Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

WATCH: Black Man's Hands Up, Cop Tases Him in Back

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/watch-black-mans-hands-cop-tases-him-back

The ACLU of Colorado just posted a video of an Aurora, Colorado, police officer using a stun gun on Black man last February.

The edited video, which was posted by the ACLU today (September 8), shows Darsean Kelly and another man’s February 19, 2016, interaction with police officers of the Aurora Police Department. It was drawn from one of the officers’ body camera.

Per the video, which contains text meant to narrate the events, the officers were responding to a call about a man who pulled a gun on a child. The caller did not provide a description of the man. Kelly and his companion were standing on the sidewalk when officers told them to put their hands behind their heads and turn around. Kelly repeatedly asked why he was being detained, and just after he said, “I know my rights!” he was hit in the back with the stun gun, which caused him to fall backward into the street. When Kelly reminded one of the officers that there were witnesses, the officer said, “It's all on video, sweetheart.”

Kelly was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct for failing to obey a lawful order, and the officer wrote that he thought he might be reaching for a weapon. The ACLU of Colorado has filed a motion—which was emailed to Colorlines—with the municipal court to dismiss the case, arguing that Kelly was unlawfully detained and arrested without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.

Watch the video of the incident above.

[Andrea]

Georgia policeman charged with raping woman on way to jail

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/us/georgia-riverdale-police-officer-charged-with-rape/index.html

A Georgia police officer is accused of raping a woman while he was transporting her to a jail in an Atlanta suburb, state authorities say.

Former Riverdale Police officer James Larry Robinson Jr., 36, of Jonesboro is charged with rape and sexual assault against a person in custody. He appeared in court Wednesday, and bond was denied, according to the Clayton County Court clerk's office.

The alleged victim made the complaint against the officer August 7, prompting a Georgia Bureau of Investigation inquiry, said GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles.

The woman says Robinson was taking her from the Riverdale Police Department to the Clayton County Jail when he pulled alongside an empty building and assaulted her, according to CNN affiliate WSB.

The building is next to a custom tire shop, and workers there say the upset woman came by the shop and requested footage from their security cameras, WSB reported.

Riverdale police requested the GBI investigate the incident. Robinson turned himself in without incident Tuesday, the same day he was terminated from the force, Miles said.

Robinson remains in Clayton County Jail on no bond, according to inmate records.

CNN's calls to the Riverdale Police Department; Robinson's defense attorney, Keith Martin; and the police union, the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, were not immediately returned.

[Andrea]

Former cop pleads guilty to sex offenses against adopted daughter

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/former-cop-pleads-guilty-to-sex-offenses-against-adopted-daughter/article_75c40360-753c-11e6-859f-c7872bfe902d.html#.V9H2ainNPBA.twitter

The Concord Police officer charged with raping his adopted daughter plead guilty to several charges in a plea bargain agreement.

Douglas Buckwell, 42, is in a medium security prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a felony rape case involving his adopted daughter, according to court and prison records.

The case was settled with a plea agreement last week when Buckwell pleaded guilty to one count of sex offense in a parental role, one count of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of misdemeanor child abuse.

After Buckwell made his plea, he was sentenced to 25 to 90 months for sex offense in a parental role and 16 to 29 months for indecent liberties with a child. A variety factors of determine how much of the sentence is served in prison.

Before the agreement, Buckwell could have received 203 months in prison if convicted on all counts, according to court records.

The case originated on Feb. 11, 2016, when a report was made to the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office alleging her adopted father had committed a number of sexual offenses against her between August, 2009 and January, 2016. She alleged that many of the offenses occurred before she was 16 years old. She was 18 when she made the report.

Buckwell was suspended as an officer while an internal investigation was conducted by Concord Police, but resigned in April before that investigation was complete.

Buckwell was originally charged with first-degree statutory rape, statutory rape, first-degree statutory sex offense, statutory sex offense, indecent liberties with a child, sex act by a substitute parent and three counts of misdemeanor child abuse.

The state dropped 12 charges as part of the agreement, according to court records.

Buckwell was admitted into the Craven Correctional Institution in Vanceboro on Thursday, Sept. 1, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety offender website.

Buckwell was a 19-year-veteran of the Concord Police Department and served as a school resource officer since 2000 at Central Cabarrus High School.

According to a press release from law enforcement released in March, there was no evidence Buckwell committed any criminal acts while on duty or serving in the capacity of a Concord police officer.

The case was prosecuted by Rachel B. Larsen, a child abuse resource attorney with the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys. The conference handled the case because of Buckwell’s previous working relationship with the Cabarrus County District Attorney’s Office.

[*Anya*]

I read this thread because I feel I need to look with unblinking eyes at the tragedies that law enforcement officers and departments have committed but it is difficult to do and painful to read.

[Andrea]

Southlake officers disciplined after using Taser on DWI suspect

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article101215492.html

A patrol officer has been demoted and another was suspended for a day after a Keller woman was stunned with a Taser in March before her blood was drawn, according to the police chief and the motorist.

Cpl. Brian Fitzgerald was demoted to the rank of officer while Officer David Tatsak was suspended without pay for a day.

“As Chief of the Southlake Police Department, I expect our officers to uphold the highest standards of accountability within our community,” Southlake Police Chief James Brandon said in an email.

Hannah Fossier, 21, of Keller has told the Star-Telegram she repeatedly refused to have blood drawn on the night of March 20, but officers stunned her twice, and then got a nurse to draw her blood.

“I must have told them at least 10 times no,” Fossier told the Star-Telegram in a May telephone interview. “One officer said if you don’t cooperate, I’m going to Tase you, and he did.”

Brandon has declined to comment on whether officers had a warrant to draw blood from Fossier. Generally, a warrant is needed by officers in Texas to draw blood when a motorist refuses, according to local defense attorneys.

Jail records and Fossier gave this account:

Fossier said she was driving home from her job in Southlake when she was involved in an accident in the 400 block of Pearson Lane. Records indicated she is a cashier at Victoria’s Secret in Southlake.

No serious injuries were reported as a result of the crash.

Fossier said she failed a field sobriety test at the scene.

“I told them that I would submit to a Breathalyzer, but I didn’t want blood drawn,” Fossier told the Star-Telegram in May. “The officer said they didn’t do Breathalyzer, and that we were going to the hospital for blood.”

Fossier said she didn’t know where the officer took her. A major area hospital is Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southlake.

“Two officers held me while a nurse tried to draw blood, but I kept telling them no,” Fossier said. “An officer Tased me once, and then a second time. Then they got my blood.”

Jail records showed that Fossier was arrested at 8:46 p.m. March 20.

Fossier was freed after she posted $1,000 bail shortly after her arrest.

Tarrant County court records indicate Fossier was charged with driving while intoxicated April 5. Records were not available showing her blood-alcohol level.

“I had bruises from where they held me down,” Fossier said. “I never gave them permission to take my blood.”

A trial for Fossier is pending.

“The next day I was made aware of concerns with the arrest by police department staff, so I immediately initiated an internal investigation,” Brandon said in a May email.

The officers were disciplined this summer.

[Andrea]

#DeEscalateDontKill: Black Man Fatally Shot by Florida Cops in His Own Backyard

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/09/black-man-shot-by-florida-cops-in-his-own-backyard/

In the last year, there has been a hashtag directed towards law enforcement all over the nation: #DeEscalateDontKill.

But the police in Broward County, Fla., must have missed the memo.

The Broward Palm Beach New Times reports that police responded to a domestic disturbance call on Friday night and shot and killed a man who was holding a pocket knife—a “rusty pocket knife”—in his own backyard.

The tragedy was set in motion at about 10 p.m. after Gregory Frazier’s sister called 911 because he was arguing with his niece.

By the time police arrived, Frazier, 56, was planted in the backyard of his Pompano Beach home eating chicken wings and fries with a small Swiss Army-style pocket knife in his hand.

The outlet reports that Frazier’s nephew, Quartaze Woodard, says three deputies showed up and told Frazier to get down on the ground. Frazier responded, “Leave me alone.” The deputies repeated the order. Again, Frazier asked them to leave him alone.

Moments later—not one, but two—deputies from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office opened fire. The New Times reports that neighbors say Frazier was hit between five and six times in the back.

Then, after handcuffing him, and removing the handcuffs once they realized he was non-responsive, police attempted to perform CPR. But it was too late.

As per departmental policy, the deputies were placed on paid administrative leave.

“Yes, he had a pocket knife. A rusty pocket knife,” said sister Deborah Frazier to the Miami Herald. “I believe those three cops could have sat down, talked to him, used Tasers, anything, to constrain him.”

She added to the New Times, “I never would have called the cops if I’d known this was going to happen. They just came in and started shooting right away.”

[Andrea]

A Chicago cop was just indicted on civil rights charges for the first time in over a decade

http://fusion.net/story/348362/chicago-police-shooting-civil-rights-indictment/?utm_campaign=ThisIsFusion&utm_source=Twitter&utm_ medium=social

A federal grand jury indicted Chicago police officer Marco Proano on Friday for a 2013 incident in which he shot indiscriminately into a car full of six unarmed black teenagers, wounding two of them, charging that Proano deprived the victims of “the right to be free from unreasonable force by a police officer,” enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. This marks the first time that federal officials have charged a Chicago police officer for a shooting in 15 years, despite more than 700 police shootings in that time, 215 of them fatal, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

This particular shooting was brought to the public’s attention after a retired Cook County judge, Andrew Berman, released video of the shooting to the Chicago Reporter. “My first reaction was, if those are white kids in the car, there’s no way they [would] shoot,” Berman told the Reporter, saying that he released the video to hold Proano accountable for his “outrageous overuse of deadly force.”

The city of Chicago eventually settled a lawsuit three of the victims’ mothers brought against the officers involved for $360,000, but Proano, who has had at least eight other misconduct complaints filed against him and has been named in at least three other misconduct lawsuits the city settled with his victims, has yet to face any punishment for the shooting beyond being relegated to desk duty and being relieved of his police powers in December—two years after the shooting.

The Independent Police Review Authority, the embattled agency that oversees most police misconduct investigations, told the Reporter that it had recently sustained some allegations against Proano, but refused to say what they are and no record of them appears on their website. The Police Department said its legal office was reviewing the recommendations made by IPRA, but would not say what they were.

A previous shooting by Proano, in which he killed 19-year-old Niko Husband outside of a dance, was the subject of a lengthy Chicago Reader look at one of the rare cases a civil lawsuit in a police shooting case makes it all the way to a trial. The jury found in favor of Husband’s family, but the judge nullified the verdict on a legal technicality.

Outside of Chicago, federal officials have rarely filed civil rights charges in police shootings, declining to charge the officers who shot Jamar Clark in Minneapolis, Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee, or Michael Brown in Ferguson. (A notable recent exception is the officer who shot Walter Scott in South Carolina.) A review by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review found that federal prosecutors decline to pursue criminal charges against law enforcement officers 96% of the time.