Lawyer for Black Man Beaten by Philadelphia Police Put in Jail

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As a defense attorney, D. Scott Perrine is a frequent jailhouse visitor. Yesterday he became a guest. A judge in Dauphin County had Perrine arrested and hauled off to the county jail in Harrisburg for contempt of court. The offense? He stole the court's time - not once, but twice, in the same week. His defense for missing court? Perrine says he's been tied up on the now-infamous May 5 police-beating case. Apparently, Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Lawrence F. Clark Jr., a former state trooper, wasn't sympathetic. On Monday, Perrine failed to appear in Clark's courtroom for a scheduled jury trial in which the Philly lawyer was supposed to defend a man charged with aggravated assault and burglary. Perrine had called the court administrator to ask for a postponement but never filed a motion for continuance, according to Deputy District Attorney James P. Barker. Yesterday, Perrine was slated to go before Clark and explain why he missed Monday's court date. At 9 a.m., with Perrine nowhere in sight, Clark issued a bench warrant for his arrest, Barker said. When a winded and stressed Perrine arrived at the Dauphin County Courthouse about 9:30 a.m. after missing an earlier train from Philadelphia, sheriff's officers locked him up.
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Philadelphia Cops on Tape Beating Unarmed Black Men. For No Reason. WHY do Prosecutors Need Grand Jury?

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District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said today that the cases of the officers videotaped beating three shooting suspects would likely be handed over to a grand jury soon. She said it would be either a sitting grand jury or one that will be impaneled. Grand juries normally sit for 18 months and often hear multiple cases. Charles Ehrlich, chief of the municipal court unit of the Philadelphia District Attorneys' Office, said the case would go before a grand jury that is currently sitting. At a press conference called to announce an alternative treatment program, Abraham said: "I've pretty much decided that we will turn it over to a grand jury....We're going to give it to a grand jury to review the evidence." She added: "It will be given to a group of citizens with a diverse background to reach a conclusion." She promised there would be no rush to judgment. "We will do a full, thorough investigation," she said. As for Monday's firings, she said: "I can't comment on anything that anyone else does ... [the firings] have nothing to do with me. I'm not the commissioner. I'm not the mayor." [MORE]

Community Protests Southfield police Killing of Latino Man- 25 Yr. Old Shot Dead at Traffic Stop

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SOUTHFIELD -- More than 50 people, holding signs saying "Stop police brutality" and shouting "Justice for Arvin," gathered on the front lawn of the Southfield Civic Center on Wednesday to protest the fatal shooting of Arvin Hermiz by a police officer in September. "This was my son. I'm not going to let this go," said Joe Hermiz, wearing a picture of his son on his shirt as motorists driving by honked in support. "It was an egregious shooting that didn't have to happen. It's been hell on Earth living without him." The 25- year-old West Bloomfield man was killed during a traffic stop Sept. 27 in which police said he tried to run down an officer. The officer, who has been with the department since May 2005, was conducting a routine traffic stop on southbound Telegraph near 10 Mile. Arvin Hermiz, who according to police was stopped for traveling more than 10 miles over the speed limit and for an obstruction of his license plate, pulled into a parking lot with a single driveway. He circled his vehicle around and drove toward the officer, said Southfield Police Lt. Nick Loussia. In an effort to stop Hermiz from running him over and fleeing the scene, the officer fired at the vehicle, striking Hermiz, according to the police report.
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Training Day: Dirty LA Police Officer Sentenced for Civil Rights Violations - Sold Drugs, Robbed & Assaulted People

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The evidence at trial showed that the defendant and his co-defendants were members of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy, led by former Los Angeles police officer Ruben Palomares and including other law enforcement officers and drug dealers. Together, they committed more than 40 burglaries and robberies throughout the Los Angeles area between early 1999 and June of 2001. The robberies generally were committed after the group received information that a particular location was involved in illegal drug trafficking. The robbery teams usually consisted of multiple sworn police officers in uniform or displaying a badge, who would gain access to the residence by falsely telling any occupants that they were conducting a legitimate search for drugs or drug dealers. Victims often were restrained, threatened or assaulted during the search. These assaults included firing a stun gun at a victim, striking victims with police batons, and putting a gun in the mouth of a victim. When the group stole drugs, they would use co-conspirators to sell the drugs and they would split the profits among the group.
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Mentally Ill Black Man Shot & Killed by Long Beach Police: Family Plans Lawsuit

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Long Beach police won't ID officers in shooting
LONG BEACH The family of a terminally ill, mentally disabled man who was fatally shot during an altercation with Long Beach police officers said Tuesday they will sue the Police Department.  Roketi Su'e, 46, was killed Saturday in the 3400 block of 67th Way as he was walking home from a birthday party. Two officers responded to the area at 7 p.m. on reports of a man behaving erratically, according to Nancy Pratt of the Long Beach Police Department. Su'e resisted arrest, so officers used a Taser on him and struck him with batons, but he appeared unfazed, causing officers to think he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, she said. When Su'e tried to take one of the batons away from the officers, they shot him multiple times in the upper torso, she said. Family members said Su'e, who had a bipolar disorder and was dying of lung cancer, was unarmed and upset because he had had a fight with his girlfriend. Witnesses insist Su'e was unarmed and shot in the back as he lay face-down on the sidewalk.

"What happened was an assassination," his girlfriend, Kathryn Noleb said. "It wasn't help. It wasn't help for him. It wasn't help for the community. It's not help."  Billy Moses, who said he witnessed the shooting, said officers shot the man six times. "If you're going to shoot someone six times, wouldn't one bullet in the back be enough?" he said.
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Questions linger in Pittsburgh Police shooting of Justin Jackson

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The more information that comes out about the police shooting of 19-year-old Justin Jackson, the less straightforward events appear. If Jackson showed police his hands—holding a gun, as they said—then how did he shoot through his jacket as the medical examiner reported? And if, as the expanded report released May 14 indicates, the officers were just three feet away when they set Alf the police dog on Jackson—the report said he had bite marks—could they not have simply grabbed him instead of shooting him multiple times? Jackson’s father has yet another question: if the police dog had his son by the right arm, how did the right-handed young man shoot at officers and kill the dog? Potters House Ministries Bishop Otis Carswell, who eulogized Jackson at his May 12 funeral, may have an answer. As he told friends and mourners, Carswell repeated to the New Pittsburgh Courier that he “saw no gun.”
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Atlanta officer convicted in Coverup of Police Killing of 92 Year Old Black Woman

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ATLANTA — In a verdict that brought tears to both sides of an Atlanta courtroom Tuesday, a jury convicted a police officer of lying to cover up his role in the fatal shooting of a 92-year-old woman. Arthur Bruce Tesler, 42, is the only officer to face trial in the death of Kathryn Johnston, felled by a hail of bullets after plainclothes narcotics officers burst into her home in November 2006. He faces as many as five years in prison.  After deliberating more than three days, the state court jury acquitted Tesler of violating his oath of office and of false imprisonment under color of legal process. If convicted of all three charges, he could have faced as many as 20 years in prison. Unlike two officers who testified against him, he was on duty outside Johnston's house and never fired a shot.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, a community activist who represents Johnston's family, described the verdict as "bittersweet."
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NYPD seeks discipline for 7 officers in killing of Unarmed Black Man

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Seven police officers were hit with disciplinary charges Tuesday in the 50-shot slaying of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day — a case that has sparked protests and raised questions about police firepower. If found guilty at an internal trial, the officers — including three shooters acquitted last month at a criminal trial and their supervisor — could be fired. A union official said Tuesday that they would fight the allegations. Police officials described the move as procedural, citing administrative guidelines requiring them to bring charges against officers within 18 months of the incident. The New York Police Department could take "further administrative steps" once the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn completes a review of the case, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. Federal prosecutors have declined to discuss possible civil rights charges. Sean Bell, 23, died in a hail of 50 bullets on Nov. 25, 2006, around the corner from a Queens topless bar where he had just had a bachelor party and where undercover police were investigating complaints of prostitution. Two of his friends were seriously wounded.
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Philadelphia police to fire 4 over videotaped beating of Unarmed Black Men

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Philadelphia's police commissioner said Monday that four officers will be fired and four others disciplined for their roles in the beatings of three shooting suspects, an encounter that was captured on videotape and drew widespread outrage. Another eight officers who had physical contact with the suspects will undergo additional training on the department's policies concerning the use of force, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. He said the police department made the disciplinary decisions after reviewing frames from enhanced tape of a video shot by a television news helicopter on May 5. The video, shot by WTXF-TV, shows the suspects being pulled from their car on the side of the road and groups of officers kicking, punching and beating the men. A total of 19 officers — 18 city police and one transit officer — were involved. Two of the officers being fired are relatively new to the force and can be terminated immediately, Ramsey said. Two others are being suspended without pay for 30 days with intent to dismiss. Three other officers are being suspended and one sergeant is being demoted. A criminal investigation is continuing.
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"We are paying these Police to Beat us" - Philadelphia Police Change Story in Taped Beating of Black Men

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Although Internal Affairs investigators said they were making progress in identifying the Philadelphia police officers depicted in a news video kicking and beating three shooting suspects, the criminal probe of those three has developed its own problems. Yesterday's preliminary hearing for the three was aborted after the three victims they allegedly wounded on May 5 failed to appear for court. A judge issued bench warrants for their arrest. The missing witnesses were just the start of a tumultuous day in a case that has attracted international attention. By day's end: Police changed a key element in their original description of the shooting and car chase that followed. They now say that the shooter was one of the three suspects arrested and not a fourth man who is still a fugitive. Police also denied news reports that they now believe only the three suspects were involved. They insisted they are still seeking a fourth suspect who fled on foot.

The morning after it happened, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey explained it this way: "A car pulls up, four occupants get out.  They approach a group of males standing on the corner.  One of the individuals opens fire and strikes three individuals.  He takes off on foot running.  The other three individuals get in the car and take off."

Problem is, police now say there was no fourth man who fired the shots.  They say the gunman was Pete Hopkins, the suspect officers pulled from the front passenger seat. But his lawyer and his mother aren't buying it. "It's just a cover-up, we already know that.  That's what they gonna do to cover up. That's what they gonna do," said Shirley Hopkins, mother of Pete Hopkins. "The story's changed.  I wonder how many more times it's going to change," says Scott Perrine, Hopkins' lawyer.

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Deliberations to continue in cop trial: 92 Year Old Black Woman Killed by Atlanta Police in Drug Raid

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A jury deliberated Friday without deciding the fate of an Atlanta police officer accused of helping cover up a botched drug raid in which a 92-year-old woman was killed in her home. The jury, which also deliberated part of Thursday, will resume Monday. A judge denied multiple defense requests Friday for a mistrial. Arthur Tesler faces state charges of violation of oath by a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process. Tesler, who is on leave from the police force, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the three charges. Two other officers involved in the Nov. 21, 2006, raid on Kathryn Johnston's home, Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier, have pleaded guilty to state manslaughter and federal civil rights charges.The jury in the trial of Atlanta Police Det. Arthur Bruce Tesler went home Friday evening without reaching a verdict. They are scheduled to resume deliberations Monday morning.
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Lawyer wants federal probe in Kenny Lazo's Death

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A lawyer for the family of a Bay Shore man who died in police custody said Suffolk authorities can't be trusted to conduct a fair investigation of his death so federal officials should take over. "We are extremely concerned that this case ... will not be given the proper consideration that it might otherwise receive if police were not involved," Fred Brewington, of Hempstead, wrote in a letter to the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn requesting federal involvement. Brewington based his concerns on his experience dealing with Suffolk law enforcement authorities before and after Kenny Lazo, 24, died April 12 after he struggled with police following his arrest on drug charges.

The deaths of David Glowczenski, 35, who died in 2004 after Southampton police used pepper spray and a Taser on him, and John Cox, 39, of Ronkonkoma, who died in 2005 while Suffolk police tried to subdue him and used a Taser, didn't result in the deaths being reviewed by a grand jury, Brewington said. The Glowczenski and Cox cases are evidence that Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota's office is unlikely to let a grand jury examine Lazo's death or determine if police acted properly in Lazo's case, Brewington said.
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Witnesses: Chicago Police Planted Gun after Shooting Black Teen

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Relatives, witnesses and friends of a 19-year-old man shot and wounded by police on Mother's Day allege that a gun was planted on him after he was shot, according to an exclusive NBC5 News report.  "It was wrong for them to shoot him like that," the injured man's mother said. But prosecutors said Javara Gardner, charged with assaulting a police officer, was shot after he dropped a gun and tried to pick it up.  Gardner was pushing his 2-year-old son in a stroller when the shooting took place in an alley behind the 5800 block of South Damen, said witness James Edwards, who said he was with Gardner when the shooting occurred.  "He was pushing the stroller, then the police shot him two times in the back," Edwards said. Witness Diana Banks said a policewoman took a gun she found in a nearby yard and "put it by the boy's head." An unidentified friend of Gardner's claimed the gun was his and that he hid it in the yard when he saw police approaching. A spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, Mark Payne, said at the scene, "It is believed the adult male had the gun. That's what was reported, and we're investigating it." Contrary to the story presented by prosecutors, witnesses told NBC5's Marion Brooks that after shooting Gardner, police turned him over and kicked him several times, asking, "Where is the gun?" Gardner's sister, Michelle Gardner-Abernathy, said her younger brother got the news on Tuesday that he would never walk again. [MORE]
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Police brutality suit filed for Latino Teen Stomped & Beaten with Flashlights by Denver Police

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  • Read Complaint [HERE]

A police brutality lawsuit filed Thursday against the Denver Police Department on behalf of a 16-year-old contends five officers repeatedly punched and stomped him and he was hit with a flashlight so hard it broke. The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, states that Juan Guillermo Vasquez suffered severe internal injuries, including a lacerated liver, a ruptured spleen, severe bruising of the kidneys, contusions to the head and face and severe bruising of the ribs. Wednesday, Douglas Romero, a lawyer representing Vasquez, sent a letter to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper stating that litigation could be avoided with a $1.3 million settlement on behalf of Vasquez, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. The letter states Vasquez was "unfairly targeted and treated differently because of his Hispanic race." Andrew O'Connor, a former public defender from New Mexico assisting the family in the litigation, said Vasquez is recovering and still has a drainage tube in his back.

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Controversy surrounds Mt. Oliver police shooting of Black Man: Police Approached because 'he had hands in his pocket'

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As relatives and friends gathered to lay 19-year-old Justin Jackson to rest, several questions surrounding the accounts of how city police officers came to fatally shoot the young man one week earlier remained unanswered. But then the question of what this young man, who his father said was “trying to turn his life around,” was doing with a gun in his possession, clouds the issue of excessive force by police. Within hours of the May 6 early evening shooting in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Oliver neighborhood, city police Chief Nate Harper said two officers—one a canine officer, saw Jackson walking down Arlington Avenue with his hand “under his jacket.” When asked to take his “hand from his pocket,” Jackson revealed a .357-caliber pistol. The canine officer, since identified as eight-year veteran Chris Sciulli, released the dog, which Jackson fatally shot before he and the officers exchanged several more shots. Jackson was struck in the head and torso and died at the scene. Two days later, police amplified the official account, saying Jackson shot at the officers first. No one noticed the dog had been hit until the shooting ended. The officers were responding to a report of shots being fired when they encountered Jackson. But some are asking, if being a young Black man with hands in pockets a block from where shots were reportedly fired constitutes probable cause for a search?
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Family Seeks $207M in Death Suit of Black Teen at Juvenile Facility , $1M Per Minute of Suffering

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The family of an East Baltimore teen who died in 2007 at a school for juvenile offenders while counselors attempted to restrain him have filed a wrongful-death suit seeking $207 million. The figure represents $1 million for every minute that Isaiah Simmons III, 17, allegedly suffered while counselors at Bowling Brook Preparatory School held him face-down for about three hours. In a news conference covered by the Baltimore Sun, the family's attorney, Steven H. Heisler, said the restraint violated protocol and caused a "slow, agonizing and excruciating death." The suit also asks for an additional $207 million in punitive damages. Several of the counselors involved were charged last year with reckless endangerment, but the charges were tossed by a judge. One of the accusations was that the counselors waited 41 minutes to call 911 even though Simmons was unresponsive, the Sun reports. Prosecutors are appealing the dismissal of charges.

"We are paying these Police to Beat us" - Philadelphia Police Change Story in Taped Beating of Black Men

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Although Internal Affairs investigators said they were making progress in identifying the Philadelphia police officers depicted in a news video kicking and beating three shooting suspects, the criminal probe of those three has developed its own problems. Yesterday's preliminary hearing for the three was aborted after the three victims they allegedly wounded on May 5 failed to appear for court. A judge issued bench warrants for their arrest. The missing witnesses were just the start of a tumultuous day in a case that has attracted international attention. By day's end: Police changed a key element in their original description of the shooting and car chase that followed. They now say that the shooter was one of the three suspects arrested and not a fourth man who is still a fugitive. Police also denied news reports that they now believe only the three suspects were involved. They insisted they are still seeking a fourth suspect who fled on foot. The morning after it happened, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey explained it this way: "A car pulls up, four occupants get out.  They approach a group of males standing on the corner.  One of the individuals opens fire and strikes three individuals.  He takes off on foot running.  The other three individuals get in the car and take off."

Problem is, police now say there was no fourth man who fired the shots.  They say the gunman was Pete Hopkins, the suspect officers pulled from the front passenger seat. But his lawyer and his mother aren't buying it. "It's just a cover-up, we already know that.  That's what they gonna do to cover up. That's what they gonna do," said Shirley Hopkins, mother of Pete Hopkins. "The story's changed.  I wonder how many more times it's going to change," says Scott Perrine, Hopkins' lawyer. [MORE]

Inglewood Police Gun Down Unarmed Black Man

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In what the Inglewood and surrounding African American communities are calling senseless -- another unarmed Black man, 19 year-old Michael Byoune, was shot and killed by an Inglewood Police Department (IPD) officer in the early morning hours this week. The fatal shooting of Byoune occurred on May 11 at approximately 1:40 a.m., according to policel reports. Now the questions ricocheting throughout the community is,” Why do some police officers shoot and kill innocent, unarmed Black men?” Concerned citizens are also pondering what scenario will Inglewood Police Department create in the wake of an unjustified killing? What alternative courses of action may the officers have employed to avoid shooting to kill? Why did they ‘fear for their safety’ when the victim had no weapon, why will the police killer probably go unpunished, and what happens when the police accidentally kill the wrong person?
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Mayor Bloomberg tells Congressional Members Police Brutality is Our Problem not Yours

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg reminded a group of congressional representatives yesterday that the city's police department is his concern, not theirs, as the House Judiciary Committee considers nationwide policing reforms in response to the shooting death of Sean Bell.  "We are going to run our police department, and Congress is not going to run our police department," Bloomberg said after an unrelated news conference in the Bronx. "This is a police department that works and doesn't exactly need more oversight." Bloomberg's remarks came after the committee held a public forum Monday in lower Manhattan on police accountability. "Rather than say we are going to run the police department, he ought to be looking at the fact that there is room for improvement," the Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday. "He should be concerned that Congress is concerned." At the forum, Sharpton proposed ending federal funding to the New York Police Department until what he called a history of police abuse is rectified. In a response, Bloomberg said U.S. contributions to the department are meager and wouldn't be much of a sacrifice. "We don't get that much money from the federal government," he said. "We keep asking them for more. We keep asking Homeland Security for more and they keep giving it out as pork."
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NAACP Wants Independent Probe into Frederick County Police Taser Death of Black Man

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A call for a federal investigation by the family of a Frederick man who was tasered by law enforcement and later died.  This is days after a grand jury cleared the sheriff's deputy of wrongdoing.  Dennis Edwards has more on who's upset and why. A Frederick County grand jury found Cpl. Rudy Torres justified in his use of a taser twice on 20-year-old Jarel Gray, but a separate NAACP investigation produced witnesses that say there was an ongoing dispute between Gray and Torres and that he posed no threat when Torres tasered him a second time. "It hurts.  It really hurts.  You know, he was young and it's just like I lost a part of me and nobody seems to understand this," said Anna Thomas, Jarel's grandmother. Gray's family and the NAACP want the FBI and the Maryland attorney general's office to do an independent investigation.  At an NAACP news conference, Frederick County's state's attorney faced tough questions about the grand jury and the county's use of a weapon that's claimed more than 200 lives nationally.
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