Cleveland police officer shoots 12-year-old boy carrying BB gun

A rookie Cleveland police officer shot a 12-year-old boy outside a city recreation center late Saturday afternoon after the boy pulled a BB gun from his waistband, police said.

Police were responding to reports of a male with a gun outside Cudell Recreation Center at Detroit Avenue and West Boulevard about 3:30 p.m., Deputy Chief of Field Operations Ed Tomba said.

A rookie officer and a 10-15 year veteran pulled into the parking lot and saw a few people sitting underneath a pavilion next to the center. The rookie officer saw a black gun sitting on the table, and he saw the boy pick up the gun and put it in his waistband, Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association President Jeffrey Follmer said.

The officer got out of the car and told the boy to put his hands up. The boy reached into his waistband, pulled out the gun and the rookie officer fired two shots, Tomba said.

Tomba said the child did not threaten the officer verbally or physically.

Two things:

1-if we as a culture didn’t glorify guns (and anything that looks like a gun), perhaps kids wouldn’t be as keen to want to play with them (or similar weapons like BB guns).

2-Why was the rookie officer so quick to fire his weapon before determining if he was in danger?  “If you even think you’re in danger, don’t take time to assess the situation, simply draw and fire your weapon”<—-is that part of police training today?

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Road-raging off-duty cop shot woman in the head because she honked at him

A Houston woman was shot in the head by an off-duty police officer after she honked at him for cutting her off, KHOU 11 reports.

The victim — who did not wish to be identified for fear of retaliation — said that she was driving on the 610 Loop when Kenneth Caplan cut her off.

“He was about to hit me,” she said, “so I switched to the other lane, got in front of him and cut him off. I guess that pissed him off,” because he pulled alongside her, rolled down his window and opened fire.

“He was aiming at me and I thought he was going to cuss me out. It didn’t register that I was, you know, going to get shot. I just started crying because I knew I was going to die,” the victim said. “I wanted to call my mom to tell her ‘I love you.’”

One bullet grazed her head, opening a gaping wound that would not stop bleeding.

“I was like ‘oh my God, he just shot me.’ I was applying pressure to my head because it wouldn’t stop bleeding,” the victim said. “The blood was in between my nails, just crazy blood, and all over my cellphone, just covered.”

She was, however, able to pull over to the side of the road and call 911.

Investigators would not say what evidence led them to identify Caplan as the shooter, but his home district released the following statement:

“Kenneth Caplan was not on duty at the time of the incident in which he was involved nor was he displaying any article connecting him to the Harris County Constable’s Office – Precinct 6. The Harris County Constable’s Office – Precinct 6 neither condones nor tolerates the actions taken by Kenneth Caplan that connected him to this incident, and the necessary measures were taken to collect his credentials and remove him from our status.”

This is ridiculous. I have to wonder if the authoritarianism that runs rampant through law enforcement played a role in this guy shooting her.  “I’m a cop. I can do what I want. You don’t get to honk at me!”

I’m glad he’s being fired, but you know what? That grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson?  He killed someone and got away with it.  The officer in this story didn’t kill the woman, and he’s getting fired.  I just…the “justice” system in this country is fucked up.  It’s deeply disheartening.

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Kentucky cops raid teenagers’ field party, kill girl who tried to escape

Police charged into a darkened field trying to arrest teenagers for consuming alcohol without government permission, and killed a young woman in the process.

The deadly raid occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 26th, 2014. After witnessing “cars full of juveniles” and “hear[ing] loud music and people screaming,” Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Brockman radioed for “several patrol cars for assistance, as it seem[ed] like a large party with underage drinking was going on,” according to an official report.

Deputies responded in force and attempted to surround the party, which was taking place on a rural road in Hebron, Kentucky.

As red and blue lights approached, the teens scrambled to escape the government agents. One girl, 19-year-old Samantha Ramsey, got behind the wheel of her 2001 white Subaru, along with 3 of her friends.

Dashcam video from a police cruiser depicted the moment Ms. Ramsey, who worked as a preschool teacher, tried to escape. As her car pulled onto the street, the teen passed Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Brockman, who can be seen clearly standing to the side of her vehicle on the driver’s side. He was shining a flashlight at her and barking orders to stop.

Intent on imprisoning the girl for her beverage consumption, Deputy Brockman confronted Ms. Ramsey and tried to position himself in the forward trajectory of the vehicle.

The vehicle slid out of view just as the deputy closed in on the driver’s window; Ms. Ramsey had not stopped her vehicle. There is some dispute about events that followed, but the confrontation ended when Deputy Brockman fired four shots through the windshield, fatally striking the teen.

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These Lying Cops Show Exactly Why So Many People are Losing Trust in “Law” Enforcement

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Teen Boy had Objects Shoved in His Mouth, Ribs Broken, Choked and Died While in Police Custody

A 17-year-old boy has fallen prey to a violent assault by Huntsville police, who’d rather attack people for possessing arbitrary substances deemed illegal by the state, than solve actual crime.

Smith’s son was caught in an undercover sting operation in June of 2013 while exchanging money for drugs with an informant. When undercover police rushed in to make the arrest, they did not identify themselves and the 17 year old ran, according to the lawsuit.

The boy was then thrown to the ground and pepper-sprayed.

After pepper spraying the teen, officers held him down and inserted two pens and the butt of a flashlight into his mouth searching for contraband. They didn’t find any.

The boy could not breathe and had turned blue by the time paramedics arrived, according to the complaint.

The 17-year-old choked, began vomiting and lost consciousness while handcuffed but officers refused to render aid, according to the lawsuit filed by Nancy Smith, the teen’s mother.

Police initially told paramedics that the teen had overdosed, but initial reports show that the blood tests were thrown out so they would have no way of substantiating their assertion.

The autopsy report also states that, “Because of the circumstances of this event, it is difficult to discern if the decedent died from a drug overdose or an asphyxia event exacerbated by either the occlusion of the airway by the foreign object, a possible vascular occlusion associated with the neck restraint, or from a combination of all the events that transpired during this incident.”

In a disgusting move by Huntsville City Attorney Peter Joffrion, he denied the original wrongful death allegations saying that police responding to the scene and “handled this matter appropriately.”

Joffrion can assert that throwing a teenager to the ground, spraying asphyxiating chemicals in his face, ramming sharp objects and a flashlight in his mouth, and brutally beating him, all to stop the voluntary exchange of substances for money is, “handling a matter appropriately,” because he is speaking on behalf of the state, which condones such a rapacious response to people doing what they want with their own bodies.

Despite being told to take a hike by the city of Huntsille by throwing out her case in October over a technicality, the mother of this boy, whose life was ended early by a defunct system of obstinateness and brutality, is refusing to lie down.

According to AL.com, she filed a new complaint on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Huntsville. It now alleges that a failure to train officers has created a “reputation for excessive force” and a tolerance of improper behavior by officers.

The lawsuit also alleges the two officers involved in the arrest of the teen failed to prevent the other from engaging in excessive force.

The suit alleges the arresting officers caused the teen’s death by use of excessive force.