Police Behaving Badly 1.21.15

‘Caught up in the moment’, deputy beats wheelchair bound inmate

According to a press release from the sheriff’s office on Tuesday, the incident occurred when 47-year-old Deputy Raymond Ferrio was escorting an inmate to the infirmary on Oct. 1, The St. Petersburg Tribune reported.

The inmate, who was in a wheelchair, had tried to resist being moved by putting his feet on the floor. The press release said that Ferrio put his arms around the inmate’s neck, and threw him to the floor. The impact caused the inmate’s dentures to shatter.

The statement said that Ferrio punched and kicked the inmate while he was on the floor. The inmate was then secured with restraints.

According to the sheriff’s office, the inmate never posed a threat to Ferrio or other staff members.

Ferrio later admitted that he had not been justified in using force. He explained his actions by saying that he “got caught up in the moment,” the press release said. He had been an employee of the Department of Detention and Corrections since July 2000.

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 A Columbia, SC police officer is caught on camera repeatedly punching man who’s lying face down on pavement

The video, uploaded to facebook Sunday morning, quickly got the attention of media and the Columbia police department. It shows Investigator Tyrone Pugh, an eight year veteran of the CPD, allegedly involved in a severe case of excessive force.

Chief Skip Holbrook learned about the video through social media and started an internal investigation. Upon seeing the video, Pugh was placed on suspension, pending an internal investigation.

Officials say five off-duty police officers were in the parking lot of Sound Stage, off Blanding Street, around 2 a.m. when a fight broke out.

That’s when an onlooker captured video of officers arriving to the scene and trying to control the crowd.

As Pugh brutally hammers down on the man, a woman can be heard screaming, “Why are you punching him?”

“Back the f*ck up!” Pugh shouts back.

“I know there are multiple sides to the story,” Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin told The State Monday. “(The video) left me gravely concerned as to what the possible circumstances might have been, and I shared that with the chief and he acted accordingly.”

There may be multiple sides to the story, but that doesn’t mean each side is equal.

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Police assault and handcuff wrong man. But it’s okay, they they “Did it in good faith”

Police in a town just outside of St. Louis recently assaulted and handcuffed the wrong person during a high speed chase. 22-year-old Joseph Swink was driving down the road, minding his own business last week, when his car was hit by a vehicle that was in a high speed chase with police.

Swink’s car was hit by the fleeing suspect, who continued to speed down the road after the collision. Instead of following after the suspect, police stopped the car that had been hit. Then they proceeded to assault and detain Joseph Swink, thinking that he was the man they were after.

As police arrived on the scene of the crash and saw Swink, they came after him as if he was the person that they were chasing. He then tried to explain to them what happened, and who he was, but according to the police department this could be considered resisting arrest. Police tackled Swink to the ground and handcuffed him as he attempted to explain the situation.

Police Chief Aaron Jimenez admitted to the incident and apologized in a statement to reporters.

“We did put handcuffs on the wrong guy, and I apologize for that. But they did it in good faith. It was literally an accident. He gets out and runs toward the back of the car, so they grab him, toss him on the ground. They didn’t Tase him. They didn’t use batons. They didn’t kick him in the face. They definitely put him on the ground and were trying to get handcuffs on him while he’s squirming around. And he’s resisting arrest because he’s trying to tell the police that it’s not him,Jimenez said in a statement.

The police department refuses to accept any responsibility in the matter, in fact, Chief Jimenez has blamed the assault on the suspect, and said that the officers will not be disciplined because they “made an honest mistake.”

“I apologize for the mistaken identity, I am sorry he got put into that situation because of the suspect,” Jimenez Said.

However, Swink wants the officers to lose their jobs for such indiscriminate use of force.

“I don’t know what they were thinking. I’m just shocked that all of this happened,” Swink said.

According to the St. Ann Police Department, the actual suspect who was being chased was 32-year-old Anton Simmons, who was later arrested after crashing his car again a few miles down the road.

Dear Police Chief: that was what we call a not-pology.

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 ‘Freeloader’ cops ignore most calls on Florida campuses where they live rent-free

[Th]e Resident on Campus Security (ROCS) program — which allows police officers to live rent- and utility-free in trailers on Broward County Public Schools campuses — is coming under fire after an internal audit determined that the program is “not adequately supervised,” “operating with an expired lease agreement,” and that almost 91 percent of the emergency calls from ROCS campuses are answered by local police departments instead of ROCS officers.

The ROCS program was founded in the 1980s to address theft, vandalism, and trespassing on school campuses, but according to the school board’s chief auditor, Patrick Reilly, even if it were adequately overseen, it would still be unnecessary.

“The existing technology of alarm systems and fire alarm systems, along with the implementation of single point of entry, surveillance cameras, [Broward District Schools Police Department] staff on call and an Alarm Monitoring Unit that monitors security alarms at all school sites 24 hours a day, 7 days per week,” makes the ROCS officers an expensive luxury.

According to WPLG, the program is “in shambles.”

The audit revealed that no data was compiled or maintained about the program since 2013, and that it has been operating with expired lease agreements since 2010. Moreover, ROCS management personnel had no means of determining whether the officers it oversaw complied with the terms of their agreement with their host school.

At one of the trailers, believed to be on the grounds of a Coral Springs elementary school, the officer moved out without notice — and rented it out to people without performing a background check.

Andrew Ladanowski, chair of Broward County Schools Facilities Task Force, told WPLG that “obviously, they couldn’t provide anybody security on site. I don’t think it’s appropriate use of facilities — these trailers have taken valuable recreational space, and in some cases, created additional challenges to the facilities department when additional classrooms are required.”

“The only beneficiary I see,” he added, “is the freeloader living in these trailers.”

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Man invokes 5th Amendment, Cops tell him to “throw all legal mumbo jumbo out the window”

Dilshod Tulyoganov, was accused by a Georgia State Trooper of not coming to a complete stop before making a turn. As the driver of the vehicle, Tulyoganov is required by law to produce identification. When asked for his ID Tulyoganov complies and hands the officer his Georgia driver’s license.

From this point on is where the stop begins to turn ugly.

“I flexed my rights and he ignored it,” Dilshod told the Free Thought Project. “Because I didn’t kiss his boots he humiliated me in front of people.”

Because of the SCOTUS ruling in Salinas v. Texas, you are now expected to know that you have a right against self-incrimination, and unless you specifically and clearly invoke this right, anything you say or do not say, including your mannerisms at the time you stop talking, can be used against you. You actually have to say, “I do not answer questions.”

Don’t concern yourself with what kind of interrogation you’re in. Don’t worry about whether Salinas applies in your particular situation. Just invoke your 5th Amendment right immediately, verbally, and clearly.

When Trooper Johnston asks if his address on the license is correct, Tulyoganov specifically invokes his 5th Amendment right and replies by stating, “I’d rather not answer.”

He states this several times before Johnston tells him that “you don’t have a choice [but] to answer.” Apparently trooper Johnston feels that the right to remain silent does not apply in this instance. However, Tulyoganov stands his ground and Johnston eventually backs down.

Johnston then proceeds to tell Tulyoganov that he stopped him for not coming to a complete stop when he came off of the interstate and then goes back to his unit to write the ticket.

Several minutes pass before Johnston returns to the vehicle and demands that Tulyoganov get out of his car; approximately 5:20 in the video. Tulyoganov tells Johnston that he’d rather stay in the car to which Johnston replies, “you don’t have a choice,” and pulls open the door.

Let’s recap, Tulyoganov was pulled over for a minor traffic offense and was going to be issued a citation for a rolling stop. There was no need for Tulyoganov to exit his vehicle in order to receive this citation. So, whether or not the order by Johnston for Tulyoganov to exit his vehicle was lawful is up for question.

Rightfully so, Tulyoganov requests a supervisor. While they wait for the supervisor to arrive Johnston clearly becomes agitated with this man, who is calmly and politely asserting his rights.

“I don’t think you understand, this is MY traffic stop…..all you had to do is do what I ask.” Apparently asking and demanding are similar words in the vocabulary of trooper Johnston.

When Tulyoganov tries to close his door Johnston has enough and assaults Tulyoganov by ripping him out of his vehicle and placing him in handcuffs. The entire time Tulyoganov proclaims that he is complying because he is under duress.

At this point the video goes black as it was put into Tulyoganov’s pocket as he’s cuffed. For several minutes the discussion is inaudible but we can here Tulyoganov tell Johnston several times that he believes he is being kidnapped.

At 14:20 in the video, the supervisor, apparently clueless as to what is actually going on, arrives on the scene and can be heard clearly. The supervisor thinks that Tulyoganov has refused to provide his identification, which was not the case at all. Once the supervisor realizes that they have a man in handcuffs for no reason whatsoever, he attempts to justify trooper Johnston’s actions by hypothetically explaining that he would have done the same thing.

During this entire series of events, not one time do the officers actually show any knowledge of Tulyoganov’s right to remain silent. Instead of acknowledging the man’s rights the supervisor makes an attempt to justify their unconstitutional actions by telling Tulyoganov,

 

“If you have nothing to hide…let’s throw all the legal mumbo jumbo out the window sir. Let’s play on big boy terms. Let’s not play the lawyer game and ‘my rights are violated’ game or none of that bullcrap today.”

Apparently, to these two Georgia state troopers, the constitution is “legal mumbo jumbo” not worthy of discussion.

Tulyoganov held out for as long as he could while being shaken down by two armed men who are seemingly ignorant of the law, but after their relentless barrage, he begins to answer.

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Police Behaving Badly 1.21.15
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