Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

‘I Can’t Breathe’: Disturbing Video Shows Father Of Four Begging Guards For Help Before He Died In Jail

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-sabbie-jail-deaths-bi-state-jail-bowie-county_us_57f2ab41e4b024a52d304102?bns

“I can’t breathe.”

Michael Sabbie ― a 35-year-old stay-at-home father of four ― said it after five guards piled on top of him inside the Bi State Jail, a facility that sits directly on the border between Texas and Arkansas and is run by a for-profit company.

“I can’t breathe.” Sabbie ― who packed his kids’ lunches, drove them to and from school, and carted them around to their after-school activities ― said it again after a sixth officer pepper-sprayed him as he lay on the concrete floor.

“I can’t breathe, sir. Please! Please!” Sabbie ― who wrote a Facebook post thanking God for his kids just hours before his arrest ― said it again as guards held him up against a wall outside of the nurse’s station.

“I can’t breathe,” Sabbie said again after he was forced into the shower. “I can’t breathe,” Sabbie repeated, echoing the final words of another black father, 43-year-old Eric Garner, who died in New York in July 2014 as the result of an officer’s illegal chokehold.

A guard threatened to pepper-spray Sabbie again. “I’m sorry,” Sabbie said, hoping to avoid being hit with painful chemical agent a second time. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Then Sabbie collapsed. The guards, paid a starting rate of $10 an hour, apparently thought he was faking it. They took him to a cell.

“Can’t breathe,” Sabbie said as guards removed his handcuffs and left him on the floor of the cell overnight. Sabbie, who at that point had been in custody for roughly 48 hours, was dead by the morning.

The basic details of Sabbie’s death, one of more than 800 jail deaths counted by The Huffington Post in the year after Sandra Bland died in jail on July 13, 2015, wouldn’t normally raise much suspicion. The initial news reports said that Sabbie, who was arrested on a domestic assault charge, was found “unresponsive” on the morning of July 22, 2015, suggesting he died in his sleep. A medical examiner ― noting Sabbie’s obesity and that he had significant heart muscle damage ― deemed his death “natural,” a label that implies it was an unavoidable tragedy. Those circumstances wouldn’t make Sabbie’s death terribly unique: Heart disease killed an average of 226 jail inmates a year from 2000 until 2013, making it the leading cause of jail deaths after suicides.

But calling Sabbie’s death “natural” obscures more than it illuminates, and would hide the failures that very likely could have prevented his death. A quick internal investigation might have absolved jail employees of any wrongdoing. But in Sabbie’s case, there’s video.

“If you just looked at the cause of death, you would think that Michael died of some sort of hypertensive heart condition, and that may be true,” said Erik J. Heipt, one of the attorneys representing the Sabbie family. “But if we didn’t have a video, we’d never know that he had been begging for help due to his shortness of breath and inability to breathe. We’d never know that he said ‘I can’t breathe’ 19 times in the nine minutes that we hear in that video.”

Heipt and his law partner, Edwin Budge, regularly represent families of individuals who have died in jails across the country. But this video is “without a doubt among one of the most outrageous,” Budge said.

“Clearly he’s a person in a state of medical crisis, in medical need, asking for help, and the response to his essentially pleas for medical help is inhumane, which is a term I don’t use lightly,” Budge said.

Preventable deaths being labeled as “natural” is a “common phenomenon” and a “huge problem” in jails across the country, said David C. Fathi, the director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project.

“We often find that someone’s death is characterized as ‘natural causes’ ― maybe it was cancer, maybe it was heart disease,” Fathi said. “But if you look at the medical record, you often find egregious neglect and denial of care. If someone dies of cancer that went totally untreated, is that death from natural causes?”

Sabbie was arrested on July 19, 2015, after getting into an argument with his wife over money, according to a police report. Sabbie’s wife told an officer that he threatened her before getting out of the car and walking away. Another officer located Sabbie, who denied threatening his wife. Due to the alleged threat, Sabbie was arrested for third-degree assault on a household or family member, a misdemeanor.

Sabbie was taken to the Bi State Jail, a facility with 164 beds that housed 134 individuals as of this week. The for-profit company LaSalle Corrections has run the facility since 2013, when a previous company backed out because it reportedly could not turn a profit. Governments pay just $39.50 per day to house inmates at the Bi State lockup and $46.50 per day to place them at the Bowie County facility, a nearby facility LaSalle Corrections also runs. (The company that backed out of the previous contract submitted a competing bid of $56.25 per inmate per day.) Under the contract with Bowie County, LaSalle Corrections absorbs the cost of medical services and also indemnifies the county against any claims from inmates or their families.

The Bowie County facility has agreements with local surrounding counties to house their inmates, which the Bowie County Sheriff has said “helps us to lower the costs” of detaining the county’s own detainees, and jail revenue is “one of the largest portions of Bowie County’s budget,” according to a local news report. A job listing for a position at the Bowie County Correctional Center says pay is $10 per hour, and that the position requires “zero experience as a correctional officer.” As of this July, the facilities were reportedly shorthanded and seeking to fill dozens of positions.

With a population of just 134, the Bi State Jail is one of the smallest jails in the country that had two reported deaths in The Huffington Post’s jail deaths project, which looked at deaths between July 13, 2015, and July 13, 2016. There were two additional deaths at the nearby Bowie County Correctional Center, which has 748 beds and a population of 674 as of this week. Together, the LaSalle facilities had four deaths in a single year, with a joint population of just 808. Other jails that reported four deaths in the year HuffPost examined had populations double, triple and even quadruple that.

Matthew Campbell, who is representing the family of another inmate who died in the Bi State Jail, said the facility is “by far the least secure jail” he’s ever been in. He said he was able to walk in with a briefcase without being searched or showing identification.

“The guy behind the big glass window doesn’t have me sign in, doesn’t ask for ID. There’s no metal detector, he doesn’t check my bag, buzzes me into the attorney meeting room,” Campbell said. “It could have been a briefcase full of cocaine and guns, and I could have left it there in the room and nobody would have been any the wiser.”

At about 3:30 a.m. on July 20, less than 12 hours after his arrest, Sabbie told jail staff he was having difficulty breathing and could not breathe while lying down. A nurse treated him for a low level of oxygen in his blood, and advised him to sit up if he had trouble breathing.

The next day, July 21 at 10:30 a.m., Sabbie was found on the floor of his cell and taken to the nurse’s station. He said once again that he couldn’t breathe and that he believed he had pneumonia. But a nurse cleared him to go back to his cell, which frustrated Sabbie. “So [y’all] aren’t going to help?” he asked, according to police records. He began walking back to his cell, but fell on the floor on his way back and required assistance. The nurse, Tiffany Venable, said she had seen no signs or symptoms of pneumonia during the morning appointment. She told an investigator she completed a medical form for this visit, but believed she placed it in the wrong file.

Sabbie had a court appearance that afternoon, during which he pleaded not guilty and had his bond set at $2,500. A court bailiff said he observed Sabbie “sweating very heavily and coughing.” The judge also saw that Sabbie was having trouble breathing, and suggested Sabbie might have asthma or bronchitis. Sabbie said in court that he had been spitting up blood and needed to go to the hospital.

After the court appearance, Sabbie and a group of other detainees were taken back to the jail at about 4:15 p.m. This is where the video kicks in, and we see that Sabbie stopped to lean against a wall.

Officer Clint Brown walked over to Sabbie. Brown claimed Sabbie wanted to use the phone in the booking desk, but Brown said he had to go back to his cell. He claimed Sabbie turned aggressively toward him, so he grabbed him. Other officers soon assisted.

Lt. Nathaniel Johnson, who earlier in the day had taken Sabbie to the nurse because he had difficulty breathing, pepper-sprayed Sabbie directly in the face, just as he said, “I can’t breathe.”

Venable, the nurse who saw Sabbie earlier in the morning and had been on duty since 5 a.m., witnessed the guards use force against Sabbie, and then evaluated him briefly in her office. She didn’t fill out a form, but said she believed his complaints were a normal reaction to pepper spray.

“Ms. Venable said she wanted to get off work on time because she had to get her daughter to a pitching lesson,” one police report states. “She said she was going to complete one this morning when she came into work but learned that Mr. Sabbie had passed away.”

Heipt, one of the lawyers for the Sabbie family, said they believe that Sabbie had pulmonary edema, or excess fluid in his lungs caused by a heart condition. It’s a medical emergency, but treatable and should have been detected with a proper evaluation, Heipt said. The State Crime Laboratory’s Medical Examiner Division found that Sabbie died of “hypertensive arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” and claimed that the altercation “played a minimal role in the decedent’s death, and may not have contributed at all to his death.”

Correctional Officer Simone Nash was charged with keeping an eye on Sabbie overnight. She was required to do cell safety checks on all her pods and cells every 30 minutes, as well as a count four times each shift. Although her records indicated that the guard did those 30-minute checks, she admitted that “not all the checks were done and they were only documented,” according to a Texarkana Police report. Nash admitted she “didn’t consistently enter and check the cells inside the pods during every one of the 30 minute checks” as required, according to the report. During her counts, she said that while Sabbie never responded to her during the counts, she claims she saw him breathing.

LaSalle Corrections employees were still not conducting proper face-to-face observations on July 18, 2016, nearly a year after Sabbie’s death, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, which performed the inspection after the July 1, 2016, death of Morgan Angerbauer. Twenty-year-old Angerbauer, whose family is represented by Campbell, was diabetic, and jail nurse Brittany Johnson was arrested in August and charged with negligent homicide in connection with her death. (In a similar case, a former Oklahoma guard was indicted on a federal civil rights charge this week for allegedly ignoring the medical needs of a diabetic detainee who died in 2013. It is rare for corrections officials to face such charges for exhibiting “deliberate indifference” to the medical needs of inmates.)

Heipt, who is also representing the family of a man who died of thirst in a jail run by prominent Donald Trump supporter and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, said it’s only recently that there has been public attention on jail deaths. Local media outlets sometimes only cover a “sham investigation” conducted by local officials investigating themselves before moving on.

“This is not a tin-foil hat conspiracy; it happens all the time,” Heipt said. “The jail or the county investigates itself, inmates aren’t interviewed, medical records are not reviewed, video recordings are lost or destroyed, and medical examiners who are in charge of determining the cause of death are not given complete information, and so the cause of death is either undetermined, wrong, or doesn’t tell the whole picture.

“The American public has no idea what’s taking place, and because of the lack of public awareness, there’s a corresponding lack of public outrage,” he added. “So politicians on the local and national level have ignored it. Consequently, jails are understaffed and underfunded, money is saved by denying medications and medical care. Funding issues also lead to inexperienced and unqualified corrections officers being hired, as well as a lack of training.”

Sabbie was “cold to the touch” when guards eventually entered his cell, according to documents. The voicemail of the warden, Robert Page, was full when HuffPost reached out for comment this week. He did not respond to a message left with an employee, nor did an official at LaSalle Corrections’ corporate office in Texas.

In a statement, the Sabbie family said they “cannot conceive of how something like this could happen to an American citizen” like Sabbie.

“He was treated as if his life did not matter,” the family said in a statement issued through their lawyers. “Most of all they want justice and accountability and to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

“I can’t put into words how devastated my children and I are after the loss of Michael,” Sabbie’s wife Teresa said in a statement. “He was my backbone and best friend. My children lost a wonderful father who wanted the best for his family. A piece of our heart is gone, and I pray to God for justice. This was a tragedy that should never have happened.”

The Department of Justice informed Teresa on Aug. 1, 2016, that it would not be prosecuting anyone in connection with her husband’s death.

“After careful consideration, we concluded that the evidence does not establish a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes,” Paige Fitzgerald, acting principal deputy chief of the criminal section of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in the letter. “Please accept or [sic] condolences on your lost [sic].”

[*Anya*]

[Andrea]

A black 17-year-old reported his stolen car using LoJack ... and police reportedly arrested him instead

http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/A-black-17-year-old-reported-his-stolen-car-using-9397893.php

Race-relations between the police and black citizens is a huge topic of conversation in America right now.

Athletes are refusing to stand for the national anthem in protest over police killings of unarmed black men, the presidential candidates were asked about the issue in their debate on Monday. And on Tuesday, police near San Diego fatally shot another unarmed black man within minutes of responding to a mental-health-related call.

With this subject in mind, we bring you this story of what an ordinary black family can face when they need the police.

Take for example this series of tweets from by Tristan Riddell, who is best known for his Nerd Party network podcasts The Senate Floor and Nerd Nuptial. For his day job, he works as a videographer/video editor at Northwestern University.

"One of my favorite students had his car stolen last night. He's a 17 year old black male. Thought it would be a good idea to call the cops.

Groceries in hand he checks his LoJack app first and can see that its moving down the road. Cops arrive and immediately frisk him.

They ask him if he's on drugs. He tries to tell them that he just wants his car back.

He shows them on his phone exactly where his car is. They don't believe him so they put him in the squad car and take him in. They process him and take his fingerprints.

He gets to call his mom and she raises hell. After a long time they let him go."

They then allow him to go get his car and the window is broken in. It was exactly where the app said."

This never would have happened to me because I'm white. He called the cops asking for help and got treated like a criminal.

Just because he's black and could afford a fancy car."

We reached out to the student who has, so far, not responded to our questions. Riddell has not revealed his identity nor said what city and police department where this occurred, except to reveal that it happened in Illinois.

It seems likely it was in or near Chicago because Northwestern is located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston (though we have no evidence that the incident took place there).

[Andrea]

Phoenix Woman Removes Handcuffs And Hangs Herself Inside Police Van, Authorities Say

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/phoenix-woman-suicide-police-van_us_58009c43e4b06e047594281c?

A woman arrested in Phoenix for domestic violence and assaulting a police officer slipped out of her handcuffs and hung herself with a shoelace from a vent in the back of a police van, authorities said on Thursday.

The woman was rushed to hospital unconscious after the officers driving the van tried to revive her, but she was not expected to survive, a Phoenix police statement said.

It did not give her name or race.

The woman was being taken to jail after being arrested early on Wednesday and was the only person in the back of the van, the statement said. An investigation into the incident had begun.

Last year, Sandra Bland, an African-American woman, was found dead with a trash bag around her neck in her cell at a jail in Waller County, Texas, where she was arrested at a traffic stop. Authorities said her death was a suicide.

The case sparked protests and raised questions about whether she was jailed and mistreated because of her race.

A committee this year recommended sweeping changes for Waller County jails, including better mental health screening.

[Andrea]

New York police officer fatally shoots 66-year-old woman

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/us/new-york-police-shoot-women/index.html

A New York City police officer shot and killed a 66-year-old woman while responding to a call at a Bronx apartment, police officials said Wednesday.
Officers went to the Pugsley Avenue apartment around 6 p.m. Tuesday after a neighbor called 911 about an "emotionally disturbed person," Assistant Chief Larry W. Nikunen said.

A sergeant entered the seventh-floor apartment and encountered the woman, who was armed with scissors, but he persuaded her to put them down, Nikunen said.

The woman grabbed a baseball bat and attempted to strike the sergeant, Nikunen said. The officer fired two shots, striking the woman in the torso, he said. She died of her injuries after being taken to Jacobi Medical Center.

The officer was armed with a Taser, but it was not deployed, Nikunen said.
The reason it was not deployed and whether it was necessary for the sergeant to open fire will be a part of the investigation by the New York police's Force Investigation Division, Nikunen said.

The woman was identified as Deborah Danner, said Thomas Antonetti of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. She was a 66-year-old black female who lived alone, Nikunen said.

The officer has not been named, but Nikunen said he is a white male and an eight-year veteran of the police department. Antonetti said the officer is on "modified assignment" that requires he be stripped of his gun and badge pending the investigation.

Nikunen said that the New York police has a history of responding to this apartment for similar disturbances.

"There have been several instances with this individual with similar types of calls," Nikunen said, adding he did not have the details on those earlier incidents.

Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted: "We're determined to get to the bottom of what happened and won't rest until we do."

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. issued a statement calling the shooting "an outrage, especially given the New York Police Department's knowledge of this woman's history and the police officer's possession of a stun gun."

"While I certainly understand the hard work that our police officers undertake to keep the streets of our city safe every single day, I also know what excessive force looks like."

Diaz called on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark to investigate.

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James tweeted, "Police-involved shooting of woman in Bronx is concerning. We need a swift, thorough, transparent (investigation)."

The killing comes after protests in recent years over fatal police shootings of black people in cities such as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Ferguson, Missouri. Protesters have been demanding justice and an end to police brutality.

Eugene O'Donnell, professor of law and police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told CNN that these situations are "all too common and all too predictable."

But the shooting appeared to be legally justified, he said.

O'Donnell said that ideally, mentally unstable individuals should be protected and overseen to make sure they stay on their medications.

He said the New York Police Department has specially trained officers for these types of incidents, but the officers who initially respond usually don't have that training.

"Anyone who says this was a Taser situation doesn't understand what the police do," he said. "A baseball bat can cause death or serious physical injury, and a Taser is not appropriate in a deadly force situation."

[Andrea]

Agawam fires 3 city cops in connection with 'use of force' incident at police HQs

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/10/agawam_fires_3_city_cops_for.html

Mayor Richard A. Cohen has fired three Agawam officers who were suspended in connection with a "use of force" incident at police headquarters.

City officials have yet to release details of the June 19 incident, which involves allegations that the officers assaulted a male suspect who was in their custody. The officers — Sgt. Anthony Grasso, Edward Connor and John Moccio — were terminated on Wednesday, according to Agawam Police Chief Eric P. Gillis.

"The men and women of the Agawam Police Department serve this community with honor and distinction every day, and both Mayor Cohen and I stand firmly beside them," Gillis said. "We will continue to work hard to maintain a level of trust with our citizens, and we fervently hope that this incident will not interfere with those efforts."

The officers were placed on paid administrative leave in September, pending hearings and the outcomes of internal and external investigations. The case is now in the hands of the district attorney's office, which will determine whether to file criminal charges against the officers.

Attorney John Connor, who represents the officers, said in previous comments to the media that he would appeal any disciplinary actions taken against his clients, who "acted properly" in the incident. Connor could not immediately be reached for comment.

Agawam Mayor Richard Cohen said he takes the allegations "very seriously." The incident, which sparked an internal investigation conducted by an outside agency, is now in the hands of District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Legal and law enforcement sources have told The Republican that the officers used excessive force and injured the suspect. The alleged assault was captured by police station cameras, according to officials.

All materials related to the investigation, including audio and video recordings, have been turned over to Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, who will decide whether to prosecute the officers. A spokesman for Gulluni has declined to comment on the probe.

"We fully expect that this matter will continue forward pursuant to law and established provisions within both of the collective bargaining agreements currently in place," Gillis said of the fired officers, all of whom belong to a union.

Agawam hired APD Management, a Tewksbury firm that handles confidential inquiries on behalf of police departments and municipal governments, to conduct an investigation into the matter. APD's findings were among the materials sent to the district attorney's office.

'They acted properly,' says lawyer for Agawam officers accused of excessive force

"We had an opportunity to present evidence, and that evidence is very clear that they acted properly," said John Connor, the attorney representing the Agawam police officers.

[Andrea]

Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy no longer employed after using excessive force during domestic dispute

http://kron4.com/2016/10/20/sonoma-county-sheriffs-deputy-no-longer-employed-after-using-excessive-force-during-domestic-dispute/

A Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who was deemed to have used excessive force during a “non-criminal domestic argument” in Sonoma Valley last month, is no longer employed with the sheriff’s office, a sheriff’s sergeant said Thursday afternoon.

Deputy Scott Thorne, who was hired as a reserve officer in June 2015 and began working full-time in April, used excessive force with his baton and Taser against a husband during the domestic dispute around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 24.

Sgt. Spencer Crum said the sheriff’s office is prohibited from saying if Thorne was fired or voluntarily left the force. The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office and the Santa Rosa Police Department are conducting an independent criminal investigation into Thorne’s use of force, Crum said.

“He had no probable cause for an arrest and used excessive force using his baton and Taser,” Crum said.

“Sheriff’s Administration felt that the actions of the primary deputy (Thorne) were excessive for the circumstances and were in violation of our use of force policy,” Crum said.

The sheriff’s office’s policy specifically states that use of force by deputies must be reasonable and appropriate for every situation, Crum said.

Thorne and deputies Beau Zastrow and Anthony Diehm responded to a domestic dispute call by a neighbor. A woman at the residence opened the front door and the deputies entered the home.

Diehm interviewed the woman and Thorne and Zastrow went to the back of the home where the husband was locked in a bedroom, Crum said.

According to the sheriff’s office’s account of the incident, Thorne forced open the bedroom door when the husband refused to come out. The husband was lying on a bed and Thorne ordered him to stand up but he refused.

The husband pulled away when Thorne grabbed his arm, and Thorne shot the husband with his Taser but it had little effect. The husband sat up and pulled the Taser wires out, and Thorne then struck the man in the leg with his baton.

Zastrow and Thorne tried to restrain the man in bed and Diehm arrived to assist. The man broke free and ran toward the bedroom door. Thorne struck the man several times with his baton and the man fell to the ground where the struggle continued. Diehm shot his Taser to no effect and three deputies were able to handcuff and arrest the man.

The deputies then determined there had been a non-criminal domestic-related argument between the husband and wife. The husband was taken to a hospital for treatment before he was booked in the Sonoma County Jail at 1:12 a.m. Sept. 25 for threatening an officer, resisting and obstructing an officer and battery on an officer. He was released on $10,000 bail at 2:36 a.m.

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office informed the sheriff’s office on Oct. 11 it would not file criminal charges against the husband. The sheriff’s office did an internal review of the incident that included reviewing the video from the deputies’ body-worn cameras, Crum said.

The sheriff’s Administration Office then determined Thorne’s actions violated its excessive force policy, Crum said.

“The Sheriff (Steve Freitas) is deeply concerned over the incident that transpired. We are conducting a thorough investigation of all deputies involved and will take prompt, firm and appropriate actions in this matter.

“We have reached out to the victim in this case and offered our sincere apology. We also want to apologize to our community. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office strives to do our absolute best to provide professional public safety services. This is an isolated incident that we are proactively addressing, and does not reflect the values of the Sheriff’s Office,” Crum said.

Zastrow, who joined the sheriff’s office in September 2013, and Diehm, who started in May 2015, are still on duty. They also are the subject of an internal investigation, Crum said.

“We don’t believe they are a danger to the public,” Crum said.

There were no previous complaints about Thorne before the incident, Crum said.

Sheriff Steve Freitas did not return a call for further comment on the incident late Thursday afternoon.

[*Anya*]

Originally Posted by Andrea

New York police officer fatally shoots 66-year-old woman

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/us/new-york-police-shoot-women/index.html

A New York City police officer shot and killed a 66-year-old woman while responding to a call at a Bronx apartment, police officials said Wednesday.
Officers went to the Pugsley Avenue apartment around 6 p.m. Tuesday after a neighbor called 911 about an "emotionally disturbed person," Assistant Chief Larry W. Nikunen said.

A sergeant entered the seventh-floor apartment and encountered the woman, who was armed with scissors, but he persuaded her to put them down, Nikunen said.

The woman grabbed a baseball bat and attempted to strike the sergeant, Nikunen said. The officer fired two shots, striking the woman in the torso, he said. She died of her injuries after being taken to Jacobi Medical Center.

The officer was armed with a Taser, but it was not deployed, Nikunen said.
The reason it was not deployed and whether it was necessary for the sergeant to open fire will be a part of the investigation by the New York police's Force Investigation Division, Nikunen said.

The woman was identified as Deborah Danner, said Thomas Antonetti of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. She was a 66-year-old black female who lived alone, Nikunen said.

The officer has not been named, but Nikunen said he is a white male and an eight-year veteran of the police department. Antonetti said the officer is on "modified assignment" that requires he be stripped of his gun and badge pending the investigation.

Nikunen said that the New York police has a history of responding to this apartment for similar disturbances.

"There have been several instances with this individual with similar types of calls," Nikunen said, adding he did not have the details on those earlier incidents.

Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted: "We're determined to get to the bottom of what happened and won't rest until we do."

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. issued a statement calling the shooting "an outrage, especially given the New York Police Department's knowledge of this woman's history and the police officer's possession of a stun gun."

"While I certainly understand the hard work that our police officers undertake to keep the streets of our city safe every single day, I also know what excessive force looks like."

Diaz called on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark to investigate.

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James tweeted, "Police-involved shooting of woman in Bronx is concerning. We need a swift, thorough, transparent (investigation)."

The killing comes after protests in recent years over fatal police shootings of black people in cities such as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Ferguson, Missouri. Protesters have been demanding justice and an end to police brutality.

Eugene O'Donnell, professor of law and police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told CNN that these situations are "all too common and all too predictable."

But the shooting appeared to be legally justified, he said.

O'Donnell said that ideally, mentally unstable individuals should be protected and overseen to make sure they stay on their medications.

He said the New York Police Department has specially trained officers for these types of incidents, but the officers who initially respond usually don't have that training.

"Anyone who says this was a Taser situation doesn't understand what the police do," he said. "A baseball bat can cause death or serious physical injury, and a Taser is not appropriate in a deadly force situation."

I am so sure that the 66 year-old woman would have beat the shit out of that younger cop with a baseball bat.

They have specially trained officers to deal with mentally ill people but those aren't the police that respond to a call of an emotionally disturbed individual?

OMFG.

[Andrea]

Police Kill Renee Davis, Pregnant Native Woman

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/police-kill-renee-davis-pregnant-native-woman

Renee Davis was shot and killed by Kings County (Washington) Sheriff’s deputies on Friday (October 21). The 23-year-old Native woman was five months pregnant and struggling with depression. She texted a friend to say that she was “in a bad way,” her foster sister, Danielle Bargala, told the Seattle Times. That person called the police, who went to Davis’ home on Muckleshoot tribal lands. Two of Davis’ three children (ages 2, 3 and 5) were there with her. The oldest child was with a family friend during the shooting.

Officers say that no one answered the door, so they entered the home. “They tried repeatedly to get somebody to come to the door, nobody did. But, they could see the two kids running around inside then house,” King County Sheriff’s Office media relations officer Cindi West told press, per local station KOMO. “The found her in the house and she was armed with a handgun.”

Bargala told the Seattle Times that she doesn’t know if her sister owned a handgun, but that as an avid hunter, she had a hunting rifle. But she does know that her sister was not violent. “It’s really upsetting because it was a wellness check. Obviously, she didn’t come out of it well,” she said.

“My community is confused. We have our own police department in which we know our deputies personally. I never thought this would happen so close to home,” Hunter Vaiese told Heavy.com. “She needed help, but she got bullets. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Davis’ children were not injured in the shooting and are currently living with relatives. The names of the two involved deputies have not yet been released; they are on paid administrative leave.