Federal Appeals Court Judge Rules for New Trial for Black Providence Police Officer Killed by Friendly Fire

A federal appeals court Monday said a jury should hear civil rights claims against the city of Providence for the friendly fire death of a black police officer, overturning a judge's decision to dismiss the case. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said that U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi should have allowed a jury to decide if the city was responsible for poorly training a police officer involved in the shooting death of Sgt. Cornel Young Jr. Young was off-duty and in plain clothes when he tried to assist fellow officers with a disturbance outside a diner on Jan. 28, 2000. Two white police officers, supervisor Carlos Saraiva and rookie officer Michael Solitro, mistook Young for a suspect and fatally shot him after he failed to drop his weapon. In November 2003, Lisi threw out the lawsuit filed by Young's mother, Leisa Young, rejecting the lawsuit's contention that the police department's deficient hiring and training contributed to Young's death. The appeals court found that Lisi was wrong to have taken the case away from the jury, saying a jury could find that the police department should have known such a shooting was a "predictable consequence" of its failure to train how on- and off-duty officers should interact. Solitro and Saraiva were cleared by a state grand jury of any criminal wrongdoing. They also were cleared of federal civil-rights violations by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In the lawsuit, Young's mother had sought $20 million in damages, claiming that haphazard training and hiring by the department led to her son's death. In the first phase of the trial, the all-white jury decided that Solitro, an eight-day rookie, violated Young's civil rights, but Saraiva did not. The appeals court affirmed those findings, and also let stand Lisi's decision to dismiss Leisa Young's claims regarding hiring, the training of both Saraiva and her son, and supervisors' disciplining of Saraiva. [more] and [more]

• Pictured above: He was the first African American officer in the State of Rhode Island to have been killed in the line of duty, and the only known officer to have died as the result of "friendly fire". [more]

Family of Latino Man Beaten by NYC Cops Wins Suit - $1.5 Million

The family of a Bronx man whose leg was broken by cops was awarded $1.5 million in damages from the city after a jury ruled his injuries were caused by excessive force. Luis Jimenez, 53, was wrestled to the ground by two cops inside a Bronx police stationhouse on Oct. 17, 1992, after he slugged a cop in the face, according to court papers. Jimenez sued the city, the NYPD and the two cops who he argued used excessive force to subdue him. Two years after the incident he died, but his family continued to pursue the lawsuit. [more]

Pinellas Deputy Kills Black Man During Drug Raid - Black Activist Group Wants Justice

A member of the Pinellas County sheriff's SWAT team shot and killed a 19-year-old man Tuesday night while a search warrant was being served at a suspected drug house. A sheriff's spokesman said Cpl. Chris Taylor fired twice at Jarrell S. Walker as Walker ignored orders to show his hands and reached under a couch for something. Although a loaded 9 mm handgun was found on a pillow on a different couch in the room, there was none under the couch where Walker appeared to be searching, sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said. To Walker's family, it seemed Taylor used his .45- caliber service weapon on an unarmed man. The family has enlisted the black activist group the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, and the group is holding a news conference today at its St. Petersburg headquarters. ``If they think they're going to get away with this, tell them don't,'' said Wanda Walker, Jarrell's mother. ``The gun is not the issue. The gun was not there.''  The shooting evoked last year's shooting of a St. Petersburg teenager, also African-American, by deputies.  The shooting was at least the third in the six-year career of Cpl. Christopher Taylor, who has been put on paid leave pending an investigation. He was cleared of wrongdoing in previous cases. [more] and [more]

Mahoning Deputy Sheriff Convicted In Prison Beating of Black Men

Unlike Michael Budd's cliffhanger first trial, a jury took less than eight hours to find the ex-Mahoning County deputy sheriff guilty of violating the civil rights of three jail inmates. Budd, flanked by his defense lawyers, stood erect and stared straight ahead when the jury filed in on his right and the foreman handed the verdict envelope to U.S. District Judge Lesley Brooks Wells at 3:35 p.m. Thursday. As the judge read the verdicts, guilty on all three civil rights counts, Budd showed no emotion. In the gallery, Budd's mother held her left hand over her mouth. His wife fought back tears. The jury of nine women and three men concluded Budd: Deprived inmate Tawhon Easterly of his right to be free from excessive force that amounted to punishment in 2001. Budd directed deputies who had already beaten Easterly once for punching a female guard to beat him again and drag him naked back to his cell. Deprived inmate Brandon Moore of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment in 2002. Budd slammed Moore into a window and stepped on his back after the prisoner was sentenced for rape. Deprived inmate Stephen Blazo of his right to be free from excessive force that amounted to punishment in 2000. Budd yanked Blazo's ear and pushed a 150-pound table into the inmate during an interview at the jail. Judge Wells set sentencing for July 7. [more]

Handling of inmate defended by Maryland: Black Man died after violent struggle with correctional officers

• Ifeanyi A. Iko's Family alleges Prison Cover-up
  
• The Cresaptown prison staff is 96 percent white and the inmate population 76 percent black. [more]

An inmate who died after a violent struggle with correctional staff at a Western Maryland prison last year was handled appropriately and did not appear to be in medical distress after the encounter, according to court papers filed by state lawyers representing the officers. The papers offer the first detailed account by state officials of events leading to Ifeanyi A. Iko's death by asphyxiation. They were filed by the state attorney general's office in response to a civil suit by Iko's family that seeks $28 million in damages. The state specifically denied claims that Iko, 51, was dead when officials had an ambulance remove him from the Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland. If he had been declared dead while inside the prison, WCI officials would have been required under correctional department rules to take steps to secure the scene and preserve evidence. Gary C. Adler, a lawyer representing Iko's family, has contended that removing Iko's body -- but handling him as if he were alive -- was part of a deliberate effort by the prison staff to cover up the circumstances of his death April 30.  In their lawsuit, Iko family members say that he was "discovered cold and without a pulse" about an hour and a half after he had been left lying in the cell. [more]

• Homicide at Western Md. prison [more]
•  Ifeanyi A. Iko died in custody, leaving questions about his treatment and suspicions of a cover-up. [more]
  
• FBI launches probe into death of Md. inmate [more]
• Prison officers blocked medical help for inmate, Iko kin allege Complaint is in civil suit seeking $28 million [more]
• Pictured above: The death of Nigerian immigrant Ifeanyi A. Iko was the first homicide recorded at the Western Correctional Institution. "I clearly heard Iko scream out, then abruptly go silent," a fellow inmate said. [more]
  
  

Shooting of Black Man by Kensett police riles Family, residents question justification; investigation continues

A Kensett man shot by a Kensett police officer March 4 remains in serious condition at Searcy's White County Medical Center while state police continue their investigation into the shooting. The victim's family and many residents of Kensett are saying the shooting was unjustified and the result of overly-aggressive, inappropriate police work. Jerry Cooperwood, 42, was shot by Kensett officer Sgt. Mark Wages, after a struggle that occurred after 2 a.m. near the carport of Nita Cooperwood's residence at 110 Cross Street in Kensett. Nita Cooperwood is Jerry Cooperwood's sister. At the time there were civil court orders for Jerry Cooperwood's detention following from his failure to pay about $40,000 in child support. Nita Cooperwood said that she and her 17-year-old son witnessed much of the incident. Jerry Cooperwood's brother, Kenneth Cooperwood, a one-time Kensett police officer, arrived to the scene within 15 minutes, as did parents Lewis and Claudester Cooperwood. Based on what Nita and her son witnessed, and from what they have heard from Jerry, the Cooperwoods believe that Wages was beating Jerry, that Wages lost his baton, that Jerry ran - and was shot in the back. The Cooperwoods' telling of events has gained traction in Kensett among both blacks and whites. Some black residents additionally believe themselves to be ongoing victims of police harassment. [more]

• Pictured above:  Lewis Cooperwood, pictured at his Kensett home, believes his son, Jerry, was trying to run away from Kensett police officer Mark Wages when he was shot by Wages on March 4 in Kensett. Jerry Cooperwood remains in serious condition at White County Medical Center. The state police investigation is continuing.

3 Bridgeport Police Officers cleared in fatal shooting of Black Man

Three city police officers were cleared Monday of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a city man in an East Side apartment building last September. Following a lengthy investigation, State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict concluded that the three officers were justified in using deadly force in the fatal shooting of 41-year-old Jonathan Mosely on Sept. 28. Mosely, the investigation found, was hit by seven shots fired by three officers. "The officers were confronted by a man who was about to swing a baseball bat at the head of one of their group. Such conduct clearly is capable of inflicting a fatal injury. Moreover, Mr. Mosely gave the officers no opportunity to safely withdraw, nor would that have been permissible given the ongoing threat to the occupants of apartment 105," the area's top prosecutor wrote in a six-page decision. Mosely, a resident of French Street, was shot to death by Officers Jason Amato, Damien Czech and Sean Lynch after they confronted him standing outside his former girlfriend's door on Central Avenue with a baseball bat in his hands. The shooting sparked controversy in the city's minority community, prompting state Sen. Ernest Newton, a relative of Mosely, to say he was concerned that some might retaliate against police. [more]

Three Louisville jail officers arrested in Racial Beating of Handcuffed Black Man

Three Louisville Metro Corrections officers were arrested yesterday, accused of beating a handcuffed inmate. Sgt. Robert Arnold, 41, and Officers Joshua Spenton, 30, and Scott DeJarnette, 28, also were suspended without pay after an investigation by the Louisville Metro Police Public Integrity Unit, said Pam Windsor, Corrections spokeswoman. The three are charged with fourth-degree assault and official misconduct, both criminal misdemeanors, Windsor said. They were released without bail last night, she said. The charges stem from the Jan. 16 beating of Adrian Garner at the jail, according to the arrest warrants. The warrants said the three white officers used racial slurs and threats against Garner, an African American. According to the arrest warrants, the corrections officers are accused of beating Garner, 32, while they were escorting him from a cell to another part of the jail. Garner had asked to go to the medical ward to seek someone in mental health, according to the arrest warrants, but it was unclear if that was why officers removed him from the cell. "After placing (Garner) in handcuffs, (DeJarnette) removed (Garner) from his cell and forced (Garner) to walk bent over, with his arms behind him and above his head," the warrant against DeJarnette said. In warrants issued against all three, it is alleged that, when Garner got to Door 7 in the jail, the officers tried to pull him to the ground, then jumped on him to get him on the ground. The officers "dived on top of (Garner), striking (Garner) with their knees," one of the warrants said. The warrants say the blows -- from fists and elbows, along with kicks -- continued for four to five minutes.  [more] and [more]

Lafayette Police Officers Go OFF: Brutal beat Down of Latino Restaraunt Owner

Last Friday night, a group of cops beat up Guamas restaurant owner Rubens Mesa, smashing his head into a light pole and repeatedly kicking and hitting him. An eyewitness who is a security Guard, Regina Baker said, “I’ve never seen someone get beat like that, ever. He just didn’t deserve that.” Sgt. Dwayne Prejean and officer Michael Boutte were reportedly following recent department directions to enforce an old state law for “obstructing public passages” that forbids some downtown bars and restaurants from serving patrons at tables on the sidewalk outside their building. After Guamas’ management resisted moving its tables inside, one customer, Tyler Guilbeau, made a remark that the police had nothing better to do than harass businesses about their al fresco tables. Guilbeau was arrested for disturbing the peace. After the owner of the restaraunt's wife complained about the arrest the police arrested her also. At this point, owner Rubens Mesa turned and questioned the police. A witness said, “Mr. Mesa’s standing right there, and he turns around and says, ‘What’s going on?’” He’s standing there and then four cops rush him, and they throw him up against the lamppost right there, and they’re holding him.” One of the officers pushed Mesa by his chin and slammed the back of his head against the tall green lamppost on the corner of Jefferson and Vine streets and then forced him to the ground. At this point, backup police officers arrived. At least five police officers converged on Mesa, a 35-year-old Cuban immigrant of medium build. Baker says the police pinned Mesa face down on the ground and began beating him while his wife, in handcuffs and on her knees, looked on screaming, “You see this! You see this!” [more]

FBI investigates Chicago Police Shooting of Railroad Officer: Black Man Shot 25 Times - still alive

The FBI has been called in to look into a shootout between Chicago police and an off-duty railroad officer back in February. Howard Morgan was shot 25 times. Police say he pulled a gun on officers and is now charged with attempted murder. There were people who saw Howard Morgan's bullet-riddled body two months ago who did not think he would live long enough to wage a court battle for his innocence. But Morgan has survived a hail of Chicago police bullets. Now, he is demanding his right to bail, even though he is physically unable to appear in court. Morgan, a 54-year-old railroad cop is recovering from as many as 25 bullet wounds inflicted by Chicago police eight weeks ago. Morgan is charged with four counts of attempted murder and is being held without bail, shackled to his bed at Cook County's Oak Forest Hospital. His wife wants a bail amount set so she can pay it and transfer Morgan to a better hospital. "He has medical insurance -- the best medical insurance -- and he would be able to go to another facility," said Rosalind Morgan, suspect's wife. On February 21, Morgan -- a retired Chicago officer -- was stopped for a traffic violation by four uniformed city cops. Police investigators claim Morgan pulled a gun and began shooting before the officers returned fire. One city officer was hit in his bullet-proof vest and two others suffered graze wounds. "It's a question of police officers shooting police officers. The issue is not whether or not police officers shot police officers, but why?" said Leo Holt, defense attorney. In court Wednesday, Judge Kathleen Pantle denied Holt's motion to set bail, saying to do so without Morgan in court would violate the defendant's constitutional rights.  [more]

Feds Clear Kalamazoo Police Officer in Fatal Shooting of Black Man

Federal authorities say they did not find evidence of civil rights abuses in last fall's fatal shooting of a black man by a white Kalamazoo police sergeant. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Dan Weston said he received a letter Monday from the U.S. Department of Justice clearing Sgt. Stacey Geik of criminal wrongdoing in the Sept. 30 shooting death of John Gill. "We have concluded that the evidence does not establish a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes," a letter from Albert Moskowitz, chief of the criminal section of the Department of Justice's civil rights division, said of its review of the shooting. Prior investigations by the Department of Public Safety, City Attorney's Office and Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office found Geik, who was investigating a suspected arson at Gill's apartment, was justified in shooting Gill when Gill refused Geik's repeated orders to stop as Gill walked toward the officer and raised a cocked and loaded handgun. Gill's widow has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the city alleging the shooting was unjustified, an excessive use of force and an abuse of power. The Rev. Jerry McNeely, president of the Metropolitan Kalamazoo Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has criticized investigations of the shooting and said a coroner's report suggests to him that Gill was shot in the back. [more] and [more]

• Fatal Shooting Results in $50 million lawsuit. [more]
• Kalamazoo NAACP president asks for further investigation into deadly shooting [more]
• Man shot by officer recalled as brave, loving role model [more]
  
  

Venezuelan man claims US police officer beat him after issuing ethnic slurs

An island man’s lawsuit claims a police officer beat him after issuing ethnic slurs. After a 2003 encounter with police officers, Emmanuel “Alex” Watson faces two criminal charges stemming from the altercation, but his lawyer told The Daily News later that year that he was the assault victim. Police were at the Residence at West Beach apartments, in the 3200 block of 69th Street on March 30, 2003, investigating a resident’s complaint about men shooting a BB gun at exterior lights at the complex. The lawsuit claims Watson was leaving with his daughter, 5, and two other men when he saw a uniformed man standing by what the suit describes as a “fishing spot” on the property, talking to another officer. When Watson asked the men what the best type of bait for the pond was, the suit claims, the uniformed officer used profanity and an ethnic slur against him. The police report stated that Watson ... a native of Venezuela ... was only asked his name. At first, Watson gave only his last name, and after a brief verbal exchange, his lawsuit claims, the officer grabbed him by the throat, slung him to the ground and began beating him. The lawsuit claims the other officer held Watson’s two companions back while the assault occurred. [more] and [more]

Pinellas County Deputies who Killed Larry Germonprez Suspended for ONLY 3 Days

Two years after a Zephyrhills man was killed in the Pinellas County Jail, two deputies and a sergeant face suspensions in connection with the man's death. After hearing the findings of an administrative review board, Sheriff Jim Coats ruled Friday that Deputies William Johnson and Walter Kelly each should be suspended for three days without pay for not monitoring inmate Larry Germonprez as they restrained him. They also should receive remedial training on the use of force, the sheriff said. "A three-day suspension within our organization is not minimal," said Coats' chief deputy, Dennis Fowler.  Sgt. Sheila Christian, who supervised the deputies but didn't restrain Germonprez, faces a 10-day suspension and a year of supervisory probation. She should have called for a specially trained team to restrain Germonprez because he had earlier resisted other deputies, the sheriff's review board found. On  March 11, 2003 three deputies forced Germonprez, 41 into the cell and pinned him face down on a padded cot until he stopped resisting. Minutes later, Germonprez - a college graduate and father of six - died, his ribs broken in 17 places, the air crushed out of him.. Germonprez had been arrested after a car accident and charged with leaving the scene of a crash, drunken driving, driving with a suspended license and possession of marijuana. His family was angered Friday after learning of the suspensions. Pugh, her two children and Germonprez's four children by other women filed a $10-million wrongful death lawsuit last month. "Deputies killed him and his children deserve better than these suspensions," she said [more] and [more]

LAPD Chief Orders Smaller Flashlights - Still NO Justice for Stanley Miller Beating

• but LA Police Officers still have Guns, Batons, Fists, Feet and Racist Minds
  

Los Angeles' police chief said he would direct officers to switch to smaller and lighter flashlights after a divided Police Commission on Tuesday deferred the politically charged decision to him. Chief William J. Bratton said the catalyst for the change was the case of car-theft suspect Stanley Miller, who was repeatedly struck with an oversized 2-pound metal flashlight by a Los Angeles Police Department officer during a televised incident 10 months ago. Bratton said the new flashlights would be 10 inches long or shorter, would weigh less than 12 ounces and, unless shorter than 6.9 inches, must be made of rubber or polymer. More than 250 recruits in training will receive smaller flashlights in the coming weeks, he said. Some officers may already have their own flashlights that meet the new specifications. [more]

• Pictured above: Stanley Miller shortly after his beat down by LAPD Officers using flashlights last July. The brutal beating was partially captured on videotape. No officers were ever punished. Miller claims to have brain damage. A Civil suit is pending
  

Sheriff's Department sued - Agency denies using excessive force in home search of Latino Family

A Riverside man has accused the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department of excessive force, including pointing guns at children, while serving a search warrant at the man's house in March. "They came into my house ... for no reason,' Oscar Chavez said Thursday. "They screamed and pointed guns at the children, my family.' San Bernardino Sheriff Gary Penrod called the accusations "bizarre.' The search warrant was conducted in a professional manner, Penrod said. "When we do a search warrant, the officers go in armed with their guns out,' he said. "I didn't get involved in it that much, but from everything I've heard, everything was above board.' Chavez's lawyer, Mark Blankenship of Riverside, filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff's Department, Yucaipa businessman James W. Braswell and Deputy Sheriff Harry Hatch in U.S. District Court on Monday. Deputies, including Hatch, searched Chavez's house in Riverside and two businesses in San Bernardino County on March 31 in an attempt to find information about four cars the Department of Motor Vehicles said are missing. "They came in, they broke things. The children are sick because of it,' Chavez said. Chavez and his brother Armando operated the Rancho Los Amigos auto dealership on Valley Boulevard in Bloomington for Braswell, who owns the dealership, the search warrant said. Braswell notified the DMV that the auto dealership was missing four reports of sales and said Oscar and Armando Chavez embezzled up to $800,000 in cash and vehicles from him.Steven Figueroa, president of the Mexican-American Political Association, filed another complaint against the Sheriff's Department on Chavez's behalf with the U.S. Attorney's Office. It includes 18 pages of the children's handwritten descriptions of the morning of March 29. Five-year-old Stephanie Banuelos, visiting the United States from Mexico, described how the "policias' woke her up and made her stand in the street in her pajamas. "I was very cold and afraid,' she wrote in Spanish, the only language she speaks. She said she was forced to go to the bathroom with the door open and was prohibited from speaking Spanish. [more]

Three Eunice officers cleared of beating allegations, chief says

An FBI investigation has cleared three Eunice police officers of claims that they beat a jail inmate in October 2003, police chief Gary Fontenot. Fontenot said he received word Monday that investigators found no evidence to support the allegations brought by Donald Ray Leday, 49. Police records show that Leday was booked with disturbing the peace through intoxication, resisting an officer, battery on an officer and vehicular trespassing. He was held overnight and bonded out the next day. Fontenot said in 2003 that the officers suggested that Leday fell while drunk, injuring himself. George Fisher, president of BlackMan 7, has charged that three officers severely beat Donald Ray Leday.  In October 2003 Fisher met with Eunice Police Chief Gary Fontenot to demand that the officers involved be suspended and that an independent investigation by the Louisiana State Police be conducted.  In an interview before the meeting, Fontenot said he had already called for state police to investigate on his own.  "I don't need to be ordered to do my job by a radical group," Fontenot sai [more] and
[more]

Activists won’t keep silent on police brutality

Torrential rains could not stop the Newark-based Peoples Organization for Progress (POP) from marching April 2 to police headquarters to protest the January 2005 police shootings of Rashid Moore and Richard Guy. “We have to get the message out there, and get it out there constantly, that police brutality is alive and well in America,” commented Lawrence Hamm of POP. “Being out in the pouring rain shows just how determined we are to fight against the injustice of police misconduct.” “Why did they have to shoot my son 17 times. Wasn’t once good enough?” asked Elizabeth Moore, Rashid’s mother, during an interview with The Final Call. “I’ve lost my best friend,” she lamented. “He was never in any trouble. People say that he helped a lot of people in the community.” Margaret Guy said she is still in shock over the shooting of her son Richard, who was wounded in the leg. She said that it is hard to understand how the people who are supposed to protect the community end up being the ones who do the most harm. Richard Guy is charged with trying to take a policeman’s gun. “It is the same cops in Newark committing the killings and beatings,” argues Mr. Hamm. He said that one of the police officers who killed Mr. Moore killed another Black man in the summer of 2003. A “no bill” was the ruling in the murder of Michael Newkirk; and now this same officer has killed another young Black man, Mr. Hamm offered. [more]

I Was Stopped by the CPD Good Ol' Boys

This letter is in response Z.B. DeCossio's letter to the Chattanoogan concerning race relations. I must say that I firmly agree with everything mentioned that the author mentioned.

 Unfortunately, I am a native of Chattanooga who has had the misfortune of being stopped by the good ol' boys from the Chattanooga Police Department. I was pulled over for doing 38 MPH in a 35 MPH zone on Brainerd Road.

 For some reason, the officer found it necessary to call for SIX additional police cars as backup. They found it necessary to search my car for guns and drugs. In the meantime I made sure to stay calm and in control.

 Every black man knows that one unusual move near a Chattanooga police officer will result in you being shocked with a Taser, beaten, or shot. After receiving a ticket for what should have been a 'routine' stop, I drove home almost too shaken to speak. That experience helped seal my decision to not attend UT-Chattanooga. It's a sad day when a person feels like their life is in danger everytime they drive around their hometown.

 It should be noted that I have a great respect for the police in general, but not for the members of the Chattanooga Police Department. I would rather walk alone on Main, East 23rd, or 9th Street with a bag of money on my shoulder at night than be anywhere near a Chattanooga police officer. These people are dangerous and I fear that things will never change, even with the election of Mayor Ron Littlefield.

 While I don't believe in just firing a person, I do believe that Mayor Littlefield is wrong to keep Chief Steve Parks in charge of the police department. Chief Parks is indifferent and hostile to the problems caused by his officers and citizens should not trust this man to make things better in the city.

 Fortunately, I moved out of the warzones of Chattanooga to the city of Nashville. Racial profiling and harassment exists everywhere, but at least I can leave my home at night and not worry about my life being in danger from Metro-Nashville police officers.

 I urge the young black men of Chattanooga to leave that city at all costs if possible before they become statistics. Unless they become police officers themselves, black men are not safe in Chattanooga. And even then, they still may lose their lives because of police 'misunderstandings' among other things.

 Frank Smith
 frank.smith@thepowerofx.com

Civil trial opens in King County Deputy Killing of Black Man - Lost in an ALL White Neighborhood

• ALL White Jury to hear Robert Thomas Sr.'s Case
  

The venue is different, a new jury has been seated and the burden of proof is substantially easier to meet. But almost three years after a white, off-duty King County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a black motorist, the stories on each side essentially remain the same: Either Mel Miller was an aggressive menace who shot and killed Robert Thomas Sr. without provocation, or the off-duty officer was forced to shoot Thomas in self-defense.  Although a county inquest jury, in a 5-1 vote, essentially cleared Miller of wrongdoing in 2002 -- and county and federal prosecutors later passed on seeking charges against the deputy -- Thomas' family has since pressed forward with the federal wrongful death and negligence suit that contends that Thomas' civil rights were violated. His four children -- including Robert Thomas Jr., who was in the truck and shot in the hand by Miller during the encounter -- are seeking unspecified compensation and punitive damages. They name Miller and his wife, along with the Sheriff's Office and King County, as defendants. The case stems from the fatal shooting of Thomas, a 59-year-old truck driver, on the morning of April 7, 2002. Thomas, his son and his son's girlfriend had pulled over in a pickup truck after getting lost near Renton's Lake McDonald on the way to a friend's house. After a neighbor called and told him a truck was blocking the private roadway to their neighborhood, Miller, who lived nearby, approached the truck. A short time later, he fired three shots into the truck -- fatally striking the elder Thomas in the chest and wounding the younger Thomas.  Yesterday, an all-white jury of four women and two men  was seated as the trial began before U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly. [more] [more] and [more]

• Black Family Lost in ALL White Neighborhood Within seconds, Robert Thomas Jr. testified yesterday, he went from extending his hand to introduce himself to King County sheriff's Deputy Melvin Miller to begging for his life as Miller pulled a gun from his waistband and fired three shots into the pickup Thomas was riding in. Thomas Jr. explained how he, his girlfriend and his father had gotten lost on the way to breakfast at a friend's house in the neighborhood. Shortly after the elder Thomas had pulled to the side of the road to review the directions, Miller walked from his house, approached the passenger side of the car and ordered the group to drive off, Thomas Jr. said. He said he thought maybe Miller had "a chip on his shoulder" about the Thomases being black and driving in a predominantly white neighborhood. Thomas said that he urged his father to get going, but that his father was using the cellphone and seemed to be "oblivious" to the growing tension. [more]
  
• "There have been nine killings of Black men over the past nine years by police officers and nothing’s been done," Oscar Eason, president of the Seattle branch of the NAACP told The Final Call. "We want national attention to this issue. There are a rash of killings going on here and with very few Blacks in the jury pool, the hearings usually have an all-White jury which finds in favor of the police department."  Robert Jr. said that in addition to being in plainclothes, officer Miller did not identify himself as a sheriff’s deputy. The officer said he fired because Robert Sr. aimed a gun in his direction. [more]
• ‘Kill A Black Man, Get A Vacation With Pay’ [PDF]
  

Family sues over fatal shooting of Unarmed Black Man by Aurora cops

• Police Caught Lying. Handcuffed Jamaal Bonner Shot in the Back.
  

The family of an unarmed man killed by Aurora police in 2003 filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the officer who shot the man, and the former police chief on Wednesday. Jamaal Bonner, 20, died after being Tasered and shot three times in the back with a submachine gun during a chaotic bust at the Top Star Motel on Dec. 3, 2003. In October, an Arapahoe County grand jury investigation cleared the officers on the scene of any wrongdoing. "The police officers literally executed Mr. Bonner, even though he posed no threat to their safety," Darold Killmer, an attorney for Bonner's parents, Brenda and Bobby Bonner, said in a statement. Aurora City Attorney Charles Richardson said Wednesday that "the city firmly supports the actions which all the police officers took in their dealings with Mr. Bonner." Bonner encountered the police during a prostitution sting, when he offered to sell crack cocaine to an undercover police officer. She invited him to a room and, once there, signaled officers in a room next door to arrest him. SWAT officer William Woods, the first officer through the door, said Bonner ran toward the bathroom, reaching into the waistband of his pants, as though for a weapon. In the ensuing bedlam, another officer Tasered Bonner, and Woods shot him three times with his MP5 rifle. Woods said he shot Bonner because he thought he was going for a weapon, and that Bonner was Tas-ered later. The suit notes that other officers in the room said Bonner had already been Tasered and was on his knees when he was shot. The suit claims that the use of deadly force was excessive, and violated Bonner's constitutional rights. Brenda Bonner, Jamaal Bonner's mother, said in a statement that "as a family, we are appalled that no action has been taken against the officer that murdered our son."  [more]

• Excellent Investigative Reporting Piece on the Bonner Police Killing is [here]