Police shoot, kill man in Richmond's East End

Richmond police shot a young man to death Monday afternoon on an East End street after the man allegedly opened fire on an officer who confronted him.Police said the man may have been one of three suspects being sought in an armed robbery of a woman on North 24th Street, about six blocks away from the fatal encounter, which began at 1:30 p.m. near Mosby Street and Fairmount Avenue. Police said the man fired on an officer who gave chase. The chase ended with what Police Chief Andre Parker described as "an exchange of some gunfire" that left the man dead in an alley behind the Marketplace 14 convenience store on Mosby, across the street from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. Yesterday's fatality marked the fourth police-related shooting this year and the 12th since June 2001. In eight of the 12 shootings, a suspect has died. Two years ago, Parker promised an independent study of his officers' use of force after a string of five fatal shootings between June 2001 and July 2002. Last month, however, Parker said the study had been called off on advice of the city attorney's office. [more ]

Trial for Police Killing of 14 Year old Eli Escobar Begins in Houston

A former Houston police officer is set to go on trial Monday for the high profile death of a teenager.  Arthur Carbonneau is accused of shooting and killing 14 year old Eli Escobar in November of last year.Jose Sanchez says police came to talk to him about a fight he was in earlier in the day. He says his friend Eli was not involved in that attack and that he tried to leave. That's when officers tried to restrain him and Escobar put up a fight. Sanchez said, "He went crazy. The cop grabbed him, threw him on the floor. He told him to calm down. He wouldn't and he just shot him in the head." Sanchez says Escobar did nothing to warrant the use of deadly force. Neighbor Patricia Ulmer agrees. She watched the shooting from the balcony just above, and says it looked like the officer deliberately wanted to kill the boy."It was so unnecessary." Another eyewitness Jesse Rodriguez  had accompanied the cops to the scene after reporting that another youth had punched his son. "They ignored me when I was telling them who had assaulted my son," he said. "They were too busy roughing up Eli, who didn't have anything to do with the assault." Rodriguez said that as the cops seized Escobar, "he was saying, "Help me! Help me! I didn't do anything. What did I do?' They had no mercy on him, no compassion."  "They're killing our children," added Diane Bossom of Copwatch, an anti-police brutality organization.  [more ]  and [more ] and [more ]

• The Houston Police slaying of Eli Escobar should not be confused with the Houston Police killing of Jose Vargas Jr., - a 15 year old teenager-- who was shot down by police a month earlier on 10/31/2003 [more ]
  
• Town hall urges more police accountability [more ]

Trial in Police Killing of Michael Newby Begins -- Shot 3 Times in the Back

• Louisville Police have Killed 7 Black Men in the last 5 Years
  

Nineteen-year-old Michael Newby was the seventh black man fatally shot by Louisville police in the last five years. The officer who shot him three times in the back is the first to face criminal charges. McKenzie Mattingly goes on trial for murder this week in a case that has sparked protests in Louisville. Many in the city's black community say holding a white police officer accountable for the killing of a black man is long overdue.Mattingly told prosecutors that he was "scared to death" when he shot Newby and believed that the 19-year-old was "trying to go for a weapon." Police say a .45-caliber gun was found in Newby's waistband after he was shot, but Mattingly told investigators he never saw the weapon before he fired.  Court documents confirm that Mattingly was wearing a wire but that his conversations were not being recorded.A wrongful death suit fied against Mattingly also alleges that Newby did not receive adequate medical attention and "died in the street with his hands handcuffed behind his back.[more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• Newby's death came just over a year after the December 2002 fatal shooting of 50-year-old James Taylor. Police shot Taylor 11 times in an apartment after he was handcuffed. Two white officers at the scene said Taylor, who was black, lunged at them with a boxcutter knife. After the officers were cleared of criminal charges by a grand jury, activists stepped up their protests, and Taylor's family filed a civil suit against one of the officers. [more ]

Monitors Fault Prince Georges County Police Reforms

PG Police force is known to be one of the most brutal and racist in the country
The Prince George's County Police Department is struggling to comply with some terms of a federal agreement it signed in January after long-running investigations found systemic abuses within the force, a report concludes.  In its initial evaluation of the department's compliance with the agreement, an independent monitoring team found that the agency has been slow to develop general orders, standard operating procedures and department-wide protocols that address the agreement's terms. The eight-member panel, made up mostly of law enforcement officials from across the country, also found disparities in the reporting of use of force by officers.  The report, parts of which were made public yesterday, is the first assessment of the pace at which the department implements 67 requirements outlined in the agreement, which was spurred largely by allegations of excessive use of force by officers and alleged civil rights violations. The agreement was a result of a top-to-bottom probe of the 1,200-member force that spanned three police chiefs. The report is to be made available today on the county's Web site, www.goprincegeorges.com. [more

Ex-trooper may face federal charges for Striking Unarmed Handcuffed Black Man

Federal authorities are considering charges against a former South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper sentenced to jail this week after being found guilty of assaulting two men during a traffic stop. Although Chad A. Williams was found guilty of two counts of simple assault, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Prince said Thursday that federal authorities are pondering the idea of charging the former trooper with civil rights violations and unnecessary use of excessive force. Williams, 29, was found guilty Tuesday of the two simple assault charges after a two-day trial. Those charges stemmed from a July 20, 2003, traffic stop. The incident was captured on two Highway Patrol dashboard police videotapes. Representing the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbia, Prince attended the trial, saying federal officials were interested in at least two aspects of the events that transpired on the videotape. The fact that two men were assaulted while handcuffed is one concern. Another is the amount of aggression Williams displayed toward the men. [more ] and [more ]

Boston Police Gunned Down Black Man -- Widow longs for `justice'

• Urban League says Bowen's rap sheet does not justify his death

Bowen, 40, was killed in  Roxbury by gunfire from two Boston police officers. Authorities said he threatened the cops with a .40-caliber firearm after a traffic stop and scuffle, but witnesses said he appeared unarmed as he attempted to flee on foot. Police recovered the weapon next to Bowen's body on Brookford Street. Dorothy Bowen said she wants answers from police. Community leaders in Roxbury and Dorchester also want to hear from authorities. Bert Bowen had a 12-page criminal record dating back to 1981 with 53 arraignments, many for armed robbery while armed with a handgun and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Records indicate he also had three restraining orders taken out against him by a woman who had children by Bowen. The Urban League's Williams said Bowen's rap sheet does not justify his death, which remains under investigation by both Boston police and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley's office. ``Police do a tough job, but we need to look at the circumstances surrounding the incident rather than his background,'' Williams said [more ] and  [more ]

FBI Probes case of Handcuffed Black Man Attacked by Mountain View Police Dog

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether two Mountain View police officers violated the civil rights of a man bitten by a police dog Sept. 4. Patrick Terry of Jacksonville, Fla., has said he believes the officers targeted him because he is black. The FBI's inquiry, however, will focus on whether the police commanded the dog to attack Terry or sought to hurt him in any other way. FBI Agent Quy said the FBI routinely investigates cases in which police officers are accused of misconduct. The Mountain View Police Department also is investigating the incident and reviewing training for police dogs. Terry was arguing with his girlfriend two weeks ago when Reuben Gonzalez, an undercover police officer on a bicycle, stopped them and asked if everything was OK, according to a police report. Gonzalez thought the situation might involve domestic violence so he called for backup, and a canine unit drove up. Another officer, Scott Thomas, got out of the car to help Gonzalez handcuff Terry face-down. Seconds later, a police dog named Tino escaped from the car and started biting the back of Terry's thigh, Mountain View Police Chief Scott Vermeer said.Terry, who had eight stitches removed Wednesday, accuses the officers of racial profiling and police brutality and has filed a complaint with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. [more

Sikh Trucker Accuses Oregon Police of Racial Misconduct

Sikh organizations across the country have rallied to support a Yuba City truck driver who says he suffered extensive injuries at the hands of Oregon State Police after being pulled over for no apparent cause. Gurpal Singh Gill, 41, of Yuba City, Calif., was driving north near Milepost 106 when police received a complaint that he had poured an unknown liquid onto the road, according to the Oregon State Police. While following Gill, a trooper noticed that instead of a rear license plate, Gill's 2000 Peterbilt had the license plate number scribbled on the back of the truck, said OSP Sgt. Mark Walkup. During the traffic stop, the trooper reportedly saw a weapon of some kind under Gill's shirt, so he detained him at gunpoint and removed him from the vehicle. While handcuffing him, the trooper reported that Gill appeared to go for the knife under his shirt, so he was physically restrained and arrested, according to an OSP report. Gill believes that racial profiling was to blame for the traffic stop. Gill is a member of the Sikh faith, and his knife -- called a kirpan -- was only worn for ceremonial purposes, the newspaper reported. He told an Appeal-Democrat reporter that he'd been roughed up during his arrest, and that he had never reached for his knife. [more ] and [more ]

Wilimington Police Sued in Death of Mentally Ill Black Man - Shot 9 Times

 
The parents of a Bear man who was fatally shot after stealing a police cruiser last year filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against Wilmington police, alleging officers used excessive force against their son.The city of Wilmington and the state Attorney General's Office cleared the three officers involved of any wrongdoing in separate investigations, and they have since returned to duty. The officers have not been identified. Charles Brittingham, state NAACP president, accompanied Smith's family to U.S. District Court in Wilmington. Attorneys for the Smiths said the police department will be served with the lawsuit today. [more ]

• Pictured above: Harry Smith Jr. and his son, far right.

• The incident began after Harry Smith Jr. drove his son to the hospital - his second visit in a week - for psychiatric treatment. While he was waiting to be seen by the doctor, Mr. Smith obtained a surgical scalpel and began to puncture himself with it. He left the emergency room of the hospital and commandeered a police cruiser. The police cruiser had been left attended with the motor operating. Afterwards the Wilmington Police Dept pursued Mr. Smith. As the officers were in pursuit they were shooting at him as they gave chase through the inner city residential neighborhood. When Mr. Smith was in a staged roadblock approximately ½ mile from the initial encounter, he stopped the police cruiser. However, witnesses claim that even though Mr. Smith stopped the cruiser the police kept shooting at him without giving him a chance to surrender. There were some 37 casings found at the scene. Mr. Smith didn't have a chance to give himself up after he stopped the police cruiser he commandeered. Mr. Smith was pronounced dead at the scene from nine fatal shots to the back of the head. [more ]

Clarksville Police apologize for raid

Clarksville Police Chief Mark Smith said he will offer two Old Trenton Road residents a written apology for officers mistakenly raiding their home Friday night. According to Smith, the police tactical team received information that a drug dealer lived at 343B Old Trenton Road, but they ended up going to the house next door that only had the letter "B" on the outside -- which turned out to be 341B. The residents of 341B, Teresa Guiler and James Elliott, who are both in their 50s, were sitting in their home watching television when the masked men stormed into the house. Guiler, whose arm was in a sling from a previous injury, told police that they had the wrong man as they pointed a gun at her and Elliott, who is deaf and had recently received a liver transplant, she said. Guiler went to seek medical help after the raid and Elliott will be going to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville today to be seen by his doctors. Smith said that although he feels terrible about the raid, he insists the officers never used excessive force. But because Elliott resisted, officers had to control him by "bringing him down," he said. Guiler and Elliott's attorney, Tommy Meeks, said what the police did is unacceptable. "What justification can you give to kick a 54-year-old man who's down on the ground," Meeks said about Elliott, who is a Vietnam veteran. "All he saw was men in masks with rifles. He was terrified. Then to get knocked down and stomped. They picked him up like a suitcase. [more ]

LAPD Agrees to New Flashlight Policy in response to Stanley Miller Beating

• NO Officers have been Disciplined in Brutal Miller Beating

The Los Angeles Police Department agreed Tuesday to develop a policy for how and when officers can use flashlights to defend themselves, nearly three months after an officer was captured on videotape using a 2-pound metal flashlight to beat a car-theft suspect. In response to the Stanley Miller beating, LAPD Chief William Bratton said last month the LAPD would design a small-sized flashlight that would essentially eliminate the possibility that it could be used as a weapon. Many officers carry metal flashlights similar to the one used in the Miller beating. At a meeting of the city's Police Commission, members said the LAPD had no clear guidelines for the use of flashlights when officers struggle with suspects. The department said it would review the issue. "We're exploring the options for the flashlight," Bratton said after the hearing. "We're going to a smaller flashlight, that's clear. ...There will be policies appropriate to that flashlight as to how it can be used, when it can be used, for what purposes." [more

Amnesty Int'l: Racial profiling is undermining national security

Authorities' targeting of people because of their racial background or religious affiliation is a deep-rooted problem in the United States, with nearly 32 million people reporting they've been racially profiled, a human rights group said Monday. The report by Amnesty International USA also said at least 87 million people -- one in three -- in the United States are at high risk of being victimized because they belong to a racial, ethnic or religious group whose members are commonly targeted by police for unlawful stops and searches. Racial profiling is a growing problem as the government has expanded its war on terror, the report said. Police, immigration and airport security procedures are the areas where the problem has gotten worse since the September 11, 2001, attacks, it said. Citizens and visitors of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, and others who appear to be from these areas or members of the Muslim and Sikh faiths, have become more frequent subjects of racial profiling over the last three years, the study said. Such racial profiling is a distraction to law enforcement and therefore, undermines national security efforts, the report said. As police primarily focus on Arab, Muslim and South Asian males, it said, they are more likely to overlook terrorists who are white. [more ] and [more ]

• Pictured above: WHICH ONE?: Former Police chief Charles A. Moose illustrates racial profiling by showing how Martin Luther King Jr. would have been vastly more likely to be stopped in traffic than Charles Manson [more]

Calumet City Police Officer accused in beating Black Teenager put on leave

A police officer accused of beating a Calumet City teen has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an independent investigation, Mayor Michelle Qualkinbush said Friday. "He's been put on administrative leave today after consultation with the Office of Professional Standards director," Qualkinbush said. "The investigation remains open, and no determinations have been reached." The office has been assisting the Cook County state's attorney's office in the investigation of an Aug. 26 incident in which Don Pennington Jr., 15, a sophomore at Thornton Fractional North High School, charges he was beaten. Pictures showed Pennington with a swollen eye and cuts to his head and neck that he said he received after the officer punched him in the face unprovoked as he waited in the station for a jaywalking citation. Davis could not be reached for comment Friday, but he has charged that race may have motivated the officer, who is white, to beat Pennington, who is African-American. "You don't have any of the white residents of Calumet City complaining of police officers abusing their children," Davis said before he led a demonstration in front of City Hall on Thursday night. [more ] and [more

NAACP Calls for Probe in Death of Rashaad Randle - Police Ran him Over

At a community meeting Thursday night, the state's chapter of the NAACP called for York County's District Attorney's Office to offer a thorough and public investigation of the police chase that ended with the death of a York teen two weeks ago. Pennsylvania NAACP President, Burrell A. Brown, an attorney in Clairton, told a group of about 25 residents and law enforcement officers that there needs to be an objective examination of what went on in the early morning hours Aug. 27 when State Police Trooper Sean Taylor tried stopping Rashaad Randle for speeding while patrolling the area of South Pine and Maple streets in York. The entire pursuit was caught on videotape, but state police won't release the video. That day, Taylor activated his lights to make the stop and Randle slowed to almost a complete stop and then accelerated repeatedly, state police has said. After a six-minute pursuit, Randle, 17, stopped suddenly and got out of the car he was driving. Taylor, who had been chasing him, hit and killed Randle. [more ] and [more ]

Police Accused of Doing Nothing While Black Woman had Fatal Seizure

Howard County defendants plan to fight lawsuit
Officials in Howard County say in legal documents that they do not know if a woman in the shared county/city jail suffered a seizure. But they are going to fight the federal lawsuit that alleges they ignored calls for help for the late LaTeca Jordan, of Nashville, Ark., after officers allegedly accused her of "faking" a seizure. Howard County, the City of Nashville, Ark., and officers Clint Tedford and Ty Basiliere want the lawsuit thrown out. Jordan died in a Texarkana hospital on Aug. 18, 2002, after she lapsed into a coma. Her daughter, Teca Williams, filed the lawsuit last month. Williams alleges she watched as her mother was near death on the floor of the jail. She sued in federal district court in Texarkana, Ark., for alleged violations of civil rights. Jordan was African-American in a community that has for the past year been mired in racial tensions because of the deaths of African-Americans in police or sheriff's custody.  Officials do agree that tests show that Jordan did ingest cocaine, which her daughter says prompted the seizure. But officials in the South Arkansas county say they called for help in time. [more ]

Calumet City residents protest beating of Black Teenager by Police

Angry Calumet City residents demonstrated outside City Hall Thursday and inside City Council chambers to protest police inaction in the face of allegations that an officer beat a 15-year-old student detained for jaywalking. Chanting "no justice, no peace, no racist police," the crowd called for the officer to be relieved of his duties and for officers who watched the alleged beating of Don Pennington Jr. to be reprimanded. After a number of demonstrators were allowed to speak for about an hour, the hundreds of protesters moved outside where they formed human chains, blocking traffic.  The altercation with police started when Pennington was stopped by an off-duty police officer for allegedly jaywalking across 154th Avenue in front of Thornton High School after school, the boy said. He was rapping his fingers on a wall at the police station as he waited for a citation when a detective wearing badge number 0069 told him to stop and then punched him in the face, Pennington has said. [more ]

Black Minister Searched and Tasered by Police

The Rev. Gregg Wilson admitted that he did not cooperate with officers last week, but he said the incident should never have happened. The incident began with Kansas City police searching for a black man wearing a light shirt and dark pants. "I didn't cooperate because there was no explanation given to search me," Wilson said. Wilson was about to take some kids to a ballgame when police officers pulled up. "At the time, when I greeted him, I said, 'Hi, what's going on?' At that time, the officer just started trying to pat me down," Wilson said. Weinbaum reported that officers were responding to a report of a weapon in the area and from there it all fell apart. "I yanked away from him. The other officer came and said, 'Put your hands on the car.' I crossed my arms," Wilson said. That is when the Taser gun came out and that is when Wilson said he ran. "I am partly responsible. I accept my responsibility for running and everything. I am partly responsible," Wilson said. But he claims the responsibility ultimately lay with the officers for immediately laying hands on him without an explanation. "I work in the community. I try to help these kids stay out of trouble, and you walk up and approach me, not knowing who I am and you treat me like I'm already a hardened criminal?" Wilson said. [more ]

Black Man with White Woman Attacked by Police Dog in Mountain View, CA

A man bitten badly by a Mountain View police dog early Saturday said he plans to sue the city for racial profiling and police brutality. Patrick Terry, 25, of Jacksonville, Fla., received internal and external stitches to repair the tears on the back of his left thigh after he was stopped by an undercover officer while arguing with his girlfriend. For now, he said, he can't climb the cell phone towers he helps build for a living, and the hospital bills are piling up because he doesn't have insurance. Terry and his girlfriend, Sarah Hill, have contacted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and local civil rights attorneys about the incident. Terry said the officer wouldn't have stopped him if he were not a 6-foot-7 black man walking with a petite white woman. ``And they wouldn't have put the dog on me neither,'' he said. Police have said the German shepherd, named Tino, attacked Terry without being ordered to, perhaps because he thought officers were in danger. The dog has been taken off active duty. Coincidentally, Mountain View Police Chief Steve Vermeer denied that a new report on racial profiling was accurate- arguing that the Cenusus Bureau's data did not properly count Blacks.  [more ]

Three Mt. Olive Police Officers Accused Of Targeting Hispanic Motorists

Three Mount Olive police officers are off the job after being accused of stealing money from citizens. Mt. Olive OfficersSgt. Josh Ehnert, Patrolman David Johnson and Sr. Patrolman Freddie Southerland have been suspended from the Mount Olive Police  The three officers -- Sgt. Josh Ehnert, Patrolman David Johnson and senior Patrolman Freddie Southerland -- are at the center of a criminal investigation. According to search warrants, the officers are accused of targeting Hispanic men at traffic stops and taking money out of their wallets. According to a search warrant, an undercover agent with the State Bureau of Investigation posing as a Hispanic driver was pulled over by Ehnert. The warrant says the officer took more that $300 from the agent. [more ]

Man shot by VA Beach police files suit for $30 million

A man shot by police officers in January after they mistook him for a rape suspect has sued the city for $30 million . The lawsuit, filed Friday on behalf of Jonathan W. Walker , names police officers Paul A. Terhune and Matthew L. Greenlee as defendants. It stems from an incident that occurred about 4 a.m. on Jan. 31 , near Birdneck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard  The lawsuit claims Walker was riding his bicycle near the intersection and into an adjacent neighborhood when the officers accosted him "in an effort to subdue him." During the scuffle, the lawsuit claims, Terhune shot Walker in the head. After the officers brought Walker to the ground, the lawsuit claims, Greenlee struck Walker "multiple times" in his head with his nightstick. [more ]