U.S. judge bars Mother's 2nd suit over Son’s death: Unarmed Howard University Student Killed by PG County Police

/

princejones.jpg

  • Pr. George's Jurors Award $3.7 Million [MORE]

The mother of a man killed by Prince George’s County police in Virginia cannot recover any money in her Maryland survival action against the county, a federal judge has decided.

In a published opinion, U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. wrote that Mabel S. Jones, as personal representative of her son’s estate, cannot pursue a survival action in Maryland because the son’s father and the son’s fiancée, on behalf of their daughter, have already recovered under Virginia’s wrongful death statute.

“If this incident had taken place in Maryland, then Maryland law would apply, and Plaintiff would be afforded two recoveries,” Williams wrote. “However, as this case is governed by Virginia law, and, as Defendants argue, since there has been a recovery, Plaintiff is barred from any recovery as there can be only one recovery for damages under the law of Virginia for the same injury.”

Mabel Jones has already filed a notice of appeal with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“It was our hope that this was the end of this lengthy road, but unfortunately, that is not the case,” said Jay Creech, who represents the county. “Dr. [Mabel] Jones has pushed the federal suit along even though the sole beneficiary has recovered.”

Prince Carmen Jones Jr. was fatally shot by police in 2000 after two undercover Prince George’s County officers followed his car from Washington, D.C. to Prince George’s County, back to Washington and into Virginia, mistakenly believing him to be a suspect who had stolen a police officer’s weapon. Jones apparently realized he was being followed and started striking Cpl. Carlton Jones’ SUV with his car in an effort to get away. Carlton Jones shot Prince Carmen Jones 16 times.

Read More

PA Troopers Found Liable for Killing 12 Year Old Black Boy Want New Trial

/

ellerbe4.jpg
Calling a $28 million jury award "shocking" and "the product of passion and prejudice," the attorney for two state police troopers asked that a federal judge set aside the verdict and order a new trial.

Attorney Andrew Fletcher, who represented Cpl. Juan Curry and Trooper Samuel Nassan in the civil suit brought by the father of Michael Ellerbe, argued that attorney Geoffrey Fieger disregarded rules throughout the trial. Fletcher also argued that U.S. District Court Judge Joy Flowers Conti improperly stopped him from admitting evidence that would have let jurors see a clearer picture of what happened when Ellerbe was shot and killed on Dec. 24, 2002.

Last month, a panel of federal jurors awarded Ellerbe's father, Michael Hickenbottom over $28 million in damages in his son's death. The panel found that both Curry and Nassan intentionally shot at Ellerbe, and used excessive force.

Read More

Wisconsin DOJ to Investigate Milwaukee Police Beating of Hmong Man

/
moua.jpg
AP The state Department of Justice has agreed to look into the case of a Milwaukee man who claims a police officer used excessive force on him, the Milwaukee County district attorney said Monday.

Koua Moua, a 40-year-old machinist, claims Kelly Parker used excessive force and beat him on the street in February. But Milwaukee police Chief Edward Flynn has backed the officer, saying Parker feared for his life and the community's safety and had to use force.

Moua has been charged with resisting an officer and driving while intoxicated.

District Attorney John Chisholm said last week that community concern prompted him to look at the case. But on Monday, he asked the state Department of Justice to investigate because his office has already charged Moua. The police department also is conducting an internal investigation.

State Department of Justice spokesman Kevin St. John said the department would evaluate the matter but couldn't comment on the specifics of the case or offer a timeline.
Read More

Court says Nathaniel Jones' Family can pursue claim against Cincinnati Police: Black Man Beaten, Suffocated & Refused Medical Treatment

/

nathjones.jpg
The federal appeals court said Friday that a lawsuit by relatives of a 350-pound man who died during a fight with Cincinnati police after his arrest in November 2003 could go forward.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by city officials who sought to have some of the 16 defendants, mostly police officers, dismissed from the suit. The court ruled that they are not entitled to the qualified immunity that generally applies to police officers in the line of duty.

City officials ruled in 2004 that police acted within department policy in using nightsticks to subdue Nathaniel Jones, 41, who died after scuffling with officers in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.

The Hamilton County prosecutor already had concluded that the officers had been within their right to defend themselves and committed no crimes.

The county coroner said Jones died of suffocation but noted that an enlarged heart, obesity and drug use contributed to his death. An autopsy showed he had intoxicating levels of cocaine, PCP and alcohol in his blood.

Friday's ruling affirmed a federal District Court ruling in favor of Jones' family, which alleged that officers used excessive force in subduing Jones and then failed to obtain medical treatment for him. Many activists denounced the police beating as an example of police brutality and racismIt said the District Court was correct in refusing to dismiss the city's claim. [MORE]

  • Pictured above: On November 30, 2003 several Cincinnati Police Officers  beat Nathaniel Jones to death. Most of the beating was captured on Police videotape [SEE ]. Mysteriously, however the beginning of the tape is missing. Police maintain that Jones was fighting back against the Cops. But sticking your hand out seems to be a reasonable reaction to being hit with batons  by several people. [more]

Greensboro Officer cleared in fatal shooting of Black Man after Police Chase - Family Calls it Murder

/
emilewilliams.jpg
GREENSBORO — A police officer who shot a suspected jewelry store thief after a high-speed chase on Interstate 40 was justified in his action, according to the Guilford County district attorney.

Doug Henderson announced Friday that he had completed his review of the State Bureau of Investigation's probe into the Jan. 23 shooting and found that Officer W.M. Symmes "acted lawfully and reasonably to protect his own life and the lives of others."

Accused of stealing two diamond rings worth $36,200 from Helzberg Diamonds in the Four Seasons Town Centre, Williams subsequently ran from the store, hopped in his black Honda Accord, which the police confirmed as stolen, and fled eastbound down Interstate 40, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph, according to the GPD search warrant.

Off-duty Officer William Symmes was the first to respond and chased Williams down the interstate until Williams eventually lost control of his vehicle in an effort to turn onto the Interstate 85 exit ramp. Williams' vehicle then collided with Symmes' green police-issued SUV, totaling Williams' vehicle.

What followed, according to the warrant, was a "physical altercation" between the two men, in which Williams eventually tried to make his getaway -- this time in the police cruiser. Then Symmes grabbed onto the cruiser as it was pulling away, refusing to let Williams escape.

"Officer Symmes, apparently unable to stop the suspect from dragging him down the highway, drew his duty firearm and shot the suspect once in the neck-head area," the warrant said, according to The News and Record.
Read More

Chicago Cop indicted for Beating Black Man Handcuffed in Wheelchair

/

randymiles.jpg
Federal prosecutors have indicted a Chicago police officer for allegedly beating a man who was handcuffed and shackled in a wheelchair.

The alleged Aug. 2, 2005, beating by Officer William Cozzi occurred at Norwegian American Hospital and was captured on videotape.

“Every citizen, regardless of being in police custody, has a constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by law enforcement officers,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stated in a press release.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday in which Cozzi is charged with one count of violating the victim’s civil rights.

Cozzi, 50, of Chicago, joined the Police Department in 1992 and was assigned to the 25th District at the time of the alleged attack. He has since been suspended from duty, prosecutors say.

The indictment does not identify the victim. However, the Sun-Times has identified him as Randle Miles. On the video, Miles does not appear to be resisting, though he was charged with resisting arrest. Miles was 60 at the time and being treated for a stab wound.

The video shows Cozzi hitting Miles about 10 times. In 2007, Cozzi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and got 18 months’ probation. [MORE]

Prosecutors in Sean Bell Case Losing the War of Words - Unarmed Black Man Shot 50 Times on Wedding Day

/
SeanBell_0306.jpg
And the family's side, he said, seems to be losing the war of words at these daily pressers. "The detective-union guy [Mike Palladino]—he's got a lot of balls," said Hunt. "No one on our side's got the balls." A speech by the NAACP's Leroy Gadsden, he said, "made me sick in my stomach." Hunt called it typical "watered-down politician shit." Hunt noted that the detectives' defense team has made a big deal of the fact that some of the prosecution witnesses have criminal records. It frustrated Hunt that the Bells' side hadn't countered that point.

"Everybody from my neighborhood's got a record—I mean, I got a past," Hunt said. Most young men in the neighborhoods where he and Bell grew up, Hunt said, either "got a record or are dead."

He was also frustrated by the defense lawyers' repeated attempts to show that Bell was drunk and out of control the morning he was killed. Hunt conceded that Bell most likely was drunk—after all, it was his bachelor party.

"I know the night of my bachelor party," he said, "I did everything—'Hey, let me get some of that,' " he added, imitating a dope smoker. "Because you know tomorrow, once you're married, there's no more doing anything."

More to the point, Hunt said: "All they're talking about is Sean's alcohol level. What about the cops' alcohol level? No one tested them. They were drinking that night, too."
Read More

Family says Indianapolis Police Went Too Far - Tasered Black Man to Death

/

henrybryant.jpg
INDIANAPOLIS -- The mother of a man who died after Indianapolis police used a stun gun to subdue him last week said Monday she believes the officers are to blame for his death.

The county coroner's office hasn't ruled on the cause of Henry Bryant's death, but Rita Abram said she believes police used excessive force to subdue the 35-year-old at an O'Charley's restaurant on the city's northwest side Friday night.

"Four officers? And to Tase him that many times? That's ridiculous. And I have to say, to me, that's murder," Abram said.

Police said they were called to the restaurant at about 10:30 p.m. Friday on a report that an armed man was threatening to shoot people.

Authorities said the armed man was Bryant's friend, Scott Broadnax. Bryant also was there, and during an investigation, Bryant refused to cooperate with officers and started to fight them, police said.

Police said they used a stun gun and pepper spray to subdue Bryant. Officers called for a medic after noticing that Bryant was having trouble breathing, police said.

The officers administered CPR as they waited for the medics, and Bryant eventually was taken to Methodist Hospital, where he died, according to police.

Read More

Three New videos show S.C. Troopers Kicking, Hitting Black Motorists

/
scpolice.jpg
The state Department of Public Safety on Monday released three new videos of state troopers, this time of officers striking people who were in vehicles they stopped in 2006.

Monday’s videos are the latest in a string of Highway Patrol videos depicting misconduct that started almost a month ago with the captured voice of a white trooper issuing a racial slur and threatening a black man he was chasing in a 2004 traffic stop.

After watching that video, Gov. Mark Sanford withdrew the nomination of Schweitzer the next day for a second term. Sanford also accepted the resignation of Col. Russell Roark, the Patrol’s commander. Sanford said the trooper, who was issued a reprimand, should have been fired.

Other videos followed, including two in which troopers struck fleeing motorists on foot with their Patrol cars. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently opened a civil rights investigation, to be assisted by the State Law Enforcement Division.

The state’s Senate also has promised an investigation, to be triggered when Sanford produces his next nominee to head DPS. Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said last week as many as 40 videos show trooper misconduct.

Monday’s videos concern the conduct of three white troopers, though a black corporal was standing at the scene of one of the incidents and intervened to stop a trooper striking a black motorist in the back, according to records and a spokesman for the agency.
Read More

Latino Man who Offered to Translate at Traffic Stop Beat Down by Annapolis Cops

/

Two Annapolis men are suing the city, its police department, and two police officers in federal court, claiming they were assaulted and wrongfully arrested in 2005.

In the lawsuit, filed March 3, Jose Louis Meneses-Araiza, 27, and Quinton T. Smith, 32, allege that Officer Black and another officer were speaking to a group of Hispanic men they had stopped for a traffic violation and Mr. Meneses-Araiza walked up and offered to translate.

Officer Black ordered him to leave. When Mr. Meneses-Araiza continued to speak to the vehicle's occupants, Officer Black arrested him for disorderly conduct.

The lawsuit alleges that in the process of handcuffing Mr. Meneses-Araizaon in the street and later fingerprinting him at the police station, Officer Black repeatedly punched and kicked him in the chest. Mr. Meneses-Araiza eventually fell down, hit his head and lost consciousness inside the station.

Officers Black and Schreiber - who was taking the fingerprints - quickly called for an ambulance. The lawsuit, however, claims they never told dispatchers Mr. Meneses-Araiza hit his head, leading the paramedics to take him to Anne Arundel Medical Center for a suspected overdose.

At the hospital, a CT scan revealed a head injury and Mr. Meneses-Araiza was taken by helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. There, he underwent a craniotomy.

The lawsuit alleges Officers Black and Schreiber "hatched a plan" to cover up the abuse after learning the extent of Mr. Meneses-Araiza injuries.

Read More

Group protests alleged Police Brutality Against Hmong Man by Milwaukee Police

/
moua.jpg
Hundreds of people marched for two hours Saturday to protest the injuries a man suffered during a traffic stop, saying police used excessive force.

An officer struck Koua Moua, 39, with a police radio and wrestled him to the ground during the traffic stop on Feb. 17, according to a criminal complaint. Police say Moua dragged the officer with his truck, and the officer feared for his life.

Marchers carried signs that showed Moua's battered face and swollen eye. He needed 10 stitches to close a wound under his eye, according to his attorney, Alan Eisenberg.

Some held signs that said "No room for police brutality." The crowd chanted, "No justice, no peace" in English and Hmong. Moua is Hmong, and the Hmong community has rallied around him.

Moua attended the rally but did not speak on the advice of his attorney. He has filed a complaint with the city's Fire and Police Commission along with a notice of claim against the city, usually a precursor to a lawsuit.

The protesters called for the officer, Kelly Parker, to be suspended and fired, for Moua to be paid damages and for police to be held accountable.
Read More

Community Wants PA State Troopers Dismissed - Officers Liable for Killing 12 Yr. Old Black Boy

/
 ELLERBESIGN.JPG  
A Fayette County woman is organizing a rally to call for the dismissals of two state troopers involved in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Michael Ellerbe.

Kayme Downard, a Uniontown activist, said the rally is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 14 on the courthouse steps.

"I'm not insinuating that all cops are bad, or that the whole barracks is, but we are demanding Officers Curry and Nassan be fired immediately and face criminal charges," Downard said. "We are also asking federal prosecutors to investigate District Attorney Nancy Vernon and her handling of the case."

A jury in a federal civil rights case awarded more than $28 million in damages to Ellerbe's family. Ellerbe was shot in the back Christmas Eve 2002 while running from state Troopers Juan Curry and Samuel Nassan.

The verdict contradicted previous criminal investigations that found the troopers' actions were justified. The troopers said Nassan shot Ellerbe, who was running from a stolen sport utility vehicle, after Curry's gun accidentally discharged. The gunfire led Nassan to believe his partner had been shot.
Read More

Jury says Beating was OK -- No Excess Force in Austin Police Beating of Handcuffed Latino Man Lying Faced Down

/
ramonhenrnandez.jpg 
Hernandez loses civil rights case against officers in videotaped beating. [SEE VIDEO]
A federal jury on Thursday found that an Austin police officer and two former officers did not use excessive force against Ramon Hernandez, whom they were videotaped beating in September 2005.

The six-woman jury in U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Pitman's court deliberated for more than four hours.

After the verdict was read, one-armed hugs and backslaps were shared by officer Christopher Gray, who was suspended for 70 days after the incident, and former officers Joel Follmer, who was fired for his conduct that day, and William Bradley Heilman. Heilman quit the force after the incident and said he has been accepted to Baylor Law School.

"We're pretty excited," Heilman said.

Gray, who was videotaped punching Hernandez 14 times while the man lay facedown in handcuffs, said: "I am going to do my job Monday morning the same way I've always done it, and that is with the safety of Austin's citizens in mind."

Hernandez suffered cuts and bruises in the melee, which started when he fled the scene of a minor Burnet Road car accident. He disclosed during the four-day trial that he has schizophrenia and felt symptoms the day of the wreck and arrest.

He said he was proud he took the case to trial.

"It was a horrific event," the 27-year-old said, "but I survived."

During closing arguments, one of Hernandez's lawyers implored the jury to hold the officers accountable for roughing up Hernandez a block from the car accident, where he had fled with his Bible to pray.

"If what you saw on that video was not a violation of Ramon's civil rights, I don't know what is," Amber Vasquez Bode said.
Read More

'Police did not Identify Themselves': Urban League Seeks Review of Richland County Sheriffs Raid & Shootout that Killed Black Man

/
Sheriff defends raid, fatal shooting
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott moved Thursday to dispel what he said were “rumors” that a man killed during a shootout with deputies a day earlier did not know he was shooting at officers.

Despite that reassurance, the head of the Columbia Urban League on Thursday called for an independent citizens’ review panel to look into the incident.

Larry D. Bosket was shot in the head, shoulder and abdomen and died at the scene after a brief firefight in his Pine Valley home, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.

“Deputy sheriffs did not go in that house to kill him,” Lott said. “That was not our mission. The mission was to go into the house and seize the drugs.”

Bosket’s wife, April Bosket, and a 12-year-old child were inside the house when Bosket was shot. She said deputies rushed into the house without warning.

Columbia Urban League president J.T. McLawhorn said Thursday he, too, was concerned about the way deputies conducted the operation.

He called for an independent citizens’ review panel — separate from the Citizens Advisory Council that Lott maintains for the Sheriff’s Department — to examine the case.

“If someone breaks into your house,” McLawhorn said, “the natural reaction is to protect yourself.”

He questioned whether the deputies’ belief that Bosket had drugs in the home warranted “that kind of use of force.”
Read More

NYPD Cops Go Off: Beat Down Buddhists during Protest

/

NYPDILL.jpg
During a Free Tibet protest near the UN on March 14th, some NYPD officers were documented threatening, arresting and clubbing activists seemingly without provocation. In the below video it appears the protesters do nothing more than carry flags, walk on the sidewalk and chant. Yet officers identified as Leroy, Delgado and Serano, and others are depicted clubbing them even when they're down. The cameraman stridently narrates while filming, saying, "Look at these cops, clubbing people in front of the UN, unbelievable, protesting to free Tibet, cops clubbing people in their legs on the sidewalk, in front of the UN in America, unbelievable, this is not China." He also notes that Officer Serano had threatened to kill two protesters, something the officer later admits to on tape. Don't cops learn about YouTube at the Police Academy these days? [SEE VIDEO]

Washtenaw County Deputies, Sergeant Indicted in Wrongful Death of Black Man - Suffocated & Crushed by Cops

/

bruceleepolice.jpg 
Pictured above:  In the booking mug taken at the county jail after his arrest, Bruce Lee's eyes are bruised and swollen shut. Lee recalls being knocked to the ground from behind and beaten by Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies. He couldn't see his older brother, but says he heard Clifton "Pete" Lee Jr. telling the officers, "Y'all don't have to do him like that." The next day, from the Washtenaw County Jail, Bruce Lee learned his brother had died.  

Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies and a sergeant last week were indicted in two separate indictments by a federal grand jury in Detroit for violating the civil rights of two Ypsilanti Township men.

The indictments charge Deputy Joseph Eberle, 35, Deputy Eric Kelly, 37, and Sergeant Shawn Hoy, 37, for using unreasonable force against two brothers in the early morning hours of June 1, 2006.

United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said last Monday that the men will be "vigorously prosecuted" for "abusing power with tragic consequences."

According to the indictment, Eberle is charged with intentionally using unreasonable force on Clifton Lee Jr., 45, who died as a result. The indictment says Eberle kneeled on Clifton's neck and struck him.

Kelly and Hoy are charged with intentionally using unreasonable force on Clifton's brother Bruce Lee who was kicked several times and sprayed with pepper spray in the face and mouth.

It is also alleged in the indictment that Hoy intentionally failed to prevent the use of unreasonable force by Kelly.

The June 2006 incident originally took place near the intersection of Eugene and Cayuga avenues in Ypsilanti Township. Clifton and Bruce responded to a family member who was pulled over by two deputies.

The cause of Clifton's death, reported by Dr. Bader Cassin, Washtenaw County's medical examiner, was asphyxia due to the weight of several people pressing his chest against the ground.

Read More

Hmong Man Beat Down by Milwaukee Police after Drunk Stop

/

moua.jpg
Calling it an "Asian Frank Jude" case, the attorney of a Hmong man with injuries to his face said on Wednesday that his client's condition is the result of police brutality.There's no denying that 39-year-old Koua Moua has injuries as the result of his arrest on Feb. 17 outside an apartment near North 63rd Street and West Florist Avenue, but whether those injuries were his fault, or that of police, remains an issue. 

Frank Jude is the Milwaukee man who was beaten by on and off-duty Milwaukee police officers outside a Bay View house party in 2004.

According to the criminal complaint, Moua was pulled over for drunken driving last month and began to drive off as an officer approached his vehicle. The officer struck Moua in an attempt to get him to stop and then pulled him from the car when he refused the officer's commands.

Moua's supporters said the man doesn't speak English.

"We believe this is a use of excessive force, which means police brutality has occurred or has happened to this Hmong man," said Kevin Her with the Hmong American Friendship Association.

Moua's attorney, Alan Eisenburg, said there was no justification for the stop or for the officer to strike Moua.
"Nobody should be treated this way," Eisenburg said. "If you have a large, armed police officer, and a 4 foot 10 or 11 tiny man, and you've already called for back-up, which, by the way, it (the criminal complaint) says he did, there's no reason why somebody should end up in this condition."

Read More

Ramon Hernandez Brutality Suit Underway: Austin Officer says his 14 punches to Handcuffed Suspect's Back Justified

/

8058107_BG1.jpgramon2.jpg
The man accusing three Austin police officers of violating his civil rights was back on the stand in federal court Tuesday.

Ramon Hernandez was beaten and stun-gunned by police officers after a traffic stop in September 2005.

The six-woman jury in U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Pitman's court viewed the video Tuesday.  As the use of force by the police officers escalated, some members of the jury grimaced. One juror held her hand to her mouth, while others simply sat and stared at the video screen. It shows him being held down face first by three officers and being struck by two while he is handcuffed.

In the dash-cam video, Hernandez can be heard screaming as the officers restrain him.

As the tape plays out, one of the officers can be heard telling Hernandez to "stop resisting."

Austin police Officer Christopher Gray, who delivered 14 punches to the back of a suspect who fled a car accident scene in 2005 in a beating captured by a patrol car video camera, testified today in a federal civil rights trial that his force was justified.

Gray said he punched Ramon Hernandez, 27, after he had been handcuffed behind a Central Austin transmission shop because he was fearful Hernandez would turn over and attack him or his fellow officers.

"You felt threatened?," asked Hernandez's lawyer, Amber Vasquez Bode.
"Yes, ma'am," Gray said.
"Was it because he was face down on his belly?"
"No, ma'am."
Gray said "it's the totality of the circumstances," explaining that he had witnessed Hernandez earlier putting his hands on then-Officer William Bradley Heilman's gun.

Bode paused the video while it depicted Gray kneeling on top of Hernandez's midsection and asked whether Gray considered Hernandez under control.

After a slight head and hip movement by Hernandez, Gray unleashed a flurry of 10 punches.
Bode asked why Gray didn't stop punching after two or three or four or five punches.

"I stopped punching when he stopped resisting."

Later on the video, Gray is seen punching Hernandez twice more. After another pause, he punched Hernandez two more times.

Read More

Grand Jury to Review Case of Black Man Dragged to Death by Irontown Police

/
irontowndragging.jpg
IRONTON -- The case involving the death and unexplained dragging of Guy Cameron Thomas for 10 blocks under an Ironton police cruiser in the snow will be presented to an upcoming session of the Lawrence County grand jury, Prosecutor J.B. Collier Jr. said Monday.

Thomas, 46, of 914 S. 9th St., Ironton, was found dead March 8 beneath a police cruiser outside the Ironton Police Department. His body had been dragged about 10 blocks beneath the cruiser on a snowy and icy night.

On Monday, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigations turned over a file in the case to the prosecutor's office.

A preliminary autopsy report from the Franklin County Coroner's office showed Thomas died from asphyxiation and that his chest was crushed and several ribs broken, Collier said.

County Coroner Burton Payne said it isn't known whether the ribs were fractured before or after Thomas died.

"There was no evidence of an impact injury," Payne said.

Some findings could be consistent with a seizure, he said.

An Ohio Highway Patrol report showed Thomas had been lying on South 9th Street when his body became lodged under the cruiser.
Read More

Victim Treated Like the Criminal - Sean Bell Trial Continues: Unarmed Black Man Shot 50 Times by NY Police

/

BELLCARSEAT.jpg 
Whitewash of Sean Bell’s Murder by Police Continues in Court
“This whole thing is so twisted. You’ve got the victims—Sean and the other two with him that night—being attacked like they’re the criminals, and the criminals—the cops who killed Sean—being treated like they’re the victims. But you know, I’ve been at other trials of police who’ve murdered Black people and here’s the thing. It plays out pretty much the same way every time.”

This comment, made to me by a Black woman as she and I waited for a 15-minute recess at the Sean Bell trial to end, reflected the feelings of others who have come to the Queens, N.Y., courthouse almost every day since the trial began on Febrary 25, to hear testimony in the case of the three NYPD detectives indicted in the killing on November 25, 2006, of 23-year-old Sean Bell. Bell was the unarmed African American man killed by undercover police in a hail of 50 bullets in Queens New York two weeks ago. He died hours before he was supposed to be married and two of his friends were seriously wounded.

Read More