Latino Brother & Sister Attacked by Corpus Chrsiti Cops: Attorney plans to show pattern of abuse

 
There's new information on a lawsuit filed by a Corpus Christi woman and her brother, who claim that they were brutally beaten by police officers outside a nightclub. When the case goes to trial, their attorney plans to show a pattern of abuse by police. On the day when attorneys file another motion in the alleged police brutality case of Tiffany and Blake Avalos, attorney Christopher Gale hopes to prove these injuries were caused by aggressive police officers, who were trying to arrest them outside a downtown night club on charges that were later dropped. Federal court documents indicate one of their strategies will be to call up to 23 witnesses to the stand, who will testify they too have been badly beaten by police. Attorneys for the Avalos' will also present a list of over 500 names of citizens who've filed official complaints of abuse by CCPD. While complaint after complaint, not to mention images of broken teeth, lacerations to the mouth and a broken jaw may look bad, city leaders believe this lawsuit is baseless and are confident the city attorneys will successfully fight on behalf of the three police officers named in the suit.  "We don't believe that the city is involved in any wrongdoing with the case, and we want to fight it," said Council member Melody Cooper. The federal lawsuit is set to go to trial on March 20th. [more]

Suspected 'thugs' were really Kings County Police

Sherry Reynolds' good Samaritan effort resulted in her being charged by police

Sherry Reynolds was trying to do the right thing. She saw what appeared to be two thugs beating a homeless man near a Ballard grocery store parking lot. "Stop, I called the police!" she yelled. Their response: "We are the police." That night, she complained about the beating of a handcuffed suspect to the King County Sheriff's Office Internal Investigations Unit. "Stop, I called the police!" she yelled. The cops were never disciplined, but Reynolds was charged with obstructing justice. Several months and several thousand dollars in legal fees later, she was acquitted by a judge who questioned whether the officers were telling the truth. She believes the charge against her was retaliation, an attempt by the officers to cover up their own misconduct. So did the FBI, whose agents investigated the officers' actions and submitted the case for criminal prosecution under federal civil rights law. The Justice Department declined to prosecute. [more]

Judge Scolds LAPD for Decree 'Failure'

 
A federal judge scolded city officials for failing to meet key provisions of a 2001 court consent decree to reform the Police Department. The decree was the result of a settlement with the Justice Department and was designed to correct conditions that led to police corruption scandals involving officers beating and framing suspects and stealing evidence. U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess said city officials were trying to "gut" a key provision and warned at a hearing Tuesday that he would likely extend the decree beyond its June 15 expiration date. The judge chastised the LAPD for failing to implement a computer system required by the decree to serve as an early warning system by tracking officers' use of force, pursuits, collisions, citizen complaints and civil claims. [more]

Black Man Says Baden Police Beat Him for No Reason

Cleo Harrison's face is swollen and his left eye is still filled with blood. Harrison tells KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin his injuries are the result of a beating he took from Baden police -- even though he says he did nothing wrong. "They put me in a chokehold and I was gasping for air and while I was down on the ground, they was hitting me with uppercuts and they sprayed mace in my mouth." -- Cleo Harrison, Says police beat him According to Harrison, police started following him Friday night as he drove to his mother-in-law's house to see his daughter. Though Harrison has no criminal history and no past troubles with police, he says officers searched his car and then his in-laws' house, claiming it was a drug den. A Baden police report actually confirms part of the story. An officer writes: "I noticed a suspicious vehicle." The officer began following it -- even though as KDKA discovered, there were no violations on Harrison's car. The report says the officer then followed Harrison into the house because it "has been a known drug house." Our own investigation, however, shows no reported troubles at the house. Harrison says he was nothing but cooperative -- that he let police search his house and his mother-in-law let them search her house; but even though, they found nothing, he says, officers insisted that he go with them to the police station. When he refused, Harrison says things got ugly. "They came in behind me and they just started beating me -- beating me all in my face -- and just beating me and choking me till I fell to the ground and they put cuffs on me --and took me outside." -- Cleo Harrison, Says police beat him His mother-in-law says she watched it all happen. "They beat him up so bad, then they dragged him out of there. I seen his eye was like that -- blood running from his face. It was just terrible." -- Cathy Sue Dobbins, Mother-in-Law But according to the police report, Harrison refused to co-operate and resisted arrest. The report goes on to say "the defendant began to fight with officers.. He was subdued with necessary force." [more]

Palo Alto officers accused in beating plead no contest

Two Palo Alto police officers accused in the 2003 beating of a 59-year-old black man pleaded no contest to a minor charge of unlawful fighting today as prosecutors decided against retrying the pair on felony brutality charges after the first prosecution ended with a mistrial in April. Allowing officers Craig Lee, 42, and Michael Kan, 27, to plead no contest -- which legally has the same impact as a guilty plea -- to the infraction for public fighting is likely to draw the ire of police critics because they'll only pay a $250 fine, face no jail time and are expected to return to police work. But Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Peter Two Palo Alto police officers accused in the 2003 beating of a 59-year-old black man pleaded no contest to a minor charge of unlawful fighting today as prosecutors decided against retrying the pair on felony brutality charges after the first prosecution ended with a mistrial in April. Waite added that officials also were influenced by the difficulty of winning convictions against police, citing the two mistrials that Alameda County prosecutors faced in trying the Oakland police officers knowns as "the Riders" who had been accused of assaulting or framing drug suspects. Waite said the plea deal and the vigorous prosecution send a strong message that police misconduct would not be tolerated. He noted that the Palo Alto Police Department has plans to install video cameras in police cars and has begun retraining all officers to avoid similar clashes in the future. "I think that justice was served," Waite said after the morning hearing in a San Jose courtroom before Judge Andrea Bryan. "We did our best to hold the police accountable and get a fair result for the community." Lee and Kan, who are both Asian-American, are accused of clubbing and pepper-spraying 59-year-old Albert Hopkins on the night of July 13, 2003, after they encountered him sitting in his parked car. Officers had received two reports of suspicious behavior by a man in a parked car, one by a caller and another by a female motorist. [more]

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Reviews Itself: says Shooting of Unarmed Black Man in the Back is OK

• Shooting warrants inquiry, SCLC says [more]

A report from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office stated that a SWAT team deputy was justified in shooting to death 19-year-old Jarrell Walker. But the report added that the agency's use of force policy needs to be reviewed to ensure "it is consistent with agency values." The revisions should include a statement that deadly force be used as a last resort, according to the report from the Sheriff's Office shooting review board. Also, the agency's training of deputies and SWAT team members in the use of deadly force need to be reviewed to make sure they are consistent with the written policies, the report stated. On April 12, Christopher Taylor was the first SWAT team member to burst into Jarrell Walker's house in St. Petersburg to execute a narcotics search warrant. Taylor said Walker, who was lying on the floor next to a couch, refused to show his hands. Taylor fired two shots that struck Walker in the back. Walker died at the hospital. No gun was found under the couch near Walker, but a gun was found in another couch in an adjacent room. It is unclear what Walker was searching for under the couch. His family and community leaders have called for further investigation into the shooting. They have wondered why an unarmed man was shot in the back from only two to three feet away by an experienced SWAT team member. [more]

Black Soldier sues Milwaukee Police over Beating

A U.S. Army soldier who claims he was beaten by Milwaukee police while on leave from assignment in Iraq is suing the city and four detectives. Charles Michael Griffin planned to file suit today in federal court in Milwaukee, according to his attorney.Griffin was home to visit and care for his father, who had suffered a stroke, when the altercation occurred in July 2004, the two men told Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane last year. The younger Griffin said the detectives named in a copy of the suit, Mark Harris, Paul Lough, Joseph Warren and Dennis Devalkenaere, arrested him and used excessive force for no reason. His injuries included multiple bruises and a cracked shoulder bone, Griffin said. Detectives from the anti-gang unit had been called to a north side neighborhood to investigate a report of shots fired, a police spokesman said at the time. Griffin said he had been drinking with friends as a sendoff, because he was scheduled to return to Iraq the following day. He said he did nothing to provoke the detectives and tried to leave. At the time of the encounter, the police spokesman said a heavily intoxicated Griffin attacked an officer. Griffin was neither ticketed nor charged, his father told Kane. On Wednesday, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz declined to discuss the situation or the pending suit. Neither City Attorney Grant Langley nor District Attorney E. Michael McCann could be reached. After his arrest, Griffin spent the night in jail and missed his return flight to Iraq as a result. Griffin, now 22, remains in the Army and is stationed in Seattle, according to a legal assistant for his attorney, Blake Horwitz of Chicago. The federal civil rights suit accuses the detectives of violating Griffin's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure. It also alleges a conspiracy that violates the 14th Amendment. The officers "conspired to injure the Plaintiff by: agreeing not to report each other after witnessing him being beaten; collectively beating and/or failing to intervene in the beating; generating false documentation to cover-up for their own misconduct," according to a draft of the suit provided Wednesday to the Journal Sentinel. The city failed to properly investigate the excessive force complaint and failed to properly discipline the officers, according to the suit. [more]

OCC FILES CHARGES AGAINST OFFICERS IN CONNECTION WITH DEATH OF CAMMERIN BOYD

The Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) announced that it filed disciplinary charges on Thursday with the San Francisco Police Commission against four police officers in connection with the shooting death of Cammerin Boyd. Boyd, 29, a resident of Oakland, was fatally shot by San Francisco police on May 5, 2004 in the city's Western Addition. The shooting took place after a chase by police who suspected Boyd of threatening to kidnap a woman at gunpoint. Police officials said Boyd had fired at the pursuing officers and appeared to be reaching under his seat when he was shot. Some witnesses have said he appeared to be trying to surrender. An autopsy report released in September said Boyd might have had his hands up when he was shot, but the report did not reach a conclusion. The San Francisco district attorney's office announced two weeks ago it would not be filing criminal charges against the officers involved in the fatal shooting. According to the OCC, under California government code it had one year from the date of the incident to file disciplinary charges. The Police Commission will now schedule hearings on the charges. [more]

• Cammerin Boyd's Family Marks Anniversary Of His Death [more]
  

Latino Man held in killing of Providence detective may have been Brutalized by Cops

FBI seeks meetings with R.I. police on slay suspect's arrest [more]
A suspect accused of killing a detective with the officer's own gun appeared in court with a white mask covering the lower half of his face, which was bruised and swollen. Police say Esteban Carpio killed James Allen while being questioned at police headquarters Sunday and was injured in a failed escape attempt. But Carpio's family shrieked when he shuffled into a courtroom Monday for his arraignment with his hands and legs shackled. "Oh, my God, look what they did to him!" somebody yelled. Carpio's mother and another woman were wrestled out of the courtroom as they screamed about police brutality. Authorities said Carpio jumped out of a third-floor window, injuring his leg, arm and head, and was captured after a struggle a few blocks away. There was no indication that police used excessive force to subdue him, Police Chief Dean Esserman said. Carpio, 26, nodded his head to respond to questions during his arraignment, but did not speak, except to say "I love you, Mom," as he was led out of the courtroom. Carpio was wearing the mask, called a spit shield, as a precaution, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joy Fox said. The shields are used when a prisoner is bleeding or if there are concerns he might be combative, she said. He had been taken in for questioning about the stabbing of an elderly woman when the detective was killed. Carpio's family said he had recently been experiencing mental problems. No charges have been filed in the stabbing of the 84-year-old woman, and Carpio remains a suspect, Esserman said. The woman was expected to recover. [more]

• Pictured above: Esteban Carpio, 26, left, is shown during his arraignment hearing Monday, April 18, 2005, at Providence District Court in Providence, R.I. Carpio was charged with killing Detective James Allen with the officer's own gun during questioning at police headquarters Sunday and was ordered held without bail Monday. His face is obscured by a white mask. Police have said he injured his leg, arm and head when he jumped from a third-floor window at the police building.  The police said Allen was alone in a conference room when Esteban Carpio, who was not handcuffed or restrained, got control of the detective's gun and shot him. [more]

NAACP deliberates what to do about Carpio's treatment
The city's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will meet to decide how to proceed with questions about police treatment of Esteban Carpio. "I just want people to know that we're not sleeping, and we're not insensitive to the public's requests to investigate what happened with the suspect," Clifford Montiero, president of the NAACP's Providence chapter, said yesterday. Montiero said he had received "dozens" of phone calls from all over the United States since Carpio's arrest early Sunday. Montiero urged NAACP members around the country to contact their branch presidents if they're concerned about the Providence branch's reaction. The chapter posted a statement on its Web site yesterday extending sympathy to Allen's family, the Providence Police Department and law-enforcement officers nationwide. The Providence Journal (Rhode Island) April 20, 2005

Video shows St. Petersburg Police Rough Arrest & Handcuffing of 5 Year Old Black Girl in School

An attorney says he plans legal action against Florida police officers who handcuffed an unruly five-year-old girl. Police were called to the elementary school in St. Petersburg March 14th after the girl acted up in her kindergarten class. A video camera, which was rolling as part of a classroom exercise that day, captured images of the girl tearing papers off a bulletin board, climbing on a table and punching an assistant principal. The 30-minute tape shows the child appearing to calm down before three officers pinned her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs as she screamed, "No!"  The camera was rolling March 14 as part of a classroom self-improvement exercise at Fairmount Park Elementary, attorney John Trevena said. A lawyer for the girl's mother says the officers went too far. He says "It's incomprehensible." Police are investigating the incident. Trevena disagreed, saying it appeared to him the two educators followed the girl too closely around the room. "It almost seemed like there was an intent to provoke the child," he said. Akins, the girl's mother, said she had complained to the school about the assistant principal's treatment of her daughter. She said the administrator has been too harsh with the girl. The police had been called to the school at least once before in response to the girl's behavior. The girl has since transferred to another public school. [more] and [more] and [more]

• SEE the video Yourself. Little Black girl is doing nothing but sitting in a chair minding her own business when police roll up, confront and arrest. [more] and [more] Don't believe the hate in the media - from a legal stand point the first half of the video is basically meaningless for the cops. No dangerous or exigent circumstances exist before or during the arrest requiring the use of such force. The pooh butt prosecutor said that he is interested in finding out what happened before the tape started rolling. This little girl broke no laws. It would be far more useful to know what happened after the tape stopped rolling.
  
• SEE the Slideshow [more]
  

14 Yr. Old Black Girl Allegedly Beaten by Albany Police

A Livingston Middle School student says some of the blows thrown after school two weeks ago came from a few Albany police officers. 14-year-old Shenekwa Stewart is not allowed to talk about the alleged incident, but has scars on her face that tell her story. Her right eye is swollen shut and still bloody red. She says it is the result of being hit by an Albany police officer. "She was upper cut and after she was upper cut her nose and mouth were bleeding," Shenekwa's mother, Lorenda Charles said. "So of course she's spitting out blood, and the officer thought she was spitting on him. That's when she was thrown to the ground." Charles said her daughter is an honor student at the school and was one of many kids who witnessed the fights after school April 7th. She was the only one who was rushed to Albany Medical Center. Charles said her daughter is still trying to heal. "She can't look up, she can't look down, a lot of pain in her eye. She's had a lot of hemorrhaging in her eye and they've had to put her on steroids." Charles added Shenekwa will need surgery. Doctors need to put in a metal plate to support the section of her face where her bones were shattered. Albany Police Detective James Miller said an internal affairs investigation is going on. He said it was hectic outside school that day and officers were trying to get control of the people involved in the fights. Miller said there were a small amount of officers, a large amount of kids and things were tense. [more]

Family wants trooper charged: Black Homeless man Shot to Death by Michigan State Trooper

Family members of a 40-year-old man gunned down this week in downtown Detroit by a Michigan State Police trooper gathered for a vigil Friday at the shooting scene and demanded criminal charges. "It's one of the most outrageous incidents I have ever heard of," said Eric Williams' aunt, Jeanette Williams White, who is an attorney. "The officer needs to be charged with first-degree murder." Williams, who was homeless and had mental problems, according to family members, was partially naked when Trooper Jay Morningstar shot and killed him at 12:30 a.m. Thursday in front of the Detroiter Bar near Greektown. Williams was unarmed, police said later. A Detroit police report says Williams was walking slowly toward two troopers who were in their car when Morningstar got out of the driver's side, removed a gun from his holster and fired once, striking Williams in the chest. Detroit police performed CPR on Williams until an EMS medic arrived and took him to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was dead on arrival. A Detroit police in-car videotape that captured the incident will most likely play into whether the trooper will face criminal charges in Williams' death. State police said Williams was causing a disturbance and ignored verbal commands to stop before lunging at Morningstar and his partner, Theresa Malone. [more]

FBI investigating fatal Baltimore police shooting of Black Man - Shot 21 Times

The FBI is investigating the Baltimore Police Department's fatal shooting this month of a driver whom officers started chasing because they believed he was speeding. The pursuit occurred despite a city police policy that prohibits officers from getting into car chases with suspects unless there are "exigent circumstances," said police spokesman Matt Jablow. Police shot Lornell Antonio Wilkins, 31, on April 1 after a five-mile pursuit that led into the 2400 block of Greenmount Ave., according to a police report. "I have a lot of questions and concerns," said Joe Coe, Wilkins' half-brother. "I am concerned about the use of excessive force to de-escalate a situation that the police initially recognized as a traffic violation." Officers have said they ended the chase by boxing in Wilkins' sport utility vehicle with their cars. They have said Wilkins tried to flee, struck a police cruiser and put officers in danger. Coe said he filed a complaint yesterday with the FBI. Agency spokesman Barry Maddox confirmed that the FBI is investigating the shooting but declined to provide details. Wilkins, of the 2600 block of Robb St., did not have a driver's license and was developmentally disabled, his brother said. Lornell had a learning disability, he had an IQ of 60 to 70 which put him on a third-grade level," said Annette Coe, Wilkins' sister. Coe said her brother was test-driving a SUV that was for sale that day, but he did not have a driver's license. So, when police turned on their flashing lights, Coe said: "He's scared, he's nervous, he is going to panic."  His brother said he counted 21 bullet entry wounds. "At what point," Coe said, "did my brother no longer present a threat?" [more] and [more]

• See WBL TV-11 News Report [here]
  

Palo Alto Police Beating Case of 59 Yr. Old Black Man ends in a mistrial -- jury deadlocked

8 on panel favored convicting Palo Alto officers of brutality 
The racially charged trial of two Palo Alto police officers accused of beating a 59-year-old black man ended in a mistrial Monday when the jury deadlocked 8-4 in favor of conviction. At least one juror said the hung jury broke down along racial lines, with four Asian jurors holding out against convicting the Asian American officers. During the trial in a San Jose courtroom, beating victim Albert Hopkins testified that the two rookie officers, Craig Lee and Michael Kan, pulled him from his parked car and clubbed and pepper-sprayed him because he was African American. Sunday Udoffia, the lone black jury member, said that during the four-day deliberations the two male and two female Asian American jurors maintained the police officers "were doing their job" and rightfully defending themselves against Hopkins, who police said had aggressively flung open his car door. Udoffia had supported conviction along with six whites and one person of unknown ethnicity on the jury. Now, prosecutors have to decide whether to retry the case. The incident occurred on the night of July 13, 2002, when Lee and Kan clashed with Hopkins after he refused the officers' orders to get out of his car and to turn over his identification.  Prosecutor Peter Waite called reports that the jury fractured on racial lines "very disappointing.'' [more] and [more]

•  D.A. calls case worse than Rodney King beating.Albert Hopkins was sitting in his parked car and minding his own business when two rookie Palo Alto officers arrested, pepper-sprayed and beat him with batons, said Peter Waite, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney, during his closing argument in a San Jose courtroom. "Rodney King was in fact a criminal. Rodney King was driving drunk that night. He evaded arrest from two crimes ..." Waite told the jury. "This man Hopkins, whether you like him or not, was no criminal. He didn't drive drunk. He didn't flee the police. He didn't ever fight with them." "This case is far worse -- to pick out an innocent man, a 59-year-old man in his socks, to choose him for this outrageous treatment." Waite called the two officers "thugs" who overreacted out of fear. "These two thugs beat the snot out of him with deadly weapons, with batons," said Waite, who argued that the two officers then tried to embellish their reports and lied about what happened to cover up their actions. [more]
• Palo Alto Pays Man $250,000 For Alleged Beating [more]
  

Milwaukee Police Shooting Probe of Latino Man to begin in June - Unarmed Latino Man Shot 8 Times in the Back

An inquest into the death of Wilbert Prado, who was shot eight times by an off-duty Milwaukee police officer last month, may not begin until June, the lead prosecutor said Thursday.Milwaukee Deputy District Attorney Patrick Kenney said evidence is still being analyzed by the State Crime Laboratory. "There's a ton of evidence," he said, including DNA, clothing, the weapon, shell casings, the van Prado was driving and other material. Kenney said he expects that within the next two weeks he will go to the chief judge to get the case assigned to the inquest judge. After that, a date will be set by the judge after a meeting with other attorneys involved in the case, he said. Because of the schedules of the lawyers involved, he said it may be June before the inquest is held. He said three months between shooting and inquest is not unusual. Prado's family has hired civil rights attorney Victor Arellano of Madison to look into the March 6 shooting, which occurred in an alley near S. 9th. and W. Ohio streets. "This case shocks the conscience of the community, not just the Hispanic community, because of the lack of a weapon, the number of bullets, the location of the bullets and the many questions it has raised about how the entire incident was handled by police," Arellano said. "We are going to look at every move and every step."  According to a medical examiner's report, Prado, 25, was shot eight times, including some shots in the back, and there were about 10 bullet holes in the driver's side of Prado's van. The report says no gun was recovered on or near his body. [more]

13 Milwaukee officers face possible discipline in Brutal Beating of Black Man

A panel has recommended disciplinary action against 13 members of the Milwaukee Police Department in the beating of a black man last fall outside the home of a white officer, a spokeswoman said Friday. Anne E. Schwartz said the department's Professional Performance Division recommended 79 charges against the 13. The recommendations were made to Police Chief Nan Hegerty. Schwartz declined to identify any of the 13, saying that they have a week to respond to the recommendations and it would be "inappropriate for the chief to comment" before the week is out. Three officers already face felony criminal charges in the beating of Frank Jude Jr. in the early morning hours of October 24. Those officers are no longer on the force. Schwartz would not say whether any of those three are among the 13 facing disciplinary charges. Jude spent several days in the hospital after the beating, which took place after he arrived with a black friend and two white women at the home of a white member of the police force. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in Friday's editions that 10 officers who were off-duty and at the party could be fired, while three who were on-duty and responded to the scene of the beating could be disciplined but not fired. Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, who charged the three officers February 28, had said his investigation was delayed by a lack of cooperation among some officers. [more]

• Beating Victim Jude Speaks Out [more]
  

New details emerge in Jude police inquiry

• Report says Police Supervisor admitted to investigators that he did not know how to handle the scene and allowed suspects  to move around and talk to each other after the crime. [more]

Ryan Packard, one of the Milwaukee police officers suspected in the beating of Frank Jude Jr., unsuccessfully tried to get 9.7 hours of overtime pay because he considered himself on duty during the incident, according to the department's investigative report into the case. Officer Jon Bartlett, who was charged with two felonies, told investigators he cut off Jude's coat to see if Jude had injured his back, the report says. And one of the first on-duty officers on the scene, Joseph Schabel, knew he was responding to off-duty Officer Andrew Spengler's party because Schabel himself had been invited, the 82-page report says. Schabel and Spengler were classmates at the police academy, it says. The department's internal report lays out the most complete picture to date of a chaotic, volatile scene early on Oct. 24 where on-duty officers struggled to control off-duty officers who repeatedly ignored orders and at times seemed to be running the scene themselves. Officer Douglas Marx, who does not face charges and arrived on the scene later, said the on-scene supervisor, Sgt. Corstan Court, didn't give him much direction. He said Spengler and the other off-duty officers were "all over the place." .[more]  and [more]

NYC Cop Who Killed Anthony Baez Released Early from Prison

Former police officer Francis X. Livoti was released from a federal prison in North Carolina on Friday after serving nearly seven years for violating Anthony Baez's civil rights by placing him in a chokehold that lead to Baez's death. Livoti, who was sentenced to 90 months, was released 352 days early for good behavior. He walked out of the Butner Federal Correctional Institution at 8:30 a.m. Friday, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons said. Baez's death in December 1994 heightened racial tensions in the city when it was learned that Livoti had been allowed to stay on patrol despite dozens of civilian complaints, including some for excessive force. Shortly after the incident, Anemone angered the black and Latino communities when he said Livoti was "doing the kind of work that the citizenry of the city and certainly this country are looking for." On Friday, local civil rights leaders reacted angrily to Livoti's release and planned a protest rally for Monday at City Hall. "He is walking in the wrong direction and he should walk right back in that prison and do 15 years for manslaughter," said City Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York). "This is a disgrace that the system would let him walk out of prison when he ... got away with murder." City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona), who is close to the Baez's family and is a retired police officer, said: "It is outrageous that someone who was found guilty of taking the life of someone in his official duties would be released so quickly. Unfortunately, the family will never be able to replace her son or fill that void that they have lost because of an out of control police officer who should never have been on our streets patrolling our city." [more] and [more]

• Protestors Call For End To Racial Profiling [more]
  
• City of New York agrees to $3 million settlement in police brutality case. The City of New York paid nearly $3 million to settle a group of lawsuits brought by the family of Anthony Baez.  Baez, who lived in Florida and was visiting his family, was set upon by the police, apparently for the "crime" of hitting a police car with a football during a late-night family football game right outside their home. Francis X. Livoti, a cop with a record of at least nine previous complaints of brutality against him, used a choke hold against Baez which resulted in his death. [more]
• Mothers of the slain [more]

In memory of Anthony Baez
Today the family of Anthony Baez and a coalition including the Justice Committee and other groups will hold a rally at One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan to remind people that police brutality is still a serious problem in New York City. The larger issue is that neither the death of Amadou Diallo nor the death of Anthony Baez was an isolated incident in this country. In fact, Anthony Baez`s death was eerily similar to a scene in the 1989 Spike Lee movie, "Do the Right Thing," which in turn mirrored real-life incidents of choke-hold deaths in New York and around the nation. Today`s rally reminds us that there are many people in this city who are still seeking justice. There are complaints that police officers harass and rough up Latinos and African-Americans, especially young men, with little or no provocation. There are complaints that police officers aren`t as quick to solve cases or seek justice when the victims are Latino, or African-American, or poor. [more]

GreenWood Police Officer who Gunned Down Black Man in his Driveway Indicted

A former Greenwood police officer accused of fatally shooting a man during a confrontation in his driveway was indicted by a Caddo grand jury Wednesday on a charge of manslaughter. Donny Aaron, who testified before the grand jury, said he fired in self-defense after Ronald Jamison went for a gun. The grand jury rejected that argument, saying the shooting was done in the heat of passion. Aaron, 29, was arrested in February on a charge of second-degree murder. The lesser charge of manslaughter carries up to 40 years in prison, if convicted. The shooting happened shortly after Aaron arrived at his home for lunch. He told police that a car was parked in his circular driveway near the front door. He followed Jamison a short distance down the street, Jamison pulled over, there was an exchange of words and Jamison was shot a half-dozen times. Defense attorney Peter Flowers said that there had been a series of burglaries in the neighborhood and that his client felt Jamison was going for a gun after being caught casing Aaron's house. "I think he frightened Donny into thinking he had to defend himself," Flowers said. "In that millisecond, the question was, what do you do: wait for the muzzle flash or shoot first? It all happened just that fast." Prosecutors said that Jamison didn't have a gun and that there was no indication of a break-in at Aaron's house. "There is no evidence of any crime committed by Mr. Jamison," Assistant District Attorney Steve Waller said. Aaron resigned from the Greenwood Police Department three years ago after a domestic violence incident involving his wife. He is free on bond while awaiting trial. [more]