The city of Cincinnati's civilian board that reviews the
actions of local police has completed its probe into the death of
Nathaniel "Skip" Jones, who died last fall during a scuffle with
officers. The Citizen Complaint Authority will release the report
publicly and discuss its findings during an Aug. 2 meeting at City
Hall. Jones, a 41-year-old black man, died Nov. 30 during a struggle
with police officers outside a White Castle restaurant in North
Avondale. The incident began when Cincinnati firefighters responded to
a call about a man unconscious at the restaurant. The crew arrived to
find that Jones had reawakened and acting erratically. When officers
approached the 350-pound Jones, he became agitated, and lunged and
punched at them. The situation escalated, and videotape shows police
struck Jones with nightsticks for almost three minutes until he was
handcuffed. [more]
In November the Cincinnati Police fatal beating of Nathaniel Jones was
captured on video tape. NO officers were charged in the beating.
Nathaniel Jones pictured above. [more]
Lawyers for Lester Siler said that Police tortured him for over two hours. When officers arrived, he was standing outside," lawyer
Mike Farley
explains. "He was brought inside, handcuffed, and set down at the
kitchen table. He never attempted to flee." "The officers then asked Mr.
Siler to sign a consent to search form, waiving
his constitutional rights to not search his home, when Siler refused to let officers search his home, the
five men beat him for nearly two hours. "The beating lasted almost two hours, with the officers
striking Mr. Siler numerous times about his face and body, and
contained other forms of torture which we are not at liberty to
disclose at this time," the statement said. At least part of the incident was caught on audiotape on a machine at Siler's home.
Circumstances of the arrest being probed by the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation include allegations that electrical clamps were present
and Siler was threatened with being shocked. [more] and [more]
Photographer claims evidence of Campbell Co. deputy abuse [more]
The
Austin Police Department, the city of Austin and several police
officers are the target of a federal lawsuit. The Villegas family said
they were terrorized by police one night last October. They said they
woke up when they heard gunshots and 20 minutes later, they said almost
15 Austin police officers showed up yelling and demanding the family
come outside. Most of the family only spoke Spanish and could not
understand the officers' English. The family said police aimed guns at
them, handcuffed them and forced them to get on the ground. The
Villegas family said police entered their home without a warrant
looking for a gun. They also said no one ever reported gunshots coming
from their home and police never found a gun. [more]
'Because the suspect is Black, every Black Man is a suspect'--
A man who says he was harassed during the search for the serial rapist
is seeking $15,000 from a city police detective. Lawyer Deborah C.
Wyatt filed the claim Tuesday in city General District Court against
Detective James Mooney, one of the investigators looking for the man
responsible for six rapes in the area since 1997. Wyatt said Monroe "wasn't even in the range" of the serial rapist's description.
The rapist has been described as a black man who is roughly 6 feet tall
with an athletic build. Monroe is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about
300 pounds. Monroe maintains that police showed up at his home
and work in April, told him his name was on a list and said they needed
to take a DNA sample, Wyatt said. They took swab of Monroe's saliva,
she said. [more] and [more] and [more]
Charlottesville police have asked over 200 black men to submit to
cheek swabs as part of the search for a rapist who has attacked at
least six women since 1997 [more]
ACLU of Virginia Asks Charlottesville Police to Halt DNA Collection from African-American Males [more]
Last Week Police Shot and Killed a Black Man and a Latino Man
Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts met Tuesday with
about 70 community members and religious leaders to discuss
investigations into three shootings by officers last week, two of them
occurring within 10 hours. Of the three men wounded in the shootings,
two died, said Long Beach Police Sgt. David Cannan. He said two of
those shot were Latino and the other was African American. The black
man was unarmed when he was fatally shot. The department and the Los
Angeles County district attorney's office are investigating the
shootings. The seven officers who discharged their guns were put on
paid three-day leave, which is routine, and must be cleared for return
to duty by the department psychologist. [more]
Nevada:
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is assisting in the investigation into
last week's shooting death of a teenager by tribal police on a Las
Vegas Indian Reservation. Norman Boney Junior, 17, also known as
"Manny," was shot twice by a Walker River Paiute Indian Reservation
tribal police officer in the town of Schurz on Thursday night.
According to the FBI, the incident began when Gayle Boney, Norman's
mother, called tribal police seeking help in finding her husband,
Norman Boney Senior. The FBI reports that she said he was driving
around in his truck drunk and "acting crazy." [more]
People asked
for their DNA have little choice: Either submit to the test or move up
the suspect list. And, they say, sweeps - in which police collect DNA
from dozens of people based upon a broad description - violate people's
constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure. "These
sweeps - whether they're roadblocks or these massive DNA collections -
are not only intrusive but they're ineffective," said Sam Walker, a
longtime criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha. "Research has shown that time and time again, crimes are solved
by some specific identifying information from people. The victim. A
witness. A friend. "A lot of these sweeps are just done as theater.
It's police playing to an audience, trying to show that they're doing
something." [more]
Unedited tape Shows More Police Blows
The complete and unedited nine-minute tape of the
June 23 pursuit and arrest of Stanley Miller by LAPD officers shows
that he took a beating from the cops -- after receiving the 11
flashlight blows. The world was shown only a one-minute portion of the
tape. No one except LAPD higher-ups has seen what happens after that.
KABC-TV news reporter Scott Reiff, in the Air 7 helicopter, continued
to tape the incident until Miller was placed into police car number
569. the complete tape, which vividly depicts the following: After
Miller is on the ground, subdued, kicked and hit 11 times by Hatfield,
most of the swarming cops get off him. But the prone, handcuffed man is
inexplicably jumped on again, like a loose football, by seven of the
eight officers present, and kicked again by another one. [more]
Black Man Beaten by L.A. Police files $25 Million claim with city [more] and [more]
Police are investigating a claim that Southeast Division Officer John
Hatfield -- the cop who struck Stanley Miller 11 times with a flashlight
following a police chase last month -- threatened to kill a 14-year-old
boy, it was learned Tuesday. Mabelle Pittman, a staunch police
supporter and an active volunteer with the Southeast Division for the
past 25 years, filed a complaint against Hatfield after she learned of
her son's March 26 encounter with him, during which the officer
allegedly told the child: "Why don't you run so I can shoot you in the
back?" [more]
A Philadelphia Highway Patrol officer is accused
of a racist act after hanging a black doll from his car. The veteran
officer is now the target of an internal investigation. Several police
officers said they were surprised, shocked and outraged that a fellow
police officer would do anything to create racial tension among the
ranks. Police officials said the white officer drove to work with a
black baby doll hanging by a noose from the outside of his personal
car. Police sources said a black officer confronted the white officer,
demanding he take down the doll, but the white officer refused and the
black officer filed two complaints -- one with the department and one
with the federal EEOC. [more]
The
Black man beaten by police last month filed a claim Thursday with the
city of Los Angeles for $25 million in damages. Stanley Miller, 36,
alleged he suffered "brain damage, spinal injuries,
trunk-torso injuries, internal injuries, emotional distress, and
bruises and contusions" during his televised arrest near a concrete
creek bed in Compton on June 23. The sum he is seeking, the claim said,
is justified by the "malicious and egregious conduct of the LAPD." "The
LAPD planted evidence, lied about evidence, destroyed evidence and has
attempted to cover up its misdeeds," according to the document. [more] and [more]
A man said Omaha police handcuffed him and forced him to give a DNA
sample, even though he had already been exonerated by a rape victim.
The man told his story to KETV NewsWatch 7's Carol Kloss and asked to
remain anonymous. He said two years ago police questioned him in the
first of four serial rapes. At the time, he said the victim told police
he didn't do it. [more]
Monday's criminal grand jury hearing into the shooting death of an
unarmed man by a state agent will be held in public, Santa Clara County
Superior Court Presiding Judge Thomas P. Hansen has decided, marking
the second time in less than a year -- and only the third time ever in
the county -- that the normally secret proceedings will be open.
Supporters of Rodolfo ``Rudy'' Cardenas, mistaken for a fugitive by a
state drug agent, said they were pleased by the decision, which was
expected. But they added they are concerned authorities will seek to
discredit Cardenas in an effort to clear the officer who shot him. [more]
I guess it has never dawned on them that they need to
look at their own human rights violations first before they can even
open their mouth. The last two years alone have seen numerous counts of
pure brutality that cannot be wished even on one's worst enemy. There
was the case in Cincinatti were the police shot a young black man for
eluding them, claiming he had 14 warrants of arrest but not bothering
to mention that the warrants were merely for unpaid tickets by the same
cops. Then there was the Ingelwood California case where a handcuffed
black teenager was slammed on the hood of a car and punched in the face
by four police officers, who were surprisingly acquitted. [more]
Officer says wire cutters were 200 yards away, not in the suspect's pocket
Wire
cutters that Los Angeles police have said were discovered on a suspect
in a recent televised beating were actually found after the man's
arrest and more than 200 yards away -- in a car he had allegedly stolen,
according to a source familiar with the case. The location of the wire
cutters has emerged as a key element of the investigation into last
month's controversial incident. Officers used the existence of the tool
to try to help explain why the suspected car thief, 36-year-old Stanley
Miller, was repeatedly struck with a flashlight [more]
Leader Defends Police Panel's Post-Beating Role [more]
Denver police officer kills a 63 year old invalid.
A
Denver police officer shot and killed a 63-year-old invalid as he lay
in bed watching television Sunday night after the officer mistook a
soda can in the man's hand for a weapon. Frank Lobato was killed with a
single shot to the chest after officers climbed into a home through a
second-floor window to search for Lobato's nephew in connection with an
earlier domestic-violence call. [more]
One of four white police officers fired for his role in the 1998
shooting death of a 19-year-old black woman has been hired as a deputy
sheriff in Northern California. Michael Alagna, a former Riverside
officer who received medical retirement benefits after the Tyisha
Miller shooting, began working two weeks ago in San Joaquin County,
officials said. Alagna continued to collect half his Riverside pay
tax-free. [more]
A group of community leaders called Monday for
new disciplinary powers for Los Angeles Police Chief William J.
Bratton, saying he should have the final decision on officer
misconduct, rather than a panel dominated by police officers.
"Should these boards, who are accountable to no one, be the
decision-making body?" asked Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the National
Alliance for Positive Action, referring to the Police Department's
Board of Rights. [more]
Twenty-five-year-old Marcus Galloway spent six
months in jail on charges of assaulting of an officer. Based on a
videotape captured by a police cruiser camera, those charges were
thrown out. Now Galloway is sharing his story. Galloway was a passenger
in a car pulled over by Louisville Metro police officers Russell Miller
and Steve Cambron. "He didn't have the right to do what he done." [more] Pictured above: Marcus Galloway's father.
Metro police to investigate videotaped clash at traffic stop [more]
In Brooklyn one year ago, police brutally attacked a Puerto Rican
family, the Acostas, during a Fourth of July barbecue in front of their
building. The police were supposedly responding to a noise complaint.
Eight family members were injured during this police assault. They
included Marga rita Acosta, now 63 years old and her 12-year-old
grandson, Darrell. [more]
