Police Behaving Badly 4.21.15

Two police officers in Philadelphia challenged an African-American college student to a quick game of basketball.  2 days later, they tried to arrest him:

Samir Hill, a 5-foot-7 point guard at Allegany College of Maryland, was playing against some neighborhood kids when the officers approached, reported Complex.

The 21-year-old Hill said the officers joked that they didn’t look very good and “started talking trash” – so he challenged them to a game.

“We gave them ball first, (and) I was playing on the court two-on-two with my friend Josh — they almost scored on him,” Hill said, as his friend loudly protested in the background. “We get the ball, and everybody starts pulling out their cameras. The first cop, I crossed him and laid it up.”

A pair of short video clips posted on Vine, showing Hill beating the officers on crossover dribbles, went viral.

“He’s like, ‘I don’t play basketball, I play football,’” Hill said. “So he put his partner on me — the second one, the one I made fall. Everyone went crazy.”

Hill never learned the officers’ names, but he said they tried to arrest him two days later, after pro athletes — including former NFL star Chad Johnson — shared the video clips on social media.

“I think it was because of the video, but they said it was the people I was around,” Hill said. “I don’t think it was that though, because most of the kids I hang around are college kids. I think they just wanted to take me down to the district to show who I was.”

He said the officers took him to the police station saying they thought they saw him with contraband, but they eventually let him go without charge.

“They didn’t explain it to me,” Hill said. “They just took me in there, handcuffed me to a bench for an hour and a half. They were doing a search on the car. They searched the car for like an hour. They didn’t find nothing, and they let me go. The whole time they were telling me how they weren’t going to lock me up, that they were targeting my friend.”

“We thought he had contraband.”

Based on what evidence? That he’s black? Is that it?

They never, ever have to justify their “suspicions”. They make them and act as if everyone is supposed to just accept that they’re being honest. They’re aided by the false assumption many have that police officers are inherently trustworthy authority figures.  They aren’t. They are flawed human beings with the same hangups and issues everyone else has. They’re just as prone to racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia as the civilian population. They make decisions based on implicit biases, play fast-and-loose with logic, and are prone to cognitive biases-just like everyone else.  Unfortunately, they are in positions of power and the decisions they make-decisions that are often faulty-can have devastating consequences. And they so often do. Cops should be held to a higher standard if they’re going to have power over civilians.

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In what may become a case of the word of a black suspect versus the word of police officers (and we know who is going to be regarded as more trustworthy between the two), a Marine veteran is facing 15 years for allegedly assaulting police officers during a routine traffic stop. Oddly enough, evidence that could substantiate his claims of innocence appears to be missing:

Stuart Fitzgerald, who is black, was pulled over May 26 for flashing his high beams while driving in Orange County, Virginia, and police said he refused to sign a citation and stayed inside his vehicle when he was ordered out, reported WUSA-TV.

Video recorded by a dashboard camera shows an officer opening the car door less than two seconds after his first attempt, and the 53-year-old Fitzgerald steps out of the vehicle while the officer keeps one hand on him.

What happens next is unclear, because some audio and images from the dashboard camera and six others at the scene are missing or still haven’t been collected by investigators.

Video shows an Orange County sheriff’s deputy throwing Fitzgerald onto the four-lane highway, but there is no audio during that segment due to what has been described as a malfunction.

The footage also partially shows Fitzgerald’s head repeatedly hitting the patrol car’s hood – but the deputy claims Fitzgerald intentionally did that to himself.

Fitzgerald said he did not remember what happened at that point, but suffered a chipped tooth and facial injuries as a result.

Authorities said that Fitzgerald struggled until officers “placed him on the ground and restrained him,” but he denies fighting with police.

“I definitely was not, because I’m not a fool,” Fitzgerald told the TV station. “I’m not going to resist. I’m not going to fight them — I know better than that.”

The president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense League agrees with defense experts who say the video does not show Fitzgerald attacking officers, but the missing evidence essentially puts his word against the law enforcement officers’ accounts.

* * * *

Corrupt Cleveland police officers obstruct justice, refuse to testify against killer cop

Former Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo is currently on trial for manslaughter, after gunning down two unarmed people on November 29, 2012. Police pumped nearly 140 bullets into a vehicle occupied by Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. While at least 13 officers are known to have fired weapons at the vehicle, Brelo faces manslaughter charges after he jumped on the hood of the car and sprayed the two victims with 49 bullets through the windshield of the 1979 Chevy Malibu they occupied.

As the trial entered its third day, prosecutors expressed frustration with Brelo’s fellow officers, who have refused to provide witness testimony in the case.

Shortly after officer Michael Demchek was called to the stand, he announced that he would be pleading his fifth amendment right not to incriminate himself. Prosecutors disputed Demchek’s right to take the fifth, saying that there is nothing in his testimony that would be used to incriminate himself.

Prosecutors responded to Demchek’s assertion of his fifth amendment right, by saying:

“This is what the state has been talking about – the blue wall – this individual would not come testify. He’s a police officer. His loyalty should be to the citizens…”

Amazingly, as lawyers for Demchek and Brelo sat quietly by, Judge John P. O’Donnell argued with prosecutors on Demchek’s behalf.

Demchek is one of a group of officers who has refused to testify as to what they saw the night that Russell and Williams were killed. Two other officers were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony. An additional two officers are demanding immunity, in exchange for witness testimony.

On March 31, prosecutors filed a formal brief with the court, in which they stated that the cops have refused to cooperate with the state, and asked that they be treated as hostile witnesses. WEWS in Cleveland reports that at least 16 officers with vital information on the case have refused to cooperate with prosecutors. Police union representatives are openly discouraging cops from talking to prosecutors or providing witness testimony.

Well, there are 16 officers who show their contempt for the court. What fucking assholes. They’d rather remain silent than testify against one of their own. Fucking tribalism.

* * * *

Caught on video, Washington cop admits to quotas, falsifying charges, & extorting the poor

The video starts out with the officer proclaiming how stopping these teenagers on the last day of the month, just helped him reach his quota.

“This is the last day of the month. I get every stat I need just off of you guys,” says the officer as he begins his rights violating confession.

“So you guys gotta make quota, huh?” asks the detained teen.

“We don’t have a quota. We have expectations. And what that means is, you will make so many arrests a month, you should write so many tickets a month, and you should haul so many dumbasses to jail a month. If we’re gonna pay you $100,000 a year, we should expect something back from you, shouldn’t we?” says the officer.

When the man replies, ‘yes’ that he understands what the officer just said, the cop then asks, “Would you like to be part of my quota tonight?”

The young man then asks the cop, “On what grounds [would you arrest me]?”

To which the cop replies, “‘On what grounds?’ Oh, I don’t know, I’ll think of something. How about aiding and abetting reckless driving?”

The officer basically admits that he will simply make up any charges he wants, just to make an arrest.

“Fair enough,” says the man, trying to prevent himself from being kidnapped by this officer for no reason.

“You better wipe that smile off your face brother, or I’ll show ya,” says the officer.

It doesn’t stop there, this officer then exposes himself for the true power-tripping tyrant that he is.

“Now, let me tell you what the difference between being a smart guy and a dumbass is. You sit there with that shit-eating grin on your face, let me see some id!” says the tyrant officer.

The young man then replies as he’s going to show the officer his ID, “It’s cool I got a clean record.”

That’s when the officer becomes brutally honest about how he can abuse his power to ruin innocent lives.

The officer replies, “Yeah, but you know what? I’m the guy that can make that record look dirty.”

At this point the officer then admits how the entire system is funded through this type of shakedown and extortion racket.

“You are a guy that’s gonna end up giving the city a lot of money,” says the officer explaining how the state aggressively pursues poor people to pay their exorbitant salaries. 

The officer then proceeds to massively flex his authority as the teen isn’t bowing down fast enough, screaming, “Shut up! Shut up!”

Here’s the video:

* * * *

U.S. Marshal goes berserk smashing woman’s phone for recording him on public sidewalk

In a YouTube video dated April 19, someone apparently positioned across the street from the incident captured video of a woman who was recording a group of men wearing tactical gear in South Gate, California.

The woman can be seen talking to the officers and recording them while they seemed to be ignoring her.

Eventually, a man carrying an assault rifle and wearing a different style of tactical gear walks toward the woman. As she backs up, he lunges at her, grabbing her cellphone with both hands. There is a brief struggle for the phone, but the man easily overpowers the woman and slams the device to the ground.

Here is the video of the incident:

The poor dears. I wonder why they are so opposed to being filmed. Aren’t they the good guys?

(there may have been a touch of snark in the above)

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Police Behaving Badly 4.21.15
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2 thoughts on “Police Behaving Badly 4.21.15

  1. 1

    Smashing the phones of little White girls is just the opening salvo.

    That’s how it starts. As more and more White people start to speak out, the police will start thinking of them as the enemy, too.

    Next will come the beatings, happening more and more frequently, until someone is shot. And if there are no repercussions for it then that will continue to escalate. Then those smug a**holes sitting up in their air conditioned, suburban homes, pointing their fingers at PoC for not taking “responsibility” , only because they don’t think it could ever happen to them, only then will they begin to realize that the chickens have come to their doorstep.

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