Prosecution Wrapping up case in Houston Police Videotaped Stomping of 15 yr. old Black Boy

From [HERE] -One of the eight police officers accused of beating an unarmed Black teenager testified Monday in the trial of a now former officer who has been charged in that beating.

Andrew Blomberg, 29, is the first of the four former police officers to stand trial in the alleged attack that was caught on video. He is charged with official oppression, a misdemeanor. (After looking at the tape it seems the Government could have brought felony charges such as aggravated assault or felony assault. The Prosecutors apparently also agreed to empanel an all white jury! Do they really want to convict these cops and send a message to the HPD or are they just going through the motions? bw).  

On Friday, a 37-year veteran of the training academy testified that when he watched the videotape of the arrest, he saw Blomberg stomp on Holley's head. He said no HPD officer is trained to do that, and the technique used did not make sense. "He's treating the suspect poorly," the training officer said.

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Arizona's Juan Crow Law and the Impending Police State

From [HERE] Is it premature to call a place a "police state" where authorities are given authority to detain a person until their immigration status is verified, without regard to the length of the detention? Will a tipping point be reached if the US Supreme Court validates all (or even a portion) of Arizona's SB 1070? The law requires among other things that local law enforcement determine status where a "reasonable suspicion" exists that the person is an undocumented alien.

The so-called "papers, please" law is an apt title because the law will require any person who is "lawfully" stopped, detained or arrested to prove his status, including a fortiorari his US citizenship. When he does not or cannot, then the person can be held for as long as it takes for the state to get confirmation from the federal government and return with a definitive answer — provided such information even exists in federal databases.

The problem is that many unintended persons, yes even law-abiding US citizens, will be adversely and unfairly affected if the Supreme Court gives the nod to Arizona to enforce federal immigration laws. There is no question, as at least one Supreme Court justice recognized at oral argument in the Arizona v. United States case last week, that many people may not even be listed in the federal immigration database but in actuality have a claim preventing their forcible physical deportation.

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St. Paul reaches agreement to pay Black Man $86,500 in police brutality suit

From [HERE] and [HERE] The city of St. Paul has reached an agreement to pay resident Deshun Carter $86,500 to settle a federal police brutality lawsuit.

The agreement is expected to be confirmed by the city council at its Wednesday, May 9 meeting.

Carter won a $35,000 punitive damages award from a federal jury last month. With attorney's fees, the final output by the city could have been higher without the settlement, which also stops any further legal action from either side. The agreement is "not to be construed as an admission of liability," the city asserted.

Carter, 31, alleged that St. Paul police attacked him while he was barbecuing in his back yard on Sept. 26, 2009. A federal jury ruled on April 16 that Officer Adam Bailey used excessive force on Carter.

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No Justice for Chamberlain. White Plains Officer Cleared in Shooting Death of Unarmed 68 yr Old Black Man

 Despite petition with more than 200,000 signatures asking for District Attorney Janet DiFiore to charge the officers involved in the shooting with murder and civil rights violations - no charges are filed.

 From [HERE] and NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York grand jury has declined to indict a white police officer who shot and killed an ailing black veteran in his own apartment, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

The shooting occurred in November after police responded to a call that Kenneth Chamberlain, who suffered from respiratory and heart problems, had set off his medical alert device, indicating he needed help. The encounter was recorded by audio and video devices, which police planned to release to the public after Chamberlain's family accused police of excessive force and racial profiling. Nothing was released. According to Chamberlain's attorney, transcripts from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office of audio recordings of the night Chamberlain was killed, reveal Officer Steven Hart as the officer who said to Chamberlain, “Stop, we have to talk nigger” before police broke down his door.

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White Men Acquitted, Beat top Charges in Baltimore 'Neighborhood Watch' Assault on Black Teen

BALTIMORE (AP) — A judge convicted one brother and exonerated the other Thursday in the 2010 beating of a black teenager they encountered while responding to a suspicious person report received by an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood watch group.

Eliyahu was convicted of false imprisonment and second-degree assault, and cleared of carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure and Avi was acquitted of all three counts.

The judge did not consider the testimony of the now-16-year-old victim, who was excused after refusing to testify. Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Wiggins struggled to get the teen to speak on the witness stand about the incident. The emotional teen's words were inaudible and he frequently put his head down in his lap. Finally, he stood, declaring that he shouldn't have called police and he wouldn't testify anymore. The teen's testimony stricken from the record, but his 911 call recording was allowed.

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Criminal Trial Underway for One of the Houston Officers Charged with Beating Unarmed Handcuffed 15 yr old Black Boy - All White Jury Selected

HOUSTON (AP) — A teenager testified Thursday that he was trying to surrender to Houston police officers when they repeatedly kicked and hit him, causing him to briefly lose consciousness, during his 2010 arrest on suspicion of burglary.

An attorney for Andrew Blomberg, one of the four since-fired officers accused of participating in the beating, countered his client was a "hero" who tried to secure a potentially dangerous suspect, and that he had not kicked the then-15-year-old boy. Blomberg, 29, is the first of the four former police officers to stand trial in the arrest that was caught on video. He is charged with official oppression, a misdemeanor, and faces up to a year in jail if convicted. 

The video, shows Chad Holley, then 15, running away from police before he is clipped by a police cruiser as it hits a chain-link fence. The boy then falls to the ground, rolls on the grass, flips onto his stomach and clamps his hands behind his head. Within seconds, a half- dozen officers appear to attack him forcefully with their fists and feet. After another series of blows, a handcuffed Holley appears to lift himself up as he is led to lean over the back of a police car. 

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Witness Says North Chicago Police Lying about Hanna's Death: Black Man Beaten & Tased after being Handcuffed

Witness, "They was writing my statement for me...I didn't write it."

North Chicago - The girlfriend of the man beaten and tazed by North Chicago police is telling Fox Chicago News that his death didn't have to happen -- and that police are not telling the truth about the incident.

Darrin Hanna died last November. In her first television interview, Dianna Wilcox tells Fox Chicago News  she agreed to talk because's she upset that the North Chicago Police officers accused of causing her boyfriend's death went back to work.. Wilcox and Hanna were both put in handcuffs in the apartment, the night Hanna was arrested. She says, "I heard the stomping and the tasers went off six times and I heard a lot of ruffling and rangling all that stuff and you know, stomps and (the taser sounded like) 'shhhhhh---shhhh-shhhh'---like that."

Six North Chicago officers and their superviser were put on leave after an independent investigation showed Hanna was beaten and tased, AFTER he was cuffed.

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DEA Apologizes to Asian Student Who Nearly Died in Custody - Not Charged with any Crime

From [HERE] The Drug Enforcement Administration has apologized to a San Diego college student who nearly lost his life after being left handcuffed in a cell for more than four days without food or water. The student, Daniel Chong, had been arrested in a drug raid along with six others. He was not charged with any crime and was due to be released. But instead, the DEA says agents 'forgot about' Chong after placing him inside a holding cell in handcuffs. Chong says he could hear DEA staffers outside his cell, but no one answered his pleas for help. He drank his own urine in a bid to survive before finally being found just as he says he felt his life slipping away.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called on U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asking for an "immediate and thorough" Department of Justice investigation into the matter.

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Dallas County sued over death of Black inmate at jail - Confrontation with Officers Led to brain Injury

From [HERE] Another Dallas County jail inmate has died after fighting with jail officers, resulting in a new federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against the county.

At issue is the question of whether restraint by the jail officers caused or contributed to the Nov. 10 death of George Barnes Koomson. Similar circumstances surround two other jail deaths that are still in litigation.

Mary Koomson, his widow, and Samuel Koomson, his father, sued the county, the jail officers involved and Parkland Memorial Hospital. The hospital provides jail medical care and was where Koomson was pronounced dead.

Their suit says Koomson, 44, was arrested by Dallas police on Oct. 31 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. On Nov. 3, he stopped breathing and was taken to Parkland where he was put on artificial life support, the suit said. He remained in a comatose state until his death a week later.

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Judge dismisses excessive force lawsuit against LAPD for Fatal Shooting of Unarmed, Naked Black Man

From [HERE] The Los Angeles Police Commission previously ruled that a Los Angeles police officer was justified in the shooting of 25-year-old Reginald Doucet Jr. in January 2011.

On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed the excessive force lawsuit filed by his family, reports the L.A. Times, saying that police, under certain circumstances, are shielded for their official actions.

Doucet was shot to death while nearly nude during a confrontation outside his home in Playa Vista.  Officers were acting in defense of their lives, said Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith. 

Authorities were called to the early morning scene while Doucet was naked and arguing with a taxi driver, according to the department. 

Unsuccessful in efforts to calm him, Doucet ran. When officers caught up with him, they claim Doucet went on the attack and began punching them in the face. The department alleges that Doucet grabbed the handle of Officer Aaron Goff's gun and tried to remove it from its holster. Even though the police report stated that "the officer's were fighting for their lives" and  "during the fight the suspect repeatedly punched both officers in the face and head" - the officers had very minor injuries. [MORE] 

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