I remember a time when I was ignorant of police brutality stories. I navigated through life without any concern for the lives of people around me. I didn’t pay attention to politics, and despite my atheism, I didn’t pay attention to religious issues. I certainly didn’t pay attention to the brutal actions shown by police officers across the U.S. In the last few years, that’s changed. Now I read about this stuff very often. I don’t really have to go looking far either. It’s become ubiquitous in American society (and that’s not a good thing). Here are 5 recent examples of police brutality.
#1- Pittsburgh cops Tased man while he was praying for his dead son in ER: lawsuit
A Pittsburgh couple filed a federal civil rights suit accusing police of mistreating them while their son died, WPXI-TV reported on Thursday.
The suit accuses an officer of unlawfully using his Taser against Rev. Earl Baldwin Jr. on June 24, 2012. Baldwin said that at the time, he was in the emergency room of UPMC Mercy Hospital attempting to pray for his stepson, 23-year-old Mileek Grissom. Grissom was shot and killed that day while reportedly trying to break up a fight.
If you follow the link, you’ll be able to watch the video. Do note the race of the Reverend.
****
#2- Family says LA deputy shot 14 year old ‘4 or 5 times in the back’
Louisiana State Police were investigating on Wednesday after a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a 14-year-old boy.
Louisiana State Police Trooper Evan Harrell said that deputies responded at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday to a 911 call alleging that armed individuals were seen running into an abandoned home in Houma’s Village East neighborhood, The Time-Pacayunereported.
The first deputy to enter the home reportedly shot the boy. Harrell said that a weapon was found “in close proximity” to the dead body.
Harrell would not say where or how many times the boy was shot.
“The individual that was fatally wounded, his family, everybody deserves a proper investigation, and that’s what we’re here to do,” Harrell insisted. “And until we get everything nailed down, squared away, we’ll be out here as long as it takes.”
The family of the boy, who was identified him as 14-year-old as Cameron Tillman, said that he was “shot four or five times in the back,” according to WWLTV.
Tillman’s brother, Andre, said that his brother heard a knock at the door of the abandoned home and opened it because he thought it was a joke.
“My little brother thought somebody was just clowning, because somebody is always clowning by the door,” Andre Tillman recalled. “He opened [it] and the man just shot him. He didn’t have nothing in his hand.”
Tillman’s aunt told WWLTV that her nephew would never have been holding a gun.
“He wouldn’t even hold a BB gun,” she said. “That’s the type of kid he was. He wouldn’t hold a BB gun, better yet, a water gun. But to have a real gun and apparently point it at a cop or something? No.”
I’m sure it’s no big deal. They just killed a black kid. This is the United States of White Supremacy, where black lives don’t matter, right?
****
#3- Street Vendors punched, kicked, and beaten by members of the NYPD
On Sunday, at 6:00 PM, dozens of New York City police officers descended on a Brooklyn street fair and within seconds began to punch, kick, hit, wrestle to the ground, handcuff, and otherwise assault vendors and passersby.
Why?
As this video shows, one NYPD officer announced it was 6:00 PM and time for the fair to end. Officers are responsible for clearing the street so traffic can resume.
But vendors, as evidenced in the video, seem to have been given no time at all, and immediately and from out of nowhere, police began the attack on the largely Latino population.
“6 o’clock it’s 6 o’clock,” one police officer announces as the video begins. “You guys know the rules. Simple.”
****
#4- South Carolina State Trooper fired and arrested for shooting man reaching for his ID
The video, taken with a dashboard camera, shows 31-year-old Sean Groubert shooting at 35-year-old Levar Jones multiple times on Sept. 4, hitting him in the hip. At the time, Jones, who was standing outside of his vehicle with his hands up, was reaching inside for his license at Groubert’s request.
Jones then falls out of the frame, but can be heard asking Groubert, “Why did you pull me over?”
“A seatbelt violation, sir,” Groubert replies.
“I just pulled it off right there at the corner to pull in the gas station,” Jones yells in response.
“Well, I got help coming to you, okay?” Groubert tells him.
Groubert was fired on Sept. 19. The footage was released following his arrest on Wednesday. He is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and being held on $75,000 bond.
****
#5- NYPD officers accused of tasering pregnant woman and throwing her to the ground
At about 1:00 AM Saturday morning, Sandra Amezquita was in a Brooklyn restaurant with her family. Police reportedly had the family come outside the restaurant and arrested Amezquita’s 17-year-old son, Jhohan Lemos, for possession of a knife. It’s not known how police knew he had a knife.
That’s when things got ugly.
Amezquita reportedly was upset with how brutally police officers were treating her son. Cops, as evidenced in the video below, threw her to the ground, belly first, into the middle of the street.
The New York Daily News describes 5-foot-4 Amezquita as “clearly pregnant,” and the police as “tackling” her to the ground.
The baby’s father, Ronel Lemos, said he watched in horror as his wife hit the ground belly-first.
“The first thing I thought was they killed my baby and they’re going to kill my wife,” Lemos, 50, told the Daily News on Tuesday.
“I was afraid something happened to my baby. I am still afraid that something is wrong,” she said, referring to the abdominal pain that persists.
Amezquita suffered vaginal bleeding after the incident, and her belly and arm still bear bruises.
She was given a summons for disorderly conduct and her husband was arrested for assaulting a police officer, cops said.
