police harassment

Police Behaving Badly 5.27.15

Tony Thompson,

From the use of excessive force to stealing drugs from suspects…from racial profiling to abusing the power of their badges…from sexually assaulting suspects to planting evidence…there is a never-ending stream of stories of law enforcement officials behaving irresponsibly, unethically, immorally, and/or criminally. Here are five recent examples from across the nation:

Baltimore cop beats a man, keeps his job

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A cop uses excessive force against a suspect, but even with video of the incident, is allowed to continue being an officer of the law. I don’t place much faith that recording the actions of police officers will hold them accountable.

The violent arrest occurred in Baltimore City last June. Baltimore Police Officer Vincent E. Cosom was caught on the city surveillance video beating a man at a North Avenue bus stop.

Officer Cosom recently pleaded guilty to assault. Last Friday he was sentenced to six months in jail.

Even that hasn’t been enough for his department to fire him.

Shaun Owens, Cosom’s attorney, said his client had an “unblemished record” before the incident and was a veteran police officer.

“This was quite simply a lapse in judgment,” Owens said after the plea.

Oh FUCK YOU Mr. Owens. This was no lapse in judgment. This was a police officer using excessive force against a civilian, something that happens all the goddamn time in this country. Apparently it’s not a big deal to you. Did I mention FUCK YOU?

The sentence, which includes another four and half years suspended time, was handed down as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

The incident happened in June and came to light in September when the victim, Kollin Truss, filed a lawsuit against the police. Cosom and Truss had been in an verbal altercation that appeared to be winding down until Cosom approached him and dealt out the beating.

The video showed Cosom landing a series of heavy blows on Truss, sending him lurching backward at one point. Truss was arrested but officials at Central Booking said he was too injured to be put in jail and ordered medical treatement [sic], according to the lawsuit.

* * * *

 Texas SWAT breaks 81-year-old man’s hip, family finds him lying in his own feces: lawsuit

Herman Crisp told KTBC that Georgetown deputies wearing SWAT uniforms gave no warning before throwing a flash-bang device outside his home last September as he was sitting in a chair and smoking a cigarette.

He said that the explosion knocked him out of his chair, and then officers slammed him on the ground and handcuffed him. The force of hitting the ground broke his hip, according to Crisp, who was 81 years old at the time.

Of course they gave no warning. Why would state-sanctioned thugs need to warn people that they’re about to uproot and destroy their lives when they’re fighting for a much greater cause- the global “War on Drugs”? Obviously, continuing to fight this war-one that has proven to be a catastrophic failure at eliminating or even significantly reducing the distribution, possession, and consumption of illicit drugs-is more important than silly little things like human rights.

Eventually officers did help inside the home before leaving, but they did not call paramedics, he said. The next day, his family said that they found him lying on the floor in his own feces.

“After they left, I tried to get up because I had to go to the bathroom,” he explained to KTBC. “And I couldn’t go. So, I just crawled over and laid on the floor right down through here. My sister had to call paramedics.”

Attorney Boadus Spivey, who is representing Crisp, accused the Georgetown Sheriff’s Office of a “conspiracy of silence.”

It is deeply ironic that various world governments have been waging this decades-long “War on Drugs” under the cover of promoting and ensuring public safety when the very war itself has resulted in untold damage to the lives of the people ostensibly being protected. Dear world governments: if this is your idea of “protection”, THEN PLEASE STOP PROTECTING US.

“Things like this don’t happen in a vacuum,” he pointed out. “There’s nothing that we’ve been able to get that identifies the officers, that identifies the action that occurred. We have our client’s information but I had to hire a private investigator just to get enough faxed to determine whether I should file a lawsuit or not. And I’m convinced that the facts are adequate to file this lawsuit and we’ll find out now that we have some way to get accurate information.”

A lack of transparency on the part of law enforcement agencies? I’m shocked I tells ya. Shocked.

Crisp said that Georgetown deputies had a warrant to search his home as part of an investigation into his nephew, but it was not clear what they were searching for.

This is why I think this story is yet another example of the “War on Drugs”. No, there isn’t anything in this article that directly states the SWAT unit was after Crisp’s nephew for drug-related offenses, but given that 62% of SWAT raids are for drug searches, I don’t feel it is unreasonable-absent evidence to the contrary-to believe it is true in this situation (if it turns out that my assumption is false, I will revise my opinion).

The lawsuit filed against Williamson County and the City of Georgetown seeks damages in excess of $1 million for Crisp’s medical care and mental anguish. The lawsuit alleges that officers used excessive force and caused bodily injury.

‘Excessive force’? Pshaw.  Look at Herman Crisp:

He’s African-American, and as we all know, the use of force (excessive or otherwise) by law enforcement officers against black bodies is justified because well, you know-they’re black. It’s not like black lives matter or anything.

* * * *

Disturbing video shows criminal justice student assaulted & tasered by Border Patrol, for no reason

A young woman travelling through an interior US Border Checkpoint in Waddington, New York Thursday was assaulted and arrested by border patrol for no reason.

Jess Cooke, 21, says she was driving through the checkpoint, when agents said she looked nervous. She was then routed over for a secondary inspection.

Shoot, by the “logic” of you look nervous so we’re going to detain you, I’d be stopped going through a checkpoint. After all, given the treatment of African-Americans by so many police officers, I think it’s reasonable for me to be nervous around them.

Knowing that the agents had no probable cause to search her vehicle, Cooke refused to consent to search. She was then told that she had to wait for a K-9 Unit to arrive before she could leave.

Being nervous is not probable cause nor reasonable suspicion for a search. While inconsistently answering questions may result in reasonable suspicion, it is unclear whether or not this happened prior to Cooke’s detainment.

Because Cooke had committed no crime she demanded to be let go. However, these agents were set on violating her rights.

The conversation between Cooke and the agents quickly escalated and Cooke was thrown to the ground by the male agent as the female agent deployed the taser.

Cooke said the taser was continually deployed until she stopped screaming. After handcuffing her, agents then illegally opened her trunk and searched her entire vehicle, according to Cooke.

The subsequent search turned up nothing.

As the U.S. continues its descent into a police state, this type of situation is likely to occur with greater frequency. Law enforcement officers across the country have (as a whole) far too much power, lack sufficient accountability & oversight, and have insufficient respect for the well-being of all civilians.

* * * *

Angry traffic cop threatens to smash Connecticut man’s phone for filming him

Man! Are there really this many law enforcement officials who do not know that citizens have the right to film them? Or maybe there are just a metric fuckton of authoritarian thugs who think they can intimidate civilians into submitting to their so-called authority? I lean towards the latter. In any case, here’s the story:

Around 11:00 a.m. on April 14, 30-year-old William Ramos began recording officer Kevin Nesta, who was hiding behind a tree along a busy road, radioing to colleagues about ongoing cars whose passengers were not properly restrained in their seats.

Nesta observed Ramos, ordered the guerrilla journalist to stop filming the public display of law enforcement, and threatened to destroy Ramos’ phone.

“Turn the phone off before I smash it,” Nesta says as he walks away from his covert vehicle monitoring spot and approaches Ramos.

I wonder why the officer was so angry and emotional.

Ramos, meanwhile, is still pointing his camera toward Nesta. Nesta, in turn, takes out his own mobile device and films Ramos right back.

“Is there a problem?” Nesta demands.

“There’s no problem,” Ramos replies.

“I didn’t think so,” responds Nesta in an authoritative tone that is also menacing. “Is there something you want to videotape?”

“No,” Ramos clarifies. “Just wondering.”

“No?” Nesta inquires, “But you’re videotaping. Why?”

At an impasse, the camera phone-wielding duo put away their phones and mumblingly part ways peacefully.

Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley tells the Courant that Nesta has been reprimanded and retrained, and that the officer’s filmed interaction with Ramos will help colleagues on the force “understand that they can be videotaped at any time while they are on duty.” “That’s certainly not the image or the professionalism that we look for in our officers,” Foley adds.

Ramos tells the Courant he has been concerned about accountability for law enforcement officers ever since his 22-year-old half-brother died at the hands of the East Hartford Police Department in April of last year.  “He was tasered and he passed away,” Ramos says of his sibling, now deceased. “Those officers were very hostile toward him… It’s intimidating when they treat you so hostile.”

Stories like Ramos’ (and his brothers’) are depressingly common in the United States, and are a big part of the reason that trust in law enforcement officials is declining in many communities.

* * * *

Cops were hours late to 911 call, when they finally showed up they killed the caller’s dog

Deborah Jones called for help early Sunday when her and her boyfriend had gotten into an argument, which caused her to feel unsafe. When the heroes didn’t show, she was forced to leave her home, only to return to a devastating scene. According to WFTV, “she found deputies surrounding her home and a paper authorizing the county to pick up her dog’s body.”

Residents of the Tymber Skan condominiums told local news that they advised the Orange County deputies that no one was home, but were ignored as the incompetent and trigger-happy cops kicked down Jones’ door, damaged her property, and killed her dog.

“They had to shoot my dog for no reason. They kicked my door in. I can’t even lock my door,” Jones said.

Jones’ daughter, Kita Williams, stated, “That’s his house. This is his house. He’s got to protect this house.”

A spokesperson for the cops said the deputies had to kick in the door due to nature of the call, and shot the dog only because he was charging at them. What they neglect to mention is that if the deputies had responded when help was actually needed, none of that would have been necessary.

Police Behaving Badly 5.27.15
{advertisement}

Police Behaving Badly 5.20.15

Tony Thompson,

From the use of excessive force to stealing drugs from suspects…from racial profiling to abusing the power of their badges…from sexually assaulting suspects to planting evidence…there is a never-ending stream of stories of law enforcement officials behaving irresponsibly, unethically, immorally, and/or criminally. Here are five recent examples from across the nation:

YouTube video shows undercover JPSO deputy punching teen in Metairie

JPSO Col. John Fortunato confirmed the incident happened Friday evening in the Lakeside Mall parking lot after a parade in Metairie.

The YouTube video begins with 17-year-old Brady Becker being held down on the ground by a man who has his hand around the teen’s throat. Moments later, the situation escalates when the man begins punching Becker in the face.

Becker was taken to a hospital and treated for his injuries. The JPSO booked the teen on complaints of possession of alcohol by a minor, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and inciting a riot after his release.

Fortunato said the altercation ensued after an apparent encounter with Becker and his friends as they were returning to their car in the parking garage. He said the undercover deputy was one of many who were working parade routes that evening.

WDSU contacted Becker’s mother, who said the teen did not know the undercover officer was with the JPSO and was sticking up for his friend. He admits to pushing one of the deputies because he was not aware of their position.

The circumstances leading up to the altercation remain unclear.

I hate that I think of this when incidents like this happen, but it’s a good thing Becker isn’t black, because he probably wouldn’t be alive.

* * * *

NYPD cop tries to arrest girl for arguing with him-community stops him (video)

The incident happened on May 14th in Washington Heights, when Michael Barber of the Copwatch Patrol Unit (CPU, an organization that films police activity) recorded a plain-clothes officer grabbing at a 14-year-old girl during an attempt to arresther for doing nothing. According to the allegations, the teen was under arrest for arguing with the officer after a child she was with (who witnesses say couldn’t have been more than 7 years old), had pushed a police call box’s button.

[…]

Witnessing the officer’s inappropriate handling of the situation, a furious woman from the community steps in and tells the officer that he is wrong to put his hands on a 14-year-old child. She defends the girls’ rights and repeatedly demands to know the officers’ names. She instructs the two girls being harassed that their parents must be told what the officers did to them.

The officer retreats back to his car, but at 6:20, he jumps out again and makes another attempt to arrest one of the girls. She tries to run away but the cop closes in on her – and that’s when several witnesses jump between the frightened teen and officer. They are successful in fending the officer off, but he makes another move at the 7:11 mark to snatch the girl. A woman jumps in and saves the teen one last time as bystanders yell at the cops, telling them to leave and respect the community. Fortunately, the cops give up.

Barber didn’t want to release this video at first, but he knew that it was important to defend innocent youth against the hands of police – especially now that so many children have died because of inappropriate action and police brutality. Barber told The Free Thought Project:

“I was scared to put up this video at first because I was not sure if it would get the cops in trouble or the community but everyone was wrong at some point.”

By posting this video, Barber shows that shows a community courageously defending its own against injustice and holding police officers accountable for their actions. The text accompanying the video says it all:

“We must protect our youths. This is a clear example of what people power is all about. These cops try to arrest these young girls for no reason at all and the community stepped up and did not allow it. These male officers had no right to put their hands on these girls, but they did anyway. These officers did not follow proper procedures and protocols.”

CPU’s video caption emphasizes the fact that those officers had no right – or reason – to arrest the girls. It might seem outrageous that a police officer would do such a thing, but cops often arrest people even when they’re not committing a crime. Even more troubling? They usually get away with it – and have been getting away with it for quite some time.

Supporting this data is a 2006 lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union accusing the Baltimore police for arresting thousands on made-up or extremely mild charges. Even in cases where there has been a false arrest, being able to hold officers accountable is a rarity. There are few consequences, and litigation can take years.

* * * *

This video highlights the vastly different treatment of a white person openly carrying a firearm and a black person doing the same thing:

According to the video, both men were carrying the exact same gun in the exact same area.

Walking down the street with an AR-15 strapped to his hip, a single officer approaches the white man. He’s briefly questioned, before being allowed to proceed on his way.

What happens when a Black man tries that?

The first cop who spots him exits his vehicle, gun drawn. He orders the Black gun owner to lie face down on the ground. He then orders the man’s wife, who is seven months pregnant and filming the encounter, to lay on the ground as well.

Although the Black gun owner is repeating the exact same legal arguments that the white man used during his encounter with law enforcement, the officer dealing with the Black man is obviously terrified. He calls for backup. Within moments no less than four cop cars are on the scene.

* * * *

Miami officers investigated over racist, crude emails

Sixteen Miami Beach police officers are under investigation after exchanging racist and pornographic emails, officials said on Thursday.

Some of the emails included cartoon characters making offensive remarks and another featured a fictionalised board game called “Black Monopoly”, in which every square said “go to jail”.

“Minorities and women were being demeaned in these emails that were sent between the officers, nude photographs were passed around and emails portraying offensive sexual acts were disseminated,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle told reporters.

Two of the accused officers in Florida are no longer with the force – one retired last year and another was fired this week in connection with the email incident. The two were the main instigators, authorities said.

The emails were sent to both personal and work accounts, and there were hundreds of messages exchanged in total, the Miami Herald reported.

In one instance, agents passed around an autopsy photo of a man controversially shot dead by police in 2011. Officials said they were investigating whether sending the picture was a criminal act.

This is from a news source in South Africa.  Which shows, once again, that the world is paying attention to the ongoing problem of police brutality in this country. I’m sure they’re noticing that nothing of significance is being done about the problem either  (I don’t consider mandatory body cams an example of significant action being taken to reduce police brutality because it doesn’t address the underlying issues contributing to said brutality).

* * * *

How in the world are there still cops in the U.S. unaware of the right of citizens to film interactions with the police?

A trucker driving through Georgia was stopped by WCSO deputy J. Rozier. In an effort to hold his detaining officer accountable, Carl Eastman, decided to film his traffic stop.

Eastman is cordial as he approaches the back of his tractor-trailer to speak with deputy Rozier. After the two greet each other, Rozier realizes that he is being held accountable by Eastman’s camera; he did not like this.

As Rozier asks for Eastman’s bill of lading and ID, he then asks him if he’d mind putting down his camera.

“I have the right to record,” explains Eastman.

But this Georgia deputy was apparently unfamiliar with the first amendment and began to threaten Eastman if he did not stop recording.

“I’m gonna ask you one more time or you gonna be charged with disorderly conduct,” says Rozier as he unlawfully threatens to arrest a man for practicing what has been deemed a right by multiple courts.

Eastman then attempts to put the camera down and leave it recording, but Rozier is adamant and continues his barrage.

“I’mma ask you nicely one more time to put that phone up,” says Rozier as he deals the final death blow to Eastman’s freedom of speech.

It has been clearly established that all Americans have the right to record the police. For an officer of the law to remain willingly ignorant to this precedent is at best, dereliction of duty, and at worst, unlawful deprivation of rights. Either way Deputy Rozier was completely in the wrong.

Police Behaving Badly 5.20.15

Police Behaving Badly 5.13.15

Tony Thompson, , , ,

From the use of excessive force to stealing drugs from suspects…from racial profiling to abusing the power of their badges…from sexually assaulting suspects to planting evidence…there is a never-ending stream of stories of law enforcement officials behaving irresponsibly, unethically, immorally, and/or criminally. Here are five recent examples from across the nation:

From out of South Carolina come two stories of police brutality, both resulting in the firing of the officers involved (h/t to If You Only News). The first story involves the brutal beating sustained by Brian ‘BJ’ Hatcher at the hands of ex-police officers Robert Joshua Shaw and John Bell. The two officers pulled over Hatcher during a routine traffic stop in November 2014. While the situation began calmly, it quickly descended into the latest example of police brutality (warning: following the end of the material quoted, there will be a graphic image of Hatcher’s injuries):

Two Honea Path police officers have been fired after a traffic stop turned violent late last year, sending one man to the hospital.

Robert Joshua Shaw and John Bell were terminated on Friday, according to town officials.

Investigators say the traffic stop happened on November 14 when the officers pulled over Brian “BJ” Hatcher, 34, on US-76.

Officials say Hatcher, age 34, led them on a chase and when he stopped, he came at them with an object that appeared to be a knife. A fight then broke out, according to authorities.

State investigators said the officers claimed Hatcher was “originally compliant,” but then came at them with a knife and they did what they felt needed to be done to restrain the man.

Hatcher was charged with failure to stop for a blue light, driving under suspension and resisting arrest. Several items, including a knife, were put into evidence.

Hatcher’s family said he had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery for injuries he suffered during the arrest and said officers went too far.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was called to investigate after the allegations of excessive force and the officers were placed on administrative leave.

Here is how badly ‘BJ’ Hatcher was injured (again, some may find the image disturbing)-

* * * *

The second story out of South Carolina involves a former police officer who has been charged with second-degree assault and battery and misconduct:

Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said a police officer with the city was fired Monday after an alleged assault.

According to Stewart, a woman said Lawyer Scott assaulted her while he was on duty at the Anderson Recreation Center on March 16.

Stewart contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate the complaint, and Scott was placed on administrative leave without pay.

SLED officials said Scott was charged with second-degree assault and battery and misconduct in officer. They said the assault charge carries a sentence of up to three years in prison. The misconduct charge, a common-law charge, carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

SLED officials confirmed they are investigating at the request of the Anderson Police Department.

Police said Scott’s employment was terminated with the city of Anderson on Monday.

Scott was arrested and booked into the detention center on Thursday.

* * * *

Florida woman testifies she passed out in car and cop raped her when friend stopped him for help  (Trigger Warning)

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the 26-year-old victim was in tears as she told the court that her boyfriend had flagged down the deputy because she appeared to be unresponsive after a night of partying on New Year’s Eve.

In a complaint filed earlier this year, the woman said that she woke up to find Donnelly standing beside her SUV, and her boyfriend had been placed in the deputy’s cruiser.

On Tuesday, the woman testified that Donnelly groped her through the window, and used his hand to rape her.

She said the deputy promised not to take her boyfriend to jail if she did not report the rape.

A probable cause affidavit indicated that Donnelly told the woman that she was “f*cking sexy” and that he had a wife. The woman said that she felt scared and that her only choice was to cooperate.

A sexual assault examination later revealed that the woman had suffered a cervical injury.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) confirmed the woman’s story when it found three places in Donnelly’s patrol car with her DNA: the steering wheel, the gear-shifter knob and the officer’s flashlight.

Thankfully the department is in the process of firing this guy and hopefully justice will be served.

* * * *

The death of Michael Brown, Jr at the hands of the racist, murderous ex-cop Darren Wilson served as a lightning rod for the Black Lives Matter Movement (which actually began in the wake of the acquittal of the racist-as-fuck George Zimmerman). Since that day in August of 2014, protesters around the country have called for an overhaul of the criminal justice system, greater transparency from law enforcement agencies, accountability for police officers who kill civilians, and an end to police brutality (among other things). That last point has been a focus for many protesters (to the point that many people falsely believe the Black Lives Matter Movement is only in response to police brutality) and you’d think that the greater scrutiny being placed upon cops would cause them to reflect upon how best to serve and protect the citizenry. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case for many cops, like some in the Denver PD:

As cities nationwide rose up to protest in solidarity with Baltimore, we saw video after video of basic rights being violated. On of the most disturbing was incidents was recorded in Denver on Wednesday, as pepper spray was used liberally on peaceful demonstrators including a 12-year-old child.  The incident was captured on video by two different witnesses.

Here is one of those videos.

I can’t embed the other video as it is posted on Vimeo, but click the link above and you can see for yourself. The Freethought Project also has a third video from the event, which was peaceful until law enforcement officials decided that no protest is complete without state-sanctioned violence.

If you’ve the stomach for it, the link I provided above quotes a response from an individual who supports the police response to this protest.

Oh, and this example of police brutality on the part of the Denver PD is but the latest in their very long history of violence:

Denver police have a very long history of violence. Most recently they have gained attention for the killing of Naeschylus Carter, also known as Naeschylus Vinzant, an unarmed man murdered by the same unit that arrested James Holmes, the Aurora shooter who killed 12 people and injured over 80 more. Holmes was in possession of automatic weapons and explosives, yet he was taken in alive. Carter’s family has not yet been notified of the killer cop’s name, and the community speculates it is because he is due to testify in the high-profile Holmes case.

A search for “Denver” on The Free Thought Project brings up nearly 23 pages of stories which can give you a glimpse as to why this community is outraged.

* * * *

The last story in this PBB entry enrages me beyond belief. Police officers are entrusted with power by the state to serve and protect the community. When they betray that trust…when they commit criminal acts, they should be arrested, charged, and should face the judgement of the courts. They should not, I repeat NOT be given their motherfucking jobs back after being charged with rape or possession of child porn (and no, I don’t give a flying fucking rat’s ass that they’ve been reassigned). But that’s exactly what has happened in New Orleans:

In the last 12 months, more than a half-dozen officers with the New Orleans Police Department have been booked and charged with various crimes.

In many of those cases, the officers are placed on what the NOPD refers to as “emergency suspension without pay.”

But the WDSU I-Team has learned that type of suspension only lasts so long and some officers charged with serious crimes are back on the job working — much to the surprise of some.

In a quiet Mandeville neighborhood, many people living in one subdivision near the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway know the NOPD sergeant who lives nearby. Several residents were shocked when the 16-year veteran of the force, Bradley Wax, 54, was arrested and charged with 38 counts of possessing child pornography.

When Wax was arrested, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office said investigators found pornographic images of children on computers and other electronic devices.

Because of the nature of the crime — and the number of counts filed — Wax faces a worst-case scenario of more than 500 years behind bars if he’s convicted. The NOPD wasted no time in announcing that Wax had been placed on emergency suspension without pay back in April of 2014.

Twelve months later, the I-Team found Wax on the job working in fleet management at NOPD headquarters in Mid-City.

Dr. John Penny, criminologist at Southern University at New Orleans, has followed NOPD issues for the bulk of his career.

“It’s incredibly hard to imagine anyone in that capacity would be back working and being paid for it at taxpayer expense,” Penny said.

But Wax is, and he’s not alone.

In February 2014, longtime NOPD Officer Michael Thomassie was arrested and charged with aggravated rape, the state’s most serious sexual assault charge.

In Thomassie’s case, prosecutors said the alleged victim was a child in his care and was younger than 10 years old when the crimes occurred. As with Wax, the police department placed Thomassie on emergency suspension without pay.

But the I-Team found him working in Algiers behind a desk at the NOPD’s Fourth District.

The I-Team asked the NOPD why Wax and Thomassie, who are facing felony charges, were back on the job. The department declined a request for an on-camera interview, but issued this statement:

“An emergency suspension is generally used as a tool for emergency situations when an officer has been arrested and is physically unable to come to work and perform their duties. Once the officer is able to return to work, they are reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation. Based on civil service rules, officers are disciplined after an investigation is completed and a formal disciplinary hearing has been held.”

Wax and Thomassie are set to go to trial this summer.

The Police Association of New Orleans admits the situation is “difficult” given the charges, but says the officers are innocent until proven guilty. Eric Hessler is an attorney for the association and claims that even though they wear the shield and wield the authority of any other officer, “It’s very rare they’ll be interacting with the public in any fashion.”

Wax is assigned to the fleet division and Thomassie is on desk duty. Those are different roles than they held before their arrests, but Penny is still concerned.

“It sends a very dangerous message to the citizens of this community,” Penny said.

NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble said that, according to policy, “An employee can only be suspended up to 120 days.”

And that puts the city of New Orleans in a quandary.

It may be hard to believe, but it’s true. Taxpayers are providing the salary for cops who have been charged with rape and possession of child porn. I cannot express how outraged this story makes me.  The USAmerican criminal justice system is so fucked up I just can’t even…

Fuck me, I need a drink.

Btw, it shouldn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyways:

I do not believe that all cops are bad or corrupt. The purpose of this ongoing series is to highlight those officers who are not worthy to wield the powers they’ve been invested with by the state.

Police Behaving Badly 5.13.15

Chaos has not engulfed Baltimore

Tony Thompson, , , , , ,

On April 4, 1968 civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His death outraged African-Americans across the country and was the inciting event that led to riots in several major U.S. cities including Chicago, Louisville, Kansas City, Washington D.C., and Baltimore. While King’s death was the proximate cause of the riots, in cities like Baltimore, years of economic inequality, high infant mortality, above average unemployment (compared to the national rate), and sub-par housing contributed to the anger and frustration felt by Black Baltimoreans. That frustration and anger provided the fuel that sustained riots in Baltimore from April 6-14 in the spring of ’68.

47 years later, civil unrest has once again come to the city of Baltimore, and once again, the catalyst for the unrest has been the death of an African-American male. On April 12, 2015, Baltimore police arrested Freddie Gray, Jr. after (I kid you not) he gave them a look and started running. Police reports claim his arrest was for possession of a switch blade (I didn’t know it was illegal to possess one in Baltimore). During transport Gray somehow fell into a coma and was eventually taken to a trauma center where injuries to his spinal cord and larynx were discovered. Gray died on April 19 as a result of these injuries. Although he was struggling to walk when he was arrested, he showed no signs of other injury, and the official police report states that the officers involved did not use force. Somehow he incurred damage to his spinal cord and larynx between his arrest and his admission to the trauma center (despite reports to the contrary, Gray did not have a pre-existing spinal injury). As he was in police custody during this time, it is highly likely that the police officers involved know more than they’re saying (it’s possible Gray sustained his injuries as a result of a rough ride). While some news outlets hint that Gray’s injuries were self-sustained, I find that quite implausible (and so does Gray’s family). Baltimore authorities have released little information regarding the events surrounding the death of Gray, claiming that it is important to allow the investigation to run its course. City officials have also said that they will not release the results of their investigation when it is completed on May 1.

With so little information released by city officials, many questions regarding Gray’s death remain unanswered. How did he sustain his injuries? Did they occur before or during his time in police custody? Were the officers involved aware of his injuries? Did the officers involved cause his injuries? Why were his hands cuffed and his legs in irons, yet he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt during transport? Why did the police chase him to begin with? Why did the police arrest him? With no answer to these questions, many African-Americans have become frustrated and suspect that a cover-up is underway. That frustration is fed in no small part by ongoing outrage over the unjust criminal justice system in the United States. That outrage fueled the creation of #BlackLivesMatter, a civil rights movement founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in the wake of the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.  The goal of the BLM is to raise awareness of and broaden the conversation surrounding state sanctioned violence against African-Americans. In their words:

When we say Black Lives Matter, we are broadening the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state.  We are talking about the ways in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.  How Black poverty and genocide is state violence.  How 2.8 million Black people are locked in cages in this country is state violence.  How Black women bearing the burden of a relentless assault on our children and our families is state violence.  How Black queer and trans folks bear a unique burden from a hetero-patriarchal society that disposes of us like garbage and simultaneously fetishizes us and profits off of us, and that is state violence.  How 500,000 Black people in the US are undocumented immigrants and relegated to the shadows. How Black girls are used as negotiating chips during times of conflict and war.  How Black folks living with disabilities and different abilities bear the burden of state sponsored Darwinian experiments that attempt to squeeze us into boxes of normality defined by white supremacy, and that is state violence.

#BlackLivesMatter is working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.  We affirm our contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.  We have put our sweat equity and love for Black people into creating a political project–taking the hashtag off of social media and into the streets. The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation.

In the wake of Gray’s death, protests began in Baltimore (ostensibly under the banner of #BLM). Initially the protests received little coverage from the mainstream media. Apparently, it isn’t news when an African-American man in police custody later dies under mysterious circumstances. On April 25, a small number of protesters became violent and hurled rocks at police officers and that’s when the MSM took note. The coverage of the protests focused on the relatively minor incidences of civil unrest, serving to paint a decidedly negative image of the protesters in the eyes of many USAmericans. Headlines like USA Today’s ‘Baltimore police say Freddie Gray protest turns destructive‘, TIME’s ‘Baltimore Riots: Instagram videos show violence, looting, unrest‘, CBS’s ‘Calls for calm amid rioting, chaos in Baltimore‘, CNN’s ‘Baltimore riot video shows liquor store on fire, chaos‘, and CNBC’s ‘Chaos in Baltimore: what you need to know‘ have helped perpetuate the idea that the protests in Baltimore are violent, chaotic, and city-wide. Two images courtesy of Vocativ dispel that notion:

The smaller scale of the 2015 civil unrest in Baltimore belies the claim that the city was engulfed in chaos, and yet many media sources chose attention-grabbing headlines that imply the opposite. AJ Woodson of Black Westchester warns people not to fall for the media narrative surrounding the protests:

As you read most of the nationwide coverage, the various news media and websites do admit that most of the protesters were peaceful as you read further down their stories, despite the attention grabbing headlines that speaks of only the violence, destruction and criminal mischief of a few. Unfortunately there will always be a few agitators in any crowd this size. Some of which are purposely positioned among the peaceful protesters for just that reason.

After what has been going on with black men being killed nationwide without any justice taking place even after grand juries, video evidence, incidences being ruled homicide by medical examiners, No officers go to jail, very few cops lose their job and the Ferguson officer who killed Mike Brown was allowed to retire and protect his pension, there is a sense of frustration in these protests, yes!

What happened in the streets of Ferguson was worst by comparison. But let’s be very clear, the scene the media is describing, the picture being painted with all headlines are something no one, I repeat NO ONE wants to see. What they’re showing you are the actions of 100 or so people, there were 10,000 people there, and despite some of the headlines, and you can see by the pictures below all the protesters were not black and out of control. And despite what a local pastor would have you believe, some of those who were acting up the most were doing so before those (he called outsiders), who came to town in support showed up.

Words have power, they create perceptions that make other actions possible and allow the most outrageous of  explanations why they kill black people believable and acceptable by other groups of people. Let’ be clear here, NO ONE wants to truly see Scenes of Chaos: 1,000’s of Frenzied Protesters Rioting In Baltimore, the city would truly still be burning. But they media will show the worst or the worst, you know if it bleeds it leads. It’s true it’s great for ratings which leads to heavy advertising revenue, but it is not good for our community or the race relations nationwide.

Just like the media takes the liberty to show the worst of the worst like they did in Baltimore, I am taking the liberty to show the worst of the worst in their reporting and calling them out. It’s important to not allow the mass media to distort the narrative and take away from the message of this fight for justice.

What they don’t report was there were, “Muslims, Christians, Jews, Blacks, Whites, Asians, Young and Old, Rich and Poor people all united and standing harmoniously against common oppression,” shared one of the organizers Frank ‘Sha’ Francois. The demonstration was sponsored by a wide coalition of social justice groups, including Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers For Justice (BLFJ), Carl Dix of Stop Mass Incarceration (SMIN) and brother Ted Freedomfighter Sutton of Sutton House, just to name a few who came in support of their brothers and sisters in Baltimore. Support for justice of Freddie Gray, 25, who was arrested one week ago, in West Baltimore. Who died on April 19th, from injuries sustained while he was in police custody.

Contrary to news reports from many sources, the story out of Baltimore is not ‘police were hit by rocks‘, ‘a CVS store burned to the ground in an act of arson‘, or ‘protesters became violent‘*. Yes, there were pockets of violence and property damage. Yes, roughly 15 police officers were injured and a CVS was destroyed. The CVS can be rebuilt, and the officers are still among the living. The same cannot be said of Freddie Gray, Jr, who joins a growing list of African-Americans killed in fatal police encounters including Michael Brown, Jr., Rekia Boyd, Walter Scott, Tanisha Anderson, Shelly Frey, Eric Garner, Alesia Thomas, John Crawford III, Rumain Brisbon, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, Kajieme Powell, Ezell Ford, Malissa Williams, Dante Parker, Yvette Smith, Miriam Carey, Shereese Francis and many more. The real story is one the mainstream media has largely failed to address: the failure of the U.S. criminal justice system to treat People of Color-especially African-Americans-equitably.

Let me be clear here: I do not condone the civil unrest. I recognize that there are people who suffer emotionally and financially when their property is destroyed. At the same time, I do not fully condemn the civil unrest because I understand that it is the last option open to an oppressed people who have had their lives and their rights trampled upon by an unjust criminal justice system enabled by the government. When black person after black person continues to be the victim of disproportionately harsh sentencing laws, racial profiling, and police brutality…when peaceful protests and lobbying politicians doesn’t work…when writing and blogging and being an activist does not work to change the system-what then? What is left? How can positive change be accomplished when all other avenues have been exhausted?  It is this understanding that led Martin Luther King, Jr. to say the following about riots:

Urban riots must now be recognized as durable social phenomena. They may be deplored, but they are there and should be understood. Urban riots are a special form of violence. They are not insurrections. The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions. They are mainly intended to shock the white community. They are a distorted form of social protest. The looting which is their principal feature serves many functions. It enables the most enraged and deprived Negro to take hold of consumer goods with the ease the white man does by using his purse. Often the Negro does not even want what he takes; he wants the experience of taking. But most of all, alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights. There are thus elements of emotional catharsis in the violent act. This may explain why most cities in which riots have occurred have not had a repetition, even though the causative conditions remain. It is also noteworthy that the amount of physical harm done to white people other than police is infinitesimal and in Detroit whites and Negroes looted in unity.

A profound judgment of today’s riots was expressed by Victor Hugo a century ago. He said, ‘If a soul is left in the darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.’

The policymakers of the white society have caused the darkness; they create discrimination; they structured slums; and they perpetuate unemployment, ignorance and poverty. It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society. When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also demand that the white man abide by law in the ghettos. Day-in and day-out he violates welfare laws to deprive the poor of their meager allotments; he flagrantly violates building codes and regulations; his police make a mockery of law; and he violates laws on equal employment and education and the provisions for civic services. The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them but do not make them any more than a prisoner makes a prison. Let us say boldly that if the violations of law by the white man in the slums over the years were calculated and compared with the law-breaking of a few days of riots, the hardened criminal would be the white man. These are often difficult things to say but I have come to see more and more that it is necessary to utter the truth in order to deal with the great problems that we face in our society.

The outrage felt by African-Americans is the result of centuries of discrimination, oppression, disenfranchisement, and economic inequality that sustains the engine of white supremacy. USAmericans must confront the deadly legacy of racism this country was founded upon and continues to benefit from (with an eye to demolishing that system) even if it means white USAmericans lose a bit of privilege. Until then, equality for all citizens will continue to be nothing more than a dream for all but a privileged few.

*For the pearl clutchers concerned about property damage, I have two things to say:

  1. Your priorities are deeply screwed up. You’re hand-wringing over property damage, but where is your concern for black lives? Why are you not outraged over the mass incarceration of black bodies? Why aren’t you similarly angry over the disproportionate levels of police brutality experienced by African-Americans? Why do you care so much more for property than human beings?
  2. Given your concern for property, if you would focus your attention on dismantling the engine of white supremacy, fewer and fewer African-Americans will reach the point of desperation whereupon they choose to engage in civil unrest.
Chaos has not engulfed Baltimore

Police Behaving Badly 4.28.15

Tony Thompson,

From the use of excessive force to stealing drugs from suspects…from racial profiling to abusing the power of their badges…from sexually assaulting suspects to planting evidence…there is a never-ending stream of stories of law enforcement officials behaving irresponsibly, unethically, immorally, and/or criminally. Here are five recent examples from across the nation:

Florida deputy fired for ignoring 911 call from dying woman so he could finish his pizza

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott fired Yvan Fernandez following an Internal Affairs report that showed that the deputy acknowledged the emergency call from dispatch before returning to his pizza, even though he was not on an official meal break at the time.

According to friends of the victim, Gwendolyn Minnis, 48, she had recently been released from the hospital after having a heart attack.

Police believe she called 911 to report another heart attack on March 13, with dispatch sending out a call for an officer to respond after the line went dead.

The report states that Fernandez was having lunch with three other deputies at Raider’s Pizza and Wings when he first took the call, responding to a second call from dispatch 8 minutes later, telling the dispatcher “copy.”

Fernandez then reportedly went back to eating his lunch before passing off the call to another deputy 30 minutes later.

Deputies arrived at the home where Minnis was staying, 53 minutes after the initial call, to find the woman lying in her walkway unconscious with the phone next to her. She later died.

The report also noted that Fernandez was not on an official meal break at the time of the call.  Had he been on a break, another officer would have been assigned to the call by dispatch.

Cop literally puts his appetite ahead of the life of another human being. This lack of concern for the well-being of citizens is one of the many problems USAmericans have with law enforcement officials.

* * * *

At the heart of the protests and civil unrest in Baltimore, MD is frustration over police brutality which disproportionately affects African-Americans. Here is one more in a long list of examples:

Video obtained by WDIV in Detroit appears to show Inkster, MI police officers laughing and celebrating after beating suspect Floyd Dent during a traffic stop.

All charges against Dent were drooped after brutal video emerged of officers punching him up to 16 times; Dent was also kicked and tazed, and suffered broken ribs and a head injury.

One officer said Dent had been trying to bite him and possibly reach for a weapon, though there were no reports of any officer injuries. Officer William Melendez, who inflicted most of the beating, has been fired, and may face criminal charges.

In the video obtained by WDIV the cops are reportedly seen afterward cleaning Dent’s blood off their uniforms and fist-bumping. The officers appear to be laughing, though there is no audio, and at one point one of the officers appears to reenact the beating.

I couldn’t embed the video here, but you can watch it if you click the link above.

* * * *

2 South Carolina cops sentenced to prison for torturing mentally ill woman

Officer Eric Walters confronted Melissa Brown on a morning patrol in Marion when he saw her walking out of the yard of a home up for sale, assuming she had broken into the residence. According to court records, Walters asked the mentally-disabled woman what she was doing, then tased her before she could reply. Davis collapsed to the ground, at which point the officer ordered her to put her hands behind her back, again not giving her a chance to comply before he tased her four more times.

It was shortly after this when Officer Brown arrived on the scene to find Walters removing the barbs of the taser from the woman’s back after he finally decided she had done nothing wrong. Good thing he didn’t do anything drastic, like electrocuting her repeatedly for no reason.

It gets worse.

Court records show Brown then noticed that his fellow officer didn’t properly apply the handcuffs, allowing one of her hands to slip out. This caused him to order everyone to move back while he tased her three more times, despite the fact that the woman was absolutely no threat to herself or anyone else. He finally stopped electrocuting her when she rolled back over to be handcuffed properly. He then offered to let her go if she let him tase her in the forehead, telling other officers at the scene that he only tased her because he “did not want to touch that nasty b*tch.”

The two officers were fired three weeks after the incident occurred. Franklin Brown was sentenced to 18 months behind bars; Eric Walters, a year and a day, both pleading guilty to deprivation of rights. Although Walters was the sole cause of the brutal attack on the innocent woman, Brown received a longer sentence because he electrocuted the woman when she was restrained and vulnerable. Davis attended the trial but began sobbing when Walters attempted an apology, and was escorted out by her family.

* * * *
Long Beach police shoot & kill unarmed teen through window for graffiti on abandoned building

Morejon was inside the vacant apartment building close to his home with four friends when police arrived and saw him standing by a wall through a broken window.

Likely alarmed by the police arriving and pointing to warn his friends, the teenager reportedly turned towards the window, bent his knees and extended his arm “as if pointing an object which the officer perceived was a gun.”

Yet another trigger happy cop that assumes someone has a weapon. I didn’t know the penalty for trespassing in an abandoned building was summary execution.

The police then fired an “unknown” number of bullets at Morejon and arrested the four people he was with for trespassing.  No weapons were found at the scene.

According to a video made by a witness, after the teen was shot, he climbed out the window in a desperate attempt to have his life saved by the monster who had just fatally injured him.

“He was saying, ‘my stomach… my stomach…’ and the cop said, ‘so what?’” the witness explained.

The witness also stated that Morejon was allowed to bleed to death, despite paramedics being only a block and a half away from the scene.

How the fuck does someone bleed to death when paramedics are that close? Oh, wait. I forgot. The lives of people of color don’t matter in this country.

His mother, Lucia Morejon, heard the shots and commotion echo from the alley behind her home and when she went outside to investigate what was going on she saw swarms of police, and her teenage son in an ambulance.

“When he saw her, he propped himself partially up and cried to her, “Mommy, Mommy, please come, please come!” She walked towards the ambulance, identified herself as his mother, expecting to ride with him to the hospital, but was pushed back by a man in a blue uniform. She asked what happened and was told that no one knew.” R. Samuel Paz, the lawyer representing the Morejon family wrote in a statement.

When his mother arrived at the hospital, she was not permitted to see her son until he was dead.

That’s beyond fucked up.

After taking this young life, the police went on the offensive, as usual, assassinating the character of their victim and claiming that the graffiti was gang related.  There has been no indication that it was, and his family insists that he was a sweet teenager who had no gang affiliation.

Always with the character assassination. As if being in a gang is sufficient justification for extrajudicial murder by cop.

* * * *

Ex-Irwindale police officer, city sued in molestation of Explorer Scout

“There isn’t a problem with law enforcement as a whole. It’s just a few bad apples.”

That’s a common refrain from police apologists, who seek to minimize the seriousness of police brutality in USAmerica. This story demonstrates that the police culture is geared towards protecting officers, rather than seeking justice. And that’s a problem for law enforcement, which is ostensibly charged with serving and protecting the citizens of this country.

An attorney Friday filed suit against the Irwindale Police Department for allegedly covering up a child sex abuse case involving a former police officer who molested a 15-year-old girl when she was an Explorer Scout.

The lawsuit claims city officials and other officers knew that ex-officer Daniel Robert Camerano, 28, was sexually abusing girls while he was an adviser in the department’s Explorer program but did little or nothing to stop it.

“This case is disturbing and tragic on a number of levels,” said Attorney Anthony DeMarco, an attorney for the victim. “It is striking that these officers knew what was going on and didn’t try to stop it. They’re supposed to be protecting people. They’re supposed to be protecting her.”

Others named in the suit include Camerano, the City of Irwindale and Learning for Life, the national organization that runs the department’s Explorer program, which is designed for high school students interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement.

DeMarco said the lawsuit is against Camerano for abusing her but also against each of the organizations for being complicit in what their officer was doing.

According to the lawsuit, Camerano was not “relieved of his position with the Explorers or disciplined in any way, until complaints reached the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and that entity began its investigation, which resulted in Camerano being criminally convicted in January.

Camerano is currently serving a state prison sentence of two years and eight months for crimes including using a minor for sex acts, oral copulation of a person under 16 and contact with a minor for sexual offenses.

According to the lawsuit and the criminal conviction, he molested the girl when she was on police-sanctioned “ride-alongs,” where the underage girl and her supervisor would work alone overnight in a squad car. He also molested her in the station house, where other officers and supervisors knew or should have known that he was abusing the girl.

City Attorney Fred Galante and Police Chief Anthony Miranda both declined to comment. Galante said the case would be handled by the Joint Powers Insurance Authority, an agency that provides insurance to government agencies.

Few bad apples my ass. And you’re a fool if you think this structural problem is unique to this one police department.

Police Behaving Badly 4.28.15

Complaining while black can get you arrested

Tony Thompson,

He didn’t shoplift jewelry or burn down someone’s house.

He didn’t shoot the neighbor’s dog and didn’t assault their spouse.

He did not rape a person and no child did he molest.

He destroyed no public property and was not outside undressed.

He did not drive intoxicated nor was he selling drugs.

He was merely griping about authoritarian thugs.

17-year-old Deonte Bertino was playing a game of basketball with friends when they were approached by police officers who told them to disperse. For what, I haven’t a fucking clue. Oh, sure, the cops mention something about someone dropping the F-bomb, but irrespective of whether that is a crime or not (and if it is, it damn well shouldn’t be), that is no justification for telling the teens to leave. In the process of following those orders, the Brockport, NY teen complained about how the police were harassing them. Guess what happened next:

When the teenagers were told to disperse, Bertino walked over to the bench to grab his belongings, but was clearly distraught that he was being forced to leave.

Deciding that teaching manners is now in the job description of police, Officer Cranston attempted to grab Bertino as he was following the order to exit the park, causing the teenager to pull away.

Bertino told the officer not to touch him, as he was not detained, and there was no justification for the officer to have his hands on him.  At this point, the officer tells him that he is under arrest and violently throws the barely 17-year-old to the ground with assistance from Officer Caitlin.  A third officer then rushes over to pile up on him.

Supporters of law enforcement tactics like this often say that black people wouldn’t be treated so horribly if they would simply listen to the police. Bertino was doing exactly that and yet he was still treated horribly by police. What’s their solution now? If complying with orders isn’t enough to stop police from treating black people horribly, what will? Do we have to stop existing?

The story gets a bit worse though. You may want to sit down for this next bit of shocking news. Guess who lied on the police report?

“The arresting officers lied on the police report saying my son threatened the officer and cursed at the officer. In the unedited video, you can plainly hear he never cursed at the officer,” Dante’s father, Jeremy Bertino, told The Free Thought Project.

I know, I know. It’s totes shocking that cops would lie.

Speaking of that unedited video:

Look at that-no threats and no cursing (as if four-color language should be worthy of detainment, let alone arrest). This is nothing more than the latest example of cops expecting civilians to blindly submit to their authority and becoming angry when that does not occur. Fucking authoritarianism.

Complaining while black can get you arrested

Police Behaving Badly 3.10.15

Tony Thompson, , 1 Comment

Police and prosecutors lie and in the process nearly ruin a man’s life

One of the worst days of Douglas Dendinger’s life began with him handing an envelope to a police officer.

In order to help out his family and earn a quick $50, Dendinger agreed to act as a process server, giving a brutality lawsuit filed by his nephew to Chad Cassard as the former Bogalusa police officer exited the Washington Parish Courthouse.

The handoff went smoothly, but Dendinger said the reaction from Cassard, and a group of officers and attorneys clustered around him, turned his life upside down.

“It was like sticking a stick in a bee’s nest.” Dendinger, 47, recalled. “They started cursing me. They threw the summons at me. Right at my face, but it fell short. Vulgarities. I just didn’t know what to think. I was a little shocked.”

Not knowing what to make of the blow-up, a puzzled Dendinger drove home. That’s where things went from bad to worse.

“Within about 20 minutes, there were these bright lights shining through my windows. It was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I mean I knew immediately, a police car.”

“And that’s when the nightmare started,” he said. “I was arrested.”

A ‘living hell’

He was booked with simple battery, along with two felonies: obstruction of justice and intimidating a witness, both of which carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. Because of a prior felony cocaine conviction, Dendinger calculated that he could be hit with 80 years behind bars as a multiple offender.

That kicked off two years of a “living hell,” as Dendinger described it, a period that is now the subject of Dendinger’s federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers, attorneys and former St. Tammany District Attorney Walter Reed.

In a scene described in the lawsuit, Dendinger recounted a nervous night handcuffed to a rail at the Washington Parish Jail. He said he was jeered by officers, including Bogalusa Police Chief Joe Culpepper, who whistled the ominous theme song from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

After his family posted bail, he said he was hopeful that the matter would be exposed as a big misunderstanding. After all, he thought, a group of police officers and two St. Tammany prosecutors witnessed the event.

“When I agreed to do it, I felt it was nothing more than someone asking to pick up a gallon of milk at the convenience store on the way home,” Dendinger said. “I know I didn’t anything wrong. I was worried, but people told me, ‘Cooler heads will prevail.’ “

But instead of going away, the case escalated.

Supported by two of his prosecutors who were at the scene, Reed formally charged Dendinger. Both prosecutors, Julie Knight and Leigh Anne Wall, gave statements to the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office implicating Dendinger.

With the bill of information, Dendinger’s attorney Philip Kaplan said he got a bad feeling.

“It wasn’t fun and games,” Kaplan said. “They had a plan. The plan was to really go after him a put him away. That’s scary.”

The case file that was handed to Reed and his office was bolstered by seven witness statements given to Washington Parish deputies, including the two from Reed’s prosecutors.

In her statement to deputies, contained in a police report, Knight stated, “We could hear the slap as he hit Cassard’s chest with an envelope of papers…This was done in a manner to threaten and intimidate everyone involved.”

Casssard, in his statement, told deputies, Dendinger “slapped me in the chest.”

Washington Parish court attorney Pamela Legendre said “it made such a noise,” she thought the officer “had been punched.”

Police Chief Culpepper gave a police statement that he witnessed the battery, but in a deposition he said, “I wasn’t out there.” But that didn’t stop Culpepper from characterizing Dendinger’s actions as “violence, force.”

When Dendinger saw the police report, he said his reaction was strong and immediate.

“I realized even more at that moment: These people are trying to hurt me.”

Critical evidence uncovered

What the officers and attorneys did not know was that Dendinger had one critical piece of evidence on his side: grainy cell phone videos shot by his wife and nephew. Dendinger said he thought of recording the scene at the last minute as a way of showing he had completed the task of serving the summons.

In the end, the two videos may have saved Dendinger from decades in prison. From what can be seen on the clips, Dendinger never touches Cassard, who calmly takes the envelope and walks back into the courthouse, handing Wall the envelope.

“He’d still be in a world of trouble if he didn’t have that film,” said David Cressy, a friend of Dendinger who once served as a prosecutor under Reed. “It was him against all of them. They took advantage of that and said all sorts of fictitious things happened. And it didn’t happen. It would still be going like that had they not had the film.”

Dendinger spent nearly a year waiting for trial, racking up attorney’s fees. As a disabled Army veteran on a fixed income, Dendinger said the case stretched him financially, but in his eyes, he was fighting for his life.

After nearly a year passed, his attorneys forced Reed to recuse his office. The case was referred to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, which promptly dropped the charges.

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission and himself a former prosecutor, studied the videos. He did not hesitate in his assessment.

“I didn’t see a battery, certainly a battery committed that would warrant criminal charges,” Goyeneche said. “And more importantly, the attorney general’s office didn’t see a battery.”

Now the video is at the heart of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Reed, his two prosecutors Wall and Knight, the Bogalusa officers and Washington Parish Sheriff Randy “Country’ Seal.

All the people involved in trying to ruin Dendinger’s life need to face jail time.  Remind me again why anyone should trust the police?

* * * *

 Cop cocks his shotgun and asks protesters “Are you scared?”

This is terrorism. The cop should be facing a stint in jail.

Friday night, more than 30 Black Lives Matter protesters converged on Penn Station, carrying pictures and chanting the names of people who have died at the hands of the NYPD.

After leaving Penn Station, the group drifted over to the Lincoln Tunnel entrance, and resolved to block Manhattan-bound traffic for 11 minutes—one minute for each time Garner told police “I can’t breathe.”

No sooner had the group spread itself across the two lanes of incoming traffic than a group of Port Authority police approached, says Patrick Waldo, who was among the protesters. One of the officers was carrying a shotgun.

“The officer with the gun was one of the first that I noticed,” Waldo said. “He actually had hand-on-the trigger, shotgun up in the air. We were all like, whoa whoa whoa, take it easy!”

“We mic-check that we’re gonna be there for 11 minutes,” says Kim Ortiz, one of the organizers of the protest. “And then we hear the officer rack the gun. We were like, ‘We’re armed with a banner and cardboard signs!’ He was like, ‘Are you scared, are you scared?’ And we were like ‘No, we’re not scared.’”

* * * *

Cop shoots unarmed man in face during marijuana investigation

The fatal encounter occurred when 26-year-old Derek Cruice allegedly resisted arrest during a drug investigation that turned up less than a half-pound of marijuana inside his Deltona home, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office tells Vocativ.

Authorities arrived at the house around 6.30 a.m. on Wednesday to serve a drug warrant. Shortly after, Deputy Todd Raible, 36, fired a single shot, striking Cruice in the face as he stood inside the doorway.

Cruice did not have a weapon, but authorities say he posed a threat. 

“They [the deputies] were met with resistance and a shooting incurred,” Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson told local media on Wednesday, offering few additional details.

Witnesses inside the home, however, dispute claims that Cruice posed any danger to deputies. Roommate Steven Cochran told Orlando’s WFTV that Cruice wasn’t wearing a shirt when he was shot. “It’s kind of hard to conceal anything or hide anything when this is all you have on,” said Cochran. “They entered the house and fired.”

What’s not in dispute is what officials recovered at the scene: less than eight ounces of marijuana, along with a scale, drug ledger and $3,000 in cash, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Raible, a 10-year veteran of the force, was placed on administrative leave. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating the incident.

It doesn’t matter if he posed a danger or not, since cops all too often justify their use of lethal force with the still reliable “I was concerned for my life”.  They’re never asked to justify this concern. It’s a get-out-of-jail free card by which they’re absolved of any responsibility in the death of another human being.

* * * *

Brooklyn teen was charged with assault until this video proved the police were lying

The incident took place at Brooklyn’s Puerto Rican Day parade on June 8. Dennis Flores, founder of the neighborhood police watchdog group El Grito De Sunset Park said police descended on the revelers in the evening, something that’s become expected. “We’ve been documenting this every year,” Flores told Think Progress. “The neighborhood gets flooded with police officers. Young kids are marching, waving flags, and cops are corraling them, pushing them around, like it’s a nuisance to have them out celebrating their culture.”

Flores’ group had several activists taping the police that day, a tactic that activists across the country have found useful for monitoring police. So they were able to capture Rosario’s arrest from multiple angles, a fact that would be crucial for proving his innocence. Photos and recordings can often mean the difference between conviction and exoneration.

Rosario wasn’t afilliated with El Grito, but he also happened to be filming when an officer shoved the woman standing next to him. In fact, Flores said that’s why he was targeted. Rosario’s lawyer Rebecca Heinegg said several officers then attacked Rosario, slamming him against the gate of a closed store and beating him with batons. “Basically, my client was a victim of a gang assault by the 72nd Precinct,” Heinegg told Max Jaeger for The Brooklyn Paper.

Once the attack started, Flores said, police began pushing people back and macing them to keep onlookers and cameras from seeing what was going on. Flores said that the injury police blamed Rosario for was caused by another cop. “This officer swung his nightstick and missed, hit another police officer across the head,” Flores said.

A grand jury decided not to prosecute Rosario for assaulting a cop in September, but he continued to face charges for resisting arrest and larceny until the District Attorney’s office offered to drop all charges as long as he stays clear of the law for six months.

The charges proved to be an economic burden to Rosario’s family, even though they were dropped. Rosario and his mother Wendy Tabarez had to attend eight court dates since he was beaten and arrested, costing wages and time off lost. For working people, an arrest can come at a high price, even if they are eventually found innocent.

* * * *

 Police brutality amid Spring Break

In a video taken by a bystander, Sgt. Bryan Bingham can be seen placing his hands around the neck of Joshua McMahan, and then slamming his head to the ground. Next, 24-year-old Justin D. Lewis attempted to intervene, seeing that McMaham was in physical danger, but he too was thrown to the ground by Bingham. Another officer can be seen in the video sitting on one of the men and wrapping his hands behind his back.

Lewis spoke to ABC Action News on Monday evening, explaining why he attempted to intervene in the arrest.

“When I got there, my friend’s face was blue. He was already passed out before he hit the ground and the cop was just not letting up,” Lewis said.

For attempting to intervene as he did, he was charged with assaulting a police officer, a claim which he strongly denies.

“I got marks, banged up. There’s times in that video I have my hands at my side. I’m tapping, tapping out. I’m not even resisting,” he said.

Local legal expert Jeff Swartz suggested that the chokehold the officer used may have been illegal but admitted that it doesn’t really matter.

“If the hold was illegal and could have been considered to be deadly force, then the officer might have a problem, but not much of one,” he said.

There is no doubt that spring break can get out of control and violent, especially when alcohol is involved. However, when responding to a fight, shouldn’t the police be concerned with breaking it up instead of joining in? The man was not resisting before the initial takedown and he most certainly wasn’t resisting after. The officer’s actions seem to have been punishment or gloating.

Not every situation requires the use of violence to resolve. Sadly, for many cops, non-violent conflict resolution is a foreign concept.

Police Behaving Badly 3.10.15

Black people cannot even take out the trash without being harassed by police

Tony Thompson,

I’ve worked in restaurants from the age of 16 on. In that time, I have performed mundane tasks such as scrubbing floors, sweeping, and mopping. I’ve also taken out the trash–a lot. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to be arrested for trespassing while taking out the trash not once, not twice, but 62 times. I don’t know what that’s like, but unfortunately Earl Sampson of Miami Gardens, FL does:

Miami Gardens, Fla., convenience store owner Alex Saleh decided he’d try. He’d become vexed at what he saw as police harassment of his employees and even his customers.

So he installed surveillance cameras, with the specific intention of watching the detectives.

He’d become frustrated, you see, about the possibly not coincidental number of times that his employee, Earl Sampson, had been stopped and questioned by police officers — 258 times over a four-year period does seem a little like overkill. These included 100 searches and 56 jailings. As for convictions, well, they were only for marijuana possession.

Saleh told the Miami Herald it seemed odd that Sampson had been arrested 62 times for trespassing, when the vast majority of offenses were outside the very same Quickstop.

That would be the Quickstop where Sampson worked.

How the hell do you arrest someone for trespassing on the grounds of the business they work at? Could it be some racial bias on the part of the arresting officers? No, that can’t be it. If you ask a police officer, they’ll say “I’m not racist”, and we know they’ve examined their beliefs to ensure they hold no conscious or subconscious stereotypes about People of Color. It must be something else. That would be sarcasm, btw.

Earl Sampson is not the only Miami Gardens resident who has been harassed by the MGPD:

In the summer of 2010, a young black man was stopped and questioned by police on the streets of Miami Gardens, Florida. According to the report filled out by the officer, he was “wearing gray sweatpants, a red hoodie and black gloves” giving the police “just cause” to question him. In the report, he was labeled a “suspicious person.”

He was an 11-year-old boy on his way to football practice.

A Fusion investigation has found that he was just one of 56,922 people who were stopped and questioned by Miami Gardens Police Department (MGPD) between 2008 and 2013. That’s the equivalent of more than half of the city’s population.

Not one of them was arrested.

It was all part of the city’s sweeping “stop and frisk” style policy that may be unparalleled in the nation.

According to a review of 99,980 “field contact” reports, they were stopped, written up and often identified as “suspicious” — but just like the 11-year-old boy — the encounter was recorded in a public database, and they were let go.

Thousands more were arrested after being stopped by the police, raising the total number of people ensnared by the policy to 65,328 during the five-year period.

“I have never seen a police department that has taken the approach that every citizen in that city is a suspect. I’ve described it as New York City stop-and-frisk on steroids.” said Miami-Dade County Public Defender Carlos Martinez.

Last year, a Miami Herald report exposed how the MGPD repeatedly stopped and arrested employees and customers of a local convenience store including, Earl Sampson, who was stopped more than 200 times.

Fusion’s analysis of more than 30,000 pages of field contact reports, shows how aggressive and far-reaching the police actions were. Some residents were stopped, questioned and written up multiple times within minutes of each other, by different officers. Children were stopped by police in playgrounds. Senior citizens were stopped and questioned near their retirement home, including a 99-year-old man deemed to be “suspicious.” Officers even wrote a report identifying a five-year-old child as a “suspicious person.”

Fusion’s Investigation also found evidence that some field contact reports may have been falsified. There were many instances were multiple reports were filed just minutes apart – all claiming to stop the same person. Other reports claimed a person was stopped on the streets by police, when in fact, they were actually in jail at the time.

Two officers from the MGPD told Fusion that high-ranking department officials gave them orders to “bring in the numbers” by conducting stops and arrests. One officer said he was ordered to stop all black males between 15 and 30 years of age.

Nope. No racism or racial bias to see here folks. Just keep walking.

Black people cannot even take out the trash without being harassed by police

Police Behaving Badly 2.24.15

Tony Thompson,

Cop “accidentally” shoots boy playing on balcony after pointing gun at him

A Baltimore County police officer shot a 14-year-old boy Monday night while moonlighting as an apartment complex security guard.

Police said two security guards were working off-duty at the Woodridge apartment complex who were investigating reports of people inside apartments that were under construction.

The officer who shot the teen told police that he saw someone come out on a balcony. He said he was pointing his weapon at the balcony, and it simply went off.

The officer “was pointing the weapon in the direction of the balcony” when “his weapon discharged accidentally,” the department said in a statement.

Either this officer is lying about what actually happened or they have never heard of one of the most important rules of firearm safety:

“Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.”

Police spokesman Cpl. John Wachter said he did not have an updated condition of the teen Tuesday morning. Police have not yet identified the officer or the victim.

Wachter said police believe the teen had been “standing in the area of the sliding glass door for the balcony.” The officer who shot the teen was on a hill which put him slightly above eye-level with the balcony.

“Due to the weather and lighting conditions, it is not likely that the officer was able to determine how old the person was or even what gender the person was,” Wachter said.

The off-duty officer whose weapon “accidentally discharged,” has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

* * * *

Indian man partially paralyzed after being brutalized by Alabama cops

On January 31, Sureshbhai Patel arrived in the U.S. from his home state of Gujarat, India, for an extended visit with his son, Chirag, and daughter-in-law.

Chirag’s 17-month old son, Ayaan, was born prematurely and had been experiencing some developmental delays. Chirag, who worked full-time and was studying for his master’s degree in electrical engineering, had given up his classes to help his wife with the baby.

To help support his son, Sureshbhai Patel took time away from his farm in India to lend a hand.

It wasn’t the elder Patel’s first visit to the United States. The 57-year-old, who the family says was granted permanent resident status following his son’s 2012 citizenship, had also visited after Ayaan was born. However, it was Sureshbhai’s first visit to the family’s new home in a Madison subdivision off County Line Road.

Six days after his arrival, he was just getting settled in.  His son and daughter-in-law had prepared a spare bedroom for him and installed a flat screen television.

On February 6, Chirag Patel left for work at 7 a.m. A short time later, his father went out for a walk. He would not return.

At 9:42 a.m., Chirag received a message from an employee at Madison Hospital asking him to call the emergency room. He hurried to the hospital and found his father seriously injured.

Chirag says his father explained he was walking down the sidewalk on the family’s street when three Madison police officers approached and began questioning him. Sureshbhai, who speaks only a few English words, reportedly said “No English. Indian. Walking.” He claims he gave his son’s house number, pointing in the direction of the family’s home.

That’s when the Patel’s say one of the officers grabbed Sureshbhai’s arm, wrenched it behind his back and forced him to the ground. His face hit the ground. His neck was injured and he reported having no feeling in his arms or legs. He was rushed to Madison Hospital, then transferred to Huntsville Hospital.

His family says he underwent cervical fusion surgery the next day and has since regained some feeling in his arms and one leg, although he is still partially paralyzed. They say doctors expect recovery to take months.

As WHNT News 19 previously reported, Madison Police say officers did try to question Sureshbhai Patel while investigating a suspicious person call in the neighborhood. According to the caller, a strange man had been walking into driveways and looking in garages.

Investigators say, while police were trying to speak with Sureshbhai Patel, he put his hands in his pockets. When they tried to pat him down, he pulled away. That’s when police say the officer forced him to the ground and he was injured.

Oh dear, did they feel their “lives were in danger”, just bc he put his hands in his pockets? Fucking police and their brutal tactics.

* * * *

 Fearing for his safety, an NYPD cop tackles a woman wielding a lollipop

NYPD Detective Sekou Bourne is being accused of tackling and assaulting a woman because he thought that she had drugs. However, what the detective believed to be drugs was just a lollipop.

Jarnale Henry claims that the officer assaulted her in her Brooklyn apartment after he mistook her for a drug dealer.

Last April, Bourne was reportedly snooping around Jarnale’s apartment complex in search of drug dealers. At one point, Bourne was hanging around Jarnale’s apartment, so she asked him, “What do you want?” according to court documents.

According to Jarnale, the officer then became violent with her.

“He pushed me down … They knocked my lollipop to the ground. I fell on my leg, onto my whole right side,” Jarnale said.

In Court, Bourne said that the lollipop looked like it could be marijuana, and he also claimed that the way she said “what do you want” indicated that she was selling drugs.

“I thought it was a drug-related question. I thought she was asking me if I needed any drugs. That’s when I identified myself as a police officer,” Bourne said in court.

Bourne denies tackling her, but he says that she tripped on her own.

“She tripped and fell on her own. Then I got on top of her and began frisking her for my safety,” he said.

Bourne has a history of wrongly suspecting people of having drugs and assaulting them without any probable cause.

In addition to the accusations from Jarnale, Bourne is also being investigated for the assault of 17-year-old Marcel Hamer. In the case of Hamer, Bourne attacked him because he believed that the teenager was smoking marijuana, but it was just a cigarette.

No prejudiced views of Black people in his head. Nosiree.

* * * *

 LAPD shoots at teen with fake gun but hits 15-year-old bystander

At about 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning, two officers spotted a group gathered in an alley in the 7200 block of 10th Avenue in South Los Angeles, the L.A. Times reports. The officers saw a teenage boy pointing what they believed to be a gun at someone. The officers ordered the teen to put the gun down. When he did not respond, one officer opened fire, shooting a 15-year-old boy standing next to the teen in the back.

The 15-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital and later released. The teen with the fake gun was not injured, but could face charges for brandishing a fake weapon in front of a police officer. Police determined that the teens were all friends and hadn’t been fighting.

LAPD Cmdr. Smith called the shooting an “unfortunate situation” and said that “because of people bringing out replica weapons like that, it certainly could have been a terrible tragedy.”

The officers named have not been revealed yet, though both have been taken out of the field pending investigation.

Dear NRA,

Can we have that talk about gun violence that you keep putting off? That discussion needs to be ongoing and also needs to cover the glorification and fetishization of firearms by USAmericans.

* * * *

Deputy drags mentally ill woman through courthouse

“Stop! You’re hurting me!” 28-year-old Dasyl Jeanette Rios yells as a deputy drags her down the hallway of a courthouse in Broward County, Florida. “You’re fucking hurting me! I hate my life! I wish they would kill me already! Why do I have to be alive?”

Rios had just been declared mentally ill by the court, where she was being tried in a felony trespassing case. Officers told Rios to sit down on a bench, but when she refused after being told she could not say goodbye to her mother, Broward Deputy Christopher Johnson—a 27-year veteran of the department—grabbed her shackled feet and proceeded to pull her down the hall.

Chief Assistant Public Defender Lynn Desanti witnessed the incident, which left her deeply disturbed, according to WSVN, a Fort Lauderdale news station. “I could hear screaming, and I could see a deputy yelling at somebody, and all I could hear was, ‘If you don’t get up, I’m going to drag you,’” she said. “He dragged her all throughout the courthouse until she went to the holding cell.”

Desanti’s husband, attorney Bill Gelin, also witnessed the scene and filmed it on his phone. “They could have had a wheelchair. They could have had a stretcher. They could have had somebody with just the slightest bit of compassion,” he told WSVN. “This is really barbaric, and I’m just extremely disappointed. We all work together in the court system, particularly in the criminal justice system, and this just gives everybody a black eye.”

Why are we supposed to respect the authority of law enforcement officers when so many of them do not respect the rights of civilians?

Police Behaving Badly 2.24.15

Police Behaving Badly 2.9.15

Tony Thompson, ,

If a cop were to punch a 13-year-old student with a closed fist, resulting in the student being knocked to the floor, one would think the student did something incredibly egregious. Brutally beating another student perhaps. Bringing a weapon such as a knife or a gun to school maybe. Cutting in line at the cafeteria?  Not a good reason at all to punch a child. Unless you are former Louisville Metro Police Department officer Jonathan Hardin.

Jonathan Hardin, 31, a sworn LMPD officer who worked as a school resource officer at Olmstead Academy North, is accused of assaulting two students at the school on two days in January. According to the warrant, both incidents are captured on surveillance video.

The first incident, according to his arrest warrant, took place Jan. 22 when he allegedly hit a 13-year-old student in the face with a closed fist, knocking him to the floor.

The reason? According to paperwork filed, the student cut in line in the cafeteria.

The school resource officer cited the student with menacing and resisting arrest.

Five days later, on Jan. 27, Hardin was accused of putting a 13-year-old in a choke hold, causing him to lose consciousness. He later allegedly handcuffed the student instead of getting him medical treatment then drove him home not telling his parents what happened.

Dr. Bill Smock concluded the choke hold caused a brain injury to the student creating a great risk of death to the child.

“They’re very serious charges,” said Louisville attorney Thomas Clay, “One of them carries 10 to 20 years in the penitentiary, it’s assault first degree.”

Clay said the current charges against the officer are consistent with what his clients experienced in the summer of 2014, when Hardin was working at the Gentleman’s Academy, a program that was a joint effort between LMPD and the University of Louisville.

Clay is suing Hardin, Officer Clayton Reeves and Colonel Yvette Gentry on behalf of a 14-year-old and his mother.

I wonder what explanation, if any, Hardin offered for his use of excessive force. His response to a 13-year-old cutting in line brings to mind the NYPD’s racially biased Broken Windows policy. The policy basically states that policing lower tier crimes like jumping tolls, trespassing, or vandalism creates an environment of law and order, thus preventing more serious crimes from occurring. Looking at Hardin’s actions through the lens of the Broken Windows style of policing, stopping a teenager from cutting in line makes some degree of sense (although I’m not convinced that Broken Windows policing is an effective deterrent to more serious forms of crime). What doesn’t make sense is punching the kid! But then many police officers across the country often have anger management issues and many of them are far too quick to make use of excessive force. It’s almost like they’re not being trained to serve and protect, but to treat civilians like wartime combatants or something!

* * * *

This next example of bad behavior comes from a Coast Guard officer, rather than a police officer, but it’s in keeping with the idea of uniformed people in positions of power behaving badly.

A Coast Guard member shot two colleagues at a Cape Cod condo complex early Thursday, lit a car on fire to hamper police, planted fake bombs and then opened fire on officers, authorities said.

The episode, which police chief in the town of Bourne called “crazy and hectic,” left one woman dead, another woman and an officer wounded, and the suspect in custody.

Coast Guard spokesman Ross Ruddell said both women involved were stationed on Cape Cod, while the suspected gunman was a man stationed in Virginia. Ruddell said he could not disclose their names or how they knew each other.

The man set a vehicle on fire to block the only road into the condo complex and set up devices resembling bombs, authorities said. The state police bomb squad examined the devices and determined they were all fakes that contained no explosives, Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said.

The suspect was taken into custody at gunpoint about a half hour after the 2:15 a.m. attack.

What started as a response to reports of a vehicle on fire turned into a “crazy and hectic scene,” Bourne police Chief Dennis Woodside said. He said police also received a 911 call from one of the victims from inside a condo.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe called the shooting of the officer “an ambush.” Officers made their way around the burning vehicle on foot and were pinned down by gunfire.

The wounded officer, shot in the back below his bulletproof vest, took cover between two vehicles, his colleagues unable to reach him. Woodside described the officer as a veteran with at least 10 years of service.

The officer lay wounded for about 15 minutes before the suspect was arrested. Even then, police remained wary because they were not aware if there were other gunmen.

Two colleagues grabbed the officer and carried him through the woods and snow so he could be taken to the hospital, where he was stabilized and improving, the chief said.

Just after 2:45 a.m., after police apprehended the suspect, officers made their way to the unit where they found the two women who had been shot, one fatally.

* * * *

San Francisco cop caught choking a sleeping hospital patient, then falsely arresting him

A San Francisco sheriff’s deputy is facing four felony charges and a misdemeanor after he randomly assaulted a sleeping patient at S.F. General Hospital and then lied about it.

The 33-year old deputy, Michael R. Lewelling, filed an official police report in November of this year claiming that the victim had assaulted him with a wooden cane. The victim was then arrested and charged with a felony and a misdemeanor.

However, surveillance footage of the assault shows that it was Lewelling that approached a sleeping man, and actually assaulted him.

According to KRON4, District Attorney George Gascón says the surveillance tape:

“depict(s) the victim hunched over in a chair sleeping in the Emergency Room’s waiting area, awaiting a doctor’s appointment later that day. Deputy Lewelling approaches the victim as he is starting to wake up.

He subsequently appears to engage in a conversation with the victim, at which point the victim slowly stands up, using a cane for assistance. Once up, he attempts to take a step towards the exit. While the victim is attempting to walk away, the defendant grabs the back of his collar, pulling him back into the seat and knocking his cane away.

The victim never raised his cane in a threatening manner. A few seconds later, he appears to grab the victim’s throat and begins to choke him. The battery continued, and the victim was then placed under arrest.”

After reviewing the surveillance footage, prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Lewelling for perjury, filing a false police report, filing a false instrument and assault under the color of authority. He also faces a misdemeanor count of battery.

* * * *

Family asks cops to check on 74-year-old vet after surgery, and they break in and kill him

Gastonia police Chief Robert Helton explained at a press conference on Sunday that a family member had asked officers to check on James Howard Allen on Saturday afternoon, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Helton said that Allen’s family had asked for the welfare check because the 74-year-old veteran had recently undergone surgery.

An officer first visited Allen’s home at 10:20 p.m. on Saturday, but there was no answer.

Gastonia police then contacted the Gastonia Fire Department and Gaston Emergency Medical Services at 11:30 p.m. and a “decision was made to enter the house, concerned that he may be inside in need of emergency assistance,” Helton said.

According to the chief, Gastonia police Officer Josh Lefevers announced himself before coming through the backdoor of the home, but Allen was pointing a gun at officers when they entered.

“He was challenged to lower the gun down,” Helton insisted. “The gun was pointed in the direction of the officers, and a shot was fired that fatally wounded him.”

The shooting left Allen’s family demanding answers.

“(He) probably woke up, someone’s breaking in on me, so when you’re by yourself you try to protect yourself,” Allen’s brother-in-law, Robert Battle, told WSOC.

Otis Thompson, a friend of Allen’s, said that his first reaction would have been to “grab a gun too.”

“You kicked the man’s door in,” Thompson remarked. “He’s disoriented and he’s in his own house, privacy of his own home.”

Sister Mary Battle said that she understood that police were probably frightened, but she pointed that her brother “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Helton told reporters that the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation had been asked to investigate the shooting. The Gastonia Police Department followed its standard procedure for officer involved shootings and placed Lefevers on administrative leave.

Allen was African-American…

* * * *

In a team-up between Police Behaving Badly and Irresponsible Gun Owners, a Mississippi couple is seeking help from the FBI because local police officers drew a gun on their 6-year-old autistic son.

Angela Thompson Roby said the incident happened while officers from the Ridgeland Police Department were executing a search warrant on Friday against her 23-year-old brother, Carneigio Gray, inside their mother’s home.

“My son was telling the police officers to stop, to not do that, please don’t hurt his uncle,” she told WBRC. “That’s when the guns were drawn on him and my mother was telling them, ‘Hey please don’t point your gun at my grandbaby. Please don’t do that.’”

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported that, according to police, they called for backup when Gray resisted arrest. He had a warrant for contempt of court after he failed to appear to answer drug paraphernalia charges from three years ago.

Roby and her husband have contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Attorney General’s office. But a police spokesperson, Lt. John Neal, said the couple had not filed a complaint with the department.

“We’ve got policies and procedures for citizens to file complaints, and there are channels that are in place for citizens to lodge complaints with us to where they can be investigated,” Neal told the Clarion-Ledger. “If this family feels they’ve been wronged, our doors are open. We’d be happy to talk to them.”

I wonder why this BLACK family didn’t contact their local police department about this. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the perception on the part of many African-Americans that police are racist and untrustworthy. No. It must be something else.

Police Behaving Badly 2.9.15