Police Brutality Link Round Up

Sleeping 7-year-old girl shot in head during no-knock police raid on wrong home

Warning: This is likely to piss you the fuck off.

On the evening of May 16, 2010, the Detroit Police Department’s Special Response Team (SRT) prepared for a surprise raid to arrest a wanted man. A surveillance unit had been monitoring the duplex in which he lived throughout the day and a no-knock raid was scheduled for just after midnight.

Police staged a so-called “safety briefing” shortly before the raid; undoubtedly focusing on their own safety rather than the safety of unknown innocents behind the doors they were about to kick in. Officers were briefed that they’d be entering a “possible dope den,” in which the suspect “might be armed” and might even possess “dangerous dogs.”

Police neglected to account for — or flatly disregarded — the safety of any potential children that might be present. Besides the glaring presence of toys strewn about the lawn and front porch, it is unlikely that investigators could have missed the presence of four young children and multi-generational family in the opposite unit during their surveillance of the duplex.

The raid commenced at roughly 12:40 a.m.  The Special Response Team arrived in its armored vehicle with a warrant to arrest Chauncey Owens, who was known to stay with his fiancée at 4056 Lillibridge Street.

Armed with MP5 submachine guns, adrenaline, and an unhealthy fear for officer safety, the raiders shuffled past the toys that littered the front yard and ignored the two distinct street address signs hanging on either side of the shared porch of the multi-unit building; 4056 was on the left, 4054 was on the right.

A man named Mark Robinson was detained on the sidewalk while walking his dog, just before the raid. He repeatedly told officers, “There are children in the house,” yet his warnings went unheeded. He was pinned to the ground with officers’ boots on his neck and back, reported attorney Geoffrey Fieger.

The raid team was accompanied by an embedded cable TV crew, filming for A&E’s “The First 48.” With full bravado, the SRT put on a display of maximum force for the fans of police-state-adoring reality television.

Without warning, officers simultaneously attempted to breach entrances of two discrete living units of the duplex: the suspects’ location and the neighboring residence. What occurred at 4054 Lillibridge — where the suspect did NOT live — would be devastating.

In mere seconds, masked police officers stormed the porch and smashed the window of the neighbors’ downstairs apartment. They immediately tossed in a concussion grenade and kicked down the door. An officer discharged his rifle, and an innocent little girl named Aiyana Stanley-Jones was dead.

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And if you thought that one was bad enough, here’s one to make you fucking see RED:

Man charged with breaking a trooper’s fist with his face

Around 8:20 p.m. on March 8th, 2010, police received a 9-1-1 call regarding a car that had failed to stop after a minor traffic collision. The accident resulted in no injuries and no damage, but one of the drivers did not stop to exchange information. Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) dispatched troopers to investigate this alleged hit-and-run.

A car driven by Robert Leone, 31 at the time, matched the basic description of the car in question. Mr. Leone was driving just across the Pennsylvania border from his home in Vestal, NY. He had just finished star gazing at the Kopernick Observatory and Science Center and decided to go for a ride in the country while listening to his favorite music. He had consumed no alcohol or illegal substances, but it seems that his decision-making abilities may have been affected by his legally-prescribed medication used to treat his bipolar disorder.

PSP attempted to pull over Mr. Leone, who was traveling at a speed significantly UNDER the posted speed limit — 10 to 30 mph under. Leone stated at first he did not think the trooper was trying to stop him as he believed that he had done nothing wrong prior to the encounter. Police dash-cam video clearly showed Mr. Leone driving very slowly and in a very controlled manner. The only vehicles ever seen crossing the center line or driving erratically were the state police cars that were involved in this low speed following — contrary to sworn statements later given by the troopers.

The five marked cruisers following Mr. Leone could have easily boxed in Mr. Leone at low speed and caused him to stop. Instead, the troopers deployed stop-sticks and rammed his vehicle. A “PIT maneuver” was used to smash Leone into a rock wall, while still at low speed.

Once his car was immobilized, the senior trooper on scene, Corporal Roger Stipcak, stood on top of Mr. Leone’s hood and ordered him out of his car while aiming a taser at him. Mr. Leone COULD NOT comply with the trooper’s order because a state police car was intentionally blocking Leone’s driver-side door.

Mr. Leone was then tasered through his open sunroof and forcibly dragged to the ground through the passenger-side door and beaten by fellow troopers. The senior trooper who was standing on the hood of Leone’s car was then seen jumping directly onto Leone’s back from the hood of the car.

“You’ve got a long f***ing night ahead,” the officer menaced. “Do ya hear me?? Do ya f***ing hear me?!”

This was but the first threat of many Mr. Leone was going to receive over the next 11 hours. It was also the mildest. At no time was Leone videoed resisting or attempting to strike the officers.

After his first beating he was handcuffed and questioned. At that point Leone was arrested and placed in the back of a patrol car. Without advising Mr. Leone of his constitutional rights he was questioned a second time and responded with respectful answers of “yes sir,” and “no sir.”

During the questioning, the trooper accused Leone of intentionally spitting in the trooper’s face and used that alleged behavior as a reason to beat Mr. Leone — who was still handcuffed. The trooper then hog-tied the victim.

“Who do you think you’re messing with?” one officer challenged. “We’re the Pennsylvania State Police… it’s not just some chumps.”

After analyzing the audio portion of the dash-cam it appears that the trooper fabricated the spitting incident in order to justify the beating, even though spitting does not allow an officer to beat a prisoner.

An ambulance had initially been called to transport Mr. Leone, who had suffered multiple injuries. Instead, the trooper who had broken his hand while punching Leone received medical attention, and Mr. Leone — who was handcuffed and hog-tied — was transported to the hospital in the back of a patrol car.

The above is just a portion of the horrible shit Robert Leone went through at the hands of the PA State Police and the justice system.  God, this shit makes me want to go demolish an abandoned building with my bare hands. The abuses of power demonstrated in this article are massive. There’s a part of me that still wants to believe in a just world, in the hopes that these cops will be punished, but the more rational part of me realizes that the Just World Fallacy is just that.  Many times, people get away with all manner of horrible acts, from brutally beating a suspect to killing an unarmed black man.   The United States has turned into a police state, where police officers routinely abuse their power, brutally beating or killing suspects, conducting raids on peoples’ homes without ensuring the suspect is in the home, shooting pets, demanding obeisance from the public, circling the wagons to protect their brethren, and more. They’re practically unaccountable, and so often when they commit a wrong, they don’t get punished. I wish I knew how to change the system, bc it needs to be done. Too many people are suffering.

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LA cop reportedly kicked cuffed man’s head like ‘a football player kicking a field goal’

Case in point ↑

At least in this case, the police officer has been suspended and an investigation is pending.

According to the LA Times, one police official who has seen the video said the kick  looked like “a football player kicking a field goal.” Another official called it  “horrific.”

Three other officers involved in the arrest — as well as a sergeant who arrived on the scene afterward — have been taken off active duty while the LAPD investigates the incident.

The suspect, identified as Clinton Alford, 22, sustained a gash on his ear and was taken to a hospital for stitches and a head scan following his arrest.

Alford was booked on suspicion of drug possession and resisting arrest and later released on his own recognizance after pleading not guilty.

Police authorities stated that Alford was stopped by the officers who were responding to a detective’s radio call for help in locating a robbery suspect.

It was later ascertained that Alford was not the robbery suspect they were seeking.

According to Alford, he was riding his bike when a car pulled up behind him and he was commanded to stop. Alford said the speaker never identified himself as a police officer and when his bike was grabbed from behind, he jumped off and ran. After a brief pursuit, Alford was taken into custody by two officers and can be seen in the video voluntarily dropping to the ground and placing his hands behind his back.

Moments later another officer arrived and reportedly rushed at the prone Alford either stomping or kicking him in the head. The officer then repeatedly struck Alford in the head with his elbows while the other two officers held him down.

According to Alford, “I was just praying that they wouldn’t kill me. I just closed my eyes and tried to hold on.”

One of the sources who saw the video described Alford looking like “a rag doll,” as officer hauled him away.

According to the arrest record, the officers at the scene were identified as Julio Cortez, Joshua Tornek, Ruben Rosas, and Richard Garcia, with Garcia identified as the officer who administered the beating.

LA police Chief Charlie Beck issued a statement saying he was, “extremely concerned about this particular use of force.”

The police chief ought to be concerned. That’s excessive force. There’s no indication that Alford was resisting, and even if he was, minimal use of force should be employed unless the four officers arresting one man were in imminent danger (or the public was).  Too many police officers jump straight to excessive force for the most minor offenses. It’s like law enforcement attracts hyper aggressive, authoritarian assholes who enjoy lording it over the rest of us.

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Law enforcement official with the Bureau of Indian Affairs pulls gun on Uber driver

Driver James Brothers said he picked up a group from a bar Oct. 20 and dropped off a man and woman at a party after they had a disagreement with a third passenger.

He said the remaining passenger, later identified as 44-year-old Byron McDonald, acted paranoid after he attempted to make small talk.

“Typically I’ll ask people where they’re from or from out of town, but he just wouldn’t give me any info,” Brothers said.

Then the passenger began asking strange questions in a slurred voice.

“He asked, ‘Do you want to live or die?’” Brothers told KSL-TV. “So I said, ‘Well, I want to live, of course.’”

McDonald asked the driver about his 3-year-old daughter and girlfriend – neither of which Brothers has – as they arrived at the downtown Hilton.

Then McDonald put a gun to the driver’s head and then moved the weapon down so it was pointed at Brothers’ side.

“I just thought, ‘I’m going to bail because I’m not going to sit around and wait for what’s going to happen,’” Brothers said.

Brothers said he grabbed his phone from the dashboard, pulled the keys from the ignition, and tried to jump out the driver’s side door.

McDonald grabbed his shirt collar and tried to pull the driver back into the vehicle, but he broke free and fled.

Brothers called 911 as he ran away, and police arrested McDonald – who turned out to be a police officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A spokeswoman for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the bureau, said McDonald was on “official travel at the time of the incident.”

McDonald was charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and attempted kidnapping.

I wasn’t sure whether to file this under ‘Police Brutality’ or ‘Irresponsible Gun Owner’. Ultimately, since this is another case of a law enforcement officer abusing their power, I chose this category.

What the fuck was McDonald doing pulling a gun on a driver for no apparent reason and why do I think he was drunk?

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Woman on dialysis trampled by cops angry that her son ignored them

LeRoy Hubbard III told WMAQ that two police officers pulled up in a patrol car as he was walking home to his parent’s house on Friday night.

“They say, ‘Come here.’ So, I just keep walking,” Hubbard recalled.

According to Hubbard, officers then forced their way into his home, while his niece, Keeasia, filmed the entire thing.

“They start just going crazy in the house,” he pointed out.

WCAU reported that the video showed Hubbard’s mother, who was on a dialysis machine, being knocked to the floor as police struggled to handcuff him. Eventually, more officers arrived and Hubbard was placed in a chokehold.

“They charged me with assault but how did I assault anybody?” he asked. “They were just basically just assaulting my whole family so I had to give in just to make it stop.”

“I just went outside,” Keeasia said. “It was helicopters, it was police cars, just rushing in for one person.”

Hubbard’s father, Leroy, argued that the incident was “clearly police misconduct.” He said that his son did not have a criminal record, and that officers only treated him that way because he lived in a high crime area.

“They do this all the time,” he remarked. “As far as the police, they do this all the time. They will stop anybody on the street. They want to get lucky, think they’re going to get lucky you know somebody’s probably got something.”

Hubbard was expected in court on Tuesday to face charges for aggravated battery to a police officer.

They attacked him, yet he’s charged with aggravated battery.  Da fuq?!

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Police Brutality Link Round Up
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