Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by Andrea

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

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.”

I'm really glad you posted about this story because thanks to an bystander who captured an majority of this incident on video, it adds to an body of evidence already in progress on the narrative of police brutality and the abuse of perceived power.

[*Anya*]

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/gir...SPzIA1C6gGx.99

[Andrea]

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]

Sheriff: Video shows deputy striking handcuffed suspect in face

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*]

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-w...-police-union/