted in Tampa on civil rights charge after suspect's beating

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/ex-marion-deputy-indicted-in-tampa-on-civil-rights-charge-after-suspects/2262980 (http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/ex-marion-deputy-indicted-in-tampa-on-civil-rights-charge-after-suspects/2262980)

Suspect Derrick A. Price didn't spit, didn't kick, didn't threaten. He knelt and then lay on the pavement, hands outstretched, when arrested by sheriff's deputies in a community south of Ocala.

Then he was beaten.

"Stop resisting!" at least one deputy called out, as Price reacted to the blows.

Five ex-Marion County deputies now face possible prison terms. As they captured Price, video captured their conduct.

A federal grand jury in Tampa charged the last of the disgraced lawmen late Tuesday, accusing Jesse Alan Terrell, 33, of violating Price's civil rights.

Four of Terrell's former colleagues had already pleaded guilty to the crime after accepting plea agreements.

Price, 44, is black. The deputies are white.

Graphic video of the beating, which went on for at least 30 seconds, was made public for the first time on Wednesday, prompting Price's attorneys to release a statement asking for calm.

Andrea

01-28-2016, 02:07 PM

Officer’s dashcam microphone ‘intentionally destroyed’ before Laquan McDonald shooting

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/officers-dashcam-microphone-intentionally-destroyed-before-laquan-mcdonald-shooting/ (http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/officers-dashcam-microphone-intentionally-destroyed-before-laquan-mcdonald-shooting/)

The microphone equipment for the dashboard camera in the cruiser in which Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was riding on the night he fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald had been “intentionally destroyed”, according to maintenance documents first acquired by DNAinfo .

The records, which include service requests on hundreds of Chicago police vehicles, show that officers have routinely been involved in the intentional destruction and sabotage of body worn microphones that sync with dashboard camera video.

After the video of the Laquan McDonald shooting was released in November, it was discovered that as much as 80% of the department’s dashcam footage was missing audio. This was determined to be due to technical failure, human error or in some cases, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, “intentional destruction”.

William Calloway, a Chicago-based activist who was instrumental in obtaining the release of the Laquan McDonald footage, said the logs proved a premeditated effort by officers to avoid transparency.

“They are intentionally sabotaging this audio equipment because in their mind, they’re going to do something wrong or reckless when they’re outside on the beat,” Calloway said.

He added that he was “absolutely not shocked or surprised about it at all”.

The records show that the dashcam in Van Dyke’s vehicle, 6412, was repaired on 17 June 2014, about three months after it was reported broken. The next day, the system was reported broken again. What technicians called “intentional damage” was not repaired until 8 October 2014, DNAinfo reported.

On 20 October, the dashcam (and one in another car) recorded Van Dyke’s fatal shooting of McDonald. The next month, technicians noted the missing audio in the car’s footage and suggested “it is apparent from the uploaded videos that personnel have failed to sync the mics”.

In November 2015, after the video emerged, Van Dyke was charged with homicide .

At least six other vehicle records show technicians noting that officers had not synced their microphones. Thirty service records show cases where either mics were not synced correctly or had been “intentionally defeated”.

More than 100 records show systems missing microphones, or having damaged systems with missing components like batteries and antennas.

Before the files were released, in December, Fraternal Order of Police president Dean Angelo scoffed at the idea that officers were intentionally disabling units.

“If they’re claiming officers are purposely breaking things, then where is the history of that? Are [officers] being written up? Does the department have documentation to back those claims up? I’d like to see it,” Angelo told DNAinfo.

In December, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that before the McDonald video was released, some officers threw their microphones on to a station roof, apparently in protest about having to be recorded. A sergeant who saw the incident reported it to Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority.

The Chicago police department owns a long legacy of misconduct that includes torture scandals concerning Commander John Burge and Detective Richard Zuley, and the operation of the Homan Square “black site”.

The most recent scandal, over an apparent attempt to cover up the Laquan McDonald shooting, has resulted in a US Department of Justice investigation.

Andrea

01-29-2016, 08:25 AM

Colorado Springs police officer allegedly choked, kicked suspect

http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-police-officer-allegedly-choked-kicked-suspect/article/1568797 (http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-police-officer-allegedly-choked-kicked-suspect/article/1568797)

A decorated Colorado Springs police veteran punched, kicked and choked a handcuffed man last month when a traffic crash investigation spun out of control, police said in an arrest affidavit.

Sgt. Steven Biscaro was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of menacing, a felony, and third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in the Dec. 2 confrontation in northeast Colorado Springs.

According to Biscaro's arrest affidavit, Michael Ferguson, 43, was gasping for air, had bugged-out eyes and feared for his life before two El Paso County Sheriff deputies intervened to stop the policeman's attacks.

"I'm gonna kill you," the man said Biscaro threatened as he struggled to breathe and began to lose vision.
Related: Former deputy's murder trial scheduled for June

The deputies reported Biscaro to their supervisor, police spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley said. Ferguson filed a separate complaint against the 23-year officer, she said.

Through his attorney, John Newsome, Biscaro denied investigators' request to interview him. Newsome, Thursday, said Biscaro "is entitled to the presumption of innocence and does contest and deny these charges."

Biscaro's arrest comes amid a national debate on police use of force, fanned by at least two recent deaths resulting from police choke holds, including that of Eric Garner, a New York man whose dying words - "I can't breathe" - became a rallying cry for police critics.

The encounter in Colorado Springs started with a traffic crash at Enchanted Circle North and Oro Blanco Drive, the affidavit said.

Sheriff's deputy Chad Dickson was interviewing Ferguson after the crash when Ferguson "became unruly," at one point throwing a rock at the other driver, the affidavit said. Later, Ferguson, already handcuffed with his hands behind his back, was placed in leg chains connected to a belt restraint after he smashed his head against a window, opening a "large gash" on his forehead, the report said.

Deputies said Ferguson was under control until Biscaro arrived and "tempers flared."

Dickson said Biscaro was "condescending" toward Ferguson. A second deputy, Steven Brown, described Biscaro as being "scolding" and "short," at one point shutting the door on a yelling Ferguson, the report said.

Ferguson, upset because Biscaro "kept interrupting him and wouldn't allow him to finish a sentence," started kicking the cruiser window, the affidavit said.

Brown said he was not worried about Ferguson breaking the glass because he was restrained and "could not get any force generated," the report said. Brown, according to the report, said Biscaro kicked Ferguson in the cruiser two or three times while Ferguson was trying to "shelter himself." Then Biscaro "yanked" Ferguson from the car, causing him to fall onto the pavement, the report said.

While Ferguson was on the ground, deputies said Biscaro put his knee on Ferguson's chest and started "choking" him, the affidavit said.

Brown "remembered 'very well' that he (Biscaro) had both of his hands around Ferguson's neck," the report said. Dickson described Biscaro "using both hands with his thumbs overlapped around Mr. Ferguson's throat."

One of the deputies "pushed" Biscaro's arms away as Ferguson gasped for air, taking short breaths and showing "round" eyes, the affidavit said.

Ferguson said Biscaro twice threatened to kill him during the attack. The affidavit doesn't specify whether Dickson or Brown heard the threats.

In his arrest report, Biscaro defended his actions, saying he put his hands on Ferguson's neck to keep him from spitting on him. Biscaro said he punched the handcuffed man in the back out of a fear the suspect might be able to reach a knife in the officer's pants.

Ferguson suffered "abrasions, lacerations and contusions," along the spine, left shoulder blade, elbows and neck, the report said.

Biscaro is on paid administrative leave.

Andrea

02-03-2016, 06:46 AM

Suspect shot, killed by officers near Rancho Cordova Safeway

http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/officerinvolved-shooting-under-investigation-in-rancho-cordova/37786284#.VrGDZqOdUY8.facebook (http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/officerinvolved-shooting-under-investigation-in-rancho-cordova/37786284#.VrGDZqOdUY8.facebook)

Officials said the suspect threatened to kill himself with the knife.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said the officers told the suspect to drop the knife, but the suspect refused. The officers then used a Taser on the suspect twice -- but he still refused to drop the knife.

The officers, fearing for their lives, shot the suspect, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said.

Andrea

02-03-2016, 12:12 PM

Bayonne cop 'whacked' handcuffed man's face, knocked out 6 teeth, U.S. Attorney says

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/02/post_806.html?hootPostID=4e6ef128f61855a41755c82bd c41e260 (http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/02/post_806.html?hootPostID=4e6ef128f61855a41755c82bd c41e260)

The Bayonne police officer who pleaded guilty to hitting a handcuffed man in the face with a flashlight struck the prisoner so hard that he knocked out six teeth, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said on Saturday.

In a 10-minute speech in front of roughly 85 people at a community policing forum in Jersey City, Fishman cited the prosecution of the officer, Domenico Lillo, as one way federal law enforcement is working to improve community/police relations in the state.

In doing so, Fishman confirmed a detail mentioned in an ongoing lawsuit against the officer.

"My office just prosecuted a few months ago a cop named (Domenico) Lillo who's from Bayonne, just down Kennedy Boulevard, who had a prisoner who was handcuffed, not resisting, and whacked him in the face with a flashlight, knocking out six teeth," Fishman said.

Previously, federal authorities described what Lillo did in tamer terms, saying he struck the man "in the head with a flashlight while the individual was handcuffed and not resisting arrest, which resulted in bodily injury."

According to a lawsuit filed against Lillo before he was charged federally, Lillo struck Bayonne resident Brandon Walsh so hard that Walsh experienced "permanent injury and disfigurement," including losing almost all of his front teeth.

In response to the lawsuit, Lillo's attorney said his client only admitted to using excessive force to the degree to which he pleaded guilty to in the criminal case.

"Admitted only that Mr. Lillo's one-time contacting of Brandon Walsh with the flashlight constituted excessive force to the extent it is coextensive with the guilty plea entered in the parallel criminal matter," Lillo's attorney, Roshan D. Shah, wrote.

Attorneys in the police brutality lawsuit, which was filed by the Walsh family against Lillo and two other city police officers, are arguing over whether the case should be put on pause in light of Lillo pleading guilty to federal charges.

The suit claims city officers James Wade and Francis Styles "stood by and did nothing" while Lillo struck Walsh, an allegation that Wade and Styles have both denied.

An attorney representing the city of Bayonne and the Bayonne Police Department has said Lillo's recent guilty plea "begs the question" of whether Wade and Styles are under criminal investigation by federal authorities, and whether Lillo is cooperating with authorities as part of his guilty plea.

As such, the attorney said, the defendants are requesting holding off on the discovery phase until "the resolution of all ongoing or pending criminal investigations."

In an unrelated case, Lillo also pleaded guilty in September to illegally obtaining a $20,000 loan intended for low- to moderate-income residents. His wife, Rose Lillo, was also charged and is negotiating a plea agreement, according to court documents.

Andrea

02-05-2016, 12:37 PM

Woman with Asperger’s who touched millions with viral video shot dead by police in Arizona

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-asperger-shot-dead-police-article-1.2520902 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-asperger-shot-dead-police-article-1.2520902)

A woman with Asperger’s who posted a touching viral video with her service dog last summer has been shot dead by police.

Danielle Jacobs was killed by Mesa, Arizona, officers on Thursday after they arrived at her apartment for a suicide call around 11 a.m., her mother Stacia confirmed to the Daily News.

Police told local media that the 24-year-old came at them with a knife and they fired in self-defense.

Andrea

02-05-2016, 12:45 PM

SAPD chief: Man shot by San Antonio police was unarmed

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/SAPD-North-Side-man-shot-by-police-was-unarmed-6809669.php (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/SAPD-North-Side-man-shot-by-police-was-unarmed-6809669.php)

San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus said that a 11-year veteran of the department who fatally shot a man Thursday evening on the North Side believed the victim was holding a gun when he pulled the trigger.

McManus, however, confirmed Friday morning that the object in the suspect's hand was actually a cellphone.

The shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. in a parking lot of an apartment complex near Isom Road. Officials said the officer pulled up to the man, identified as 36-year-old Antronie Scott, as he was exiting his vehicle. The officer approached and told Scott to "let me see your hands" and almost immediately fired his service weapon, according to McManus.

Andrea

02-08-2016, 07:42 PM

Officer-Involved Shooting in Northeast Austin

http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-02-08/officer-involved-shooting-in-northeast-austin/ (http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-02-08/officer-involved-shooting-in-northeast-austin/)

An 18-year-old black man was shot and killed by an Austin Police officer this morning in Northeast Austin, shortly after 10:30am.

The 18-year-old, who has not yet been identified by police, was shot by a 10-year veteran of APD who was immediately placed on administrative leave, as is customary with officer involved shootings. A spokesperson for the department declined to identify the officer.

According to APD Chief of Staff Brian Manley, who held a press conference shortly after the shooting, police were called to the 12000 block of Nature’s Bend in Northeast Austin – just south of Parmer Lane – at 9:57am after receiving a number of calls about a “suspicious man” acting “erratically” around the neighborhood.

Police reported that the 18-year-old was naked when they found him in the neighborhood. He was issued directives from responding officers but did not to follow them. Manley said the 18-year-old began charging at the officer, at which point the officer fired his gun. Austin-Travis County medics responded to the scene at 10:26am and took the body to St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, where he died.

Department Public Information Officials have not commented on whether the 18-year-old was armed when he was shot, but his lack of clothing suggests that any potential weapon he possessed would have been held in one of his hands and in full sight. Police said dashboard camera footage from APD vehicles captured video of some of the incident but did not catch the shooting – although it did pick up audio, Manley said, of the officer ordering the 18-year-old to stay back. Police did not comment on whether or not the 18-year-old was captured on the dashboard camera footage at any point, and did not say whether APD found a gun that didn’t belong to the department anywhere in the vicinity.

Andrea

02-09-2016, 04:06 PM

Andrea

02-12-2016, 11:44 AM

Arrest Video (Blurred)

https://www.facebook.com/LocalMemphis/videos/1018848638177911/ (https://www.facebook.com/LocalMemphis/videos/1018848638177911/)

Andrea

02-13-2016, 09:41 AM

'Street files' raise question: Did Chicago police hide evidence?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-police-street-files-met-20160212-story.html (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-police-street-files-met-20160212-story.html)

The homicide files sat untouched for years in the dingy basement at a South Side police station, thousands of aging manila folders locked away in cabinets cataloging seven decades of long-forgotten killings.

Stuffed with manually typed police reports, scribbled detectives' notes, faded lineup cards and other evidence, the so-called "street files" might never have seen the light of day.

But now about 500 of the files — located in 23 cabinets — have landed at the center of a court fight over whether the Chicago Police Department for years violated its own directives by hiding evidence from criminal defense lawyers.

Andrea

02-14-2016, 09:14 AM

Pa. trooper charged in brutality case

http://abc27.com/2016/02/12/pa-trooper-charged-in-brutality-case/ (http://abc27.com/2016/02/12/pa-trooper-charged-in-brutality-case/)

A state police trooper has been charged in the beating of a Harrisburg man last year.

A criminal complaint filed Friday charges Trooper Ryan Luckenbaugh with two misdemeanor counts of official oppression, a misdemeanor count of simple assault, and a summary harassment count.
man-pressing-charges

Luckenbaugh, 36, of Mechanicsburg, is accused of kicking Chris Siennick in the face while Siennick was seated on the ground and handcuffed behind his back, according to the charging documents filed by the Internal Affairs Division of the Pennsylvania State Police.

He also subjected Siennick to arrest, detention, search, seizure, or mistreatment based on false allegations and facts, the criminal complaint states.

As ABC 27 first reported last year, Siennick was riding his skateboard near Second and Locust Streets on May 16 when he says Luckenbaugh and Trooper Michael Trotta called him a gay slur from their police vehicle.

Siennick admits making an obscene hand gesture to the officers. He says they circled the block, got out of their car and chased him. Siennick says they hit him with a baton and twice hit him with a Taser. After he fell to the ground, Siennick says they punched and kicked him.

Siennick was arrested on numerous charges and spent three weeks in jail with a high bail. After reviewing videotape of the incident, the Dauphin County district attorney’s office decided to drop all charges against Siennick and recommended Internal Affairs investigate the actions of Trotta and Luckenbaugh.

According to the arrest papers, the complaint filed by Luckenbaugh claimed that Siennick failed to obey verbal commands to move from the roadway, displayed an obscene gesture, and struck the police vehicle “with either his person or an unidentified object” when the troopers first encountered him.

The troopers did not stop, nor did they attempt to take Siennick into custody, but drove past him a second time. Luckenbaugh wrote that Siennick spit on the police car as they passed, but again the troopers did not stop.

The police car’s camera did not record the second encounter, nor did it capture the sound of anything striking the vehicle. The troopers are heard talking about Siennick being in the roadway and giving a middle finger, but they made no comments about anything hitting the car, the complaint against Luckenbaugh states.

After Siennick was Tasered, pepper sprayed, and handcuffed, the camera shows he was acting belligerent and yelling loud profanities. A spitting sound is heard, and Luckenbaugh delivered a kick and said, “spit on that.” Harrisburg city police officers who were on the scene said the kick struck Siennick in the face, and they did not believe it was reasonable or justified, according to the complaint.

Luckenbaugh also claimed in his paperwork that Siennick had a heavy odor of suspected alcohol, but one Harrisburg police officer told investigators he didn’t smell anything and another didn’t believe Siennick was intoxicated.

Luckenbaugh’s complaint further alleged that Siennick refused a breath test, but investigators said at no point in the police car video and audio did anyone offer Siennick a test, and city police officers didn’t recall anyone requesting one.

Luckenbaugh, a trooper since 2006, has been suspended without pay. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 22.

The case is being prosecuted by the Dauphin County district attorney’s office.

Siennick has filed a federal lawsuit naming both troopers.

Trotta was fired last year. A state police spokeswoman said his termination was due to an “internal matter.”

Cin

02-18-2016, 06:30 AM

I don't know if this is technically police custody but it is disturbing.

Why Did a 16-Year-Old Black Girl Just Die in a Kentucky Cell?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/gynnya-mcmillen-16-died-kentucky-juvenile-detention-mystery

Andrea

02-18-2016, 08:05 AM

Los Angeles police officers charged with sexual assault

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/us/la-police-officers-sexual-assault-charges/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/us/la-police-officers-sexual-assault-charges/index.html)

Two Los Angeles police officers who once worked as partners patrolling the streets of Hollywood have been charged with sexually assaulting four women they encountered while on duty, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Officers James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, are charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including rape under color of authority, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The alleged assaults in some cases took place while the officers were on duty, according to prosecutors, including in their police car. Valenzuela is accused of pointing a gun at one of the victims.

"These two officers have disgraced themselves. They've disgraced this badge. They've disgraced this office," Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference.

The officers, who were arrested early Wednesday, were not immediately available for comment. They were expected to be arraigned Thursday morning. Lawyers who represent them on pending administrative charges of sexual misconduct said they had not yet reviewed the criminal complaint, but said if the allegations were the same, the officers denied them.

Each of the women had at one point been arrested by the officers during "narcotics-related" investigations, according to prosecutors.

The alleged assaults occurred between December 2008, when the officers first became partners, and March 2011. The alleged victims were ages 19, 24, 25 and 34 at the time.

*Anya*

02-19-2016, 07:39 PM

Police in six Southern California counties have shot more than 2,000 suspects since 2004. Only one officer was prosecuted and he was acquitted.

Complete story in LA Times dated February 19, 2016:

http://graphics.latimes.com/officer-involved/

Andrea

02-21-2016, 09:31 PM

Florida police accused of racial profiling after stopping man 258 times, charging him with trespassing at work

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-stop-man-258-times-charge-trespassing-work-article-1.1526422?utm_content=bufferf0f3d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-stop-man-258-times-charge-trespassing-work-article-1.1526422?utm_content=bufferf0f3d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw)

In the last four years Earl Sampson, 28, has been questioned by police 258 times, searched more than 100 times, jailed 56 times, and arrested for trespassing 62 times. The majority of these citations occurred at his place of work, a Miami Gardens convenience store where the owner says police are racially profiling.

Andrea

02-22-2016, 07:46 AM

Man who died in Box Elder jail was there for not paying a debt

http://www.standard.net/Courts/2016/02/14/Man-who-died-in-Box-Elder-jail-was-there-for-not-paying-a-debt?utm_content=buffereab32&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer (http://www.standard.net/Courts/2016/02/14/Man-who-died-in-Box-Elder-jail-was-there-for-not-paying-a-debt?utm_content=buffereab32&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

Rex Iverson died in a jail cell shortly after he was taken into custody, but he wasn’t there for a criminal act.

He was there on a civil judgment, for not paying a bill.

Jail and state court statistics and interviews with various officials in the justice system show that a debtor ending up behind bars is relatively rare, but Iverson’s case was instructive: Any Utahn who ignores a civil court judgment and subsequent court orders may end up incarcerated.

On Christmas Eve 2013, the Bear River City man incurred an ambulance bill. Tremonton City won a justice court small claims judgment against Iverson in September 2014 that compelled him to pay the city $2,376.92.

He never paid the bill and ignored repeated court orders to appear, court records show. That led to a county sheriff’s deputy, serving a $350 bench warrant issued by the justice court on Dec. 29, 2015, arresting him on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 23.

Iverson, 45, died in a Box Elder County Jail holding cell early that afternoon while jailers were elsewhere in the jail preparing for the booking process, the sheriff’s office said in a press release reporting the in-custody death. The death is under investigation by the Northern Utah Critical Incident Investigative Team, but foul play is not suspected.

Andrea

02-25-2016, 10:49 AM

Lawyers say woman, 50, died after being ‘deprived of water’ at Charleston County jail

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160224/PC16/160229636 (http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160224/PC16/160229636)

A woman who was arrested at a hospital over the summer for failing to pay court fines died the next day because she was deprived of water at the Charleston County jail, her family’s attorneys said Wednesday.

Joyce Curnell, 50, of Edisto Island was found dead in the jail shortly before 5 p.m. July 22, a day after being taken from Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital, where she had been treated for a stomach illness.

She spent the last 27 hours of her life behind bars. During that time she became too sick to eat or call for help, according to court documents filed this week. She vomited all night and couldn’t make it to a bathroom, so jailers gave her a trash bag. Some medical staffers ignored the jail officials’ requests to tend to her, the documents alleged.

Curnell’s family filed a notice Wednesday to sue the jail’s medical contractor, Carolina Center for Occupational Health, for malpractice. Unless a settlement is reached, a lawsuit likely will follow. The filing cited expert opinion from a local doctor, who said Curnell’s death “more likely than not” would have been prevented if she had been properly treated for gastroenteritis and dehydration.

The family attorney, James Moore III, said in a statement that her death resulted from a “deliberate failure.” While a suit in state court is planned, Moore said one in federal court could follow.

“Providing access to reasonable medical care to those under police custody is a necessity, not a privilege,” he said. “It is a constitutional right. We are committed to seeking justice for Joyce and for her family.”

Curnell’s death came at a time of increased scrutiny of how black women are handled behind bars. She was one of at least six such women nationwide to die in law enforcement custody that month. They included Sandra Bland, the inmate found hanged in a Texas jail days after a state trooper pulled her from her car during a traffic stop. Her death was ruled a suicide, but the trooper was indicted on a perjury charge for his handling of the arrest.

In Curnell’s death, the State Law Enforcement Division did an investigation and completed a report, SLED spokesman Thom Berry said. The Post and Courier filed a S.C. Freedom of Information Act request for the document, but SLED officials did not turn it over Wednesday.

Attempts to reach the contractor through three telephone calls and an email Wednesday were not successful. Maj. Eric Watson of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail, said he had just learned of the possible lawsuit and had no immediate comment.

State law requires officials to render medical care when inmates need it, said Shaundra Scott, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. The Bill of Rights, she said, also demands humane treatment of those incarcerated.

The ACLU plans to monitor the case closely, Scott said.

“It is very unfortunate to hear of another death of an African-American while in police custody,” she said. “If Ms. Curnell was denied medical treatment, then it is our position that her constitutional rights were violated.”

Around noon on July 21, Curnell was taken from Edisto Island by ambulance to the hospital as she complained of nausea and vomiting. She was diagnosed in the emergency room with gastroenteritis, an irritation of the stomach and intestines.

At some point at the hospital, it was discovered that she had a bench warrant in a 2011 shoplifting case. She had been put on a payment plan in April 2012 to cover $1,148.90 in fines related to the charge, according to court records, but she quit paying the following January. After she didn’t respond to a letter from the court, the warrant was issued in August 2014.

No one could tell The Post and Courier how law enforcement got word of the warrant as she lay in the hospital last summer.

The Charleston Police Department was first summoned there, but officers later called deputies from the Sheriff’s Office. Watson said he could not immediately find documentation about how the authorities learned of Curnell’s charge.

The family’s attorney also said he was looking for that explanation.

Curnell was hydrated at the hospital, given medications and told to seek prompt medical attention if she continued to experience pain and vomiting. On top of her illness, she had a history of sickle cell disease, high blood pressure and alcoholism.

Doctors discharged her from the hospital with instructions. The deputies then took her to the jail around 2:30 p.m. It was her only arrest in South Carolina, according to a SLED background check.

A nurse at the jail who examined Curnell when she got there later told SLED that she was complaining only of a headache, this week’s court filings stated. A doctor prescribed medication for the headache and nausea, but the documents alleged that the staffers didn’t follow the hospital doctor’s recommendations.

Instead of staying in the jail’s medical facility, Curnell was taken to a housing unit. Jail officers reported later that she vomited “through the night” and “couldn’t make it to the bathroom,” the documents stated. They gave her a trash bag.

The jailers said they informed the medical staff of Curnell’s condition, but the experts “refused to provide any medical attention to (her) whatsoever,” the court documents stated.

She couldn’t eat breakfast the next morning. No records indicated that she was given water or intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration, the filings added.

A sheriff’s incident report stated that the medical staff checked her around 2 p.m., but within three hours, she was dead.

Maria Gibson, the Medical University Hospital primary care doctor hired as an expert witness for the family, said in an affidavit that Curnell died of complications from her sickness. Coupled with her underlying conditions, Curnell was just too sick to overcome dehydration without aid, Gibson said.

Gibson blamed a “series of conscious violations.”

“Simply put,” the doctor said, “Ms. Curnell died because she was deprived of water.”

Cin

02-25-2016, 02:25 PM

So apparently we do have debtor's prison. Even in cases of bills for medical emergencies, like Mr. Iverson who died while in jail for an ambulance bill. Not that I think prison is the place for people who owe money period, except maybe Wall Street and banks too big to fail who owe tons of money and should be jailed for cowboy moves and questionable tactics and of course just outright stealing the Public's money using complicated tricks and sleights of hand.

I just think it's particularly despicable when jail is inflicted on those who owe money for hospital bills. One of the ways it has been made legal for you to get jail time for owing money, aka debtor's prison, is if a judge decides the nonpayment is willful. This is extremely arbitrary as it is left to the judge's discretion. A judge can decide it because of the way you are dressed, or they can just consider all nonpayment willful unless you can show that you have exhausted all sources of possible income, such as quitting smoking, asking family and friends for loans, returning used soda cans and bottles and whatever hairbrained idea the particular judge you draw thinks is fair. It is so arbitrary it is ridiculous.

Big banks willfully refuse to pay their debts and then they cause there own demise. They take trillions of dollars from the government, which means, technically, from us and still they continue to put us all in jeopardy by refusing to stop taking dangerous chances with the economy and with our money. The government is not a separate entity; it is owned, run and paid for by the people so they are hurting us and we have no recourse. But they have so much recourse that banks can have us jailed for losing our jobs and not being able to pay them. Corporations avoid their responsibilities as citizens by refusing to pay their fair share of taxes and not paying importing for all the products they make overseas and declare as American made. Are they not willfully refusing to pay?

This debtor's prison is really scary since it can easily with just a little bit of misfortune, make criminals of us all...well, I guess technically, not all of us, just 90% of us.

Andrea

02-26-2016, 08:46 AM

Man, Woman Killed in Police Shooting Were Unconscious When Police Arrived: Mayor

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/couple-killed-inglewood-police-shooting-asleep-mayor-butts-369902981.html (http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/couple-killed-inglewood-police-shooting-asleep-mayor-butts-369902981.html)

Both the man and woman who were mortally wounded during an officer involved shooting were unconscious when Inglewood police first responded to where they were sitting in a car, said Inglewood Mayor James Butts Tuesday in response to questions about the incident.

For at least 45 minutes, police attempted "to rouse" them in an effort "to de-escalate the situation," said Butts. It is the first public explanation for what transpired early Sunday morning during the time between the initial call and the shooting. Police previously had stated responding officers saw the woman had a gun, retreated to behind cover, and then gave orders for the couple to exit the vehicle.

"Obviously at some point they were conscious because somebody felt threatened," said Butts, a retired law enforcement officer who previously had served as police chief in other cities. He said it is important for police to finish their investigation, and verify facts, before commenting further.

Andrea: Bolding mine

Andrea

02-26-2016, 08:50 AM

Witness, family of victim speak about Montgomery officer-involved shooting

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/31311999/montgomery-man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting (http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/31311999/montgomery-man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting)

Family members of the Montgomery man who was killed in an officer-involved shooting Thursday have identified him as 59-year-old Gregory Gunn.

According to Montgomery Police Chief Ernest Finley, the shooting happened around 3:20 a.m. in the 3200 block of McElvy Street, which is in the Mobile Heights neighborhood. This is the first fatal police shooting in Montgomery in five years.

Finley said the officer was on routine patrol when he noticed what he believed to be a suspicious man walking down the street.

"At this point in time what we have is we had a suspicious person, and the officer engaged that individual. There was a slight struggle that continued for about a block or so at which time the officer fired and shot and killed the suspect," Finley said.

The investigation was turned over to the State Bureau of Investigations, which is common practice when an officer is involved in a shooting. The investigation could take months.

When asked if the man was armed, Finley said "there was some indication of some instrument." He later called it a stick, pole and painting pole.

Finley says the officer, who was identified as a young officer with under four years with the department, has been placed on administrative leave. The police chief said he doesn't know if the officer was injured. The officer will be "isolated" and interviewed.

The findings of the investigation will be turned over to the District Attorney's office. Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey released the following statement:

I assure our community that once the investigation into this matter has concluded that the Montgomery District Attorney's Office will review all the evidence in a thorough manner and will conduct any additional investigation if it is deemed appropriate or necessary. I also assure our community that once this investigation is concluded and I am satisfied that all evidence has been collected and reviewed that this case will be heard by a Montgomery County Grand Jury.

I encourage anyone with information regarding this incident to contact ALEA at (800) 392-8011 or the Montgomery County District Attorney's Investigation Unit at (334)-832-1642.

Gunn lived in the community, and the initial encounter was about a block or so from where he lived.

Andrea

02-27-2016, 08:58 AM

It doesn't appear this incident was in the news so I am posting the court opinion. Also, I found no mention of when this happened but no matter, it is still ugly.

http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0112n-06.pdf?mc_cid=a28b9d18b8&mc_eid=bdf013911c (http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0112n-06.pdf?mc_cid=a28b9d18b8&mc_eid=bdf013911c)

According to Cheryl McCarty, she was driving her three young grandchildren to school when Officer Birberick pulled her over and accused her of illegally passing a stopped school bus. She argued with him, claimed there had been no school bus, accused him of racism, and refused to accept the ticket, letting it instead drop on the ground. Officer Birberick returned to his patrol car—a large SUV—and drove away. But McCarty, who had turned off her ignition but not her headlights, had accidentally drained her car battery and could not restart her car. Stranded on the side of a very busy city street, she turned on her emergency lights and attempted, unsuccessfully, to phone a friend for assistance. Approximately 20 minutes later, Officer Birberick returned, as part of his routine patrol, and pulled up behind her. When he approached McCarty’s driver-side window, she rolled her eyes in disgust and looked away. They did not speak. Officer Birberick returned to his SUV, which he then rammed into McCarty’s sedan from behind, purportedly to move her car off the busy street into the adjacent gas station lot. He did not forewarn McCarty of his intention to ram her car and the collision took her and the children by surprise, throwing them from their seats.

Rather than moving the car to the gas station, however, this collision actually forced the car further into traffic. McCarty and the children were wailing in panic. Officer Birberick got out of his car and began screaming at McCarty that she could have been killed, though he did not specify what she had done wrong or should have done differently. He then waited for traffic to clear and rammed her car again, this time so hard that he knocked the rear end of the car up off the ground, causing it to lurch into the gas station, just missing the gas pumps. At this point, McCarty was dazed, the children were on the floor with one bleeding from the head, and the car was severely damaged. Officer Birberick drove off without any further interaction.

A service station attendant jump started the car and McCarty drove the damaged car and children away. She filed a police complaint and, eventually, this lawsuit. Officer Birberick moved for summary judgment on qualified immunity which the district court denied upon concluding that, taking these facts in the light most favorable to McCarty, a jury question remained as to whether Officer Birberick’s ramming of her car, without warning and with three young children in it, was so outrageous as to shock the conscience and violate McCarty’s clearly established, substantive due process rights. Officer Birberick appeals.

Andrea

02-28-2016, 08:54 AM

Witness says 16-year-old boy shot by police in downtown Salt Lake City

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3591149-155/shooting-involving-police-creates-chaotic-scene (http://www.sltrib.com/news/3591149-155/shooting-involving-police-creates-chaotic-scene)

Police on Saturday were investigating the shooting of a teenager by Salt Lake City police.

Few details were available late Saturday. The shooting occurred about 8 p.m. near 250 S. Rio Grande St. Selam Mohammad told The Salt Lake Tribune a police officer shot a friend, a teenage boy.

Salt Lake City police late Saturday confirmed one officer, and possibly a second officer, were involved in the shooting, but did not provide more details. The victim was taken to the hospital, but no information about his condition was provided. There was conflicting information about the boy's age.

Detective Greg Wilking would only confirm that "shots were fired," but not how many.

Salt Lake City police later said in a tweet that officers were responding to a call in area when they were alerted to assault in progress.

The officers "tried to engage altercation," the tweet added.

After the shooting, Salt Lake Tribune journalists saw and heard onlookers yelling obscenities at police and throwing rocks.

There were "a lot of hostile people upset about what had taken place," Wilking said.

Police detained multiple people, but Wilking could not elaborate on why.

According to Mohammad, the victim and a man were in a confrontation, and the victim was holding part of a broomstick at his side when officers ran up.

"They told him to put it down, once," Mohammad said, and "started shooting him as soon as he turned around."

Mohammad said that the teenager was hit in the chest and stomach.

Neighboring departments, including Unified Police Department, West Valley City, Sandy and University of Utah police, deployed to assist Salt Lake City officers. In all, almost 100 officers, come carrying riot shields, arrived.

At 8:40 p.m., a line of officers moved people down the sidewalk on the south side of 200 South, from Rio Grande to 400 West.

Police closed the Trax Blue Line before the Old Greektown stop, providing difficulties for some fans leaving the Utah Jazz game. The TRAX trains resumed about 11 p.m.

The Unified Police Department will be investigating the shooting. Wilking could not say whether the incident was captured on officers' body cameras.

Wilking encouraged anyone with information about the shooting to contact the police.

*Anya*

02-28-2016, 07:33 PM

Delaware officer who kicked black suspect in head resigns, gets $230,000

DOVER, Del. — To Kentrell Sewell, it was barely worth notice that Thomas Webster IV had resignedfrom the Dover Police Department.

Webster, a Dover police corporal, was acquitted of a felony assault charge late last year after a police dashcam captured him kicking a black man in the head during a 2013 arrest.

"He didn't take responsibility. No jail, no nothing," Sewell said Wednesday while seated for a trim at a downtown Dover barbershop. "Now, if it's not going to happen in Dover, he's just gonna kick somebody somewhere else."

Sewell's reaction to Webster's resignation signifies the lingering distrust still simmering in Dover after the August 2013 encounter between Webster and Lateef Dickerson, whose jaw was fractured by the kick.

Webster, indicted by a second grand jury after a first declined to issue charges, faced trial in late 2015. After being found not guilty of felony assault, he returned to the department's payroll while on administrative leave, even as community activists and African-American leaders urged the city to fire him.

Late Tuesday, Dover announced Webster would separate from the force by June 30. His day-to-day work for the department is over immediately and a settlement agreement between Webster and the city says he "shall not enter the Dover Police Department building or communicate with the City of Dover or its representatives."

He remains on administrative leave until his separation.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/02/25/delaware-officer-kicking-suspect-quits/80932368/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomnation-topstories

Andrea

02-29-2016, 05:32 PM

Police-involved shooting in southeast Raleigh

http://abc11.com/1223954/ (http://abc11.com/1223954/)

A Raleigh police officer shot and killed a man wanted on felony drug charges during a foot chase Monday.

It happened at Bragg Street and S. East Street in southeast Raleigh around noon close to a business called PJ's Grill and Groceries.

Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck Brown told reporters Monday afternoon that a gun was found near the man.

Brown promised a thorough investigation which will "follow the available facts and evidence wherever they may lead."

Brown said the State Bureau of Investigation as well as Internal Affairs are working on the case. The findings will be presented to the Wake County District Attorney.

"This is a sad day, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved," said Brown.

In a statement, the Wake County District Attorney, Lorrin Freeman, said they will release information as it becomes verified and available. Freeman asked for "people's patience as we work to ensure that this investigation is thorough and complete."

Shortly before 5 p.m., the crime tape was taken down and authorities began leaving the scene.

While police have not identified the dead man, shortly after the shooting, a woman on the scene told ABC11 that officers shot her son, Akiel Denkins, who was wanted on a warrant.

"He was running away," said Rolanda Byrd. "They couldn't catch him so they shot at him seven times."

"Everybody seen it," said Byrd. "They ain't going down with this one. They ain't gonna get away with this one, there's at least 40 eyewitnesses out here."

Byrd said several people told her that her 24-year-old son was unarmed and was shot by a white officer.

As word of the shooting spread, a small group of demonstrators arrived at the scene and started chanting "Black lives matter."

The ACLU of North Carolina said in a statement, "Along with many community members in Raleigh, we are alarmed by these reports, trying to learn more details about what happened, and express our deepest condolences to Akiel's family. What we do know is that far too many people of color are victims of wrongful targeting and excessive use of force by law enforcement officers across the country, and North Carolina is not immune to that reality."

Raleigh's city council was supposed to hold a meeting on the use of body cameras on police officers Monday but the event was cancelled because of the shooting.

"This is obviously a sad, terrible situation," Mayor Nancy McFarlane told reporters. "We are all very saddened by the news."

Denkins was the father of two sons and turned 24 on February 8th.

Andrea

03-02-2016, 07:30 AM

Baltimore School Police Officer Seen Slapping Young Man In Video

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/03/01/baltimore-school-police-officer-seen-slapping-young-man-in-video/#.VtZetBpBMlc.twitter (http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/03/01/baltimore-school-police-officer-seen-slapping-young-man-in-video/#.VtZetBpBMlc.twitter)

A shocking video recorded at a city school. Now the head of the Baltimore school police force is on administrative leave–and two of his officers reassigned–for what was caught on tape.

Ava-joye Burnett explains what happened.

The school system didn’t even know about the video until WJZ brought it to their attention. They are appalled at what they saw–an officer hitting and kicking a young man.

Profanity laced and slap after slap–even a kick–video recorded at Reach Partnership High has people outraged.

“He’s lucky that wasn’t my little brother because I would be in jail right now. He had no right doing that,” said David Lucas.

WJZ has now learned the chief of Baltimore City school police, Marshall Goodwin, has been placed on administrative leave.

Baltimore City schools says it didn’t even know about the video until WJZ called them asking for an explanation.

“I was totally appalled at what I saw today,” said Karl Perry, chief officer of school supports.

School leaders told WJZ that the police officer seen landing hit after hit will not be in the building Wednesday morning. He’s been reassigned until the investigation is complete.

“I’m a parent, and I’m totally appalled at what I saw in that video. No matter what the circumstances are, I am totally appalled,” said Perry.

Reach Partnership is one of only seven high schools in the city that has a school police officer dedicated to the building. School officials say it’s not because of violence in the facility; it’s because of the sheer size of the building.

It’s not clear what led up to the very first slap or what happened after the camera stopped rolling, but the video–just seconds long–is making people ask: how could this happen at a school?

“If it was my son, I would be highly upset, asking questions, wanting to know what happened prior to it,” said Gary Payne, “But still, nobody deserves to get their hands put on them like that.”

The school system doesn’t know if the young man seen getting slapped is a student at the school, but the person who recorded the video told WJZ the victim does, in fact, go there.

Baltimore City schools also did not identify the school police officer because it’s a personnel matter.

Kätzchen

03-03-2016, 07:41 AM

Andrea, have you already posted about Sandra Bland? I just came across a news story about her. Apparently the Texas Dept. Of Public Safety has fired the Texas State Trooper who wrongfully arrested Sandra. Video evidence captured showed that the opposite was true: That the officer escalated the event and he physically assaulted Sandra, then wrongfully arrested her. Sandra died in jail for something she didn't do. : (

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2016/03/02/texas-trooper-fired-for-sandra-bland-traffic-stop/

Andrea

03-03-2016, 07:54 AM

*Anya*

03-03-2016, 09:31 AM

Grand jury decides against indictments in Sandra Bland case

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/us/sandra-bland-no-indictments/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/us/sandra-bland-no-indictments/index.html)

A grand jury in the case of Sandra Bland has decided not to return any indictments, according to Darrell Jordan, a special prosecutor handling the case.

Bland, an African-American woman, was found dead in her cell three days after she was arrested for allegedly failing to use her turn signal on July 10. She was 28.

Officials in Waller County, Texas, have said she hanged herself with a plastic bag. Her family and others have questioned that account.

Her case attracted widespread attention amid national discussions about excessive force and the role of race in policing.

Andrea, have you already posted about Sandra Bland? I just came across a news story about her. Apparently the Texas Dept. Of Public Safety has fired the Texas State Trooper who wrongfully arrested Sandra. Video evidence captured showed that the opposite was true: That the officer escalated the event and he physically assaulted Sandra, then wrongfully arrested her. Sandra died in jail for something she didn't do. : (

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2016/03/02/texas-trooper-fired-for-sandra-bland-traffic-stop/

Kätzchen, I did not know that they fired the Trooper that arrested and assaulted her. Everything about that traffic stop was wrong and that it ultimately resulted in her death (as so many others have) is a tragedy.

Andrea

03-03-2016, 09:54 AM

Ala. Officer Charged With Murder in Death of Unarmed Black Man

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/03/ala_officer_charged_with_murder_in_death_of_unarme d_black_man.html (http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/03/ala_officer_charged_with_murder_in_death_of_unarme d_black_man.html)

Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey charged Montgomery, Ala., Police Officer Aaron Smith with murder Wednesday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man outside his mother’s house.

“I will do everything in my power to protect a police officer who is operating within the law,” Bailey said Wednesday, CBS News reports. “I will also use every ounce of my power to prosecute a police officer who is acting outside of the law.”

Bailey added that Smith, 23, was in custody, with bond set at $150,000.

On Feb. 25 around 3:20 a.m., 58-year-old Greg Gunn was walking to his mother’s house, where he lived, after playing cards at a neighbor’s home. Officer Smith stopped Gunn, reportedly for looking “suspicious.” Within minutes, Smith had shot Gunn dead.

“I want to be crystal clear that the arrest that is being made today is in no way an indictment on the Montgomery Police Department,” Bailey said. “In fact, 99.9 percent of the Montgomery police officers do an exceptional job on a daily basis protecting us and our community. They are, in fact, the thin blue line between order and chaos.”

Civil rights activist Jamel Brown told WAKA that black men can’t be afraid to walk in their own neighborhoods without feeling threatened by police.

“You were telling 17-, 18-, and 15-year-old black boys that they can’t walk in their neighborhood at three and four o’clock in the morning without having to be charged with a looks suspicious,” he said. “No, we’ve got to change that type of dominion—we want to bridge the gap between the police agency and the black community in Montgomery.”

*Anya*

03-12-2016, 09:15 AM

Julie Wolfe and Ryan Kruger , WMAZ 8:59 AM. EST March 11, 2016

ATLANTA -- Days before he died, Chase Sherman was in his brother's wedding. Laughing, joking, loving the sea and making a living boating. Even as his family made their way through customs on the return trip from the Dominican Republic, he joked about his passport photo with the customs agent. Hours later, he was in the throes of a mental breakdown. He thought he was being kidnapped by his own parents. And then, he was dead.

"His parents did what everybody is supposed to do, you call 911, because 911 brings help. But in the case of Chase, 911 brought death," attorney L. Chris Stewart said.

Chase's parents stood beside the attorney, calling for charged to be filed against the Coweta County deputies involved in the confrontation

In November 2015, less than a month before his 33rd birthday, as they were traveling home, Chase told his mother he had taken Spice earlier, but not on the trip.

Spice, also known as K2, synthetic marijuana, and potpourri, was officially banned by the DEA as a Class I drug in 2013. Incidents of extreme agitation, psychotic episodes, hallucinations, and even heart attacks have been documented in users.

After going through customs at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, Chase's parents say he became agitated and did not want to get back on the plane to continue their trip home to Destin, Florida. Instead, the family decided to rent a car and drive. Worried about his condition, they called 911 in Atlanta. Atlanta police responded to the call, and according to the family "they were a great help." They helped calm him down, spoke with his parents about the plan to get home, and helped them to the car.

As the family was driving home and passing through Coweta County, Chase had another episode. Kevin Sherman told his wife Mary Ann to call 911. "It was a terrible scene," Kevin said. "He told the 911 operator he didn't know anybody in the car, he was being kidnapped, help him."

"They got one handcuff on, then tased him again, and got the other handcuff on," Mary Ann said. "I told them, 'Don't shoot him!' At that time, they told us to get out of the car."

"Homicide," Attorney Stewart said. "And those aren't my words, these are the official words of the death certificate." A copy of that death certificate provided to 11Alive News by the Sherman family listed the cause of death as, "sudden death during an altercation with law enforcement with several trigger pulls of an electronic control device, prone positioning on the floor of a motor vehicle and compression of the torso by the body weight if another individual."

The family says the real blow came after Chase stopped breathing. They say the EMT on scene did little to help "just 20 chest compressions, or so", and then the deputies high-fived each other in front of his parents. "Like he was a trophy they got off the street," Kevin said.

"They both told me they had to protect themselves, I mean, what were they protecting themselves from? He was already handcuffed. He was unarmed. What did they have to protect themselves from?" Mary Ann asked.

"Is this how we treat those who are having a mental breakdown? Is this how we treat those that are mentally ill?" their attorney asked.

The GBI told 11Alive's Ryan Kruger their investigation is complete and has been turned over to the Coweta County D.A. 11Alive has contacted the Coweta County Sheriff's Office for a comment, but have not yet heard back. Sheriff Mike Yeager has previously publicly stated the deputies were acting to defend themselves.

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/family-atl-officers-tased-son-to-death-then-high-fived/77499428

Andrea

03-12-2016, 06:25 PM

No Charges For Cop Who Killed Unarmed Black Man Despite Grand Jury Recommendation

http://filmthecops.news/news/no-charges-cop-killed-unarmed-black-man-despite-grand-jury-recommendation/ (http://filmthecops.news/news/no-charges-cop-killed-unarmed-black-man-despite-grand-jury-recommendation/)

This week, DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James declined to press any charges against Avondale Estates Police Sgt. Lynn Thomas for fatally shooting unarmed Jayvis Benjamin, despite the recommendation of a grand jury.

The fatal shooting occurred on January 18, 2013, after Benjamin, a 20-year-old college student with no criminal record, was involved in a car crash. As can be seen in the dashcam video below, Benjamin exited the car with his hands up and walked away from Thomas before the fatal shooting later occurred, off camera.

Benjamin’s family and community called for Thomas to be criminally charged almost immediately after the incident. However, District Attorney James failed to take any action for a full two years. By comparison, the arduously long investigation into the fatal police shooting of Laquan MacDonald in Chicago, which received nationwide criticism, lasted approximately 400 days.

After 800 days, James finally took action, but he took the highly unusual action of convening a “civil grand jury” to review Benjamin’s case, as well as six other police-involved shootings. The civil grand jury was charged with deciding which cases, if any, should be recommended to a criminal grand jury, to face criminal charges.

Of the seven police-involved shootings, the civil grand jury recommended only one case be heard by a criminal grand jury: Benjamin’s. According to James, the civil grand jury “strongly recommended the case move forward for indictment.”

Benjamin’s family expressed vindication that a grand jury agreed with them that the officer’s actions leading to the death of their loved one were criminal. And in May of last year, James confirmed that he would convene a criminal grand jury in the case.

Another 10 full months went by without James taking any action, and his inaction began to garner nationwide attention.

Now, James has reneged on his promise to convene a criminal grand jury, going against the findings of the civil grand jury, and has closed the case. Barring a federal investigation, Officer Lynn will never face criminal charges for the fatal shooting of unarmed, 20-year-old Jayvis Benjamin.

Officer Lynn continues to be on active duty with the Avondale Estates police department.

*Anya*

03-14-2016, 06:36 PM

FWPD investigating video showing officer allegedly spraying bikers

Lauren Zakalik, WFAA 7:02 PM. CDT March 14, 2016

FORT WORTH -- A Facebook video apparently depicting a Fort Worth officer spraying pepper spray into a group of oncoming motorcyclists has received more than 200,000 views in 15 hours.

Fort Worth police confirmed Monday morning they started investigating the video as soon as they received it. FWPD Corporal Tracey Knight says macing drivers is not a department-endorsed tactic.

News 8 spoke Monday to Jack Kinney, the man who recorded the video with his helmet camera, and Chase Stone, who edited the video and posted it to Facebook.

They say a group of about 200 motorcyclists were traveling up northbound U.S. 287 in Fort Worth Sunday afternoon when a Fort Worth police officer pulled over one of the motorcycle group's "safety vehicles," which is a vehicle that follows behind bikers in case of an incident.

In the edited video, which slows down and zooms in at one point, so viewers can see more clearly, the officer appears to spray something directly into oncoming traffic as he exits his vehicle. The bikers say it was pepper spray. "It's the last thing I would expect to see," Kinney said.

"His intent was to hit the bikers for sure, there’s no doubt about it," Stone says. The men spoke to News 8 via Skype from Longview, Texas, where they live.

"His intent was to send somebody down, if not to cause a major accident with that spray," Stone said.

As the story spread online Monday, viewers shared pictures and videos with us. Two videos show bikers driving "foolishly," the viewer said, on another area highway, poping wheelies and weaving in and out of traffic. Fort Worth police say they had multiple calls about reckless motorcycle drivers on area highways, including 287.

We asked Stone and Kinney if it was possible the officer felt threatened. "If you're worried about safety, why would you pepper spray a large group of bikers like that?" Kinney said.

They say nothing justifies spraying blinding material into traffic. They say people could've died. "When you put other people’s life in danger, it's just uncalled for," Stone said.

Late Monday afternoon, Fort Worth police announced the officer in the video has been taken off patrol and put on administrative duties until the culmination of the investigation. The officer is a six-year veteran with the force.

Police also say three of the people in the truck the officer pulled over were cited; the driver, for not having a license, and two others, for riding in the bed of a pickup truck.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant-county/fwpd-investigating-video-showing-officer-allegedly-spraying-bikers/82200692

FireSignFemme

03-14-2016, 08:56 PM

:police: " Investigating video showing officer allegedly spraying bikers..."

For keeping up with the latest news on which bozo the clown criminal cops are busy abusing the badge where, much to the much to the detriment of good, decent cops everywhere I like the website - bad cop no donut dot com.

Andrea

03-15-2016, 10:53 AM

Half of People Killed by Police Have a Disability: Report

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/half-people-killed-police-suffer-mental-disability-report-n538371 (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/half-people-killed-police-suffer-mental-disability-report-n538371)

Andrea

03-15-2016, 10:56 AM

Taser death probed

http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/taser-death-probed/article_008a2a1f-c9a6-518b-a9a1-02db49e711b5.html (http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/taser-death-probed/article_008a2a1f-c9a6-518b-a9a1-02db49e711b5.html)

A Bowling Green man who died after being thrown from his vehicle and then having a Taser used on him by law enforcement had previous health issues.

A preliminary autopsy showed that Michael Roll, 52, of Bowling Green, had blunt-force trauma of the head, torso and upper extremities as a result of being thrown from a vehicle Saturday, Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby said.

Kirby said the autopsy also showed Roll had minor coronary artery disease and some lung problems.

Kentucky State Police responded to a single-vehicle crash at 10:52 p.m. Saturday near the 4-mile marker on the Natcher Parkway. "It was reported that a vehicle had overturned and the driver appeared to be under the influence and was being combative," according to a news release issued Sunday by KSP Post 3 in Bowling Green.

State police troopers and a Warren County sheriff's deputy found the overturned SUV and Roll, who "became extremely combative and it appeared to officers that he was highly under the influence," the release said. "At this point a (Taser) was used in an attempt to effect an arrest of Roll, where he still resisted for a short period before going unconscious."

Roll was taken to The Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Kirby said that while the use of the Taser could have exacerbated Roll's preexisting health conditions, it is too soon to know for sure.

"The biggest thing is going to be finding out what type of drug he was on or what he was drinking," Kirby said. "That can elevate or slow down a lot of things."

Kirby said because Roll was in "full arrest" when he arrived at the hospital, he doesn't know if a blood sample was drawn then. A toxicology screen will be run on the blood sample taken at autopsy. Results should be available in a couple of weeks.

Kirby said it's possible that the head trauma night have contributed to Roll's combative actions toward police.

"But he was intoxicated on something," he said. "We just don't know what yet."

Andrea

03-19-2016, 04:19 AM

Cleveland police officer arrested, accused of slamming woman's head into car bumper

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/03/cleveland_police_officer_arres_3.html (http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/03/cleveland_police_officer_arres_3.html)

A Cleveland police officer was suspended Friday after he was accused of assaulting a woman and slamming her head into a car bumper, according to a Cleveland Municipal Court charging document.

David Manns, 33, was arrested on a felonious assault charge Friday afternoon. He is suspended without pay until the criminal case is resolved, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said.

A Cleveland police officer was arrested after he was accused of assaulting a woman.

Officers responded about 4:50 a.m. Friday to the area of West 45th Street and Detroit Avenue, the charging document states. The female victim told police Manns grabbed her and "smashed her head on the bumper" of a car, the document says.

The woman received five stitches above her eye, and her shoulder was separated, according to the document.

The victim was treated at the hospital, where investigators saw her injuries and took her statement, the document states.

The warrant does not indicate whether the woman knows Manns.

Andrea

03-19-2016, 12:11 PM

Shocking force: Police in Maryland didn't follow Taser safety recommendations in hundreds of incidents

Shocking force: Police in Maryland didn't follow Taser safety recommendations in hundreds of incidents (Shocking force: Police in Maryland didn't follow Taser safety recommendations in hundreds of incidents)

As two Montgomery County police officers slowly closed in with Tasers pointed, Anthony Howard retreated up a small step and backed himself against the front door of a townhome on a quiet cul-de-sac in the Washington suburb of Gaithersburg.

Minutes earlier, the 51-year-old man had asked an officer: "Are you gonna kill me?"

High on cocaine, Howard started the standoff by dancing barefoot on an SUV roof, barking and muttering gibberish on the late afternoon of April 19, 2013. Two dozen neighbors gawking at the bizarre spectacle laughed when Howard jumped off the Ford SUV to avoid an officer's stream of pepper spray, and they taunted police, urging them to use their stun guns.

Police said in a report on the incident that Howard had thrown "boulders" and charged at officers. But a 17-minute video taken by a resident and obtained by The Baltimore Sun shows that when officers approached Howard for the last time, he was standing still, holding a child's scooter. Officers fired two Tasers, shooting electrified darts connected by long wires into Howard's body.

Andrea: Click the link for the rest of the article

Andrea

03-21-2016, 12:38 AM

Austin Police Officer Caught On Video Allegedly Pepper-Spraying Handcuffed Man

Austin Police Officer Caught On Video Allegedly Pepper-Spraying Handcuffed Man (Austin Police Officer Caught On Video Allegedly Pepper-Spraying Handcuffed Man)

The Austin Police Department has launched an investigation following the release of a video that shows an officer apparently pepper-spraying a handcuffed suspect.

The video, posted on YouTube by local police watchdog group Peaceful Streets Project, shows an officer opening the door to the back of a police van last week during the South by Southwest Festival.

“What’d I tell you about kicking the door?” the officer says to the subject inside.

“I didn’t do nothing,” the man replies.

The officer then sprays him in the face from a few feet away:

“What’d I tell you about kicking the door?” the officer repeats as the man falls backward and puts his hands to his face. “I told you.”

Peaceful Streets identified the officer as Cameron Caldwell.

“Wow, you asshole!” the person recording the footage yells. “I saw that, I got that on film, you abusive asshole!”

Police told the Austin American-Statesman that the incident is under investigation and asked that anyone with information call the Office of the Police Monitor at 512-974-9090.

After the incident, the witness recording the scene urges police to let the man out so he’s not locked inside a closed space after being sprayed.

“He’s under arrest, ma’am,” an officer tells her.

“Yeah I know — can you, like, keep him under arrest out where he can breathe?” she responds.

“He’s been fighting us for like 20 minutes,” an officer says.

“Oh you poor baby,” the woman answers.

The police department’s code lists a number of cases in which “chemical agents” such as pepper spray shouldn’t be used, including “when a subject is under physical restraint unless the subject is still aggressively resisting and lesser means of controlling the subject have failed.”

Peaceful Streets also said the code requires that officers ensure that someone who has been sprayed remain “upright with a clear airway... to avoid possible positional asphyxiation.”

However, in the clip, the officer shuts the door after the man falls backward, although he appears to moving back to an upright position as the door closes.

“Listen we see these cops violating policy and committing crimes all the time, but usually there is some gray area that they like to dance [in],” Antonio Beuhler, the activist who founded Peaceful Streets Project, told the Free Thought Project. “This was just crystal clear, there is no way by law or policy that what this guy did was acceptable. There is zero gray area.”

Andrea

03-25-2016, 06:26 PM

A Mailman Handcuffed in Brooklyn, Caught on Video

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/nyregion/glen-grays-the-mailman-cuffed-in-brooklyn.html?_r=1 (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/nyregion/glen-grays-the-mailman-cuffed-in-brooklyn.html?_r=1)

Late in the afternoon on St. Patrick’s Day, Glen Grays, a 27-year-old African-American mail carrier, was making his rounds in Crown Heights, in Brooklyn, about to leave a package at 999 President Street. Mr. Grays prides himself on getting to know the community he serves, he told me on Wednesday. He figures out who is sick, or old, or enfeebled, and makes sure that their parcels, especially if they contain medication — “I can shake a box and usually figure that out,” he said — land directly at the doors of the people waiting for them, even if they live in fourth- or fifth-floor apartments, in walk-up buildings.

On this afternoon, Mr. Grays was descending the steps of his mail truck backward, as postal workers often do to minimize wear and tear on the knees, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed a car making a sharp right turn onto President from Franklin Avenue. Mr. Grays shouted at the driver, climbing back up the steps to avoid getting sideswiped. The black car, in Mr. Grays’s telling, came tearing back his way in reverse. The driver said to him, Mr. Grays recounted, “I have the right of way because I’m law enforcement.” The unmarked car held four plainclothes police officers, according to the Brooklyn borough president’s office, which has taken an interest in the case.

This video of Glen Grays's arrest on March 17 contains graphic language. Video, via DNAinfo.com, is courtesy of the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President.

By the time Mr. Grays arrived at the front door of 999 President Street, the police were approaching him. A video of the incident, taken by an observer on the street, begins at this point and shows Mr. Grays, in his postal uniform, as he is handcuffed, frisked and taken to the unmarked car. The officers tell him to stop resisting, even though there is no evidence in the video of resistance. What the video does not show, Mr. Grays said, is what happened next, after he was placed in the back seat of the unmarked car, with his hands cuffed and without a seatbelt, compelling him to leave the mail truck unattended. The driver, who had turned around to taunt him, hit the vehicle in front of them, Mr. Grays said, causing him to bang his shoulder against the front seat. Mr. Grays was then taken to the 71st Precinct station, where he was issued a summons for disorderly conduct that will require him to appear in court. He was then released.

On Tuesday, the Brooklyn borough president, Eric L. Adams, himself a former police officer, released the video at a news conference, expressing what he said was his outrage over the ostensible violations of the civil rights of yet another young black man, this one an employee of the federal government.

Mr. Grays is the oldest of six boys. His mother, Sonya Sapp, who lives in middle-income housing in Fort Greene, spoke briefly, only to say, “I worry about them every day, every minute, every second of every day,” before fading off with, “I’m short on words; I’m just hurt.”

A still from a bystander’s video of Mr. Grays in the custody of police officers. He was later issued a disorderly-conduct summons. Credit via The Office of the Brooklyn Borough President

Mr. Grays’s fiancée is also shaken. She is a New York City police officer he met while delivering the mail.

The day after the news conference, the Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, announced that his office would not seek a prison sentence for Peter Liang, the former police officer convicted of manslaughter in the death of Akai Gurley two years ago in an unlit stairwell at an East New York housing project. In response, Mr. Gurley’s family issued a statement demanding accountability and a real message from prosecutors that “police officers are not above the law.”

About Mr. Grays’s encounter, the Police Department said only that the matter was “under internal review,” in an email response to queries. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s deputy press secretary, Monica Klein, added that the mayor would be “in close touch with Commissioner Bratton over this incident’s investigations and findings.” (William J. Bratton is the police commissioner.)

Mr. Grays, who speaks with an intense focus, has an elaborate tattoo on his right arm, a tribute to his paternal grandmother that says, “Willa May Grays 1928-2004.” Twenty-two years ago, when he was 5, she covered his eyes on a sidewalk in Brownsville, shielding him from the sight of a stabbing that unfolded right in front of them. “I have been to more funerals than graduations,” Mr. Grays said, explaining that the horrors he had witnessed kept him from whatever nefarious temptations might present themselves to a boy growing up in a rough place.

Before joining the Postal Service, Mr. Grays worked at a branch of Key Food in Park Slope, where he took home $117 a week, he said: not nearly enough. He dropped out of college at City Tech, he said, because he couldn’t afford to stay in school. Later he worked stocking inventory at Fresh Direct in Long Island City, in Queens, but the stocking room was very cold, so he took a job in Floral Park, near the border with Nassau County, for a uniform company, which required him to leave his apartment in the Bronx at 3 a.m. to take the D train to the F to a bus that brought him to Carnation Avenue by 5:30.

Mr. Grays recounted these aspects of his biography to me at Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Clinton Hill, in Brooklyn. He brought along his mother; three of his brothers, among them a set of 4-year-old twins; and his aunt, who, he pointed out, had accomplished the feat of sending one of her children to Brooklyn Tech, the highly competitive high school. He quoted something his grandmother used to say: “The best way for a black man to become successful is to stay away from the cops, to keep a clean record.” Mr. Grays said he felt that he needed to live his life as an example for his siblings. He pointed to his fiancée, who sat silently in the corner. “I don’t hate cops,” he told me. “I’m marrying one.”

Kätzchen

03-28-2016, 08:14 AM

*Anya*

03-28-2016, 08:14 PM

Young Woman Aspired to be a Cop Until Her Mentor Officer Took Her Away and Raped Her

By Matt Agorist March 28, 2016

Las Cruces, NM — In 2011, Diana Guerrero, 17 at the time, was an aspiring young woman with hopes of becoming a police officer. Guerrero became a member of the Las Cruces police department’s high school intern program to pursue her dreams of law enforcement — when that dream turned into a nightmare.

Guerrero, who bravely came public after the incident, just settled a federal lawsuit for $3 million this week after her mentor officer in the high school intern program raped her. "It had never occurred to me that a person who had earned a badge would do this,” she said.

During a ride along with Las Cruces police detective Michael Garcia, who was ironically “assigned to a unit that focused on child abuse and sex crimes investigations” at the time, the pair headed out to a crime scene. However, instead of going to the crime scene, Garcia took the young girl to a secluded location and forced himself on her.

“The defendant abused his authority as a sex crimes detective in the most horrific way, exploiting the victim’s trust in him to commit his egregious acts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division, during Garcia’s trial.

In 2014, Garcia pleaded guilty to the assault and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

For nearly two years after the assault, Guerrero kept quiet out of fear. However, after feeling “like a piece of trash” in 2013, Guerrero says she bumped into a female detective who asked her why she had ended the internship program. “I just blurted it out,” Guerrero told KVIA, describing how she finally built up the courage to expose her attacker.

After Guerrero’s run in with the detective, without Garcia knowing it, his fellow detectives began investigating him and then confronted him with the allegations. Garcia confessed to the assault on an audio recording. Its contents are stomach turning.

KOB News also found out that Garcia’s department knew that he had problems, and yet they still allowed the teen to go out on a call with him.

A few years prior, records show that Detective Garcia had been reprimanded for having sex in his patrol car with a fellow officer’s girlfriend while drinking a bottle of wine. A used condom and empty wine bottle confirmed his supervisors’ suspicions.

In the confession of the sexual assault on the intern, Garcia is heard saying, “The badge gets you the pussy and the pussy gets you the badge. I don’t think we even kissed. I mean it was straight touching, touching! It was like three f****** minutes. Three minutes for the rest of my life. I’m gonna f****** go away.

Once word in Las Cruces spread of this monster’s actions, an underage family member also came forward and alleged that Garcia had been raping her for years.

“I am most happy and satisfied that this lawsuit brought to light a cesspool of sexual violence and harassment that exists in police departments across this country,” Guerrero tells the AP and she’s correct.

In only a six-year period, the AP exposed more than 1,000 officers who were fired for a range of sex crimes; it calls that number “unquestionably an undercount.”

According to KVIA, Guerrero now intends to pursue a career in nutrition.

**Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/girl-aspired-cop-mentor-officer-raped/#KrdLvSPzIA1C6gGx.99

Andrea

03-29-2016, 03:31 PM

Attorney: Deputies Offered Onlookers Cash After Beating Man

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/03/29/attorney-deputies-offered-onlookers-cash-after-beating-man/ (http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/03/29/attorney-deputies-offered-onlookers-cash-after-beating-man/)

An attorney says two Northern California sheriff’s deputies seen beating a suspect on video offered the man’s belongings to homeless onlookers in exchange for their silence.

The Oakland Tribune reports that attorney Michael Haddad represents beating victim Stanislav Petrov. He says the Alameda County deputies approached a homeless man in a San Francisco alley after the beating and gave him a large gold chain with a medallion, cash and a pack of cigarettes.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon says he hasn’t decided whether he will criminally charge the deputies in the incident.

The video released by the San Francisco public defender’s office shows both deputies repeatedly hitting a man with their batons as he screamed.

Deputies say they believed Petrov was armed and possibly on drugs.

Andrea

03-30-2016, 06:23 PM

Sheriff: Video shows deputy striking handcuffed suspect in face

http://www.wesh.com/news/seminole-county-sheriff-to-discuss-deputy-misconduct/38763446 (http://www.wesh.com/news/seminole-county-sheriff-to-discuss-deputy-misconduct/38763446)

During a news conference held Wednesday, Seminole County Sheriff Donald F. Eslinger discussed an incident involving misconduct by former Deputy Sheriff Michael O'Connor.

According to Eslinger, on Jan. 12, O'Connor was disrespectful to a person who was arrested for domestic violence, then struck him once on the face while he was handcuffed and in the back of a patrol car. The sheriff's office learned of the incident on March 18 and immediately began investigating, officials said.

O'Connor was charged Wednesday with one count of battery, a first-degree misdemeanor.

"We have a strong and long-standing relationship with the community we serve, and my commitment is to always be transparent with, and accountable to, our residents," Eslinger said.
"O'Connor's actions were not just a violation of policy and law, they were also contrary to our agency's core values. His behavior was completely inappropriate and totally inconsistent with what is expected of a deputy sheriff at our agency."

O'Connor was placed on suspension at the onset of the investigation and then submitted his resignation on March 24, WESH 2 News has learned. O'Connor had been employed with the sheriff's office as a deputy assigned to Seminole Neighborhood Policing (patrol division) since October 2013.

The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, 18th Judicial Circuit. The sheriff's office criminal and administrative investigations will be forwarded to the state's Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, which reviews officer misconduct and determines if action should be taken against a law enforcement officer's certification.

*Anya*

03-31-2016, 09:42 PM

Cop Who Shot Teen Boy 16 Times On Video Hired By Police Union

March 31, 2016

Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who is accused of murdering Laquan McDonald, was rehired by the police union three weeks ago as a janitor. Despite the fact that the Chicago PD already tried to cover up this incident and got caught, they apparently decided to bring the accused back into the fold while he awaits trial.

OTHERS HAVE LOST JOBS WITH POLICE DEPARTMENT OVER SAME INCIDENT

The truly bizarre aspect of this hiring is that this incident was so dirty and bungled the police chief was fired. You can’t help but ask, why were other people fired but the accused murderer is given another job?

The union stated it would do the same for any of its members and Van Dyke has not been able to hold a job due to the charges. They stated he is in a “very difficult situation, financially” and have decided to protect their member.

Protecting Van Dyke seems ridiculous, considering his record. The McDonald killing was not the first (or second, or even third) heinous incident Van Dyke was involved in. In fact, his record is quite long:

The veteran officer has had at least 15 complaints filed against him while working in high-crime neighborhoods, for accusations including using racial epithets and pointing a gun at an arrestee without justification.

In 2007, the officer was involved in a traffic stop in which he and his partner were found to have used excessive force on a man with no prior convictions, leading to a $350,000 award for damages in the case.

Chicago PD’s attempt to cover up this case is disgraceful. Van Dyke claimed McDonald came at the officers with a knife and swung aggressively at them . Van Dyke’s partner corroborated his story despite the fact Van Dyke was the only officer out of eight on the scene to discharge his weapon. The video, which the department fought to keep from the public, proved these accounts to be blatant lies.

While it is true that most police officers do their jobs correctly, there needs to be accountability for when an officer breaks the law.

America has a police violence problem that the numbers show doesn’t happen in many other advanced countries. The answers to this problem will vary, but they certainly do not include rehiring an accused murderer when others have paid for his actions with their careers.

http://reverbpress.com/justice/cop-who-shot-teen-boy-16-times-on-video-hired-by-police-union/

Cin

04-01-2016, 08:41 AM

‘Please Don’t Shoot Me,’ Unarmed Man Begs — Before Being Shot Dead by Arizona Police: Report

Distraught widow is now fighting to ensure that the officer responsible ends up behind bars.

A police report indicates that an unarmed young father of two begged for his life before being shot dead by a police officer in Mesa, Arizona. His distraught widow is now fighting to ensure that the officer responsible ends up behind bars.

According to KTAR radio in Phoenix, the newly-released police report indicates that Shaver told officers “please don’t shoot me,” shortly before he was indeed shot five times and killed.

Philip Brailsford, a former officer for in the Mesa Police Department, has been charged with second-degree murder, and he has pled not guilty. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said a plea deal is being considered, in place of going to trial.

On the night of Jan. 18, police were called to a hotel on reports of a suspect pointing a rifle out of the window. When police went to the room, they ordered Shaver and a woman to crawl out from the room. As Shaver was leaving, officers say he made a slight movement toward his waistline, at which point Brailsford shot him five times.

KTAR reports: “No weapons were recovered from Shaver’s body, but officers found two pellet rifles in the hotel room, which they later determined were related to his pest control job, police said.”

Shaver was 26 years old, and had wife and two daughters back home in Texas.

According to a Facebook post in January by Shaver’s widow, Laney Sweet, Shaver frequently traveled to Mesa as part of his job selling and servicing pest control equipment, which included the two pellet guns. She also said that he had been having dinner at the hotel with two people, “a man and a woman.”

“At some point, someone near the pool called the local police stating that they saw a man with a gun near the window of a 5th floor hotel room,” Sweet wrote. “Whether Daniel was the one holding it or he allowed the other man to view his equipment and look into the scope, we don’t know. The man left the room at some point, for what we think was a trip to the gas station.”

Sweet also wrote in that post that she had not been notified of her husband’s death, but had called every hospital and police station after she hadn’t heard back from him for two days — until she finally reached the coroner’s office.

This week, Sweet posted a new video on YouTube, opposing the plea deal has been offered to Brailsford, on the grounds that it would at most result in him serving three years and nine months in prison, and could potentially even result in probation.

She also plays back a recording of her conversation with the district attorney’s office, during which she felt silenced by the conditions that were being set if she were to be shown the video from Brailsford’s body cam. (Montgomery’s position was that it was necessary for Sweet to promise that she would not publicly describe the contents, or otherwise the defense team could potentially get an opportunity to say the case was being unfairly affected.)

Based, however, on the descriptions in this conversation itself made by Montgomery as well as by Sweet’s former attorney, who both saw the video, a person can get a decent idea of what is on it.

Brailsford was fired from the department on March 21, with records indicating another accusation of inappropriate force from months before the January incident.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/please-dont-shoot-me-unarmed-man-begs-being-shot-dead-arizona-police-report

*Anya*

04-01-2016, 09:05 AM

Cin

04-01-2016, 09:56 AM

This article was written in December so it's a few months old, but I think it hits on some points as to the whys of police aggression and I imagine countering those would begin to reverse the trend that has the US police killing more people in one month than the UK has in 25 years.

I think something that can be added to this article is the meme that the police are in a war with criminals and always in mortal danger. The reality is truck drivers, farmers and fishermen are more likely to die in the line of duty than police officers. But you wouldn't know that watching a TV cop show. The hysteria surrounding the war on police has to have an impact on cops. I know it would make me nervous thinking this way.

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/american-cops-kill-many-european/

Historic rates of fatal police shootings in Europe suggest that American police in 2014 were 18 times more lethal than Danish police and 100 times more lethal than Finnish police, plus they killed significantly more frequently than police in France, Sweden and other European countries.

As a scholar of sociology and criminal justice, I recently set out to understand why rates of police lethality in the US are so much higher than rates in Europe.

More guns and aggression

Such massive disparities defy a simple explanation, but America’s gun culture is clearly an important factor. Unlike European nations, most states make it easy for adults to purchase handguns for self-defense and to keep them handy at nearly all times.

Acquiring guns illegally in the US is not much harder. About 57% of this year’s deadly force victims to date were allegedly armed with actual, toy or replica guns. American police are primed to expect guns. The specter of gun violence may make them prone to misidentifying or magnifying threats like cellphones and screwdrivers. It may make American policing more dangerous and combat-oriented. It also fosters police cultures that emphasize bravery and aggression.

Americans armed with less-lethal weapons like knives – and even those known to be unarmed – are also more likely to be killed by police.

Less-lethal weapon holders make up only about 20% of deadly force victims in the US. Yet the rates of these deaths alone exceed total known deadly force rates in any European county.

Knife violence is a big problem in England, yet British police have fatally shot only one person wielding a knife since 2008 – a hostage-taker. By comparison, my calculations based on data compiled by fatalencounters.org and the Washington Post show that US police have fatally shot more than 575 people allegedly wielding blades and other such weapons just in the years since 2013.

Racism helps explain why African Americans and Native Americans are particularly vulnerable to police violence. Racism, along with a prevailing American ideology of individualism and limited government, helps explain why white citizens and legislators give so much support to controversial police shooters and aggressive police tactics and so little to criminals and poor people.

Not racism alone

But racism alone can’t explain why non-Latino white Americans are 26 times more likely to die by police gunfire than Germans. And racism alone doesn’t explain why states like Montana, West Virginia and Wyoming – where both perpetrators and victims of deadly force are almost always white – exhibit relatively high rates of police lethality.

An explanation may be found in a key distinguishing characteristic of American policing – its localism.

Each of America’s 15,500 municipal and county departments is responsible for screening applicants, imposing discipline and training officers when a new weapon like Tasers are adopted. Some underresourced departments may perform some of these critical tasks poorly.

To make matters worse, cash-strapped local governments like Ferguson, Missouri’s may see tickets, fines, impounding fees and asset forfeitures as revenue sources and push for more involuntary police encounters.

Dangers in small places

More than a quarter of deadly force victims were killed in towns with fewer than 25,000 people despite the fact that only 17% of the US population lives in such towns.

By contrast, as a rule, towns and cities in Europe do not finance their own police forces. The municipal police that do exist are generally unarmed and lack arrest authority.

As a result, the only armed police forces that citizens routinely encounter in Europe are provincial (the counterpart to state police in the US), regional (Swiss cantons) or national.

What’s more, centralized policing makes it possible to train and judge all armed officers according to the same use-of-force guidelines. It also facilitates the rapid translation of insights about deadly force prevention into enforceable national mandates.

In the US, the only truly national deadly force behavioral mandates are set by the Supreme Court, which in 1989 deemed it constitutionally permissible for police to use deadly force when they “reasonably” perceive imminent and grave harm. State laws regulating deadly force – in the 38 states where they exist – are almost always as permissive as Supreme Court precedent allows, or more so.

A different standard

By contrast, national standards in most European countries conform to the European Convention on Human Rights, which impels its 47 signatories to permit only deadly force that is “absolutely necessary” to achieve a lawful purpose. Killings excused under America’s “reasonable belief” standards often violate Europe’s “absolute necessity” standards.

For example, the unfounded fear of Darren Wilson – the former Ferguson cop who fatally shot Michael Brown – that Brown was armed would not have likely absolved him in Europe. Nor would officers’ fears of the screwdriver that a mentally ill Dallas man Jason Harrison refused to drop.

In Europe, killing is considered unnecessary if alternatives exist. For example, national guidelines in Spain would have prescribed that Wilson incrementally pursue verbal warnings, warning shots, and shots at nonvital parts of the body before resorting to deadly force. Six shots would likely be deemed disproportionate to the threat that Brown, unarmed and wounded, allegedly posed.

In the US, only eight states require verbal warnings (when possible), while warning and leg shots are typically prohibited. In stark contrast, Finland and Norway require that police obtain permission from a superior officer, whenever possible, before shooting anyone.

Not only do centralized standards in Europe make it easier to restrict police behavior, but centralized training centers efficiently teach police officers how to avoid using deadly weapons.

The Netherlands, Norway and Finland, for example, require police to attend a national academy – a college for cops – for three years. In Norway, over 5,000 applicants recently competed for the 700 annual spots.

Three years affords police ample time to learn to better understand, communicate with and calm distraught individuals. By contrast, in 2006, US police academies provided an average of 19 weeks of classroom instruction.

Under such constraints, the average recruit in the US spends almost 20 times as many hoursof training in using force than in conflict de-escalation. Most states require fewer than eight hours of crisis intervention training.

Desperate and potentially dangerous people in Europe are, therefore, more likely than their American counterparts to encounter well-educated and restrained police officers.

However, explanations of elevated police lethality in the US should focus on more than police policy and behavior. The charged encounters that give rise to American deadly force also result from weak gun controls, social and economic deprivation and injustice, inadequate mental health care and an intense desire to avoid harsh imprisonment.

Future research should examine not only whether American police behave differently but also whether more generous, supportive and therapeutic policies in Europe ensure that fewer people become desperate enough to summon, provoke or resist their less dangerous police.

Andrea

04-01-2016, 10:02 AM

There are so many police shootings, improper arrests, sex crimes committed by cops, injuries, etc., etc., sometimes I don't even want to find any more when I go online.

I don't post half of what I find because it is so disheartening and profoundly sad. There is a also a great sense of hopelessness.

What can be done at this point to change America from a police state back to some small essence of cops that knew their community and were there to help them. Didn't that exist? It is not just a Mayberry fantasy I carry in my head, is it?

It is scary times out in the world. Are the hiring ends of the police organizations not doing complete psychological exams/profiles/background checks, before they hire an officer? Are they cutting corners and not looking carefully at the men and women that they see hiring?

I am troubled that there are so many deaths, injuries, improper arrests; it gets overwhelming. I need to know because I should know.

The constant question that runs through my mind for me is:

What (if anything) can be done about it to bring some small sense of Mayberry-type policing back to our country? Is it too late?

Like you, I don't post half of what I read. Before posting, I read the article to make sure the situation occurred within the last two years and I eliminate any situations where the 'criminal' was found to be armed or attacked the police. Not because they deserved to be shot or harmed but because there are plenty of situations where use of any force was not necessary.

I don't believe we will ever achieve Mayberry but I do hope there will come a time that those with the power to harm others will be held accountable for using that power when it isn't necessary.

Andrea

04-01-2016, 10:36 AM

200 imprisoned based on illegal cellphone tracking, review finds

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/03/31/200-imprisoned-based-illegal-cellphone-tracking-review-finds/82489300/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/03/31/200-imprisoned-based-illegal-cellphone-tracking-review-finds/82489300/)

Lawyers in Baltimore have identified as many as 200 people who were sent to prison based on evidence police gathered with the help of a powerful cellphone tracking tool that a state court has now ruled was used illegally.

The ruling, issued Wednesday by Maryland’s second-highest court, said Baltimore police violated the Constitution when they used one of the tracking devices to catch a shooting suspect without first obtaining a search warrant. It was the first time an appeals court had weighed in directly on the legality of phone-trackers that have been widely — and mostly secretly — used by police agencies for nearly a decade.

“Cellphone users have an objectively reasonable expectation that their cellphones will not be used as real-time tracking devices, through the direct and active interference of law enforcement,” a panel of three judges on Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals wrote. The judges also accused Baltimore authorities of misleading the lower-court judge who had approved their use of the device, commonly known as a stingray.

That decision could imperil hundreds of criminal convictions in Baltimore and elsewhere in Maryland, where police have used stingrays prolifically. An investigation last year by USA TODAY identified nearly 2,000 cases in Baltimore alone in which the police had secretly used stingrays to make arrests for everything from murder to petty thefts, typically without obtaining a search warrant.

“We have a grave concern that our clients are incarcerated because of the use of a stingray that was illegal,” said Natalie Finegar, who is coordinating a review of stingray cases for the city’s public defender.

Finegar said defense lawyers are focused most urgently on about 200 cases in which people appear to have been sent to prison based on evidence the police found after they used a stingray. “Those are the emergencies,” she said. “By itself, it’s just a huge number of cases."

Stingrays are suitcase-sized devices that allow the police to pinpoint a cellphone’s location to within a few yards by posing as a cell tower. They have drawn alarm from privacy advocates, in part because they also can intercept information from the phones of nearly everyone else who happens to be nearby.

Dozens of police departments from Miami to Los Angeles own stingrays, but few have revealed when or how they use them, in large part because they signed nondisclosure agreements with the FBI. As a result, few courts have weighed in on the circumstances in which the police are permitted to use them.

The U.S. Justice Department last year ordered federal agents to obtain search warrants before using stingrays.

Maryland prosecutors can ask the state’s highest court to overturn Wednesday’s decision. Christine Tobar, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney general, said it was “reviewing and evaluating next steps.”

Even if it stands, the legal road for people imprisoned on the basis of what the judges declared to be an illegal search is far from straightforward. State law puts strict limits on when and how people serving prison sentences can challenge their convictions.

“This isn’t some kind of get out of jail free card. It might be different case by case,” American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Nathan Wessler said. “What’s clear from this opinion is that this secrecy cannot stand.”

A Baltimore detective testified last year that police had used their tracking device about 4,300 times since 2007.

Wednesday’s court opinion came in the case of Kerron Andrews, who was charged in a 2014 shooting. A city judge gave the police a “pen register” order — a court order that does not require the same level of proof as a search warrant — authorizing them to use a stingray to find him. Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals ruled that because police had not obtained a search warrant, prosecutors could not make use of the evidence they found when Andrews was arrested.

The judges announced their decision nearly a month ago, but did not lay out their reasoning or the legal problems with Baltimore’s surveillance until they delivered a 74-page opinion on Wednesday.

A Baltimore court ordered Andrews freed on bond while the state decides whether to appeal. His lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Deborah Levi, said he could be freed as soon as Friday.

Andrea

04-01-2016, 05:28 PM

Video shows white cops performing roadside cavity search of black man

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/04/01/video-shows-white-cops-performing-roadside-cavity-search-of-black-man/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/04/01/video-shows-white-cops-performing-roadside-cavity-search-of-black-man/)

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on an investigative series about police abuse in South Carolina. I’ve found a dizzying number of cases, including illegal arrests, botched raids, fatal shootings and serious questions about how all those incidents are investigated. Many of these cases were previously unreported, or if they were reported, the initial reports were a far cry from what actually happened. The series will run at some point in the next week. But in the meantime, I want to share one particularly horrifying incident that I came across this week while researching the series.

According to a federal lawsuit filed by attorney Robert Phillips, what you see in the video below occurred in the town of Aiken, S.C., starting at about 12:20 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2014. The two occupants of the car are black. All the police officers are white.

This edited dashcam video shows white police officers in Aiken, S.C., stop and search a black couple. The police are accused of conducting illegal searches, including a rectal search on the male occupant. (Aiken Police Department)

Here’s what happened: Lakeya Hicks and Elijah Pontoon were in Hicks’s car just a couple of blocks from downtown Aiken when they were pulled over by Officer Chris Medlin of the Aiken Department of Public Safety. Hicks was driving. She had recently purchased the car, so it still had temporary tags.

In the video, Medlin asks Hicks to get out, then tells her that he stopped her because of the “paper tag” on her car. This already is a problem. There’s no law against temporary tags in South Carolina, so long as they haven’t expired.

Medlin then asks Pontoon for identification. Since he was in the passenger seat, Pontoon wouldn’t have been required to provide ID even if the stop had been legitimate. Still, he provides his driver’s license to Medlin. A couple of minutes later, Medlin tells Hicks that her license and tags check out. (You can see the time stamp in the lower left corner of the video.) This should be the end of the stop — which, again, should never have happened in the first place.

Instead, Medlin orders Pontoon out of the vehicle and handcuffs him. He also orders Hicks out of the car. Pontoon then asks Medlin what’s happening. Medlin ignores him. Pontoon asks again. Medlin responds that he’ll “explain it all in a minute.” Several minutes later, a female officers appears. Medlin then tells Pontoon, “Because of your history, I’ve got a dog coming in here. Gonna walk a dog around the car.” About 30 seconds later, he adds, “You gonna pay for this one, boy.”

Moments later, a K9 officer named Clark Smith arrives. He walks around the car with his dog. A fourth police officer then shows up. The four officers then spend the next 15 minutes conducting a thorough search of the car. Early into the search, Medlin exclaims, “Uh-huh!” as if he has found something incriminating. But nothing comes of it.

After the search of the car comes up empty, Medlin tells the female officer to “search her real good,” referring to Hicks. The personal search of Hicks is conducted off camera, but according to the complaint filed by Phillips, it allegedly involved exposing Hicks’s breasts on the side of the road in a populated area. The complaint also alleges that this was all done in direct view of the three male officers. That search, too, produced no contraband.

The officers then turn their attention to Pontoon. Medlin asks Pontoon to get out of the car. He cuffs him and begins to pat him down. Toward the end of the first video, at about the 12:46:30 mark, he tells Pontoon: “You’ve got something here right between your legs. There’s something hard right there between your legs.” Medlin says that he’s going to “put some gloves on.”

The anal probe happens out of direct view of the camera, but the audio leaves little doubt about what’s happening. Pontoon at one point says that one of the officers is grabbing his hemorrhoids. Medlin appears to reply, “I’ve had hemorrhoids, and they ain’t that hard.” At about 12:47:15 in the video, the audio actually suggests that two officers may have inserted fingers into Pontoon’s rectum, as one asks, “What are you talking about, right here?” The other replies, “Right straight up in there.”

Pontoon then again tells the officers that they’re pushing on a hemorrhoid. One officer responds, “If that’s a hemorrhoid, that’s a hemorrhoid, all right? But that don’t feel like no hemorrhoid to me.”

The officers apparently continue to search Pontoon’s rectum for another three minutes. They found no contraband. At 12:50:25, Medlin tells Pontoon to turn around and explains that he suspects him because he recognized him from when he worked narcotics. “Now I know you from before, from when I worked dope. I seen you. That’s why I put a dog on the car.”

That was Medlin’s “reasonable suspicion” to call for a drug dog — he thought he recognized Pontoon from a drug case. Medlin could well have been correct about recognizing Pontoon. He has a lengthy criminal history that includes drug charges, although his record appears to be clean since 2006, save for one arrest for “failure to comply.” Of course, even if Medlin did recognize Pontoon, that in itself isn’t cause to even stop him, much less search his car, or to subject him to a roadside cavity search.

With no contraband and no traffic violation to justify the stop in the first place, Medlin concluded the stop by giving Hicks a “courtesy warning,” although according to the complaint, there’s no indication of what the warning was actually for. Perhaps it was to warn to steer clear of police officers in Aiken.

Andrea: Click the link for more instances

Kätzchen

04-02-2016, 11:59 AM

Thanks for posting that article Andrea.

By chance, have you read about the black judge, Justice Olu Stevens who filed an emergency lawsuit, earlier this past week?

Justice Stevens spoke out about racism from the bench and is taking lots of heat for doing so.

Here's an link to that news story, if you or others might be interested in reading about this situation:

http://m.nydailynews.com/king-black-ky-judge-pays-price-speaking-racism-article-1.2585022?e

Andrea

04-02-2016, 05:43 PM

Video: APD officer repeatedly punched suspect in back of head during arrest

http://keyetv.com/news/local/video-apd-officer-repeatedly-punched-suspect-in-back-of-head-during-arrest (http://keyetv.com/news/local/video-apd-officer-repeatedly-punched-suspect-in-back-of-head-during-arrest)

A Facebook videoshows an Austin Police officer repeatedly punching a suspect in the back of the head during an arrest.

APD says the man in the video is Sisto Quiroz, 31. He was arrested for a forgery warrant and resisting arrest.

Court documents say last December Quiroz broke into a woman's mailbox and stole a check made out to her for more than $1,000. He tried to cash it at a check cashing business in Southeast Austin but was denied after the clerk called the company that wrote the check to verify it was indeed made out to him.

Further details on the arrest were not immediately available. But APD did release the following statement:

This case is still being reviewed by the Chain of Command. The individual arrested has been identified as Sisto Quiroz, arrested for warrant and resisting arrest.

Andrea

04-03-2016, 08:13 AM

Video Reportedly Shows Navajo Woman did not Raise Scissors Towards Winslow Police Officers

http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/video-reportedly-shows-navajo-woman-not-raise-scissors-towards-winslow-police-officers/ (http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/video-reportedly-shows-navajo-woman-not-raise-scissors-towards-winslow-police-officers/)

WINSLOW, ARIZONA— David Villaescusa, a former corrections officer with the Arizona Department of Corrections, stayed up all Sunday night awaiting confirmation of the death of his cousin, Loreal Tsingine, 27, who he helped raise since she was 10.

“I took her in after her father died. Her mother was an alcoholic and died when Loreal was 19. She lived with me off and on since she was ten. Even now, she would come to my house to do laundry. She called me, dad,” said Villaescusa.

Mingling in the crowd with other members of the public, he did not immediately identify himself as being a relative of the young mother, who was reportedly shot five times by Winslow Police Officer Austin Shipley on Easter Sunday afternoon.

Shipley was one of two officers who responded to a reported shoplifting of beer from the Circle K in Winslow. The shoplifter was described as a Native American female wearing gray sweatpants and a white top.

Two blocks from Villaescusa’s house, the two officers attempted to apprehend Tsingine.

According to the police press release, while attempting to take the subject into custody, a struggle ensued. The subject displayed a weapon which the responding officer perceived as a substantial threat. The officer discharged his weapon resulting in the death of 27-year-old Loreal Tsingine.

“She had a pair of scissors that she used to cut her hair split-ends,” states Villaescusa. “She stood only five feet tall and weighed less than 100 lbs. Shipley, on the other hand, is over six feet tall and weighs over 200 pounds. I don’t think he had to shoot her.”

Villaescusa maintains he overheard the other officer tell backup officers that Shipley got “trigger happy.”

“I had to wait until 4:00 a.m. before the police told me the person killed was Loreal,” Villaescusa told Native News Online.

Tsingine’s death is being investigated by Arizona Department of Public Safety, which is standard operating procedure for a police department the size of Winlow’s.

According to Villaescusa, a private citizen videotaped the deadly shooting with his smartphone.

“I watched the video. She never raised those scissors towards the officer. It has been reported she stole a case of beer from the Circle K. I did not see any beer in the video,” says Villaescusa.

Villaescusa says the video has been sent to law enforcement. The private citizen does not want publicity.

Raul Garcia, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety told Native News Online, he could not comment on whether or not there is a videotape of the deadly incident.

On Wednesday, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye called for an independent investigation into the shooting death of Tsingine by Winslow police officer Shipley, who has been placed on leave.

Andrea

04-03-2016, 04:18 PM

Unable to Pay $100 Bail, Homeless Man Dies in New Hampshire Jail

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/us/unable-to-pay-100-bail-homeless-man-dies-in-new-hampshire-jail.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/us/unable-to-pay-100-bail-homeless-man-dies-in-new-hampshire-jail.html)

In their last conversation, Jeffrey Pendleton told his father that he was doing well, living in New Hampshire with a woman and working at a Burger King restaurant.

About four months later, a different story unfolded. Mr. Pendleton was homeless, and on March 13 he was found dead in a jail cell in Manchester, where he was being held for a misdemeanor because he could not pay the $100 bail.

“The police told me to talk to the detective in New Hampshire,” Mr. Pendleton’s father, Joseph, said Friday from his home in Palestine, Ark. “He said they did a cell check, and found him unconscious. Then two hours later he was dead.”

His family buried him last week in Palestine, but the authorities are still investigating how the 26-year old black man who had no known health problems died so suddenly.

“They said they did not find anything wrong with the body, that he shouldn’t have been dead,” the elder Mr. Pendleton said he was told by the coroner. “What they found was a healthy 26-year old man.”

Jennie V. Duval, the deputy chief medical examiner working on his case, said Mr. Pendleton’s autopsy was inconclusive and the official cause of death was awaiting the toxicology report, with blood test results not expected for four weeks.

“There was no naked eye evidence of trauma or disease,” Ms. Duval said. “We definitely ruled out foul play.”

Mr. Pendleton’s death has drawn attention to New Hampshire’s practice of putting in jail people who cannot make bail, often on misdemeanor charges. As The New York Times has reported in a series of reports, specialists say the money-based bail system in the United States routinely means that poor defendants are punished before they get their day in court, often keeping them incarcerated longer than if they had been convicted right away.

Last month, the Justice Department sent a letter asking state chief justices and court administrators around the country to change their practices on fines and fees. The aim, it said, was to avoid the harm that falls on people who are unable to pay, and who “lose their jobs and become trapped in cycles of poverty that can be nearly impossible to escape.”

The department urged the courts to consider alternatives to jail for defendants unable to pay fines and fees.

“Bail that is set without regard to defendants’ financial capacity can result in the incarceration of individuals not because they pose a threat to public safety or a flight risk, but rather because they cannot afford the assigned bail amount,” the letter said.

Mr. Pendleton was arrested on March 8 at about 10 p.m. at a house in Nashua, where the police were sent to help probation and parole officers. Officers discovered two warrants for Mr. Pendleton’s arrest for nonpayment of fines: one for disorderly conduct and the other for a city ordinance violation, said Capt. Eric Nordengren of the Nashua police.

Mr. Pendleton was taken to the Nashua police station, where they found a small quantity of marijuana, and then to the county jail in Manchester, Captain Nordengren said. In a preliminary appearance in Nashua District Court, his bail was set at $100, which he was unable to pay.

Then on March 13, Mr. Pendleton was found unconscious in his cell at 2:45 p.m. and could not be revived; he was pronounced dead at 3:19 p.m., the jail said in a statement. “There appeared no indication that Mr. Pendleton was in any form of distress,” David Dionne, the jail superintendent, said in a report by The Union Leader.

A court document said that Mr. Pendleton was to have been held on the “act prohibited” misdemeanor charge until a hearing on April 7.

“That’s approximately one month,” said Gilles Bissonnette, a director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire who had provided Mr. Pendleton with legal support. “At that point, he would have effectively served his sentence before he ever had an opportunity to contest the charge — an outcome that only a poor person would be confronted with.”

Mr. Pendleton’s ordeal also garnered some attention because he had previously won settlements worth thousands of dollars against two New Hampshire cities for run-ins with the police.

The City of Nashua agreed to pay $15,000 to settle a civil claim by the A.C.L.U. and Mr. Pendleton after he was arrested in 2014 for walking in a public park, according to a copy of the settlement provided by Mr. Bissonnette. About $10,315 went to Mr. Pendleton and the rest to the A.C.L.U. in New Hampshire.

The following year, the City of Hudson agreed to pay $37,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by the A.C.L.U. for Mr. Pendleton that said the police issued him a summons for panhandling, which they said was illegal. Mr. Pendleton was allotted about $7,000 of that money.

According to the Hudson lawsuit, Mr. Pendleton arrived in the Nashua area in 2009 and worked in low-wage jobs at fast-food restaurants. He had been homeless since a divorce in 2013, then lost his job and started sleeping in the woods.

Mr. Bissonnette said his office did not have significant contact with Mr. Pendleton after the cases were resolved with settlements. Asked why Mr. Pendleton was unable to pay the $100 bail last month, he said, “I don’t know that answer.”

*Anya*

04-03-2016, 07:24 PM

A Sheriffs Deputy was trying to serve an eviction notice and a female pit bull ran up and barked at the deputy when he entered the dog's yard.

The dog didn't attack the Deputy, just barked at him.

vkDN66XBm2I

Andrea

04-06-2016, 05:31 AM

Parents called 911 to help suicidal daughter — and ‘police ended up putting a bullet in her’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/04/06/parents-called-911-to-help-suicidal-daughter-and-police-ended-up-putting-a-bullet-in-her/?postshare=1821459940964031&tid=ss_tw (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/04/06/parents-called-911-to-help-suicidal-daughter-and-police-ended-up-putting-a-bullet-in-her/?postshare=1821459940964031&tid=ss_tw)

Melissa Boarts’s family was frantic to find her.

They said the 36-year-old suffered from manic depression and had been threatening to slit her wrists when she jumped into her car Sunday and went for a drive down Interstate 85, toward Auburn, Ala.

Her twin told the Montgomery Advertiser that she started tracking her sister’s movements via GPS and calling out the route to their parents. At one point, they caught a glimpse of her SUV before she disappeared.

Finally, she stopped.

“We were afraid she was going to hurt herself,” her mother, Terry Boarts, told the newspaper. “We figured she was going to bleed out right there.”

The parents called 911 for help.

But instead of assisting, “police ended up putting a bullet in her,” they said in a statement issued by the family’s attorney.

Auburn police said Melissa Boarts charged at them with an unidentified weapon Sunday, prompting an officer to open fire and kill her.

Now the family is pursuing legal action.

Julian McPhillips, the attorney for the family, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the parents believe Boarts may have had a pocket knife — “but certainly no gun” — and argued that shooting her was “totally unjustified.”

“They are all deeply mourning and deeply hurt,” McPhillips said of her family.

Boarts is one of at least 262 people who have been fatally shot by police so far in 2016, according to a Washington Post database. At least 41 of those killed by police were carrying a knife or other blade, and about a quarter of all police shooting victims were mentally ill or experiencing an emotional crisis.

People with untreated mental illness are 16 times as likely to be killed during a police encounter as other civilians approached or stopped by law enforcement, according to a study from the Treatment Advocacy Center.

McPhillips said the Boarts family intends to pursue the case “very vigorously,” demanding dash-camera and body-camera footage from the scene.

“It’s difficult to get true justice,” he said, “because you can’t bring somebody back to life.”

After Melissa Boarts disappeared Sunday, her mother went looking for her, with her 2-year-old granddaughter in tow.

“We were able to find out she was headed on the interstate going to Auburn,” Terry Boarts told the Montgomery Advertiser. “She was threatening to slit her wrists with a knife.”

Terry Boarts told the newspaper that she called police and told them her daughter was “having mental issues — that she was bipolar, that she had been really depressed, that she was saying she was going to cut her wrists.”

She said she told the authorities that her daughter had a knife.

Auburn police said officers responded at about 3:40 p.m. to a call about a suicidal motorist on Interstate 85 and followed the vehicle until the driver stopped on Red Creek Road in Macon County.

Police said she “exited the vehicle armed with a weapon and charged the officers in a threatening manner at which time the officers discharged their weapons, striking the driver.”

The Macon County Coroner told Al.com that Boarts died from a single gunshot wound.

Police vehicles, a helicopter and ambulances swarmed the scene, according to reports.

The Boarts family told the Montgomery Advertiser they were informed there had been a fatality.

“We’re still assuming the road ended and she hit a tree,” Terry Boarts told the newspaper. “They never told us she had been shot.”

The woman’s twin sister, Melinda Boarts, said police finally came back and said “they shot her.”

Her father, Michael Boarts, who worked 25 years as an officer for the Alabama Department of Corrections, said it was “absolutely outrageous.”

“There was absolutely no justification for it and we are all in deep mourning,” Michael Boarts said in the statement through the family’s attorney.

Since January 2015, The Post has tracked more than 1,100 fatal shootings by on-duty police officers, with one in four involving someone who was either in the midst of a mental health crisis or was explicitly suicidal. A Post analysis has found that in half of those cases, the officers involved were not properly trained to deal with the mentally ill — and in many cases, officers responded with tactics that quickly made a volatile situation even more dangerous.

Auburn police called it a “tragedy for the Boarts family as well as the officers involved.”

“Officers within the Auburn Police Division have encountered thousands of situations involving those with weapons or individuals intending to harm themselves,” police said in a statement. “It has been nearly 40 years since an Auburn Police Officer was required to use force that ended in the death of another. It is unfortunate when someone intends to harm themselves and involves law enforcement to do so.

“Officers within the Auburn Police Division are trained to deal with disturbed individuals and have experience in doing so.”

The State Bureau of Investigations, Macon County Sheriff’s Department and Macon County Coroner’s Office are investigating the incident, according to news reports. Findings will be released to the Macon County District Attorney.

Andrea

04-06-2016, 11:16 AM

Family of woman who died in Los Angeles jail disputes coroner's suicide report

http://abc7.com/news/family-of-woman-who-died-in-la-jail-disputes-coroners-suicide-report-/1273367/ (http://abc7.com/news/family-of-woman-who-died-in-la-jail-disputes-coroners-suicide-report-/1273367/)

Family and friends demanded answers outside the Los Angeles Police Department's Metropolitan Detention Center Friday night after 36-year-old Wakiesha Wilson was found dead in her jail cell.

Coroner's officials say Wilson hanged herself, but her family says that makes no sense.

"I don't believe that, my daughter would not kill herself. It's not like this is the first time she's been incarcerated. No, she had too much to live for," said Wilson's mother, Lisa Hines.

Wilson had a 13-year-old son, and her family says she was not suicidal.

Her family last spoke to her on Easter morning. They say they went over details of her hearing, which was scheduled for Tuesday. She was expected to be released and told them she would call back later that night, but she never did.

"She planned on coming to my house. She told us to come to court because she was coming back home with me," Wilson's cousin, Quanesha Francis, said in tears.

Her family went to court Tuesday, but Wilson never appeared. After repeatedly trying to get an answer as to where Wilson was, her mother says she was given a number on Wednesday and was asked to call the coroner's office.

"They knew when I was at court. They knew Monday when I called. They knew Monday because she died Sunday," Hines said.

An attorney hired by Wilson's family, Jaaye Person-Lynn, says he wants to know why the department never notified her family and says there are serious questions about what may have happened prior to Wilson's death.

"We know there was some kind of disagreement with a detention officer or an LAPD officer. We know that after that disagreement she passed away," Person-Lynn said.

The attorney says Wilson was bipolar but believes that had nothing to do with her death. The LAPD says it can't comment on the ongoing investigation.

Andrea

04-07-2016, 07:59 AM

Video shows San Antonio school officer body-slamming girl

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-shows-san-antonio-school-officer-body-slamming-girl/?linkId=23139802 (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-shows-san-antonio-school-officer-body-slamming-girl/?linkId=23139802)

Officials in San Antonio were investigating video that apparently shows a school district police officer body-slamming a middle school student to the ground.

In the video, a uniformed officer is seen struggling with a girl, then slamming her to the ground. The officer appears to handcuff the girl before having her stand and leading her away.

Gloria Valdez, the 12-year-old girl's mother, told CBS affiliate KENS it was completely uncalled for.

"Supposedly he was threatened by her that she kicked him, but in the video her legs never went up," Valdez said.

Valdez's daughter did not want to go on camera but told KENS that she was having a conversation with another girl when a crowd surrounded them. She said that's when the officer put his hands on her.

"All he had to is grab her and put her to the side," Valdez said.

A spokeswoman for the San Antonio Independent School District said the officer has been placed on paid leave.

Leslie Price told the San Antonio Express-News that the video posted online shows part of a verbal confrontation between two students at Rhodes Middle School on March 29.

The district did not identify the officer or the student. The person who posted the video said the officer was Joshua Kehm.

"This video is very concerning, and we are working to get all of the details," Price told the newspaper. "We certainly want to understand what all occurred, and we are not going to tolerate excessive force in our district."

Valdez said the force was so powerful it knocked her daughter out.

"She was, I guess, unconscious. She doesn't remember being arrested with handcuffs," Valdez noted. "[She's] bruised because of how she was hit on the cement."

Valdez just hopes something good will come out of this

"I just want justice for my daughter," Valdez said. "How do we know this officer won't do it again to another student."

Andrea

04-07-2016, 03:08 PM

Cops, K9 Attacked This Man and They’re Covering Up His Death

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/07/cops-k9-attacked-this-man-and-they-re-covering-up-his-death.html?source=socialflow&via=twitter_page&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/07/cops-k9-attacked-this-man-and-they-re-covering-up-his-death.html?source=socialflow&via=twitter_page&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter)

When police came to Pamela White’s work on March 31 last year, they told her that her son had died of a heart attack on his way to the hospital.

What they didn’t say was that Phillip White died after Vineland, New Jersey police officers Louis Platania and Rich Janasiak tackled him and sicced their canine on him.

Since then, authorities in Cumberland County have refused to provide Pamela with an autopsy for her 32-year-old son because of the ongoing investigation.

“I just went ballistic and started crying,” she remembers of the day police showed up at her work with the grim news.

911 audio released the week after Phillip’s death showed police were called because White was acting strangely and yelling in the street. People started coming out of their homes when they heard the commotion and at least two began filming when officers arrived and got rough with Phillip. (A truck driver passing by leaned out of his window to tell the officers to lay off, Pamela said.)

In one recording, an officer straddles White and punches him as the police dog is called over. Both officers continue to assail White, who was not armed. Toward the end of the video, White can be seen panting heavily as the police dog pulls at his arm, flailing limply.

“Yo, get that dog off of him,” one of the men recording the scene says. “He’s knocked out!”

“He’s not even moving,” the man continues. “Get that dog off of him!”

“I haven’t seen it,” Pamela said with disgust of the video. “Whenever it pops up I just click away from it. I know what I know from what everyone has told me, and that’s more than enough.”

In addition to roughly handling White, the cops then tried to cover up the incident.

“You see what happened? All of it?” one officer asks a bystander. When the person confirms that the arrest was recorded, the cop replies, “I’ll need your information and I’m going to take your phone.”

Filming police as long as you aren’t interfering with them is legal in New Jersey, which even the president of the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police recognizes.

In a second video, White is seen turned over onto his stomach and straddled again as an officer handcuffs him. What is not seen is when or how he was put into an ambulance. More importantly, however, is what we don’t have: an autopsy.

“It took a long time until we were even able to get the death certificate in this case,” said Stanley King, attorney for the White family. King says the police dog bit White’s upper torso, and we can see in the video the dog also bit his arm.

More than a year later, authorities in Vineland, New Jersey continue to refuse releasing Phillip’s autopsy or even his official cause of death to his family. The excuse is that autopsy results could taint a potential grand jury pool reviewing the death, but that didn’t stop the officers’ attorneys from publicly speculating that White was on PCP.

“We expect that the autopsy will demonstrate there was nothing physical about his person that caused his death,” the attorney told the press on April 8 last year, noting the “super-human strength” that comes with PCP use.

Harold Shapiro of the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, who is in charge of the investigation, had no comment when asked if it was possible that the attorney could have viewed White’s autopsy before the family does. But one thing about the attorney’s statement is clear: he is working with more information about White’s death than his own family.

Shapiro also would not say whether a grand jury has been convened to consider possible charges against the officers—despite a July 2015 directive from the New Jersey attorney general that states a grand jury of 23 citizens must be convened when police use deadly force, save a few circumstances.

Shapiro, as he has for the last year, simply repeated his no comment mantra.

“I cannot comment on anything involved with this because it is an ongoing investigation.”

Still, Pamela waits.

“Under any circumstances it would be hard, but for him to be gone in the manner that he was taken, it just breaks my heart,” she told The Daily Beast of her son. “I feel that Phillip should be here with me.”

If White died of a heart attack—as police initially told his mother—and if he attacked police as some have claimed, the officers will likely not be charged when the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office finally releases its decision.

But why sit on an autopsy report that confirms this for more than a year?

“I’m sure they are waiting for the public furor to die down, and that’s normally the case in these types of situations.” King said. “I’m extremely nervous that this year of this investigation does not bode well for Mr. White.”

A prosecutor or the attorney general’s office can refuse to release autopsy results if an ongoing investigation is underway, according to a 2005 New Jersey law. The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office cited that law in its denial of The Daily Beast’s request for White’s autopsy report last June.

Both the 2005 law and the 2015 directive firmly state that zero information regarding a police use of force incident should be released while the investigation is ongoing, hence Shapiro’s tight-lipped treatment of the case. Both also firmly state that anyone found to have leaked information should be legally punished. Maybe that will apply to the officers’ attorney, maybe it will not.

“They had their little smear campaign,” Pamela says.

Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae recused herself from the case because she knows Pamela White personally, so the task fell on Shapiro, the assistant prosecutor.

“I’ve been hearing literally for months now that they’re hoping to be able to release the findings in no short order however I’ve seen nothing,” said King, the attorney for the White family. “I am at a loss as to why this investigation has taken so long.”

Shapiro’s own office has shown it can conclude a use of force investigation in a more reasonable amount of time. It took the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office eight months to determine that the officers involved in Jerame Reid’s death in nearby Bridgeton, New Jersey should not be charged. The office refused to release any information about the incident at the time, because it said a grand jury would look into Reid’s death.

But we don’t know if a grand jury has been convened for White. A simple yes or no question was met with untold variations of “no comment” on Tuesday by Shapiro. The 2015 directive requires grand juries “unless the undisputed facts of the case indicate that the use of force was justified under the law.”

King believes the facts surrounding White’s death are far from undisputed.

“I have no doubt that the force that was used was unreasonable and excessive,” he said.

As the one-year anniversary of her son’s passing came and went, Pamela White has waited. Meanwhile Shapiro has refused to answer any questions regarding the case over the past year, and the cause of Phillip’s death remains a matter of pure speculation.

“It just hurts me to see my grandchildren crying,” she said of Phillip’s fatherless children. “It hurts for me to sit here expecting a knock on the door, for him to come knocking and asking what I’m cooking, or for him to call me. It’s just traumatizing; there’s no other way to put it.

“My life has been forever changed by his death.”

Still, she waits.

*Anya*

04-07-2016, 03:35 PM

Judge clears cop of sex assault of colleague's 9-year-old, orders counseling

By Steve Schmadeke
Chicago Tribune

A Cook County judge who had cleared a longtime Chicago police sergeant of the sexual assault of a colleague's young daughter, convicting him instead of misdemeanor battery, ordered the cop Wednesday to undergo up to two years of sex offender counseling.

In explaining the unusual move, Judge Charles Burns said prosecutors had failed at trial to prove, as required by law, that Dennis Barnes fondled the girl for his own sexual arousal, yet the judge said he believed "something was going on, and that's something that I find disturbing."

The alleged victim's mother, herself a Chicago police officer who had invited Barnes to her home for the first time for a family barbecue, blasted the judge's decision, saying she felt Barnes had been given preferential treatment because he was a Chicago cop.

"I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe it because of all the evidence," she said, wiping away tears after court Wednesday as she recalled the judge's decision to find Barnes guilty of a lesser, nonsexual offense after a short bench trial in January. "The judge even admitted that it disgusted him, so why would you say it's only a misdemeanor battery?"

The Tribune is not naming the mother or her daughter because of the sexual nature of the allegations. The girl was 9 at the time of the alleged assault in August 2014.

Barnes was charged with felony attempted predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The 27-year department veteran resigned from the force three months after he was charged, a police spokesman said.

Barnes apologized Wednesday to the judge but said his actions that day were accidental. His attorney, Michael Clancy, told the judge his client had been drinking for hours that day.

"I'm deeply, deeply regretful," said Barnes, 63. "Whatever it was, was an accident, but I feel sorry for her."

The judge rejected that claim in sentencing Barnes to 60 days in Cook County Jail in addition to placing him on intensive probation intended for sex offenders for two years. In addition to counseling, Barnes will undergo a psychological evaluation to determine if he has pedophile tendencies or other issues.

"I don't believe this was incidental contact," Burns said. "I don't believe it was an accident."

Barnes two weeks before reporting to jail but ordered that he immediately be placed on electronic monitoring.

Prosecutors alleged that Barnes was "grooming" the girl for the alleged assault after arriving at the family's home, reading a book with her for an hour and letting her play with his cellphone before sitting next to her on the couch as she watched a movie with her brother, then 15.

He massaged her feet, rubbed her legs and then reached into her shorts and attempted to sexually assault her, prosecutors alleged. When her mother entered the room, the girl began crying and told her what had happened.

"(Barnes) told the victim that he was her mother's boss," Assistant State's Attorney Tracy Senica told the judge. "And she testified that she didn't scream because she didn't want to get her mom into trouble."

The mother was outraged that Barnes escaped a sex-related felony conviction, saying she felt any "normal citizen" wouldn't have caught such a break. She also was disappointed with the 60-day sentence.

"I mean I've never heard of anybody being charged with two felony sexual charges and then getting a misdemeanor battery," she said. "I've never heard of that, and I've been doing this job a long time."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-cop-sex-offender-counseling-met-20160406-story.html

Andrea

04-08-2016, 09:48 AM

San Francisco police shoot, kill homeless man with knife

http://www.kcra.com/news/san-francisco-police-shoot-kill-homeless-man-with-knife/38929690?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=FBPAGE&utm_campaign=KCRA%203&Content%20Type=Story (http://www.kcra.com/news/san-francisco-police-shoot-kill-homeless-man-with-knife/38929690?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=FBPAGE&utm_campaign=KCRA%203&Content%20Type=Story)

San Francisco Police officers shot and killed a homeless man carrying a knife, the third fatal shooting of a minority suspect without a gun over the last two years.

The shooting Thursday morning in the city's Mission District neighborhood comes amid the department's attempt to reform its "use-of-force" policies and repair an image battered by two separate incidents of officers exchanging racist and homophobic text messages.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr says two officers shot the unidentified Latino man after he refused demands to drop a knife and after the suspect was shot four times with nonlethal beanbags.

The incident was the second fatal shooting of a knife-wielding suspect since December. The previous shooting of knife-wielding black man along with the fatal shooting of a Latino man carrying a stun gun In March 2014 and the recent texting scandals has led to several protests, calls for the chief's firing and wrongful death lawsuits.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently agreed to requests from Suhr and Mayor Ed Lee to review the department's procedures and policies. Suhr has called in outside law enforcement experts to help the department develop less lethal responses to suspects not carrying guns.

The latest incident began Thursday morning when city homeless outreach officials checking on residents living in tents called police to report a man carrying a knife, Suhr said. Suhr didn't identify the man, who officers reported charging at them before firing.

Seven bullets casings were found and the kitchen knife recovered, Suhr said. The blade was 10 inches to 12 inches long, and witnesses described it as a chef's knife, he said.

Two witnesses say a language barrier may have contributed to the shooting. John Visor and Stephanie Grant said they lived in a tent in the same encampment as the suspect and say he spoke only Spanish and that the officers barked their commands to drop the knife in English.

Visor, 33, and Grant, 31, say the man was confused and walking in a circle when the officers hit him with the beanbags and then opened fire with guns. They say the man had stuffed the knife into his waistband before he was shot.

"Everybody carries something for protection here," Visor said. "He didn't have the knife in his hand when he was shot."

Visor and Grant knew the man only as Jose. They said Jose liked to collect bottles and cans for recycling and enjoyed kicking a soccer ball, sometimes late into the night and to the occasional annoyance of pedestrians.

"He never hurt anybody," Visor said. "He just liked to pick up cans."

The mayor said in a statement that "we are all striving to make sure officer involved shootings are rare and only occur as a last resort." Lee said he has requested an independent investigation from the Office of Citizen complaints in addition to the customary investigations by the Police Department and district attorney.

The last previous fatal shooting that involved San Francisco police occurred on Dec. 2, when five officers fatally shot Mario Woods 20 times, including six times in the back, in an incident caught on video.

Woods' family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

On Wednesday, the city's police commission agreed to reconsider its ban on arming San Francisco police officers with stun guns because of the Woods incident and the 2014 police shooting death of Alex Nieto, a college student carrying a stun gun that officers mistook for a handgun. Nieto carried a stun gun for his job as a security guard.

A federal grand jury earlier this year ruled the officers acted appropriately and refused to award Nieto's family any damages after a trial in San Francisco.

San Francisco is one of only two of the nation's largest cities in the country that do not equip officers with stun guns.

Andrea

04-09-2016, 09:35 AM

Man with knives killed by Sacramento police; 3 officers on leave

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article70710997.html (http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article70710997.html)

A use of force investigation is underway after Sacramento police shot and killed a man armed with knives whom officers say came toward them in an aggressive manner Friday morning in South Sacramento.

Three police officers who fired shots during the incident are on administrative leave, according to the police department.

The incident started with reports of a man acting suspiciously. He was detained, but escaped custody and was later shot on a nearby street. The man was killed. The officers were uninjured, said Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Bryce Heinlein.

As soon as they opened the door he took off running

Resident Jeffery Jones, describing how a man escaped from the rear of a police car. The man was soon after shot and killed by police

Police said the incident began on the 7600 block of Prescott Way, which is in the Parkway neighborhood near Mack Road and Center Parkway.

At around 6:30 a.m. Friday , longtime area resident Jeffery Jones said he saw a man wandering the neighborhood looking drugged and confused.

“I said ‘What can I do for you,’ ” Jones said. “He said ‘I’m lost.”

The man walked away, but continued looking into homes, Jones said.

At around 8 a.m., officers arrived, questioned the man and then placed him in the back of a patrol car. As they were still trying to determine whether a crime had been committed, the man was not handcuffed, said department spokeswoman Traci Trapani. Jones said as they were taking his statement, the man started violently kicking at the windows.

“As soon as they opened the door he took off running,” Jones said.

The officers followed in their patrol cars, but the man eluded them by climbing into backyards, police said.

Police said the man jumped from one backyard to another and broke into at least one home. A woman, who was in her backyard when the man came over the fence with a meat cleaver and a butcher knife, screamed before running inside and locking the sliding glass door, Trapani said.

The man followed, breaking the glass, sending the fleeing woman out the front door where she called for help, Trapani said.

Later the man appeared from behind a parked car and confronted officers.

“ At that point he verbally challenged the officers and at that point officers fired their weapons,” Heinlein said. “He was struck and he is deceased.”

Heinlein said he the man took an “aggressive stance” towards the officers, but couldn’t say how close the suspect was to the officers or whether the man was charging at the officers.

It’s not yet known how many shots were fired. Representatives from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office will review the circumstances of the shooting.

The sprawling crime scene set the neighborhood abuzz as people nearby speculated on whether the use of lethal force was justified.

“Terrible” was the conclusion reached by area resident Wendell Smith, who said officers should have disarmed the man.

“If it were a gun its a different story,” Smith said.

Sandy Keller, who was in the area to drop off her kids at choir and drama rehearsal, leaned more toward trusting the cops’ instinct and training.

“I’m not going to make a judgment against a police officer,” Keller said, noting that a California Highway Patrol officer was badly injured in Sacramento Thursday by a motorist who allegedly ran over him on purpose.

“We don’t know the whole story,” Keller said. “Obviously the officers felt justified.”

Andrea

04-12-2016, 07:33 AM

Former South Carolina police officer pleads guilty in fatal shooting of black man, gets probation

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160411/PC16/160419852/former-south-carolina-police-officer-pleads-guilty-in-fatal-shooting-of-black-man (http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160411/PC16/160419852/former-south-carolina-police-officer-pleads-guilty-in-fatal-shooting-of-black-man)

A white former North Augusta police officer pleaded guilty Monday to misconduct in office after fatally shooting an elderly black motorist two years ago, a case that raised questions about deadly force tactics and the public’s right to see dashcam videos of police shootings.

A judge sentenced Justin Craven, 27, to three years of probation and 80 hours of community service after he entered the plea in the death of Ernest Satterwhite, 68, the Aiken Standard reported.

In video released by the State Law Enforcement Division, Justin Craven can be seen rushing toward the driver’s side of the car, lunging in for a split second and then pulling back to fire.

In announcing a penalty that included no imprisonment, the judge said the shooting wasn’t like other officer-involved killings that have garnered notoriety in recent years, alluding to Walter Scott’s death last year in North Charleston.

Yet family members and their lawyer who had seen the video have said it was just as disturbing. Rep. Joe Neal, D-Hopkins, saw the video months ago and said it shows Craven had no business getting probation.

“The reality is that he murdered that man, in my opinion, and got away with it,” said Neal, a black Democrat who has spent decades speaking out against racism in law enforcement and demanding accountability through data and police cameras.

A video released by the State Law Enforcement Division to The Post and Courier showed Craven following a Chrysler Sebring weaving through traffic and then onto a dirt road. Satterwhite then parked next to his house, and Craven can be seen rushing toward the driver’s side of the car, lunging in for a split-second and then pulling back to fire.

After the guilty plea, Craven’s attorney told The Associated Press his client shouldn’t have run up to Satterwhite’s car at the end of the 13-minute chase.

“His mistake in judgment was approaching the car and getting too close. He had to make a split-second decision instead of like now, when everyone gets all the time they want to analyze it.” Jack Swerling said his client thought about going to trial to clear his name but feared that would be difficult with several other police shootings in the news.

The Satterwhite shooting highlighted a nationwide problem uncovered by The Post and Courier last year: officers who fire into cars to stop suspects.

The newspaper’s “Shots Fired” analysis found that officers routinely said they fired because they feared for their lives. But a closer inspection of many of these cases showed that officers were in little or no danger.

Criminal justice experts say departments should prohibit officers from firing at vehicles and instead train them to get out of the way.

Like many other police shootings, Satterwhite’s death also raised questions about whether videos should be released quickly to the public. Authorities had kept dashboard camera footage under wraps for more than two years, a delay that some argued violates the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Neal said the failure to release the footage “smacks of a cover-up.”

Craven’s guilty plea came as the General Assembly is considering a bill requiring dashcam footage to be released immediately when it “involves an officer involved incident resulting in death, injury, property damage, or the use of deadly force.” The Senate passed the bill last week, and the House is expected to take it up this week.

The shooting stems from the night of Feb. 9, 2014, when Craven spotted a Chrysler Sebring that veered in and out of a lane. Craven turned on his blue lights, and Satterwhite turned in to a Wal-Mart parking lot. Craven followed Satterwhite as he drove back onto a road and struck a mailbox and another car. Satterwhite then drove toward Edgefield in what an attorney for Satterwhite’s family would call a “low-speed chase.”

Satterwhite eventually pulled into the driveway of his home. An incident report said that “a struggle ensued between Officer Craven and the suspect over Officer Craven’s duty weapon. At that point, officer Craven discharged his duty weapon at the suspect an undetermined amount of times.”

After the Satterwhite shooting, an incident report by the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office said that Craven approached the driver’s side door and “fired three or four shots into the vehicle and stated, ‘the suspect grabbed my gun.’ ” According to Carter Elliott Jr., the Satterwhites’ attorney, the video shows Craven lunging into the car with his gun drawn and then firing his weapon. “Why would you do that?” he told the newspaper last year. “The guy had stopped and was parked in his own driveway.”

Elliot viewed the video as part of his lawsuit against North Augusta and Edgefield. It showed Craven moving toward the driver’s side of Satterwhite’s car and lunging toward him, Elliott said. It appears that Satterwhite then raised his hands in surprise, not as if he was grabbing a weapon, the attorney said. Craven then pulls back and starts shooting, he said.

No weapon was found in Satterwhite’s car.

“There was no question about that,” Elliott told the newspaper.

The shooting was captured on Craven’s dashboard camera. But SLED, which investigated the shooting, and the North Augusta Department of Public Safety denied The Post and Courier’s request to release it.

Satterwhite’s family settled the lawsuit last year for $1.2 million. All told, South Carolina towns and cities halve paid more than $25 million to settle lawsuits from officer-involved shootings, according to the newspaper’s “Shots Fired” database.

A prosecutor wanted the North Augusta police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter, which carries up to 30 years in prison, but a grand jury refused to indict Craven. He later was charged with a felony — discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle. But Craven eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser misdemeanor misconduct in office charge, which carries up to a year behind bars.

Neal, the representative, said the Satterwhite case was inconsistent with what happened in the Scott shooting. “In one case, an officer is charged appropriately with murder. In another, a misdemeanor. I feel for the family.”

Andrea

04-12-2016, 08:06 AM

EXCLUSIVE: NYPD kicks wrong family out of their home in nuisance case, seeking drug dealers who left 7 months earlier

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-kicks-wrong-family-home-nuisance-case-article-1.2597105?utm_content=buffer4c4af&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-kicks-wrong-family-home-nuisance-case-article-1.2597105?utm_content=buffer4c4af&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw)

The NYPD got an order kicking a family of four out of their Queens apartment by telling a judge it was a drug den — but the dealers had moved out seven months earlier.

A lawsuit to be filed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday details an egregious case of the NYPD’s use of the nuisance abatement law — a controversial tool in which cops are able to get a temporary order barring people from their homes without first giving them the opportunity to appear before a judge.

The bungled operation left Austria Bueno, 32, a housekeeper, crashing at a hotel and on a relative’s floor, beside her two sons and husband, for four nights, as they waited for their first court date.

“Everybody cried. Me, I was crying like a baby,” Bueno told the Daily News. “I don’t deserve that. My kids don’t deserve that either.”

Her lawsuit, which cites The News and ProPublica’s ongoing investigation into the NYPD’s misuse of the nuisance abatement law, seeks to have the legislation and its provision for secret lockout orders declared unconstitutional.

A News analysis found the number of cases filed by the NYPD has dropped substantially since the first investigation was published in February.

Bueno’s ordeal began before she even got to the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City. Police say a confidential informant purchased crack at her future apartment twice in January 2015. A subsequent search turned up crack, weapons and $21,500.

Austria Bueno returned to her apartment only to find two neon-colored stickers taped to the door saying anyone who entered would be arrested.

Bueno and her family moved into the apartment in August.

On Dec. 11, a Friday, Bueno returned home after picking up her sons — ages 6 and 15 — from school to find a stack of legal papers and two neon-colored stickers taped to her door saying anyone who entered would be arrested.

She was told to come to court the following Tuesday.

That night, the Bueno family slept at a hotel for $208. The following three nights, the family slept on the living room floor of her mother-in-law.

Bueno said she missed three days of work, resulting in a reduced paycheck. Her husband also missed work, and her youngest son was unable to attend school one day because he couldn’t retrieve a clean school uniform.

The NYPD did not even bother to contact the New York City Housing Authority to determine if their targets still lived in the home they were asking a judge to close — despite filing the request 10 months after the search, claiming it “is currently being operated, occupied and used illegally,” Bueno’s suit says.

Bueno said she called 911 the night she was locked out, then went to the NYPD’s housing precinct stationhouse the following day, but was told both times she had to wait until her court date on Tuesday. She said she went to court a day early, but was told the same thing.

After her lawyer explained the situation at her first court date, Bueno was allowed back into her home. Rather than apologizing for the terrible mistake and dropping the case, the NYPD’s attorney dragged it on for three months in an effort to get Bueno to sign a settlement waiving her right to sue, the lawsuit says. She refused.

“When they have to do something like that, they’re supposed to know 100% that the person they’re still looking for is still living in the apartment,” Bueno said.

Her suit will also seek unspecified damages.

“We believe that this is an unlawful process,” Bueno’s attorney Robert Sanderman said. “Literally, people are being evicted and their life is being destroyed based on mere allegations that are hardly ever verified. It just flies in the face of the Constitution.”

City Public Advocate Letitia James — who wrote a letter to city Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter slamming nuisance abatements following The News’ coverage — was outraged by Bueno’s ordeal. “It is disgraceful that the city is displacing people from their homes without due process,” James said.

A police spokesman and the Law Department declined to comment.

In response to The News and ProPublica’s investigation, Carter said last month that his office would review its nuisance abatement procedures to ensure that secret lockout orders “would only be used in cases of appropriate urgency,” and would not apply to household members who haven't been accused of a crime.

Meanwhile, the number of nuisance abatement actions filed by the NYPD has dropped significantly since The News and ProPublica’s investigation.

The NYPD filed 28 nuisance abatement actions in state supreme courts between Feb. 4, when the investigation was first published, and April 11. The NYPD filed 161 cases during the same time period in 2013, and 101 during the same time period in 2014.

The department has filed just two nuisance abatement actions since March 25, when The News published a followup that quoted two former attorneys in the NYPD’s civil enforcement unit, which handles such cases, as saying the unit had no requirement or procedure to independently verify the claims it files in nuisance abatement actions, or to even check if anyone is still living in the house it is seeking to close.

However, judges have continued to grant temporary closing orders on businesses and homes, even in cases where the evidence is months old, despite state Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern Fisher’s advisory notice recommending that they limit the practice.

*Anya*

04-14-2016, 06:12 PM

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Andrea

04-16-2016, 08:50 AM

13 prison officers fired for negligence, violating policies

http://www.12news.com/news/local/valley/13-prison-workers-fired-for-negligence-violating-policies/135307090 (http://www.12news.com/news/local/valley/13-prison-workers-fired-for-negligence-violating-policies/135307090)

Thirteen correctional officers were fired and six others were disciplined in a move we’ve never seen before from the Arizona Department of Corrections.

It’s in response to an investigation into the suicide deaths of two inmates and violations of policies and ethics.

Video released by the DOC shows the moments a correctional officer at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Perryville found an inmate, Cynthia Apkaw, 25, hanging from her cell.

She had a rope around the air vent, attached to a bed sheet around her neck.

Could the correctional officers have saved her August of 2015? They tried with chest compressions and other life-saving measures, but she was pronounced dead after midnight.

According to an investigation released by the DOC, entries in a Correctional Service Journal were not accurate.

It shows checks were made every half-hour, but security footage contradicts that, showing a pill call at 4:41 p.m. that day. The officer is not seen coming back to the inmate's cell until 7:03 p.m. -- two hours and 22 minutes later.

Another incident occurred when officers attempted life-saving measures on Scott Saba, 45, back in February.

Officers found him with an electrical cord around his neck. The weight of his body blocked the cell door from opening. It took officers more than five minutes to pry it open.

The DOC’s investigators revealed two days prior, Saba tried to make 56 phone calls, and during one of them he's heard explaining part of the Bible.

A correctional officer observed Saba acting “paranoid,” and the inmate also asked to get out of his cell because he "wasn't feeling good."

That complaint went ignored; the correctional officer failed to notify the medical department about Saba’s comment.

The reports from this incident also show that correctional officers lied about the time they performed one of their security sweeps, and one turned in keys and a radio before clocking out.

Saba was in prison for a drug-related crime. He has small children and comes from a prominent family who owns Saba's Western Wear in Scottsdale.

Evaluation of his mental health score is mentioned twice in the report.

The Department of Corrections has not revealed what his scores were leading up to his death.

Andrea

04-16-2016, 09:29 AM

Cook County sheriff releases excessive force videos

http://wgntv.com/2016/04/15/report-cook-county-sheriff-to-release-excessive-force-videos/ (http://wgntv.com/2016/04/15/report-cook-county-sheriff-to-release-excessive-force-videos/)

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has decided to release videos documenting cases of excessive force against jail inmates.

“The public has a right to know when officers abuse the public trust as well as the ramifications of that abuse,” said Sheriff Dart.

The videos correspond to six individual cases, involving 14 officers. Five officers were fired, one resigned, and the other eight were suspended without pay ranging from 45 to 180 days, according to The Sun-Times.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says no prison has released video like this before. But he says the public has a right to transparency.

The Cook County Sheriff invested more than $10 million to install more than 2,400 cameras throughout the jail compound.

Cara Smith, of the Cook County Sheriff's Department says they're valuable in bringing transparency.

"Cameras are a great deterrent. They're also a great tool to exonerate staff when complaints made against them are false and to hold them accountable," Smith said.

The officers’ union is reportedly threatening to sue over the release of these videos.

*Anya*

04-20-2016, 08:43 AM

First-graders cuffed, arrested, charged; Murfreesboro outraged

USA TODAY NETWORKJessica Bliss, The (Nashville) Tennessean
April 20th, 2016

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Police handcuffed multiple students, ages 6 to 11, at a public elementary school in Murfreesboro on Friday, inspiring public outcry and adding fuel to already heightened tensions between law enforcement and communities of color nationwide.

The arrests at Hobgood Elementary School occurred after the students were accused of not stopping a fight that happened several days earlier off campus. A juvenile center later released the students, but local community members now call for action — police review of the incident and community conversation — and social justice experts across the country use words such as "startling" and "flabbergasted" in response to actions in the case.

Parents and community members sharply criticized the arrests of the students at a church meeting Sunday. The Murfreesboro police chief on Sunday cited the incident as a learning experience, a chance to "make things better so they don't happen again." The city manager said Sunday: "If something needs to be corrected, it will be."

It remains unclear exactly how many children were arrested. State law prohibits the release of juvenile law enforcement records, and police have denied a media request for the information. Murfreesboro police didn't say what state law the kids violated, but parents of several of the arrested children say the kids were charged with "criminal responsibility for conduct of another," which according to Tennessee criminal offense code includes incidents when a "person fails to make a reasonable effort to prevent" an offense.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/04/19/first-graders-cuffed-arrested-charged-murfreesboro-outraged/83250630/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

Andrea

04-20-2016, 12:06 PM

NYPD detectives charged with assaulting postal worker who accidently gave directions to cop killer

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-detectives-charged-assaulting-postal-worker-article-1.2608423?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-detectives-charged-assaulting-postal-worker-article-1.2608423?cid=bitly)

Two NYPD detectives have been arrested for assaulting a postal worker who unwittingly gave an assassin directions to a Brooklyn housing project where the maniac killed two police officers, officials said Wednesday.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown charged Detectives Angelo Pampena, 31,and Detective Robert A. Carbone, 29, with assault.

Pampena and Carbone are accused of dragging Karim Baker out of his car on Oct. 21, 2015, and punching and kicking him.

Baker was in his postal uniform at the time, officials said.

As the assault, which was first reported by the Daily News, was investigated, Pampena filed a false affidavit claiming that the fight broke out after Baker’s car was found parked in front of a hydrant — but surveillance video of the area shows he was parked legally, officials said.

The Queens DA’s office requested $10,000 bail, but the two detectives were ordered released without bail after a brief court appearance on Wednesday.

They will return to court to respond to the charges in June, according to a Queens DA spokeswoman.

Baker and his attorney claim that the Fed Ex worker turned postal employee has been repeatedly harassed by police after he unknowingly directed Ismaaiyl Brinsley to the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant just before Brinsley shot and killed Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in December, 2014.

For months after the assassination, Baker said he has been stopped by police about 20 times — but never ticketed — for traffic infractions by vengeful cops before he was attacked by Pampena and Carbone.

“I have nothing in my heart against law enforcement at all,” Baker, the son of a former correction officer, told the News in November.

Pampena is a nine-year veteran of the NYPD. Carbone has been with the department for eight years.

Both have been suspended pending the outcome of the case.

Andrea

04-21-2016, 09:14 AM

Sheriff Hailed Cops as Heroes, But Dashcam Shows them Listen to 3 Girls Scream as they Drowned

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dash-cam-video-reveals-cops-lied-save-drowning-teens/#mlw7DHydWkiAW1Lf.99 (http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dash-cam-video-reveals-cops-lied-save-drowning-teens/#mlw7DHydWkiAW1Lf.99)

Newly released dash cam footage reveals a Florida sheriff lied last month when he falsely claimed that his deputies took off their gun belts and attempted to save three drowning teenage girls. Instead of attempting to rescue the dying teens, the deputies can be seen on video standing beside the pond while listening to the girls’ final screams.

According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, a friend asked 35-year-old Damien Marriott to drive the three teenage girls to Child’s Park on Wednesday, March 30. For some reason, Marriott reportedly stopped at a Walmart to buy a TV when he left his keys in the ignition with the engine running along with three girls that he did not know sitting in his 1990 Honda Accord. Although Child’s Park closes at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Marriott did not return to his vehicle or report his car stolen until 8:30 p.m. that night.

Several hours later, deputies reported seeing the Honda run a red light without its headlights on during a pursuit. Entering the back of a cemetery, the girls accidentally drove the Honda into a pond as deputies exited their vehicles and remained standing on shore.

While the Honda submerged into the swamp, a recently released police dash cam video recorded a deputy exclaiming, “I hear them yelling, I think!”

As the video moves forward another deputy can be heard saying, “They’re done. They are 6-7, dude.”

“They were yelling,” a deputy responds. “I thought I heard yelling.”

“As it was going down,” the other deputy interjects. “But now, they’re done. They’re done.”

Although Sheriff Gualtieri announced at a press conference that his deputies flung off their gun belts and dove into the swamp in a failed attempt to save the teenage girls, police dash cam video actually shows the deputies standing near the shore listening to the girls scream to death.

Two hours later, a tow truck pulled out a vehicle containing the deceased bodies of 16-year-old Dominique Battle from St. Petersburg High School, 15-year-old Ashaunti Butler from Dixie Hollins High, and 15-year-old Laniya Miller from Gibbs High.

“My daughter was not perfect,” Miller’s mother, Natasha Winkler, recently told ABC Action News through tears. “What 15-year-old is?”

Despite the fact that the sheriff initially released false information and his deputies likely provided false reports claiming they tore off their gun belts and dove into the murky water to save the dying teen girls, no criminal charges have been filed against any of the deceitful deputies. Caught on police dash cam video, the deputies clearly falsified their reports after standing around while callously listening to the drowning girls die.

Andrea

04-22-2016, 08:08 PM

Cape cop suspended after March excessive force incident

http://www.abc-7.com/story/31795731/cape-cop-suspended-after-march-excessive-force-incident (http://www.abc-7.com/story/31795731/cape-cop-suspended-after-march-excessive-force-incident)

A Cape Coral police officer received an 80-hours unpaid suspension after using force on a drunk person in a parking lot last month in a viral video.

It happened across the street from Dixie Roadhouse in a parking lot on March 13.

Brittnie Fails admitted to being drunk and had no problem being arrested for it. But she did have a problem with what she says was excessive force used to detain her.

The video shows the officer grabbing Fails and throwing her to the ground after she was arguing with her boyfriend.

Since the video's release, the officer was placed on administrative duty.

The incident was recorded on a bystander's smartphone and the video that was posted online went viral.

There were no criminal charges against the officer as reviewed by the state attorney.

The Professional Standards Bureau's internal affairs investigation found that the subject officer in violation of department policy for conduct unbecoming, improper use of force, and failure provide medical aid in a use of force incident.

The suspension will begin Monday, April 25.

Andrea

04-28-2016, 11:26 AM

My version of the correct headline: 13 year old child with a toy gun was shot running away from two plain clothes police in an unmarked car

Baltimore police investigate officer's shooting of teen who had replica gun

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/us/baltimore-13-year-old-shot/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/us/baltimore-13-year-old-shot/index.html)

A Baltimore police officer shot and wounded a 13-year-old boy who was carrying a replica handgun.

The teen, who police say is expected to recover, was shot at the end of a foot chase Wednesday after officers spotted him walking down the street. They pursued the boy thinking he had a real gun, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters.

It turned out to be a pellet gun, Davis said.

But he said, "It's a dead-on ringer for a Beretta 92FS semiautomatic pistol."
The officers who chased the teenager -- detectives assigned to the department's intelligence unit -- identified themselves before shooting him, Davis said.

He said he did not know why the teenager had the pellet gun or why he ran. He said officers had interviewed the teen's mother and that she knew he had left the house with it.

He defended the officers' actions, saying officers couldn't have known the gun was a replica, but even then, replica guns have been used in crimes before. Officers, he said, had no idea what the teen's intentions were.
"We can't allow someone to walk down the street in broad daylight anywhere in Baltimore with what looks like to be a semiautomatic pistol in his hand," Davis told reporters.

The shooting came on the first anniversary of violent protests over the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody.

It also occurred two days after the city of Cleveland agreed to pay $6 million to the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who died in 2014 after police shot him while he was in possession of a replica handgun.

While police spokesman Detective Donny Moses said Baltimore was quiet overnight and into Thursday, reaction was mixed on social media.

"We have more questions than answers today," Baltimore civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson said on Twitter. "Why did the Baltimore officers approach the 13 year old child? Why did they shoot him?"

One Twitter user told Baltimore police, "Awesome job! I hope you arrest his mother for negligence or contributing to delinquency. She's unfit."

But on Facebook, Darren Willis said in a reply to the police update on the incident that "cop kissing jerks" praising the department had missed the point.

"How was he to even know they were cops? He was 13 and ran away from grown-assed men who were strangers and armed. Details matter. I know, blame the target and the mom. It's easy for racists and idiots."

Andrea

04-29-2016, 04:55 AM

Florida officer fired for hitting handcuffed woman, authorities say

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/us/jacksonville-rookie-officer-fired/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/us/jacksonville-rookie-officer-fired/index.html)

A Florida police officer has been charged with battery and fired for repeatedly striking a handcuffed woman in custody, authorities said.
Officer Akinyemi Borisade, 26, has worked with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office for a year, Undersheriff Pat Ivey said.

The incident started Wednesday after Borisade arrested a woman at a local bar for trespassing and resisting arrest.

Police responded to the scene after the woman, a new employee at the bar, got into an argument with her employer and was asked to leave.

When police arrived to escort her out of the property, she became belligerent, authorities said.

She refused to be handcuffed and tried to kick and bite the officers, CNN affiliate WJXT reported. It said while she was in the patrol car, she continued kicking and had to be restrained.

Officers transported her to Duval County Jail.

Multiple strikes

In a video released by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, she's seen kicking Borisade, who was one of the arresting officers. He responds with multiple strikes to her midsection.

Corrections officers who saw the incident talked to their supervisors about it, according to the affiliate.

"There are ways this could have been dealt with without striking her," Ivey said at a news conference. "There was no need to strike her."

The woman has been released and has no pending court date, authorities said.

Battery charges

Borisade was charged with battery and terminated by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on Thursday. Since he's been on the job since March last year, he is within the 18-month probationary period mandated by his employer.

As a probationary officer, he cannot appeal his firing and will not be afforded civil service protections following his termination, according to Ivey.

CNN's attempts to reach an attorney for him have been unsuccessful.

Andrea

05-02-2016, 03:08 PM

Video footage outside Jamycheal Mitchell's cell no longer exists

http://www.richmond.com/news/article_b6c51cce-7d99-555e-86df-bab012b52162.html (http://www.richmond.com/news/article_b6c51cce-7d99-555e-86df-bab012b52162.html)

Video images captured outside Jamycheal Mitchell’s cell at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in the days and hours leading up to his death no longer exist, even though an attorney representing the mentally ill man’s family says he asked the jail’s superintendent to preserve it.

The only people who saw the video before it was recorded over are employees of the jail, said Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor III, an assistant superintendent at the jail.

Taylor said the video was not saved because it did not show any type of criminality or negligence, but the attorney representing Mitchell’s family said the jail should not have the authority to make that judgment call on its own.

“You have a death of a severely emaciated person who was mentally ill in his cell,” said Mark Krudys, an attorney representing Mitchell’s family. “Those circumstances are highly unusual, and you would have thought they would have preserved anything and everything related to those circumstances, including the videotape.”

Mitchell, a 24-year-old Portsmouth resident, was confined at the jail for 101 days last year after he allegedly stole $5 worth of snack food from a convenience store.

He died in August awaiting transfer to Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, where a judge had ordered him to be placed after finding Mitchell incompetent to stand trial.

Mitchell weighed 190 pounds when he arrived at the jail on May 11 and weighed 144 pounds during the autopsy performed after he died Aug. 19, Taylor has said.

The Medical Examiner’s Office in Norfolk said he died because of a heart defect and “wasting syndrome,” or extreme weight loss.

Jail officials have declined to release the results of an internal investigation, which Taylor has said clears jail employees of wrongdoing.

In an interview earlier this month, Taylor told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that video images outside Mitchell’s cell showed him receiving food through a slot in the heavy steel door.

The cell had concrete walls and only a small window in the door. The cameras did not show whether Mitchell actually ate his food, Taylor said.

“There was no indication that Mr. Mitchell was not eating,” Taylor said. “If the officers had any indication that he was not eating his food, he would be placed on what is determined to be suicide watch or hunger strike.”

***

The Times-Dispatch requested a copy of the video outside his cell through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the request was denied because the video does not exist.

“There is no security footage taken outside of Mr. Mitchell’s cell during his incarceration at Hampton Roads Regional Jail,” Superintendent David L. Simons wrote in a response to The Times-Dispatch’s request.

When asked to clarify whether or not such video existed, Taylor said the video taken at the time Mitchell was incarcerated was part of an old system that automatically recorded over existing video every 18 days.

Fourteen days after Mitchell died, Krudys said his office hand-delivered a letter addressed to Simons that requested the jail preserve “all records, documents ... videos and other electronic/digital media, and all other tangible things concerning Mr. Mitchell.”

Krudys provided a copy of the Sept. 2 letter last week to The Times-Dispatch after he was told the video no longer existed.

He said the jail was obligated to have kept, at the very least, the last four days of Mitchell’s life — a critical time period that would have shown what kind of medical care he received in his cell — because his firm delivered its request to preserve records 14 days into the 18-day loop.

Jeff Rosen, an attorney with Virginia Beach-based Pender & Coward who is representing the jail, said he could not comment on Mitchell’s case because Krudys has said he intends to file a lawsuit on behalf of the family.

When asked why the video was not saved even after Krudys requested that officials keep it, Taylor said it had been recorded over because the jail did not have any reason to keep it.

“If there’s nothing on the video that’s going to show any type of criminality or negligence, we’re not going to maintain it,” Taylor said.

“We only save video whenever there’s something significant we need to review.”

Asked if an inmate’s death qualified as a significant event, he said: “For example, if an individual is in their cell and something occurs and we look at the video, and the cell door doesn’t open, no one goes in, no one goes out, and there’s no negligence, there’s no reason for us to maintain that.”

Mitchell, who often soiled his cell with his own feces, was supposed to be checked at least 49 times a day — every 30 minutes by guards and at least once a day by medical staff. The cameras presumably would have recorded how often he was seen by guards and how often his quarters were cleaned, Krudys said.

“Were medical rounds being undertaken?” he said. “Were any medical staff going in to see him to take vital signs? Were social workers going in to see him? All of those types of things. How is he being treated?”

The Mitchell video was viewed by Taylor and the jail’s internal investigators but was not seen by outside agencies such as the Office of State Inspector General, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, or Portsmouth police, all of which conducted inquiries into Mitchell’s death.

It’s not clear from the reports issued by the inspector general’s office or the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services whether investigators with those agencies attempted to view the jail’s video taken outside Mitchell’s cell.

It’s inappropriate that the jail made the final determination about whether the video contained information of significance, Krudys said. The cameras presumably would have been able to capture how often Mitchell was offered food, how much food typically was on his trays, and whether the trays came back empty.

Taylor said he saw Mitchell receiving food through a slot in the door on the videos, and he saw empty trays returned. It’s unclear whether Mitchell flushed his food down the toilet or otherwise disposed of it in his cell.

Krudys does not take jail officials at their word that Mitchell was fed consistently, given his extreme weight loss.

***

Jamie Fellner, a senior adviser with Human Rights Watch who has written extensively about the treatment of mentally ill people in prisons and jails, said video is “hugely important” in death investigations.

“It is truly reprehensible that, in a case like this, it was allowed to be taped over,” Fellner said. “If policy permitted that, then the policy needs to be changed.

“Obviously when there is a death — even if in their judgment the recording showed nothing of interest — it should be preserved.”

Fellner had many of the same questions as Krudys: How often was Mitchell fed? Did medical staff assess him? If he wasn’t eating, why wasn’t he taken somewhere with adequate mental health care?

“Negligence and indifference can be as lethal as affirmative physical abuse,” Fellner said. “The staff doesn’t have to beat up someone to kill him; they can kill him by not paying attention to his needs.”

Video obtained by the CBS news program “60 Minutes,” which aired April 17, showed guards repeatedly checking on a man jailed at Rikers Island in New York City. Like Mitchell, Bradley Ballard was schizophrenic and soiled his cell with feces.

Ballard repeatedly flooded his toilet, and a maintenance worker cut off water to his cell, according to the “60 Minutes” report.

The stench grew so strong, guards could be seen in the video spraying air freshener outside his cell, and an inmate delivering food through a slot in the door covered his nose with his shirt.

Medical help wasn’t called until Ballard had been locked in the cell for six days. His quarters were “grossly unsanitary,” according to the report.

An officer asked Ballard if he could get up on his own. “I need help,” Ballard said.

He went into cardiac arrest and died hours later, according to the report.

His death was ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner, who called his medical and custodial care “so incompetent and inadequate as to shock the conscience.” No one has been charged with a crime.

In Virginia, Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid released video footage last year of a six-member “extraction team” attempting to shackle 37-year-old inmate Natasha McKenna of Alexandria at the Fairfax jail.

As soon as the cell door opens and McKenna emerges naked, she can be heard saying, “You promised that you wouldn’t kill me. I didn’t do anything.”

The men, several of whom wore what appeared to be biohazard suits, wrestled her to the ground. They shocked her with a Taser four times after she was restrained.

McKenna stopped breathing and was taken to a hospital, where she died days later.

“Since Feb. 3 of this year, there have been numerous media reports about what allegedly occurred,” Kincaid said in a video introduction to the recording. “There is no better way for me to share what actually occurred than to make this video available for the community to view in its entirety.”

Her death was ruled an accident, but Kincaid banned the use of Tasers and changed the way the department handles mentally ill inmates.

In Virginia Beach, Sheriff Ken Stolle allowed the family of a 31-year-old woman who died in jail to review video taken from her cell in 2011, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Last week, Stolle said there are more than 500 cameras in the Virginia Beach jail, and the system begins recording over old video every 30 days. But video that captures critical incidents that need to be investigated typically is kept for about three years.

Without seeing the video from outside Mitchell’s cell, Stolle said he could not say whether it contained pertinent information but, if it did, “the logical standard is to keep that evidence to be reviewed.”

Andrea

05-03-2016, 06:03 AM

No Charges for Police in Virginia Man's Death After Repeated Tasings

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-charges-police-virginia-mans-death-after-repeated-tasings-n566386 (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-charges-police-virginia-mans-death-after-repeated-tasings-n566386)

Prosecutors have decided not to charge police officers in the death of Linwood Lambert, a Virginia man who died in police custody after repeated tasings in May 2013, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Virginia prosecutors briefed Lambert's family about the decision on Monday, two days before the third year anniversary of the incident in South Boston, Va.

"We waited three years to get back to the same place, where these officers are not going to be held accountable for their actions," said Gwendolyn Smalls, Lambert's sister, after leaving the meeting Monday evening.

According to another source with knowledge of the inquiry, the lead prosecutor, Halifax County Commonwealth's Attorney Tracy Quackenbush Martin, investigated whether the repeat tasings were the actual cause of Lambert's death — while another prosecutor, Michael Herring, Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Richmond, focused on whether the officers had the criminal intent to harm or kill Lambert.

The prosecutors are expected to release a report of their findings on Tuesday.

Tom Sweeney, who represents Smalls in a civil suit against the police, said he "was disturbed to learn" that the prosecutors "reached out to a paid consultant for Taser International analyzing the decision on whether or not these officers acted within the law."

The three officers discharged their tasers 20 times during the incident, including while Lambert had his hands and feet bound — a violation of police rules.

The incident had been under investigation since it occurred in May 2013, and drew renewed scrutiny after video of the tasings were exposed by MSNBC in November 2015.

Police files files obtained by MSNBC also suggested police misled investigators about the incident.

Lawyers for the officers have denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Police initially took Lambert into custody not as a suspect, but to bring him to the ER for medical care after reports that he was acting erratically in a hotel room. He broke their squad car window when arriving at the hospital entrance, where police then tased him repeatedly, shackled his legs, and then removed him from the hospital and took him to jail, where he died.

In the civil suit regarding his death, his family is arguing police had an obligation to provide him the medical care they initially offered.

Sweeney says the suit is currently on appeal, focusing on a lower court's ruling "regarding the initial tasings" and whether the police violated the Constitution by depriving Lambert "of medical care."

Apart from the local investigation and the civil suit, the FBI also recently opened an inquiry into the incident.

Smalls, Lambert's sister, says that a separate inquiry is welcome because she does not think the local prosecutor was fair or impartial.

"It's unbelievable, her theory was more supportive to the police officers, because her husband is a sheriff and she works with the police," Smalls told NBC News.

That prosecutor, Martin, did not immediately return calls on Monday evening. She has previously said she would take a thorough and fair approach to the case and follow the facts where they lead.

Andrea

05-11-2016, 08:30 AM

Michael Slager charged with federal civil rights violation, obstruction in Walter Scott shooting

http://www.postandcourier.com/20160511/160519884/michael-slager-charged-with-federal-civil-rights-violation-obstruction-in-walter-scott-shooting (http://www.postandcourier.com/20160511/160519884/michael-slager-charged-with-federal-civil-rights-violation-obstruction-in-walter-scott-shooting)

A federal grand jury this week indicted former North Charleston officer Michael Slager on charges of a violating civil rights law and misleading investigators in Walter Scott’s death, a rare measure in police shootings that gives authorities another route to reach a conviction.

S.C. civil rights cases

Since 1993, nine public officials in South Carolina have been charged with deprivation of civil rights in six different federal cases. Sorted by the year they were filed, those are:

2016: North Charleston police officer Michael Slager indicted in the April 2015 shooting death of Walter Scott.

2010: Greenville officers Jeremiah Milliman and Matthew Jowers got three years of probation for assaulting homeless people, some of whom were handcuffed, for a laugh.

2009: S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Alexander Richardson entered pretrial diversion and served 100 hours of community service for hitting and injuring a fleeing suspect with a patrol car in April 2009.

2000: David Grice, a polygraph examiner, was fined $250 for his role in secretly videotaping a conversation between a murder suspect and a defense attorney in May 1995. Civil rights charges against Assistant Solicitor Francis Humphries Jr. and Lexington County Deputy Scottie Frier in the same case were dismissed.

1995: Archie Lee got a year in prison for fondling women in the early 1990s during his time as an Horry County magistrate.

1993: Moses Cohen Jr. was sentenced to 15 months in prison for beating up men in the late 1980s while serving as police chief in Fairfax, a town in Allendale County.

Slager is charged with three crimes. The chief among them is deprivation of civil rights under the color of law, a statute barring abuses of power that violate federally protected “rights, privileges or immunities.” The indictment alleges that he was acting with his authority as a policeman when he used excessive force — a violation of the Constitution — by shooting Scott five times from behind.

He also was indicted on counts of using a firearm in a violent crime and obstruction of justice after he told state investigators that Scott was coming at him with his own Taser when he fired. A video showed Scott running away.

The officer is white and Scott was black, but race is not alleged to have played a role.

The charges could serve as a backstop if the state’s murder case against Slager, 34, were to fail. Putting him on trial in both state and federal courts for the same shooting would not be double jeopardy because the alleged crimes are different.

No minimum prison term would come with a conviction on the civil rights charge. Because Scott died, the maximum sentence is life behind bars. Execution is sought only under the rarest of circumstances that are not present in this case, experts said.

An arraignment of Slager is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in U.S. District Court in downtown Charleston. Scott’s family plans to discuss the development after the proceeding.

His killing came during close scrutiny of law enforcement tactics and uses of force nationwide. Video of the death made it an especially poignant moment in that debate and prodded the U.S. Department of Justice to step in.

The grand jury, which first met nearly a month ago, handed down the indictment Tuesday. Officials kept it under wraps until making it public Wednesday. It makes the case one of the few high-profile American police killings in recent years to result in a federal criminal charge. In South Carolina, Slager is the ninth public official since 1993 to face the civil rights count, records show, but he is the only one of those accused in a shooting.

Such prosecutions are relatively rare in police shootings, said Seth Stoughton, a University of South Carolina law professor who studies policing. It reveals the government’s eagerness to weigh in on controversial police killings like Scott’s regardless of actions taken in state courts, he said.

“The feds may be prosecuting because they think it’s important to use this case to send a message,” Stoughton said, “and that message might not be sent if officer Slager were just prosecuted and even convicted on the state charges.”

Slager’s lawyer in state court, Andy Savage of Charleston, has said that such a development would have a significant negative impact on the defense. The attorney has maintained, though, that his client’s actions were justified.

It was not immediately clear who would represent the former officer on the federal charges. Savage said he is committed to defending Slager only in state court, where he has worked for free.

The indictment came more than a year since April 4, 2015, when Slager pulled over Scott’s Mercedes-Benz for a broken brake light. The patrolman acted professionally, his attorney said, as Scott, 50, couldn’t provide documents for the car.

As the officer checked with dispatchers on Scott’s identification, the motorist got out and ran. Slager gave chase and tried to use his Taser, but the stun gun had little effect.

A struggle followed. Slager’s attorney said later that the officer suffered a beating and that Scott grabbed the Taser.

Nearby, a bystander filmed the final moments of the scuffle with a cellphone. The video shows the stun gun fall, then Scott turn and start running again. Slager drew his .45-caliber pistol and fired eight times with Scott’s back turned to him. Scott fell.

After the gunfire, the officer is seen picking up the Taser and dropping it near Scott’s lifeless body. Seconds later, he plucked it from the ground and returned it to its holster.

Three days passed before he was arrested.

In state court, a grand jury indicted Slager on a murder charge that carries between 30 years and life in prison. He was freed on bail in January to prepare for a trial now set for Oct. 31.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and FBI agents, meanwhile, worked on building their own case.

The federal government in recent years has zeroed in on allegations of police misconduct and opened its own probes into controversial deaths of black men. The cases included the 2014 killings of Michael Brown in Missouri, Laquan McDonald in Chicago and Eric Garner in New York, along with Freddie Gray’s death last year in Baltimore.

In 2014, the FBI reported getting 72 criminal indictments for deprivation of civil rights, but none of them came in the high-profile deaths. Scott’s is the first of those cases to prompt the indictment.

The four-page indictment is signed by U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles, South Carolina’s chief federal prosecutor, and Principal Deputy Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who leads the Civil Rights Division in Washington. It revealed for the first time some details of Slager’s interview with State Law Enforcement Division agents in the hours before his arrest.

“Slager knowingly misled SLED investigators by falsely stating that he fired his weapon at Scott while Scott was coming forward at him with a Taser,” the document alleged. “In truth and in fact, as ... Slager then well knew, he repeatedly fired his weapon at Scott when Scott was running away from him.”

While the federal case could serve as a backup if Slager were acquitted in state court, experts said, the civil rights charge also carries a high burden of proof for prosecutors.

Legal concepts on self-defense give defendants leeway to use force against perceived threats. Appeals courts also have ruled that using deadly force on a fleeing felon who poses a threat to the community can be legally justified — a key component to Slager’s defense against the murder charge.

Authorities, though, have said that any danger Slager or the community faced had subsided by the time he opened fire. Representatives of Scott’s family also have called the defense, which highlights evidence of the victim’s alcohol and cocaine use, “smoke and mirrors.”

While state prosecutors must prove their murder case by showing that Slager acted with malice — an evil intent or disregard for life — their federal counterparts must show that he purposefully meant to deprive Scott of a right by using excessive or unreasonable force, said Stoughton, the law professor.

In both cases, intent is key.

Defendants can fight the civil rights charge by arguing that they made an error in good faith — a reasonable mistake in the heat of the moment — instead of a conscious decision to violate a personal right, Stoughton said. Simply playing a video that prosecutors say shows an over-the-top reaction might not be enough to persuade jurors to convict Slager, he said.

“Murder is not easy to prove either,” he said, “but willfully violating someone’s constitutional right in these circumstances is a difficult charge for prosecutors to prove, which is why we see it so rarely.”

Andrea

05-11-2016, 06:10 PM

Televised Police Chase Ends With Officers Beating Suspect

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/televised-police-chase-ends-with-officers-beating-suspect_us_5733a8d8e4b077d4d6f20ee5? (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/televised-police-chase-ends-with-officers-beating-suspect_us_5733a8d8e4b077d4d6f20ee5?)

Police officers beat a suspect on television following a car chase through Massachusetts and New Hampshire on Wednesday.

As news helicopters circled overhead, the driver of the pickup truck involved in the pursuit opened the driver’s door and crawled onto his hands and knees in Hudson, New Hampshire. About eight officers closed in on him, some with their guns drawn, and at least two officers struck the man. One of the officers pummeled the man with repeated blows.

It wasn’t immediately clear which police departments were involved in the arrest.

The chase began when a suspect wanted on multiple warrants refused to stop for police in Holden, Massachusetts, near the state line, according to WCVB. From there, the chase wound through Concord, Littleton, Chelmsford, Billerica, Nashua, Hudson and several other towns.

“Now they’re incorporating the arrest,” a WFXT newscaster said as officers pounced on the man and the ariel camera pulled back. The station’s broadcaster didn’t appear to address the violence as it unfolded.

CBS Boston, which carried the footage, also used euphemisms to describe the action.

“Here’s the video as they approach him, and they take care of him when he gets outside the cab of that truck,” the CBS broadcaster says.

Other news footage captured about 30 seconds from the time the driver steps out of the truck.

“No details on what precipitated this,” a reporter says as the suspect stands with arms handcuffed behind his back. “But it was with great force that they get that guy on the ground.”

Andrea

05-14-2016, 12:27 PM

Disturbing Video Shows a Cop Brutally Beat a Child for Riding Her Bike, Charges HER with Assualt

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-beats-young-girl-riding-bike-mall-parking-lot/ (http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-beats-young-girl-riding-bike-mall-parking-lot/)

On May 24, 2014, 15-year-old Monique Tillman and her brother were riding their bikes when they were stopped and this young girl brutally assaulted by Tacoma Police Officer Jared Williams.

Tillman and her brother had done nothing wrong, and were merely targetted by this ‘public servant’ because they had the unfortunate luck to have crossed paths with him.

As the duo travelled home, they cut through a mall parking lot, as they had done countless times before. However, this time, Officer Williams was in that parking lot, in his full Tacoma Police department uniform, yet off-duty, working as mall security. As the teens travelled through the lot, Williams began pursuit of these hardened criminals and accused them of trespassing.

Knowing they’d done nothing wrong, Monique attempted to explain to the officer that they cut through the parking lot all the time on their way home. However, this tyrant was having nothing of it.

As the duo attempted to ride away from a man whose intentions were clearly unscrupulous, Williams attacked. A recently released surveillance video shows the disturbing scene that unfolded next.

This heroic officer ripped the girl from her bike and slammed her up against a parked car with his hand around her neck. As the child struggled to breathe, this abusive tyrant grabbed her by the hair and flung her around like a rag doll.

Clearly overpowering the small child, half his size, the officer wasn’t satisfied with the damage he’d inflicted so far. So, for good measure, Williams pulled out his taser and sent 50,000 volts into this poor girl.

“He was choking me, grabbed me by my hair and tried to slam my face into the concrete. The next thing I know, I’m on the ground being tased,” Tillman said.

Now face down, tasered, handcuffed and brutalized, Williams stood over his victim like a hunter and his kill. He had protected society from the likes of a dangerous brother and sister riding their bicycles.

Williams then arrested Monique and charged her with resisting arrest and, get this, assault on an officer.

After viewing the surveillance video of the incident, however, all of the charges were thrown out.

Vito de la Cruz, Tillman’s attorney, has filed a lawsuit seeking damages from Officer Williams, the Simon Property Group who owns the Tacoma Mall and Universal Protection Services, the private security company in charge of Tacoma Mall security.

“A child riding a bike should not have to worry that a police officer will stop her without legal cause and brutalize her,” said de la Cruz. “Our communities are weary of another African American child being hurt by unwarranted and excessive police force.”

The Free Thought Project reached out the Tacoma PD to inquire about Williams’ current status and if any disciplinary action had been taken. However, our requests for comment were not returned.

Below is what policing in modern day America has become.

*Anya*

05-14-2016, 02:43 PM

Now if you are in the Netherlands, the police return a baby goat to a petting zoo, instead of shooting unarmed teens and tasing teenage girls riding a bike.

I feel so helpless each time I read of another horror.

http://m.imgur.com/pk035qr

Andrea

05-17-2016, 03:43 PM

Cleveland corrections officer accused of punching handcuffed inmate

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/05/cleveland_corrections_officer.html (http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/05/cleveland_corrections_officer.html)

A Cleveland City Jail corrections officer is accused of punching a handcuffed inmate.

Jose Quinones, 42, is charged with assault and interfering with civil rights in the Feb. 6 incident. Both charges are first-degree misdemeanors.

Quinones was issued a summons to for a May 31 arraignment in Cleveland Municipal Court.

Quinones took Kosch from the Cleveland City Jail to the Cleveland House of Corrections. Quinones punched Kosch on the left side of the head while Kosch was handcuffed, according to court records.

A city spokesman said Tuesday that Quinones, who was hired by the city in May 2008, was placed on restrictive duty. He will still work at the jail but will have no direct contact with inmates.

A pre-disciplinary hearing has been scheduled with the city. Quinones will not be punished until the criminal case is completed.

No attorney is listed in court records. Quinones could not be reached for comment.

Kosch was arrested Feb. 6 after he failed to appear for court hearings in his 2013 drunken driving case.

Kosch said in a phone interview that he went to court and was taken to the city jail. He said he didn't have his blood-pressure medication with him and started to feel dizzy. He told a corrections officer who took him to see a nurse.

Officials told him he was being shipped to the Cleveland House of Corrections. Kosch said he was walking with Quinones and was upset about not getting medical treatment. He said he felt a dizzy-spell coming on and sat against a wall.

"I had an attitude with him but I didn't provoke him," Kosch said. "I was being demanding because I wasn't feeling good."

Kosch said Quinones insulted him, then handcuffed him. Quinones turned to walk away, then turned around and punched him on the left side of the head, Kosch said.

"My left ear was red and was ringing for a couple of days," Kosch said. "Other than that it was alright."

Kosch eventually pleaded no contest to drunken driving in the case. He was sentenced to take a drug and alcohol abuse class instead of serving jail time.

Cin

05-17-2016, 04:08 PM

[B]Mitchell, a 24-year-old Portsmouth resident, was confined at the jail for 101 days last year after he allegedly stole $5 worth of snack food from a convenience store.

He died in August awaiting transfer to Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, where a judge had ordered him to be placed after finding Mitchell incompetent to stand trial. ( he was suffering from schizophrenia)

Mitchell weighed 190 pounds when he arrived at the jail on May 11 and weighed 144 pounds during the autopsy performed after he died Aug. 19, Taylor has said.

In an interview earlier this month, Taylor told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that video images outside Mitchell’s cell showed him receiving food through a slot in the heavy steel door.

The cell had concrete walls and only a small window in the door. The cameras did not show whether Mitchell actually ate his food, Taylor said.

“There was no indication that Mr. Mitchell was not eating,” Taylor said. “If the officers had any indication that he was not eating his food, he would be placed on what is determined to be suicide watch or hunger strike.”

***

The Times-Dispatch requested a copy of the video outside his cell through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the request was denied because the video does not exist.

$5 worth of snack food? He is mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. He was in a concrete cell with steel doors and a small window to slide food through. For taking 5$ worth of snack food. A mentally ill person. What is wrong with people? How can human beings do this? These are the people who are supposed to protect and serve. What has gone wrong? And why aren't we all up in arms? It is too exhausting I think. It wears you down.

Andrea

05-17-2016, 04:45 PM

$5 worth of snack food? He is mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. He was in a concrete cell with steel doors and a small window to slide food through. For taking 5$ worth of snack food. A mentally ill person. What is wrong with people? How can human beings do this? These are the people who are supposed to protect and serve. What has gone wrong? And why aren't we all up in arms? It is too exhausting I think. It wears you down.

There is a group that are "up in arms". Campaign Zero is doing amazing things.

http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision (http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision)

Andrea

05-19-2016, 03:51 PM

Andrea

05-20-2016, 08:51 AM

Exclusive: Inmate Died in Prison, Was Buried Before His Bronx Family Was Notified

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/criminal-justice/2016/05/19/ny1-exclusive--inmate-buried-upstate-without-bronx-family-being-notified.html (http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/criminal-justice/2016/05/19/ny1-exclusive--inmate-buried-upstate-without-bronx-family-being-notified.html)

With tears rolling down his face, Lonnie Hamilton says he's living a nightmare. His namesake died in prison and was even buried without the family knowing it.

Hamilton: I want to know why my son is dead. I want to know why you buried him without asking me. I want to know why we weren't allowed to properly send him off.
Meminger: Where is your son's body?
Hamilton: I don't know.

Lonnie Hamilton, 22, was doing time at Marcy Correctional Facility, outside of Syracuse. He was convicted in the Bronx of robbery.

His family says they tried to reach him for several weeks and then decided to send him a letter. Looking for his prison's address on May 6, they went on the state's correctional website. They were shocked to see he was listed as deceased. He died on March 18.

"I'm thinking, 'This can't be right. It has to be some sort of typo or joke or whatever.' So we start reaching out to the facility" his father said. "Days later, they finally say he is deceased."

And he was already buried in a cemetery near the prison.

State Corrections tells NY1 it made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the inmate's next of kin, his father. They said the father's phone number didn't work.

Corrections say it also searched Hamilton's belongings for contacts but couldn't find any. They also reached out to police in Georgia, where Hamilton was originally from.

His father says he is easy to find because he's lived in the Bronx for many years and that's where his son was arrested.

"He was picked up, my doorstep. Knock on my door, 'Is your son here?' Taken out of my home," he said. "So they knew where I lived."

"They have nothing in writing at all to date that says their son is deceased. They have no autopsy report of how their son died. They don't know anything," said the Rev. Kevin McCall of the National Action Network.

The family says they were unofficially told their son committed suicide, but they find that hard to believe. They want his body exhumed and their own autopsy done. They are also calling for an independent investigation.

Andrea

05-21-2016, 10:35 AM

Woman, 27, Shot And Killed By Police In San Francisco

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/05/19/woman-27-shot-and-killed-by-police-in-san-francisco/ (http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/05/19/woman-27-shot-and-killed-by-police-in-san-francisco/)

Woman killed by SF police sergeant IDd as Jessica Williams, 29

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Woman-killed-by-SF-police-sergeant-IDd-as-Jessica-7887427.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter (http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Woman-killed-by-SF-police-sergeant-IDd-as-Jessica-7887427.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

The woman who was shot and killed by a San Francisco police sergeant Thursday morning after she allegedly attempted to flee officers in a suspected stolen car was identified Friday by the medical examiner as Jessica Williams, 29.

Williams, who the medical examiner said was from the Bay Area, died at San Francisco General Hospital.

Police said there was no immediate indication that the woman was armed or had been driving the car toward officers when she was shot.

Williams was shot one time, and despite the on-scene officers’ attempt to resuscitate her, she died Thursday at San Francisco General Hospital, the officials said.

Williams’ family has been notified of her death, the medical examiner said.

Thursday’s shooting was what many community members and city authorities called the last straw in excessive force from police, more specifically against people of color, igniting a chain of events that ended with Police Chief Greg Suhr’s forced resignation later in the day.

Mayor Ed Lee, who for weeks had brushed off calls from critics of Suhr to fire him, asked for the chief’s resignation during a lengthy meeting with him Thursday afternoon. Lee announced at a City Hall news conference about 5 p.m. Thursday that Suhr had tendered his resignation.

The officers involved in Thursday morning’s shooting, a Bayview station sergeant and another officer, have not been identified by police officials. They were working a special enforcement project that seeks to recover stolen vehicles.

The officers tried to apprehend Williams after spotting her in a parked, stolen car about 9:45 a.m. at Elmira Street near Interstate 280, Suhr told reporters Thursday at the scene. But a witness said she sped away, making it only 100 feet before crashing into a parked utility truck.

The white sedan Williams was driving became wedged beneath the truck, police said. Williams was trying to dislodge the vehicle, by shifting it forward and in reverse, and was not complying with police orders, Suhr said, when the sergeant fired one shot, striking her.

Police removed Wiliiams from the car and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation before paramedics arrived at the scene and took her to the hospital, Suhr said.

There was no immediate indication that she was armed, police at the scene said, but added that they planned to search the vehicle for weapons.

Police said the investigation into the shooting of Williams is still in its early stages.

Andrea

05-21-2016, 10:39 AM

NYPD cop stripped of gun, shield for pointing gun and punching bystander filming him making arrest in Harlem (WARNING: Graphic language)

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/nypd-points-gun-punches-bystanders-filming-harlem-article-1.2644471?utm_content=buffer866ad&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/nypd-points-gun-punches-bystanders-filming-harlem-article-1.2644471?utm_content=buffer866ad&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw)

An NYPD cop was stripped of his gun and shield Friday after video emerged showing him pointing his weapon at bystanders filming him — and then punching one of them in the face, cops said.

The plainclothes officer was nabbing a suspected illegal dirt bike rider at an apartment building at W. 134th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. in Harlem around 6:40 p.m. Thursday when he whipped out his handgun, aiming it at the onlookers, the video shows.

In another video, the same cop is seen cracking one of the amateur videographers with a right hook outside the building, and tackling him.

The 32nd Precinct officer, whose name was not released, has been placed on modified duty while the episode is investigated, cops said.

The 21-year-old man seen being cuffed in the video, Dayshawn Bettway, was suspected as one of two men on dirt bikes circling cops as they stopped a gray Hyundai sedan double-parked down the block minutes earlier, an NYPD spokesman said.

The car's driver and another man escaped in the confusion.

Police later learned the car had been reported stolen in Connecticut. Cops discovered marijuana and 25 rounds of live ammunition inside.

A sergeant and an officer responded to the scene and spotted Bettway running into the building's lobby.

He was charged with assault after allegedly body-slamming an onlooker who opened his door to see what was going on. He was also charged with reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, police said.

The man seen being punched in the video, 19-year-old Jahnico Harvey, was given a desk appearance ticket on misdemeanor charges of menacing and disorderly conduct, a police spokesman said.

Andrea

05-23-2016, 04:57 PM

Georgia Police Officers Caught on Camera Allegedly Fatally Tasering Georgia Man – and High-Fiving Afterward

http://www.people.com/article/parents-watch-as-police-allegedly-taser-son-to-death (http://www.people.com/article/parents-watch-as-police-allegedly-taser-son-to-death)

When Mary Ann Sherman's son started acting erratically after smoking synthetic marijuana last November, she did what she thought was the right thing: She called police for help.

The Florida mom had no idea her 32-year-old son, Chase Sherman, would end up dead after allegedly being handcuffed and then Tasered multiple times by deputy sheriffs. The deadly incident, which played out in front of his parents' eyes, was caught on police body-camera and dashboard videos, which have been obtained by PEOPLE. The videos, taken on November 20, 2015, show Chase Sherman apparently resisting arrest as shouts of "Stop fighting!" can be heard in the background.

"He's got my Taser!" one sheriff can be heard yelling on the videos.

Even though Chase seemed to give up after a minute and a half, saying at one point, "I quit! I quit!" officers continued to Taser him for minutes. In total, he was Tasered 15 times, the family's attorney, L. Chris Stewart, tells PEOPLE.

Just before he seems to stop breathing, the footage shows him saying, "I'm dead."

Sherman's family watched in horror as police dragged his limp body out of the Jeep Patriot onto the highway. Someone on the footage is heard saying, "He ain't breathing. He ain't breathing!"

The video shows one of the deputy officers say, "Dude, I'm [expletive] fired, man." Someone else responds, "Nah, you're good."

After Chase's body is loaded into the ambulance, two sheriffs are seen high-fiving each other. Chase was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead later that day.

"It's really a tragedy because it's an example of how some officers deal with the mentally ill, which is what this is really about," Stewart, the family's attorney, says.

"They knew he was having a mental breakdown and didn't try to deescalate the situation," says Stewart, who successfully negotiated a $6.5 million settlement for the family of Walter Scott, the man fatally shot from behind in April 2015 by a North Charleston police officer after a daytime traffic stop.

"They actually got Chase cuffed easily, but pulling out Tasers escalated the whole thing," Stewart says.

The Shermans are asking the Coweta County District Attorney to take action. "Their whole world was destroyed," says Stewart. "Chase had never had a criminal record. He was engaged to be married. He helped with the family business. He was the nicest guy on the planet. This is a tragedy."

Coweta County District Attorney Peter Skandalakis tells PEOPLE, "This is a tragic case and it's one we are looking at rather closely. I have been a prosecutor more than 32 years and never encountered this type of situation, given all these facts."

Skandalakis adds, "The first decision we have to make is whether a crime was committed and if a crime was committed, then it would go to a grand jury. But at this point we are still looking at all the facts."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which had completed its investigation in February and sent its findings to the DA, has also reopened the case, says Stewart.

Happy Family Trip Turns Tragic
On November 20, 2015, Kevin and Mary Ann Sherman were in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, on a layover from their oldest son's wedding in the Dominican Republic to their home in Destin, Florida, when Chase began acting strangely, according to police records.

When he refused to board a plane from Atlanta to Florida, the Shermans decided to rent an SUV and drive five hours home.

Chase told his family and his fiancée, Patti Galloway, he was having a bad reaction to the synthetic drug, Spice. At that point, his mother said the family planned to take him to a doctor when they got home, according to police records. But when the family reached Palmetto, Georgia, Chase began acting erratically in the SUV.

Wanting to get Chase to a hospital, Mary Ann called 911, saying her son "is freaking out" and was "on some kind of drug," according to a statement released by Coweta County District Attorney Peter Skandalakis, who is reviewing the case.

"Chase's parents did what everybody is supposed to do," says Stewart. "You call 911 because it brings help, but in Chase's case, it brought death."

When Coweta County deputies and an EMT responded to the scene, they found Chase "physically combative and would not cooperate in getting out of the back seat," the DA's statement says. It adds, "Multiple attempts were made to subdue Sherman but the Tasers did not seem to have an effect."

The Coweta County Sheriff's Office did not immediately return calls for comment.

CBS News reports that both deputies are still employed with the department, according to Col. James Yarbrough with Coweta County Sheriff's Office. They're identified in incident reports as J.D. Sepanski and S.F. Smith.

In his statement, Skandalakis says, "the review of this case is not complete, the investigation is ongoing and a final decision has not been made concerning the outcome of this case."

Skandalakis's statement adds, "However, in recognition of the great public interest in this matter I have decided to make the body camera and dash board videos available to the media."

Andrea

05-24-2016, 08:36 PM

Montgomery Co. officer accused of using excessive force on female student at school's prom

http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/144250107-story (http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/144250107-story)

A Montgomery County police officer is facing allegations of excessive force at a high school prom. FOX 5 has learned Officer Mauricio Veiga has been removed from his assignment as a school resource officer at Sherwood High School following the outcome of an investigation.

Montgomery County police are looking into the allegations and reviewing surveillance video from the prom held at a local hotel two weeks ago, which allegedly shows an altercation between the officer and a female senior student.

Teachers at the high school who were present at prom filed the complaint against Officer Veiga, a 12-year veteran with the department, claiming he placed a female student in a headlock, tackled her to the ground and then holding her arms behind her back as if he was going to arrest her following a verbal altercation between the teenager and a fellow student.

The father of the high schooler told FOX 5 that he has seen the video of his daughter being restrained by the officer and he agrees that excessive force was used.

He said the video was recorded by a camera in the lobby of the Bethesda Marriott where the prom was held. The victims father does not want to be identified, but says the officer was also wearing a body camera but for reasons unknown, the incident did not get recorded.

Teachers claim Veiga has used questionable judgment before. In one instance, a picture shows him with school faculty pointing a Taser-like weapon towards a teacher's head.

Officer Veiga has been charged with harassment in the past and was also arrested back in 2012 for DUI. Those charges were adjudicated.

Then in 2014, he was charged again with DUI – this time while driving his police cruiser. He was found guilty and ordered to supervised probation. Veiga was subsequently taken off patrol and reassigned as a school resource officer at Sherwood High School.

A few months afterwards, Officer Veiga spoke at a drug and alcohol awareness seminar at Sherwood.

Andrea

05-25-2016, 01:31 PM

Portland Police Chief Placed on Leave After Forgetting to Mention He Accidentally Shot a Guy

http://gawker.com/portland-police-chief-placed-on-leave-after-forgetting-1778541625?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow (http://gawker.com/portland-police-chief-placed-on-leave-after-forgetting-1778541625?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow)

On Tuesday, the police chief of Oregon’s largest city was placed on paid leave after allegedly misleading an investigator about a hunting accident last month.

According to The Oregonian, Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea failed to tell a responding officer he accidentally fired the shot that hit a friend in the back, instead suggesting the victim shot himself:

O’Dea didn’t identify himself as Portland’s chief or even as a police officer when he was questioned by the deputy who responded April 21 to a 911 call outside Fields, [Harney County] Sheriff Dave Ward said in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

O’Dea and some of his companions at the scene steered the deputy into believing the shooting was a “self-inflicted’’ accident, Ward said.

“We need our Police Bureau operating at its best, and our officers can’t do that when there’s turmoil and confusion surrounding their leader,” wrote Hales. “I am awaiting the outcome of internal and external investigations before commenting about the incident, and urge all Portlanders to do the same.”“I do know it didn’t happen the way it was originally portrayed,” he said.

According to Sheriff Ward, investigators only learned O’Dea was involved when they interviewed the victim almost a month later.

“The victim made it pretty clear he didn’t shoot himself,’’ said Ward. “The victim knew who shot him.’’

While the shooting occurred in April, O’Dea did not inform the public about the incident until reporters asked him about it last week. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales—who was out of town attending a White House conference on gun violence prevention—announced O’Dea’s leave of absence in a prepared statement.

“We need our Police Bureau operating at its best, and our officers can’t do that when there’s turmoil and confusion surrounding their leader,” wrote Hales. “I am awaiting the outcome of internal and external investigations before commenting about the incident, and urge all Portlanders to do the same.”

Andrea

05-25-2016, 01:39 PM

Middle school student charged with larceny for taking free carton of milk

http://blavity.com/middle-school-student-charged-larceny-taking-free-carton-milk/ (http://blavity.com/middle-school-student-charged-larceny-taking-free-carton-milk/)

Ryan Turk, a Virginia middle school student, was handcuffed and suspended from school over a 65-cent carton of milk.

Turk is a part of Graham Park Middle School’s free lunch program and returned to the line to get his milk, which he said he’d forgotten. When he went back, a police officer accused him of stealing. Turk was handcuffed, taken to the principal’s office and searched for drugs, his mother said.

Police say Turk became disorderly, which is why he was cuffed. Turk admitted to pulling back. His mother said the officer let the situation get out of hand over 65-cents.

Shamise Turk told CBS News 6, “I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m mad. It just went too far. They are charging him with larceny, which I don’t have no understanding as to why he is being charged with larceny when he was entitled to that milk from the beginning.”

The teen is charged with larceny and a school spokesperson said he is suspended for theft, being disrespectful and using his cell phone in school.

“The need for disciplinary action is determined by how a student behaves throughout any given incident,” the school spokesperson said. “An appeals process is in place to ensure the fairness of any disciplinary action.”

Andrea

05-26-2016, 06:36 AM

EXCLUSIVE: City Hall Held Secret Meeting To Get Story Straight On Laquan

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160526/downtown/exclusive-city-hall-held-secret-meeting-get-story-straight-on-laquan (https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160526/downtown/exclusive-city-hall-held-secret-meeting-get-story-straight-on-laquan)

“Get your story straight.”

Cops will tell you that phrase is code, part of the “Thin Blue Line” code of silence in the Police Department, that signals an expectation to fall in line with an agreed upon narrative of an event regardless of what actually happened.

Apparently, getting your story straight is not a practice unique to the Chicago Police Department.

A few days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Dec. 9 publicly acknowledged that a code of silence exists within the Police Department, his top aides called a secret meeting at City Hall.

The goal: To make sure everybody — top police brass, Chicago Police Board president Lori Lightfoot and members of the Independent Police Review Authority, the independent agency charged with investigating police misconduct — had their story straight, so to speak, before being grilled by aldermen at a City Council joint hearing of Human Relations and Public safety committees in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting, DNAinfo Chicago has learned.

In a Dec. 13 email, top Emanuel-aide Janey Rountree told former acting police Supt. John Escalante, members of the police command staff and others to cancel their own “prep session” for the joint hearing and instead attend a roundtable meeting at City Hall.

“I think it will be really important for CPD to be in the same prep session as IPRA and the Police Board President so everyone has the same information,” Rountree wrote in the email obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

“I know this conflicts with an internal CPD prep session, so I hope it’s not too much trouble to reschedule yours.”

Rountree’s email also laid out a tentative plan for which members of the Police Department would address questions from aldermen at the hearing. The email, sent weeks before Emanuel removed Escalante as temporary top cop, did not mention Escalante by name.

“Right now, the plan is for Chief [Eugene] Williams and Chief [Eddie L.] Welch to speak for CPD,” according to the email, which also includes a list of questions police brass should be prepared to answer.

“You should review these and decide who else you’ll need in the room, particularly the General Counsel and maybe [Deputy Chief of Support Services] Jonathan Lewin. I think we have some flexibility as to who is testifying,” Rountree wrote.

On Dec. 15, Emanuel’s press secretary Adam Collins followed up with Escalante by emailing him a few things “that came up in our prep yesterday” that included expected questions and answers that were written in first-person that read more like a script than a suggestion.

If Escalante were to get asked “Is there a code of silence in CPD?” Collins offered the top cop exact lines he should say that did not answer the question:

“ – I’ve been part of CPD for more than 29 years, and I’ve been honored to serve with some of the finest men and women I know. I’m sure each of you could share incredible stories about officers in your wards and in your communities who have dedicated themselves to making our city a better place to live.
- But we also need to be honest that in an organization of our size there will be some who break the rules, and unfortunately some who break the law.
- When that happens, those people need to be held accountable.
- And if and when anyone tries to hide information from investigators – they need to be held accountable.
- We have those rules on the books. It’s called Rule 14.
- And we need to uphold it.”

How should Escalante answer if he was asked when Mayor Emanuel found out about the Laquan McDonald shooting?

“A: I have no idea.” Collins wrote in the email.

What if Escalante were to be asked, “Who briefs the Mayor on police-involved shootings?”

Collins wrote: “A: We haven’t had one since I became Superintendent and I couldn’t speak to what Superintendent McCarthy may have done around these instances.”

Escalante, who now serves as the Police Department’s second in command, did not testify before the joint committee until "supper time," eight hours after it began when just 12 aldermen were present, WBEZ's Natalie Moore reported at that time.

At the hearing Escalante read from a written copy of remarks that started, "Good morning," the radio station reported.

Asked about the City Hall script for the hearing, Escalante said, "It’s not uncommon for the police department — similar to other city department and agencies — to work with the Mayor’s office on city announcements and events. As they are hired to do, communications staff regularly provide city officials — including police leadership — with recommendations and pointers on a wide range of topics."

Collins, who was recently promoted as Emanuel’s top spokesman, said the emails show "basic routine interaction" between the mayor's office and city agencies.

"Nothing in here questions the independence of IPRA or the Police Board in any, shape or form. Neither our office nor CPD is involved in IPRA's independent investigative work. All this shows is the basic routine interaction between Mayoral liaisons and city agencies. It is common for the Mayor's office ... to hold prep meetings for agency heads before scheduled committee hearings to ensure that those expected to testify are prepared to answer any and all questions that may be asked by Aldermen during the hearing," Collins said.

"You’d expect nothing less because this type of routine preparation ensures that those testifying are able to provide the Aldermen and the public with full and complete information."

City Council got "spun"

Even after the City Hall prep session and follow-up Q&A scripts, the City Council joint hearing on Dec. 15 turned into a marathon session that the Tribune described as a display of “political posturing” and Ald. Danny Solis (25th) called “a waste of time.”

When Solis on Wednesday learned of the City Hall “prep session” before the joint hearing, the veteran alderman said he remains frustrated by the lack of action being taken to fix the city’s “problem” with the police code of silence and the efforts taken to keep aldermen from getting specifics about the state of the Police Department.

“I think we were definitely spun during that hearing in December. I hope that is still not happening now,” Solis said.

“We have a problem. The cat is out of the bag. We have to figure out how to deal with it. We have got to change at our level. The mayor has responsibility and the City Council has responsibility and the police union has a responsibility to come up with solutions.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said he wouldn’t have been surprised by the Emanuel administration's “prep session” if it was just for the Police Department.

After all, "they typically hand out talking points to aldermen telling them what to ask. You can tell because you see some [aldermen] reading something they haven't seen before that's written in language that's not how they usually speak," he said.

But the inclusion of IPRA members and the Police Board boss — who were described in Rountree’s email as part of “all people testifying for the city” — in a City Hall roundtable orchestrated by the Emanuel administration doesn’t seem right to the North Side ward boss.

“I think around the city people see the word ‘independent’ in an agency’s name and they think it’s some other entity; not one that it’s run by a mayoral appointee getting directives directly from [Emanuel’s} 5th Floor office,” Waguespack said.

“I’m not surprised they tried to get everyone lined up to answer the same way especially with the situation so heated. You can understand when it’s a matter of legal review on a controversial situation but this goes way beyond that. It’s political maneuvering and manipulation. That’s [Emanuel’s] M.O. He choreographs everything. When they do that instead of letting people answer honestly they just dig the hole deeper.”

"Was there a cover up?"

Ald. John Arena (45th) said the emails obtained by DNAinfo Chicago show that the Emanuel administration, while being very careful with its messaging related to the Laquan McDonald shooting, "still hasn't leveled with us about what they knew and when they knew it about Laquan. We're still sitting here scratching our heads when it comes to that question."

"Was there a cover-up here? That still needs to be answered. What they knew and how much they knew are the most important questions hanging out there. For me, reading [the emails] adds to that fundamental question that needs to be answered at some point."

The City Hall emails obtained by DNAinfo Chicago shed additional light on how much control the Emanuel administration wields on the day-to-day operations of the Police Department, which is currently the subject of a U.S. Justice Department probe.

The Justice Department investigation, however, has been limited to the policies and practices of the Police Department and, as far as anyone knows, has not been expanded to include City Hall.

Not yet, anyway.

In December, I laid out why the feds should do just that, explaining that Chicago’s mayor “historically sits atop an elaborate pyramid of power designed by the Democratic Machine that cynics will tell you was constructed to preserve a publicly accepted level of crookedness locals refer to, sometimes lovingly, as 'The Chicago Way.'”

An outsider might think Chicago’s top cop runs the Police Department, but it’s Chicago’s mayor who is the real boss. The mayor hires the police superintendent, sets the police budget and, as former police Supt. Garry McCarthy will tell you, calls almost every day for briefings on department doings.

Emanuel’s Corporation Counsel Steve Patton, City Hall's top lawyer, is the guy who negotiates the police union contract that includes provisions that for generations have helped crooked cops escape punishment for misconduct.

And when an officer gets accused of misconduct, Patton is the guy who defends officers in court, sometimes by settling civil lawsuits that have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Then there’s the City Hall spin machine that Collins' email appears to show at least attempts to control over almost every word that comes out the top cop's mouth.

Arena stopped short of calling on the feds to take their investigation to City Hall. Instead, the Northwest Side alderman and staunch mayoral critic said he trusts the Justice Department will do what's right.

"The fact that the Department of Justice is investigating is important. That's not an investigation that's easy to subvert. If the Justice Department has a sense that there's more to this they are going to, on their own volition, expand their investigation," he said. "They need to do their work and follow the leads where they go."

Arena clarified his stand by pointing to the words the City Hall Spin Machine had scripted for Escalante in December.

"It's like how they coached Escalante on how to answer about whether there's a code of silence in the police department: If someone breaks the rules they need to be held accountable. If the Department of Justice finds that their investigation leads to the administration they will track down and accordingly hold people accountable," Arena said.

"They won't be held back by any local politics or federal politics and follow the scent where it takes them. When that happens, we'll get the answers."

Andrea

05-27-2016, 02:54 PM

Lawsuit says man beaten unconscious in jail, held on misdemeanor

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Lawsuit-says-man-beaten-in-jail-7949531.php?cmpid=twitter-mobile (http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Lawsuit-says-man-beaten-in-jail-7949531.php?cmpid=twitter-mobile)

A 28-year-old Houston man whose father is a deputy constable claims in a lawsuit filed Friday that he was beaten unconscious by two jailers at the Harris County jail after being arrested on a minor trespassing charge.

Michael Alaniz was denied medical treatment for more than a day and was eventually diagnosed with a concussion and a broken nose, according to the lawsuit.

The two deputy sheriffs are not identified in the lawsuit, which notes that Alaniz knows only a physical description of the two men.

Alaniz was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge after going to the Metropolis & Extravaganza night club on Richmond Avenue on Oct. 23, 2015. The suit says that Alaniz's friend began acting erratic, and that Alaniz was handcuffed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy when he did not leave promptly. He was then placed under arrest by officers with the Houston Police Department.

The problems began after the Houston police officer left him at the jail and he began to be processed by the two deputies, according to the suit.

He was strip-searched publicly in an area where he could be seen by both male and female inmates, and said the jailers ignored his protests, the suit says.

He was then taken to a holding cell, where he said the two jailers slammed him to the ground and beat him repeatedly until he lost consciousness. The suit said that one of the deputies later apologized for the injuries, saying, "he was sorry, but that when told to do so, you have to do your strip search."

He later asked repeatedly for medical treatment but was not seen by medical personnel until 36 hours later. He was prescribed ibuprofen.

After being released from the jail on Oct. 27, Alaniz was taken to Ben Taub Hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken nose and concussion, the suit says.

The suit, filed by attorney Allen H. Zwernemann, seeks undisclosed damages.

Andrea

06-01-2016, 08:26 PM

Jury Awards $22M To Man Who Says Cleveland Cop Kept Him In Closet For Days

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jury-awards-22-million-arnold-black-kept-closet-cleveland-jail

A jury has awarded $22 million to a man who says he was brutally beaten by an East Cleveland police detective, locked in a storage closet with no toilet for four days and given nothing to eat or drink except for a carton of milk.

The Cleveland jury deliberated for a day before finding for Arnold Black, 48, of East Cleveland, in a three-day civil trial. Relatives testified that Black suffers from physical and emotional problems from the beating and had to undergo surgery to remove dried blood on his brain.

In a strange twist, the trial was held without attorneys representing East Cleveland. City Law Director Willa Hemmons, when contacted Wednesday by The Associated Press, said she wasn't aware that a trial had been held.

She said the trial should have been stopped because of an appeal she had filed with the Ohio Supreme Court and any verdict should be void. A local appeals court twice refused to hear appeals filed by Hemmons on rulings made by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Sutula that excluded evidence and witnesses the city had hoped to present at trial. Sutula couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

Black's attorney, Bobby DiCello, said the judge ordered the trial to proceed because all the parties had been notified.

An East Cleveland police detective said at trial that he had asked a patrol officer to stop Black's truck on April 28, 2012, because he believed there was a kilogram of cocaine inside, said Black's attorney, DiCello said.

When no drugs were found, detective Randy Hicks began punching Black in the face and head and patrol officer Jonathan O'Leary held Black upright so that Hicks could continue the beating, Black testified.

Black also testified that the officers put him in the storage closet to hide the severity of his injuries. Black said an East Cleveland jail guard gave him a carton of milk on his second day of confinement and let him use a cellphone to call his girlfriend, who had been searching for him.

Police took Black to the Cuyahoga County Jail on May 2, 2012, and he quickly was freed on bond.

Hicks testified at the civil trial that Police Chief Ralph Spotts confronted him several days after Black's arrest and forced him to resign. Hicks also testified that Spotts encouraged a culture of violence within the East Cleveland Police Department.

The jury award includes $10 million in compensatory damage against East Cleveland, Hicks, O'Leary and Spotts. It awarded Black $11 million in punitive damages against Spotts and $1 million against O'Leary.

No publicly listed telephone numbers were available for Hicks, Spotts or O'Leary. All have left the East Cleveland Police Department.

East Cleveland provided none of the evidence that DiCello said he requested, including police reports, Hicks' personnel file or footage from O'Leary's dashboard camera that he said would have shown the arrest and beating of Black.

Black was indicted by a grand jury on drug possession, criminal tools and tampering with evidence charges. An assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor asked that the case be dismissed in July 2012 because East Cleveland police failed to provide any evidence to support the charges. DiCello said that while Hicks was forced to resign, O'Leary was never punished.

It's unclear how cash-strapped East Cleveland could pay Black anything as officials there consider filing the state's first-ever municipal bankruptcy and explore a merger with neighboring Cleveland.

Andrea

06-01-2016, 08:30 PM

Plainclothes officer who killed Florida church drummer is charged with manslaughter, attempted murder

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/06/01/plainclothes-officer-who-killed-florida-church-drummer-charged-with-manslaughter-attempted-murder/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/06/01/plainclothes-officer-who-killed-florida-church-drummer-charged-with-manslaughter-attempted-murder/)

Florida prosecutors announced Wednesday that a grand jury indicted former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja on charges of manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm for the shooting death of 31-year-old Corey Jones.

The charges come seven months after Jones, a well-known area musician, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, 2015, while he waited for a tow truck after his car broke down on an Interstate 95 off-ramp. Jones was armed at the time with a weapon he had purchased legally just three days earlier when he was approached by Raja, a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg announced Wednesday that a grand jury concluded Raja’s use of force was unjustified. Documents released Wednesday allege that Raja never identified himself to Jones as a police officer as he drove up to the stranded motorist, yelled commands and then opened fire.

“The grand jury today found that the use of force by Mr. Raja was unjustified,” Aronberg said. “Mr. Raja has been arrested and taken into custody.”

After the shooting, Palm Beach police officials said that Raja believed he was investigating an abandoned vehicle when he was suddenly confronted by an armed man. However, for the months that the case has been under investigation, it has remained unclear whether Raja announced himself as an officer or what other words were exchanged between the men prior to the shooting.

Charging documents released Wednesday by prosecutors state that: According to an audio recording of the interaction, at no point did Raja identify himself to Jones as a police officer; he was not wearing his tactical vest identifying himself as a police officer; and Raja’s vehicle was not immediately distinguishable as a police vehicle. Prosecutors say Raja drove his unmarked van the wrong way down the interstate off-ramp in order to confront Jones about 3:15 a.m.

“A reasonable person can only assume the thoughts and concerns Corey Jones was experiencing as he saw the van approaching him at that hour of the morning,” prosecutors wrote in the charging documents. “Raja stopped his van at a perpendicular angle directly in front of Jones’s vehicle. … At no time during the recording did Raja say he was a police officer.”

According to the transcript included in the charging documents, Raja asked Jones several times if he was “good,” before transitioning to demanding he put his hands in the air.

Raja: You good?

Jones: I’m good.

Raja: Really?

Jones: Yeah, I’m good.

Raja: Really?

Jones: Yeah.

Raja: Get your f—ing hands up! Get your f—ing hands up!

Jones: Hold on!

Raja: Get your f—ing hands up! Drop!

Then, according to the documents, Raja fired three shots in rapid succession, prompting an AT&T call center operator who had been on the phone with Jones as he waited for the tow truck to exclaim “Oh my gosh!” Then, 10 seconds later, Raja fired three more shots.

Prosecutors say that Raja then called 911, about 30 seconds after firing his last round.

“I came out, I saw him come out with a handgun,” Raja told the 911 dispatcher. “I gave him commands, I identified myself, and he turned, pointed the gun at me and started running. I shot him.”

When other officers arrived at the scene, they found Jones’s body about 192 feet away from his car. Jones’s gun was found between him and the car, about 72 feet away from the vehicle.

Jones was one of 990 people fatally shot by police officers in 2015, according to a Washington Post database tracking such incidents. Raja becomes just the 12th officer charged in connection to a fatal police shooting that occurred in 2015, and is the only officer charged in connection to a shooting in which the person killed was allegedly armed.

Jones’s family, in a statement issued through the law firm of civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, praised the prosecutor’s decision to bring charges.

“We were relieved to learn that officer Nouman Raja, who senselessly killed Corey Jones, was arrested earlier today and will face criminal charges for his reckless act. While we understand that nothing can bring back our son, brother and friend, this arrest sends a message that this conduct will not be tolerated from members of law enforcement,” the statement said. “Our goal now as a family is to ensure that this never happens to another innocent citizen. In spite of this news, our hearts are heavy. We lost a wonderful soul. But rather than focus on the reprehensible actions of one police officer, today we choose to celebrate Corey’s life.”

Rep. Patrick E. Murphy (D-Fla.), who has introduced body camera and police data collection legislation in response to Jones’s death, also praised the decision to bring charges against Raja.

“Today’s indictment of former officer Nouman Raja demonstrates that no one is above the law,” Murphy said in a statement. “It is also an important step forward for our community to begin to heal and to restore trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. While nothing will bring Corey back, I hope today’s action brings some peace to his loved ones as we continue to honor his life by working together to prevent future tragedies such as this.”

Andrea

06-03-2016, 11:41 AM

Video release of police shootings, incidents marks seismic shift in Chicago's secrecy

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-videos-met-20160603-story.html (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-videos-met-20160603-story.html)

The Emanuel administration posted evidence online Friday morning from more than 100 pending investigations of police shootings and other incidents, marking a watershed moment for a city that fought for decades to keep videos in excessive force cases hidden from the public.

The document dump comes more than six months after video of a Chicago police officer shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times changed the landscape for the embattled Police Department.

As many as half of the 100 cases still under investigation by the city's police oversight agency include dashcam videos, surveillance footage and audio, including a handful deemed "sensitive" because they depict citizens being beaten or shot, city officials said.

The move marks the official rollout of a new policy to release video of shootings by police within 60 days of most incidents — an unprecedented shift toward transparency that even longtime critics of the secrecy of the Police Department have praised as an important step.

"I think this is a big thing," said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who has studied police misconduct. "We are experiencing a sea change, and lots of credit should go around for that."

Andrea: Click link for rest of long article that includes police misconduct examples

*Anya*

06-03-2016, 04:56 PM

Andrea

06-05-2016, 11:58 AM

SEE IT: Infamous NYPD sergeant points gun at man recording her, then busts into apartment and arrests him

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/nypd-sergeant-aims-gun-man-recording-illegal-search-article-1.2661248?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/nypd-sergeant-aims-gun-man-recording-illegal-search-article-1.2661248?cid=bitly)

An NYPD sergeant is facing disciplinary action for pointing her department-issued gun at a Brooklyn man who was recording her with his cell phone, the Daily News has learned.

Sgt. Diana Pichardo then confronted the man, David Rivera, called him a "motherf-----," and snatched the phone from his hand — which was all captured on a recording.

Rivera, who was arrested on a slew of felony charges which the Brooklyn district attorney's office declined to prosecute, reported the shocking incident to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. The CCRB substantiated Rivera's allegations that Pichardo pointed her gun at him, abused her authority by searching his apartment without a warrant, and spoke discourteously to him.

Rivera's video, which he shared with The News, is the second video to surface recently which depicts an NYPD cop pointing a firearm at someone merely holding a phone. Harlem cop Risel Martinez was stripped of his gun and badge last month after he was caught on camera menacing onlookers and punching a man recording him.

"I think many police officers fear the camera and attempt to stop the recording because they're concerned it's going to be used against them," said lawyer Jason Leventhal who plans to file a lawsuit on Rivera's behalf this week in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Andrea: Click link for rest of article

Andrea

06-06-2016, 09:09 PM

Off-duty cop allegedly punched elderly woman because of dog

http://nypost.com/2016/06/06/off-duty-cop-allegedly-punched-elderly-woman-because-of-dog/ (http://nypost.com/2016/06/06/off-duty-cop-allegedly-punched-elderly-woman-because-of-dog/)

An off-duty cop punched a 72-year-old woman in the face during an argument over her dog in Brooklyn, according to police sources and the lady.

NYPD Officer Vladimir Radionov, 46, allegedly became enraged when Janet Goldschmidt tried to bring her 9-pound Yorkshire terrier onto the elevator of their building on Sea Coast Terrace in Brighton Beach and began arguing with her around 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

“He came at me like a bull,” Goldschmidt told The Post. “He just attacked me.”

She said she’d just returned from walking her small dog, whose name is Alvick, when Radionov started cursing her after she stepped into the elevator.

“He says, ‘Take your motherf–king dog out of the elevator. I don’t want to go up with your f–king dirty dog,'” she recalled.

Dogs are only allowed in the service elevator, but Goldschmidt asked if she could ride up to her floor in the passenger lift first.

Goldschmidt said the off-duty officer became enraged after she entered the lift with her dog, Alvick.Photo: Gabriella Bass

“He said ‘No’ and started punching me,” she recalled. “I throw a cup of coffee, thinking this is going to stop him but it doesn’t. He punches me in the back. He grabs me and pulls me out like I am a child.”

Footage from a surveillance camera inside the elevator shows Radionov dragging the petite, 5-foot woman and her dog outside the lift, sources said.

Goldschmidt told police the cop then slugged her in the back of the head. A law enforcement source said the punch was not caught on camera.

At one point, the elderly woman fell backward to the floor, injuring her tailbone and hitting the back of her head. She also scraped her arm during the fall, sources said.

When Radionov tried to get back into the elevator, Goldschmidt lunged after him to try to retaliate, sources said.

He then allegedly gave her one last shove before she hurled a cup of coffee on him as the doors shut.

Janet Goldschmidt, 72, was allegedly attacked on an elevator with her dog, Alvick.Photo: Gabriella Bass

Goldschmidt called the building superintendent and described her attacker before he gave her Radionov’s name and apartment number.

She then called cops, who went up to Radionov’s apartment and brought him down on the elevator.

Once in the lobby, Goldschmidt identified Radionov to cops, who arrested him and later charged him with assault.

She was taken to Coney Island Hospital for treatment.

“He hit a 72-year-old woman, it is unbelievable,” Goldschmidt said. “I thought I was going to die from anxiety, I couldn’t breathe.”

Radionov will likely be arraigned Monday.

“This is like someone’s grandmother,” said a police source who questioned Radionov’s judgment as an officer based on how he handled the situation.

“He has a special manual for himself on professional manners and respect.”

Andrea

06-07-2016, 07:26 AM

St. Louis Police Secretly Paid Thousands To Victims’ Families Without Prosecutors’ Knowledge

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/06/06/3784967/st-louis-settlements/ (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/06/06/3784967/st-louis-settlements/)

In the past few years, St. Louis police have shelled out $4.7 million in settlement money for fatalities, injuries, and wrongful imprisonment. According to an investigation by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, three of those settlements were made long before prosecutors decided whether or not to file criminal charges against the officers responsible — or weren’t reviewed by prosecutors at all.

The Post-Dispatch discovered that St. Louis police have settled 44 cases since 2010. One of those cases involved the fatal shooting of Jason Stockley, which was settled for $900,000, two years before the officer involved was charged with murder. The families of two other police shooting victims, Cary Ball and Normane Bennett, received money for cases that Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce didn’t intend to investigate or prosecute. Ball’s family received $400,000 roughly five months after he was shot 21 times by police officers. Bennett’s family received $212,500 nearly two years after the 23-year-old was killed while running away from police.

In response to the investigation, Joyce’s office expressed concern that police agreed to pay hundreds of thousands to Ball and Bennett’s families without having the cases looked into by prosecutors. However, there is still no intention to review them in the future, because of a lack of funding and “manpower.”

Is St. Louis Really Committed To Police Accountability? Or Are They Just Papering Over The Problems?

The decision to pay victims' families occurred in the years leading up to Michael Brown's shooting, which put a spotlight on St. Louis for officers' excessive use of force. The city's police are now under fire for making unconstitutional, warrant-less arrests. The settlements suggest that officers have tried to cover up misconduct for years.

“In my considerable experience, police departments do not settle and certainly don’t settle for a lot of money unless there is clear evidence of liability, clear evidence the shooting was unjustified,” Jon Loevy, an attorney with the Chicago firm Loevy & Loevy, told the Post-Dispatch. The firm recently won a $2.5 million settlement in court for an exoneree whose case involved St. Louis police. “I can tell you from experience, they don’t just cough up money routinely. They fight hard, they are reluctant to resolve cases and there is just not that kind of money lying around unless there is merit.”

St. Louis is far from the only city to shell out money to victims. In April, Cleveland agreed to pay Tamir Rice's estate $6 million following a wrongful death lawsuit. In New York City, Eric Garner's family received $5.9 million. Baltimore agreed to a $6.4 million settlement for the death of Freddie Gray.

But police departments -- or the officers accused of wrongdoing -- rarely foot the bill. Operating on limited budgets, most departments simply don't have the money. Police forces that do have larger budgets to work with, such as the NYPD, are bogged down with multiple lawsuits and financially drained as a result. In the end, the government usually pays for the settlements using taxpayer money.

*Anya*

06-08-2016, 07:07 PM

Distracted California patrol officer kills teenager in crash

Updated 4:19 pm, Wednesday, June 8, 2016

ORLAND, Calif. (AP) — Officials say a Northern California teenager is dead after a California Highway Patrol officer became distracted and rear-ended another vehicle.

The Glenn County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that 15-year-old Weston Sites of Willows, California was pronounced dead at the scene along Interstate 5 near the town of Orland.

CHP Sgt. Tony Odell tells television station KCRA-TV (http://bit.ly/1OdDyjw ) that the officer was looking down at his computer about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

He didn't notice that northbound traffic was slowing until it was too late to avoid rear-ending the vehicle where Sites was riding in the back seat.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Distracted-California-patrol-officer-kills-7971283.php

Andrea

06-11-2016, 03:57 PM

Video: SAPD officer suspended after challenging arrestee to fight, removing his handcuffs

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/crime/article/VIDEO-SAPD-officer-agreed-to-fight-man-during-7973241.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/crime/article/VIDEO-SAPD-officer-agreed-to-fight-man-during-7973241.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop)

A San Antonio Police Department officer received an indefinite suspension in May for an incident last year in which he removed an arrestee's handcuffs and challenged him to a fight outside his cruiser.

During the Aug. 1, 2015 incident, the officer, identified as Matthew Belver, removed the man's restraints, let him out of his cruiser and said he would "beat your ass... Are your ready?," according to dashcam video obtained by mySA.com.

Belver called the man, identified as Eloy Leal, a coward after he refused to fight and, when Leal asked what he was being charged with, the officer responded "I'll think of something... How about public intoxication, pedestrian in a roadway? Whatever else I can think of."

Leal was charged with interfering with the duties of a public servant, but that charge was later dropped, according to online records.

After Leal gets back into the car, he asks the officer if he was serious about the challenge.

“You were actually gonna let me fight. Really? Honest to God? One-on-one?”

Belver said he was ready to go.

“You could kick my a--, take my gun, shoot me in the head, I don’t give a f--- what you do,” Belver said.

According to suspension documents, Belver was among officers who responded to a shooting around 5 a.m. in the 3100 block of Cahmita Street on the South Side, where he detained a man identified in the documents as Eloy Leal.

The dashcam footage begins with Leal sitting in the back of Belver’s patrol vehicle, where he appears to be talking, but there is no audio of his voice initially.

When the audio begins less than 30 seconds later, Belver and Leal exchange a few words. Leal can be heard saying I'm in the "backseat and now you want to talk all this s---."

The officer can be heard saying “let’s take the cuffs off,” as Leal sits restrained in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Belver agrees to the one-on-one fight and proceeds to remove the man’s restraints and pull him out of the car.

When Leal does not engage in the fight with the officer, Belver handcuffs him again and puts him back in the vehicle.

“I thought you were gonna fight, like you said,” Belver said.

According to suspension records, Belver called Leal a coward and a “dumb f---” while transporting him to the central magistrate's office.

The San Antonio Police Department confirmed on Thursday that Belver is appealing the suspension.

Andrea

06-13-2016, 07:45 PM

City of Stockton Settles Abuse of Force Lawsuit Involving K-9

http://fox40.com/2016/06/13/city-of-stockton-settles-abuse-of-force-lawsuit-involving-k-9/ (http://fox40.com/2016/06/13/city-of-stockton-settles-abuse-of-force-lawsuit-involving-k-9/)

The city of Stockton will shell out $307,500 to settle a federal abuse of force case against the Stockton Police Department.

In grainy cell phone video, 18-year-old James Smith is handcuffed on the ground while a Stockton police K-9 repeatedly bites him. The video is hard to make out, but for Teresa Smith, it’s a clear example of Stockton police officers abusing their authority.

"I birthed him, I love him, and I will fight for him because I am his keeper!” said Teresa Smith of Stockton.

According to a complaint, the use of force event in question happened in November 2014 near Smith’s home on East Flora Street in Stockton.

Teresa Smith said the officers involved should have never used force on her son because he was born mentally disabled.

"They beat me up with a dog,” James Smith said.

On Monday, her attorneys with the Dolan Law Firm said the city of Stockton settled the civil lawsuit.

FOX40 also contacted the Stockton Police Department who said: “Out of respect for the litigation process they cannot comment.”

Officers said they were breaking up a fight.

Teresa Smith, who was at church at the time, claimed the neighborhood boys were just roughhousing.

Five officers are named in the complaint, including Houston Sensabaugh, now known as Houston Stevens. Attorneys claimed Stevens was involved in three deadly officer-involved shootings. Teresa Smith wants him off the force.

"I don't feel safe. Officer Sensabaugh did a crime and he need to pay for it,” she said.

Even though the case has been settled, Teresa Smith said she’ll never stop fighting for her son.

"Money, it can't buy justice,” she said.

Andrea

06-17-2016, 04:19 PM

State Trooper Gets Just 6 Months For Raping Car Accident Victim

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/04/state-trooper-gets-just-6-months-for-raping-car-accident-victim.html (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/04/state-trooper-gets-just-6-months-for-raping-car-accident-victim.html)

An Alabama state trooper accused of raping a car accident victim and forcing her to perform oral sex was sentenced to just six months in jail.

Samuel H. McHenry II, 36, pleaded guilty on Thursday to misdemeanor sexual misconduct under a deal with prosecutors. He originally faced charges of rape and sodomy for the December 2015 incident, but those were dismissed.

Under the agreement, the ex-trooper’s state certification will be revoked and he will be required to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported.

McHenry will also be permitted to serve his sentence “in increments at his own discretion,” WSFA reported. The 182 days must be served within the next year.

The Alabama Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Both sides have to agree to it, so in that sense there was that discussion about is this acceptable to both sides,” Mcgowin Williamson, one of the attorneys who represented McHenry, told the Associated Press.

When reached by The Daily Beast on Thursday, Williamson wouldn’t comment on McHenry or the Internet’s outrage over his client's plea deal.

The attorney said the victim and her attorney were present during the proceeding, indicating civil litigation may be forthcoming.

“The normal thing is … this [deal] would not be done without the victim’s agreement and acquiescence,” Williamson told The Daily Beast. “As I wasn’t privy to those communications, I don’t know in this case, but normally that would happen.”

Williamson told the AP that prosecutors offered McHenry the plea deal. The agreement came after three hours of negotiations, according to Judge J. MacDonald Russell Jr., the AP reported.

“I suppose the court can always refuse a plea bargain, but that’s not done very often,” Judge Russell told the AP. “I’ve never refused a plea bargain that the parties have hammered out and worked on, since they know the facts.”

Still, the allegations against the former cop are shocking.

McHenry, of Rutledge, was supposed to help the victim on Dec. 6 when he was called to the scene of the accident in Butler County around 10 p.m.

Instead, the sicko threatened to arrest her after spotting pill bottles and an empty nasal spray bottle in her vehicle, Birmingham’s WVTM reported.

According to an affidavit, McHenry placed the woman in a caged area in the back of his squad car and drove her to an exit off Interstate 65 in south Alabama.

Once in a new location, he opened the back door and told her, “Fuck me or go to jail,” court papers state. He then pulled her pants down, raped her and afterward, forced her to perform oral sex, according to the documents.

McHenry then allegedly drove to another exit and dumped the victim at a closed store before taking off. The alleged assault ended around 1:45 a.m. on Dec. 7, court records state.

The trooper was arrested, freed on bond and fired shortly after. At the time, Alabama Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier called the allegations “unsettling.”

“This type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Collier said, according to WVTM. “Because of the seriousness of this incident, [State Bureau of Investigation] agents have worked nonstop with local law enforcement and the district attorney.”

Last month, the AP reported that McHenry was fighting prosecutors’ request for a saliva sample, which they said would ensure a full investigation.

According to the AP, the victim was examined Dec. 7 at a hospital and a rape kit was obtained. Prosecutors said samples taken from McHenry’s patrol car tested positive for the presence of semen.

McHenry’s attorneys sought to block authorities from obtaining a saliva sample until they could consult with an expert to ensure the samples would be properly taken, AP reported.

The cop-turned-sex offender had worked as a state trooper since 2009, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency confirmed.

He was required to pay a $500 fine and restitution for the heinous crime and was ordered not to contact the victim, WSFA reported.

Andrea

06-19-2016, 07:01 AM

Chemist May Have Tainted 24,000 Court Cases

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/17/chemist-may-have-tainted-24-000-court-cases.html?via=twitter_page (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/17/chemist-may-have-tainted-24-000-court-cases.html?via=twitter_page)

Four years after chemist Annie Dookhan was arrested for falsifying evidence at Massachusetts’ state drug lab, less than 1 percent of the 24,000 cases she may have tampered with have been reviewed.

Dookhan’s story—of how she tainted drug evidence in criminal investigations on a massive scale—has been well-documented by local media. But lost in the focus on the chemist herself are the more than 20,000 defendants who may have been wrongfully convicted thanks to her mishandled results. It’s one of the largest breaches of justice in Massachusetts has ever seen—so why, four years later, hasn’t it been fixed?

“It’s a huge embarrassment,” says Matthew Segal, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “Just a ridiculous comment on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to solve this crisis. We’re just now getting a list of cases, five years after she was caught.”

Hired as a chemist in 2003, Dookhan—the daughter of immigrants—was known as a star employee at the state drug lab. It was her obsession with maintaining a perfect image, according to The Boston Globe, that drove her to falsify drug evidence for years. Her crimes were not necessarily motivated by malice, but by the desire to be valued for her speed. And for a while, she was very speedy.

Dookhan regularly tested 500 drug samples a month, three times more than her peers, who did between 50 and 150. From 2003-2012 she was responsible for testing more than 60,000 drug samples connected to 34,000 criminal cases.

It wasn’t until 2011 that her perfect image began to crumble. According to court documents, a colleague had caught her forging signatures on more than 95 samples. Her efficiency, experts learned, wasn’t the result of unmatched talent, but the result of deception. She routinely failed to test the drugs, mixed them together, forged signatures, and reported false positives.

“I screwed up big time,” Dookhan reportedly told Massachusetts officials. “I messed up bad. It’s my fault. I don’t want the lab to get in trouble.”

Assistant Attorney General John Verner testified that Dookhan would regularly grab a pile of 15-20 drug samples she was responsible for, test only five of them, then “list them all as positive.” In some cases if a sample would test negative, she would add drugs from another sample and retest it. Beyond tampering with the drug samples, she lied about her own credentials on the stand, claiming she had a masters in biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts on 14 occasions.

In September 2012, Massachusetts state police arrested Dookhan at her home. Three months later the 36-year-old was officially indicted on 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence, and one count each of perjury and falsification of academic records. After pleading guilty in Suffolk County Superior Court she was sentenced to three to five years in prison.

The lab was promptly shut down and more than 300 people serving time for cases she’d handled were released. The tens of thousands who were formerly prosecuted would have to wait.

It wasn’t as if the state was blind to the gravity of the problem.

During the sentencing, Attorney General Martha Coakley released a scathing memorandum on Dookhan’s actions. “With no regard for the consequences, the defendant ensured that samples would test positive for controlled substances thus eviscerating both the integrity of the lab’s internal testing processes, and the concomitant fact finding process that was a jury’s to perform.”

Coakley argued that Dookhan should receive a harsher sentence than just a few years in prison. “The total costs to rectify Dookhan’s actions have climbed into the millions with no end in sight,” she said. “The financial aspect does not even address the loss of liberty of affected individuals, the significant deleterious effect on the safety of the public, or the breakdown of public trust in the system.”

Since then, the colossal “loss of liberty” that Coakley recognized remains unchanged.

In 2015, the ACLU began to take legal action against the state, filing a lawsuit on behalf of three people—Kevin Bridgement, Yasir Creach, and Miguel Cuevas—allowing them to challenge their convictions, which were based on Dookhan’s testing. Included in the ruling was a mandate that the prosecutors release a list of the tens of thousands of people who may have been wrongfully convicted because of Dookhan.

In May, the ACLU finally obtained the official number of those potentially affected: 24,000. The statistics were staggering. Dookhan’s cases accounted for an estimated one in four successful drug prosecutions in the seven counties that relied on the Hinton State Lab, and one in six successful drug prosecutions in the Commonwealth from 2003-2012.

With an official list of those whose cases may have been tainted now available, a tug of war over what to do with it is in full swing. Hanging in the balance are defendants who faced jail time, criminal records, and deportation for convictions based on the mishandled evidence.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the state’s public defense group, the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), seem to be in a virtual war over what to do about the cases affected by Dookhan’s bad evidence. The DA’s office told The Daily Beast it is prepared to notify each of the 24,000 defendants that they have a right to an attorney and a new trial—but CPCS claims there aren’t enough public defenders in the entire state to relitigate 24,000 cases. Instead, it wants all guilty pleas based on Dookhan’s work to be thrown out altogether.

And so both sides are apparently at a standstill. Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County DA, told The Daily Beast that the argument that CPCS is understaffed is untrue. “Massachusetts pays 2,500 attorneys defendants and 700 prosecutors, there is simply no merit to the argument that they are spread thin,” he says. “They do two-thirds of the legal work with three times the amount of lawyers.”

Wark claims that within a period of a year, the DA office will set up a series of “special court sessions” where anyone with a Dookhan-related drug case can move to withdraw their guilty plea. “There is no waiting list now,” he says. “Anyone who has a case can come.” When asked how people will know that they may have been wrongfully convicted—especially before the DA’s office sends out notifications to all 24,000—Wark points to the media. “This was a crisis in the state’s criminal justice system of unprecedented public publicity,” he says. “It’s been publicized and broadcast for four years.”

Plus, Wark argues, most of the punishments were likely mild. “In Massachusetts you have to work very hard to go to prison. The great majority of the defendants on Dookhan cases weren’t sentenced to jail at all,” he says. “They very certainly were not sent to prison, the overwhelming majority.”

Benjamin Keehn, a public defender for CPCS calls Wark’s depiction of his office “simply untrue.” Whether or not the public defenders have enough staff to handle the typical caseload is one thing, but to take on tens of thousands of new cases? “These people will get a notice saying they have a right to a free lawyers and reach a public defender’s office that doesn’t have any lawyers left to work with,” Keehn tells The Daily Beast.

Keehn says the DA’s office has fought “every step of the way” to keep the cases from getting dismissed. “They’ve refused to agree to anything other than trench warfare, case by case,” he says. “They came up with nifty ideas like [agreeing] to vacate their guilty plea then re-prosecute them and get more time. So the prize for exercising your due process rights is additional punishment?

“We want notices to go out to say your cases are dismissed, maybe with some limited opportunity for the DA to attempt to reprosecute. That’s the only fair solution,” Keehn adds. “Handling 24,000 cases one by one is going to bankrupt everyone and take years—it’s a nonstarter.”

The ACLU agrees. “People are denied due process when they are wrongly convicted or when people frame them,” Segal says. “Now it’s becoming a process of due process delay. It’s unbelievable that it’s taken that long. We are talking about a situation where justice delayed has been justice denied.”

While the majority of those sentenced likely did not face jail time, all have a permanent offense on their record—which can turn basic things like finding a job, applying to school, and securing housing into near impossibilities. “The notion that poor folks who have been victimized by wrongful convictions in the war on drugs don’t need to be told—by the state wrongly convicted them?” Segal says, “That is absurd.”

Andrea

06-21-2016, 08:44 AM

Video of officer punching man during arrest sparks internal investigation

http://wgntv.com/2016/06/20/video-of-officer-punching-man-during-arrest-sparks-internal-investigation/ (http://wgntv.com/2016/06/20/video-of-officer-punching-man-during-arrest-sparks-internal-investigation/)

Chicago police have launched an internal investigation after video of a man being punched by an officer surfaced on social media.

What led up to the video is something police and witnesses disagree on.

22-year-old Robert Foreman was released from custody Monday after he was charged with resisting arrest and public drinking. Foreman says he had just been robbed before the arrest took place, but police dispute his account.

The video in question was recorded by a witness near the intersection of 88th St. and S. Wabash Ave. in the Chatham neighborhood. Maurice Fulson, who recorded the arrest, says he saw the officer tackle Foreman just before the punches were thrown.

“He was down, you can see it on the film. He was not fighting back, he wasn’t trying to flip,” Fulson said.

A police source says officers were going to write Foreman a ticket for public drinking before he took off running. Now he’s facing charges of public drinking along with resisting arrest.

Foreman says he had just been robbed and stopped as soon as he realized it was police chasing him.

“When I turned around and I seen him I’m like, ‘alright, I give up,’ and he just grabbed me and threw me down to the ground; I didn’t resist or nothing,” Foreman said.

Police issued a statement tonight, saying:

"Based on this video, CPD has opened an internal affairs investigation into this incident and will be forwarding the video and all relevant reports to the Independent Review Board for investigation. We are committed to the highest levels of integrity and professional standards and look forward to IPRA's review of this incident"

Foreman and his family say they’re seeking representation from a lawyer.

Andrea

06-23-2016, 07:58 PM

Texas Police Officer Who Manhandled Black Teens At Pool Party Will Not Face Charges

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-teen-pool-party-police-charges_us_576c3e97e4b0dbb1bbb9ef1a (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-teen-pool-party-police-charges_us_576c3e97e4b0dbb1bbb9ef1a)

A Texas grand jury has decided not to indict McKinney Police Officer Eric Casebolt in the manhandling of a black teenager at a pool party last June.

After police responded to disturbance calls at Craig Ranch North Community Pool, a cell phone video caught Casebolt yanking 15-year-old Dajerria Becton to the ground and pulling his gun on two other teens.

One of the teens, Miles Jai Thomas, told The Huffington Post that the cops showed up after a fight between two adults and “started cursing and yelling at us.”

Following national backlash to the incident, Casebolt resigned. The Texas Rangers began investigating the case and, in January, gave their findings to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, which presented them to a grand jury. The complete investigation has not been released, WFAA reported.

“The Casebolt news is not surprising,” said Kim T. Cole, the attorney representing Becton’s family. “We are currently in a day and time where the very people who are sworn to enforce the law are not held to uphold the law — and that has got to change.”

“We’re glad that the system worked in his favor in this case,” Tom Mills, an attorney for Casebolt, told The Dallas Morning News.

The McKinney Police Department announced it would hold a meeting with community leaders Monday.

Andrea

06-24-2016, 12:14 PM

Video shows corrections officer shooting inmate through cell door

http://www.fox13news.com/news/fox-13-investigates/165103353-story (http://www.fox13news.com/news/fox-13-investigates/165103353-story)

A half dozen corrections jail incident reports about what happened when a corrections officer shot 29-year-old Matthew Trevino, who suffers from mental illness, are remarkably consistent with one another. But they are not consistent with a video recorded by one of the officers.

The video of the August 2015 shooting will likely be at the center of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Earlier that day, Trevino had been booked into the Pasco County jail on a probation violation.That night, deputies, who wanted to search his cell for contraband, told him to place his hands through the slot of his door to be handcuffed, according to both the reports and the video.
Video shows corrections officer shooting inmate through cell door

Trevino, who was alone in his cell and naked, would not put his hands through the door. Instead, he was exposing his genitals, making incoherent statements and taunting officers.

"You never finished the academy and I'm a Marine, open this door and I will kick your ass," he said, according to the report by Cpl. Robert Haas.

His attorney, Lee Pearlman said the Army veteran suffers from schizophrenia.

"I don't know how you wouldn't be aware of it,” he said about the officers. "He's absolutely having a schizophrenic break and the statements he's saying are bizarre."

Haas' report said he aimed a 12- gauge shotgun loaded with a Nova round – the equivalent of a flashbang grenade – at Trevino.

Accounts of what happened in five of the six officers' reports are worded similarly.

Sgt. Robert Lowry's report said, "Trevino appeared to take a step back away from the food chute, and Cpl. Haas deployed the Nova discretionary round.”

Similarly, deputy Logan Kelly's report said the inmate "took a step back" and "Haas saw a window of opportunity."

And deputy Joseph Fauci's report said, "Haas observed a window of opportunity when Inmate Trevino stepped back from the cell door."

Finally, Cpl. Manuel Haag's report says, "Haas observed a window of opportunity once Inmate Trevino stepped back from his cell door." When Trevino “stepped back,” Haas fired his shotgun, according to his report.

The sixth deputy's report did not mention Trevino taking a step back. Lt. Richard Bain "voluntarily separated" from the agency in March, according to personnel records.

Despite the remarkable consistencies between five of the officers' accounts, they are inaccurate.

A video of the incident, recorded by one of the officers and obtained by his attorneys, shows Trevino had his face pressed up against the door when Haas fired, aiming at the door opening where the Army veteran had exposed his genitals.

"He was right up against the door. Completely unnecessary," said Trevino's attorney, Mark Rankin. "There's no reason, at this point, that they have to force their way into the cell. This is not an emergency situation. There's certainly no reason they have to use this level of force."

The level of force is the subject of an upcoming federal civil rights lawsuit Trevino’s lawyers plan to file against the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Trevino's injuries, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times on Thursday, sent him to the Veterans Administration hospital for months. He’s had three surgeries so far.

The corporation that manufactures the Nova rounds, Lightfield Ammunition, warns they should never be fired directly at humans or pets, or the "less lethal" ammunition could be lethal. A company training video for the Nova ammunition, posted on YouTube, shows it being used by SWAT teams to blast open a locked door. The company said it can be used as a device to distract animals or people.

In this August shooting, it caused officers in the hall to jump back. Trevino fell on the floor, with injuries to his thigh that left his muscle exposed, according to medical records reviewed by FOX 13 News.

Sheriff Chris Nocco refused to answer questions about the incident.

"A criminal with a violent history in the jail failed to comply with lawful directions. His actions dictated our reaction," he said in an emailed statement from one of his spokespeople.

Trevino has no violent crime convictions.

Pearlman said the Pasco County Sheriff's Office has not disciplined any of the officers.

"There was a finding, essentially, that because there was no actual policy in place about the use of this round or how to use it, no policies were violated and therefore no disciplinary actions were taken," Pearlman said.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe did not respond to an inquiry about whether his office has investigated the incident.

Andrea

06-27-2016, 08:03 AM

Fresno cops fatally shoot man, 19, while searching for suspect with rifle, setting off protest with Confederate flags, 'White Lives Matter' signs

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fresno-cops-shoot-kill-19-year-old-hated-life-article-1.2689168?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fresno-cops-shoot-kill-19-year-old-hated-life-article-1.2689168?cid=bitly)

Rowdy protesters flocked to a California gas station Sunday after a 19-year-old man lamenting his life was fatally shot by cops searching for a rifle-toting suspect the previous day.

A demonstrator waving a Confederate flag was among those shouting “f--- the police,” throwing bottles and blocking the Fresno street where cops confronted the teenager for alleged speeding Saturday afternoon, according to local reports.

The group gathered following a Sunday night vigil where mourners posted signs that said “White Lives Matter,” a phrase appropriated from the “Black Lives Matter” movement to protest police-involved shootings of young black men.

Police said the suspect — identified in a report and by protesters as Clovis High School graduate Dylan Noble — continued driving for half a mile before pulling over during a traffic stop.

The driver, a white male, got out of the pickup truck, walked away and then refused to show his hands.

“The subject made a statement he hated his life,” Fresno Deputy Chief Pat Farmer told reporters Saturday.

Two cops, with body cameras strapped to their chests, feared that the suspect was reaching for a weapon behind his back and opened fire.

Those officers, who have a combined 37 years of experience on the force, shot the teen multiple times. He was hospitalized in critical condition and died while in surgery Sunday, according to KSEE-TV.

Investigators did not find a weapon after the shooting.

It’s unclear if the teen was the same man whom 911 callers claimed was carrying a rifle along a nearby street.

Relatives rushed to the crime scene and confronted Fresno police over the shooting.

KSEE-TV recorded video of a woman asking “Is he dead?,” while a man went face-to-face with a police officer and stated “You guys shot my kid?”

The television station said protesters attending a vigil for Noble threw glass bottles while facing off with a line of police officers outside the gas station.

It’s unclear if any arrests were made late Sunday.

Andrea

06-30-2016, 11:25 AM

Mississippi Officer Allegedly Shot An Unarmed Man And Let A Police Dog Mutilate His Groin

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/28/3793133/tupelo-mississippi-shooting/ (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/28/3793133/tupelo-mississippi-shooting/)

The Tupelo Police Department in being investigated by Mississippi officials after one of its officers allegedly shot and killed an unarmed man and allowed a police dog to mutilate him. The incident occurred after the man ran from the officer during a routine traffic stop.

Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert was driving a friend’s vehicle around 9:30 pm on Saturday, June 18 when he was pulled over by Tupelo Police Officer Tyler Cook, according to attorney Carlos Moore, who’s representing Shumpert’s family. The 37-year-old father of five immediately exited his vehicle and ran for unknown reasons.

In response, the officer released a K-9 who found Shumpert hiding under a nearby home. The dog attacked him, gashing a hole through his testicles and scratching him across his body. When the officer found Shumpert, he shot him four times.

According to Moore, Shumpert was also found with injuries to his face and teeth, indicating that there may have also been a physical altercation between him and the officer.

Shumpert was handcuffed and transported to the North Mississippi Medical Center where he died roughly five hours later.

“We believe the officer just went berserk,” Moore told ThinkProgress. “It was a modern day lynching.”

On Monday, Moore announced in a press conference that an eyewitness he interviewed said that Shumpert did not instigate violence. In fact, according to his attorney, Schumpert was voluntarily surrendering to the police and coming out of his hiding space when the K-9 violently attacked him in the groin, mutilating his testicles. While Schumpert was attempting to get free from the dog, the officer allegedly walked up and shot him four times — three times in the chest and one time in the stomach.

Cook has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which has been handed off to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Moore said it’s unclear why Cook decided to use the K-9, but noted that he has a complaint on his record for using excessive force just two months ago.

“From my understanding, officers are allowed to use K-9s in a search for a suspected felon,” Moore said. “What we do know is that at the time that Mr. Shumpert was being chased, he was not a suspected felon. They didn’t even know his name. It was a simple traffic stop.”

The potentially harmful use of dogs by police departments has been well-documented. But the details of Shumpert’s attack are particularly gruesome.

“It whipped and mutilated and annihilated this man,” he said. “He tore his body to shreds, basically. It’s just horrible the way it was done.
Black lives, in fact, do not matter in Tupelo.

“If you’re going to release your dog and your dog gets to him first, why are you then going to turn around and execute him in cold blood?” he continued. “Your dog has already mutilated him. He could not have been a threat to anyone.”

Moore said that the Tupelo Police Department has not yet provided him or Shumpert’s family with an explanation for why the initial traffic stop occurred, why shots were fired, or why the K-9 was released. Shumpert’s friend and the owner of the vehicle who was in the passenger seat at the time of the incident told officers that there were no drugs or illegal items in the vehicle, according to Moore. The friend was interviewed by police but released without charge.

Representatives for the police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The head of the Tupelo-Lee County chapter of the NAACP has said that he is “in dialogue” with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the incident and that the federal agency will monitor the examination into Shumpert’s death.

In a press conference Monday, Moore demanded that the city appoint an independent police review board and that the police department ends its use of racial profiling and eliminates its quota system.

“My investigation has revealed that black lives, in fact, do not matter in Tupelo,” Moore said.

“Tupelo, you are no better than Ferguson.”

Andrea

07-01-2016, 08:03 PM

HCSO Deputies Who Ordered Cavity Search at Gas Station Indicted [UPDATED]

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/hcso-deputies-who-ordered-cavity-search-at-gas-station-indicted-updated-8524840 (http://www.houstonpress.com/news/hcso-deputies-who-ordered-cavity-search-at-gas-station-indicted-updated-8524840)

A year after Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies took off a woman's pants in a gas station parking lot to search her vagina for marijuana, a grand jury has indicted two officers for their conduct.

Deputies William Strong and Ronaldine Pierre face one count of official oppression, a misdemeanor offense.

On June 21, 2015, Strong and another deputy pulled over Cornesia Corley for allegedly rolling a stop sign. As we reported last year, one of the officers claimed he smelled marijuana during the stop and ordered 21-year-old Corley to “step into my office” (the back of the police cruiser) as deputies searched her car. They failed to find anything illegal.

But when one of the deputies came back to the police cruiser, he claimed he still smelled marijuana. Corley's attorney, Sam Cammack, told the Houston Press that a deputy told the passenger in her car that “we're gonna find it one way or another.” That's when Strong told Corley the police would have to perform a body cavity search. He called in female deputies to do it — even though police obtained no warrant for the search, which multiple attorneys, law professors and advocates believe was unconstitutional.

Cammack told us Corley said she wasn't wearing any underwear when the female cops ordered her to pull down her pants, and was understandably hesitant to comply because she was in the parking lot of a Texaco gas station. But apparently, this didn't matter to the sheriff's department. Instead, deputies handcuffed Corley and took off her pants themselves. Cammack said deputies, including Pierre, put her on the ground and made her spread her legs while another deputy stuck her fingers in Corley's vagina.

Interestingly, that's the deputy who was not indicted, Cammack said (he thinks the reason is that she was just following orders and said she believed the search was wrong). Strong and Pierre, though, have been suspended for an indefinite amount of time, according to the sheriff's office.

Cammack said the charges were a relief for Corley, but that they are still fighting against Harris County in federal court: Corley has filed a lawsuit alleging a civil rights violation, asking for $15 million in damages.

Last June, though deputies claimed they found .002 ounces of pot during the search, Cammack said the case was tossed because, since the search was unconstitutional, the police had no probable cause to arrest Corley. She was also charged with resisting arrest — apparently for being squeamish about a stranger shoving her hand up her vagina — but that charge was also dropped.

A sheriff's department spokesman did not return a request for comment, and in its obligatory press release, the department said little about the incident — certainly nothing that conveyed an admission that the warrantless cavity search was inappropriate for deputies to perform. Not long after the incident, though, spokesman Thomas Gilliland told Channel 13 that HCSO believes “the deputies did everything as they should."

If that means performing vaginal or anal searches for marijuana during a traffic stop at a gas station —something many experts agree is illegal — then we sure as hell hope none of you get stopped by a Harris County sheriff's deputy.

*Update, July 1, 3:55 p.m.: The sheriff's office has released a more detailed statement and is sticking to its original opinion that the deputies totally did nothing wrong here. Its Internal Affairs Division also agreed at the conclusion of its own investigation that searching a woman's vagina in public was completely warranted, even without a warrant. HCSO claims the indictments are based on media reports and that “rumor, innuendo and sensationalism do not correlate to the facts surrounding Corley’s arrest.” It looks forward to the court's opinion.

Andrea

07-06-2016, 06:41 AM

Video captures white Baton Rouge police officer fatally shooting a black man, sparking outrage

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/06/video-captures-white-baton-rouge-police-officer-fatally-shooting-black-man-sparking-outrage/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/06/video-captures-white-baton-rouge-police-officer-fatally-shooting-black-man-sparking-outrage/)

A video showing two white police officers involved in a deadly altercation with a 37-year-old black man in Baton Rouge circulated across the Internet early Wednesday morning, prompting peaceful street protests in the city and anger elsewhere.

The video showed two Baton Rouge police officers attempting to detain Alton Sterling after the officers responded to a call “from a complainant who stated that a black male who was selling music cd’s and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun” outside the Triple S Food Mart, a convenience store, a Facebook post by Baton Rouge Police Department said. Police said they responded about 12:35 a.m.

Sterling was shot and killed while pinned down by the officers.

His killing is the latest in a nationwide string of fatal police-involved arrests captured on video. Like many others, the first versions of what happened are coming more from a video showing a fragment of the incident than from police, who have had relatively little to say so far. Thus no clear picture has yet to emerge of the full sequence of events that led to the death.

The cellphone video of the incident surfaced on social media. The footage began with police standing a few feet from Sterling. A loud pop — like that of a stun gun — can be heard.

“Get on the ground,” a police officer yelled.

“Get on the ground,” the voice yelled again, followed by a second pop.

Sterling, a large man, remained on his feet.

A police officer tackled him over the hood of a silver car, then onto the ground.

Meanwhile, another restrained his left arm behind his back and knelt on it.

“He’s got a gun,” someone yelled.

“Gun. Gun.”

Both officers drew their pistols from their holsters. In the video, Sterling appeared to be fairly immobile.

Then, the officers shouted something unintelligible, which seemed to include the phrase “going for the gun.”

Two noises that sounded like shots rang out immediately after.

Whoever filmed the video then dropped the cellphone.

“Oh, s—,” someone said.

Three more shot-like sounds rang out.

“They shot him?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, my f—ing goodness.”

Sterling was pronounced dead on the scene when an ambulance arrived at 12:46 a.m.

Warning: the following video contains graphic language and violence.

*Anya*

07-06-2016, 08:56 AM

St. Jude patient sues airport and TSA after bloody scuffle with Airport Police

Bloodied and bruised Hannah Cohen was led from Memphis International Airport in handcuffs.

The 19-year old was headed home to Chattanooga after treatment for a brain tumor at St. Jude Hospital June 30, 2015.

It's a trip they've made for 17 years.

This time, an unarmed Hannah, set off the metal detector at a security checkpoint

“They wanted to do further scanning, she was reluctant, she didn't understand what they were about to do," said her mother Shirley Cohen.

Cohen told us she tried to tell TSA agents her daughter is partially deaf, blind in one eye, paralyzed, and easily confused, but said she was kept at a distance by police.

“She's trying to get away from them but in the next instant, one of them had her down on the ground and hit her head on the floor. There was blood everywhere,” said Cohen.

Hannah was arrested, booked and on the night she should have been celebrating the end of her treatment, she was locked up in Jail East.

“Here we were with nowhere to go, not even a toothbrush, our bags had gone to Chattanooga,” said Cohen.

Authorities later threw out the charges but the family filed a lawsuit against the Memphis Airport, Airport Police, and the Transportation Security Administration.

None of them would comment citing the suit, but Sari Koshetz of TSA released a statement that said, “Passengers can call ahead of time to learn more about the screening process for their particular needs or medical situation.”

Cohen said after all the help here, she can't believe it ended like this.

“She's 19 but she'll always be my baby. We've been through so much.”

http://wreg.com/2016/06/30/disabled-st-jude-patient-sues-airport-and-tsa-after-bloody-scuffle-with-airport-police/

Andrea

07-07-2016, 05:48 AM

Minnesota man Philando Castile shot and killed by cops during traffic stop; girlfriend pleads for help on Facebook livestream (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-shot-dead-minn-police-traffic-stop-article-1.2701935 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-shot-dead-minn-police-traffic-stop-article-1.2701935)

A woman livestreamed the heartbreaking moments after her boyfriend was shot and killed by a cop near Minneapolis Wednesday.

In a Facebook video, Lavish Reynolds claims that the couple were pulled over for a busted taillight and that her boyfriend, identified by WCCO as Philando Castile, was shot four or five times.

She said that Castile told the officer he was carrying a permitted firearm and had been reaching for his wallet before the officer opened fire.

“Please no, don’t let him be gone. Why?!” Reynolds yells on her video as Castile, 32, slumps back in the driver’s seat of his car, blood running across his shirt.

A St. Anthony police officer can be seen outside the car, his gun drawn on Castile. Reynolds, who like Castile is black, describes him as Asian.

“I told him not to reach for it,” the cop says as he continues to point his weapon into the vehicle. “I told him to get his hand off it.”

Near the end of the clip, Reynolds starts to scream as she sits handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser with her young daughter.

Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds livestreamed the moments directly after he was shot. At right, an unidentified officer points his weapon at Castile as he lies bleeding.

“It’s OK, mama,” the little girl says as her mother pleads for help from Facebook viewers. “It’s OK, I’m right here with you.”

Alton Sterling's hands were empty when Baton Rouge cops shot him

St. Anthony cops confirmed the shooting took place in Falcon Heights, a sleepy St. Paul suburb that hosts the state fair.

Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a local Montessori school, later died at Hennepin County Medical Center.

In Reynolds' video, an officer said that she was being detained. An employee at the Ramsey County Communication Center confirmed early Thursday that she had been questioned by police and released, though did not have information about which police force questioned her.

On social media, Castile’s friends and relatives expressed their grief at the sudden and violent loss.

Baton Rouge activist recorded Alton Sterling police shooting

"My family will never be the same!!! This has rocked me to the core!!! I lost my cousin to the hands of the police," IRok Wilson posted.

St. Anthony interim police chief Jon Mangseth told reporters Wednesday night that two of his officers were the ones at the traffic stop with Castile.

He said that he was aware of the Facebook video, which was taken down before being put back up early Thursday, but did not have details about it.

Mangseth said early Thursday that the officer who opened fire was on paid administrative leave. He also noted that he could not remember another officer-involved shooting in the immediate area.

In wake of Alton Sterling 'lynching,' Colin Kaepernick speaks out

Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident.

More than 100 people gathered at the scene of the shooting late Wednesday, according to Nekima Levy-Pounds, the president of the Minneapolis NAACP.

She told the Daily News early Thursday that “there is no reason why he should have wound up dead at the end of that encounter with the police. There have been white men who have been armed and had confrontations with the police and ended up alive.”

“Why did that officer feel the need to take his life and how is that acceptable in this society?” she asked, adding that the officers involved should be fired and prosecuted.

Alton Sterling’s death calls for justice against rotten cops

She added that she was coordinating with the St. Paul NAACP about a response to the shooting.

Protesters including Levy-Pounds also gathered at the Governor's Mansion early Thursday, chanting Castile's name as late as 5:30 a.m. local time. They were also seen draping gates in police tape and shouting "no justice, no sleep."

Social media users also voiced their concerns over the shooting, which came less than 48 hours after the police shooting of Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La.

Andrea

07-07-2016, 06:47 AM

Campaign Zero

Over the past two days, we saw video of police officers shooting #AltonSterling, father of five, while he lay on the ground and then #PhilandoCastile during a traffic stop for a broken tail light.

Alton and Philando were the 184th and 185th black people killed by police this year. They should both be alive today.

Urgent action is needed to put in place comprehensive policy solutions to end police violence in our communities. Today we launch a visualization of the local, state, and federal laws that have been enacted since 2014 to address police violence, showing areas where progress has been made and where work still needs to be done to put in place systems and structures that protect our communities from police violence. Here are some of the findings:

At least 60 laws have been enacted in the past two years to address police violence and another 58 bills are currently being considered;
New legislation has been enacted in 28 states, while 9 states are currently considering legislation;
5 states (CA, CT, IL, MD, UT) have enacted legislation addressing three or more Campaign Zero policy categories;
Executive action has been taken at the federal level as well as legislation;
Local ordinances have been passed in many of America's largest cities.

Click here (http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#action) to access the legislation visualization and take action tool.

What You Can Do

Review the new laws (http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#action)that have been put in place in your community and use the Take Action advocacy tool on the page (http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#campaign) to see how state representatives have voted on these measures and demand they take more meaningful action to end police violence in your state. You can also embed (https://github.com/campaignzero/campaign-zero-widget/blob/master/README.md) the advocacy tool on your website to encourage more people to hold their representatives accountable for addressing police violence.

In the coming weeks, we will be forming a collective of advocates, policy researchers, and civic technologists to develop new ways to connect more and more people to the information, tools, and networks needed to advance comprehensive policy solutions - at every level of government - to end police violence in America.

If you are a policy researcher, coder/developer, or activist and would like to assist us in the next phase of this project, please reply to this e-mail directly.

// DeRay, Netta, Brittany, & Sam

# of people the police killed in 2015: 1,209
# of people the police have killed to-date in 2016: 599
# of officers charged with a crime for killing someone in 2016: 5

kittygrrl

07-08-2016, 09:38 AM

I think the only word that fits what happened in Baton Rouge, murder. The video taken by the store manager, shows exactly how it happened to Alton Sterling. It's unspeakable, despicable violence on a man who was just selling cd's. I can't imagine how painful this must be for his children. His oldest son broke down crying for his daddy to come back during a statement read by his mother. It's heartbreaking. It's wrong. It has to be stopped right now!

We need to get involved in local politics and demand a more diverse police force. No excuses, from the police that they can't find qualified people of color. They are there but there has always existed an undercurrent of racism in our police departments in general so recruiting people of color isn't serious. Police attitudes about policing communities needs to change. Instead of lip service police should turn-in their armored tanks and hum-vees, and get involved in the community they serve and develop relationships with the locals. If that's not your thing, don't go for a career in law enforcement. Not every cop needs to carry a gun. There are other means of controlling a person other then shooting them. They need to retrain the police in general to use lethal force as a LAST resort and not allowed to draw their weapons for a minor offense (ie, selling single cigarettes or cds in front of a store). They need to understand they will go to jail if they make that choice. Police need to have penalities (ie, leave without pay) for using their gun on a citizen, no matter what the reason is. Police really have no penalites associated with using their guns instead of non-lethal methods of subduing an individual and so shoot first and deflect later works. The public wants to feel safe and so they are willing to give police card blanche on shooting whenever they feel it's necessary without the consequences a normal person on the street would face if he uses his gun. Police are not gods and their judgement and attitude can be/is far worse then a person on the street. Yes they have to be cautious, Yes they have to be attentive, but they need to be subjected to the same laws that a regular citizen would be subject to, not protected from prosecution because they are more "special". We do not live in a perfect world and they (the police) are far from perfect.

Andrea

07-09-2016, 07:12 AM

N.Y. Attorney General probes video of Delrawn Small being shot by off-duty cop within seconds of approaching officer's car

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ag-probes-video-victim-delrawn-small-punching-off-duty-cop-article-1.2704876 (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ag-probes-video-victim-delrawn-small-punching-off-duty-cop-article-1.2704876)

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is reviewing a damning video that shows a 37-year-old man getting fatally shot by an off-duty cop within seconds of approaching the officer’s car — contradicting earlier accounts that the cop was defending himself, officials said.

The surveillance video, which the attorney general’s office acquired earlier this week, shows Delrawn Small approaching Police Officer Wayne Isaacs’ 2002 Nissan Altima on Atlantic Ave. and Bradford St. in East New York, Brooklyn. The confrontation happened just after midnight July 4.

Small buckled over and grabbed at a passing car within seconds of approaching Issacs’ driver side window. He stumbled off and falls to the ground in between two parked cars.

Moments later, Isaacs, also 37, got out of his car. He tucked what appeared to be a gun under his shirt as he looked at Small’s body, according to the video.

Small’s outraged relatives said Friday night the footage was proof that the killing was not justified.

“The video is as clear as day. That everything they told us from the very beginning was a lie. Was a lie,” Small’s brother Victor Dempsey said. “Every single thing. And I don’t know how to feel now. All I know is my brother was murdered. Point blank period murdered.”

The victim’s sister, Victoria Davis, said she choked back tears watching Small stagger and fall to the ground.

“To just watch him stumble from car to car, knowing that he suffered, knowing that he was afraid, that was hard,” she said. “That’s not a video that I would ever want to see again.

The fatal shooting took place in front of Small’s girlfriend and three kids.

Isaacs, a three-year veteran of the NYPD, was returning home from a 4 p.m.-midnight shift when he allegedly cut off Small’s 2016 Kia, witnesses told police. When the vehicles reached a stoplight, Small exited his car, approached Isaacs’ vehicle, and was shot.

Isaacs told investigators that Small had punched him at least two times before he opened fire.

He remains on active duty as Schneiderman’s office investigates. The NYPD is also conducting a departmental review.

Small’s neighbors were “ecstatic” the video surfaced.

“They tried to paint him out to be some gorilla — like, he jumped out the car to go attack this person not knowing that he was a cop,” said Octavius Sullivan, 36, who has known Small since they were boys.

Attorney Roger Wareham, who is representing Small’s family, said the video was proof Isaacs lied and should be arrested immediately.

“If the cop’s story is obviously false, why haven’t they arrested him?” he asked.

Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who died after being placed in a chokehold by an undercover detective in 2014, said Friday the video sickened her.

“This video so upsets me. It’s horrible. They lie all the time,” said Carr, as she joined a Black Lives Matter protest in Harlem.

Andrea

07-09-2016, 07:16 AM

FBI investigating after cellphone video shows police fatally shooting unarmed man in Fresno

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-video-shooting-dylan-noble-20160707-snap-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-video-shooting-dylan-noble-20160707-snap-story.html)

Cellphone video showing Fresno police officers shooting an unarmed 19-year-old man lying on the ground at a gas station has sparked protests and prompted the FBI to launch an investigation.

The shooting, which occurred last month but generated debate this week after the video was made public, is the latest in a series of police use-of-force incidents caught on tape.

The video shows Dylan Noble lying on the ground on June 25 as two officers with their guns drawn stand feet away from him. As officers yell “Keep your hands up” and other commands, one shot is fired. Seconds later, a third officer approaches the pair, and another shot rings out. At one point during the video, Noble can be seen raising his arm and saying, “I’ve been shot.”

The witness video does not show the moments just before the fatal shooting. Two shots already had been fired at Noble before the recording began.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer told The Times on Thursday that Noble twice raised his shirt with his left hand and used his right hand to reach under his shirt into his waistband. The officers, he said, feared for their lives.

Officers warned Noble not to reach into his waistband because they believed he was trying to retrieve a firearm, Dyer said.

That’s when an officer fired two shots with his handgun. Those shots, he said, are not depicted in the witness video. The officer then fired another shot. A second officer delivered the fourth and final shot, one round from a shotgun.

The video, Dyer said, doesn’t tell the whole story of the shooting, which lasted about 2 minutes and 20 seconds. It was originally posted Wednesday by the Fresno Bee.

The officers’ body cameras will show exactly what happened, since they were standing 12 to 15 feet away, he said. The department will review the officers’ actions to determine why they fired at Noble while he was on the ground and if there were other options, he said. Officers have to make split-second decisions, Dyer noted.

“There is going to be questions,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate tragedy that occurred in this city.”

The FBI and the U.S. attorney general’s office have agreed to investigate the shooting and will have access to all evidence, Dyer said. The chief said he didn’t want the public to think the police department isn’t “fair and objective” in its handling of the investigation and that FBI oversight would provide more transparency.

“Anytime an unarmed individual is shot, especially when their life is taken, there is a tendency for the public to rush to judgment and come up with their own conclusions,” Dyer said.

The body camera videos, he said, would be released once the district attorney’s office has concluded its investigation. Noble’s family will be allowed to view the videos before they are publicly released, Dyer added.

According to the police department, officers responded to a report of a man walking with a rifle about 3:20 p.m. and observed a black pickup speeding as they searched the area. They tried to stop the truck, but it continued traveling for half a mile. The truck eventually pulled into a Chevron gas station, police said.

The shooting has sparked an online petition demanding that the Fresno Police Department release body camera footage of the incident. The shooting comes amid national outrage over the number of shootings by police involving black men. In this case, Noble was white.

Lt. Burke Farrah said Noble refused to show his hands and tried to conceal one hand behind his back, then in his waistband. Noble, he said, got out of his truck.

Officers repeatedly ordered Noble to show his hands and get on the ground. That’s when Noble turned toward the officers with one hand still behind his back, telling them that “he hated his life,” Farrah said. Police said Noble advanced toward officers, who then fired four shots. Farrah told The Times that Noble did not have a weapon.

Noble was taken to an area hospital and died during surgery.

A large vigil held days after the shooting drew a crowd of officers, who blocked the road for safety, police said.

Fresno residents and friends and family of Noble carried a large Confederate flag as they confronted police, while others posted signs at a memorial that said “Justice for Dylan,” and “White Lives Matter.”

Dylan Noble’s father, Darren Noble, said in a statement that his son did not have emotional or mental problems and that any suggestion he wanted to die is false.

The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave. Dyer declined to release the officers’ names because he said they have been receiving threats on social media. One officer has 20 years’ experience with the department, and the other officer has worked in law enforcement for 17 years, Dyer said.

The Fresno County district attorney’s office has conducted interviews, collected evidence and attended Noble’s autopsy, said Assistant Dist. Atty. Steve Wright. Prosecutors are waiting for the results of toxicology tests, which could take six weeks, before they review the case. A complete investigation will take at least two months, Wright said.

At least one use-of-force expert said the chief’s statement that the shooting sequence lasted more than 2 minutes was odd.

“That would be highly unusual. It’s usually no more than five to 20 seconds between the first and last shot,” said Charles "Sid" Heal, a former Los Angeles County sheriff's commander.

In cases where lethal force was used, “each and every shot must be justified as protecting the public or officers,” Heal said.

Deadly force could be deemed justified if the officers feared for their lives because Noble made repeated furtive movements, refused to show his hands and refused to follow commands, Heal said.

Once Noble was on the ground after the first shots, officers would have had to reassess the threat, Heal said.

The officers will need to explain the last two shots seen in the video, the expert said.

“Why didn’t officers move in after the third shot and restrain him? Fourteen seconds is a long time to wait,” Heal said. “Sometimes we get criticized for handcuffing dead people. But this is why we move in and restrain people.”

Ed Obayashi, another use-of-force expert who consults with county governments throughout California, said that even though the video fails to capture the entire shooting sequence, it does raise questions about whether the officers perceived the same threat.

“We hear a third shot on the video and apparently that officer perceived a threat and then 14 to 16 seconds later there is a discharge of a shotgun at the individual on the ground,” Obayashi said.

“At that time, four or five officers have a direct field of vision of the man on the ground. And yet we have a backup officer with a shotgun firing that fourth shot alone,” Obayashi said. “Usually, four of five officers in the field of vision will all open fire at once,” he said.

Andrea

07-09-2016, 04:34 PM

EXCLUSIVE: Judge orders rare phone probe to find video that may show NYPD cops beating mentally ill man

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/judge-orders-rare-phone-probe-fatal-nypd-video-article-1.2703389?cid=bitly (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/judge-orders-rare-phone-probe-fatal-nypd-video-article-1.2703389?cid=bitly)

A federal judge has initiated an independent — and what may be an unprecedented — investigation of possible tampering with a cell phone that allegedly contained a video of a fatal confrontation between NYPD cops and an emotionally disturbed man, the Daily News has learned.

Brooklyn Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann ordered the city to hand over the cell phone to Stroz Friedberg, a highly respected cybersecurity firm that she chose, for forensic examination and retrieval of the video.

“If the video does not presently exist on the cell phone, Stroz Friedberg shall attempt to determine whether the video previously existed on the cell phone, and if so, whether and when the video was deleted or the cell phone was subject to any tampering or wiping,” Mann stated in the order.

Sources told The News that the cell phone does not presently contain a video of the June 8, 2015, incident that ended in the death of Mario Ocasio and is the subject of a wrongful death lawsuit in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Mann, the chief magistrate judge for the Eastern District of New York, shocked lawyers for the city and Ocasio’s mother on Wednesday when she announced that forensic findings will remain confidential for the time being, and suggested that the parties pay the $30,000 cost of the analysis.

“No one has ever heard of a judge doing this before,” said a knowledgeable source.

Citing an ongoing police internal investigation, the city had reluctantly provided Mann with four CDs containing data downloaded from the cell phone that belonged to witness Kashif Osagie.

Then last January, the judge ordered the city to deliver the phone itself for independent examination.

The suit contends that the video will show that cops beat Ocasio with batons and that his death was caused, in part, by excessive force.

Cops were summoned to Ocasio’s Bronx apartment by his girlfriend Geneice Lloyd who reported that he was “bugging out,” according to court papers.

His cause of death was cardiac arrest “during excited delirium due to acute intoxication by synthetic cannabinoid (marijuana),” the filings say.

Osagie started recording, then handed off the phone to Lloyd who continued recording what transpired.

Osagie told The News that if his phone does not contain a video of Ocasio being restrained, “it was either altered or deleted.”

The city has called Ocasio’s death tragic, but strongly denied the cops did anything improper.

Andrea

07-11-2016, 02:10 PM

Atlanta officer fired after fatally shooting man in Midtown

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/atlanta-officer-fired-after-fatally-shooting-man-in-midtown/396539310 (http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/atlanta-officer-fired-after-fatally-shooting-man-in-midtown/396539310)

Officer James Burns with Atlanta police was fired more than two weeks after police said he shot and killed a man suspected of breaking into a car in Midtown.

It all unfolded on June 22 in the parking lot of Monroe Place apartments off of Piedmont Road.

Initially, we were told Burns shot and killed a 22-year-old when he attempted to take off in a car. Now, police said that the officer actually had no idea who was in the car and that he had no evidence of car break-ins at the time.

They said when the 34-year-old shot into the vehicle, he violated the department’s policy.

Police said he was fired for using "unnecessary and unreasonable" force in the shooting.

Burns was hired by the department in 2013.

Andrea

07-12-2016, 08:28 AM

This article describes how multiple steps in the criminal prosecution system can ruin the life of an innocent person:

BUSTED

https://www.propublica.org/article/common-roadside-drug-test-routinely-produces-false-positives?utm_campaign=comms&utm_source=comms-FB&utm_medium=email&utm_term=cops&utm_content=https://www.propublica.org/article/common-roadside-drug-test-routinely-produces-false-positives (https://www.propublica.org/article/common-roadside-drug-test-routinely-produces-false-positives?utm_campaign=comms&utm_source=comms-FB&utm_medium=email&utm_term=cops&utm_content=https://www.propublica.org/article/common-roadside-drug-test-routinely-produces-false-positives)

Amy Albritton can’t remember if her boyfriend signaled when he changed lanes late that August afternoon in 2010. But suddenly the lights on the Houston Police patrol car were flashing behind them, and Anthony Wilson was navigating Albritton’s white Chrysler Concorde to a stop in a strip-mall parking lot. It was an especially unwelcome hassle. Wilson was in Houston to see about an oil-rig job; Albritton, volunteering her car, had come along for what she imagined would be a vacation of sorts. She managed an apartment complex back in Monroe, La., and the younger of her two sons — Landon, 16, who had been disabled from birth by cerebral palsy — was with his father for the week. After five hours of driving through the monotony of flat woodland, the couple had checked into a motel, carted their luggage to the room and returned to the car, too hungry to rest but too drained to seek out anything more than fast food. Now two officers stepped out of their patrol car and approached.

Albritton, 43, had dressed up for the trip — black blouse, turquoise necklace, small silver hoop earrings glinting through her shoulder-length blond hair. Wilson, 28, was more casually dressed, in a white T-shirt and jeans, and wore a strained expression that worried Albritton. One officer asked him for his license and registration. Wilson said he didn’t have a license. The car’s registration showed that it belonged to Albritton.

The officer asked Wilson to step out of the car. Wilson complied. The officer leaned in over the driver’s seat, looked around, then called to his partner; in the report Officer Duc Nguyen later filed, he wrote that he saw a needle in the car’s ceiling lining. Albritton didn’t know what he was talking about. Before she could protest, Officer David Helms had come around to her window and was asking for consent to search the car. If Albritton refused, Helms said, he would call for a drug-sniffing dog. Albritton agreed to the full search and waited nervously outside the car.

Helms spotted a white crumb on the floor. In the report, Nguyen wrote that the officers believed the crumb was crack cocaine. They handcuffed Wilson and Albritton and stood them in front of the patrol car, its lights still flashing. They were on display for rush-hour traffic, criminal suspects sweating through their clothes in the 93-degree heat.

As Nguyen and Helms continued the search, tensions grew. Albritton, shouting over the sound of traffic, tried to explain that they had the wrong idea — at least about her. She had been dating Wilson for only a month; she implored him to admit that if there were drugs, they were his alone. Wilson just shook his head, Albritton now recalls. Fear surging, she shouted that there weren’t any drugs in her car even as she insisted that she didn’t know that Wilson had brought drugs. The search turned up only one other item of interest — a box of BC Powder, an over-the-counter pain reliever. Albritton never saw the needle. The crumb from the floor was all that mattered now.

At the police academy four years earlier, Helms was taught that to make a drug arrest on the street, an officer needed to conduct an elementary chemical test, right then and there. It’s what cops routinely do across the country every day while making thousands upon thousands of drug arrests. Helms popped the trunk of his patrol car, pulled out a small plastic pouch that contained a vial of pink liquid and returned to Albritton. He opened the lid on the vial and dropped a tiny piece of the crumb into the liquid. If the liquid remained pink, that would rule out the presence of cocaine. If it turned blue, then Albritton, as the owner of the car, could become a felony defendant.

Helms waved the vial in front of her face and said, “You’re busted.”

Andrea: Clink the link for the rest of the article

Andrea

07-15-2016, 01:53 PM

Body-cam footage shows Georgia cops tased the wrong man within 38 seconds of meeting him

http://theweek.com/speedreads/636190/bodycam-footage-shows-georgia-cops-tased-wrong-man-within-38-seconds-meeting (http://theweek.com/speedreads/636190/bodycam-footage-shows-georgia-cops-tased-wrong-man-within-38-seconds-meeting)

When several Savannah, Georgia, cops approached 24-year-old Patrick Mumford, they were looking for another African-American man named Michael Clay. And though Mumford identified himself as "Patrick" when asked for his name, body camera footage from the officers involved shows just 38 seconds elapsed from the beginning of the encounter to when one officer says to another, "All right, tase him!"

While Mumford is seen expressing confusion and refusing to stand up to be arrested, he is not armed or actively attacking the police. He is also correct in his protest that there is no warrant against him, a claim he could confidently make because he had just returned from visiting his probation officer. (He is on probation following a first-time arrest for a nonviolent marijuana offense.)

After the officers tase Mumford twice, they check his wallet and discover he was telling the truth about his identity. Though the police begin insisting their actions were predicated by Mumford's refusal to show his ID, the footage indicates they never asked for it before attacking him.

Mumford was charged with misdemeanor obstruction following this confrontation. Though that charge was dismissed, he is still scheduled for a probation revocation hearing which his attorney says could cause him to go to jail, lose his job, and miss college classes.

Andrea

07-15-2016, 07:43 PM

Atlanta cop who killed unarmed driver opened fire on car without knowing if suspect was inside: ‘He had no idea who was in the vehicle’

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/atlanta-killed-driver-no-idea-car-article-1.2711661?utm_content=bufferaee35&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/atlanta-killed-driver-no-idea-car-article-1.2711661?utm_content=bufferaee35&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

An Atlanta cop who killed an unarmed black man last month had no idea who was inside the car he shot into, an internal affairs investigation found.

Officer James Burns was fired from the force earlier this month after the June killing of 22-year-old Deravis Caine Rogers. The three-year department veteran did not know if the suspect he was chasing was inside the car and fired at it as it drove away from — not toward — the cop, according to a report released Wednesday.

“He had no idea who was in the vehicle. He had no idea if that was the vehicle he should be concerned with. He just discharged his weapon," Sgt. Warren Pickard told 11 Alive News. “The officer simply acted in a way that we cannot support.”

Georgia’s Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting for any possible criminal violation.

"It's a murder," Deravis Thomas, Rogers’ dad, told the TV station. "It's a murder and we need justice for that. He needs to be indicted and prosecuted."

Burns was called to an apartment complex in northeast Atlanta on June 22 after an off-duty cop reported a suspicious person allegedly breaking into cars in the parking lot, according to a copy of the investigation report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

As the cop pulled into the parking lot, he spotted a car driving away from the lot. He put on his cruisers’ lights and sirens, and parked in a position to stop the exiting driver.

But the sedan — with Rogers at the wheel — drove past Burns’ squad car. That’s when the officer got out of his car, yelled for the driver to stop and opened fire, the investigation showed.

Burns admitted he didn't know who was inside the car when he opened fire, but insisted he pulled his weapon because the car was racing toward him and he feared for his life.

“I shot at the car who was trying to run me over and kill me,” he told investigators days after the shooting.

But police officials rejected Burns’ claims, and instead said Rogers was trying to drive away from the cop, not toward him. Pickard said evidence, including dash cam videos, showed there was no obvious threat to Burns.

“You did not have reasonable suspicion that the driver of the vehicle engaged in, or was about to engage in, criminal activity,” Atlanta Police Chief George N. Turner wrote in a memo. “Yet rather than allow the driver to drive past you, you exited your vehicle and ultimately prevented the driver from driving away through the use of deadly force.”

Burns was fired on July 1 for using excessive force. Possible criminal charges could come after the state investigation.

Andrea

07-16-2016, 08:54 AM

No charges for officers who shot woman in back of patrol car

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/no-charges-for-officers-who-shot-woman-in-back-of-/nry6Q/ (http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/no-charges-for-officers-who-shot-woman-in-back-of-/nry6Q/)

How did a petite 26-year-old woman, handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser, manage to produce a gun and allegedly fire three bullets at two Atlanta officers, who responded with lethal force?

For more than 14 months, the family of Alexia Christian, fatally shot 10 times on April 30, 2015, waited for answers. Friday, they learned those answers may never be forthcoming following a meeting with Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, who told them there would be no charges brought against officers Jeffrey Cook, 54, and Omar Thyme, 34.

Howard’s conclusion was based on “what was left of the evidence,” said the Christian family’s attorney, Mawuli Davis. Specifically, he noted the lack of any video, even though the shooting took place outside Underground Atlanta’s parking deck, an area blanketed by security cameras.

Though he won’t be bringing a criminal case, Howard was sharply critical of how the arrest was handled.

Christian, he said, slipped her left wrist from the cuffs and fired three shots toward the officers from the back seat. The officers, unscathed, exited the vehicle and ordered her to drop the gun. She responded by aiming the weapon at Thyme, according to Howard. The officers fired five shots each. Christian was mortally wounded.

None of that was captured on video because the back seat camera was turned off. Howard’s investigation “revealed loopholes in the (standard operating procedures), which did not require Atlanta police officers to video back-seat incidents like the Christian shooting,” says a statement from the district attorney’s office.

Howard said he has discussed his findings with Atlanta Police Chief George Turner, who assured him he has “taken steps to correct these problems.”

According to Davis, the biggest issue in the Christian case was the Atlanta Police Department’s belief that it could investigate itself.

“There’s a level of distrust with how law enforcement handles these investigations,” he said.

The APD did handle the investigation into Christian’s death but has since turned over all internal probes to the GBI.

In a statement, the APD said it has not concluded its internal investigation into this incident, “and thus cannot discuss the specific evidence related to the case.”

Cook is on full-duty status, the statement said. Thyme no longer works for Atlanta police.

Christian — who had served more than three years in prison after trying to steal a patrol car, dragging an officer who had been thrown from the vehicle — was arrested on April 30, 2015, after police spotted her in a pickup truck that had been reported stolen earlier that afternoon.

The issue, said Davis, is not the official account but the lack of accountability and transparency. Turner had promised to release the videos but only one was shown to the family, and it was pointing outside, not inside, the cruiser.

While her family didn’t see Christian’s final moments, they heard them. According to Davis, the officers can be heard telling her to drop the gun. Christian can be heard saying she doesn’t have one.

“I just witnessed my daughter’s last breath,” said her mother, Felecia Christian. “It’s not acceptable. APD has done a great disservice to my family.”

Outside of civil litigation, it is unclear what remedy, if any, the Christians have. Requesting a new investigation would likely be futile since, according to Davis, there is little evidence left to probe. He said the cruiser where the shots were fired was placed back into service the following day. The reason: “A shortage of cars,” Davis said.

genghisfawn

07-16-2016, 11:42 AM

I work for the children and youth advocate, and we routinely do investigations into children and youth who die or are afflicted with critical injury in youth custody. We recently made a major release around a special investigation around an Indigenous, Deaf youth who died in custody - there are huge systemic issues at work where I live, only with our Indigenous population, they face a lot of the same outcomes as Black people in the States in "conflict" with the law. The report can be read in the link, but please take care and only read if you can care for yourself/feel resilient enough to do so. http://www.saskadvocate.ca/sites/default/files/u12/The%20Silent%20World%20of%20Jordan%20Public%20Repo rt%20June%2015%202016.pdf

Andrea

07-18-2016, 08:53 AM

Brian Rice trial: Highest-ranking officer cleared in Freddie Gray death

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/18/us/brian-rice-freddie-gray-verdict/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/18/us/brian-rice-freddie-gray-verdict/index.html)

Andrea

07-20-2016, 05:58 AM

2 state troopers arrested following beating caught on tape

http://whdh.com/news/2-state-troopers-arrested-following-beating-caught-on-tape/ (http://whdh.com/news/2-state-troopers-arrested-following-beating-caught-on-tape/)

Two state troopers involved in the videotaped beating of a man who was apparently surrendering after a 50-mile car chase through Massachusetts and New Hampshire were arrested Tuesday.

Joseph Flynn, 32, of the Massachusetts State Police and Andrew Monaco, 31, of the New Hampshire State Police, were arrested on charges stemming from their use of force in the arrest of Richard Simone Jr. on May 11, New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster said in a statement. Video caught by a TV news helicopter shows Simone appearing to surrender and officers then punching him repeatedly.

Monaco was charged with three counts of simple assault; Flynn was charged with two counts. The charge is a misdemeanor and carries up to a year in jail. But under New Hampshire law, because Monaco and Flynn were on-duty law enforcement officers at the time, each charge is subject to an enhanced penalty of up to five years, the attorney general said.

Both were suspended.

Monaco was released Tuesday on $3,000 personal recognizance bond, and Flynn was released on $2,000 bond. They are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 13 in Nashua. It’s not known if they have lawyers.

Authorities say Simone refused to stop for police in Holden, Massachusetts, leading them on an hourlong chase with speeds up to 100 mph that ended in Nashua.

Video shows Simone stepping out of his pickup truck, kneeling and placing his hands on the ground as Monaco begins punching Simone on the left side of his head, according to complaints filed against the troopers. Monaco and Flynn then punch Simone repeatedly while he is prone on the ground. Monaco then strikes Simone with his knee multiple times.

Simone later told investigators he was punched, kicked and “kneed” by both troopers and was repeatedly told to “stop resisting” although his arms were behind his back while the attack continued, according to the complaints. Simone told investigators he received three stitches in his ear. Medical records indicate he was diagnosed with possible post-concussive syndrome following the beating.

Simone, who was wanted on multiple warrants, was sent back to jail after being arraigned in Worcester, Massachusetts, on charges including larceny, failure to stop for police and assault with a dangerous weapon. A message was left seeking comment from his lawyer.

Andrea

07-20-2016, 08:00 PM

Video Shows Unarmed Black Man Pleading With Arms Raised Before Getting Shot by Police

http://gawker.com/video-shows-unarmed-black-man-pleading-with-arms-raised-1784004594?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Gawker_twitter (http://gawker.com/video-shows-unarmed-black-man-pleading-with-arms-raised-1784004594?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Gawker_twitter)

On Wednesday, WSVN aired a cell phone video reportedly taken moments before caregiver Charles Kinsey was shot by North Miami police. In it, Kinsey, who survived, can be see lying on the ground with his hands raised, explaining that him and the autistic man he was assisting are unarmed.

“I thought it was a mosquito bite, and when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I’m thinking I just got shot!” Kinsey told WSVN. “And I’m saying, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me were, ‘I don’t know.’”

According to police, officers were dispatched to the scene of the shooting on Monday after getting a 911 call about a man with a gun threatening suicide.

“Arriving officers attempted to negotiate with two men on the scene, one of whom was later identified as suffering from autism,” said North Miami Police in a statement. “At some point during the on-scene negotiation, one of the responding officers discharged his weapon, striking the employee.”

According to WPLG, police later said the autistic man “had something in his hand.” In the video, Kinsey can be heard identifying the object as a toy truck.

After shooting him, Kinsey says police put him in handcuffs.

North Miami Police say the officer who shot Kinsey has been placed on administrative leave, but have not released the officer’s name or said if he will face any charges.

Andrea

07-22-2016, 12:18 PM

Charges dismissed for cop who paralyzed innocent grandfather on a stroll

http://boingboing.net/2016/07/19/charges-dismissed-for-cop-who.html (http://boingboing.net/2016/07/19/charges-dismissed-for-cop-who.html)

Charges were dismissed for the Madison, Alabama police officer who body slammed a 58-year-old man from India walking on the sidewalk last year. Sureshbhai Patel, who does not understand English, was seriously injured and needed an operation to fuse two vertebrae.

From NBC News:

Hank Sherrod, Patel's attorney, told NBC News in an email that the state's decision to drop the assault charge is deeply troubling, though not entirely surprising.

"This decision illustrates how difficult it is to hold law enforcement officers accountable under the criminal laws for brutal acts that would send an ordinary citizen to jail," he said.

[Former Madison, Ala. police officer Eric Sloan] Parker, 27, still faces a civil lawsuit in connection with the incident. Parker encountered Patel last Feb. 6 while responding to a call of a suspicious black man looking at garages and walking near houses. Patel, in from India to visit his son and grandson, testified that he did not understand English or the officers who confronted him while he was out for a walk.

Nice people around the world gave $209,000 to Mr. Patel's GoFundMe account.

Andrea

07-22-2016, 12:20 PM

BODY CAMERA VIDEO: Lawsuit accuses Arkansas police officer of using excessive force on man

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/jul/21/arkansas-police-officer-used-excessive-force-man-l/?latest#/ (http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/jul/21/arkansas-police-officer-used-excessive-force-man-l/?latest#/)

In a lawsuit filed this week, a white Blytheville police officer is accused of using excessive force against a black man on the Fourth of July, including subduing him repeatedly with a taser as he lay on the ground.

Attorney James W. Harris filed the case Wednesday in Mississippi County Circuit Court on behalf of Chardrick Mitchell, who faces charges of obstruction of justice, disorderly conduct and refusal to submit to arrest.

The lawsuit states that on July 4, Mitchell denied his ex-girlfriend re-entry into his apartment to retrieve what she said was clothing left inside, prompting the woman to call police.

A responding officer later ordered that Mitchell allow his ex-girlfriend to get her left-behind belongings and to show his identification — requests that Mitchell “politely refused,” according to the document.

The Blytheville police officer, Stephen Sigman, became increasingly angry and threatened to charge Mitchell with obstruction, Harris said.

The lawsuit accuses Sigman of later using a taser when Mitchell walked toward the apartment's front door, with Sigman telling Mitchell that he was under arrest “either at the moment the [taser] was fired or just as the [taser] was striking Mr. Mitchell in the back.”

"At no time did Mr. Mitchell resist arrest, especially since he had already been [tased] when he was first told he was under arrest, even though he had at that point committed no possible criminal act," the document reads in part.

Harris said the incident was recorded on Sigman’s body camera and that a written report from police does not match the video evidence.

"I am appalled at the actions of Officer Sigman, as well as the inaction of Chief [Ross] Thompson in correcting this officer's gross misconduct," Harris said, adding that Sigman remains on the police force.

A copy of the video footage was not available Thursday afternoon, and a call to the Blytheville Police Department for comment was not immediately returned.

*Anya*

07-23-2016, 08:48 AM

Rape Survivor Sues After Texas Authorities Jailed Her For A Month

July 22, 20165:52 PM ET

A rape survivor is suing Texas' Harris County after she was jailed for more than a month and subjected to beatings and "psychological torture."

According to court documents, she had suffered a mental breakdown while testifying against her rapist, and authorities checked her into the general population at Houston's Harris County Jail because they feared she would flee before finishing her testimony.

"Jane Doe found herself hopelessly trapped in a bizarre plot pulled from a Kafka novel," the court documents read. She "was imprisoned in the hellhole of the Harris County Jail for no reason other than being a rape victim who struggles with a mental disability."

The anonymous woman was raped in Houston in 2013, according to court documents, and was cooperating with prosecutors when she suffered a breakdown while testifying in December 2015.

She has bipolar disorder and was admitted to a local hospital for mental health treatment when the judge ordered a recess for the holiday break until January 2016.

According to the documents, authorities were scheduled to be on vacation and "did not want the responsibility of having to monitor Jane Doe's well being or provide victim services to her during the holiday recess."

The complaint alleges that the district attorney's office obtained an order from the Harris County sheriff to take the woman into custody so she would not flee before completing her testimony.

The employee booking her into Harris County Jail identified her as a "defendant in a sexual assault case, rather than the victim." That impacted her treatment from jail staff, as the complaint reads:

"The Harris County Jail psychiatric staff tormented Jane Doe and caused her extreme emotional distress and mental anguish by further defaming her, falsely insisting to her that she was being charged with sexual assault, and refusing to acknowledge her status as an innocent rape victim."

Doe also suffered beatings from other inmates and from a guard, who then requested assault charges to be filed against her "in an attempt to cover up the brutal abuse," according to the complaint.

The complaint also alleges that the jail failed "to provide Jane Doe's prescribed medications."

She eventually testified against her rapist, and a month after she was imprisoned, the district attorney's office dismissed the felony assault case against her and ordered she be released as a material witness.

The Harris County district attorney's office did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment. The Harris County sheriff's office defended its actions in a statement to The Two-Way. "The request for detainment was made by prosecutors at the Harris County District Attorney's Office," it said. "When so ordered by the court, the Sheriff's Office had no authority but to follow the court's order to detain Jane Doe."

The complaint notes that her "rapist was also an inmate in the same facility" and treated more humanely. "Her rapist was not denied medical care, psychologically tortured, brutalized by other inmates, or beaten by jail guards," it reads.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/22/487073132/rape-survivor-sues-after-texas-authorities-jailed-her-for-a-month

Andrea

07-26-2016, 03:24 PM

Jailer Chokes Inmate to Death on Video But Still Hasn’t Been Charged

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/25/jailer-chokes-inmate-to-death-on-video-but-still-hasn-t-been-charged.html?via=twitter_page (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/25/jailer-chokes-inmate-to-death-on-video-but-still-hasn-t-been-charged.html?via=twitter_page)

Video obtained by The Daily Beast shows a corrections officer strangling an inmate to death for more than a minute inside an Oklahoma jail.

A state medical examiner ruled that Darius Robinson was killed by “manual compression of the neck” and ruled his death inside the Caddo County jail to be a homicide. The county’s district attorney, Jason Hicks, has yet to bring charges against officer Michael Allen Smith for the April 4 incident, according to attorney Spencer Bryan, who represents Robinson’s family.

Hicks has refused to answer any questions about the case since The Daily Beast first reported on Robinson’s death last month. The DA’s office said Monday it would not discuss grand jury deliberations.

Robinson, a father of seven, was arrested on April 1 on a 2008 warrant for failing to pay child support. Three days later he suffered what a family attorney has called a “manic episode” inside his jail cell. A video released by the jail to the Robinson family’s attorneys shows him waving around a blanket, tearing up pieces of paper, and writhing on the floor.

The video also shows Smith—a civilian corrections officer not trained by state law enforcement—entering Robinson’s cell with fellow jailer Vicki Lyn Richardson. They begin sweeping up pieces of paper with their feet while Robinson slowly moves around the cell before settling on a bench.

While seated, Robinson leans toward Smith, who is standing in front of him. Smith responds by wrapping his forearm under Robinson’s neck while Richardson pepper sprays the inmate and the two men fall to the floor.

Smith then gets on his knees and grips Robinson’s neck with both hands in what is known as a guillotine chokehold. Robinson bucks to break free of the chokehold before he collapses. Richardson pulls Robinson’s hands behind his back and handcuffs him. A third jailer then enters and puts his foot on Robinson’s back.

All this time, Smith has been choking Robinson for more than a minute. Just before 9:46 p.m., he lets go but it was too late for Robinson.

An autopsy found his windpipe had been crushed, the hyoid bone supporting his tongue had been fractured, and the surrounding muscles had been hemorrhaging blood.

Richardson then puts Robinson on his back and rubs his sternum to check if he was conscious. He doesn’t move. Meanwhile, Smith retrieves his hat from the floor and puts it back on.

Richardson performs two chest compressions, checks Robinson’s pulse again, and sends Smith out of the cell. (He returns a moment later with what appears to be a first aid kit.) Smith turns Robinson onto his side and pats his back as he convulses. Richardson puts a towel under Robinson’s head to soak up the foam pouring out of mouth as he suffocates.

By the time paramedics LaRoyce Fanning and Ryan Warren arrive, Robinson has no pulse. Fanning and Warren make five attempts to insert a breathing tube into Robinson’s crushed trachea but do not succeed.

Smith did not tell them he used a chokehold, according to Department of Health documents released earlier this month.

Finally, the paramedics inserted a tube to expand Robinson’s airway but all the life had already been choked out of him.

Undersheriff Spencer Davis allegedly told Ancio Robinson that his brother had “charged” the jailers. Davis told The Daily Beast on Monday that Robinson’s death was “not what anyone wanted” and that Smith and Richardson are on paid administrative leave pending a grand jury’s decision on the matter and a separate state probe.

The Robinson family’s attorneys Bryan and Steven Terrell said they won’t wait for the results of that investigation before suing.

“The jailers choked Darius to death, but he was killed by the justice system in Caddo County,” Bryan said.

Andrea

07-28-2016, 08:58 PM

Florida Man Arrested Because Krispy Kreme Glaze Apparently Looks Like Crystal Meth

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/2016/07/florida-man-arrested-krispy-kreme-glaze-looks-like-crystal-meth (http://firstwefeast.com/eat/2016/07/florida-man-arrested-krispy-kreme-glaze-looks-like-crystal-meth)

Krispy Kreme doughnuts can be addicting. All it takes is watching those perfectly fried rings of dough glide through that waterfall of creamy glaze and we're already jonesing for another fix. And while it's been said that Krispy Kreme is the most "craveable" food chain in America, it appears that buying a box of the company's glazed treats can now get you arrested on drug charges.

According to a report from the Orlando Sentinel, a 64-year-old man named Daniel Rushing was taken into custody last year after police saw what appeared to be four flakes of crystal meth on the floor of his car. The arrest report states that two roadside drug tests were done, and that both came back positive for the narcotic. Weeks later, however, a state crime lab proved that the flakes were, of course, from the glaze of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and Rushing's name was cleared.

"It was incredible," he said. "It feels scary when you haven't done anything wrong and get arrested....It's just a terrible feeling."

Though the arresting officers may have watched one too many episodes of Breaking Bad—going as far as to strip search their suspect at a county jail—Rushing is as far from Walter White as can be.

On the day of his arrest, Rushing had just taken a sick friend to chemotherapy—a favor he does every Friday—and stopped at a nearby 7-Eleven to pick-up an elderly friend in need of a ride. He was pulled over because he didn't come to a complete stop before exiting the store's parking lot, and because he was driving 12 miles above the speed limit.

"First they tried to say it was crack cocaine," Rushing, who says he's never done a drug in his life, remembered. "It's icing from a doughnut."

After spending 10 hours in jail, and posting a $2,500 bond, Rushing was finally released.

"I got arrested for no reason at all," Rushing said. "I'll never let anyone search my car again."

Andrea

07-29-2016, 07:27 PM

Cousin of Slain Baton Rouge Cop Was Wrongly Arrested for the Massacre

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/28/cousin-of-slain-baton-rouge-cop-was-arrested-for-the-massacre.html?via=desktop&source=twitter (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/28/cousin-of-slain-baton-rouge-cop-was-arrested-for-the-massacre.html?via=desktop&source=twitter)

On Sunday, July 17, Damarcus Alexander stopped at Walmart so his best friend could buy a white shirt for church.

They left Dallas, Texas, at 4 a.m. bound for Belle Rose, Louisiana, a small town an hour south of Baton Rouge, so his friend could sing at a church. They entered the Walmart outside of Baton Rouge, changed into their church clothes, and continued driving.

They didn’t know it but someone had just called 911 describing two black men entering the store and changing clothes just after Gavin Long shot six law enforcement officers across the river.

One of the three dead was Alexander’s cousin, Montrell Jackson. “He was my big cuz,” Alexander said, adding that their families had vacationed together many times. “He saved me from drowning once.”

When he and his friend were changing at Walmart, Alexander hadn’t heard what had happened to his cousin yet, but a few miles down the road, police stopped their car and it wasn’t for condolences.

“Hey, you were just in the Walmart changing, right?” an officer asked them, according to Alexander. “You know what just happened in Baton Rouge? We already got the guy who did it, but we think that he probably didn’t work alone so we’re looking into you two.” Police said their car fit the description of Long’s car at the scene. (It didn’t.)

Soon after they were pulled over, more than a dozen vehicles with officers from every nearby police department had pulled up. All of them were white.

Fortunately, Alexander had proof that they hadn’t been involved in the shooting, because they had stopped at a gas station over 100 miles west of Baton Rouge to buy coffee and snacks at 8:43 a.m., according to the receipt still in the bag. That was three minutes after Long started shooting.

It wasn’t enough for the officers, who still viewed them as suspects.

Alexander said they were handcuffed and locked in the back of a police car without being read their rights. “When we were detained, we asked for phone calls,” he said. “We were not given phone calls.”

The Louisiana State Police and Baton Rouge Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Instead police confiscated their phones by intimidating them. “They made us sign a consent form,” he said. When Alexander asked questions about this, police began cursing at him. “If he wants to be a dick about it, just put his ass back in the car,” he said a plainclothes officer yelled. “He’ll be here for another four hours” to wait for a court order to search his phone.

They also forced Alexander’s friend to pee in a bottle in the back of a police car.

Meanwhile, Alexander still didn’t know who had been killed, but he had seven family members in Baton Rouge law enforcement, including his father, aunt, and uncle, along with Jackson. He was worried too, and kept asking to call his family.

“I don’t know if one of them was shot and killed,” he said. “I was ignored.” He only found out it was his cousin who had been murdered after police released him around 7 p.m.
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Alexander and his friend were taken to holding cells at a Louisiana State police station in Baton Rouge. By that time, Alexander, a diabetic, said he needed to take his diabetes medicine.

“Get away from the door, little bitch,” Alexander said one jailer yelled at his friend when he knocked on his cell door.

Rather than giving Alexander medicine, he said police called EMS, who just confirmed that his blood sugar was high and he needed medicine soon.

Instead, “for hours they’re bringing me cookies, and peanuts, and crackers, and juice,” Alexander said. “That’s the exact opposite of what I need.” Officers were worried that he was lying about the medicine to commit suicide.

“What if you die in the back of my car?” he said one officer asked him, citing another time where he had an arrestee try to take an entire bottle of pills.

After several hours, Alexander said he became semi-comatose and was taken to Baton Rouge General Hospital.

By this time, police had finally obtained footage from the Alexandria convenience store and realized Alexander hadn’t been involved with the shooting. They released Alexander’s friend from jail to go pick him up from the hospital.

“I felt helpless,” Alexander said when he was pleading for medicine in the cell.

“I’m really thankful that I wasn’t another hashtag,” he said.

Andrea

07-29-2016, 07:30 PM

East Cleveland, Ohio, mayor: 2 officers fired, could face charges

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/us/east-cleveland-police-officers-fired/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/us/east-cleveland-police-officers-fired/index.html)

Two police officers in East Cleveland, Ohio, are out of a job after a robbery suspect alleged they beat him up and pushed him down a cliff after arresting him.

Police fired the officers, and the case has been referred to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Mayor Gary Norton said. He declined to provide details about the alleged misconduct but said the officers could face a range of charges, including police brutality, kidnapping and assault.

"We are not dealing with an issue of race," the mayor told CNN, noting that both the officers and the suspect are African-American. "We are dealing with what is in the minds of individuals that are empowered with a badge and a gun. It is a sickening thing to have to deal with as a mayor."

The accused officers could not be immediately reached for comment. They have not been charged.

East Cleveland is a suburb of Cleveland, where federal investigators found a pattern of police excessive force in 2014. But the cities have separate police departments.

In East Cleveland, Norton said the alleged incident began early Sunday after police arrested a robbery suspect accused of stealing an iPhone.

'A complete shock'

Suspect Jesse Nickerson made a complaint to a supervisor after his arrest, police Chief Michael Cardilli told CNN.

Attorney Heather McCullough, a public defender who's representing Nickerson, said he recounted his version of events to her in court Thursday.
"It was a complete shock. ... He told me they had taken him to the park, beaten him up and thrown him over a cliff," she said. "He had an obvious injury to his face. When he first came in to the courtroom, he stumbled a little bit and he was doubled over."

Nickerson showed "visible signs of an altercation" and sustained minor abrasions, the police chief said.

East Cleveland's police chief began an internal investigation after learning of the incident, suspending the officers without pay within 12 hours and firing them within 36 hours, the mayor said.

"Our police chief is committed to root out all of this stuff and prosecute all of those who engage in it," Norton said. "This is why people are afraid of the police, and we won't stand for it."

Now state authorities are investigating the two former officers for allegedly using excessive force, said Jill Del Greco, a spokeswoman for the Ohio attorney general's office. Investigators will turn their findings over to the country prosecutor, who will determine whether charges will be filed, she said.

Authorities have been tight-lipped about the investigation. But Cardilli released the names of the fired officers: Denayne Dixon, a full-time patrol officer who'd been working for the department since October 2014, and Gerald Spencer, a part-time patrol officer who'd been working for the department since May 2015.

CNN's efforts to reach Dixon and Spencer for comment have not been successful.

Cardilli described the allegations against the officers as "grotesque and vile," noting that the department's policies and procedures were not followed during the arrest. But in an interview with CNN, the police chief declined to provide further details on what he said was an ongoing investigation.

Andrea

07-31-2016, 08:17 PM

Two Texas border police officers out of job after excessive force allegations

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/two-texas-border-police-officers-out-of-job-after-excessive-force-allegations/284646243 (http://www.kvue.com/news/local/two-texas-border-police-officers-out-of-job-after-excessive-force-allegations/284646243)

Two Texas border police officers are out of a job. They are accused of using excessive force against an alleged drunk driver.

It began with a traffic stop on May 13 around 1 a.m.

23-year-old Aaron Soto was pulled over on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

In a video released by police, Soto was seen losing his balance during a sobriety test before he’s handcuffed and placed inside the back seat of a McAllen police unit.

Arresting officer Luis Zuniga and Soto exchange insults. That’s when investigators said Soto spat in officer Zuniga’s face.

Soto was pulled out and thrown to the floor. A second officer, Ulysses Bautista, was seen kicking Soto while he’s handcuffed.

“He was seriously injured enough he was transferred to a San Antonio hospital,” said Soto’s attorney, Gregorio Trevino.

Trevino said his client suffered intracranial bleeding and cheekbone fractures. The incident prompts an internal investigation by McAllen police.

Two months later, City officials announced the firing of 7-year veteran officer Bautista and the resignation of officer Zuniga. They also released the investigation report, full-length videos, and Soto’s pictures in an effort to avoid a possible fallout.

“So they wanted to be transparent about what had happened and show the citizens that action would be taken against those folks that didn’t live up to the standards that we expect for those employees,” said McAllen city attorney, Kevin Pagan.

Pagan said the current environment across the country surrounding police violence and excessive force was one of the reasons the city decided to put the information out as quickly as possible. A decision Trevino and his client are praising.

“Since we’ve seen an increase in brutalities, in beatings, and in killings by police, this sends a very clear message that in McAllen, that’s not tolerated,” said Trevino.

Nevertheless, Soto and his attorney plan to file a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, officer Bautista intends to appeal the department’s decision to fire him.

Andrea

08-01-2016, 08:47 PM

Deputies in San Francisco beating stole suspect's gold chain, took 'trophy' photo, lawsuit claims

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-alameda-san-francisco-beating-video-lawsuit-20160801-snap-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-alameda-san-francisco-beating-video-lawsuit-20160801-snap-story.html)

A group of Alameda County sheriff’s deputies tackled a surrendering car thief suspect, beat him with batons, stole his gold chain then took a “trophy” photo of him bloodied on the ground, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Northern California on Monday.

In the suit, attorneys for Stanislav Petrov claim their client was hospitalized for 12 days, suffered a concussion, broken hands and facial fractures from his violent arrest Nov. 12 in a San Francisco alley, which came at the conclusion of a car chase that began in the East Bay.

The lawsuit claims that Petrov, who was being chased after police determined the car he was driving was reported stolen, ran down an alley then put his hands up to surrender. Deputy Paul Wieber tackled Petrov then he and Deputy Luis Santamaria unleashed a barrage of punches and baton blows to Petrov’s hands and head before other Alameda County sheriff’s deputies arrive and take him into custody.

Unbeknownst to the deputies at the time, a nearby business’ security camera captured the entire arrest on camera. The video apparently contradicts the initial report Wieber and Santamaria submitted about Petrov’s arrest and department commanders ordered them to rewrite it after the footage was posted on YouTube, the lawsuit claims.

The video shows one deputy walking off with a gold medallion Petrov wore around his neck, according to the lawsuit. The medallion was never booked into evidence and the deputy instead offered it to a transient who witnessed the beating in exchange for their silence, Petrov’s attorney claims.

One deputy used a cellphone to snap a picture of Petrov bruised and beaten on the ground as a “trophy,” the attorneys claim.

Both Santamaria and Wieber were charged in May with with assault under the color of authority, battery with serious bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon for Petrov’s arrest. They have pleaded not guilty and are free on $140,000 bail and due back in court this month.

Santamaria and Wieber’s attorneys were not immediately available to comment. Petrov was never charged with a crime in connection with the case. His suit seeks unspecified damages.

Andrea

08-01-2016, 08:50 PM

SF man beaten by Alameda Co. deputies files civil rights suit

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-man-beaten-alameda-co-deputies-files-civil-rights-suit/ (http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-man-beaten-alameda-co-deputies-files-civil-rights-suit/)

Attorneys for an accused criminal who was beaten by Alameda County sheriff’s deputies in San Francisco last November filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against the deputies, Sheriff Gregory Ahern and the county.

The suit on behalf of 29-year-old Stanislav Petrov seeks unspecified compensatory, exemplary and punitive damages as well as an order barring the sheriff’s office from engaging in unconstitutional practices and prohibiting it from engaging in a “code of silence” about deputies who engage in misconduct.

Deputies were caught on camera beating Petrov after a high-speed chase that began in the early morning hours of Nov. 12 in unincorporated San Leandro, where Petrov had allegedly used a stolen car to ram two marked sheriff’s patrol cars, causing minor injuries to one deputy, before fleeing in a stolen car.

The pursuit ended at Stevenson and 14th streets in San Francisco’s Mission District, where Petrov ran out of gas and crashed the car. The alleged beating occurred a short distance away on Clinton Park.

Two of the deputies named in the suit are Deputy Luis Santamaria, a 14-year veteran of the department, and Deputy Paul Wieber, a three-year veteran, who were charged by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in May with assault under color of authority, battery with serious bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors allege Santamaria and Wieber struck Petrov at least 30 times over the course of 40 seconds in the head and hands with their batons. Petrov suffered injuries including a concussion, broken bones in both hands, a mild traumatic brain injury and deep cuts to his head.

The suit also names deputies Shawn Osborne, Malizia Miller, Shelton Griffith and Sgt. Taylor, whose first name was not disclosed.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Ray Kelly said Monday that Osborne no longer works for the department as the result of an internal affairs investigation into the matter and it’s possible that additional deputies may be disciplined when the investigation is completed.

Petrov’s suit, which was filed by Oakland attorney Michael Haddad, alleges that Osborne stole a valuable gold chain and money from Petrov after he was beaten.

The suit says the sheriff’s office recommended that Petrov be charged with 12 separate crimes for allegedly stealing the car and ramming the patrol cars, but the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office declined to charge him with any crime.

However, Petrov faces gun and drug charges in a federal case that followed a March 8 search of his apartment by the FBI.

The assault against Petrov came to light after the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office obtained surveillance camera video footage. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said investigators also made use of a second video taken from a body-worn camera that one of the deputies appears to have activated accidentally.

The suit, which was filed electronically and has been assigned to U.S. District Court Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, says that Petrov raised his hands in surrender when Santamaria and Wieber caught up to him in San Francisco but Wieber tackled him to the cement and repeatedly punched him in his head and neck areas.

The suit alleges that as Petrov lay prone on the ground with his hands out ready to be handcuffed, Santamaria and Wieber “began to viciously beat him with steel batons on his head, neck, back, hands and elsewhere on his body.”

The suit says Petrov wasn’t armed, never resisted after he had surrendered and never posed an immediate threat to anyone, but the deputies “brutally beat him without legal cause or purpose.”

In addition, the suit alleges that while Petrov lay in the alley with multiple fractures on both hands, suffering from a concussion and bleeding from multiple head lacerations, deputies stood around and exchanged “high fives” and took trophy photos of him.

The suit names Ahern as a defendant because it alleges that his department doesn’t properly train its deputies and tolerates the use of excessive force.

Kelly said he can’t comment on the suit yet because the department hasn’t yet seen it.

After Wieber and Santamaria were charged in May, Ahern said that following the November incident his department increased its training about the use of force and revised its body camera procedures to make it mandatory that deputies turn them

Andrea

08-02-2016, 07:18 AM

Six shootings by Chicago cops weren't investigated, inspector general finds

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-missing-shootings-met-20160801-story.html (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-missing-shootings-met-20160801-story.html)

The agency responsible for reviewing all shootings by Chicago police officers has no record of having investigated six shootings in recent years, according to a critical report from the city's inspector general.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found that the Independent Police Review Authority had no record of looking into six shootings in which officers fired their guns but didn't hit anyone, according to the report obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The inspector general wrote that it was unclear if the Police Department failed to notify IPRA of the shootings or IPRA's recordkeeping was to blame.

IPRA also had no documentation of 14 times when officers used Tasers between 2007 and 2014, records show.

In a report that castigated IPRA for deficiencies in tracking police use of force, Ferguson noted that more was at stake than a numerical discrepancy.

"During this historic moment of transformation of police oversight in Chicago, the city should recognize that use-of-force reporting is a crucial tool for meaningful transparency, accountability, and the fostering of public trust in the Police Department and the agency responsible for police oversight," he wrote.

In response, IPRA's head, Sharon Fairley, wrote that the Police Department should share blame for problems in reporting on the use of force. She held that IPRA had no records indicating that the department had notified her agency of the six shootings. The omissions took place between 2007 and 2011, years before Fairley was appointed to run IPRA.

Fairley acknowledged that IPRA previously had failed to assess whether the Police Department was providing comprehensive data on officers' use of force. She wrote that her agency was working to "ensure that we have the appropriate personnel and technological resources to address our data management and reporting needs going forward."

IPRA is now looking into the six missing shootings, agency spokeswoman Mia Sissac said. She said she could not provide details of the shootings, but IPRA's response indicated that three happened in 2007, another one in 2009 and two more in 2011.

Fairley also wrote that her agency had found several instances in which officers' reports on use of force were inaccurate, and she suggested in her response that the Police Department should be faulted for inaccurate reporting, rather than IPRA.

A Police Department spokesman declined to comment Monday, but a top aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel wrote that the Police Department will start issuing public reports in September on use of force, a role that had previously fallen largely to IPRA.

The inspector general's report comes as Emanuel tries to deliver on reforms he promised amid the furor ignited in November by the court-ordered release of video showing a white officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.

As the crisis deepened, the mayor installed Fairley, a former federal prosecutor, as IPRA's head in December. Months later, he announced plans to abolish the agency and replace it with a more effective department, though neither Emanuel nor his allies have given details on what will replace IPRA.

A recent Tribune investigation detailed IPRA's history of conducting superficial investigations, clearing police despite compelling evidence of misconduct and recommending light discipline. Fairley has acknowledged IPRA's shortcomings and — although the agency faces extinction — enacted reforms designed to improve investigations and stiffen recommendations for discipline. In the past two months, IPRA has ruled more police shootings unjustified than it had in the prior nine years.

The main players involved in the inspector general's report have history together. Fairley was Ferguson's top deputy before leaving for IPRA. Ferguson, meanwhile, served on the task force Emanuel appointed amid the burgeoning political crisis to examine policing and oversight. That task force in April called IPRA "badly broken" and recommended it be razed and replaced.

The IG's report criticized various aspects of IPRA's reporting on police use of force, concluding that — beyond the six shootings that weren't investigated — the figures IPRA provided in its regular reports on police shootings and uses of Tasers and pepper spray were generally inaccurate.

Ferguson also wrote that the city should provide greater detail on a wider range of uses of force and make sure police oversight officials have access to complete, detailed data on uses of force.

"This sort of inaccurate and incomplete reporting may erode public trust in the ability of a civilian oversight agency to hold police accountable," he wrote.

Fairley's response largely concurred with Ferguson's recommendations on reporting uses of force and said some reforms were already underway.

"We agree that there remains (an) opportunity for IPRA to bring increased transparency to the work of our office and the performance of CPD," she wrote.

Andrea

08-04-2016, 07:20 AM

Deputy shoots and kills unarmed homeless man, prompting investigation

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-castic-deputy-shooting-20160803-snap-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-castic-deputy-shooting-20160803-snap-story.html)

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot an unarmed homeless man Tuesday night in Castaic after deputies tried to stop and question the man, authorities said.

William Bowers, 51, was riding a bicycle about 9 p.m. in the 31500 block of Castaic Road when deputies tried to stop him, according to sheriff’s Lt. Joe Mendoza.

Bowers dumped the bicycle and fled on foot from the deputies.

A deputy opened fire, striking him once in the upper torso. Bowers died at the scene.

Mendoza said Wednesday afternoon that investigators were still waiting to obtain the deputy’s explanation for why deadly force was used during the encounter.

“We don’t know why the deputy did what he did at this point because he has yet to be interviewed,” Mendoza told The Times. “No weapons were recovered at the shooting scene.”

Detectives, however, have interviewed several witnesses and most said Bowers had his hands near his waistband, according to Mendoza. Movement toward a waistband is often cited by police officers as a sign that person is reaching for a gun.

“We have a witness who says the man’s arms were at his sides. We have other witnesses who say his hands were in front of his waistband,” Mendoza said. “The deputy had the best view.”

Deputies initially tried to detain Bowers because they recognized him from previous interactions and knew he was on probation for a narcotics conviction, detectives said.

One witness told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the man was running from deputies when he was shot.

“He jumped off his bike and started running, and the cop shot him,” the man told the news station.

Mendoza said that as part of their investigation, detectives are retrieving security camera footage from nearby buildings that may have captured some of the incident. The identity of the deputy involved in the shooting has not been publicly released.

The shooting, like all uses of potentially deadly force by deputies, is under investigation by the sheriff’s homicide and internal affairs bureaus, as well as the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Andrea

08-05-2016, 12:57 PM

Chicago police release video tied to shooting of unarmed man

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/05/us/chicago-police-shooting-video-release/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/05/us/chicago-police-shooting-video-release/index.html)

A Chicago officer is seen opening fire on a black Jaguar as it races down a tree-lined street. The car crashes. The driver bolts. Officers chase him into an alleyway between brick houses. Then multiple shots are heard.

"Get down! Hands behind your back! You shot at us mother------!"

Moments later, officers curse at 18-year-old Paul O'Neal as they put him in handcuffs. Hands behind his back, his arms appear limp. The back of his shirt is covered in blood. An officer holds his foot on O'Neal's leg.
O'Neal died from his injuries.

The actual shooting, which occurred on July 28, isn't seen in the footage because the officer's body camera didn't record the moment he opened fire. However, police say the officer who shot O'Neal in the back violated policy.

This video footage, which was released on Friday, prompted Chicago police to warn of "civil unrest" and potential violence against cops.

Sharon Fairley, head of the police oversight board that released the video, described the footage as "shocking and disturbing."

The teen's family saw the footage before it was released to the public on Friday. Ja'mal Green, a spokesman for O'Neal's family, told CNN that relatives who watched the video immediately walked out of the room.

O'Neal led police on a chase through the South Side of Chicago. He had been suspected of stealing a car. The officer who fired the fatal shot was in a car that crashed with the Jaguar O'Neal was driving.

Whether the crash had an impact on the camera's ability to record is under investigation, according to police. Investigators are also looking into whether the officer had turned it on.

However, "as shocking and disturbing as it is," Fairley said the footage "is not the only evidence to be gathered and analyzed when conducting a fair and thorough assessment of the conduct of police officers in performing their duties."

O'Neal's family on Monday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers, alleging that they fired at the teen "without lawful justification or excuse."

Andrea: Click link for video and rest of article

Andrea

08-06-2016, 11:38 AM

A black woman called 911 because she was afraid of a police officer. A violent arrest followed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/08/05/social-worker-calls-911-because-shes-afraid-of-a-police-officer-he-then-violently-arrests-her/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.9f38d49a7274 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/08/05/social-worker-calls-911-because-shes-afraid-of-a-police-officer-he-then-violently-arrests-her/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.9f38d49a7274)

Nervous and distraught, Earledreka White did the only thing she thought she could to allay her fears after being stopped by a police officer in Houston: She called 911 to report the traffic stop and asked for police backup.

White’s voice was so shaky that she stuttered when trying to give the emergency dispatcher their location, a medical plaza parking lot outside the Loop 610 near downtown Houston. Next to her stood an officer with Houston’s Metro Police Department, waiting while she made the call in the doorway of her sedan.

“He’s saying I crossed over a solid line and I did not,” White told the dispatcher. “I got out of the car to ask him what the offense was. He raised his voice at me and threatened to arrest me. So I’m really confused. And I would like another officer to come out here.

“My heart is racing. I’m really afraid.”

Less than two minutes later, the officer reached for his handcuffs, then for White’s left wrist.

Soon, the two began shouting as White begged him to stop.

After a violent struggle, the 28-year-old African American woman was arrested, sobbing.

The charge? Resisting arrest.

Video of the March 31 traffic stop has become another Rorschach test for people to calibrate their divided views on police practices in the United States.

Attorneys for White said the footage clearly shows the Houston police officer escalated the confrontation, unprompted. As the video spread online Thursday, some said the incident was yet another example of excessive police force being used against African Americans.

The Metro Police Department has cleared the officer of any wrongdoing and said his actions were valid. Still others criticized White for getting out of her vehicle in the first place.

White’s attorneys released video of the incident to the Houston Chronicle, which published the footage along with audio from the 911 call this week.

The newspaper described how the situation escalated after White was stopped:

White then tells the dispatcher she is being “harassed.” At that point, according to the combined audio and video, the officer grabs her and tries to pin her arms behind her back, unleashing a minutes-long struggle with White screaming for him to stop.

“This man is twisting my arm,” she tells the dispatcher. “Please get your hands off of me. What is wrong with you? … Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything.”

She eventually can be heard breaking down into sobs.

“Oh my God, oh, my God,” she says. “Stop. Please, stop. Can you stop doing this?”

“I was shocked. I was absolutely shocked,” Zack Fertitta, an attorney who is handling White’s case pro bono, told The Washington Post on Thursday. “This is a clear violation.”

The officer, identified in records as Gentian Luca, is a three-year member of the force, according to the Metro Police Department. Fertitta said there was no reason for Luca to arrest White, who reportedly was stopped for crossing a double white line while driving.

“He’s the one that caused the confrontation and then he claims resisting arrest,” Fertitta said. “Yes, she did get out of her vehicle, which I would advise against anybody ever doing. However, it’s not a crime to get out of your vehicle at a traffic stop.

“It’s not as if she was on a roadside. She was in a parking lot. She had her hands clearly visible. There was nothing in her hands. There was no danger for this officer. And she immediately got back in her car.”

White spent two days in jail on a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest and was released on a $1,000 bail.

Less than a week after the traffic stop, White, of Houston, filed a formal complaint with Metro Police, alleging several counts of misconduct against Luca.

In the complaint, White said Luca “used excessive force, was rude and disrespectful when talking to her, threatened her with ‘I will Tazer your ass,’ ” and then arrested her “for no reason.”

White further alleged Luca had pulled her hair and wrestled her onto the car, causing her neck soreness and severe migraines afterward.

Over several weeks, an internal investigation reviewed all surveillance video, as well as written statements from four other law enforcement officials who arrived at the scene after White was taken into custody. On May 13, Metro police issued findings from its investigation and cleared Luca of all alleged violations.

Metro Police Chief Vera Bumpers said Luca was acting within the bounds of the law.

“The perception does look negative, but once you talk to the officer, once we reviewed everything … there were answers to what transpired,” she said.

During Luca’s three years as a Metro Police officer, he has never been disciplined, suspended or put on probation, department spokesman Jerome Gray said. Luca was not placed on leave during the investigation and remains on duty with Metro Police, according to Gray.

“I think he showed restraint and patience during the incident,” said Bumpers, the police chief. “I think he just really tried and allowed her to calm down. He waited … while she was on the 911 call three minutes, I think, and that’s a long time.”

All Metro Police officers go through mandatory annual training that includes “de-escalation and crisis intervention” techniques, Bumpers said.

This incident will be included in future training, the police chief told the Houston Chronicle.

The department is “just asking the public to ensure that they comply with law enforcement and be respectful,” she said. “Because at the end of the day our concern is for the safety of our community.”

Last month, the fatal police shootings of two black men several hours and 1,200 miles apart, in Baton Rouge, and Falcon Heights, Minn., reignited a heated national conversation about race and policing and also intensified a long-simmering debate over compliance, as one of the victims, a black school-cafeteria manager by the name of Philando Castile, was killed by an officer during a traffic stop.

“I always told him, ‘Whatever you do, when you get stopped by the police, comply, comply, comply, comply,’ ” his mother, Valerie Castile, told CNN on the morning after the fatal encounter. “Comply — that’s the key thing in order to try to survive being stopped by the police.”

She added: “My son was a law-abiding citizen and he did nothing wrong. I think he was just black in the wrong place.”

The two July shootings triggered demonstrations across the country, with protesters calling for an end to police brutality and for sweeping police reform.

The newly released video of White’s arrest in March is “just shocking,” said her attorney, Fertitta.

“I’m as pro-law-enforcement as they come, but that’s not good police conduct,” he told the Chronicle. “You can’t escalate a situation and then claim someone is ‘resisting arrest.’ That’s ridiculous.”

In an interview with The Post, he added: “This officer escalated the situation from a peaceful encounter over a traffic stop to this sort of confrontation that was completely unneeded. He should have just written her a traffic ticket. He never even started to write her a traffic ticket.”

Fertitta told The Post that he is working to get White’s charge dismissed so it does not affect her professional career.

According to her LinkedIn profile, White has a master’s degree in psychology. She previously taught sixth-grade math in the Houston Independent School District.

White did not immediately respond to a request through her attorney for comment.

Harris County District Attorney spokesman Jeff McShan confirmed Thursday that the prosecutor’s office had reached out to the officer to gather more information about the case and was reviewing the charge.

“They’re reviewing it,” McShan said. “That’s all we can say at this point.”

As news of White’s encounter spread, some likened the incident to the case of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Texas woman who was arrested after a minor traffic violation last year. Bland was found dead in her jail cell four days later, and her death — which authorities ruled a suicide — sparked protests around the country.

Ashton P. Woods, an organizer with Black Lives Matter in Houston, watched the video of White’s arrest on Wednesday and said the officer grabbing her wrist appeared to be “extremely problematic.”

“She was clearly fearing for her life because she was calling 911,” said Woods. “If she was in violation of something, they could have easily issued a citation. But when you’re pulling someone out of that car and clearly petrified … given everything that’s happened in the last two or three months, yeah, I feel for her.”

Woods said he planned to reach out to White.

“I thought about Sandra Bland,” Woods said. In his opinion, White’s case was not much different. “She just lived to talk about it, to be honest.”

Andrea

08-09-2016, 04:41 PM

Police will be required to report officer-involved deaths under new US system

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/08/police-officer-related-deaths-department-of-justice?CMP=share_btn_tw (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/08/police-officer-related-deaths-department-of-justice?CMP=share_btn_tw)

Police departments will be required to give the US justice department full details of deadly incidents involving their officers each quarter, under a new government system for counting killings by police that was influenced by the Guardian.

Announcing a new program for documenting all “arrest-related deaths”, federal officials said they would actively work to confirm fatal cases seen in media reports and other open sources rather than wait for departments to report them voluntarily.

The methodology of the new system, which aims to replace a discredited count by the FBI, mirrors that of The Counted, an ongoing Guardian effort to document every death caused by law enforcement officers in 2015 and 2016.

Writing in the Federal Register, Department of Justice officials said their new program should increase transparency around the use of force by police and improve accountability for the actions of individual officers.

“Accurate and comprehensive accounting of deaths that occur during the process of arrest is critical for law enforcement agencies to demonstrate responsiveness to the citizens and communities they serve,” their notice said.

The federal government has kept no comprehensive record of killings by police officers, even as a series of controversial deaths set off unrest in cities across the country over the past two years. An annual voluntary count by the FBI of fatal shootings by officers has recorded only about half the true number.

The new system is being overseen by the department’s bureau of justice statistics (BJS). It would, like the Guardian’s, document deaths caused by physical force, Taser shocks and some vehicle crashes caused by law enforcement in addition to fatal shootings by officers. A Washington Post tally counts fatal shootings by police.

In their Federal Register article, officials cited their authority under the death in custody reporting act – a law that states local departments must report all deaths in custody to the justice department or lose 10% of their federal funding. The law has been largely ignored since being reauthorized in December 2014.

The BJS carried out a trial of its new system that monitored deaths between 1 June and 31 August last year. Officials working on the pilot program cited The Counted as an influence on the initiative and a source for its information.

Officials estimate that this year there will be about 2,100 arrest-related deaths across the US involving 1,066 different police departments. The BJS criteria includes a wide range of deaths including suicides and natural causes. Last year the Guardian counted 1,146 deaths caused by police in narrower terms.

According to the announcement, police departments will be asked later this year to report once for all arrest-related deaths during 2016, before moving to the quarterly reporting process next year.

Under the new government program, all 19,450 American law enforcement agencies will be sent a form by the BJS that requires information on all the department’s arrest-related deaths in the past quarter of the year.

Deaths that were already noticed in media reports will be listed by the BJS for confirmation or correction by the local departments. Space will be included for the local department to list additional deaths that were not previously noticed. Departments that have seen no arrest-related deaths that quarter will be asked to return “an affirmative zero” saying so.

A second form seeking extensive information about the circumstances of each death will be sent to the local department responsible. It will require local officials to detail similar data to that logged by The Counted, such as demographic information on every person killed, how the deadly encounter began and whether the person was armed.

Other forms will be sent to the 685 medical examiner’s and coroner’s offices asking them to also confirm details of deaths that have been noticed in public sources. They, too, will be asked to return forms with details of any other deaths that went unnoticed.

The BJS ran a previous arrest-related deaths count that was shuttered in April 2014, four months before the issue of killings by police became a national controversy following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Missouri.

Officials acknowledged in a review of the previous program that its census-style method led to an under-documenting of deaths. They argue that their new “hybrid approach” – proactively seeking out fatal cases using open sources such as news reports, while also asking police to alert them to unnoticed cases – will lead to more comprehensive data.

There will also be a two-month consultation period inviting comments on how it might work, particularly from law enforcement agencies and medical examiners who would be affected.

The FBI said at the end of last year that it planned to overhaul its discredited system for counting shootings by officers to include other uses of force and non-deadly incidents. The FBI program, however, is expected to remain voluntary.

Andrea

08-09-2016, 04:43 PM

Justice Department report: Baltimore Police routinely violated civil rights

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-doj-report-20160809-story.html (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-doj-report-20160809-story.html)

Baltimore police routinely violated the constitutional rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using excessive force, according to two people familiar with the findings of a long-anticipated Justice Department probe expected to be released Wednesday.

The practices overwhelmingly fell on the shoulders of the city’s black residents in poor neighborhoods, according to the sources, who did not want to be identified prior to the report’s release.

Launched after the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray from injuries sustained while in police custody, the wide-ranging probe uncovered deep and systemic problems with how Baltimore officers do their jobs and how they are policed themselves, the people said.

Gray’s death, which triggered rioting captured on live television, was one of several recent killings nationwide of unarmed black men by police officers. The deaths have provoked a nationwide conversation about race, discrimination and police practices. It has also exposed deep rifts between police and the communities they serve.

The results of the Justice Department’s investigation are expected to be announced Wednesday in Baltimore at a press conference attended by high-ranking federal law enforcement officials and city leaders.

Among the findings: Baltimore police too often stopped, frisked and arrested residents without legal justification, and such activities fell disproportionately on black residents and drivers, the people said.

Officers also too frequently used excessive force in situations that did not call for aggressive measures, the people said, and were found to have routinely retaliated against residents for exercising their right to free speech and free assembly.

The investigation concluded that deeply entrenched problems were allowed to fester because the department did not properly oversee, train or hold accountable officers. For example, the people said, the department lacks systems to deter and detect improper conduct, and it fails to collect and analyze data that might root out abuses or abusers.

Andrea: Clink link for rest of article