Video of Unlawful Stop and Degradation of Black Man in Benton Harbor (MI) is More Proof Blacks Don't Have 4th Amendment Rights in the Areas They Live In; Places ALL Controlled by Elite White Liberals

ACLU Finds Freedom of Movement Limited for Blacks in DC [in EVERY City Controlled by Elite White Liberals w/a Large Black Population, Cops Stop and Degrade Blacks in Grossly Disproportionate Numbers]

LEGAL TRUTHS MUST GIVE WAY TO REALITY. BRAZEN COPS SO FREQUENTLY ABUSE THEIR POWER THAT NO BLACK SHOPPER, PEDESTRIAN, MOTORIST, JUVENILE, ADULT OR BLACK PROFESSIONAL OF ANY KIND—COULD MAKE A RATIONAL ARGUMENT THAT SO-CALLED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS PROVIDE BLACK PEOPLE ANY MEANINGFUL PROTECTION FROM COPS OR THE GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL.

From [HERE] On or about April 10, 2024, Dakarai Larriett, a Black man, was driving his vehicle lawfully in Benton Harbor, Michigan (Berrien County). He was pulled over by troopers of the Michigan State Police without any reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe he had committed any traffic violation and/or crime. [MORE]

Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in Michigan near Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. It is an 80% Black city that is controlled by elite white liberals. [MORE]

The first Michigan State Police officer who confronted Larriett during a traffic stop earlier this year accused the 42-year-old Black man of being drunk, claiming he smelled like alcohol, specifically something “fruity.”

The second cop was convinced Larriett was under the influence of marijuana and medication – an indication he never smelled alcohol – even though the video shows that officer having a face-to-face conversation with Larriett.

“We’re trained in standard sobriety evaluations, we’ve had over 800 hours of that,” the second cop, Matthew Okaiye, boasted to Larriett. “In our professional opinion due to our training experience, we don’t believe you can operate that motor vehicle safely.”

However, their professional opinion was proven wrong by a blood test that indicated Larriett was not under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or medication. And body camera footage suggests they may have even been trying to plant drugs in his car.

Larriett, who comes across as soft-spoken and clear-headed in the video, was charged with operating under the influence of a controlled substance.

But prosecutors dismissed the case “due to lack of evidence and the unlawful nature of the stop and arrest,” according to a lawsuit Larriett is preparing to file.

“The actions of the Michigan State Police officers were part of a pattern and practice of racially discriminatory policing,” wrote attorney Shawndrica N. Simmons in the complaint obtained by Atlanta Black Star.

The lawsuit accuses Michigan State Police of violating Larriett’s Fourth Amendment rights, false arrest and malicious prosecution.

The Arrest

The incident took place at 3:10 a.m. on April 10 in Benton Harbor after Michigan State Trooper George Kanyuh pulled him over, claiming Larriett did not come to a complete stop at two flashing red lights – allegations that Larriett denied.

Body camera video shows Kanyuh mocking Larriett’s license plate, which is made up of his first name, “Dakarai.” The name Dakarai is African, and it originated from the Bantu language of Zimbabwe’s Shona people.

“You’ve been drinking daiquiris, my goodness,” Kanyuh tells his partner before stepping out of the car and engaging with Larriett.

Kanyuh asks for Larriett’s license, insurance, and registration, then asks if alcohol has impacted his ability to drive, but Larriett says no.

“When was your last drink? Has it been at least two hours?” Kanyuh asks.

Larriett said yes but later in the video explains that it had been much longer than two hours while clarifying that he did, in fact, answer the question accurately.

“I can smell it on your breath,” Kanyuh tells him. “Something fruity-like. What were you drinking?”

“There’s no alcohol in here,” Larriett responds.

But Kanyuh orders him out of the car and has him do several field sobriety tests, which he appears to pass. But the cops claimed he made numerous mistakes.

Kanyuh asks him if he is on any medication, and Larriett says he is, but when the cop asks him what type of medication, Larriett declines to answer, telling the officer that “I prefer to keep my medication private.”

Kanyuh keeps peppering him with questions, including asking him if he was under the influence of marijuana, which Larriett denies.

That was when Kanuyuh walked to his car and appeared to be searching for something that Larriett believed was a drug to plant in his car. The video even goes black for several seconds as he is searching his car.

The cops transported him to a local hospital to get his blood drawn, then to jail, where he says he was further humiliated after cops conducted a scan of his stomach and claimed to have spotted evidence that he had smuggled drugs into the jail by ingesting them.

“It is clear that the troopers were planning to plant drugs in Plaintiff’s vehicle and implicate him in a drug crime as they also attempted to at the jail,” the lawsuit states.

The cops were so desperate to find drugs in his system that they even wanted to examine his feces, according to the claim.

“An extremely humiliating moment occurred where I was forced to defecate publicly while Trooper Kanyuh yelled at me not to flush,” Larriett told the Detroit Metro Times.

Watch the 54-minute body camera video on Larriett’s YouTube channel or the shortened, edited video below. [MORE]

Court Asked to Order the Release of Video of J'Allen Jones' Custodial Murder in Connecticut Jail. 9 Cops Beat and Smothered Black Man while he was Hogtied and Hooded, then Denied Medical Treatment

From [HERE] A video that shows a bound, naked Black man — his head covered with an irritant-soaked mask — being struck and held down until he stops breathing should be released because it is a public document, a lawyer says in a new legal document. 

The recording shows what led to the March 25, 2018 death of J’Allen Jones, 31, an inmate at the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown. Lynnette Richardson, Jones’ girlfriend and administrator of his estate, and his mother, Jessica Jones, filed the wrongful death lawsuit against state Department of Correction staff members five months after he died.

The state is defending the staff, justifying the use of force and saying the correction officers didn’t know about Jones’ medical condition: An autopsy showed his cardiovascular disease was a factor to his death.

An internal investigation concluded that the correction officers did not use excessive force, although DOC Capt. Robert Hartnett, who conducted the investigation, did find that the eight officers and a DOC nurse waited too long to begin life-saving measures.

In the motion filed Friday to unseal the video, attorney Ron Murphy wrote that the Attorney General’s Office had submitted the recording as an exhibit, which it cited 37 times in legal documents. 

“Exhibit A must now be considered a judicial document immediately accessible to the public,” Murphy wrote.

The state has until Oct. 25 to file a response to Murphy's motion.

In his motion, Murphy explained how the approximately 50-minute video, recorded by a correction officer using a handheld camera, came to be sealed.

Lawyers from the state Attorney General’s Office “refused to disclose the video unless the plaintiff agreed to a discovery protective order, which plaintiff did under duress as it was the only way to get the video,” Murphy said in the motion.

He said the protective order, however, should not have applied to a video that is an exhibit.

Murphy also talked about why the state didn't want the video made public. Quoting Hartnett from a 2022 deposition, Murphy said the investigator “believes releasing the video would pose a safety and security concern to the Department of Corrections because the general public would be ‘inflamed’ and ‘incensed’ by the video showing J’Allen’s death."

The motion lists four specific images from the video that Hartnett allegedly said would upset the public:

1. Correction officers holding Jones down “when you can hear J’Allen having difficulty breathing”;

2. J’Allen “flopped over to the side” in a wheelchair while “unconscious”;

3. “The seven-minute delay before the onset of CPR” and 

4. “A period of inaction ... while Mr. Jones was undergoing a medical emergency.”

Murphy also pointed out a few areas Hartnett did not address, writing that "Jones was Black and eight of the nine defendants are white,” and that Jones didn't “hit or threatened any of the defendants involved in his death.”

“The events in the video are as disturbing as the events in the video of George Floyd’s death,” Murphy wrote, referring to Floyd's 2020 death after a police officer kneeled on his neck, an act that was captured on cellphone video, sparking nationwide protests and changes in how police do their jobs.

“But in some ways, the video of J’Allen’s death is worse as the defendants struck J’Allen repeatedly, violently threw him down twice, sprayed him twice directly in the face with pepper spray while his face was covered by a safety veil — all while J’Allen was naked, handcuffed behind his back, shackled at his ankles, hogtied, and having a schizophrenic episode in the psych ward of a Connecticut prison,” he wrote.

“Moreover, the defendants caused J’Allen to stop breathing, become unconscious, and then delayed calling 911 or starting CPR by seven minutes after it was apparent he had stopped breathing,” Murphy wrote.

Murphy also suggested that there was an attempt to deceive anyone watching the video. He quotes in the motion a lieutenant who at one point looked at the camera and then twice said in a low voice, “Clean this up." Murphy said in other court documents that he had to use audio-enhancing technology to amplify the words so he could hear them clearly.  

He wrote that the correction officers then nodded in agreement and “start shouting and hitting J’Allen as if to justify their prior actions.”

Hartnett’s investigation, which included an in-depth account of what the video shows about the officers’ use of force, states that the officers started warning Jones to stop resisting much earlier during the deadly interaction, however. 

Study Shows Black and Latino Children in NYC are Not Learning in Public Fool System in City Controlled by Elite White Liberals

From [HERE] Some New York City public schools spend up to three times as much per student than the citywide average — but show dismal results, The Post has found.

The average per-pupil budget at NYC public schools was $21,112 in fiscal year 2023-24, according to new reports posted by the city Department of Education, but dozens spend much more — up to $60,000-plus — while producing math and reading scores well below the citywide average, records show. 

This year, after Chancellor David Banks ordered many schools to adopt a new phonics-based curriculum, the citywide proficiency rate in reading for NYC students in grades 3-8 fell from 51.7% last year to 49.1%, according to preliminary results released this week. Math proficiency inched up 3.5 percentage points from last year to 53%.

The final results to come out this fall may differ because the preliminary data don’t include kids learning to speak English – their scores are still being “verified,” documents show. 

But many of the lowest-scoring schools enroll fewer than 100 children with per-pupil spending on par with a pricey private education, records show.

“It’s really scary that students are performing so poorly with all that money being spent,” a DOE administrator who reviewed the data told The Post. “I’m shocked that district superintendents haven’t stepped in to question what’s going on.” [MORE]

Eric Adams Indicted, Targeted by Massa' Media after Falling Out of Favor w/His White Liberal Masters. Black Mayor said Biden/Kamala “Did Nothing” when “Broken Immigration Policies” Overwhelmed NYC

"BLACK" MAYOR GOT KAEPERNICKED. 'Any act or attitude on the part of SHOWCASE Blacks which ELITE WHITE LIBERALS PERCEIVE AS CONTRARY TO THEIR GOALS OR defIANT TO THEIR AUTHORITY, control or dominance WILL TRIGGER THEM TO FILTER OUT OR DESTROY THE OFFENDING BLACK PERSON. [MORE] 

Showcase Blacks are THE CREATIONS OF ELITE RACISTS, WHO FUNCTION AS THEIR SPONSORS, DISTRIBUTORS, MANAGERS, DONORS AND PRINCIPALS WHO "SHOWCASE" THEM. THEY ARE “coin-operated,” high-profile blacks that are constantly paraded before the public. Showcase Blacks are a necessary illusion of the racism/white supremacy system. They may be political dignitaries, pro athletes, entertainers, CELEBRITIES, business people, PUNDITS, elected officials OR APPOINTED AUTHORITIES. They are rewarded handsomely for their activities and their created personas are a career investment. But they are disposable and punished when they get out of line with their masters. Their real purpose is to mask the REALITY of being black in America.

From [HERE] Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted by a grand jury on charges connected to a federal probe, sources told The Post — as the defiant chief executive claimed he was being persecuted by the federal government for speaking out about the city’s migrant crisis.

The historic indictment — the first for a sitting modern New York City mayor — is expected to be unsealed Thursday by US Attorney Damian Williams, according to the sources. The news was first reported by the New York Times.

Adams will surrender to authorities early next week, sources said.

Details about the exact accusations remained unclear, but they are believed to be connected to allegations of the Turkish government illegally funneling money into his mayoral campaign in exchange for approval of the Turkish Consulate in Manhattan, according to sources.

Sources said the mayor is facing a charge of acting as an unregistered foreign agent after accepting donations from foreign entities.

“I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” Adams said in a statement to The Post.

“If I am charged, I am innocent, and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”

In a video statement released later, Adams said he wouldn’t step down and pledged to “fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”

“I will request an immediate trial so that New Yorkers can hear the truth. New Yorkers know my story. They know where I come from. I have been fighting injustice my entire life,” he continued.

“That fight has continued as your mayor. Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics.”

The Rewards and Punishments of the System of Racism White Supremacy: Suge Knight says Elites Control Showcase Blacks like Puff Daddy with Video Recordings of Their Conduct and Induced Drug Usage

According to FUNKTIONARY:

Racism White Supremacy - psychopathic degeneracy. 2) "The local and global power system and dynamic, structured and maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined, which consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of people activity (economics, education, entertainment, labour, law, politics, religion, sex and war); for the purposes of subjugation and/or maintaining the imbalance of power through cooperative control, misinformation, indoctrination, genocide and oppression. [MORE]

Help is Still Not On the Way in North Carolina. Report says Feds are Turning Volunteers Away. 'They're Not Picking Up or Identifying the Bodies. They’re Just Leaving them to Rot in the Streets'

Storm Dropped like a bomb in North Carolina. From [HERE] and [HERE] Dr. Peter and Ginger Breggin just published an in-depth report on the human devastation caused by hurricane Helene and it is heartbreaking. The government and FEMA have abandoned these families. The report states:

It is no less than mass murder. Reports of a complete absence of state or federal assistance in the devastated areas hit by Hurricane Helene are now crowding the social media airwaves. Bodies floating down the rivers. Bodies hanging in trees. Tangled in piles of debris. Utility company linemen are the first into most of the demolished areas. They report finding children as young as three wandering naked in the mud, crying for their parents, some with ropes dangling from where their parents lashed them in desperation to timber. The smell of death is everywhere. About 1 million souls lived in these Western North Carolina counties, with additional souls dying in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee.  

FEMA Public Affairs Chief Locks Her X Account Amid Outrage Over Agency’s Disastrous Hurricane Response

Help is not coming

State and federal authorities have not been on site for the first week or so after the storm dropped like a bomb. There is no update on the number of dead, missing, and rescue of those who have survived other than local accounts. A report out of Asheville, the largest flooded out community in North Carolina, says some FEMA workers have just arrived with porta potties for the local inundated hospital which is still without any electricity or any water. Volunteers, community members, and now some aid workers beginning to trickle in are bringing the dead to the privately owned Mission hospital in Asheville, which is now designated the place to bring bodies in the region. FEMA is quoted as saying they are too tied up at the border and won’t be sending refrigerator trucks for body storage. FEMA also was overheard saying “add a couple zeros” to whatever the body count is right now…One local report on X cites reports of over 900 bodies already at the hospital that haven’t been identified.

A report out of Chimney Rock, NC said a ‘government official’ has told residents at a town meeting that the federal government is seizing land, and the entire area will be bulldozed--bodies, still-standing buildings, and all. One local pastor was going door to door with water, and found there were so many bodies that they changed their delivery request to body bags. “They are not picking up the bodies. They don’t wanna identify the bodies and they’re just leaving them to rot in the streets.” And “Something evil is going on in the NC mountains.”

The disaster region needs pilots with planes, helicopters, people with big equipment and trucks.  The 82nd airborne is still not ordered to participate in the rescue, their Apache helicopters are on the ground waiting for Title 10--the emergency order that is required to activate the 82nd airborne.

FEMA is AWOL

The federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is AWOL. The few FEMA representatives trickling in a week after disaster struck are actively disrupting volunteer efforts. Emergency supplies are being taken from volunteers and locked up, FEMA directs survivors to use nonexistent internet or telephones, and some state and federal officials are threatening volunteers and survivors with arrest. Federal relief is reported to be loans—and the contracts required state if funds are not paid back on time all property may be seized.

Unverified reports state North Carolina police have now issued a statement that they will start arresting any federal employees trying to stop or hinder rescue operations, have been debunked.

 Survivors of the hurricane and the floods are still without power more than a week after the storm and the rains--there is no date for restoration in sight. Food and water are running out or gone and small communities are still cut off.

Dehydrated and starving people have been abandoned

Dehydrated and starving people with no cell phones or other means of communication have been abandoned. A Brannon Howse media interview with the nonprofit Aerial Recovery organization confirmed the federal government absence and further confirmed that they were told not to conduct search, rescue, and recovery work in both Lake Lure and Chimney Rock when they arrived with former special forces volunteers, equipment, chain saws. The volunteer rescue crew were stopped and ordered to leave by the local police.

Elon Musk posted a video of the devastation filmed by some of his Space X engineers flying into North Carolina to deliver Starlink terminals and supplies. Musk said “my blood is boiling” because  FEMA would not let the Musk company helicopter land to deliver the critical supplies. [MORE]

Massa' Media Concealing Blight House Failure to Respond to Unprecedented Storm Destruction in NC to Protect Its Wooden Puppet, Kamala. Any Criticism of Lethargic FEMA Effort Called “Misinformation”

ELITE WHITE LIBERALS SINGLE SOURCE PROPAGANDA PROCLAIMS THAT NEWS ABOUT THE FED ERAL GOVT LETHARGIC RESPONSE IS "MISINFORMATION."

'NEVER CRITICIZE MASTER. WE TELL YOU HOW AND WHAT TO THINK ABOUT.'

Appalachia: Murder always happens for a reason

From [HERE] and [HERE] As the people of North Carolina, Georgia, and surrounding states are struggling to recover from the devastation left by Hurricane Helene, questions are being raised about the Biden-Harris administration’s allocation of critical disaster relief funding. While hundreds remain missing in flood-ravaged Appalachian towns, with families waiting for federal assistance, it became apparent that more than a billion dollars of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds have been diverted for services to illegal immigrants.

According to The Federalist, FEMA, the agency responsible for coordinating emergency responses to natural disasters, redirected nearly $364 million in 2023 and an additional $650 million in 2024 to the “Shelter and Services Program.” This program, as described on the government’s own website referenced by the outlet, provides humanitarian assistance to non-citizen migrants released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) short-term holding facilities. In collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), officials allocated these funds to support the “orderly and humane release” of migrants. This decision sparked sharp criticism, as prioritizing migrant assistance diverted resources from urgent domestic needs.

In a series of posts on X, AFL broke down the FEMA’s apparent shift in priorities under the Biden-Harris administration. For example, AFL argued that FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program has been reshaped to provide funding primarily to “families and individuals encountered by the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border,” also known as illegal migrants. According to AFL, $685 million in taxpayer dollars have been reallocated to fund services for these individuals. One of the posts read,

“Over the last 4 years the Biden-Harris admin has steadily transformed FEMA — the agency responsible for responding to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene — into an illegal alien resettlement agency that emphasizes DEI over public safety.” [MORE]

Mayorkas Says FEMA Does Not Have Enough Money to Make It Through Hurricane Season as the Government Spends Wildly on Migrants

Appalachia: Murder always happens for a reason

FBI Report Shows Dramatic Violent Crime Drop as 29 States Adopted “Constitutional Carry” laws

From [HERE] The FBI’s national crime report for 2023 shows a record-breaking decline in murders during a year when the number of states adopting so-called “constitutional carry” rose to 29, undercutting a popular—and obviously false—claim by the gun prohibition lobby that more guns result in more crime.

By no surprise, anti-gunners—including the national media—have ignored that fact. However, the popular HandgunLaw.us website has a complete list of all 29 permitless carry states with the dates their laws became effective.

According to the Brennan Center, “The bureau’s data closely aligns with predictions from independent experts, all of whom estimated steep drops in murders in 2023 and 2024 alike. Indeed, it’s clear that the 2020 murder spike that coincided with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has substantially (but not completely) receded.”

A careful glance at the FBI National Instant Check System raw data for background checks suggests continued strong firearms transactions over the past few years. The FBI report was released a week ago, yet there has not been a lot of national ballyhoo.

As noted by Brennan, “Nearly all metrics of crime declined in 2023, with murder dropping most precipitously by a record-setting 11.6 percent. When broken down by rate — the number of offenses per 100,000 people — that is a decline of 12 percent. As a result, the national murder rate now hovers around levels last seen in 2017, which is roughly 11 percent higher than where it stood before the pandemic.”

While the updated concealed carry permit holders report for 2023 is not yet available from the Crime Prevention Research Center, it should be noted that the estimated number of active carry permits and licenses declined slightly last year from 2022, likely because of the adoption of permitless carry laws. There is really no way to estimate the number of law-abiding citizens carrying defensive sidearms under the “constitutional carry” laws, but the fact that violent crime has declined while such laws expanded to 29 states raises significant questions about the necessity for restrictive gun laws.

According to the FBI, “national violent crime decreased an estimated 3.0% in 2023 compared to 2022 estimates:

• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter recorded a 2023 estimated nationwide decrease of 11.6% compared to the previous year.

• In 2023, the estimated number of offenses in the revised rape category saw an estimated 9.4% decrease.

• Aggravated assault figures decreased an estimated 2.8% in 2023.

• Robbery showed an estimated decrease of 0.3% nationally. [MORE]

There Are No Licensed COVID Vaccines for Kids Under 12 — But CDC Wants Babies to Get 3 Pfizer Shots by Age 9 Months

From [HERE] Nine-month-old babies must receive multiple doses of an unlicensed mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to be considered “up to date” with their COVID-19 vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC’s updated guidance, issued Aug. 30, states that children — as young as 6 months old — should get either two doses of the 2024-2025 Moderna vaccine or three doses of the 2024-2025 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

If getting the new Pfizer shot, the baby is supposed to receive the first dose at 6 months, the second dose three weeks later and the third dose at least eight weeks after the second dose — meaning, that by 9 months old, babies are supposed to have received three Pfizer shots.

If getting the latest Moderna shot, the CDC recommends babies get the first dose at age 6 months and the second dose a month later.

The latest Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 shots for children under 12 are unlicensed in the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted only emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccines.

Children’s Health Defense (CHD) CEO Mary Holland told The Defender, “The earlier COVID shots have been proven unsafe and ineffective. Now we’re asked to believe that newer versions are miraculously safe and effective?”

“This is an insult to people’s intelligence,” she said, “I pray that parents will have the good sense to say no to these dangerous and unnecessary shots for babies.”

As of July 28, 37,814 deaths following COVID-19 vaccination had been reported to VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, run by the FDA and CDC.

Of those, 187 reports were for children and teens under 18. Nearly 13,000 reports listed the age as “unknown.”

VAERS analyst and expert Albert Benavides recently told The Defender he believes VAERS is “throttling” and underreporting deaths of all ages following COVID-19 vaccination.

Meanwhile, the CDC continues to tell the public that COVID-19 vaccines are “safe and effective.”

There’s no licensed COVID vaccine for kids under 12

There are still no licensed COVID-19 vaccines available for children under 12, Hooker said — so all COVID-19 vaccines given to young kids are EUA products.

The FDA’s website on EUA for medical products states that EUA vaccines only have to meet the standard of “may be effective” as long as if, “based on the totality of the scientific evidence, it is reasonable to believe that the product may be effective for the specified use.”

“The ‘may be effective’ standard for EUAs provides for a lower level of evidence than the ‘effectiveness’ standard that FDA uses for product approvals,” the website states.

Before a vaccine can be fully licensed, the vaccine maker typically is required to conduct numerous clinical trials to demonstrate that the product is safe. However, the safety requirements for EUA are more flexible. [MORE]

Dangers of COVID Shots in Babies - Rally in Harlem, NYC

DOJ finds Unconstitutional Conditions and Deprivations of Rights by Barbaric Authorities in Georgia Prisons [aka gender annihilation centers]

From [HERE] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday issued a critical report detailing alleged rights violations within Georgia’s prison system.

Following an investigation, the DOJ found that conditions in the state’s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. This report draws attention to Georgia’s failure to protect inmates from violence and sexual harm, particularly for vulnerable groups like LGBTQ+ individuals. In light of these findings, the DOJ has called for immediate reforms to address the systemic issues that plague the state’s prison system.

Violence is rife within the state’s penitentiary system, with over 142 homicides between 2018 and 2023. The DOJ noted that the prison system saw 35 homicides in 2023 alone, underscoring a trend of escalating violence. Much of this violence stems from severe understaffing, which leaves many prison units under the de facto control of gangs, according to the report.

The report also places particular emphasis on the treatment of LGBTQ+ inmates, who are at a disproportionately high risk of sexual violence. Transgender women, often housed with male inmates, face heightened risk of assault due to inadequate classification systems. The DOJ found that Georgia’s prisons frequently neglect to offer any meaningful protection for these individuals, in violation of both domestic law and international human rights treaties like the UN Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR).

SAPD Cop Who Attacked a Black Man and Broke Into His Home w/o a Warrant after an Unlawful Stop in Arbitration to Get His Job Back, Seeks to Resume Imposing Unwanted Mandatory Service in Liberal City

From [HERE] Former SAPD Officer Thomas Villarreal revealed Wednesday that he'd initially been offered a fifteen-day suspension for what happened during this January 2020 traffic stop of Eric Wilson.

That contemplated suspension was rescinded months later and upgraded into an indefinite suspension the department's equivalent of a firing, and criminal charges.

Villarreal and another officer, Carlos Castro, were both ultimately indefinitely suspended in August amid allegations they violated department policies by kicking in Wilson's door and using excessive force to arrest him. They were also charged with aggravated assault.

The criminal aggravated assault case against Villarreal and Castro resulted in a mistrial last year after the District Attorney's (DA) Office failed to turn over critical evidence to the pair's defense attorneys.

The DA's office initially said it would refile cases against both of the former officers, but only charged Castro on a lesser charge of assault earlier this year.

That charge against Castro was dismissed in July because the District Attorney's Office could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, records show.

Today, Villarreal and his attorney called on retired and current SAPD officers who trained cadets at the training academy, who had also weighed in on his and Castro's criminal case.

Each told the arbitrator they felt Villarreal was justified in entering Wilson's home or that he had used reasonable force.

Among those officers was one retired officer who trained cadets on the use of force, criminal procedure, searches, and other topics.

Ret. Officer "Then I gave my opinion was that they did have exigency to get inside the house,” said Retired Officer McDonald.

“That they did have exigency?” clarified an attorney.

“Yes," said McDonald.

It'll be a few months before the arbitrator returns his decision in this case, but if reinstated, the city could be on the hook for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay to Villarreal.

Wilmington Cop Convicted of Perjury, Evidence Tampering and Repeatedly Smashing a Black Man's Head into a Window Sentenced to Only Probation by White Liberal Judge who said, 'It was just a one-off'

Video Shows Wilmington Officer Slamming Man's Face Into Wall

From [HERE] A Wilmington police officer was sentenced for assault, official misconduct and evidence tampering charges Friday, stemming from a violent arrest that prompted protests in 2021.

Despite prosecutors arguing his excessive force and subsequent lies in official paperwork deserved a prison sentence of six months, the presiding judge said he felt a sentence of probation would serve as justice in the case.

Samuel Waters' defense argued that he'd already suffered consequences including the loss of his job as a police officer, as well as a pending federal lawsuit, in successfully arguing for a probationary sentence.

Last year, a jury found Waters guilty of misdemeanor assault and official misconduct for repeatedly slamming a man’s head against the wall of a Southbridge store, as well as felony evidence tampering for lying about the circumstances of his encounter with the man in his subsequent police report.

Video of the violent arrest circulated on social media in 2021, prompting demonstrations and Waters’ eventual firing from the Wilmington Police Department.

The jury acquitted him of felony perjury related to his statements following the interaction. He was also acquitted of another count of assault for a separate, violent arrest that took place days before the encounter that led to his guilty verdicts.

The arrest of Samuel Waters

The encounter that led to Waters’ guilty verdicts stemmed from his response to a harassment complaint at a nearby business. The suspect in that case, Dwayne Brown, had just made a purchase at a convenience store in Southbridge when Waters approached him.

Waters' body camera was not activated during the interaction, but the arrest was captured on security camera footage that had no sound.

After a brief interaction, Waters turned Brown around and placed one of Brown's hands on a plexiglass wall. Waters then briefly grabbed ahold of Brown's other arm before he placed his own hand on Brown's head and rammed it into the plexiglass wall.

After the head bounce, Waters escorted Brown outside and placed him under arrest for harassment and resisting arrest, charges that were ultimately dropped. Outside, his body camera was activated. As Waters had Brown pinned against an outside wall, Waters told Brown: "Maybe next time" he will "listen, instead of being a (expletive)."

Brown angrily replied: "You smashed my face into the glass for nothing."

"That is not (expletive) proper procedure, dude," Brown told Waters in the footage. "I wasn’t doing anything but asking you questions. You were wrong."

Testifying to the jury in Waters' trial, Joseph Leary, a Wilmington police officer who trains others on the use of force, agreed with Brown's assessment.

He told the jury that department training and policy do not endorse bouncing a suspect's head off a wall generally. Force to the face, neck and back area are regarded as "red zones" because of the potential to cause serious and permanent injury. 

"There was nothing that was going on where that level of force was required," Leary told the jury.

The guilty verdict related to Waters' lying was built on comparisons of his subsequent police report and his oral statements captured on body camera footage afterward.

In body camera footage after Brown's arrest, he told someone he had no idea who Brown was. But he authored police reports and other documents in the aftermath of the arrest that were examined during the trial. In that narrative of Brown's arrest, he claimed that the harassment victim showed him a picture and he immediately recognized Brown, which prosecutors said was a lie.

Waters also included information about Brown's criminal history that prosecutors said was meant as an after-the-fact justification for his violent tactics during the arrest.

In court Friday, Deputy Attorney General Dan McBride, who heads the state Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust, also noted a conversation Waters had with his supervisor directly after the incident.

McBride said Waters told his supervisor that Brown harassed the "only white female" working at the business and that he was just going to take a miscellaneous complaint until Brown resisted arrest. McBride said that was also a "lie."

He argued that Waters' use of force came within seconds of their encounter and described it as "almost an ambush."

Arguments over prison time

Criminal defendants are sentenced by judges based largely on the range of punishment prescribed by the law governing their guilty convictions, as well as standardized recommendations based on their personal history, criminal conduct and things like whether they've accepted responsibility for their wrongdoing.

The recommended sentence in Waters' case called for a sentence consisting of only probation. However, in court Friday, prosecutors said that Waters' use of force, subsequent betrayal of trust and his failure to appreciate the seriousness of his conduct warranted some imprisonment.

In court Friday, McBride said Waters' reports contained more "fiction than fact," but used "standard" police language that "struck me to my core."

He said Waters lied in his reports, seeking to create a "fictitious character" and a "stereotype of a Wilmington criminal" to justify his use of force. He told the judge he has been a prosecutor for more than a decade and regularly relies upon the written statements of police officers in litigating against criminal defendants.

"It made me question everything I ever read in every case," McBride told the judge.

Waters' case was a rare public airing of the official reports that all Delaware police create in the course of their work.

Exemptions in state public records law give local police departments broad latitude to hide such documents absent the subpoena power possessed by prosecutors and even in cases where the wide circulation of video depicting police violence creates cause to question officers' actions.

In a written submission to the court, McBride's office also noted that before Waters was a Wilmington officer, he was fired from a police department in Maryland for running a stop sign and then flipping someone off while in uniform. They argued this wasn't relevant to his convictions, but showed his "disregard for professional standards that police should abide by."

McBride said the case erodes the already strained relationship between police and the public and thus deserves serious punishment.

On Waters' behalf, John Malik, his defense attorney, argued that his client had already suffered consequences. He lost his job and ability to be a police officer and thus isn't an ongoing threat to public safety or to re-offend.

He said his client has been working at a national grocers' distribution warehouse and nearly lost that job when he was convicted last year. He argued he'd have trouble finding another job if he were sentenced to prison time.

Malik also cited two recent Delaware police violence cases that only resulted in probationary sentences: one involving a New Castle County officer who dragged a young woman by her hair while in a temporary lockup and a Dewey Beach officer who struck a man while he was on a medical stretcher.

Malik also said it is easy for the public to "Monday morning quarterback" such actions by police. He delved into the facts of the case to argue that Waters' choice to use force was not incorrect, though the type of force he used was wrong.

He noted Waters rescues animals and helped his wife's former student, arguing his actions were an aberration and not in his character. He also disputed that Waters had not shown remorse or an appreciation for his offense, stating that his client has not made such statements because he intends to appeal his conviction.

Waters also declined to address the court Friday, citing his plans to appeal the case.

Ultimately, presiding Judge Francis Jones said he had balanced the factors described by Malik with the seriousness of Waters' betrayal of public trust and concluded that he did not deserve prison time. He said he doesn't believe Waters is an ongoing threat to public safety.

"This was a one-off," Jones said before handing down the sentence of probation.

Meanwhile, Brown filed a lawsuit against Waters and the city, claiming the Police Department has engaged in a practice of violating people’s constitutional rights. In September, a judge ruled that his attorneys had not offered sufficient allegations to support such a claim and gave them the opportunity to amend their complaint.

That amendment is pending submission by Brown’s attorneys.

Fairfax Cop Not Guilty of Manslaughter in Shooting Timothy Johnson. White Cop Claimed Black Man “WAS REACHING!” for a Non Existent Gun as He Fled from Upscale Mall in City Controlled by White Liberals

FAIRFAX VA IS NOT CONTROLLED BY ELITE, WHITE LIBERALS? Fairfax County was once considered a Republican bastion but Democrats now control of the Board of Supervisors and the School Board (officially nonpartisan) as well as the offices of sheriff and Commonwealth's Attorney. Democrats also hold all the Fairfax seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and every seat in the Senate.

Fairfax County encompasses parts of three congressional districts, the 8th District, the 10th District, and the 11th District. Democrats represent all three districts, with Jennifer Wexton representing the 10th, Don Beyer representing the 8th, and Gerry Connolly representing the 11th. [MORE]

From [HERE] A white Fairfax County jury found a former police sergeant not guilty Friday of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of a black man suspected of shoplifting last year, but convicted him of a lesser gun charge, determining that he bore some criminal responsibility in the shooting.

The jury spent 11 hours deliberating in the case against Wesley Shifflett, who prosecutors argued had no justification for shooting Timothy McCree Johnson outside of the Tysons Corner Center mall after giving chase over allegations that Johnson had stolen sunglasses. It ultimately found him guilty him of recklessly handling a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

The decision punctuated a winding path to accountability for the office of Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, which twice brought the case to a grand jury — an unconventional move that yielded just the second indictment of a Fairfax County officer in an on-duty shooting in the department’s 84-year history.

Lawyers for Shifflett argued throughout the trial that he was simply doing his job when he fired two times at Timothy Johnson, 37, in a dark area after giving chase. Police officers, they said, with backing from law enforcement experts at trial, are trained to fire twice when they believe they are in danger, and Shifflett believed he saw Johnson reach for his waistband. Prosecutors painted Shifflett as a man who — in a moment of unreasonable panic — made a reckless decision with lethal consequences.

In body-camera footage played repeatedly for the jury, Johnson, who prosecutors said was not armed, could be heard asking for help as he lay dying: “I don’t have nothing. I’m shot, man, please. Hurry.”

Carl Crews, an attorney for the Johnson family, said after the family watched the video of the incident stated,

“The best way to describe the video is to say first what was not on it,” said Carl Crews, an attorney for the family, after viewing the footage Wednesday. “What it doesn’t show: danger. It doesn’t show the officers faced any danger — imminent or otherwise. “This was an execution by Fairfax County police officers,” Crews said.”

Unfortunately the video is dark and unclear - thereby enabling a jury of sheeple to indulge the cop-actor’s performance of theatricks about an imaginary gun in a scary Black man’s hand.

The trial, which began Sept. 17, neared mistrial three times before the case landed in jurors’ hands: once when the lead prosecutor experienced a medical emergency that delayed proceedings for a week, once when defense lawyers filed, then withdrew, a motion for mistrial after a witness testified without his lawyers present and once when prosecutors played an unadmitted portion of Shifflett’s body-camera footage during closing arguments.

Melissa Johnson paced the halls outside the courtroom for hours on Friday as she awaited the verdict, swinging a silver necklace that contained her son’s ashes. At a table nearby, a group of mothers whose sons had also been killed by the police sat and prayed.

At times, Johnson closed her eyes and sang.

“Jesus, Jesus,” she sang. “Precious Jesus, we have the victory.”

Prosecutors sought to show jurors that Johnson did not have to die, saying there were alternatives Shifflett did not take. Shifflett could have waited for backup, taken cover, used the flashlight on his gun, they told jurors.

They called Collins Kenlak, the assistant asset protection manager at the Nordstrom at the time, to testify that he was confused about why officers had chased Johnson at all.

Although prosecutors said Johnson ultimately was found to have stolen two pairs of sunglasses valued at about $850 from the store, store surveillance footage shows he had returned the glasses store workers first alerted police about. “As soon as those glasses were returned, I made it clear we don’t have any reason to approach him,” Kenlak said.

The threat Shifflett perceived never existed, prosecutors told jurors. Johnson was suspected of a nonviolent crime and did not have a gun, facts they argued rendered Shifflett’s fear unreasonable.

“Reason cannot be found in what ifs and maybes and the facts here are clear: Mr. Johnson was unarmed and fleeing,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Natheena Tyler said during her closing argument Wednesday. “Fear alone is not enough to justify the use of force.”

Weak Liberal Federal Prosecutors Fail to Convict Memphis Cops of Most Serious Charges in Tyre Nichols Death. Jury says Cops Didn’t Willfully Beat Black Man to Death, Deny Treatment or Conceal Evidence

GETTING AWAY WITH A MURDER RECORED BY SEVERAL CAMERAS? From [HERE] Three former Memphis police officers were found guilty on Thursday of federal witness tampering charges in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man. But all three defendants were acquitted of the more serious charge of violating his civil rights by causing his death.

One officer, Demetrius Haley, was convicted on a lesser charge of violating Mr. Nichols’s civil rights by causing bodily injury. That is, he was acquitted of causing the Black man’s death but found guilty of the lesser charge of only causing bodily injury.

The three defendants — Mr. Haley, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith — and two other former officers who pleaded guilty to their role in the violence, still face additional state charges, including second-degree murder.

In September 2023, federal prosecutors charged the five officers involved with depriving Nichols of his civil rights (by both beating him and failing to administer first aid), obstructing the investigation and conspiracy to commit witness tampering.

The counts were as follows:

COUNT ONE (all not guilty)

(Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law: Excessive Force and Failure to Intervene)

On or about January 7, 2023, in the Western District of Tennessee, the defendants, EMMITT MARTIN III, TADARRIUS BEAN, DEMETRIUS HALEY, DESMOND MILLS JR., and JUSTIN SMITH, while acting under color of law as Detectives with the Memphis Police Department and while aiding and abetting one another, willfully deprived Tyre Nichols of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from an unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer. Specifically, defendants MARTIN, BEAN, HALEY, MILLS, and SMITH unlawfully assaulted Nichols and willfully failed to intervene in the unlawful assault. This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, Tyre Nichols.

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 242 and 2.

COUNT TWO (all not guilty)

(Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law: Deliberate Indifference)

On or about January 7, 2023, in the Western District of Tennessee, the defendants, EMMITT MARTIN III, TADARRIUS BEAN, DEMETRIUS HALEY, DESMOND MILLS JR., and JUSTIN SMITH, while acting under color of law as Detectives with the Memphis Police Department and while aiding and abetting one another, willfully deprived Tyre Nichols of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes the right of an arrestee to be free from a police officer's deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. Specifically, defendants MARTIN, BEAN, HALEY, MILLS, and SMITH knew that Nichols, an arrestee in police custody, had a serious medical need and the defendants willfully disregarded that medical need by failing to render medical aid and by failing to advise the MPD dispatcher and emergency medical personnel of the circumstances surrounding Nichols' serious medical need, including that Nichols had been struck repeatedly. This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, Tyre Nichols.

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 242 and 2.

COUNT THREE (all not guilty)

(Conspiracy to Witness-Tamper)

On or about January 7, 2023, in the Western District of Tennessee, defendants EMMITT MARTIN III, TADARRIUS BEAN, DEMETRIUS HALEY, DESMOND MILLS JR., and JUSTIN SMITH willfully combined, conspired, and agreed to violate Title 18, United States Code, Section 1512(b)(3) by knowingly engaging in misleading conduct towards, corruptly persuading, and attempting to corruptly persuade, their supervisor (MPD Supervisor 1), the officer tasked with writing the Incident Report (MPD Detective 1), and other persons, with the intent to hinder, delay, and prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer and judge of the United States of truthful information relating to the commission and possible commission of a Federal offense. Specifically, in relation to statements the defendants made to MPD officers regarding the arrest of Tyre Nichols, the defendants conspired to intentionally withhold and omit material information and knowingly make false and misleading statements all to cover up the use of unreasonable force on Nichols.

COUNT FOUR

(Obstruction of Justice: Witness-Tampering)

On or about January 7, 2023, within the Western District of Tennessee, defendants EMMITT MARTIN III, TADARRIUS BEAN, DEMETRIUS HALEY, DESMOND MILLS JR., and JUSTIN SMITH, while aiding and abetting one another, knowingly engaged in misleading conduct towards, corruptly persuaded, and attempted to corruptly persuade, their supervisor (MPD Supervisor 1) and an MPD Detective (MPD Detective 1) with the intent to hinder, delay, and prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer and judge of the United States of truthful information relating to the commission and possible commission of a Federal offense. Specifically, defendants MARTIN, BEAN, HALEY, MILLS, and SMITH provided false and misleading information and withheld and intentionally omitted material information in their communications with MPD Supervisor 1 and MPD Detective 1, each of whom was tasked with writing MPD reports for the arrest of Tyre Nichols, including: defendants MARTIN, BEAN, HALEY, MILLS, and SMITH omitted that defendant MARTIN repeatedly punched Nichols; defendants MARTIN, BEAN, HALEY, MILLS, and SMITH omitted that defendants MARTIN and HALEY kicked Nichols; defendants MARTIN, BEAN, HALEY, MILLS, and SMITH omitted that Nichols had been struck in the head; defendants falsely stated to MPD Detective 1 that Nichols was actively resisting at the arrest scene; defendants falsely stated to MPD Detective 1 that Nichols grabbed defendant SMITH by his vest and pulled on officers' duty belts; and defendants MILLS and SMITH falsely stated to MPD Detective 1 that Nichols lifted both of them in the air.

In violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3).

The verdicts were as follows:

According to the complaint filed in the civil case (atty Ben Crump);

Nichols was two minutes away from his home when he was stopped by MPD at 8:24 p.m. on January 7, 2023. Officers Haley, Martin, and Preston Hemphill[32]conducted the initial stop of Nichols' at the intersection East Raines Road and Ross Road,[33] with police vehicles surrounding his car on three sides. The body-worn camera footage released by the City of Memphis on January 27, does not "show any activity earlier than an officer responding to a stop in progress ..."[34]

Haley and Martin were at the traffic stop when Hemphill arrived at 8:24 p.m.[35][15] By 8:25 p.m., Haley[36] pulled Nichols out of his car as Nichols said: "I didn't do anything."[35] An officer shouted: "Get on the fuckin' ground" and moments later an officer shouted "I'm gonna tase your ass."[37] Officers pushed Nichols to the ground. At about 8:25:45 p.m., Nichols was laying on his side in the road - an officer had Nichols' left hand, a second officer had Nichols' right hand, a third officer held a taser against Nichols' left leg while also using his right hand to hold Nichols to the ground.[35] From the moment that Nichols was pulled from the car, to being held on the ground, officers simultaneously yelled numerous commands, threats, expletives, and made "assaultive comments"[15] at him. While being held on the ground an officer continued to yell for Nichols to lay down. Nichols responded "I am on the ground". An officer yelled back "Lay on your stomach". Moments later, Haley, deployed pepper spray against Nichols[15], which hit several of the other officers.[37] Nichols broke free and began to run. Hemphill, against regulations,[38] deployed his taser at Nichols. At 8:26 p.m., Nichols began running south on Ross Road, as he was pursued by at least two officers. Two more police units arrived at the scene around 8:29 p.m.[39] Footage showed that one officer who remained at the area of the traffic stop said, "I hope they stomp his ass".[40]

At 8:33 p.m., Officers Bean, Mills, and Smith caught up to Nichols and had him on the ground at Castlegate Lane and Bear Creek which is approximately a half a mile (800 meters) away from the original traffic stop.[36] Footage from a pole-mounted CCTV camera showed an officer using his leg to push Nichols hard to the ground. Between 8:33 p.m. and 8:36 p.m. Nichols was punched, then pepper sprayed a second time, then kicked in the upper torso numerous times by a fourth officer, then an officer can be heard yelling "I'm going to baton the fuck out of you." before striking Nichols several times with a baton, then punched five times in the face by one officer.[41][42] The video footage showed officers had control of Nichols' arms when he was struck with the baton, kicked, and successively punched in the face 5 times.[43][44] A fifth officer arrived, as Nichols was on the ground and in the process of being handcuffed, and kicked him in the upper torso, which was followed by another kick to the upper torso by another officer. Fox News reported that in the videos, "Nichols can be heard calling out to his mother before police beat him into a daze".[34] Nichols' conduct has been initially described as non-resisting[45] and non-violent;[15] there is no indication that he struck back at the officers.[46]

By 8:37 p.m., Nichols was handcuffed and limp; officers propped him against the side of a police car.[47] After Nichols was on the ground, the involved officers convened and shared their stories about the arrest. In the body-worn camera footage, Michael Ruiz of Fox News reported, "officers can be heard discussing his alleged driving, 'swerving' and nearly hitting one of them".[48] One officer bragged: "I was hitting him with straight haymakers, dog", while another exclaimed: "I jumped in, started rocking him."[49]

Medics arrived around 8:41 p.m. but did not begin to assist Nichols until 16 minutes later. An ambulance arrived at 9:02 p.m. and took Nichols to St. Francis Hospital at 9:18 p.m. after he complained of shortness of breath.[39]

On scene, video footage showed officers issued at least 71 commands over 13 minutes; The New York Times described the orders as "often simultaneous and contradictory" and "sometimes even impossible to obey". The Times cited one such example of many, where an officer shouted "Give me your fucking hands!" while Nichols had one officer pinning his arms behind his back, a second officer holding his handcuffed wrist, and a third officer punching Nichols' face.[50][51][52][15] One former police officer described the officers' interaction with Nichols as having "started with poor communication" and going downhill from there.[51]

On January 8, the department stated that the traffic stop of Nichols was due to reckless driving.[53][54] On January 27, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis stated that her department reviewed footage, including from body cameras regarding the traffic stop and the arrest, to "determine what that probable cause was and we have not been able to substantiate that – ... It doesn't mean that something didn't happen, but there's no proof."[53][54][55]

Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, emphasized in a statement that all five of the former officers had now been convicted of federal felonies.

“Tyre Nichols should be alive today,” she said.

Omaha Cops 1) Watch Slow-Mo Video then 2) Create Tale to Justify Murdering Steven Phipps: Claim Fleeing Black Man Aimed a Gun at Them as He Jumped Over a Fence, While He was in Mid-Air and Upside Down

From [HERE] and [HERE] Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer insisted his colleagues followed department policy when an officer shot Steven Phipps, a 22-year-old Black man, eight times during a traffic stop.

Phipps, who was in possession a legally owned a firearm, fled police after being pulled over for expired plates.

He had just finished work at the time and was driving a silver Chevrolet Monte Carlo inside near N 31st Avenue and Taylor Street, Omaha, with his younger brother in the passenger seat on September 28.

Officer Noah Zendejas only fired his weapon when Phipps' gun was pointed at him, according to Schmaderer. This was after a chase where Phipps ran and jumped a fence.

"We really don't know what Mr. Phipps' intent was," Schmaderer said, adding that the officer had the right to defend himself.

His aunt, Angela Phipps, said after seeing the police footage, she heard Phipps repeatedly say "don't shoot me" after he hit the ground while holding his hands and one leg up in a defensive position.

However, police maintain that most of the shots were fired while Phipps was in midair and that he did not drop his weapon until after he landed.

The video speaks for itself. Police claim that somehow while Phipps jumped head first over a high fence and was upside down, in mid air while falling to the ground, managed to point a gun at police. Said narrative appears to be contradicted by the video

Family of Steven Phipps Jr. — the man killed by Omaha Police during a foot pursuit over the weekend — have spoken out.

Two members of North Omaha’s church community sat watching Wednesday’s OPD news conference as it happened, paying close attention and taking notes. Their initial reaction best described as disappointed.

“Mayor Stothert saying that the citizens are safe, evidently African-American Black men are not safe in Omaha,” said Pastor Portia Cavitt, the President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. “We know that people have a right to own guns. Why is it when a Black man has a gun that the officer fears for his life?”

“Why did they have to shoot him eight times?” Rev. Hemphill said. “I don’t understand that.”

Later, the two church leaders were joined by other members of the North Omaha community, including Phipps’ family.

“They know they harassed him and they know what they did,” said family member Jenesha Plunkett. “All we want is justice for him. Y’all can’t keep running around doing this to our young boys. Y’all have everybody sacred. It makes no sense in the world. He didn’t deserve it.”

Cavitt says they are hosting a town hall meeting at Clair Memorial United Methodist Church at 4 p.m. Sunday to allow the community to share their feeling and concerns about police shootings. [MORE]

Study Shows Police Stop Black People Based on How They Look, Not How They Drive

From [HERE] In 2018, police officers initiated contact with nearly 29 million U.S. residents aged 16 and older: traffic stops comprise over four-fifths of police-initiated contact.48 There are clear racial disparities in traffic law enforcement. For example, the Stanford Open Policing Project’s dataset of nearly 100 million stops collected from 21 state patrol agencies and 35 municipal police departments reveals that these agencies were more likely to stop Black, but not Latinx, versus white drivers between 2011 and 2018.49  Echoing findings from other ‘veil of darkness’ analyses, this study also found that officers stopped Black drivers less often after sunset, when a driver’s racial identity is less visible.50 Studies of jurisdictions including Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina have also found significant racial disparities in police stops.51 On the other hand, national surveys of drivers since 2002 have found racial disparities in traffic stops only in some years.52 But a closer look at the causes of traffic stops reveals that officers stop Black drivers for less serious reasons than white drivers.

Charles Epp of University of Kansas and his colleagues have shed light on investigatory traffic stops. These are distinct from traffic-safety stops, which are based on factors such as speeding at greater than seven miles per hour, suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, running a red light, or reckless driving. The pretext for investigatory stops, on the other hand, may be for such infractions as failure to signal a turn or lane change, having a malfunctioning light or expired license tag, driving too slowly, or stopping too long—or for the officer to check for a valid license or to conduct a warrant check. The objective of these stops is to investigate drivers deemed suspicious. This is a form of proactive policing that uses minor traffic violations as a pretext for a criminal investigation and helps raise municipal revenues through fines and fees.53 Traffic-safety stops, the researchers found, are based on “how people drive,” whereas investigatory stops are based on “how they look.”54

Epp and colleagues’ study of police stops between 2003 and 2004 in Kansas City found that investigatory stops differed significantly by race while rates of traffic-safety stops did not.55 These differences existed for all ages, however, they were sharpest among drivers under age 25: among these drivers, 28% of Black men had experienced an investigatory stop as had 17% of Black women, compared to 13% of white men and 7% of white women. Socioeconomic differences did not fully explain this racial disparity: Black drivers under age 40 were over twice as likely as their white counterparts to experience investigatory stops for both the highest- and lowest-valued cars. More recently, University of North Carolina professor Frank R. Baumgartner and colleagues analyzed over 20 million stops in North Carolina between 2002 and 2016 and found that the majority of stops that white drivers experienced (56%) were for traffic safety reasons, while the majority of stops that Black drivers experienced (52%) were for investigatory reasons.56 Directing officers to make investigatory stops, Epp and colleagues argue, opens the door to biased policing based on stereotypes of Black criminality.

Pedestrian Stops and Order-Maintenance Policing

Similar disparities arise in investigative pedestrian stops and with order-maintenance policing. In 2013, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin concluded, regarding New York City’s stop-and-frisk tactic, that the city’s “highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner.”57 The police policy broadly targets male residents of neighborhoods populated by low-income people of color to uncover drugs and weapons. Despite evidence finding the tactic to be ineffective, a conclusion that was reinforced when New York City continued its crime decline after scaling back stop and frisk, related forms of policing persist in many other cities.58 For example, a 2022 analysis of the Milwaukee Police Department’s stop-and-frisk practices, conducted by the Crime and Justice Institute, found that Black residents were 4.5 times as likely to get pulled over, 10.1 times as likely to be subjected to a field interview, and 2.6 times as likely to be frisked as white residents.59

Further, in 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams re-embraced ‘broken windows’ policing, a policy seeking to promote public safety by clamping down on petty, ‘quality-of-life’ offenses and disorder through arrests.60 Order-maintenance policing persists despite the limited evidence to support its efficacy and great cause for concern about its negative impact, disproportionately on people of color.61

Stop Outcomes: Searches, Arrests, and Police Violence

National surveys, as well as studies of specific jurisdictions, reveal disparities in the outcomes of police stops. After pulling a driver over for a traffic stop in 2018, officers nationwide searched Black and Latinx drivers 1.7 and 2.6 times as often as whites, respectively.62 This disparity holds even though police are less likely to find illegal drugs, weapons, or other forms of contraband such as stolen goods in the cars of Black and Latinx drivers than those of whites.63 These patterns of ‘contraband hit rates’ have been found in jurisdictions across the country, including Philadelphia, Missouri, and California.64 Because they are searched so much more frequently, Black and Latinx drivers are arrested more frequently than whites in police stops—a disparity that would be reduced if they were searched at the same rate as whites.65

Police violence also differs by race. In recent years, police officers have threatened or used non-fatal force in about 3% of encounters that they initiated or which resulted from a traffic accident.66 But they have been over 2.5 times as likely to use or threaten force against Black individuals as whites (5.5% versus 2.1% in 2020) and more likely to do so against Latinx individuals (3.4%) than whites as well.67 Researchers have also identified racial disparities in how respectfully police officers speak to stopped drivers, based on body-worn camera footage from Oakland, CA.68

Racial disparities are also stark in relation to who police officers kill. Black Americans were 2.5 times as likely to be shot and killed by police officers as whites, and Latinx people were 1.2 times as likely, between 2015 and 2021.69 At this rate, police will kill an estimated one in 1,000 Black men.70 Police officers’ greater inclination to stop and search people of color suggests that differences in people’s behavior alone are unlikely to account for disparities in lethal police violence. [MORE]
48.

Overall, 62 million U.S. residents had contact with the police in 2018, which includes 35 million interactions that people initiated and nine million interactions related to a traffic accident (all forms of police contact add up to more than the total since some individuals experienced multiple types of contact). Of the approximately 24 million traffic stop encounters in 2018, 18.7 million (77%) were experienced by drivers and 5.7 million (23%) were experienced by passengers. Tapp & Davis. (2022), see note 13.

49.

This study found the state-patrol stop rate to be 7% for whites, 10% for Blacks, 5% for Latinxs. The municipal-police stop rate was 14% for whites, 20% for Blacks, 9% for Latinxs. Pierson, E., Simoiu, C., Overgoor, J., Corbett-Davies, S., Jenson, D., Shoemaker, A., Ramachandran, V., Barghouty, P., Phillips, C., Shroff, R., & Goel, S. (2020). A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(7), 736–745. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0858-1

50.

See Grogger, J. & Ridgeway, G. (2006). Testing for racial profiling in traffic stops from behind a veil of darkness. Journal of the American Statistical Association. 101, 878–887. https://doi.org/10.1198/016214506000000168.

51.

Barone, K., Fazzalaro, J., Kalinowski, J., & Ross, M. B. (2022) Traffic stop data analysis and findings, 2020. Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, University of Connecticut; Flingai, S., Sahaf, M., Battle, N. & Castaneda, S. (2022). An analysis of racial disparities in police traffic stops in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, from 2010 to 2019. Vera Institute of Justice; Baumgartner, F., Epp, D., & Shoub, K. (2018). Suspect citizens: What 20 million traffic stops tell us about policing and race. Cambridge University Press; Horn, C. (2020, June 12.) Racial disparities revealed in massive traffic stop dataset. University of South Carolina.

52.

Bureau of Justice Statistics. Contacts between police and the public.

53.

McIntire, M., & Keller, M. H. (2021, November 3). The demand for money behind many police traffic stops. The New York Times.

54.

Epp, C. R., Maynard-Moody, S., & Haider-Markel, D. P. (2014). Pulled over: How police stops define race and citizenship. University of Chicago Press, p. 64, emphasis in original.

55.

This study is based on drivers’ reports of officers’ reasons for the stop. Epp, Maynard-Moody, & Haider-Markel (2014), see note 54; for a similar study of traffic stops for non-moving violations in California, see Muhammad et al. (2022), see note 10.

56.

Latinx drivers in North Carolina were also more likely to be stopped for investigatory rather than for traffic safety reasons. Baumgartner, Epp, & Shoub (2018), see note 51.

57.

Floyd v. City of N.Y., 959 F. Supp. 2d 540, 562 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

58.

Rosenfeld, R. & Fornango, R. (2014). The impact of police stops on precinct robbery and burglary rates in New York City. Justice Quarterly, 31(1), 96-122. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2012.712152; Keating, D., & Stevens, H. (2020, February 27). Bloomberg said ‘stop and frisk’ decreased crime. Data suggests it wasn’t a major factor in cutting felonies.

59.

Crime and Justice Institute (2022). City of Milwaukee settlement agreement: Analysis of 2022 traffic stops, field interviews, no-action encounters, and frisks; ACLU-DC & ACLU Analytics. (2020). Racial disparities in stops by the DC Metropolitan Police Department: Review of five months of data; Wisconsin State Journal. (2022, May 12). ACLU, Milwaukee police stop-and-frisk resolution efforts continue; ACLU Illinois. (2023). Stop and frisk; Palmer, C., & Orso, A. (2023, March 17). Stop-and-frisk is getting renewed attention in Philly amid a mayor’s race focused on crime. The Philadelphia Inquirer.

60.

Goodman, J. D. (2017, October 20). Fewer criminal tickets for petty crimes, like public urination. The New York Times; Konig, J. (2022, March 23). NYPD launches “quality-of-life” initiative that critics call return to “broken windows” policing. Spectrum News NY1.

61.

Weisburd, D., & Majmundar, M. K. (Eds.) (2018). Proactive policing: Effects on crime and communities. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.17226/24928

62.

Tapp & Davis. (2022), see note 13.

63.

Harris, D. (2012). Hearing on “Ending Racial Profiling in America,” Testimony of David A. Harris. United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights; Pierson et al. (2020), see note 49.

64.

Melamed (2019), see note 14; Missouri Attorney General. (2019). Vehicle stops executive summary; Muhammad et al. (2022), see note 10; Lofstrom et al. (2021), see note 14.

65.

Tapp & Davis (2022), see note 13; Muhammad et al. (2022), see note 10.

66.

This includes if the officer threatened force, handcuffed, pushed or grabbed, hit or kicked, used chemical or pepper spray, used an electroshock weapon, pointed or fired a gun, or used another type of physical force. Tapp & Davis (2022), see note 13.

67.

Tapp & Davis (2022), see note 13.

68.

Voigt, R., Camp, N.P., Prabhakaran, V., Hamilton, W.L., Hetey, R.C., Griffiths, C.M., Jurgens, D., Jurafsky, D., & Eberhardt, J.L. (2017). Language from police body camera footage. shows racial disparities in officer respect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(25), 6521–6526.

69.

These data exclude the minority of killings by police that do not involve a firearm. Muhammad et al. (2022), see note 10.

70.

Edwards F, Lee H, Esposito M. (2019). Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex. PNAS 116(34),16793–98.

71.

Black Rolebot DA Brooke Jenkins Warns of Abstract Harms from MAGA While Ignoring Reality that SF Cops Routinely Stop and Niggerize Black People w/Impunity on Behalf of Her Elite, White Liberal Masters