Testi-Lying Straw-Boss, Black Police Chief Offers a Vigorous Defense of His Master’s History of Brutalizing Blacks in Case of Syracuse Cops’ Cover Up & Beating of Black Man who Called 911 for Help

According to FUNKTIONARY:   

Straw-Boss  - a Sambo who is appointed a certain oversight role for the white power Overseer. It is the job of the Straw Boss to establish a formal organization to effectively and systematically carry out the wishes of the white supremacist power matrix while serving his own personal needs and ends through patronage power. 2) a ranking SNigger. 3) Toby. 4) "Safe Negro." 5) responsible (to the white supremacist ideology) Negro. 6) the gatekeeper for black professional positions gained through (acquiesced) to various sexual positions. 7) Pork Chop Boy. (See SNigger & McNegro)

Negro - a man or woman of Afrikan descent living in pathological mental state of cultural abstinence and historical amnesia— one who wants to impress his or her oppressor while ignoring the effects and plight that his or her accommodationist posture inures. [MORE] 

From [HERE] Syracuse police Chief Frank Fowler [in top photo above] spent four often-contentious hours on the witness stand Friday defending his department's history on the use of force and discipline.

Fowler was the last witness to take the stand Friday in a federal lawsuit against three of his officers and the city. Alonzo Grant Sr. claims officers violated his constitutional rights by beating him up after he called for help resolving a dispute involving his daughter in 2014. 

The lawsuit accuses the officers of false arrest, falsified police reports and conspiracy to deprive Grant of his constitutional rights. The suit also accuses the Syracuse Police Department of discriminatory policies and practices.

Grant's attorney, Charles Bonner, argued Fowler and his department have routinely allowed officers to get away with excessive force. The lawyer raised several past claims against the department.

Bonner effectively put on trial Fowler's management of the department he's run for nine years, showing how rarely he's disciplined cops for brutality. Fowler is leaving the job at the end of this year.

Fowler was having none of it. 

He defended his department's policies and refused to accept lawyers' characterizations of those previous cases of violence between police and civilians. He didn't discipline officers in Grant's case, he said, because the officers' actions didn't violate the department's use of force policy.

Grant, Fowler said, resisted arrest by attempting to assume a "tabletop position" on all fours while two officers tried to subdue and handcuff him. Officers had grabbed Grant from behind and tackled him to the ground after he punched a screen door while leaving his home.

The officers - Damon Lockett and Paul Montalto - punched and kicked Grant, according to his attorney, leaving Grant with a concussion, broken nose and other injuries. The lawsuit also names Sgt. Brian Novitsky, who Grant claims lied in police reports to cover up the excessive force used in the arrest.

Grant worked at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center for more than 30 years and has no criminal record.

All charges against Grant were eventually dropped by the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office. DA William Fitzpatrick - who also testified Friday - said Grant's good character was considered when determining whether or not to bring charges.

BLACK ON BLACK CRIME IN SERVICE OF RSW. Officer Damon Lockett, acknowledged that he punched Alonzo Grant in the head 10 times during a bloody arrest, but he testified that his actions were justified. [MORE]

After the department received an anonymous complaint about Grant's case, it was investigated by former Cpt. Thomas Galvin, who was head of professional standards (commonly called internal affairs). Galvin issued a report saying the claims were unfounded and no discipline was recommended against the officers. Fowler reviewed and approved the report.

Bonner described that report as incomplete, since Galvin didn't interview the witnesses listed on the complaint form.

Fowler said Galvin tried to interview Grant's wife. When Galvin reached her, however, she said her attorney - Bonner -- had advised her not to be interviewed. Bonner later contested that timeline.

During his testimony, Fowler described the internal system the police department uses to track all instances of physical force, called Blue Team. That system, he said, flags an officer if he or she has multiple physical altercations in a short period and alerts command staff.

He described at least one instance in which an officer was disciplined and later resigned after an accusation of excessive force.

Grant's case, he said, was processed in Blue Team.

Bonner repeatedly asked Fowler whether the officers' actions during Grant's arrest constituted excessive force. Fowler stood by Galvin's report justifying the use of force.

Bonner then shared with Fowler a "hypothetical" scenario that mirrored the Grant's version of the events. He described two officers -- one white, one black -- throwing a man off a stoop then hitting and kicking him, even after he was handcuffed.

He asked Fowler if a reasonable officer would consider that to be excessive force.

"It could be," Fowler said after a long pause.

"It could be? Is that your answer?" U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd interjected.

"It could be, yes sir," Fowler said.

Throughout his testimony, Fowler was unwavering as Bonner described a department lacking in accountability to the citizens of Syracuse. Bonner implied Fowler and the department shirked their duties to protect Grant's 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and his right to safety and security in his own home.

Bonner detailed instances in which officers used physical force against citizens and were not disciplined. 

He referred to Brad Hulett, a disabled man who cops Tasered then dragged off a Centro bus in 2013. He brought up Elijah Johnson, Micah Dexter, Louise Thompson and at least one other person, who all have accused officers of excessive force.

Attorney John Powers, representing the city, pointed out that a jury acquitted officers in Dexter's case, even though the Citizen Review Board requested discipline. He said Bonner did not present the facts of any of the cases and one of the instances of violence occurred in 2001, long before Fowler was chief.

Bonner countered that other cases were resolved in favor of victims, like Hulett's. The city paid Hulett $2 million to settle that case.

Throughout his testimony Fowler often challenged Bonner's questions, asking him to be clearer or denying the accuracy attorney's statements.

Fowler said he would not or could not answer some specific questions about past incidents. He earned several rebukes from Judge Hurd. At one point, as the court waited several minutes for Fowler to read through a series of documents, the judge, growing impatient, asked Fowler if his lawyers had prepared him to testify.

"You knew you were going to testify today," Herd said. "Did you review these documents?"

Fowler replied he had.

Later, when Fowler responded to one of Bonner's questions with a question, Hurd chided him again.

"You don't ask questions," Hurd said.

As Bonner sought to demonstrate whether the officers violated the department's use of force policy, he described a video in which Grant asked one of the arresting officers "Why are you choking me?"

An officer is only permitted to choke someone if that person is an immediate threat to an officer or to another person. 

Fowler would not confirm the video as evidence Grant was being choked, merely that he said he was being choked.

Both Fowler and city attorneys also criticized the efficacy of the Citizen Review Board - an appointed group of citizens who listen to claims of misconduct against police and recommend action to the chief.

Bonner used CRB reports to claim Fowler has ignored claims of excessive force and false arrest in years leading up to Grant's case.

That board, city attorneys said, doesn't take testimony under oath, nor does it interview officers for a thorough investigation. And Fowler said he heeds their recommendations when warranted. He shared an example of a change made at the CRB's request: adding seatbelts and video cameras to the back of prisoner transport vehicles. [MORE]