Officer James Turney's hearing to appeal his 10-month suspension
was postponed Wednesday so city attorneys can have more time to prepare
their case. The hearing, which was to begin later this month, was
pushed back to Oct. 19 - a move that drew objections from his
attorneys, Doug Jewell and Jeff Clayton. In April, Manager of Safety Al
LaCabe suspended Turney without pay for 10 months in the fatal shooting
of Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled teen. On July 5, 2003,
Turney responded to Childs' home after a report that the teen was
threatening his mother with a kitchen knife. Following the announcement
of Turney's suspension, Jewell said his client would appeal the
suspension on the grounds that it was excessive and unjustified. During
Wednesday's meeting about the case, Assistant City Attorney Karla
Pierce requested a continuance, citing more than 5,000 documents and 40
videotapes she needed to review. [more ]
According to Paul Childs' mother, Helen Childs, she had
been joking around with the teen, when he came out of the kitchen
clutching a knife. A family friend in the house called Denver police
saying Childs was "threatening his mother". Helen said she was not
concerned when police arrived around 1:00 p.m., so she went out to
greet them and to explain what had been going on. She said her son,
described as having developmental disabilities, learning disabilities
and epilepsy, had a good relationship with police who had brought him
home several times when he had wandered off. This time, however, police
pulled Helen away when they saw the teenager standing in the doorway
clutching the knife in front of his face. Officers ordered Childs to
drop the knife. When he didn't follow the order, they opened fire. Helen Childs said "I
told them, 'He's a special-needs child. Just talk to him and get the
knife away."' [more ] and [more ]
A Donora man has asked a state agency to investigate claims that
a local police officer acted inappropriately during an incident
involving three black teenagers on Aug. 16. Quinn Law, of 647 Fifth
Street, said he has petitioned the Pennsylvania Human Relations
Commission to find out why Brett Massafra has not been suspended from
duty for allegedly spraying a chemical agent in the face of a
17-year-old teen who was leaving a store at Fifth and Allen streets.
According to Law, he and his daughter witnessed the incident in which
two 16-year-old teens were waiting outside the store for their friend
when they were asked by police to leave. He said the third teen
appeared to have been cooperating with police, but was sprayed with a
chemical agent outside the store and had to be treated at the scene by
a medic. [more
Having woke from a coma, a Charlottesville man shot by police during a
struggle last month was served with outstanding warrants and placed in
the custody of the local jail while still hospitalized.Kerry Von Reese
Cook, 31, was critically injured during the Aug. 21 fight with police
in an apartment at Friendship Court. As of late Wednesday, his
condition had improved to fair at the University of Virginia Medical
Center. The city's police chief, Timothy J. Longo, has said a woman
called authorities that night and reported that Kerry Cook had entered
her apartment uninvited and started cursing and damaging property. Two
city officers entered the unit, found Cook, and a violent fight ensued,
according to Longo and witnesses who watched the struggle through the
apartment's open door. Longo has said the officers used "escalating
levels of force" but declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing
investigation. Ultimately, Longo said, Officer William Sclafani shot
Cook once in the abdomen with a .45-caliber bullet. [more ]
A police officer and a member of the New Black Panther Party stood
about ten feet apart inside the McKinney Police Department Wednesday,
videotaping each other in a moment telling of growing racial tension in
an east side neighborhood. About 15 McKinney residents and members of
the Dallas Chapter of the NBPP gathered at the department headquarters
yesterday afternoon, demanding to speak to the police chief about law
enforcement tactics at the Manor House apartment complex and about
recent arrests of black community members. Derick Brown, chairman of
the NBPP refused a one-on-one meeting with Asst. Police Chief Rex
Redden, saying he wouldn't speak to police alone. Former head of
the NAACP of Dallas, Lee Alcorn said it appears the McKinney Police
Department is "out of control," and urged council to get a handle on a
situation that could escalate if the civil rights of citizens are not
protected. [more ]
A federal judge dealt a stinging setback to the city and the police
yesterday by overturning a jury verdict that had cleared the city of
liability in the 1999 police shooting of an emotionally disturbed man
who was clutching a hammer. The decision granted the family of the man
who was killed, Gidone Busch, a new trial seeking damages for the
shooting.Judge Johnson, a longtime federal judge who was once a New
York police officer himself, said that the jury's verdict was against
the weight of the evidence, and that "permitting the verdict to stand
would result in a miscarriage of justice.'' Judge Johnson presided at
the monthlong trial in Brooklyn federal court last year. Mr. Busch, a
31-year-old Hasidic man was shot 12 times by a group of officers
who encircled him on a Borough Park sidewalk. The shooting, in a
neighborhood that includes many Hasidic residents, brought allegations
that the killing did not draw the same outrage as the questionable
police shootings of young black men like Amadou Diallo, a West African
immigrant who was shot at 41 times in the Bronx in February 1999. [more ]
"Are we supposed to believe that a healthy 31-year-old Black man who was athletic, who did not drink or do drugs, who had no
history of heart problems, somehow died of a heart attack?"
Five shocks to the chest with a Taser gun did not cause
the death of a man injured in a scuffle with sheriff's deputies, a
medical examiner's report concluded Wednesday. Frederick Jerome
Williams, 31, a Liberian native who lived in Lawrenceville, died of
brain damage from a heart attack after the altercation in May,
according to the final autopsy report in the case. But investigators at
the Gwinnett County medical examiner's office were not able to
determine what caused Williams' heart attack, according to the report.
"The cause of death is brain damage -- lack of oxygen and/or blood to
the brain -- due to a heart attack of uncertain etiology [unknown
reasons]," said Forensic Investigator Ted Bailey. "There is no evidence
the Taser directly caused or contributed to his death." Williams was
the second Gwinnett inmate in eight months to die after being shocked
with a stun gun in a scuffle with deputies. Members of Williams' family
were disappointed by the autopsy report, said Melvin Johnson, the
family's attorney."Four children ages 1 to 9 are left without a daddy
and all they can say is they don't know how he died," said
Johnson. Johnson said it is hard to believe Williams' death "had
nothing to do with him being hog-tied and shocked five times with a
Taser and placed in a restraint chair." Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway
said "I've looked into the Taser as deeply as I can and I don't
think it can cause death." [more ]
TalkLeft: Why Did This Man Die in Police Custody? [more ]
Lawsuit against gunmaker and Police filed in taser case [more ]
Taser industry's claims that the stun guns are not lethal were unsupported by records [more ]
The family of a black man who died during a
videotaped fight with police last year sued Cincinnati, city officials,
police and firefighters on Friday, accusing them of violating the man's
civil rights. The lawsuit alleges that Nathaniel Jones, 41, was
unnecessarily struck with metal batons, suffered respiratory failure
while officers lay or sat on him and wasn't immediately given
resuscitation. Bessie Jones, the victim's grandmother, filed the
lawsuit seeking unspecified money damages, funeral and burial expenses
and a court order to prevent Cincinnati from repeating the alleged
constitutional violations. In August, a police watchdog agency
concluded that officers used excessive force. The Citizen Complaint
Authority sent its conclusions to the city manager, who will decide
whether the officers should be disciplined. The FBI has said it is
investigating whether there were civil rights violations in Jones'
death. [more ]
Even though Cook County prosecutors dropped all
charges against Darrell Cannon in a 1983 murder, the Illinois Prisoner
Review Board said Thursday it believed he had a role in the slaying and
decided he should remain in prison indefinitely. Board Chairman Jorge
Montes said he was "inclined to believe" Cannon's claim that detectives
working under former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge extracted a
confession from Cannon through torture. But the board, said Montes, did
not accept Cannon's claim that he was only an unwitting bystander to
the gang-related slaying. The ruling capped an unusual parole
revocation hearing at which Burge and four detectives he once
supervised invoked their 5th Amendment right against
self-incrimination, refusing to answer questions about how they
obtained a murder confession from Cannon.
Cannon, 53, alleges the detectives under Burge took him to remote
locations where they shocked his genitals with a cattle prod, put a
shotgun he thought was loaded in his mouth and repeatedly pulled the
trigger and taunted him with racial epithets. In January 1991, just
before a trial judge was scheduled to hear testimony about the torture,
Cook County prosecutors agreed to a plea deal with Cannon. He pleaded
guilty and dropped the torture allegations in exchange for a scheduled
August 2003 release date. Before he was released, the Prisoner Review
Board served Cannon with a parole revocation notice issued after he was
convicted in the 1983 slaying. As a result, Cannon remained in Tamms
Correctional Center, the state's highest security prison. [more ]
The FBI is now investigating the Aug. 23 shooting
of Ron Lollis on Doty Road as a potential civil rights violation.
Special Agent Sheila Thorne, based at the FBI's New Orleans office,
said civil rights investigations are routine for the FBI. She said the
FBI's investigation will be independent of the one being conducted by
the State Police and the local District Attorney's office. "The FBI
looks into civil rights violations and this is one such instance of
that," Thorne said. The findings of the FBI's investigation will be
submitted to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Lollis,
who was black, was shot and killed by a white Concordia Parish
Sheriff's Deputy. Sheriff Randy Maxwell has said the deputy was
responding to a harassment call involving Lollis and Lollis pulled a
gun on the deputy. A gun was found at the scene. The deputy has been
put on administrative leave until the conclusion of the investigation.
The sheriff's office turned over the investigation to the State Police
because of their involvement. [more ]
Grand Rapids Police Accused of Bashing Black Man with Police Radio after he had Surrendered
A Grand Rapids police officer is off the job and may be charged
criminally for allegedly beating a man. Officer Matthew Lockhart is
officially suspended without pay pending discharge. The complaint of
excessive force against the nine-year veteran of the police department
was brought not by a family member, not by a victim, but other
officers. Officer Lockhart is off the job for what police say he did to
19-year-old Derrius Joseph. But the big question is what happened
during the arrest of Joseph in June behind a house on Gold Avenue in
Grand Rapids. "I really don't know what to think right now. I just want
to see my son. I haven't seen him in a while, and I'm just ready for
him to be home," said Ouida Kellie, Joseph's mother. "My heart just
kinda drops, because when I went to the jail to see him, he was
limping." Her son violated parole for stealing, officers then went
looking for him, and he ran from them. Officer Lockhart was involved in
the chase, and according to documents obtained by 24 Hour News 8, other
officers said Lockhart jumped onto the back of Joseph, slammed his
police issue radio several times in the back of his head and kicked him
in the mid-section. This all happened after Joseph apparently had given
up, fell to the ground in the prone position. [more]
GR cop abuse case sends message to public, Dolan says [more ]
Attorneys trying to free a man who claims Chicago Police
tortured him into giving a false murder confession showed a parole
board Friday a tape of former Area 2 Cmdr. Jon Burge repeatedly
refusing to answer questions on alleged torture in the department. The
Illinois Prisoner Review Board is scheduled to decide by Wednesday
whether to free inmate Darrell Cannon, who claims officers under Burge
tortured him. Cannon's attorneys, Locke E. Bowman and Flint Taylor,
argued that Burge's deposition is evidence he and others have something
to hide. The three-member board heard Burge, like at least four other
current and former police officers who testified before him, refuse to
answer questions. Unlike in a criminal case, the review board can hold
it against the former officers for taking the Fifth while deciding if
Cannon should be freed. Cannon, 53, alleges that in 1983, officers
drove him to a remote location, shoved a gun in his mouth and played
Russian roulette to get him to confess to a murder. He also testified
that officers put cattle prods on his genitals and shocked him.[more ]
A Houston Police Department officer fired earlier this year
after he shot and killed an unarmed teenager must be reinstated, an
arbitrator ruled this week. Officer Richard Kevin Butler, 38, who was
fired in February for the shooting of 15-year-old Jose Daniel Vargas
Jr., could return to work within a matter of days or weeks, his
attorney said today. "This is a guy who's going to go back to work and
do a good job," attorney Brett Ligon said. Butler was fired in February
by then-acting Police Chief Joe Breshears. But a Harris County grand
jury declined to indict Butler for the Oct. 31, 2003, shooting, which
happened after the officer tried to stop the teen outside an AMC Studio
30 movie theater in the 2900 block of Dunvale near Westheimer. The teen
drove away when the officer tried to confront him, but Butler caught up
with the vehicle and pointed his pistol inside the driver's window,
police said. When Vargas accelerated, the vehicle's door frame struck
the officer's arm and the gun fired one time. Butler has always
maintained the shooting was an accident. A lawsuit brought by the
teen's family against Butler, the city of Houston and AMC Theaters is
pending. [more ] and [more ] Pictured above: Daniel Vargas jr.
A police shooting in Brooklyn leaves two brothers wounded.
Officers arriving on the scene find one of the men armed with a 10-inch
knife. Alvin Figueroa, Brother: "They shot him up like a wild man. They
shot Richie four times." Richard Figueroa's family is accusing the
police of using excessive force. Maria Ortiz, Neighbor: "It wasn't
necessary to shoot him in the stomach." It was a 911 phone call from
the Figueroa home that lead police to the scene and then the street at
240 South Second Street at about 6 a.m. Saturday morning where shots
were fired. Richard Figueroa was outside with a 10-inch chef's knife.
Witnesses say his brother may have been trying to calm him down. When
police rolled up on the scene, they say they saw 25-year-old Richard
Figueroa making a stabbing motion into the window of an ambulance that
was already there. Victor Rodriguez, Witness: "The cops were telling
the guy to drop the knife and he didn't drop the knife. All of the
sudden the cop just started letting off...he just started shooting at
him. [more ]
In a summer that has witnessed police shootings
of unarmed Latinos and beatings of subdued Black men caught on
videotape, a militant march of several hundred demonstrators made its
way through the working-class neighborhood of El Monte, Calif., on Aug.
28. The protesters demanded an immediate end to police brutality in
their community and throughout the world. The demonstration was
prompted by the July 20 death of David Viera at the hands of El Monte
police. Viera, a young Chicano father of three, was shot to death after
police stopped the car he was riding in. Police said Viera and the
driver, Raul Moreno, were suspects in a "gang shooting." Police claim
that Viera failed to obey orders to vacate the vehicle and attempted to
retrieve something from beneath the passenger seat--possibly a weapon.
The police riddled the car with bullets, mortally wounding Viera.No
weapon was recovered. Viera and Moreno were exonerated as suspects in
the earlier shooting. [more ]
Some members of the Yuba-Sutter Sikh community
are outraged over an alleged racial profiling and beating of a Yuba
City Sikh truck driver by an Oregon State Police officer Wednesday.
Gurpal Singh Gill, 44, said he was driving a truckload of produce from
Stockton to Tacoma, Wash., when he was pulled over by a state police
officer, cuffed and then beaten near the city of Roseburg in
southwestern Oregon. Gill said he suffered scrapes to his face and
shoulders and pain in his lower back from the incident. He also had a
ceremonial knife, called a kirpan, taken from him, he said. "This is a
gross violation of his fundamental rights," said Harbans Sraon, a
fellow Sikh who translated for Gill Friday at the Appeal-Democrat
office in Marysville. "The Sikh community is very offended." The
Punjabi-American Heritage Society and the Sikh Coalition are
considering legal action against the officer for the incident,
according to Dr. Jasbir Kang, a member of the Society. [more ]
Rising tension in an east McKinney neighborhood spilled into a
courtroom and City Council chambers Tuesday. Justice of the Peace Paul
Raleeh decided after a hearing that there was not enough evidence to
hold Chez Jones, who was taken into custody Aug. 27 after police said
he detailed plans to "X-out" specific officers responding to calls at
apartments near where he lives. The Collin County district attorney's
office had sought to hold Mr. Jones on a $50,000 peace bond, used to
prevent an imminent crime from being committed. Judge Raleeh said the
prosecution failed to prove Mr. Jones was about to kill an officer when
he was arrested and ordered him released on a personal recognizance
bond with a one-year order not to harass or assault the police. [more ]
Local authorities have asked the State Bureau of
Investigation to look into allegations made by the NAACP that two law
enforcement officers "body-slammed" a teen at a football game.
Pasquotank County Sheriff Randy Cartwright said he asked the SBI to
review the case "to make sure everyone is treated fairly." In addition,
the Elizabeth City Police Department and the sheriff's office are
conducting internal reviews. At issue is whether police Sgt. John Young
and sheriff's Deputy Joe Tade, who were working security at a
Northeastern High School football game Aug. 27, used unnecessary force
when one of them apprehended and handcuffed a 14-year-old. Raymond
Rivers, president of the local NAACP, said this week that an officer
"body-slammed" the teen, who allegedly stole a football belonging to
another officer's child. [more]
24-year-old's death is fourth inmate fatality in facility this year
An Oakland man was found dead in his California Youth
Authority cell this holiday weekend, the embattled agency's fourth
inmate death of 2004. CYA staffers found Dyron Mandell Brewer, 24,
unresponsive shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday in his cell at the N.A.
Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, one of four CYA facilities
clustered just outside Stockton. CYA spokeswoman Nancy Lungren said
emergency services and law enforcement personnel were called but
couldn't revive Brewer. No foul play was immediately apparent, but the
San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department and coroner's office are
investigating. Books Not Bars, a CYA-reform project of the Ella Baker Center for Human
Rights in San Francisco, issued a news release Monday. "It's outrageous
that so many young people entrusted to the state's care are dying,"
said director Lenore Anderson. "We believe this keeps happening because
this system is built on a foundation of fear and violence. "Everyone
knows about CYA's disturbing code of silence," she added. "Parents and
advocates are going to be looking at this case closely to make sure
there's no cover-up." Deon Whitfield, 17, of Los Angeles and Durrell
Feaster, 18, of Stockton were found dead Jan. 19 in their cell at the
Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione; they had hanged themselves
with bed sheets. Another ward died later that month after swallowing
toxic chemicals. [more ]
Fifteen years ago, on Labor Day weekend 1989 , Virginia
Beach experienced the worst disturbance in its history : the infamous
Greekfest riots that left part of the resort strip a looted mess and
prompted a massive, two-day police crackdown. The rioting happened
during a gathering of thousands of black college fraternity and
sorority members. Afterward, many black visitors vowed never to return
-- a legacy that has lasted for years. Today, Beach leaders are reaching
out to some of those same black groups, trying to book them into the
new $200 million convention center, set to open this spring. The city
recently hired Al Hutchinson , who is black, as the director of
convention sales, and a black assistant . One black sorority already
has agreed to be one of the convention center's first guests. That took
some doing. [more ]
21 year old Sayyid Qadri Beat Down by Evanston Cops
A video shows Evanston police officers leading a handcuffed man --
arrested on a traffic violation -- into a police bathroom stall
unharmed. But when he's brought back out, the silent color footage
shows blood dripping from above his eye and collecting on his shirt.
The man, Sayyid Qadri, 21, of Rogers Park claims in a federal civil
lawsuit filed Thursday that officers shoved his head into a wall and
beat him up behind that stall -- a spot out of video surveillance
reach. The video later shows officers shoving Qadri into the wall, and
one puts his hands around Qadri's neck.
Qadri was pulled over by police on March 10 allegedly for making
an illegal right turn on a red light. After discovering Qadri's driver's license
had expired a few weeks earlier police handcuffed him and drove him to
police headquarters. "At no time did Qadri resist arrest for these alleged minor
infractions," Loevy said in his written statement. Qadri's attorney says that officers made up a story
that Qadri attacked a police officer and damaged a pipe in the
bathroom. Qadri's attorney says the criminal charges filed against him in the
alleged incident were dropped after this tape was released as evidence
in the case. [more ] and [more ] and [more ]
]
