Page 13 of 20 FirstFirst ... 31112131415 ... LastLast
Results 361 to 390 of 573

Thread: Police Abuse

  1. #361

    DHS agent arrested for firing at car during road rage incident had history of abuse

    At DHS, “Accountability” Is Just Another Word For Looking the Other Way

    A story about the use and abuse of power.

    By Sean Davis
    OCTOBER 7, 2013

    Five years ago, I was driving around Alexandria running errands for my then-fiance (now my wife) when my car was wrecked by a power-hungry federal law enforcement official who threatened to arrest me and nearly pulled a gun on me. That agent, Angel Echevarria, was arrested in Florida late last month after he opened fire on a vehicle that allegedly cut him off. One of the occupants in the vehicle was a two-year-old child.

    This is the story of an out-of-control federal agent, an agency which did nothing to restrain him despite being warned about his recklessly dangerous behavior, and an innocent child who could’ve died as a result of his actions and those of the criminally incompetent federal agency that to this day appears to still employ him.

    On April 11, 2008, I was driving in the far right-hand lane of a four-lane divided road in northern Virginia, when an agent with the Federal Protective Service — an office within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — swerved his patrol car out of his lane and into the driver’s side of my car.

    There was zero doubt as to who was at fault in the accident. The DHS agent clearly swerved out of his lane, which was stacked with cars waiting to turn left, and into my lane without looking. It’s an action we’ve all taken before, but unfortunately this time, the lane into which the officer swerved was occupied. By my car.

    When I got out of my car to check on the other driver and assess the damage to my car, I assumed it would be a routine interaction. He would apologize, we’d exchange information, and we’d both be on our way.

    But that’s not what happened. Instead, I was confronted by Angel Echevarria, an unhinged serial abuser of power who shouted at me, threatened to arrest me, and nearly pulled his gun on me. All for the apparent crime of driving next to him.

    ...
    read more:
    http://thefederalist.com/2013/10/07/...the-other-way/



  2. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  3. #362
    Deputies shoot, kill homeless man wielding wooden stick

    By Ari Bloomekatz
    October 7, 2013, 6:57 a.m.

    Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies shot and killed a homeless man wielding a stick over the weekend, officials said.

    The shooting occurred at about 3:48 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of Venice and La Cienega boulevards in Los Angeles, authorities said.

    Deputies with the Transit Services Bureau came into contact with the man when he "suddenly armed himself with a wooden stick," the Sheriff's Department said in a news release.

    He then "advanced toward the deputies with the wooden stick overhead," prompting them to open fire, the release said.

    Officials said the man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital, where he died.
    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...,5096947.story

  4. #363
    Woman Says She Called 911 for an Ambulance for Her Fiancée, Cops Came and Shot Him Instead
    http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/07/wo...for-an-ambulan

    Also here: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ed-Him-Instead
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  5. #364
    Woman’s Lawsuit Over Aggressive Jailhouse Strip Search Leads to More Women Coming Forward With Complaints
    http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/08/wo...sive-jailhouse
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  6. #365
    Wow, how did I miss this thread.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  7. #366
    Ya but the article is slanted. It doesn't describe how scary that wooden stick looked.





    The man uttered, "Avada Ked...." and THEN was shot dead....The officers safety was as serious risk. Thank Goodness the officers are OK. IT was a close call.


    Quote Originally Posted by jct74 View Post
    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...,5096947.story


    Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies shot and killed a homeless man wielding a stick over the weekend, officials said.

    The shooting occurred at about 3:48 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of Venice and La Cienega boulevards in Los Angeles, authorities said.

    Deputies with the Transit Services Bureau came into contact with the man when he "suddenly armed himself with a wooden stick," the Sheriff's Department said in a news release.

    He then "advanced toward the deputies with the wooden stick overhead," prompting them to open fire, the release said.

    Officials said the man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital, where he died.

  8. #367
    Detectives Kill 80 Year Old Man In His Own Home Because They Smelled Something
    http://www.realfarmacy.com/detective...UwjV4P0mQ7c.99

    Vid at the link

    h/t



    Widow to Sue Over Fatal Shooting of Husband, 80, by Sheriff’s Deputies
    http://ktla.com/2013/10/10/widow-to-...#ixzz2hYAgNzOq
    The wife of an 80-year-old man who was shot dead by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies in a mistaken meth lab raid is planning to sue the county for $50 million, she said.

    On the morning of June 27, detectives raided the couple’s home in unincorporated Littlerock, serving a search warrant granted because the property allegedly smelled of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine, according to sheriff’s department officials.

    There’s a dispute about what exactly happened at the home in the 36600 block of 117th Street East (map), east of Palmdale, but Eugene Mallory ended up dead, shot six times.

    No evidence of a meth operation was ever found, though sheriff’s officials say marijuana was found on the property.

    On Friday, attorney James Bergener plans to announce his filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of Mallory’s widow Tonya Pate against the sheriff’s department and the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, which Pate says released Mallory’s remains to an out-of-state relative. Pate will ask for upwards of $50 million.

    During the June raid, Mallory raised a semi-automatic handgun in response to deputies, who fired on him, the sheriff’s department said at the time. Two guns were recovered at the scene, according to sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

    “Age does not preclude somebody from being aggressive toward deputies,” Whitmore said. “The lesson here is… don’t pull a gun on a deputy.”

    Pate said Mallory, a former engineer with Lockheed Martin, respected law enforcement and would never have used a gun against officers.

    “He would never point a gun at officers,” said Pate, 48. “Every day I stay in that house with that bloody bedroom … where I know he was taken from me for no reason.”

    Mallory did own two guns that were in the house, Pate said. She said his glasses were beside his bed when he was killed, and could not have seen because of poor eyesight.

    “He was shot in his bed before there was any warning given,” Bergener said..
    Read more: http://ktla.com/2013/10/10/widow-to-...#ixzz2hYAvcvUS
    Last edited by Lucille; 10-12-2013 at 04:40 PM.
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  9. #368
    Use of Taser on 8-year-old girl justified, Pierre police say
    http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=45167

    The Pierre police chief is defending an officer’s use of an electroshock weapon against an 8-year-old girl who was threatening to harm herself.

    Parents of the child, who was with a baby sitter at the time, want the officer disciplined for using excessive force.

    Police Chief Bob Grandpre said three officers responded Friday night to a report of a suicidal 8-year-old girl who had stabbed herself in the leg. She was holding a 4 ½-inch knife to her chest when officers arrived and refused to put it down, he said.

    One officer took a step toward the child but stopped when she turned the knife toward him.

    “She immediately put the knife back at her chest,” the chief said.

    That’s when an officer deployed his Taser, with prongs hitting her chest and stomach. Emergency medical personnel soon arrived and checked the child, he said, who was taken to a hospital and placed on a 24-hour hold. The child had no stab wounds on her leg, he said.
    http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-old-girl?lite
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock



  10. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  11. #369
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucille View Post
    Use of Taser on 8-year-old girl justified, Pierre police say
    Was the brave officer okay?

  12. #370
    Too busy, keep the updates coming.

    Need that man shot in Dallas by cops and few others added.

  13. #371
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Too busy, keep the updates coming.

    Need that man shot in Dallas by cops and few others added.
    Dallas Cops Shot a Schizophrenic Man in Rylie, But It Didn't Go Down Quite Like They Said

    http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfa...chizophren.php

    http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/vi...p;VID=25267658

    In initial reports, Dallas police said they had good reason to open fire on Bobby Gerald Bennett. The 52-year-old schizophrenic had been acting erratically, reportedly saying he wanted to be shot by police. When they arrived at his cul-de-sac in the Rylie neighborhood of far southwest Dallas just after noon on Monday and he rushed at them with his "knife raised in an aggressive manner," they had no choice but to oblige.
    The problem for officer Cardan Spencer, who shot Bennett in the stomach, is that the incident was caught on a neighbor's surveillance camera, which was provided to WFAA.
    The footage shows Bennett walking out of his house and pacing around for a few minutes before planting himself in a swivel chair in the middle of the road. He stands up as officers pull up in their squad car, but he makes no move in their direction.
    "When the officers told him freeze, he complied," Maurice Bunch, the neighbor who provided the video, told WFAA. "He did not move an inch, in suspended animation; he just stood there, you know? Bobby was conscious, he knew exactly what he was doing because I had been talking to him prior."
    Bennett's mother, Joyce Jackson, told The Dallas Morning News the she called police in hopes that they could help her son.
    "It's heartbreaking," she told the paper. "It's not right. My son did not do anything to those police officers. This is not right what they did."
    Dallas Police Chief David Brown issued a statement Thursday evening saying the department is in the "very early stages of conducting a thorough investigation of this incident."
    "Once we complete the criminal investigation we will refer our findings to the Dallas County District Attorney's office," he added.
    Spencer is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Bennett was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the stomach and is expected to recover.

    Dallas chief drops charge against Rylie man shot by officer

    http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20131017-video-shows-dallas-officer-shooting-man-standing-with-arms-at-his-side.ece


    Police chief drops case against mentally ill Rylie man

    By TANYA EISERER and TRISTAN HALLMAN
    teiserer@dallasnews.com; thallman@dallasnews.com
    Staff Writers
    Published: 17 October 2013 06:05 PM
    Updated: 18 October 2013 08:04 PM

    Bobby Bennett, 52, was arrested after Dallas police officer Cardan Spencer shot him Oct. 14, 2013. Spencer told investigators that Bennett, who has a criminal history, charged at him and his partner with a knife. A surveillance video shows no such thing.

    Photo: Dallas County Jail



    Joyce Jackson, mother of Bobby Bennett, the Rylie man who was shot by police and is hospitalized, was happy after visiting her son for the first time since he was hospitalized.
    Photo: Sarah Hoffman / Staff Photographer







    The Dallas police chief has ordered an assault charge dropped against a mentally ill Rylie man who was shot by police for no apparent reason outside his home.

    A police report says that Officer Cardan Spencer fired on Bobby Gerald Bennett, 52, after Bennett walked toward him and his partner with a “knife raised in an aggressive manner.”

    But a neighbor’s video surveillance camera recording shows something different: It shows Bennett, who was seated in a chair, initially rolling back from officers as they advance on him. Bennett then stands up but does not move. His hands remain at his side and he is standing still when Spencer shoots him, firing his service weapon four times.

    On Friday afternoon, Police Chief David Brown released a written statement saying that the criminal case against Bennett would be dropped and his mother would be allowed to visit him as he recovers.

    “I have ordered that the Aggravated Assault charges be dropped against Bobby Gerald Bennett immediately," the chief said, "and we will be assisting his mother with visitation at the hospital.”
    Bennett remains in the intensive care unit of a Dallas hospital after being shot in the abdomen.
    His mother, who had called police to help her son, now wishes she had never done so.
    “It’s heartbreaking,” Joyce Jackson said. “It’s not right. My son did not do anything to those police officers. This is not right what they did.”
    In a statement Thursday, Police Chief David Brown said that the department was aware of the surveillance video. He also said that investigators are in the “very early stages of conducting a thorough criminal investigation of this incident” and that once it is completed, their findings would be sent to the Dallas County district attorney’s office.
    It is standard practice for the department to conduct criminal investigations of police shootings.
    Bennett has numerous theft-related convictions. After two decades in and out of state prison, he was paroled in 2002, according to state records.
    Spencer, 29, who joined the force in 2007, has been placed on administrative leave indefinitely. His attorney, Robert Rogers, said his client had a reason to shoot Bennett.
    “The facts and circumstances known to Officer Spencer at the time completely justify his actions,” Rogers said. “Obviously there is much more to this situation than that video.”
    Rogers said he couldn't elaborate further because of the investigation.
    Spencer’s partner, Christopher Watson, has not been placed on administrative leave.
    Toby Shook, a defense lawyer and former high-ranking Dallas County prosecutor, said officers can legally shoot someone who comes at them with a knife. But Shook said the video in this case contradicts the officers’ account that the man came at them.
    “It just didn't happen that way,” he said.
    Sitting outside

    Jackson said the events that led up to Monday’s shooting began when she and her son got into an argument. Bennett went outside and began sitting in the street in the swivel chair.
    Maurice Bunch, a neighbor who knows him well, said he gave Bennett a cigarette and tried to calm him down.
    “I told him if the cops come out there, there’s going to be a problem,” Bunch said. “I told his mother do not call the police.”
    Jackson said she didn't hear Bunch and called 911 for help in dealing with her son, who she said suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
    “They said they would send special-trained officers out,” Jackson said.
    An arrest warrant affidavit listing Spencer as the victim gives this account:
    Spencer and Watson responded to a disturbance call about a man carrying a knife in the 9400 block of Crimnson Court shortly after noon on Monday. The officers said they saw Bennett sitting in a black swivel office chair in the middle of the cul-de-sac with his arms crossed.
    The officers got out of the squad car and ordered him to show his hands. It says Bennett then told them, “You all are gonna need more officers out here,” prompting the officers to pull their weapons.
    The affidavit says Bennett then took “several steps toward them with the knife raised in an aggressive manner.”
    Spencer, “in fear” for his and his partner’s safety, “fired his duty weapon four times,” striking Bennett in the abdomen, the affidavit states.
    Bunch, whose surveillance system captured the confrontation between Bennett and the officers, was standing in his front yard. He said he watched as the uniformed officers drove up and approached Bennett.
    “They asked him, ‘What’s going on?’” Bunch said. “They were coming at him and he just scooted his chair back. He stood up. At that point, they drew their weapons and said, ‘Freeze.’ They may have said ‘Drop the knife.’
    “They just waited for about four or five seconds and they just opened fire on him,” Bunch said, adding that he did not see the knife in Bennett’s hand.
    The video shows that the officers shot Bennett less than 30 seconds after they arrived.
    Bunch also said Bennett never told the officers they would need more police at the scene.
    “That’s a lie,” he said. “They were trying to kill him.”
    ‘This is not right’

    After Bennett fell to the ground, the surveillance video shows Watson kick an object — presumably the knife — away from him. He then handcuffs Bennett.
    Jackson then ran out of her home and approached the officers.
    “I started screaming, ‘What have you done to my son?’” she said. “He never meant any harm to those police.”
    Bullets also slammed into a neighbor’s windows. Police evidence tape now covers the spot where the bullets hit.
    “Had someone been in that home, they could have been shot as well or maybe killed,” Jackson said.
    Jackson said that in the hours after the shooting, she tried to see her son, but armed Dallas police officers would not allow her into his hospital room.
    “They said, ‘You don’t need to be here. You son is under arrest for trying to hurt police officers,’” Jackson said. “I said, ‘What would you do if it was your son?’”
    She said one of the officers then briefly allowed her sit in a chair in the doorway and peer into Bennett’s room.
    She said she’s relieved her son is alive and now she wants justice for him.
    “It’s the officers that need something done to them,” Jackson said. “This is not right. Any way I see this is wrong.”
    WFAA-TV (Channel 8) contributed to this report.

  14. #372
    Police Officer Beats Up Store Clerk "Say Something, I Double Dare You Motherfucker"



    WASHINGTON (WJLA) - Dramatic footage is released of a D.C. police officer assaulting an employee at a store in Northeast D.C. because the employee allegedly made a sarcastic remark at the officer.

    Continue reading

    The officer, Clinton Turner, 42, pleaded guilty to simple assault earlier this week in connection with the 2011 incident.

    Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1. The offence carries a maximum 180 day jail sentence.

    It all took place at the downtown Locker Room store at Minnesota and Benning northeast on January 20, 2011.

    Store clerk Daniel Fox and the officers, who were seated in the store, were friendly at first. Then something happened. Fox became angry, gestured at the officers, walked away and sat down near the register.

    Turner followed him, and according to court documents, said, "don't let us get you locked up on your birthday.”

    Fox replied, “why.”

    “Say something else and will be locked up,” the officer said.

    Fox, sarcastically said "something else."

    Turner grabbed the clerk and started beating him, authorities say and the video shows. Court records say he pulled out clumps of his hair and put him in a choke hold and arrested him for assault.

    The problem for the officer is that when authorities viewed the surveillance video, they charged him with assault. And after the beating, the video shows Officer Turner lecturing Fox.

    "He could have talked to him in a more calm manner. Violence should never have been used in that manner," says D.C. resident, De-An Owen.

    Initially, Turner’s partner was also charged but those charges were later dropped.

    The defense attorney for Turner, James Rudasill, said: "It's very unusual for a police officer to be charged when there's not substantial injuries or injures requiring hospitalization."

    But as U.S. Attorney Ron Machen insisted in an issued statement: "Police officers have a difficult job. When the few cross that line, they will be held accountable. As the judge found in this case, there was no justification for Officer Turner's actions."

    Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/10...#ixzz2iZjwCGs4
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  15. #373

  16. #374
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucille View Post
    Police Officer Beats Up Store Clerk "Say Something, I Double Dare You Motherfucker"
    He still has has job as a cop. On a desk temporally, but still has has job.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...dbc_story.html
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  17. #375
    But as U.S. Attorney Ron Machen insisted in an issued statement: "Police officers have a difficult job. When the few cross that line, they will be held accountable. As the judge found in this case, there was no justification for Officer Turner's actions."

  18. #376
    On Duty Officer Raped Young Woman On Squad Car

    http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2...n-On-Squad-Car

    SAN ANTONIO - Friday morning. On duty. Full Uniform. Marked Squad Car. Officer Jackie Neal, 40, made a traffic stop and then allegedly sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

    Police said the 11-year veteran pulled the victim over on the south side and managed to get her to stand behind his squad car. San Antonio police Chief William McManus described the events that followed as "unthinkable."

    An investigation was opened after the victim contacted police. According to a statement issued by the department, Neal was taken into custody by SAPD Special Victims' Unit detectives after officers pulled him over around 2 a.m. Saturday. He was arrested on a warrant for sexual assault, a second-degree felony.

    "I am angry. I am outraged. It's a punch in the eye to the police department, this kind of conduct," McManus said. "We won't tolerate it for a second. And I think the swiftness of the investigation and the arrest is indicative of that."

    Neal has been placed on administrative leave with pay, in accordance with department protocol. If indicted, the pay would cease. He was released from custody Saturday morning at 7:25 a.m.

    He was suspended in September, according to an agenda for the San Antonio Police and Firefighter Civil Service Commission, but circumstances surrounding that suspension have not been made clear.



  19. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  20. #377
    The actual incident happened a while ago, but is just being reported now.

    Wonder how many were abused in the interim?



    First Anal Probes, Now This. The Drug War Takes Another Horrifying, NSFW Turn In New Mexico.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...f=the-agitator

    By Radley Balko Posted: 11/26/2013 8:20 am EST | Updated: 11/26/2013 9:00 am EST

    From the state that gave us stories of forced anal probes, enemas, and colonoscopies a few weeks ago, we now get this:


    A New Mexico woman claims she suffered for weeks after a Bernalillo County corrections officer strip-searched her and sprayed mace in her vagina.

    “It’s tantamount to torture,” Peter Simonson, the Executive Director of ACLU of New Mexico said in an interview with 4 On Your Side.

    The ACLU, on behalf of Marlene Tapia, filed a federal lawsuit this week two years after the alleged ordeal occurred -- two years after Tapia first contacted the organization.

    Simonson said civil rights cases are complicated to build, but that his staff filed the case within the two-year statute of limitations.

    According to court records, police arrested Tapia for a probation violation tied to a previous drug case. While at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Tapia said two officers strip searched her and asked her to bend over at the waist. That’s when they noticed a plastic baggie protruding from Tapia’s vagina.

    Instead of taking Tapia to a doctor to have the baggie removed, she said one of the officers – Blanca Zapater – sprayed a chemical agent directly on her genitals twice.

    Simonson said the chemical agent was mace.




    It's worth noting that these incidents are rarely one-offs. A police culture that could allow this to happen once has likely allowed it to happen on other occasions.

    And so this is where we are with the drug war. Government officials are shoving fingers, tubes, and cameras up rectums, sticking hands into vaginas, and spraying mace on genitals, all to protect us from ourselves -- to stop us from getting high. Feel safer?

  21. #378
    Thought it would be interesting to go through AF's "Police Abuse" thread and see what results may have come about regarding the individual cases.

    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...t=police+abuse

    Post #2: Delma Towers. 83 yr. old woman shot by police.

    Follow-up: Prosecutor: Officer justified in shooting of 83-year-old Altavista woman

    http://www.newsadvance.com/news/loca...9bb30f31a.html

    Post #3: The shooting death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

    Follow-up: After a deadlocked jury Officer Joseph Weekly will have a retrial set for Dec. 4th.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3954812.html

    Post #5: The beating of Alex Landau.

    Follow-up: Officers Devine and Nixon were fired, reinstated then fired once again. Nixon has filed a lawsuit against the city for violation of his civil rights.

    http://blogs.westword.com/latestword...ion_letter.php

    Post #7: The shooting of Aaron Campbell.

    Follow-up: Officer Ron Frashour was fired then reinstated. The reinstatement with back pay made him the fourth highest payed city employee at $211,000.

    http://www.portlandmercury.com/Blogt...r-ron-frashour

    Post #9: The torture death of Nick Christie.

    Follow-up: Settlement for family. All officers cleared of wrongdoing.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2696234.html

    Post #11: The wounding of Daniel Noriega.

    Follow-up: No charges against the ICE agent Justin Wiessner were filed.

    http://www.ocregister.com/news/ice-3...-shooting.html

    Post #12: The Abner Louima Torture Case

    Follow-up: Police Officer Justin Volpe sentensed to 30 years.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima#Aftermath

    Post #16: The death of Derek Williams while in police custody.

    Follow-up: No officers were disciplined as a result of this case.

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwauk...213539381.html

    Post #32; Anthony Anderson death by blunt force trauma. Ruled homicide by medical examiner.

    Follow-up: Officers Won’t Be Charged For Blunt Force Trauma Death Of Baltimore Man In Police Custody

    http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/0...olice-custody/

    Post#37: The shooting death of unarmed Noel Polanco.

    Follow-up: Queens grand jury does not indict NYPD Det. Hassan Hamdy in shooting of Noel Polanco.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...#ixzz2m2yEPhrM

    Post#42: The shooting death of student Gilbert Thomas Collar.

    Follow-up: University of South Alabama cop cleared in shooting

    http://blog.al.com/live/2013/03/univ...bama_co_3.html

    Post #43: The shooting of autistic Michael Camberdella

    Follow-up: Deputy cleared in fatal shooting

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/201...el-camberdella


    Well, that's it for today. Too damn depressing.

  22. #379
    High School Student Tasered in School by Cop Is in a Coma, Mother Says
    Injured boy had stepped in to stop a fight.

    November 27, 2013 |

    A high school student suffered a brain injury and is in a coma after a Texas sheriff's deputy Tasered him without cause in a school hallway, the boy's mother claims in court.
    Maria Acosta sued Bastrop County, its school district and Randy McMillan, a Bastrop County sheriff's officer who works as a school resource officer.

    Acosta's son suffered "a severe brain hemorrhage" when McMillan Tasered him after the boy had successfully intervened to stop two girls fighting at Cedar Creek High School a week ago, the mother claims in her federal lawsuit.

    Acosta's son, N.N., "stepped in to break up the fight" on Nov. 20, to stop it from escalating before police could arrive, the mother says.

    School officials called McMillan and another security officer to break up the fight.

    Acosta claims that her son had "diffused the situation" by the time the officers arrived.

    McMillan told him to step back, and he did so, with his hands in the air, but McMillan Tasered him anyway, the mother says.

    Her son struck his head on the floor as he fell, and McMillan then put the unconscious boy in handcuffs. Acosta claims school officials "delayed in calling for medical assistance even though N.N. was in an obvious emergency medical situations."

    The lawsuit continues: "Eventually, school officials called for EMS and N.N. was airlifted to St. David's Medical Center, where he immediately underwent surgery to repair a severe brain hemorrhage and was placed in a medically induced coma.

    "N.N. remains in a coma, and has not been able to communicate with his family since his hospitalization."

    The mother claims McMillan never was in danger, and that the defendants let him work at the school even after he Tasered another student a year ago. That created a "foreseeable danger" that led to her son's injuries, she claims.

    She seeks medical expenses and damages for excessive force, failure to train and discipline and civil rights and education code violations.

    The family is represented by Adam Loewy.

    http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-pol...ma-mother-says

  23. #380
    Register Investigation: Woman receives 4 Taser stuns in 8 minutes
    Law enforcement, mental health experts take different sides over use of Taser on woman held in Muscatine County Jail


    MUSCATINE, IA. — A woman with a complex genetic mental disorder was shocked with a Taser four times last month by a sergeant from the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Department in an effort to get her to change her clothing.

    Was use of the Taser appropriate on a 58-year-old woman who was handcuffed or in leg shackles when she received two of the 50,000-volt jolts?

    The Muscatine County attorney says no laws were broken. The sheriff has concluded all policies were followed, and an Iowa law enforcement consultant says he believes use of the Taser was reasonable.

    But a federally funded mental health advocacy group whose Iowa senior staff and legal team viewed the video called the incident alarming and has launched an investigation. The Iowa ombudsman’s office is also reviewing the incident.

    Five videos and 20 pages of sheriff’s department reports related to the Oct. 7 incident were obtained by The Des Moines Register under Iowa’s open-records law. Both the law enforcement consultant and three mental health advocates from Disability Rights Iowa agree that the incident, when seen in its entirety on video, is traumatic.

    Tasers and other stun guns have been used by some Iowa law enforcement agencies for decades, and they are promoted as a less-than-lethal tool for officers. But the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is currently investigating two cases in which suspects died shortly after being Taser shocked by municipal or county law enforcement officials.

    According to the videos, the incident at the Muscatine County Jail begins when at least five staff members enter a cell to transport the woman, Marie Franks, to another cell to change her clothes. Franks responds by screaming profanities at jail staff and swinging her arms in a circular motion, apparently as a way to keep workers away from her.

    Within 40 seconds of entering the cell, Sgt. John Crump delivers a seven-second Taser shock to Franks. Crump’s report of the incident later would state that Franks struck him three times in his chest with her swings. The jailhouse videos do not provide a clear view to verify that.

    Franks ignores orders throughout the incident, first by failing to put her hands up to be handcuffed, which jail officials said was necessary so she could be transported to another cell to change. She also swears at jailers at least six times before the first instance in which she is shocked with a Taser. The initial shock is followed within seconds by another, the video and county records show.

    Franks — who while in custody was off her medications to treat a bipolar disorder — curses and screams throughout most of the 25-minute incident. At one point, she clenches a Taser with her hands, even though they are in handcuffs.

    Franks also launches into a long string of profanities and nonsensical rants. Disability advocates who viewed the video described the behavior as catatonic, a term referring to a stupor of inappropriate and bizarre behavior by people with mental disabilities.

    Within the next four minutes, Crump tases Franks two more times, for an additional 11 seconds. As she screams, Franks challenges officers to tase her again.

    All in all, jail staff shocked Franks with a Taser four times in eight minutes.

    Blood from cuts caused by the handcuffs is evident in the video. A visibly shaken nurse wipes her eyes during one of the most harrowing moments. Franks also winds up with marks on her stomach from the tasings, according to jail staff reports afterward.

    The video shows several jail staffers gathered around a desk after the incident, and one unidentified employee tells the others: “Good job, everybody. I tell you what, that is one psychotic woman.”

    Muscatine County Sheriff Dave White did not return multiple telephone calls and emails seeking comment over the last month. Capt. Dean Naylor — the jail administrator who directed staff to change Franks’ clothing, according to a written report — declined to comment.

    The department’s use-of-force policy states that a staff member should use force only when it is reasonably necessary to bring an incident under control.

    Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren told the Register that White has determined no policies had been broken during the incident and that no staff members were disciplined.

    Ostergren said Franks’ clothing change was necessary because of an Oct. 4 incident in which she allegedly assaulted a female officer by grabbing her throat and striking her in the face. Charges for that incident were filed Oct. 7, the same day Franks was tasered.

    The clothing change on Oct. 7 — almost 80 hours after the Oct. 4 incident — was required because jailers were concerned that Franks potentially was wearing items that she could use to hurt herself or others, Ostergren said.

    “It’s unfortunate she was tased, but it would also have been unfortunate if she had killed herself with something she had in her possession,” Ostergren said.

    “We’re not in the business of applying pain to people just to do it. We’re in the business of trying to safeguard the inmates from themselves.”

    Franks was initially brought to jail on simple misdemeanor charges of emergency communication obstruction after she allegedly dialed 911 four times on Sept. 4 and refused to communicate with the dispatcher. Other than minor traffic violations, she had no previous criminal record.

    Experts disagree about actions of jail staffers
    The Register asked officials from Disability Rights Iowa, a federally funded protection and advocacy agency for Iowans with disabilities and mental illness, and police management consultant William Moulder, a former Des Moines police chief, to review video of the incident.

    The mental health advocates who viewed the video say it reveals how law enforcement sometimes improperly handles inmates with mental health disorders.

    Don Gilbert, a board member of the Iowa Mental Health Counselors Association, said he understands after watching Franks’ actions why the Taser may have been used. However, he maintained that Muscatine officials could have avoided the incident.

    A better way of dealing with the situation, he said, would have involved placing her in a submissive hold, which is essentially when medical professionals place their arms around a patient. The hold would have given a doctor a chance to provide a sedative to defuse Franks’ frustration and confusion — and to avoid use of the Taser, Gilbert said.

    Gilbert also noted that voice commands and tones used to direct patients with bipolar disorders can greatly affect their behavior. While a few of the Muscatine jail’s female employees in the video footage correctly used soft voices and reassuring words while speaking with Franks, Gilbert said some of the yelling by jailers likely escalated Franks’ resistance.

    Gilbert also questioned why a medical doctor or psychologist wasn’t present. He believes such a professional would have advised jailers that they must use different tactics for a person with a mental disability versus someone who is part of the general jail population.

    “There was no need to taser her, at least not in my estimation,” Gilbert said. “Tasering somebody who is bipolar or schizophrenic once, much less four times in a short period of time, is unnecessary. Wow.”

    But Moulder, who was Des Moines’ police chief from 1984 to 2003, concluded after viewing the incident that the Taser shocks were reasonable considering the situation.

    Moulder noted that the first shocks quieted Franks for a few minutes, which enabled jailers to transport her to another area and begin the process of changing her clothes.

    He also said the third and fourth tases she received — while handcuffedor in leg restraints — were appropriate because of Franks’ continued resistance. Moulder noted that the metal handcuffs Franks was wearing could have caused jailers harm if she had not been contained.

    One jailer’s report said the Taser shocks didn’t work. But Moulder said the last two tasings may still have accomplished some level of compliance that is difficult to see on the video.

    Disability Rights Iowa has launched its own investigation into what happened to Franks after learning about the incident from the Register.

    Jane Hudson, Disability Rights Iowa’s director, said she was alarmed by the video. She said she doubted other officers in similar circumstances would consider it reasonable to use a Taser on a manic depressive woman — known to be off her medications — simply to change her clothing.

    “Tasers should be used only in emergency circumstances when an individual poses an imminent threat of serious physical harm to herself or others,” Hudson said.

    The Muscatine sheriff’s Taser policy related to the jail states that Tasers may be deployed to control dangerous or violent inmates when deadly force does not appear to be justified or when other attempts to subdue the person through conventional tactics have been or would likely be ineffective. The policy also says a Taser can be used when there is a reasonable expectation that it would be unsafe for the officer to approach within contact range of the inmate.

    The policy quotes Iowa’s law defining “reasonable force,” which states that law enforcement officers should use no more force than what a reasonable officer in a similar situation would deem necessary.

    Hudson said Franks appeared to be in a state of excited delirium, which studies show can affect the heart and cause fatalities after being tasered.

    Moulder disagreed with that assessment. He said the jail’s decision to take Franks to an emergency room following the incident was a wise precaution that shows care and consideration were given to the inmate’s health.

    “Yes, this video is hard to watch. You don’t like to see that kind of involvement,” Moulder said. “But in this case, it appears she wasn’t injured.”

    Iowa Ombudsman Ruth Cooperrider told the Register that her office is also reviewing the case, but cautioned that coming to a conclusion may not be a simple task.

    “This could be a case where people are viewing this differently, and you’ve got to ask what is forming the basis of their conclusions,” Cooperrider said. “It’s why we’re taking a hard look at this.”

    Video, reports leave unanswered questions
    While the videos of Franks being tasered clearly show or explain much of the incident, in other places the videos leave unanswered questions that Muscatine County officials have declined to address.

    Among them:

    • Ineffective tases? The video shows Franks flinching, presumably in pain from the Taser shocks, yet she continues to scream profanities and even mocks the jail staff to “do it again” at some points during the incident.

    Jail employee Tanya Bishop wrote in a report after the event: “The 3 times this inmate was (drive-tasered), she did not seem to be affected by it.”

    If not, why did the tasing continue? Reports don’t address that question, and jail officials declined to be interviewed.

    • Under control? Franks’ fourth and final tase comes when Crump instructs her to stop resisting. The tase, which lasts three seconds, goes off after at least one jail staffer says — apparently to stop Crump from proceeding — “We’ve got it. We’ve got it.”

    Ostergren, the county attorney, defended that use of the Taser nonetheless. The department’s use-of-force policy states that determining when to use force is a complex, split-second decision.

    “In that situation, one person might say something, and another person might perceive the situation differently that there is a threat,” Ostergren said. “It’s hard to say what people are thinking when you look at a video.”

    • Fears she would die? Crump’s incident report indicates that a doctor contacted by jail staff after the event ordered that Franks immediately be transported to a local hospital.

    Ashley Smith, the jail’s nurse at the scene, feared the tasing could lead to Franks’ death, according to Crump’s report.

    Jail reports do not make note of Franks’ vital signs, and Ostergren said a report from the nurse following the incident does not exist. However, nurse Smith is heard on video describing Franks’ breathing as “wheezing.”

    Moulder, the former Des Moines police chief, also believes the sheriff’s office should be prepared to answer key questions that would likely be asked if the incident ever winds up in court. Among them: Would another course of action have avoided the tases and have been more appropriate?

    “Another one of the questions that would need to be addressed is: ‘Why now?’ ” Moulder said. “She was isolated. She was in a cell. What made them think this was the right time to take actions?”

    The video shows that a jail staff member who is not seen on camera asks a question similar to Moulder’s before staffers enter Franks’ cell: Why did Franks have to be moved to another cell to change her clothes?

    If anyone answered, that wasn’t picked up on the video.

    After providing all public documents and video requested by the Register, the Muscatine county attorney declined to answer more than a dozen questions about the incident.

    “I will point you to the definition of a ‘public record’ under Iowa” law, Ostergren wrote in response to questions from the Register.

    Iowa law “entitles access to public records,” he said. “It does not require public officers or employees to answer interrogatories.”


    http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...nclick_check=1



    and just so ya knows....

    "If you can imagine somebody hitting you in the back of the head 19 times per second for five seconds, that's what it feels like. And boy, do it hurt,"

    Knightstown Police Chief Danny Baker (http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-chie...ry?id=21033634)

  24. #381
    College Student Spends 4 Days In Jail After Being Mistakenly Arrested


    HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. (WJZ) — An 18-year-old college student says he is traumatized after Havre de Grace Police mistakenly throw him in jail. They claim he was wanted on a federal warrant.

    As the U.S. Marshal’s Office found out, they had the wrong guy.

    Rochelle Ritchie explains how the mix-up happened.

    It’s an unfortunate incident that cost the young man his confidence in the police and almost his freedom.


    Jawon Johnson, 18, is a freshman at West Virginia State University. He even plays on the football team as a wide receiver.

    “I never thought I would be sitting in jail, especially for something I knew for sure I didn’t do,” Johnson said.

    But on Saturday night, he put on a different uniform after he says he was pulled over by a Havre de Grace police officer for making an illegal U-turn. He expected to be handed a ticket, but after an hour he was handcuffed and taken to the Harford County Detention Center on a federal warrant.

    “I told them the picture wasn’t me. They continued and insisted on, in fact, it was me,” said Johnson.


    Jawon, with an “o”, was accused of being another Jawan Johnson involved in a burglary case in D.C. The man wanted by the federal government spells his name with an “a”. It took police four days to realize their mistake. All the while, Johnson sat behind bars innocent.

    “I was in the cell 23 hours a day,” he said.

    Johnson was brought to federal court in Baltimore. His fingerprints were finally ran and his picture was sent to prosecutors in D.C. and, of course, they found he was not the Jawan Johnson they were looking for.

    Jawon’s mother wants disciplinary action taken against the arresting officer.

    “I just felt like he was thrown in shark infested waters,” Juanita Johnson said.

    Havre de Grace Police failed to return our request for an interview, but told our media partner, The Baltimore Sun: “The department honestly thought it had the right person. A comparison of a photo on the warrant and Jawon Johnson’s drivers license seemed to match up.”

    “They could’ve released him not knowing that this was the correct man. Now that you have the wrong man, I have to sit and do time,” Johnson said.

    Johnson does not have a criminal record. He says he wants to be a sports broadcaster once he graduates from college.

    Jawon’s family is seeking legal counsel at this time.
    Last edited by phill4paul; 11-30-2013 at 08:02 AM.

  25. #382
    Students Protest Arrests While Waiting for Bus


    Rochester police arrested three Edison Tech basketball players Wednesday morning on disorderly conduct charges. They were waiting for a school bus downtown to take them to a scrimmage against Aquinas. The teens and say they did nothing wrong.

    In a statement, the Rochester Police Department says the young men were asked to move several times but didn't. This is an area downtown where businesses have complained of loitering and fights. The teens are home tonight after posting $200.00 bail. Their mothers want the charges dropped.

    Raliek Redd, 16, a sophomore at Edison Tech and two of his teammates say they were waiting for a school bus this morning on a corner downtown. There were 16 players waiting on the corner for the bus scheduled by their coach. That's when a Rochester police officer told them they were loitering.

    "The cop just came over there. He told us to move. Then we was walking away and he turned, we turned around and he arrested all of us," said Raliek Redd, Rochester.

    Redd, Deaquon Carelock, 16, and senior Wan'tauhjs Weathers, 17 are charged with disorderly conduct. They were arrested and booked.

    "I feel it's unfair. Like, we weren't doing nothing. We're just regular kids trying to get to our game. Like we not doing nothing wrong, we're not harrassing nobody. We're not causing no trouble, no nothing," said Wan'tauhjs.

    Raliek's mother, Crystal Chapman, says their coach watched it all. When he tried to intervene, the coach says he was threatened with arrest. Coach Jabob Scott verifies the players' account. Chapman will fight the charges until they're dismissed.

    "I'm really upset and I don't plan to let it go. At all. Because, these boys wasn't doing anything," said Crystal Chapman.

    Wan'tauhjs's mom is angry too.

    "I think he seen a group of young black men and kind of stereotyped them for loitering, looking for trouble. He didn't take the time to speak to nobody of authority to see if they were actually telling the truth or if that what was going on," said Tynicia Weathers.

    Rochester School Superintendent Bolgen Vargas reached out to the parents. He says he's looking into the matter.

    The Rochester Police Department says the boys were told to move because they were blocking an entrance to the business and traffic on the sidewalk.

    Their coach tells me they're good kids. A judge will decide what happens. All three are due in court Friday.
    Last edited by phill4paul; 11-30-2013 at 08:03 AM.

  26. #383
    Annie Dookhan pleads guilty in drug lab scandal

    Annie Dookhan, the drug analyst who tampered with evidence and jeopardized tens of thousands of criminal convictions, was sentenced Friday to three to five years in state prison, closing a sorrowful chapter for the woman at the center of a scandal that continues to plague the state’s criminal justice system.

    The 36-year-old mother of a disabled child, whose marriage fell apart in the months after the scandal, softly pleaded guilty to 27 counts of misleading investigators, filing false reports, and tampering with evidence. She must also serve two years of probation and undergo mental health counseling, if needed.

    After the sentence was handed down, Dookhan struggled to hold back tears as she whispered with her lawyer before being led away in handcuffs by court officers. Two family members, believed to be her parents, watched from the courtroom gallery.

    Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office prosecuted the case, said in an interview later that the conviction of Dookhan was only one part of an ongoing investigation into the quality of drug testing at the Hinton drug lab, but she said it was needed to bring some accountability for her crimes.

    Related
    Coverage: State drug lab scandal
    2/3: Dookhan pursued renown on a path of lies

    A tear ran down Annie Dookhan’s cheek during the court hearing.
    DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

    A tear ran down Annie Dookhan’s cheek during the court hearing.

    “Certainly one of the victims in this case, and the actions of Annie Dookhan, is the public trust,” Coakley said.

    Dookhan’s lawyer, Nicolas A. Gordon, would not comment after Friday’s hearing. He had asked Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol S. Ball to sentence Dookhan to no more than a year in prison.

    Dookhan admitted to filing false test results and mixing drug samples, and to later lying under oath about her job qualifications, but she said it was only to boost her work performance.

    Prosecutors had asked that Dookhan serve 5 to 7 years in prison, but Ball kept to her earlier decision that she would sentence the chemist to 3 to 5 years, finding that, while Dookhan was a “broken person who has been undone by her own ambition,” the consequences of her crimes were still “nothing short of catastrophic.”

    State Representative Bradley H. Jones Jr., the House Republican leader, expressed disappointment with the sentence.

    “You walk away feeling this is really inadequate to what has happened, and the ramifications that it has had, and is going to have, on the criminal justice system,” Jones said. “Three to five years is not adequate.”

    Developments in the scandal went beyond Dookhan’s plea and sentencing. The Globe learned Friday night that State Police have fired a drug analyst who worked with Dookhan at the lab when it was run by the Department of Public Health. The former analyst, Kate A. Corbett, was fired for allegedly falsely claiming in court testimony that she had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, according to a source familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly.

    David Procopio, a spokesman for the State Police, would only say that the analyst — he did not identify Corbett by name — was fired after State Police took over the lab and began reviewing employees. He said investigators found discrepancies in what she stated about her academic record, and the discrepancies have been referred to prosecutors and defense attorneys already involved in the Dookhan scandal.

    Dookhan was led away by a court officer on Friday after the hearing in Suffolk Superior Court.
    DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

    Dookhan was led away by a court officer on Friday after the hearing in Suffolk Superior Court.

    By all accounts, the scandal at the Hinton laboratory in Jamaica Plain is the worst to hit the state’s criminal justice system in recent memory, and is still deepening. Officials have determined that Dookhan was involved in more than 40,000 cases at the lab from 2003-2012, possibly tainting the integrity of the evidence in those cases.

    Defendants have asked that their convictions be tossed, or that they be released from prison as they seek new trials. Public safety officials feared their release would create a crime wave. So far, the state has spent $8.5 million reviewing the drug cases and holding special hearings for defendants, and officials have budgeted an additional $8.6 million, expecting the costs to increase.

    As of Nov. 5, according to the state Trial Court, 950 people have been given special Superior Court hearings in eight counties, from Worcester east. Overall, through Nov. 5, the courts have held 2,922 hearings — in addition to their regular caseload — for defendants asking that their cases be dismissed or that they be released from jail.

    By August, a year after the extent of Dookhan’s crimes were first discovered, a Globe review of court records showed that more than 600 defendants had convictions against them erased or temporarily set aside, or they have been released on bail pending new trials.

    Of those, at least 83 defendants — about 13 percent of the total — had been arrested and charged with other crimes.

    In one case, a Brockton man released from prison last fall because Dookhan was involved in his case was arrested for allegedly killing a man in a drug dispute in May.

    Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said that the lab scandal has burdened district attorneys and the courts. At times, the courts have had to release prisoners or grant them new trials “in the interests of fair justice,” he said.

    “It’s something that we’re going to be trying to correct for quite a period of time,” O’Keefe said.

    But he and defense lawyers also agreed that the woes will not end with Dookhan’s sentence.

    Defense lawyers have called on the state Trial Court to set up an independent special court system to review evidence that was handled not only by Dookhan, but by anyone from the Hinton laboratory. The lab, which was closed by State Police in 2012, handled more than 190,000 cases since the early 1990s.

    The state Office of Inspector General is also conducting an independent probe to determine whether the laboratory followed its own policies and whether those policies met national standards, said Jack Meyers, a spokesman.

    “The chapter in Annie Dookhan’s life is over, but the story goes on for the thousands of individuals who have been affected by her conduct, by the conditions of the lab, and by the effect that it has had on the criminal justice system as a whole,” said Anthony J. Benedetti, chief counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which represents poor clients, and represented the majority of the Dookhan-related defendants.

  27. #384
    No charges? No surprise. Another one walks away.



    No Charges Against Chicago Cop who Drank Several Beers Before Shooting Unarmed Man in Back

    Cook County prosecutors spent two years conducting an “exhaustive” investigation on a Chicago police officer who drank several before beers before shooting a man to death after the man pointed a cell phone at him.

    Yet not once during those two years did prosecutors speak to officer Gildardo Sierra, who had shot two other men in the six months prior to the 2011 shooting, including one fatally.

    The shooting, which was caught on a dash cam video, was enough for Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to acknowledge that allowing Sierra back on the streets after the first two incidents was a mistake.

    And the video as well as the fact that Sierra had been drinking was enough for the city to settle with Flint Farmer’s family for $4.1 million last year.

    None of that mattered to Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez – who has relentlessly prosecuted citizens who record police in public while continuously defending police misconduct.

    All that mattered was that Sierra claimed he was “in fear for his life” when Farmer pointed a cell phone at him, prompting him to shoot 16 times, seven bullets striking Farmer.

    But it was the last three bullets, the ones that Sierra fired into Farmers’ back while standing over him, that killed him, according to an autopsy report.

    And those are the ones that were caught on the dash cam video as another officer pulled up to the scene, which you can see above, noted by the fire flashes from the muzzle.

    (video at link)

    Sierra, who admitted to drinking “multiple beers” prior to the shooting – after first denying that he had been drinking – was not giving a breathalyzer until five hours after the shooting, which we can assume was a deliberate attempt by investigators to allow him to sober up.

    Prosecutors determined his admittance to drinking had no influence in his judgement that night, but they were sure to point out to reporters that Farmer’s blood-alcohol content was .142, nearly twice the legal limit.

    And although they were unable to find the time to interview Sierra, they went out of their way to sit down with reporters to justify their questionable decision.

    According to the Chicago Tribune:

    Four officials from Alvarez’s staff sat down with reporters for three hours to explain the investigation and make a video presentation. They were: chief of staff Dan Kirk; Jack Blakey, chief of the office’s special prosecutions bureau; spokeswoman Sally Daly; and Assistant State’s Attorney Nick Trutenko, who conducted the bulk of the investigation. The Tribune ran a front-page story in 2011 raising questions about the shootings by Sierra.

    The prosecutors said although the videotape of the shooting was damning, showing muzzle flashes and suggesting Sierra stood over Farmer as he shot him in the back, the continued investigation yielded forensic and other evidence that led the prosecutors to conclude that the incident was more complex.

    “The video is actually somewhat maddening,” Trutenko said. “It’s why we run out every ground ball.”

    Prosecutors said that by slowing down the video and syncing it with 911 audio and other information, they were able to draw a better picture of what happened — a picture that corroborated Sierra’s statements to officers that he feared for his life. The prosecutors did not interview Sierra and would not say if they even sought to question him.

    Prosecutors pointed to several key pieces of evidence in deciding against charging the officer. One was a wound to Farmer’s right hand that suggested he was pointing his arm at Sierra when he was shot. Prosecutors believe that was one of the first shots, if not the first, to hit him. In addition, DNA tests showed that blood on Farmer’s phone was his, suggesting he was holding the phone when shot. The other shots followed, with the last three hitting Farmer in the back.

    The FBI is supposedly investigating the shooting, but the Tribune was unable to determine the status on that investigation.

    Last year, after having prosecuted several citizens for recording police under a controversial wiretapping law that has since been ruled unconstitutional, Alvarez embarrassed herself on 60 Minutes where she blindly defended police officers who coerced confessions out of suspects, leading the news show to refer to the city as the “False Confession Capital” of the United States.

    You can view that infuriating segment below where several men talk about how they were forced to sign false confessions, only to spend decades in prison.

    Alvarez embarrasses herself by refusing to admit these men are innocent despite DNA evidence that indicates otherwise.

    http://photographyisnotacrime.com/20...rmed-man-back/



  28. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  29. #385
    BREAKING: ANOTHER GOVERNMENT CHEMIST ACCUSED OF DECEPTION, OVER 180,000 CASES NOW NEED REVIEW

    BOSTON — The Annie Dookhan deception continues to unfold. Dookhan was a government chemist who tampered with thousands of cases, creating fake “evidence” that caused the imprisonment of countless innocent Americans.

    These innocent men and women were rounded up and locked in prison cages while prosecutors scored successful “convictions” because of Dookhan’s fake evidence.

    Many lost their marriages, lost their children, and lost their careers. Many immigrants were also deported, losing the lives they had built when they traveled to the US.

    Dookhan recently pleaded guilty to all counts brought against her.

    However, many have been questioning the State’s official story that one rogue chemist was responsible for all the catastrophic injustice.

    Indeed we now have reports that a second “chemist” has been fired over doubts concerning her qualifications.

    Kate Corbett, who worked in the same lab as Dookhan, claimed that she had a “chemistry degree” from Merrimack College.

    That turns out to be a lie, as investigators determined that she took some chemistry classes in college but her degree is actually in sociology, according to a report.

    Which is to say, a sociology major may well have worked in a lab that required high-level expertise in chemistry, a lab whose “evidence” determined the fate of thousands of human beings.

    Corbett also may have testified as a chemistry “expert” in dozens of court cases leading to the conviction of Americans, which could add to the devastation that Dookhan has already caused.

    Defense attorneys argue that there are now more than 180,000 cases that need to be reviewed, cases connected to the work done by alleged chemists at the Hinton lab.

    Meanwhile several questions remain unanswered.

    Did Corbett also tamper with evidence alongside Dookhan? Are we really to believe that Dookhan’s forgeries continued for almost a decade without anybody else participating?

    A writer to the Boston Globe asks, “Where were Dookhan’s supervisors and those responsible for checking and approving her work? Why were no red flags raised at the speed with which Dookhan completed tests and submitted reports?”


    Corbett has not yet been accused of tampering with evidence.

    Jonathan W. Blodgett, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, found out about the problems with Corbett last week.

    He and other defense attorneys are now reviewing the cases she worked on to see whether she, like Dookhan, created any fake evidence.


    http://filmingcops.com/breaking-anot...w-need-review/

  30. #386
    This is an in-depth article. I would advise going to the link as the story is interactive.

    Sheriff's Department hired officers with histories of misconduct
    Despite background investigations that revealed wrongdoing, incompetence, or poor performance, the department still hired dozens of problem applicants in 2010, internal records show.

    The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department hired dozens of officers even though background investigators found they had committed serious misconduct on or off duty, sheriff's files show.

    The department made the hires in 2010 after taking over patrols of parks and government buildings from a little-known L.A. County police force. Officers from that agency were given first shot at new jobs with the Sheriff's Department. Investigators gave them lie detector tests and delved into their employment records and personal lives.

    The Times reviewed the officers' internal hiring files, which also contained recorded interviews of the applicants by sheriff's investigators.

    Ultimately, about 280 county officers were given jobs, including applicants who had accidentally fired their weapons, had sex at work and solicited prostitutes, the records show.

    For nearly 100 hires, investigators discovered evidence of dishonesty, such as making untrue statements or falsifying police records. At least 15 were caught cheating on the department's own polygraph exams.

    Twenty-nine of those given jobs had previously had been fired or pressured to resign from other law enforcement agencies over concerns about misconduct or workplace performance problems. Nearly 200 had been rejected from other agencies because of past misdeeds, failed entrance exams or other issues.

    Several of those with past misconduct have been accused of wrongdoing since joining the department, including one deputy who was terminated after firing his service weapon during a dispute outside a fast-food restaurant.

    David McDonald was hired despite admitting to sheriff's investigators he had a relationship with a 14-year-old girl whom he kissed and groped. He was 28 at the time.

    "I was in love," he said in an interview with The Times. "I wasn't being a bad guy."

    McDonald had been fired from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department amid allegations he used excessive force on prisoners. A fellow deputy told a supervisor that he didn't want to work with McDonald because he harassed inmates.

    L.A. County sheriff's officials made him a jail guard, a decision that surprised even McDonald.

    "How can you put me back in the jails when I already had a problem there?" McDonald told the newspaper.

    David F. McDonald
    David F. McDonald
    Age: 53 years old
    Hired rank:
    Jailer
    A fellow deputy asked not to work with McDonald because he said McDonald harassed inmates by calling them names. Asked by a supervisor how he thought inmates should be supervised, McDonald said "Well, like Clint Eastwood, tell them what to do and they either do it or else."

    Since being hired by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, McDonald said he has been disciplined in connection with using physical force on an inmate.

    "They want you to be more touchy-feely," he said of the discipline. "Whenever you're gonna jack up an inmate, you have to call a supervisor first."

    After sheriff's officials learned The Times had access to the records, they launched a criminal investigation to determine who had leaked them. They also said they would review whether some applicants had been improperly hired. The union representing deputies unsuccessfully tried to get a court order blocking publication of information from the files.

    The records provide a rare look into hiring decisions at the nation's largest sheriff's department, an agency dogged in recent years by a string of scandals related to deputy abuse and racially biased policing.

    Interactive: A look inside the hiring files »
    The department's hiring files detail proven and unproven allegations of misconduct based on information from past employers, romantic partners and others. The files also document when applicants were arrested or charged for alleged crimes but not convicted. One new hire had been charged with assault under the color of authority, and another had been arrested for assault with intent to murder and rape.

    The Times, however, focused its analysis on allegations that had been proved in court, sustained in workplace investigations or in cases where the applicants themselves admitted to wrongdoing to sheriff's investigators.

    The Times attempted to contact all of the new hires through visits to their homes, phone calls or by email. More than a third granted interviews or declined to comment. Others received inquiries but did not respond. Some could not be located. Of those who did respond, some disputed the contents in their files. Others characterized past problems as mistakes made many years ago that did not reflect how qualified they are to work in law enforcement today.

    Law enforcement experts said hiring officers with problematic backgrounds undermines the department's integrity.

    I was under the impression that people with backgrounds like that were not being hired.”
    — Edward Rogner, a retired Sheriff's Department commander

    "Cops are held to a higher standard than the average member of society because we've got to be able to trust them," said Edward Rogner, a retired Sheriff's Department commander who was involved in the expansion but not in hiring decisions.

    When told about The Times' findings, Rogner added: "I was under the impression that people with backgrounds like that were not being hired."

    Sheriff Lee Baca declined to comment, but his spokesman said Baca was not aware people with such backgrounds were hired.

    Before he knew of the newspaper's investigation, Baca told Times reporters that people with records of violence or dishonesty have no place in law enforcement. He said applicants who had been fired from other agencies shouldn't be given a second chance, and that he would not hire applicants with histories of illegal sexual conduct.

    "Men that take women and use them as a sexual object are going to always come up against my wrath," he said.

    As a county police officer, Ferdinand Salgado had just gotten off work when he was arrested on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute who was actually an undercover cop at a Yum Yum Donuts parking lot in El Monte. According to authorities, he grinned at her, asked for oral sex and arranged to meet her at a motel.

    Ferdinand C. Salgado
    Ferdinand C. Salgado
    Age: 52 years old
    Hired rank:
    Jailer
    During the sheriff's background investigation, it was determined that he tried to manipulate the results of the polygraph test by controlling his breathing, a common tactic used to manipulate the outcome of the exam. He denied it, but admitted knowing about a memo circulating among his colleagues on cheating techniques.

    Read more »

    He pleaded to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace. During his Sheriff's Department interview, he denied he said anything to the woman.

    "I ain't buying it," an investigator told him after reviewing the police report. "You know you're not telling me the truth."

    Salgado, who was hired as a jail guard and has since left the agency, wasn't the only one with a conviction on his record.

    Records show almost 30 other hires had been convicted of drunk driving, battery or a variety of lower-level crimes. About 50 disclosed to sheriff's background investigators misdeeds such as petty theft, soliciting prostitutes and violence against spouses.

    One hire told investigators of having inappropriate sexual contact with two toddlers as a teenager.

    In another case, Linda Bonner was given a job after revealing that she used her department-issued weapon to shoot at her husband as he ran away from her during an argument. He wasn't hit; he was lucky he was running in a zigzag pattern, she told investigators, because if not the end result "would have been a whole lot different."

    Linda D. Bonner
    Linda D. Bonner
    Age: 63 years old
    Hired rank:
    Jailer
    She told investigators that she got into a fight with her then-husband, who slapped her in the face. She told them that she got her service weapon from her purse and fired it at her husband as he was running away from her.

    Read more »



    An opportunity to expand
    About four years ago, a Los Angeles County police force called the Office of Public Safety was disbanded. Its responsibilities — patrolling county buildings, parks and hospitals — were handed over to the 18,000-person Sheriff's Department in an effort to save money.

    The Sheriff's Department was not required to hire any of the former county officers, officials said.

    The agency ended up hiring about 280. The majority were taken on as sworn deputies, while others were hired as custody assistants in the department's troubled jail system, security guards or for other lower-level positions.

    We had to have grave reasons for not hiring them.”
    — Former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Larry Waldie
    Baca's then second-in-command, Larry Waldie, and a small circle of aides, were responsible for scrutinizing applicants.

    Waldie, now retired, said he personally reviewed many of the applicants' files. He said he was unaware of any hires with histories of significant misconduct.

    Presented with some of The Times' findings, Waldie said: "That information was not brought to me ... I don't recall any of these specifics so don't ask me anymore."

    Waldie then said he and his aides were under "significant pressure" from the county Board of Supervisors and other officials to hire as many county officers as possible.

    "We had to have grave reasons for not hiring them," Waldie said.

    A county spokesman denied Waldie's account, saying the Board of Supervisors "clearly and emphatically" told the Sheriff's Department to only hire applicants who met the agency's hiring standards.

    Internal Sheriff's Department records reviewed by The Times show the union representing the former county officers was also lobbying Waldie to hire specific members, including some who had committed serious misconduct during their careers.

    The department's hiring guidelines give officials wide latitude to employ people with histories of bad behavior, according to records and interviews. The specific rules are confidential to prevent applicants from tailoring their answers to meet the guidelines. A year before the county police hiring process, the Sheriff's Department's civilian monitor criticized officials for their lax hiring guidelines during a previous recruitment drive.

    One taped recording of a background interview suggests the department made special accommodations for the county officers.

    In the recording, a sheriff's investigator tells an applicant who was caught cheating on his polygraph exam that normally that would have meant "goodbye, you're done, there's no second chances." The investigator then told the applicant that he and other suspected cheaters might not be disqualified "as a favor because, you know, it's law enforcement." The applicant was eventually hired.



    New allegations
    It is difficult to assess the performance of the new hires because law enforcement personnel records in California are not available to the public. But interviews and records reviewed by The Times show several officers hired in 2010 have faced new allegations of misconduct.

    Gary Esquibel had been suspended as a county police officer for not stopping a colleague from using excessive force and failing to report the incident. Still, the Sheriff's Department hired him as a sworn deputy. He has since been accused of doing nothing as three inmates beat another inmate bloody, according to court records.

    Gary J. Esquibel
    Gary J. Esquibel
    Age: 46 years old
    Hired rank:
    Deputy Sheriff
    Sheriff's background investigators determined he was using "countermeasures" — tactics aimed at manipulating the results of the test. Esquibel denied it. He was suspended for 20 days in 1996 for failing to stop another officer from using excessive force and for failing to report the force.

    Read more »

    The department is investigating those allegations, which surfaced during a criminal trial of those charged in the beating. Esquibel declined to comment.

    Sheriff's polygraph examiners found that county police Officer Desmond Carter was deceptive when asked about his involvement in domestic disputes. They also determined he tried to manipulate the results of his polygraph exam.

    He lasted three months as a sworn deputy. A motorist who bumped Carter's car in a McDonald's parking lot started to drive off before they were done settling the matter, according to a district attorney's memo. Carter, who was off duty, drew his service weapon and fired several rounds at the man's car, one of which hit the wall of a nearby business.

    Carter said he fired his gun after he was dragged 15 feet by the man's car, but investigators found no evidence that his clothes were damaged or that he was injured, prosecutors wrote. The district attorney did not charge him with a crime, but the Sheriff's Department fired him. Carter did not respond to inquiries from The Times left with his attorney.

    Desmond Carter
    Desmond Carter
    Age: 38 years old
    Hired rank:
    Deputy Sheriff
    Background investigators concluded Carter was using "countermeasures" — tactics aimed at manipulating the results of a polygraph exam when he was asked about incidents of illegal sexual conduct.

    Another officer, Niles Rose, was hired despite being the subject of several unreasonable force allegations.

    Rose had been investigated for misconduct 10 times at the Office of Public Safety since 2001. In three of those cases, the allegations were found by investigators to be true, according to the sheriff's background file. A former supervisor said Rose developed a reputation as being heavy-handed with suspects.

    "If you want smart force used, you make sure he's in the locker room," Marc Gregory, a former county police captain, said in an interview with The Times.

    After the Sheriff's Department hired Rose as a jailer, he faced new allegations of misconduct, according to interviews and a court declaration.

    An inmate accused Rose in the declaration of hurling an inmate uniform at him, causing him to recoil and hit his head against a wall. Rose then allegedly declared the man a "child molester" and threatened to put him in the general population, where sex offenders have been targeted by other prisoners.

    Niles L. Rose
    Niles L. Rose
    Age: 36 years old
    Hired rank:
    Jailer
    Sheriff's background investigators noted that he was the subject of 10 internal affairs investigations from 2001 to 2007. Three were founded. At least six of those inquiries related to allegations of unreasonable force, threats or intimidation.

    Rose declined to discuss the inmate's allegation of abuse, saying it still may be under investigation. He did confirm that he had so many physical confrontations with inmates that jail managers moved him to the time card office, where he would no longer have contact with prisoners.

    He called the move an overreaction.

    "I'm not one to just walk around and beat on people for no reason," Rose said. "I never put my hands on someone or fought with somebody who didn't swing at me first."

    Allegations of misconduct continued after Rose was reassigned to administrative work.

    Sheriff's officials suspect he stole thousands of dollars in overtime funds, according to several law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because the case was ongoing. Rose is now on leave, and a sheriff's spokesman said he's under criminal investigation.

    Contact the reporters | Follow Robert Faturechi (@RobertFaturechi) and Ben Poston (@bposton) on Twitter


    http://graphics.latimes.com/behind-the-badge/

  31. #387
    Cops: "we’re gonna shoot and kill your dogs,ransack your house"
    KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City man says he’s been terrified since an encounter with police on Monday evening. He says officers came to his home in southeast Kansas City looking for people he’d never heard of and when he refused to let them inside, things turned ugly.

    Eric Crinnian, a lawyer, heard a loud banging at his door Monday night, he was instantly alarmed since a neighbor’s house was robbed a few weeks ago, so he grabbed a crow-bar.

    Crinnian said three police officers were outside his house.

    “I open the door a little bit wider and he sees that I have something in my hand, so he pulls his gun, tells me to put down whatever I’ve got and then come out with my hands up, so I do,” Crinnian said.

    They wanted to know where two guys were, and Crinnian later found out police believed they violated parole.

    “I said, ‘I have no idea who you’re talking about I’ve never heard of these people before,’” he said.

    To prove it, he said police asked to search his house, Crinnian refused multiple times. He said they needed a warrant.

    Then he said one police officer started threatening him saying, “If we have to get a warrant, we’re going to come back when you’re not expecting it, we’re going to park in front of your house, where all your neighbors can see, we’re gonna bust in your door with a battering ram, we’re gonna shoot and kill your dogs, who are my family, and then we’re going to ransack your house looking for these people.”

    “If that’s the case and those are the things that were said, I would think those would be inappropriate,” said John Hamilton.

    John Hamilton is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Park University and former police officer. He said having a warrant is always the best way for police to search a home, and while the threats aren’t illegal, they might violate a department policy.

    “I just think it’s a dangerous way to do policing, because it makes it tenuous when you appear in front of the court in a case like that,” Hamilton said.

    Crinnian said he’s never had a problem with police before in his life, and he still has a great amount of respect for the Kansas City, Mo. Police Department. However, he also said he wants the situation investigated, so he filed an Office of Community Complaints Report.

    A spokesman for the Kansas City, Mo. Police Department says he can’t discuss ongoing OCC reports and they are investigated internally.
    http://fox4kc.com/2013/11/27/man-say...kill-his-dogs/

    Inappropriate? It's $#@!ing CRIMINAL! But, hey, props and respect for a bunch of criminal douches.

  32. #388
    Fullerton Police Lawyers: Kelly Thomas Killed Himself

    Day One of the prosecution's case against two Fullerton cops accused of using excessive force in 2011 to kill an unarmed homeless man had an eerie resemblance to another trial that landed Orange County in embarrassing international headlines a decade ago.
    In Corona del Mar, three young men--including the son of a wealthy, corrupt assistant sheriff--got a 16-year-old girl highly intoxicated and, after she'd fallen unconscious, stripped her before videotaping themselves sexual assaulting her vagina and rectum with a Tree Top Apple Juice can, pool cue, Snapple bottle and lit cigarette.

    Defense lawyers put Jane Doe, that victim, on trial and brought in so-called expert witnesses who opined that the girl faked her stupor for the Sony camcorder after asking her assailants to film her in a necrophilia sex scene she could presumably use to enter the Los Angeles porn world.

    Today, inside Judge William R. Froeberg's 10th floor courtroom--just beneath the location of the infamous Haidl Gang Rape trial, acclaimed defense lawyers for ex-officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli offered jurors similarly ludicrous stories.

    Ramos attorney John Barnett, who also served as a losing defense lawyer in the Haidl case, portrayed victim Kelly Thomas as a menacing physical specimen who scared a large group of towering, fully-armed, veteran cops that chased, surrounded, punched, kicked, restrained, clubbed and shot Taser blasts into the homeless man's relatively small frame for five minutes.



    John Barnett, who represented a cop involved in the 1991 police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, tells the jury that Thomas was a dangerous threat that needed to be dealt with aggressively

    In his part of the courtroom theater, Cicinelli defense lawyer Michael Schwartz admitted cops used force on Thomas but, despite him falling silent during the attack and lying in a huge pool of his own blood, he was medically fine when EMT's put him into an ambulance.
    Schwartz also argued that gruesome hospital photographs of Thomas have given the false impression that police were brutal when, he insists, most of the external damage was simply superficial bruising.

    But, like the defense line in the Haidl Gang Rape that the victim asked to be raped to start a porn career, Schwartz is asking jurors to declare that Thomas killed himself and police, his close companions during his final minutes alive, neither contributed to the death nor committed any criminal acts.

    His line--delivered without cracking a smile--was that an "overexerting," 37-year-old Thomas beat himself to death by struggling with concerned, compassionate officers.

    "His heart couldn't take it," said Schwartz.

    He later added, "A tragedy? Yes. A crime? No. Sometimes tragedies happen in this world."



    Before he finished, Schwartz accused District Attorney Tony Rackauckas of personally manufacturing a case by tampering with key witnesses to alter their stories to fit his prosecution theory of police brutality.
    (Both Barnett and Schwartz specialize in representing law enforcement officers accused of committing crimes and are known in Southern California courthouses for their intensity, creativity and steep legal rates.)

    At the beginning of the day, Rackauckas--a former superior court judge and Republican activist who has a lengthy track record of defending cops in suspicious shooting cases over the years--told the jury these warped officers took what should have been a minor encounter with Thomas, who wasn't wanted for any serious crime, and unnecessarily killed him.

    The trial, which has drawn dozens of journalists and members of the public--many of whom are visibly outraged by the defense tactics, resumes tomorrow in Santa Ana and is expected to last several weeks.



    Joseph Wolfe, a third charged Fullerton cop in the Thomas case, will face trial at a later date.
    Protesters stood outside of the courthouse holding handmade signs against police brutality.

    http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazin...l_1.php?page=2
    Last edited by phill4paul; 12-04-2013 at 02:35 PM.

  33. #389
    COPS WHO TASERED 10-YEAR-OLD SPARK OUTRAGE FROM MAYOR AND CITIZENS

    MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (CBS/AP) Police officers are trained to take down suspects twice their size and to be able to keep their cool in any situation - so why did an Indiana cop taser a 94-pound 10-year-old?
    The incident took place Tuesday at a day care center in Martinsville, Ind., about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, when cops were called to a disturbance complaint and found find the boy hitting, kicking and spitting on a caretaker as she held him down on the front porch, according to police reports.

    Another woman, identified as the boy's guardian, also was on the porch, and several small children watched the struggle from the front yard.

    According to the officers' reports Capt. William Jennings and Officer Darren Johnson tried to restrain the boy, but he remained combative and kicked Johnson. Johnson's report says that Jennings then smacked the boy in the mouth, although Jennings' report doesn't mention that.

    The boy then lunged at the caretaker and Johnson used his stun gun for 1 to 2 seconds, according to the report.

    Mayor Phil Deckard said he was "sickened" by the incident and officials in the 12,000-person city wouldn't tolerate unnecessary force by police officers.

    The officers have been suspended with pay pending and investigation by The Morgan County Sheriff's Department, who took over the investigation from the Martinsville Police Department.

    It was the second time police had been called to the day care for an incident involving the boy, who was not identified.

    "I don't think that should have happened. I'm sure they could have detained him some other way," Kenneth Frazier, who lives next door to the day care, told CBS affiliate WISH.

    "They take big grown ups down without tasing them...why a 10-year-old?"

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cops-who...-and-citizens/



    "If you can imagine somebody hitting you in the back of the head 19 times per second for five seconds, that's what it feels like. And boy, do it hurt," Knightstown Police Chief Danny Baker

  34. #390
    Video at the link.

    Texas cops handcuff and take 13-year-old white girl from black guardians
    By David Edwards
    Monday, December 2, 2013 14:56 EST
    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/0...ack-guardians/

    Houston Police have refused to explain why they took a 13-year-old white girl from her two black guardians over the weekend and placed her in the custody of Child Protective Services.

    Landry Thompson’s mother had signed notarized papers giving dance instructor Emmanuel Hurd full guardianship over her during a trip from Oklahoma to Houston for training, according to KHOU.

    Thompson, Hurd and another dance instructor had stopped at a gas station in Houston on Saturday night when they were surrounded by police cars.

    Thompson is a 13-year-old blonde white girl and both dance instructors are young African-American men.

    “We were on the GPS trying to figure out where the hotel was,” Hurd recalled. “They just pulled us out of the car and put our hands behind our backs like we were criminals.”

    “The officer asked me ‘who’s the girl?’ and I said ‘she’s my student,’” Hurd continued. “I told him I had a notarized letter from her parents stating that we have full guardianship over her while we’re here.”

    All three told the police the same story, but the officers apparently weren’t buying it.

    “They still put handcuffs on me and it really scared me,” the 13-year-old said. “And they put me in the back of a cop car and I was terrified.”

    Thompson’s mother, Destiny, was shocked when she found out that her daughter had been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

    “She was with the people I wanted her to be with,” the mother remarked. “She was with people I trusted. And now she was taken away from those people and in a shelter with people I didn’t know.”

    At first officials reportedly demanded that the mother fly to Houston to get her daughter, but 11 hours later, the girl was released back into the custody of Hurd.

    Destiny Thompson insisted that the police owed her and her daughter an apology. However, the department refused to comment for KHOU’s report.

    Watch this video from KHOU, broadcast Dec. 2, 2013.
    Does this story disprove the Houston based rap song, Ridin' Dirty?
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.

Page 13 of 20 FirstFirst ... 31112131415 ... LastLast


Similar Threads

  1. Police Abuse: 95 year old WWII veteran killed after being tased and shot by police
    By beaven in forum Individual Rights Violations: Case Studies
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 08-06-2013, 07:52 AM
  2. Report Police Abuse...
    By donnay in forum U.S. Political News
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-29-2012, 11:39 AM
  3. Police abuse resources
    By tremendoustie in forum U.S. Political News
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 04-25-2010, 02:01 PM
  4. 05/18/09 - CNN - New Recorded Possible Police Abuse
    By Reason in forum Individual Rights Violations: Case Studies
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-20-2009, 02:29 PM
  5. Police Abuse
    By pinkmandy in forum Individual Rights Violations: Case Studies
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-15-2009, 08:40 PM

Select a tag for more discussion on that topic

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •