I decided to rename this ongoing link round-up, as the ‘behaving badly’ category can encompass those stories where cops are brutalizing people as well as the stories involving them being complete assholes. Such as the following:
Black teen football hero sues cop who put a gun to his head for a seat belt violation
The family of high school football star Montre’ Merritt (photo above) is suing the Waycross, Georgia Police Department after an officer pointed a gun to their son’s head and handcuffed him on the ground for not wearing a seatbelt.
The incident occurred last January when Montre’ Merritt, a high school senior and gridiron star, was on his way home. Waycross police officer Cory Gay who Montre’ says had been following him for several blocks, turned on his flashing lights as Montre’ pulled into his driveway.
Officer Gay (left) is alleged to have approached the vehicle with his gun drawn, pointed it at Montre’s head, and ordered him to lie on the ground, where he was handcuffed. Montre complied, offering no resistance, all the while insisting he had done nothing wrong, and asking what violation he was being stopped for. When Montre’s mother came outside and asked why the officer was arresting her son, Officer Gay told her it was for a seatbelt violation.
When another police car arrived, Officer Gay took the cuffs off of Montre’ and ticketed him for not wearing a seatbelt. According to the Daly Signal, “No explanation was given to Merritt or his mother about why such force was used.”
The Merritts complained, and Officer Gay was suspended without pay for five days and required to attend use-of-force training. But Montre’s family doesn’t feel that was enough of a punishment. They have filed a lawsuit, claiming false arrest, infliction of emotional distress, assault, and depriving Montre’ of his civil rights. The Merritts also claim the incident was racially motivated, and faults the city of Waycross and the Waycross Police Department for negligence, for not properly training Officer Gay.
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The police felt so threatened by a cosplaying black man with a fake sword that they shot him 4 times in the back
A black man who was shot by Utah police while armed with a samurai-style sword as part of a Japanese anime costume died of multiple gunshot wounds, including several in the back of his body, according to an autopsy released Tuesday.
The state autopsy documents six gunshot wounds on the body of 22-year-old Darrien Hunt and finds at least four of the shots entered his body from behind.
That generally confirms the results of an independent autopsy released by his family, who said Hunt was treated differently because he was black.
“I don’t think anyone would have thought twice if it wasn’t someone with an afro,” said his mother, Susan Hunt, on Tuesday. Police say race wasn’t a factor.
Really? Race wasn’t a factor? Police officers across the country need to be completely retrained. Part of that training needs to be a thorough, exhaustive study of racial bias. Society is dripping with racism. People everywhere have subconscious biases and prejudices that inform their opinions of People of Color. Sadly, most people will not confront these prejudices. Worse still, we have officers of the law, people with the power of life and death who hold these prejudices and they act on them. Too many of them see a black man and automatically think ‘threat’. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that they don’t examine. They just keep operating under that assumption. And it keeps killing black people.
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Trigger Warning
Woman raped at gunpoint on the hood of a patrol car by “Cop of the Month”
According to the police report, 35-year-old Maiorino had raped a 20-year-old woman while holding a gun, and threatening to arrest and kill her. The woman had been stranded after the driver she’d been with was arrested for DUI and Maiorino told the woman he would take her to police headquarters so she could make contact with her family and be taken home.
However, that’s far from what really happened. Once Maiorino was at the station, he ordered the woman to perform oral sex on him – threatening to arrest her for DUI if she refused. Maiorino then drove out of the station, grabbed the woman from the car and made her undress. Holding her down with his right hand and pointing his gun at her with his left hand, he raped her on the hood of his patrol car.
After the horrific assault was over and the woman dressed herself, Maiorino pointed his gun at her again and threatened to kill her and her entire family if she didn’t keep silent about the incident.
Maiorino then drove the woman back to the police station. Later that night, the woman told police that Maiorino had raped her. Upon investigating the scene of the assault, a used condom was found with her DNA on it.
On Thursday, Maiorino turned himself in. He will be fired, and has been charged with armed sexual battery, armed kidnapping and unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior.
I hope he rots in prison for a long time. Rape is already a horrible, dehumanizing crime. For a police officer…someone entrusted with power…someone the public is supposed to trust…for a cop to do this is deeply fucked up, and yet another example of cops having too much power and thinking they’re above the law.
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Trigger Warning
Trans man threatened with humiliating genital search by police
According to The Raw Story, Evans was in the midst of a routine traffic stop when he was unable to produce identification that corresponded with his gender presentation. In many states, including Georgia, getting a gender change on a driver’s license requires a court order, and many judges require proof of complete gender reassignment surgery to grant said order. Upon being unable to produce a license that was satisfactory to the officers’ demands, Evans was arrested. That is when the real nightmare began. Evans says of the ordeal:
I was pulled over because I am trans. I was humiliated. I was ridiculed and I was repeatedly threatened with them doing a genital search on me. I was called an ‘it,’ I was called a ‘thing.’
That is an egregious violation of Mr. Evans’ right to privacy. His genitalia is none of their fucking business. The police had no right to even threaten such actions. In addition, it’s deeply dehumanizing to refer to a trans person as an “it” or a “thing”. Trans people are people dammit!
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Albuquerque cop brutalizes college student, ruptures his testicle
APD officer Pablo Padilla pulled over Jeremy Martin for suspected drunk driving. The first-year law student at the University of New Mexico was then subjected such brutal force at the hands of the officer, that one of his testicles was ruptured.
Padilla used so much force when he kneed Martin in the groin, that it shattered one of his testicles. The injury resulted in the loss of Martin’s testicle, which had to be removed during an emergency surgery, following the traumatic injury.
According to urologists at the Jenkins clinic, testicular rupture caused by severe trauma to the groin is often treatable. However, in certain cases, the trauma is so severe that the testicle cannot be saved. This was the case, after Padilla brutally assaulted Martin.
Progress Now, New Mexico published a copy of the report filed by Padilla, which makes no mention of his use of force. The report does mention, however, that Martin had lacerations on his legs and face.
Martin states that he was not provided with medical care until several hours later, when he arrived at the metropolitan detention center. From there he was taken to Presbyterian Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery, ending with the loss of his testicle.
Photos of Martin following the arrest also show cuts and bruises to his face, a result of Padilla slamming him into the bed of his truck so hard that it left a dent in the vehicle, as well as slamming him face first onto the pavement.
As punishment for using so much force on a citizen that it caused him to suffer the loss of a body part, Padilla wassuspended for six weeks without pay. He was not punished in any way for destroying the video evidence.
Earlier this week a judge tossed the state’s DUI case against Martin. The judge agreed with Martin’s attorney, who said that the video which captured Padilla tampering with evidence at the scene destroys any credibility he has a witness.
Martin’s attorney has also asked the prosecutor to formally charge Padilla for destruction of evidence. Tampering with evidence is a criminal offense under New Mexico law.
Martin also filed a civil suit against the both the officer and the City of Albuquerque. According to the suit, Padilla has been sued at least five times before: three times for civil rights violations and at least two additional times for use of excessive force. The suit alleges that the city of Albuquerque knew of systemic problems within the police department, including officers consistently using excessive force against members of the community, but made no attempt to correct the issues. The suit also states that the city “created a culture of aggression and violence within the APD, which contributed to, and resulted in officer Padilla’s attack on the plaintiff.”
