From [HERE] An Atlanta Police Department sergeant who allegedly broke a man’s leg at a Walmart in 2014 had his first day in federal court Tuesday as his excessive force trial began.
Trevor King, of Rex, was indicted last year after the victim pressed charges, more than two years after King allegedly broke the leg of the man — a customer King incorrectly believed to be shoplifting, prosecutors said.
King was working off-duty at the time. He was in uniform at the store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard downtown when he stopped the customer, grabbed his shirt and started to strike him with his baton, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a December 2016 statement when King was indicted.
When APD became aware of the indictment, King was put on paid administrative leave. He has since retired, an APD spokeswoman said Tuesday. That retirement took effect in January.
From [HERE] An investigation is underway to determine if Santa Ana police officers used excessive force Sunday night while taking a Latino man into custody in an incident captured by a neighbor on her cell phone.
One family who lives on the 2000 block of Kilson Drive were home when officers arrested Jesus Martinez in front of their house around 7:20 p.m. and began filming the confrontation after witnessing what they perceived as an excessive use of force.
Martinez, who police say is a documented gang member, had been neutralized as a threat when police continued to deliver a series of severe blows and unfair treatment, said Roxana Cedillo, who filmed the arrest from her living room window.
“I’m very grateful that they do put themselves in the line to help us, and help all innocent people. But in that case, he was already on the ground," she told KTLA. "There was no need for the brutal part.”
The graphic video begins with one Santa Ana officer holding the man identified as Martinez to the ground as he delivers orders for the suspect to put his hands behind his head.
“Get your f—ing hands behind your back,” the officer is seen shouting while holding the man identified as Martinez by the wrists.
Martinez is heard replying, “They’re behind my back sir, let me put them behind my back sir.”
Though Martinez was failing to comply with the officer's orders, the officer was also making it nearly impossible for him to comply, according to Cedillo.
“The officer was already on top of the suspect and was telling him to put his hands in the back, but the suspect had them right here,” she said, motioning with her arms a bit in front of her face, “not where he wanted them. At the same time, I did see the officer holding his hands, telling him, ‘Put them in the back.’”
From [HERE] Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cannot reveal to prosecutors the names of 300 problem deputies who are potential witnesses in pending criminal cases, a California appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The Sheriff’s Department has created a list of 300 deputies with records of theft, domestic violence and use of excessive force, among other infractions. But the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs opposed the department’s plan to release the names to prosecutors in pending criminal cases.
Because the deputies would have issues of credibility if subpoenaed, prosecutors would have to reveal to criminal defense lawyers that any deputy with an infraction could testify in court, the ACLU said after filing a friend of the court brief in March.
In November 2016, the deputies union petitioned to keep the names of the deputies on the list secret, saying disclosure would violate their privacy rights.
A trial court in Los Angeles sided with the union and issued an injunction barring disclosure of the names except for deputies who might be called to testify in criminal proceedings.
On Tuesday, Division Eight of the Second Appellate District found that the trial court had “improperly limited the scope of its injunction.”
“The trial court is ordered to strike from the injunction any language that allows real parties or any of them to disclose the identity of any individual deputy on the LASD’s Brady list to any individual or entity outside the LASD, even if the deputy is a witness in a pending criminal prosecution,” Appellate Judge Douglas Sortino wrote.
From [HERE] Boosting police accountability in the Garden State, New Jersey’s highest court ordered the release Tuesday of dashboard footage that will shed light on the shooting of a man after a high-speed chase.
“Footage from police cameras without accessibility to the public is nothing more than surveillance,” Ed Barocas, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union New Jersey, said in a statement. “Today, the New Jersey Supreme Court acknowledged the crucial role that transparency plays in holding police accountable.”
The ACLU-NJ got involved in the case filed years earlier by North Jersey Media Group, a publisher of newspapers including The Record of Bergen County.
Along with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the challengers sought access to dash-cam footage captured by New Jersey state troopers and municipal police while responding to a 911 call on Sept. 16, 2014, about an attempted car theft.
Police identified the suspect who drove away in a black SUV as Kashad Ashford. Several officers ultimately fired on Ashford, killing him, after a high-speed chase through several towns ended with Ashford crashing into a guardrail on Route 3, after having already rammed into a Lyndhurst patrol car.
Though a lower court kept the shooting footage under wraps in 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court awarded North Jersey Media Group access both to the video to and to the police’s unredacted use-of-force reports.
Sometimes You Can't Just Watch & Film. White cop suffering from psychopathic racial personality has maniac episode as Black people just watch & film . . . and then wait for a court to do something? What will you do if a maniac cop is beating your woman or mother like this? What are you living for?
From [HERE] and [HERE] When she could take the blows from the metal baton no longer, Katie McCrary asked a simple question.
“It is just disgusting to watch her get beaten like that,” said Francys Johnson, president of the Georgia NAACP. “If she were an animal…if she were a dog, the officer would have already lost his job.”
DeKalb County police say they are investigating an officer’s use of force in a June 4 arrest after video shot by a witness surfaced on social media.
DeKalb County Police reopened their use of force investigation after local media broadcast video shows the officer striking 38-year-old Katie McCrary at least 10 times. At one point, she grabs his baton as the officer presses her to the floor with his knee in her back, and he repeatedly shouts “let it go or I’m a shoot you.”
How Many Lies Did White Cop Tell These Black Folks For Them to Stand & Smile with Him Like That?
The police report says McCrary had pushed the officer, who was questioning her about begging customers for money at the store in Decatur, Georgia.
Police said McCrary was taken to a hospital after her June 4 arrest. She’s charged with obstructing law enforcement and was served a criminal trespass warning.
The police report referencing the incident states McCrary told Larscheid she was a federal agent and gave a “random badge number” as she tried to walk past him.
After the cop warned McCrary that she could be charged with impersonating an officer, she tried to grab Larscheid’s badge, the report states.
That’s when Larscheid pulled out his baton, he wrote.
McCrary refused commands so Larscheid struck her “an unknown amount of baton strikes to her left leg,” according to the report.
At that point, McCrary dropped to the ground and began kicking the officer, the report states.
“I continued my baton strikes to her legs and forearms instructing her to stop resisting and to lay down with her hands behind her back,” Larscheid wrote. “One strike inadvertently struck the side of her head as she was moving around.”
The report states that paramedics responded to evaluate McCrary and she was served a criminal trespass citation and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and released.
"The incident was investigated by his supervisor, as well as Internal Affairs,” Campbell said in the statement. “The narrative in the officer’s report appears to be consistent with the video.”
She said the officer was cleared following that investigation, but on Tuesday said Larscheid was put on restricted/administrative duty as a new use of force investigation had been opened.
“Now that the Department has this new evidence,” she said, “we are looking to determine whether the incident is consistent with policy and the law.”
McCrary was in jail Tuesday after being arrested Friday on a prostitution charge.
Sunday, police said that a white resident who recorded the traffic stop on their cell phone claimed a Vallejo police officer used the “N-word” during an initial contact with the suspect. The white man who recorded it thought he heard the cop say "hey nigger you understand if you won't take it I'll fucking blow you away." However, the audio on therecording is not clear. The investigation does not dispute that the cop said I'll fucking blow you away, which is a felony threat in most states. For example in DC the jury instruction explains:
B.-- THREATENING TO KIDNAP OR INJURE A PERSON OR DAMAGE HIS PROPERTY (FELONY THREATS--D.C. CODE § 22-1810) The elements of threats, each of which the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, are that:
1. [Name of defendant] [spoke words heard by] [wrote words in [a letter] [an email] received by] [otherwise communicated to] [name of recipient] [name of target] [another person];
2. The [words [name of defendant] spoke/wrote] [symbol [name of defendant] used] would cause a person reasonably to believe that [[s/he] [name of target] would be [kidnapped] [seriously 3 harmed]] [[his/her property] [name of target's property] would be damaged] [if [name of event] occurred]; and
3. [Name of defendant] intended [name of recipient] [name of target] to believe that [[s/he] [name of target] would be [kidnapped] [seriously harmed]] [[his/her property] [name of target's property] would be damaged] [if [name of event] occurred].
The government is not required to prove that [name of defendant] intended to carry out the threat. [It is not necessary that the intended victim actually heard the words, or learned about them.] In considering whether the government has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that [name of defendant] threatened [name of target], you should consider all the evidence, including the circumstances under which the words were spoken/written; facial expression, body language, tone and inflection, punctuation, and other ways of giving words meaning; and the nature of the relationship between the parties.
At any rate it the cop's language & behavior was definitely not good public service from a public servant.
After the allegations, Police Chief Andrew Bidou ordered an immediate investigation of the incident, and the accused officer was placed on leave pending the outcome.
“Interviews were conducted of the occupants of the vehicle who were both Hispanic,” police said in a news release.
“The driver of the vehicle denied that the officer used any racial slurs and specifically denied that the officer used the ‘N-word,'” police said.
“The passenger of the vehicle, David Plancarte, was arrested in connection with an armed carjacking and refused to give a statement,” police said.
Vallejo police were eventually able to obtain an original copy of the video from the resident who made the recording. In the video the officer can be heard clearly saying ‘Hey David’ where the ‘N-word’ was thought to have been heard, according to police. [Because David rhymes with nigger?]
“The internal affairs investigation continues regarding the officer’s use of profanity. The Vallejo Police Department is fully confident that no racial slur was used,” Vallejo police said.
While the investigation continues, the officer who was initially placed on leave is scheduled to return to work this week, according to Lieutenant Jeff Bassett.
All Racists are Liars. Racism/White Supremacy is Carried Out By Force and/or Deception. From [HERE] A black 19-year-old girl was punched in the mouth by a white officer, bitten by a police K9 and arrested last month after the white officer said he mistook her for a 5' 10" 180-pound bald man suspected of threatening people with a machete at a nearby grocery store.
Tatyana Hargrove’s story has been gaining attention this week after the NAACP's Bakersfield chapter released a Facebook video Monday morning recapping the incident, which it said was racially motivated.
In the video, Hargrove alleges that on June 18 she was walking home from Wooden Nickel Trading Company on Ming Avenue, where she had gone for a Father’s Day gift, when she was approached by an officer. He drew his gun as soon as he got out of his patrol car, she claims.
The result of the contact? An altercation that left Hargrove with scrapes, bruises, a punch to the mouth from one officer and a bite from a K9 released by another. During the course of her arrest, Hargrove said she feared for her life.
“He [the officer] put his other knee on my head, and I told him, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’ and I started yelling out: 'Somebody help me, somebody help me, they’re going to kill me,’” Hargrove said in the video, which received more than 225,000 views in eight hours and attracted hundreds of comments expressing frustration and anger.
She was arrested on suspicion of resisting or delaying an officer and aggravated assault on an officer, according to BPD arrest records.
The NAACP says Hargrove was targeted for her race. BPD says it was a case of mistaken identity.
BPD Sgt. Ryan Kroeker wouldn’t comment on specific matters in the police report, but said that criminal charges have been filed against Hargrove and the case has been forwarded to the Kern County District Attorney’s office for review. The department has determined the force used was appropriate, and no internal investigation has been launched, Kroeker added.
‘DON’T LIE TO ME, THAT’S A GIRL’S NAME’
The arresting officer, Christopher Moore, said in a police report obtained by The Californian that he didn’t know Hargrove was a woman until after she was handcuffed.
He mistook her for a machete-wielding suspect who had come out of the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market on Ming and Ashe avenues after threatening several people, according to the report.
That man, who police identified as Douglas Washington before arresting him the next day, was described in multiple police reports from June 18 as a 25- to 30-year-old man, bald, about 170 pounds standing at 5 feet 10 inches. He was wearing a white t-shirt, dark jeans and a pink or red backpack that contained the machete.
When Moore found Hargrove behind the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, the 115-pound teen, who stands 5 feet 2 inches, was wearing a baggy white shirt, blue jean shorts and a black hat. She was straddling a bicycle, a red and black backpack slung over her shoulder. In it were three cold water bottles, Hargrove said in her video. She had pulled over in the shade for a drink.
“She appeared to be a male and matched the description of the suspect that had brandished the machete and was also within the same complex the suspect had fled to,” Moore wrote in his report. He thought she had a weapon in her bag.
Moore, who patrols with a K9, pulled over, drew his sidearm and ordered Hargrove to put her hands in the air, according to the report.
Hargrove turned around and said: “What you all stopping another black person for. I’m out of here,” according to Moore’s report.
Jackson denied Hargrove ever spoke those words and disputes other parts of Moore’s report. The incident escalated when Moore asked to search Hargrove’s backpack, she said in the video. When she asked if he had a warrant, she claims, he gestured toward his K9 and then released the dog.
From [HERE] The Latest on the indictment of a Chicago police officer and two former officers stemming from the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald (all times local):
A new judge is overseeing the case of a Chicago police officer and two former officers accused of conspiring to cover up what happened the night a white officer shot a black teenager 16 times.
Cook County Judge Diane Cannon was appointed to the case Monday involving Joseph Walsh, David March and Thomas Gaffney. The case stems from the 2014 death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Cannon is a former prosecutor who, in 2015, acquitted a Chicago police commander who was charged with aggravated battery for allegedly shoving a gun down a suspect's throat.
Local activists who attended Monday's hearing didn't call on Cannon to recuse herself, saying they were confident in the judgment of the special prosecutor in the case.
The prosecutor, Patricia Brown Holmes, was appointed last year to lead an investigation into Laquan's shooting. She declined comment Monday.
A Chicago police officer and two former officers have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to cover up what happened the night a white officer shot a black teenager 16 times.
Joseph Walsh, David March and Thomas Gaffney made their first court appearances Monday since being indicted last month on charges stemming from the 2014 death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Just Cry & Tell A Story In Accord With the Appetite of the White Jury. [MORE] From [HERE] A race soldier officer in Minnesota who was acquitted of fatally shooting black motorist Philando Castile has left his job under a separation agreement with his suburban department, the city said on Monday.
Jeronimo Yanez, was an officer with the St. Anthony Police Department, when he shot Castile five times during a traffic stop in July 2016. He was found not guilty last month of second-degree manslaughter.
Yanez will receive $48,500 as a part of the separation agreement with the police department within the Minneapolis suburb, according to the Associated Press.
Castile’s family reached a $3 million settlement with the city of St. Anthony last month.
“A reasonable voluntary separation agreement brings to a close one part of this horrible tragedy,” the city of St. Anthony said in a statement.
“The City concluded this was the most thoughtful way to move forward and help the community-wide healing process proceed.”
Some believe the entire episode was a hoax. [MORE]
From [HERE] and [HERE] A 27-year-old Black man died early Wednesday in an officer-involved shooting involving an Evangeline Parish sheriff's deputy, according to Louisiana State Police.
The State Police Bureau of Investigation/Lafayette Field Office was alerted at 4:10 a.m. to the shooting and was asked by the Evangeline Sheriff's Office to investigate, Master Trooper Daniel “Scott” Moreau said in a news release. The officer has been identified as Paul Holden LaFluer, a local Ville Platte deputy [racist supect in photo]. [MORE] Cops claim there is no video of any kind.
The deputy had been responding to an attempted burglary in the area of Chad Lane when he encountered Dejuan Guillory, Moreau said. The police did not state what the legal basis of the stop was. Guillory was with his girlfriend DeQuince Brown. The couple were on a 4-wheeler in a rural area about a mile from Mamou, “frogging.” During an ensuing altercation between Guillory and the deputy, Guillory was shot.
Guillory was pronounced dead at the scene, Moreau said.
The deputy, who was injured during the altercation, was transported to a local hospital, where he was listed Thursday in stable condition, Moreau said. The deputy's identity has not been released.
State Police reported later Thursday they arrested Dequince E. Brown , 21, of Church Point. Brown, who was with Guillory during the incident, was booked into Evangelina Parish jail on attempted first-degree murder of a police officer.
However, a new interview contradicts the police version of the incident. The interview is with Joe Long, the attorney for DeQuince Brown. She said she witnessed an Evangeline Parish Sherriff Deputy shoot Guillory in the back on July 6, killing him.
Pen Point News investigative reporter Daniel Banguell’s interview with Long confirms many of the details reported earlier. Brown has been unable to tell her side of the story, as she has been in jail with charges of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer since the incident.
She said the officer followed them in his cruiser on a gravel road and pulled him over for unknown reasons.
In the recording, Long affirms that Guillory was on the ground with his hands behind his back, begging for his life, pleading, “please don’t shoot me, I have three kids,” when Paul Lafleur first shot Guillory. Long states:
“They were both on the ground. Guillory was on the ground, on his belly, his hands behind his back, and the officer had a gun trained at Guillory’s back, maybe a foot or two from Guillory’s body. They were still arguing back and forth but Guillory was on the ground as directed. His hands were behind his back. He was not resisting. All of a sudden, a shot rang out.”
According to Long, DeQuince Brown then jumped on the officer’s back to prevent him from killing her boyfriend and bit LaFleur (causing the reported injuries to the officer). LaFluer then fired three more shots at Guillory.
Long also states that two ambulances came to the scene, but “One ambulance loaded the deputy in and took him to the hospital. The other one left empty. When she left in a police car, Guillory’s body was still on the gravel road.” Apparently left for dead. When asked if anyone treated Guillory, the attorney added, “As far as she knows, she never witnessed anybody attempt CPR for Guillory. It may have happened, but she didn’t see it.”
Guillory’s family has pushed back at the police account. They say that the pair were out “frogging” and that “the burglary call was either a bogus claim or someone called the police because they saw the couple frogging,” according to Penpoint News. [MORE]
In August of 2015, he was convicted of simple criminal damage to property. [MORE]
Giuillory was the father of 3 children and a concrete business owner. DeJuan had just been paid on two big concrete contracts. He was seen earlier that night by friends and family in good spirits about his new girlfriend, successful career and positive outlook.
Felony Threat from racist public servant to a "Nigger" [nigger means a victim of racism/white supremacy. Nigger is what is being done to you]
According to Dr. Blynd, Cops are mercenary security guards that remind us daily, through acts of force, that we are simultaneously both enemies and slaves of the Corporate state - colonized, serveilled and patrolled by the desensitized and lobotomized drones of the colonizers. [MORE]
Presiding Over the Illusion, black judge in the fake world of court created for Black litigants. It can never be about reality or racism in the make believe world re-created in court - a pretend context with plastic flags, oaths, funny black robes, elevated judge platform and high ceilings. More modern, necessary courtroom props in the refinement of RSW are [unbeknownst to them] Black defense lawyers and prosecutors, Black judges, Black courtroom staff and probation officers and of course, occasional acquittals for Black criminal defendants. Justice Can Only be Random or Coincidental in System of Racism/White Supremacy. And Never, ever trust a Black probot. He/she is just a potted plant, part of the necessary illusion of the appearance of justice in a hoax democracy. Get Out.
From [HERE] and [HERE] A white prosecutor said Saturday that he was shocked when a judge declared a mistrial in the case of a white former Tulsa police officer who fatally shot his daughter's Black boyfriend because white jurors had deliberated for only a few hours.
It was the third mistrial in nine months for white Tulsa police officer Shannon Kepler, and all of the trials have been overseen by District Judge Sharon Holmes, who is Black. The jury was all-white. Only one African American was on each of the two hung juries in the previous cases. One juror posted on Facebook his anger at two white jurors who did not want to convict a white man of murdering a black man and refused to talk to the rest of the jury.
For a trial "not about race", it seems to permeate everywhere you turn. The white media has played its role also; do a Google search of "all white jury"and Kepler you will get zero results. Anon asks what is white collective power? When a white policeman shoots an unarmed black man, his fellow officers, the police chief, internal affairs, the union, the media, the judge, and the jury will support, defend, and finance that white police officer’s “right” to shoot (murder) an unarmed black person. That is white collective power. [MORE]
Kepler doesn't deny shooting 19-year-old Jeremey Lake, but claims he was acting in self-defense. Kepler testified that Lake was armed, although police didn't find a weapon on Lake or at the scene. The shooting happened shortly after Lake had started dating Kepler's then-18-year-old daughter, Lisa.
Attorneys said jurors deliberated for just 2 ? to three hours on Friday before saying they were deadlocked 6-6. Holmes reminded jurors that the trial had started June 27 and asked whether that changed their minds. When they said no, the judge declared a mistrial.
"I have never experienced that procedure before in my life," Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said, noting that judges often tell juries to continue deliberating to try to reach a unanimous verdict in such circumstances.
"I was just hopeful that the court would have followed prior procedure and have the jury deliberate more," Kunzweiler said. The judge had told the previous juries in the case to continue deliberating after jurors reported they were deadlocked. In one case, the judge waited until 2:30 a.m. before declaring a mistrial when jurors reported they could not break their deadlock. She did not immediately return a message that was left at her office on Saturday.
Kunzweiler said he will re-evaluate the case and decide before an Aug. 1 status conference whether to try Kepler for a fourth time. Among the factors Kunzweiler said he will consider are the prosecution and police resources required to bring Kepler to trial again.
"There's a great amount of time and effort that goes into the prosecution of these cases," he said. "Expense is a factor I'm going to have to weigh into it."
Unlike the previous two trials [this jury was 100% white - not 91%], Holmes had instructed jurors that they could convict Kepler of first-degree murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter. Manslaughter carries a sentence of four years to life in prison, while the sentence on a first-degree murder conviction is life in prison.
Kepler, who retired from the force after he was charged, was a 24-year-police veteran who said he was trying to protect his daughter, who had run away from home and was living in a crime-ridden neighborhood. O'Carroll said Lisa had been in and out of a homeless shelter after her father prohibited her from bringing men into his house.
Kepler told investigators he was acting in self-defense because Lake was armed, but police didn't find a weapon on Lake or at the scene. Lake's aunt said her nephew was reaching out to shake Kepler's hand to introduce himself when Kepler fired.
No Emergency. No Hostage: 30 White Cops Respond to Domestic Call w/ Tank & Snipers. Murder Black Man Holding His Son.From [HERE] and [MORE] The Pierce County Metro SWAT sniper who shot and killed Leonard Thomas said the 6-foot-8 man grabbed his 4-year-old son in a stranglehold and was heading back into a house filled with smoke and a police assault team when he fired his rifle.
Sgt. Brian Markert said there was “nothing protective about the way he (Thomas) grabbed his son,” and fearing the child was in imminent danger, decided to shoot Thomas from 90 feet away with a .308-caliber precision rifle.
The 30-year-old father — who was unarmed bled to death as officers punched him and pulled the boy from his arms as the child called for his “daddy,” according to testimony in a civil-rights and wrongful death civil trial in U.S. District Court.
The case is actually two lawsuits being tried together, one filed by Thomas’ parents and surviving son and the other by his estate. The lawsuits allege a militarized response to a misdemeanor domestic-violence dispute, miscommunication and questionable tactics resulted in Thomas being killed for trying to protect his child.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday.
The defense rested its case after two days of testimony and scathing cross-examination of Markert, much of it focusing on a 15-page statement — drafted with the help of his attorney — that he provided to investigators 11 days after the May 23, 2013, shooting.
In it, Markert said he believed he was justified in shooting when Thomas grabbed the boy by the neck with both arms and jerked him off the ground. Thomas’ action, he said, constituted felony assault, and he fired to protect the child.
The sergeant acknowledged, however, that Thomas reached for the boy only after the incident commander, Lakewood Chief Mike Zaro, ordered a surprise assault on the rear of the home, where a team of SWAT operators blew down a back door with explosives, shot and killed the family dog, and swarmed into the house.
The assault was ordered after Thomas agreed to let the child go, according to testimony.
An amateur video [below] of portions of the assault, shot by a neighbor, contains sounds of the explosion, the crack of the sniper’s rifle and the gunshots that killed the dog. Fred and Annalesa Thomas, Leonard Thomas’ parents, have been in court every day. She moaned and wept in her husband’s arms as the video was played Thursday.
The Center for Justice and Democracy has just released an interesting and timely fact sheet – “Fact Sheet: Civil Lawsuits Lead to Better Safer Law Enforcement,” that shows that suing the police for acts of violence leads to better policing. The fact sheet contains a number of cases where “[lawsuits have] had a direct and positive impact on law enforcement, with settlements in individual cases leading to better training, safer policies and overall better practices.”
It is a good example of the ways that the tort system, and trial by jury benefits, not merely for the injured victim, but all of us. Unfortunately, as the fact sheet points out, “each case would be essentially barred by current legislation in Congress that would make it nearly impossible to sue the police, no matter how severe the constitutional violation.” [MORE] Nevertheless, the genocidal murder or justifiable homicide of non-whites, particularly Black males is major tool of the system of white supremacy/racism. [MORE]
From [CJ&D] As many recent examples show, the filing of criminal charges against police officers for excessive use of force is exceedingly rare, and even if charges are brought, juries are loath to convict them.[1] It is clear that if systemic problems have afflicted a police department’s use of force policies, criminal prosecutions may not be the best way to correct them.
On the other hand, successful civil lawsuits filed by victims have been a critical tool for police departments to identify and remedy potentially widespread abuses. As UCLA law professor Joanna C. Schwartz, a leading expert in police misconduct litigation, wrote in 2011,[2]
[A] small but growing group of police departments around the country have found innovative ways to analyze information gathered from lawsuits. They investigate lawsuit claims as they would civilian complaints, and they discipline, retrain or fire officers when the claims are substantiated. They look for trends in lawsuits suggesting problem officers, units and practices, and they review the evidence developed in the cases for personnel and policy lessons.
Indeed, lawsuits can have a direct and positive impact on law enforcement, with settlements in individual cases leading to better training, safer policies and overall better practices. The following are examples of recent cases that have had such a constructive result. Notably, each case would be essentially barred by current legislation in Congress that would make it nearly impossible to sue the police, no matter how severe the constitutional violation.[Each case would be essentially blocked by the “Back the Blue Act of 2017,” which provides, “if the police can show that the violation and resulting injuries were ‘incurred in the course of, or as a result of, or…related to, conduct by the injured party that, more likely than not, constituted a felony or a crime of violence…(including any deprivation in the course of arrest or apprehension for, or the investigation, prosecution, or adjudication of, such an offense),’ then the officers are liable only for out-of-pocket expenses. What’s more, the bill would bar plaintiffs from recovering attorneys fees in such cases.” RadleyBalko, “A new GOP bill would make it virtually impossible to sue the police,” Washington Post, May 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/05/24/a-new-gop-bill-would-make-it-virtually-impossible-to-sue-the-police/]
Excessive force ended in death
Jeremy McDole, 28 and paralyzed from the waist down, was shot to death by four police officers on September 23, 2015 while sitting in his wheelchair. The officers had confronted McDole after receiving a 911 call about a man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Bystander video showed an officer pointing a gun at McDole, screaming at him to drop his gun and put his hands up and then firing a shot at McDole when he started fidgeting in his chair and moving his hands toward his waist. According to a Delaware Department of Justice Report, the footage also clearly showed that “(1) Mr. McDole’s hands were on the arms of his wheelchair when he was shot, and (2) [the officer] gave Mr. McDole two commands to ‘show me your hands’ in the space of approximately two seconds before he discharged his shotgun,” an act that “fundamentally changed the dynamic of the incident involving Mr. McDole.” Less than one minute after the initial shot was fired, three other officers shot McDole 15 times, killing him.
The Mystery Surrounded [their belief that] Castile Pulled A Gun Out.Why would a cop make it up? Because a white jury or white judge will believe it.What is White Collective Power? [MORE]
From [HERE] The white judge who presided over the manslaughter trial of a Minnesota race soldier cop acquitted in the fatal shooting of black motorist Philando Castile took the unusual step of writing to the jurors to tell them that he supports them despite widespread public criticism of their verdict.
"I write to re-assure you that you faithfully fulfilled the difficult task you were asked to undertake," Ramsey County District Judge William Leary III said in his letter to the jury, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Tuesday.
The jury was mostly white as 10 out of 12 were white. The group also skewed older. Profiles of the jurors are [HERE]
The white judge told the mostly white jurors he was not providing his own opinion of St. Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez's actions during the fatal traffic stop last July in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights, but wanted to convey that their verdict "was fully supported by a fair interpretation of the evidence and the law you were obligated to apply." [It Would Be Better If They had no eyes or ears. At least there would have been no possibility of misunderstanding.]
The white judge also may be casting shade on the $3 million settlement reached last week between St. Anthony, Minn and Castille's family. No doubt the City did not feel the same as the judge.
Leary sent his letter a few days after authorities released [above] dramatic dashboard camera video showing the Latino officer firing seven shots at the 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker in a matter of seconds, just after Castile informed Yanez he was armed.
In his letter, Leary broke down the multiple elements of the law that prosecutors were required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, including whether Yanez acted with gross negligence and recklessness.
"The state's failure to prove any of the required elements of the charge required that you, the jury, return a verdict of not guilty," Leary wrote.
Leary wrote that the criticism has focused primarily on reaction to the squad car video and issues that the jury was never asked to address.
"You were never asked to decide whether racism continues to exist, whether certain members of our community are disproportionately affected by police tactics, or whether police training is ineffective," he said. "You were simply asked to determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, whether a crime had been committed."
On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a race soldier cop, after being pulled over in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Castile was driving a car with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter as passengers when he was pulled over by Yanez and another officer. According to Reynolds, after being asked for his license and registration, Castile told the officer he was licensed to carry a weapon and had one in his pants pocket.Reynolds said Castile was shot while reaching for his ID after telling Yanez he had a gun permit and was armed. The officer shot Castile seven times.
Diamond Reynolds live-streamed a video on Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. It shows her interacting with the armed officer as a mortally injured Castile lies slumped over, moaning slightly and his left arm and side bloody.
On the video Reynolds narrated that the officer said, "Don't move" and as Castile was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times. Reynolds told the officer, "You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir."Reynolds also said "Please don't tell me he's dead," while Yanez exclaims: "I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand open!"
At trial Yanez, testified that he fired his weapon because Castile had his hand on a gun, not his wallet and identification papers. He said that he actually saw the gun.
The Cop's Two Versions of What Happened Cannot Both Be True. 1) The day after the incident occurred Yanez explained to police officials that he was not sure whether Castile was reaching for a gun. He told the police investigators he never actually saw a gun [MORE] and [complaint PDF]. Just minutes after the shooting in the dashcam audio/video of the incident Yanez can be heard being questioned by St. Anthony Police Officer Tressa Sunde and telling her:
[Castile] was sitting in the car, seat belted. I told him, 'Can I see your license?' And then, he told me he had a firearm. I told him not to reach for it and (sigh) when he went down to grab, I told him not to reach for it (clears throat) and then he kept it right there, and I told him to take his hands off of it, and then he (sigh) he had his, his grip a lot wider than a wallet .... And I don't know where the gun was,he didn't tell me where the fucking gun was, and then it was just getting hinky, he gave, he was just staring ahead, and then I was getting fucking nervous, and then I told him, I know I fucking told him to get his fucking hand off his gun [MORE]
Previously Yanez also inconsistently stated to police investigators, "Castille put his hand around something." He said Castile's hand took a C-shape, "like putting my hand up to the butt of the gun." Yanez said he then lost view of Castile's hand. "I know he had an object and it was dark," he said. "And he was pulling it out with his right hand. [MORE]
Yanez also said he thought or believed Castile had the gun in his right hand and he had "no option" but to shoot. [MORE]
2) However, one year later, at the trial he said that he actually saw the gun and Castile had pulled it out. Something that Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds denied. Castile also denied it; as his last dying words were, 'I'm not pulling it out,' on a video released by proscecutors during trial. On the video Reynolds also responded by saying, 'he's not pulling it out."
Specifically, Yanez, testified he fired his weapon because Castile had his hand on a gun, not his wallet and identification papers.
"I had no other choice. I didn't want to shoot Mr. Castile. That wasn't my intention," CNN affiliate WCCO reported. "I thought I was going to die."
"It's your testimony today that you saw Mr. Castile pull out an object?" prosecutor Rick Dusterhoft said Friday.
"It was a gun," Yanez said.
"You said he pulled it out?"
"Correct," Yanez said.
"And he said he wasn't (pulling it out)?"
"Correct, but it doesn't always mean that's what he was doing," Yanez said.
Previously, Yanez said
"When Roseville police officers arrived you never warned them there was a gun did you?" Dusterhoft said.
"No," Yanez said.
On the video Yanez is yelling, “Don’t pull it out!” However, a year later on the witness stand he said he saw a gun.
Prosecutors said Yanez is not credible.
“Based upon the evidence, we believe that Castile never removed, nor tried to remove, his handgun from his front right pocket, which was a foot deep,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. Yanez’s partner also didn’t see a gun. [MORE]
On cross examination the race soldier cop was asked,
"When Roseville police officers arrived you never warned them there was a gun did you?"
From [HERE] The Jersey City Police Department and a former mayor's son are at the center of a multi-million dollar police brutality lawsuit that alleges a man was beaten so viciously he suffered permanent brain damage.
The allegations stem from a 2012 assault outside Healy's Tavern on Newark Avenue involving off-duty police officers and the bar's owner Jeremiah S. Healy, a Jersey City firefighter and son of then-Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
Hector Mejias is seeking damages for pain, suffering and emotional distress for the Sept. 29 incident.
Motions to dismiss the lawsuit were denied by an Essex County Superior Court judge in June. The case was transferred out of Hudson County because at least one person listed in the complaint has a relative working in the Hudson courthouse. The next hearing in the case is Aug. 14.
According to the lawsuit, Mejias was driving home when he saw a group near the bar beating another man in the middle of the street. Mejias told the attackers to stop beating up the victim and said he was going to call the police, the lawsuit says. When he took out his phone, the men doing the beating said they were cops.
Those officers, who were off-duty and are identified in the lawsuit as detectives Chris Heger and Mark D'Ambrosio, appeared "highly intoxicated" and approached Mejias, the suit says.
In the lawsuit Mejias says he went back to his car, but Healy Jr. tried to stop him from driving away. Meijas later bit three of Healy's fingers in self-defense, the lawsuit said.
Heger and D'Ambrosio ripped Mejias from the vehicle and continued to "beat him and kick him violently," the lawsuit indicates.
Meijas was brought to the hospital for treatment and was then arrested on assault charges. Officials said a grand jury declined to indict Mejias in April 2013.
Authorities, however, painted a different picture of the incident in 2012. Police reports indicated Mejias hit the off-duty officers while he was trying to defend his friend, who was being subdued by the detectives. Healy tried to take Mejias' keys so he couldn't get away from the officers, police said.
Those reports were not accurate and were intentionally "misleading" to "cover up the actions" of Heger, D'Ambrosio and Healy, who lied to the on-duty cops who responded to the fight, the lawsuit claims.
The on-duty officers involved in the alleged cover-up are Stephen Wilson, Samantha Pescatore and Sgt. Timothy Ackerley, the lawsuit said.
Mejias, meanwhile, is permanently disabled because of his injuries. The lawsuit says he suffered a concussion and has developed a seizure disorder. His eye socket was severely damaged and he cannot return to his job as a truck driver, the filings state.
Marquis Wright, 21, says Bartow police abused their power and treated him differently because of his race during an arrest Monday.
A neighbor captured a roughly 50 second video of the encounter at Wright’s home on Magnolia Street.
A K-9 officer can be seen biting Wright while he was on the ground with police.
Neighbors could be heard screaming in outrage.
Wright spoke with News Channel 8 for the first time Tuesday, shortly after getting out of jail.
His right thigh was bandaged due to bites from the dog, which caused him to walk with a limp, using a cane.
Wright said he was sitting on his porch when officers showed up. He asked police to stay on the other side of the fence and said the situation went downhill from there.
“They just asked for my information and that’s it,” Wright said.
No Emergency. No Hostage: 30 White Cops Respond to Domestic Call w/ Tank & Snipers. Murder Black Man Holding His Son. From [HERE] A decorated former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) SWAT trainer and supervisor testified Monday there was no evidence Leonard Thomas posed a threat to anyone — not the police, not himself, and not his 4-year-old son — when he was shot and killed by a Pierce Metro SWAT team sniper following a standoff in Fife in May 2013.
Scott DeFoe, hired as an expert witness by attorneys representing Thomas’ family in a wrongful-death and civil-rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court, reviewed the actions of the multiagency team that surrounded Thomas’ home the night of May 23, 2013. The witness concluded that, while negotiators and individual team members did an exemplary job, they were failed by their leader, Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, who was in charge that night.
Indeed, the often-tense situation had all but resolved — the 30-year-old Thomas had agreed to let his son, Elijah, go home with Thomas’ mother, Annalesa Thomas — and had taken the child, a car seat and a backpack to the front porch.
After a couple of false starts when Thomas balked at releasing the boy, Annalesa Thomas was brought up from the command post to call for the child from behind an armored vehicle.
Zaro, in the meantime, radioed that the SWAT team was not to let Thomas take the child back into the house and ordered an assault team at the rear of the home to set off explosives and blow down the door, flooding the house with armed men who shot and killed the family dog.
Thomas, according to witnesses, grabbed for the child at the sound of the blast, and a Lakewood Police Department sniper, Brian Markert, shot him in the pelvis with a large-caliber rifle from 90 feet away.
SWAT officers said they had to slug Thomas to get him to let go of the child, who was yelling “Daddy! Daddy.” Thomas’ last words were “Don’t hurt my boy” before he bled to death, according to testimony.
Zaro, who spent most of Monday on the witness stand, had said he gave the order because Thomas was increasingly agitated. He believed the assault team’s violent entrance would cause Thomas to freeze and give officers a chance to rescue the boy.
Thomas, Zaro said, was controlling and using the child as a bargaining chip.
But when the explosives detonated, Thomas reached for the boy, and Markert, believing Thomas was going to hurt the child, fired his rifle.
“Nobody thought he would grab his son and flee back toward the sound of an explosion,” Zaro said. [He means Thomas would not do this b/c he his Black. Protecting your son under these circumstances would be something only a white guy would do.]
The chief said Thomas had been controlling, belligerent and hostile toward police, although he acknowledged that at no time during the evening did Thomas threaten officers, himself or the child. No firearms were found in the house, and Thomas was not armed.
Police had been called to his home that night because he was drunk, had argued with his mother and had grabbed a cellphone out of her hand while she was calling 911. The decision was to arrest him was allegedly for misdemeanor domestic-violence assault - for taking the phone out of her hand.
Zaro said Thomas’ erratic actions that night “left him no choice” but to authorize deadly force.
Attorney Tiffany Cartwright, one of the lawyers representing Thomas’ parents and his now 9-year-old son, told an eight-member jury in opening statements that nothing that the drunken, despondent, bipolar man did warranted the massive police response the night of May 23, 2013 — two armored vehicles and at least 27 officers, including the Pierce Metro SWAT team — for a misdemeanor, domestic-violence offense.
Based on photographs introduced in trial, most, if not all, of the officers were white, and attorneys for Thomas’ family hav
Thomas, 30, drunk and despondent over the sudden death of a childhood friend, had been holed up for hours with his 4-year-old son after his mother called Fife police following an argument. A police negotiator had finally convinced Thomas to let the child go home with his grandmother for the night - which is what Thomas and his mother had fought about in the first place.
Once the child was safe, the negotiator and a SWAT commander figured officers would just let Thomas sleep off a bad night and come back later to deal with a misdemeanor domestic-violence allegation stemming from a tussle over his mother's cellphone while she was talking to 911, according to police reports.
That isn't what happened.
As a skittish Thomas led the boy onto the front porch to send him down the sidewalk to the child's waiting grandmother, members of a SWAT assault team used explosives to blow open a back door, forcing their way in and killing the family dog with a burst of gunfire. Thomas - who was unarmed - reportedly lunged for his son, and he was fatally shot by a police sniper as he held the boy.
The assault-team leader, Lakewood police Officer Mike Wiley, announced the shooting over a SWAT frequency: "We have jackpot." [MORE]
In his testimony, Zaro acknowledged the Thomas’ SWAT call-out was his first experience as tactical commander during an incident with a hostage or barricaded subject. He also said he rarely trained with the SWAT team snipers because he had other duties.
DeFoe, a 25-year LAPD officer and Medal of Valor winner who spent more than a decade in SWAT as a supervisor, trainer and crisis negotiator, told the jury he has supervised hundreds of barricaded suspects and hostage situations, and questioned whether Elijah was a hostage at all, considering there had been no threats.
While he said it was “prudent” to have an assault team and snipers ready, DeFoe said his review of reports, transcripts, depositions and dispatch audio from that night led him to conclude there was no reason to kill Thomas, and every reason to continue negotiating with him.
There was no emergency, he said. The boy was fine and had apparently been in bed and was about to be let go. There were no weapons, no threats and there was no hurry. The two hostage negotiators, he said, had done an “excellent” job when Zaro ordered the assault.
“My criticism lies with command,” DeFoe said. “There was a departure from training and tactics in this case. I don’t think the shooting itself was reasonable.”
Cops Argued Argue They Have the Right to Peek Inside Your Windows and Jiggle Your Door. From [HERE] and [HERE] A Latino man pulled from his home and arrested at gunpoint after two Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies went to the wrong address achieved a partial victory this week when a federal judge ruled that the deputies violated his Fourth Amendment seizure rights and used excessive force.
Conner Griffith-Guerrero filed a federal civil lawsuit against Deputy Robert Brooke, Deputy Evan Logan and Spokane County in 2015, two years after the incident at his home on North Five Mile Road. Both sides filed summary judgment requests and this week U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice ruled that a portion of each request would be granted.
On Dec. 13, 2013, a resident on North Five Mile Road called 911 to report that there was a suspicious car parked at his neighbor’s house and his neighbor was in Arizona for the winter. He provided the address to the house, but deputies couldn’t find the house and instead went to another home. They drew their guns and walked around the house, testing doors and shining their flashlights in windows, according to court documents.
Griffith-Guerrero was in the basement watching television when he saw the flashlights shining in. He said he was afraid he was about to be burglarized so he went upstairs and hit the front door to let whoever was outside know that someone was home, the lawsuit said. He went outside to look and saw someone with a gun. He screamed and ran into the house.
Brooke then identified himself and Griffith-Guerrero opened the door and was ordered outside the home and orderered toget on his knees and then he was handcuffed. He said that one of the deputies was pointing a gun at him the whole time, but the deputy testified in a deposition that he was merely holding his gun in the “low ready” position.
The deputies put him in handcuffs at gunpoint, according to court documents.
Eventually they let him go when they see that the address on his ID matches the address of the house that they just pulled him out of.
After it was determined that Griffith-Guerrero lived there, Brooke reportedly told him “You’re lucky I didn’t (expletive) shoot you,” the lawsuit said.
White Police Chief along with his Black probot sidekick. From [HERE] and [HERE] The NAACP is calling on the Justice Department to investigate Indianapolis' police department following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.
Two officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department fired on 45-year-old Aaron Bailey early Thursday, killing him, after he crashed his car while fleeing a traffic stop.
Police have released few details on what prompted the fatal shooting.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Bryan Roach on Thursday afternoon addressed the shooting and its impact. Roach is white.
“This is a problem and an issue that not only affects this police department, your chief of police, your mayor, but the community as a whole, blah blah” Roach said.
A north-side traffic stop shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday led to a brief chase, a minor crash, a driver who reached down in his car and two officers who fatally shot him. No weapon was later found. A female passenger was in the passenger seat.
Officers Michal P. Dinnsen and Carlton J. Howard joined IMPD in June 2014. They have never received any disciplinary actions against them. They are now on administrative leave.
Dinnsen is white. Howard is bi-racial. [when white reporters begin using terms like bi-racial you probably are listening to a racist.]
Indy Congregation Action Network on Thursday decried an "open season on black men" and called for the prosecution of the officers who shot Bailey.
“People of color are scared to walk and drive on their own streets," the Rev. Kenneth Sullivan of New Direction Church said in a statement released by IndyCAN. “We need the community to be able to participate in something that brings resolve to this open season on black men.”
