Dept. of Justice Contines to Investigate Spartanburg Sheriff Killing of Aaron Gray

• Unarmed Black Man Gunned Down 

It turns out two Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Deputies who were cleared in the shooting of a suspect earlier this month aren’t off the hook just yet. Back in February 2005, two narcotics officers shot and killed Aaron Clark Gray during a drug sting in Boiling Springs.  About two weeks ago the SC Attorney General’s Office said a state and federal review of those officers was over, but the US Department of Justice says that’s not the case. The confusion started March 2, when the spokesman for the Attorney General said state prosecutors would not pursue criminal charges against Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Narcotics Officers, Chris Raymond and Glen Stewart.  The spokesman says the announcement came after the federal decision not to take action in the case. But, a federal civil rights review is still open, and the Department of Justice says miscommunication between departments is responsible for the mix-up. The State maintains they received information that the federal review was to be closed and were not aware of any changes by the Department of Justice. The two officers say Gray tried to run them over with his car and they were acting in self defense, the state found the shooting justified.  However, Gray’s family and friends say he was unarmed and his car wasn’t headed in the officers’ direction.  The officers fired more than 14 shots at Gray. The Rev. Jesse Jackson criticized the officers' actions in 2005 during a visit to Spartanburg, saying the  shooting was racially motivated because Gray was black. State Rep. Karl Allen, a Greenville attorney who represents Gray's mother, said he was confident a  proper federal review would show the officers used excessive force.  [more] and [more]

•  Jesse Jackson Demands Action in Police Shooting of Aaron Clark Gray [more]
  

Answers sought in killing of Mexican national by state trooper

• Parents, wife suspect violation of civil rights; DPS says investigation under way 
  

A grand jury in Starr County has not made a decision in a DPS shooting. A couple of months ago, police say a DPS trooper shot and killed Ismael Segura in Escobares. Segura was an immigrant from Mexico. Reports state the trooper believed Segura was pulling something out of his pocket during a foot chase. The District Attorney plans to present the evidence to a new grand jury in April. Some townspeople said they were angry because they thought the slaying could have been avoided. But it wasn't clear during the chase that the victim was unarmed, DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block said. She said O'Connor and a second trooper pulled Segura over on U.S. 83 on suspicion of drunken driving. When they tried to handcuff him, Segura broke free, pushing O'Connor to the ground. He ran about 1,000 yards, stopping between a house and brick wall. "O'Connor repeatedly warned him to stop and Segura Mendez ignored the warning and proceeded toward the trooper in a threatening manner," she said. Segura died in a hospital. At his beauty salon, José Pérez Guerrero, 55, said he thought the killing could have been avoided. Customers there on a recent afternoon agreed. "It was negligent because he shot an immigrant without a weapon," Pérez said. Sandra Mendoza, a vice consul at the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, said she expects the investigation will be complete in a few weeks. "What is clear, is that Ismael did not have a gun or something to put the police officer's life in danger," she said. "There may have been an excessive use of force."[more] and  [more] and [more]

• Mexican government asks for investigation of death [more]
  
• Autopsy reveals bruises [more]
  

Unarmed Black Man Laying on his Stomach shot by Yuba County Deputy in Critical Condition

The man shot by a Yuba County sheriff's deputy was in critical condition Saturday, according to his wife. Eric Rayshon Day, 25, was shot once in the neck after deputies burst into his home in search of guns and ammunition at about 6 p.m. Friday. Sheriff Virginia Black said they had a search warrant, and Day was a suspect in a separate shooting. Day's wife, Letty Day, 28, said she thought the deputy accidentally shot her husband. “He was laying down on his stomach with his hands out, and I think (the deputy) just hit the gun,” she said. “But I can tell you Yuba County doesn't like my husband. “They shot him for no reason. I was right there when he said, ‘Baby, it's burning. It hurts,'” she added. “He wasn't conscious for very long at all. I tried to talk to him, and they said, ‘Shut up.'” No one in the house was armed, she said. Letty Day said her four children were watching television with a friend, and she was sleeping with her husband when deputies arrived. According to the sheriff, deputies knocked on the door and announced they would ram it in if no one opened the door. Day said one of her daughters was going to open the door when a family friend, Tiffany Padgett, 21, stopped the child and said she would get the door. Deputies heard someone running away from the door, so they rammed it in, fearing the person was scurrying to destroy evidence, Black said. Consequently, the door hit Padgett, who was treated for head injuries and released after getting 10 stitches, according to both Black and Letty Day. Day said deputies told her to put her hands on the ground. Her husband had to lay on the ground with his hands up and was shot as a deputy was searching him, she said. [more]

Torres family Confused in the Wake of Collier County Sheriff Shooting of Unarmed Latino Man

 
The family and friends of Charley Torres, who led police on a chase which ultimately ended his death, speaks about the grief and confusion they have experienced since Charley’s death. Torres’ father, Benjamin, knows that nothing is going to bring back his son so to ease his pain he is searching for justice. "That cop just started shooting right away, he didn't give them a choice. Charley didn't even roll down the window, he even had his seatbelt on. I'm looking for justice to make sure the cop pays for what he did," said Benjamin. The sheriff’s office report indicated that the deputy feared for his life because Torres started driving an SUV directly toward him. However Victor Valdez, the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens of Collier County, does not understand how the deputy shot out the side window if the SUV was coming straight at him. "He was never a danger to that officer. Never was he in the path of that car," said Valdez.  [more]

Family of Latino man Killed by Stockton Police Files Lawsuit

The mother of a man Stockton police officers shot and killed last year,  ending a pursuit into a downtown neighborhood, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit  against the city. Rebecca Delito claims the two officers acted "carelessly, recklessly and negligently"  when they shot her son, Luis Armando Dominguez, 23, on Feb. 17, 2005, at the  intersection of Market and Sierra Nevada streets. She seeks more than $25,000 for herself and Dominguez's four children, ranging in age  from 2 to 4. The year-old shooting happened after a detective spotted Dominguez driving a pickup  reported stolen from Manteca. The detective ordered him out of the truck, but Dominguez  rammed the detective's car, prompting the high-speed chase, police have said. Officers pinned in Dominguez's truck at the end of the chase and got out of their patrol  cars. Dominguez threw the truck into reverse and threatened to run over them, police  said. The officers opened fire, hitting Dominguez in the back. Officers later found a loaded handgun on the truck's floorboard. Delito claims in court papers she and her family have suffered both financially and  emotionally as a result of Dominguez'sdeath. Medical and funeral bills piled up, and his  two sons and two daughters don't have a father. Officers Robert Johnson and Brian Breckenridge, who shot Dominguez, are both back on  the job, said Lt. Kevin Hatano of the Police Department. Hatano would not say if an  internal investigation by the Police Department cleared the officers. Assistant District Attorney Craig Holmes said his office, which reviews all officer-involved  shootings in the county, hasn't received the case yet. Delito filed a claim, which the city of Stockton rejected, City Attorney Ren Nosky said. [more]

Reporter Investigating the Death of Jonathan King Threatened by Gladwater Police

• Black Man Shot Dead by Police - Police say he tried to run them over 

More trouble for the Gladewater policeman, involved in a fatal shooting last summer. A complaint has been filed against officer Bryan Naismith by a reporter from The Dallas Morning News. Dave Michaels went to Naismith's home last Thursday to try and cover the story. The complaint alleges Naismith rear-ended his car, then threatened him with a shotgun. Naismith is the officer who shot and killed Jonathan King, 25, after Naismith says he tried to run him over. A grand jury refused to indict Naismith of any wrongdoing during the incident. He returned to work nearly a week later. [more] and [more]

• Gladewater Residents Call Meeting About Fatal Shooting [more] and [more]

Rainbow Push Coalition Takes the Kenneth Walker Case to Washington

• Unarmed, Innocent Black businessman Lying Faced Down, Shot in the Back -- Murdered by Police 

The Rainbow Push Coalition is taking the case of Kenneth Walker to Washington. Walker was the unarmed man shot by a sheriff's deputy on Interstate 185 in December of 2003. Reverend William Howell of Columbus and others have written a letter to the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Howell says over the last two years their letters to the US Attorney's Office, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the FBI have never been properly addressed. "We are tired of writing letters that are never answered so we thought we would write a letter to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who controls the entire pot," said Howell at a called news conference Wednesday afternoon. The coalition wants answers as to whether or not Walker's civil rights were violated the night he was shot and if so it wants an indictment. The deputy accused of shooting walker, David Glisson, was never indicted on criminal charges. [more]

• Police VIDEO: View the Kenneth Walker tape (Blurry, no audio) [more] and [more]
  
• Kenneth Walker's Family re-Files $100 Million Suit Against Police for Wrongful Death [more]
  

East Haven Police Officer who Killed Malik Jones Retires

 
The East Haven police officer involved in a notorious shooting nearly nine years ago is retiring. Sergeant Robert Flodquist says he's ready to hang up his badge after 21 years and start a new chapter. He's taking a job with a computer software company. Though he was cleared of wrongdoing by the justice department, he says he knows there will always be a stigma attached to his name. He shot Malik Jones after a split-second confrontation in an empty parking lot. Jones' family says it still bears deep wounds from the shooting. Flodquist says it changed him too. A civil jury ruled in July 2003 that Flodquist violated Jones' constitutional rights and awarded his mother two-point-five million dollars, to be paid by East Haven. But the jury also determined that Flodquist was shieled from liability because he could have believed his conduct to be lawful. [more] and [more]

• The Real Malik Jones [more] 

2 Georgia Deputies Fired for Using Excessive Force in Videotaped Beat Down of Unarmed Black Man

Two sheriff's deputies in southeast Georgia were fired after being caught on videotape kneeing a suspect in the back and squirting him with pepper spray after the man fled a traffic stop and led a chase across three counties. An internal investigation ordered by Camden County Sheriff William E. Smith determined his deputies used excessive force against Irwin Kirk Griffen following his arrest at the end of a 45-minute chase on Feb. 6. "There is no tolerance for this kind of action," sheriff's Lt. William Terrell said Friday. Griffen, 22, of Cary, N.C., fled deputies after they clocked him speeding at 94 mph on I-95 in Camden County. Deputies said Griffen rammed a patrol car and tried to run over an officer as the chase wound through Camden, Glynn and Brantley counties. It ended when deputies used road spikes to deflate Griffen's tires. The video, taped from a deputy's patrol car, shows at least four officers dragging Griffen from his car at gunpoint and pulling his T-shirt over his head before forcing him on the ground. Griffen does not appear to struggle as a Brantley County sheriff's deputy lands several punches around his head and shoulders. The Camden County deputy then knees him twice in the back. Terrell said Deputy Richard Sean Billington, 36, was the one who kneed Griffen in the back, while Deputy Albert Bannon Crosby, 29, used pepper spray while Griffen was on the ground. Both were fired Wednesday after working at the department since 2000. All the deputies shown on the tape are white, while Griffin is black. Terrell stressed that race was "absolutely not" a factor in the incident. [more] and [more] and [more]

• See video here [more]
  

Shreveport Police Still Refuse to Disclose Information about Officers Involved in the Death of Marquise Hudspeth

• Cops shot Black man holding cell phone in the back eight times -all on video [more] 

In those contentious months after Marquise Hudspeth was shot and killed in a convenience store parking lot by two Shreveport police officers, the final frantic days of his life were aired to the public. But three years after Hudspeth was killed in that parking lot, little is known about the officers -- Michael Armstrong, Denver Ramsey and Steven Hathorn -- who were involved in the fatal shooting. Their personnel files have never been disclosed by the Shreveport Police Department despite several legal challenges. The department claimed an exemption under state law that allows it to bar access to files pertaining to ongoing police investigations. It was the controversial death of Hudspeth in March 2003 that raised -- and still raises -- concerns about whether too much information was being suppressed by law enforcement agencies. "There should not be a system in place where nobody checks nobody," said James Pannell, president of the local chapter of the NAACP. "Who are they protecting and who are they serving?" [more]

• Hudspeth lawsuit cites city, police culture of excessive force against blacks [more]
  
• Pictured above: Suspect Hudspeth turns towards Officer Armstrong who is holding his pistol at the suspect's face. Wouldn't this be sufficient to warn the suspect that he may get shot if he continues his actions? [more]
  

A settlement is reached in Severe Beating of Black Boston Police Officer by fellow White Officers

 
Deputy Superintendent Michael A. Cox of the Boston police reached an out-of-court settlement yesterday with one of the officers who allegedly beat him in 1995 after mistaking him for a suspect. Lawyers for Cox and the officer, David Williams, wouldn't disclose the terms of the settlement, citing a confidentiality agreement. A trial had been scheduled to begin Monday in US District Court in Boston to determine how much, if anything, Williams should be ordered to pay Cox. In January 1995, while working as a patrolman, Cox was dressed in plainclothes and was chasing a homicide suspect in Mattapan when he was brutally beaten by fellow officers, then left bleeding on the ground when they discovered he was a police officer. He suffered a concussion and kidney damage. In 1998, a federal jury found Williams and another officer, James Burgio, liable for using excessive force, but the case was closed after the city of Boston agreed to a settlement and eventually paid Cox $817,000. Cox's lawyers opted not to seek damages from Williams, Burgio, or a third officer, Ian Daley, who had been found liable for ignoring Cox's medical needs, because all three were fired from their jobs. But last year, US District Judge William G. Young granted a request by Roach to reopen the case and let a jury consider damages, after an arbitrator ruled in June that the department lacked ''just cause" to fire Williams and ordered him reinstated with back pay for the last six years. No criminal charges were ever brought against any of the officers suspected in the beating. [more]

•  The Only Boston Police Officer Punished for Beating Fellow Black Officer Gets an Appeal [more]
  

FBI commits domestic terrorism on Independence Movement in Puerto Rico

 
In a move reminiscent of a U.S. Marine invasion of a foreign country, the FBI descended in droves on Puerto Rico on February 10.  Without breathing a word of the invasion to either the colonial governor or the chief of police, heavily armed, militarized units of the FBI, including the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit from Miami, hit six different spots throughout the island.  Their purpose, they claimed, was to execute search warrants on six independence activists they identified as suspected leaders of the clandestine independence organization, Ejercito Popular Boricua/Macheteros, the same organization whose legendary leader, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, who the FBI assassinated five months earlier.  Their true purpose was widely understood as other: with their show of force, to continue their long campaign to intimidate and criminalize those who support independence for Puerto Rico, particularly in this moment of the resurgence of the left throughout Latin America; and, of course, to detract from their own criminal conduct in taking Ojeda's life.  Landing in military-style helicopters, accompanied by caravans of vehicles, sometimes with the license plates obscured, FBI agents swarmed private residences and businesses in Trujillo Alto and Río Piedras (in the San Juan metropolitan area), and Mayagüez, San Germán, Aguadilla, and Isabela (in the west of the island), terrorizing entire neighborhoods.  The search warrants bore the names and addresses of veteran labor leaders, community leaders, known independentists, and even a Protestant minister respected for his work promoting small projects of self-empowerment for poor people. [more]

• PDF of this article [here]
• Venezuela's Chavez demanding independence for Puerto Rico [more]
  
• Pictured above: Pro-independence activists carry a U.S.-flag draped coffin as a symbol of the commonwealth status of Puerto Rico, during a demonstration in front of the Hiram Bithorn Stadium prior to the inauguration of the World Baseball Classic in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, March 7, 2006. They were protesting the recent search of several activists' homes by the FBI and calling for the end of the current status of the U.S. Caribbean territory. [more]
• US Court denies Puerto Rico US vote [more]
  

Puerto Rico: march against FBI terror

Several thousand Puerto Ricans marched down Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan on Feb. 26 to protest raids on the homes of independence activists by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Feb. 10 and the shooting death of fugitive Popular Boricua Army (EPB)-Macheteros leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios during an FBI raid on Sept. 23. The theme of the march, organized by the Hostos National Independence Movement (MINH) and supported by a wide range of political tendencies, was: "Puerto Rico respects itself! FBI out!" Organizers estimated that 8,000 people participated; police Col. Leovigildo Vazquez declined to give a number. Participants included New York State Assembly member Jose Rivera; Ojeda Rios' widow, Elma Beatriz Rosado Barbosa; and three of the targets of the raids, Vilma Velez, Liliana Laboy and Norberto Cintron Fiallo. Speakers stressed the success of activists in getting the US Navy to close its testing site on the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques in May 2003. "If we threw the Navy out of Vieques," Rosado said, "we can throw out the FBI." A man was said to have been attacked by some marchers who considered him an agent; no other disturbances were reported. [more]

Jury rules against Orlando Police Officer in Taser case - Black Man Slammed Down & Shocked

Panel says 'unreasonable force' was used during driver's arrest
A federal civil jury decided Friday that an Orlando police officer used "unreasonable force" when he arrested and fired a Taser on a young man following a June 2003 traffic stop on Mercy Drive. The eight jurors awarded the man $100,000 in punitive damages and $972.15 in medical and court costs stemming from his arrest. The case is thought to be the first Taser-related civil suit to go to trial against an Orlando police officer and the city. The verdict, which followed 15 hours of deliberations Thursday and Friday, found that Officer Jonathan Cute violated Dontray Chaney's civil rights by subjecting him to "excessive or unreasonable force" during his arrest. "It's good. I'm pleased that they saw it my way," Chaney said after learning of the verdict. "They [the police] can't just go and abuse their power and authority any way that they please." Chaney, 22, was stopped June 5, 2003, because Cute said the license tag on the red 1996 Pontiac Grand Am he was driving was "obscured" by a plastic cover. When Chaney questioned why he was being stopped and did not turn over his drivers license and other information, Cute decided to arrest him. Witnesses said Cute pulled Chaney out of the car, struggled with him and took him to the ground before firing his Taser stun gun at the man twice. Cute, his sergeant and other witnesses said the arrest drew an angry crowd. Cute, 34, and a five-year veteran, is known as an aggressive officer with many arrests and strong evaluations from his supervisors. Chaney's aunt, who pushed for the case to go to federal court, said the verdict should be sending a strong message to the Police Department to be more responsible with Tasers. [more]
 

Black Man beaten by Ohio State Troopers gets $10,000

An Athens man beaten by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers during a traffic stop has gotten a $10,000 settlement in a defamation suit against an OSHP official. As part of the settlement, the agency will send a letter to the editor to The Athens Messenger, apologizing for statements made about plaintiff Billy J. Dunfee by a Patrol officer in an earlier letter published by the newspaper. Dunfee, 47, sued three Patrol officers in April 2002, starting the case in Athens County Common Pleas Court before it was transferred to U.S. District Court. His suit was based on a January 2002 incident, in which troopers stopped the car in which he was riding as a passenger on U.S. Rt. 33, for making an illegal U-turn across the highway divider, then beat, kicked, clubbed and maced Dunfee after he allegedly refused to keep his hands in sight and step out of the car. Though in March 2004 a jury in Athens County Municipal Court found Dunfee innocent of resisting arrest, he lost his federal lawsuit nine months later, when a jury ruled that the troopers had sufficient justification for pulling him out of the car, and did not use excessive force to subdue him. [more]

Activists Ask Kentucky Governor to Intervene in Police Shooting of Black Man Suspected of Shoplifting

A community advocacy group has asked the governor to intervene in the investigation of the shooting by police officers of a shoplifting suspect in the median of Interstate 64 two months ago. The Justice Resource Center of Louisville, Ky., sent a letter Monday asking Gov. Mitch Daniels to pressure Harrison County Prosecutor Dennis Byrd to release his report on the shooting.The unarmed shoplifting suspect, 36-year-old Trent Marion of Louisville, was wounded in both wrists and the right eye at the end of a late-afternoon Jan. 20 chase that had begun at a Kroger store in Louisville and ended about 25 miles away in southern Indiana. State police have completed an investigation and forwarded a report to Byrd, who on Monday declined to comment further on the case. The Rev. Louis Coleman, the Justice Resource Center's director, said the investigation has taken too long. "There is a hidden agenda that needs to be uncovered," Coleman said. "We feel very strongly that he knows there was some bad policing and he does not want to reveal the situation." Coleman's group also has asked the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission to investigate Byrd's handling of the case and has filed a complaint with the Indiana attorney general's office. [more]

Black Man Claims he was Beaten by Detroit Police while Handcuffed - Called him "Monkey"

 
Bastida Ballard filed a complaint against two Detroit police officers saying they crossed the line and assaulted her son in the basement where her younger children were watching TV. "They supposed to protect us, not hurt us. How can we trust them?" she said. It started almost two weeks ago when police were trying to pull over her 23-year-old son. Gary said the vehicle tag on his mother’s SUV had just expired, so he drove around the corner and pulled into their drive way. He then ran inside to get his mom because he didn’t want police to tow her SUV. The family said the officer kicked in the door, told Gary to freeze and hit him in the head, before and after he was handcuffed. Gary said he did not resist but was beaten anyway. "He was hitting me, but he was telling me to put my hands behind my head, but my hands were behind my head. He hit me across my head with the light, whatever he had. I couldn’t see because my head was down," said Gary. The family said the officer's blows were so out of control, Ballard’s 13-year-old daughter was hit on her arm. He also yanked Ballard’s 12-year-old son by the arm, which opened wounds from a dog bite he suffered earlier that day. "I asked them what was my son being arrested for and he tells me he didn’t know," said Ballard. She said when her son was taken to the police car the hitting didn’t stop. "I don’t want anybody else to go through that. Those officers, they need to be investigated. They need to be followed. They need someone to see what they’re doing," said Ballard. [more] and [moreand [more]

Woman says NYC Police Stomped Lil Kim's Driver to Death after Traffic Stop

A New York nurse claims police beat Lil' Kim's limousine driver 11 days before he died, it was reported Tuesday. O'Neil Solomon, a former convict who drove rapper Lil' Kim as well as singer Ashanti, died March 4. The medical examiner cited the cause of death as heart disease, the New York Daily News reported. However, Janice Pinheiro, 37, a nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital, filed a citizen's complaint that has sparked an investigation into her allegation that as many as 16 officers stomped Solomon in the head and chest repeatedly after he sped away from a traffic stop in Brooklyn. "I said, 'That's enough," Pinheiro told the News. "Stop the beating, stop the beating. I see everything and I'm gonna report it. You're gonna kill him.'" The nurse said when she complained to officers at the scene, she was handcuffed and taken into the station and later released without being charged. Solomon checked himself into Brookdale University Hospital twice during the next few days, complaining that he felt sick, attorney Lawrence Krause said. He began vomiting violently before dying March 4. [more]

Latino men Bring Lawsuit Against Monticello Police for Racial Profiling, Excessive Force

In November, Monticello police swooped down on an apartment complex on Wood Avenue, pointed shotguns at two Hispanic men eating lunch in an apartment and cuffed them, pinning one against a fence and forcing the other to the ground. They had the wrong suspects. Now Guillermo Ortiz, 21, and Christopher Abreu, 20, are suing the village in federal court, claiming police used excessive force, had no probable cause to arrest them and targeted them only because they are Hispanic. The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in the United States District Court, alleges police acted "maliciously, in bad faith, and with racial animus and a deliberate indifference to plaintiffs' constitutional rights." The two are seeking compensatory damages for "psychological injuries" as a result of being "demeaned and humiliated," as well as punitive damages. On Nov. 29, cops were looking for a 21-year-old Hispanic suspect who allegedly assaulted his girlfriend that morning at Hillside Apartments. She told cops Renando Torres, 21, choked her, pinned her down and stuck a gun in her mouth. The woman gave police a sketchy description of Torres and his address. Torres' apartment was next door to Abreu's apartment on Wood Avenue. Abreu spotted the police cars and opened the door. Police pointed guns at him and ordered him out. He was restrained on the ground and then pushed up against a fence, Ortiz said in a previous interview. Police then ordered Ortiz, who was on his lunch break and wearing a shirt and tie, out of the apartment and handcuffed him, ordering him to the ground. [more]