HOUSTON (Reuters) - The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest.

Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by an all white jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago.

Houston is the country's fourth-largest city and among the most diverse, with an African American chief of police. However, the jury in this case was chosen from surrounding conservative Harris County, represented by a white, Republican district attorney who began her career as a Houston police officer.

The jury had deliberated for less than a day.

“The jury sent a message that the life of a black man don’t mean a damn thing in Houston,” African American community activist Quanell X told the Los Angeles Times. “ I believe that allowing an all-white jury to be impaneled in this case was absolutely wrong and a miscarriage of justice.”

Houston is the country's fourth-largest city and among the most diverse, with an African American chief of police. However, the jury in this case was chosen from surrounding conservative Harris County, represented by a white, Republican district attorney who began her career as a Houston police officer.

Cyranek saw 16-year-old Davon Mullins with a gun several few blocks away at Fountain Square, wrestled him to the ground and searched the teen, the suit says. According to the suit, Cyranek tossed aside the gun he found on the teen, drew his own service weapon and shot Mullins multiple times in the chest.

Cyranek then retrieved the discarded gun and placed it near to the teen's body before calling for assistance, the suit claims. Attorney Eric Deters is representing the teen's family, who claims that Cincinnati police have refused to produce any findings from their own investigation. Deters said he believes the department is hiding something.

"We will evaluate the facts to determine whether a federal investigation is warranted," said Rebekah Carmichael, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

On Thursday Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan announced that a grand jury decided not to indict New Brunswick police officers Brad Berdel and Daniel Mazan in the September shooting of Barry Deloatch, 46, in an alley on Throop Avenue in New Brunswick.

After the release of the grand jury decision, questions were raised about the investigation of the shooting, noting a judge had refused to impanel a special grand jury, and that the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is located in the same building as New Brunswick police headquarters.

New York Police Stop Every Young Black Man in the City…For Safety [MORE]

From [HERE] A lawsuit alleging racial bias in the New York Police Department’s so-called stop-and-frisk tactics will proceed under class-action status, clearing the way for thousands of potential plaintiffs to join the legal challenge.

The decision by Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan federal court also criticized the city’s “cavalier attitude” in response to claims police have conducted illegal searches.

Her ruling could dramatically expand a 2008 lawsuit filed by four individuals who claimed their constitutional rights had been trampled by the city’s effort to combat crime through stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking those suspected of street crimes.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said at a news conference there isn't a prosecutable case against the officers. Jordan Miles was an 18-year-old student at the city's performing arts high school at the time of the 2010 beating. The undercover officers contend Miles ran and resisted after appearing to have a gun, but it was a soda bottle. Miles denied even having the bottle and claimed he was targeted simply because he was a young black man.

Zappala's announcement came a day after a county councilman suggested investigating possible conflicts of interests in the DA's office in cases involving citizens' claims of police misconduct.

Miles' lawyer, J. Kerrington Lewis, said he feels Zappala should have excused himself from the investigation long ago, because he represented the officers who beat the youth.

Police said Deloatch fled when Officers Brad Berdel and Daniel Mazan approached him and two other men on Sept. 22 because the officers said the men were behaving suspiciously. The chase ended with Berdel shooting Deloatch once, killing him. (what exactly made them suspicious? - bw)

Police said the 46-year-old Deloatch threatened Officer Mazan with a wooden board. But Deloatch’s family said he was unarmed, and prosecutors noted the officers didn’t have their police-issued batons at the time. Berdel also didn’t have his chemical spray. The bullet struck Deloatch in the left side of his body, piercing his aorta.

New Brunswick police had been silent on the incident, which has attracted the attention of the NAACP and other prominent organizations. Deloatch is black, while Berdel and Mazan are white.

Terrence Battle says that he was yanked out of a cab in Brooklyn in 2010 and frisked by police for no reason. "Pulling over next to my house, police turned their lights on and stopped the cab," he said. "They walked up and asked the cab driver if everything was OK. The cab driver said yeah. They immediately turned their attention to me, frisked me, searched me, went through my bag." Battle sued the city with the help of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Now, the case has been settled, with Battle receiving $10,000. [MORE] 

(Reuters) - New York police officers at their daily roll call are now being told they may not systemically search taxi passengers for weapons, in a deal to settle a lawsuit over the city's controversial stop and frisk program.

The lawsuit said the NYPD had extended its hotly contested stop-and-frisk practices to include regular passenger searches during inspections of taxis and livery cabs that participate in the Taxi/Livery Robbery Inspection Program, run by police.

The ACLU and longtime civil rights activists blasted the prohibition against criticism by clergy who volunteer with the department.

McClelland changed the organization of HPD's religious volunteers by forming a group called the Police and Clergy Alliance (PACA). He issued guidelines governing the new alliance that took effect April 26.

Last week, an estimated 100 to 150 black ministers who are members of the Houston Ministers Against Crime turned in their HPD-issued credentials, saying they would no longer work with police, the pastor's group director confirmed.