Michigan Deputy Who Ignored Jail Rape of Mentally Ill Man Won't Get Immunity

/
A former inmate who was raped in a Michigan jail can sue one of the corrections officers for civil rights abuses, the 6th Circuit ruled, finding that the deputy does not qualify for immunity because he acted with "deliberate indifference."
     When Russell A. Bishop was 19 years old, he spent about a month in Macomb County Jail on charges of assault with intent to murder. Bishop had a history of mental illness, and his temporary cell assignment form noted that he was of small build.
     "The form also stated that Bishop was unable to understand questions; exhibited angry or hostile and bizarre behavior; and appeared anxious or afraid, depressed, confused, and unusually embarrassed," according to the ruling. 
     While assigned to the jail's mental health unit, corrections officers housed him with another inmate, Charlie Floyd, a 44-year-old who had been charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct.
     For the last 10 days of Bishop's stay in the jail, the inmates were separated by a protective order. 
     Bishop filed suit nearly three years later against several jail employees who he claims did nothing to stop Floyd from sexually abusing him even after he reported repeated assaults. 
Read More

Fort Wayne (TX) Police on trial - Suicidal Latino Man Killed by Police

/

More than five years ago, Fort Wayne police forcefully entered Rudy Escobedo's downtown apartment. Within seconds, he was dead.

After years of legal proceedings, a U.S. District Court jury will decide whether the officers acted with excessive force. The two-week trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Escobedo's family sued a number of Fort Wayne Police Department officers and the city of Fort Wayne. They alleged police violated Escobedo's constitutional rights by using excessive force and causing his death.

What is left for the jury to decide is whether individual officers – Fort Wayne Police Deputy Chief Martin Bender, Deputy Chief Douglas Lucker, Lt. Kevin Zelt, Sgt. Kevin Hunter, Sgt. Tim Selvia, officer Scott Straub, officer Jason Brown and officer Brian Martin – violated Escobedo's constitutional rights by acting with excessive force.

Read More

Cleveland Police Beat Restrained Black Man - Police Hold Video

/

CLEVELAND -- Edward Henderson said he was handcuffed when Cleveland police beat him brutally, forcing him to be hospitalized for three days.

 "Some of the officers may have exhibited some inappropriate conduct that, if proven true, are severe consequences for that kind of action," Cleveland Safety Director Martin Flask said. Flask confirmed that a police internal investigation is underway into the Jan. 1 incident.

Henderson spoke exclusively with the Investigator Tom Meyer inside the Cuyahoga County jail where's he's being held on charges of assault and refusal to obey a police order.

He said as many as three officers were delivering blows to his head, using their knees. In a desperate attempt to make them stop, he made up a story about being HIV positive.

He says an officer called him a derogatory gay name and another cautioned fellow cops about Henderson's blood. "This officer stated, and I'll never forget it. He said, 'I don't care. It's tasty,' and he was talking about my blood," Henderson said.

Read More

Congressman Al Green to weigh in on Houston Police Beating of Unarmed Black Teen

/
The congressman for the Texas district where police officers were allegedly caught on tape beating a young burglary suspect is set to weigh in on the controversial arrest.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) will host a press conference Monday in Houston to discuss the officers' conduct during the incident.  Green's public statement comes in response to the arrest of Chad Holley, a black 15-year-old who was a suspect in a home burglary case. In making the arrest last March, a surveillance camera caught the officers kicking Holley after he had effectively surrendered.

Holley was later convicted of burglary.

The tape of the alleged beating, which a federal judge ordered not to be released to the public, was leaked by a member of the New Black Panthers party last week, according to CBS News. It aired last Wednesday.

Green, a former president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP, is an outspoken critic of racial profiling in law enforcement.
Read More

SC Deputy Found Guilty for Beating Handcuffed Black Prisoner

/

From [HERE] and [See Video Here] Prosecutors in the case against a former Kershaw County sheriff’s deputy said Thursday afternoon that they were not nervous as jury deliberations dragged into a second day.

 In the end, the prosecutors won a conviction against Oddie Tribble, 51, on a federal civil rights charge for beating a handcuffed detainee. After the verdict, Beth Drake, an assistant U.S. attorney in Columbia, said the jury needed time to review a video of the beating and match it with witness testimony. Plus, it is a hard decision to convict a police officer, she said.

 “It’s never a good day when a law enforcement officer is convicted of a civil rights violation,” Drake said.

 Tribble faces a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for violating a detainee’s right to be free from excessive force by a law enforcement officer. His sentencing has been scheduled for May 12 in U.S. District Court in Columbia.

Read More

Quanell X Applauds Release of Video, Denounces Houston Police

/

From [HERE] [see video HERE] HOUSTON -- Prosecutors and Houston Mayor Annise Parker on Thursday criticized a community activist's release of a surveillance video that appears to show four former city police officers kicking and stomping a black teenage burglary suspect last year, saying it could jeopardize the cases against the officers.

But leaders in Houston's black community applauded the release of what they called the "appalling" and "outrageous" actions of "rogue officers."

"This never, ever should have been kept from the people," said Quanell X, the community activist who released the video to Houston television station KTRK, which aired it Wednesday evening. "What's on that tape, the world will get a chance to see now how they truly behave in public with young black men."

Quanell X released the video despite a court order by a federal judge in October that had barred its release before the officers' trials. The order was related to a federal lawsuit the teenager, Chad Holley, has filed in which he alleges that his civil rights were violated during his arrest. A court order in the criminal cases involving the indicted officers had also barred the video's release before trial.

Read More

Civil Trial Continues Against Monroe Police - Mentally Ill Black Man Shot 29 Times

/

 

This week in court the details of Mr. Henderson’s death were generally undisputed:

A passerby reported seeing a man walking the street carrying a chain and a knife. When police arrived they found Henderson walking across a field toward an alley. The police yelled at him to put down the knife repeatedly, almost 30 times. Henderson continued walking, spouting vulgarities saying police could not shoot him because they could not see him.

An officer came close to Henderson and shot him in the face with pepper balls but he continued walking away from the police. Then he was shot with a bean bag. Shortly after Henderson made a half turn in the direction of police who were nearly 30 feet or more away from him, a volley of gunfire hit, knocked him against a fence and bounced him back. On the bounceback, a second volley of shots hit him, knocking him to ground where he lay unattended.

When the smoke cleared, 29 shots had been fired; 17 hit Henderson the other 12 went into the house of a neighbor, miraculously missing scores of people who watched the incident from their yards.

Read More

No Justice: Cop who Tortured Hundreds of Black Men Gets Light Sentence

/

CHICAGO (From the FinalCall.com) - After evading justice for over three decades, former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge was sentenced by a federal judge Jan. 21 to 4 1/2 years in prison for obstruction of justice and perjury.

Many victims have publicly shared harrowing stories of torture at the hands of Mr. Burge and his henchmen. Many experience recurring nightmares and live in constant fear of retaliation from members of the Chicago Police Department. Tragically, while spending time behind bars wrongfully imprisoned, many of the men lost family members and believe despite the sentencing, justice has eluded them.

“By no means is this justice,” Darrell Cannon told The Final Call. “What about all those brothers still languishing in prison? You can’t bring my mother back.”

Mr. Cannon remembers vividly the night of November 2, 1983, when he was taken by police to a remote location and a shotgun was forced into his mouth, splitting his lip. He said the offi cers beat him, simulated his execution, tried to hang him and later used an electric cattle prod to shock his genitals.

Read More

Lawsuit says New Orleans Sheriff Marlin Gusman holds immigrants too long

/

Members of the Congress of Day Laborers on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman in U.S. District Court, alleging he holds immigrants for far longer than the 48 hours permitted by federal law after all charges are resolved.

On Wednesday afternoon, the group began a 24-hour prayer vigil in front of Gusman's office "to demand an end to the racial profiling and race-based deportation."

Gusman's spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

At the request of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, local authorities may hold defendants on an immigration detainer for 48 hours, not counting weekends and holidays. If ICE agents don't pick up a prisoner within that time frame, then, by law, local authorities must release them.

The suit was filed on behalf of two plaintiffs: Antonio Ocampo, who was held for 91 days, and Mario Cacho, who was held for 164 days.

Read More

Richmond Police drop demand for CopWatch to Return Documents

/

The Richmond Police Department is dropping its demand for the return of dozens of internal documents it provided to a group called Richmond Copwatch, a week after filing suit in Richmond Circuit Court seeking an emergency protective order.

The 600 pages of documents were supplied last month, at a cost of $89.25, after a Freedom of Information Act request by an anarchist who uses the name "Mo Karn," short for "Mo Karnage."

Richmond police turned over materials such as their Emergency Operations Plan, the Homeland Security Criminal Intelligence Unit Operating Manual and the Mobile Command Center Operating Manual.

Karn then put them online.

Read More

ACLU Accuses VA State Police of Destroying Homeless Encampment

/

RICHMOND, Va. -- The ACLU of Virginia has filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the Virginia Department of Transportation seeking information about the destruction of an encampment of homeless men along an interstate highway.

Virginia State Police say the homeless men were given proper notice that they were trespassing on state-owned property and their belongings would be seized if they did not move.

According to the ACLU, a company under contract with VDOT destroyed a homeless encampment along Interstate 81 at Exit 315 near Winchester.  At least four homeless men had been using the property for months when road maintenance crews demolished the encampment.

 

Read More

Video Shows Houston Police Beating Black Teen: Unarmed, Not Resisting Arrest

/

[see video HERE] Houston police officers beat, kick and stomp on a teen burglary suspect last year in a surveillance video that was released publicly Wednesday night.

The footage, which aired on KTRK-TV (Channel 13), shows Chad Holley, then 15, running away from police before he is clipped by a Houston Police Department cruiser as it hits a chain-link fence. The boy then falls to the ground, rolls on the grass, flips onto his stomach and clamps his hands behind his head. Within seconds, a half- dozen officers appear to attack him forcefully with their fists and feet. After another series of blows, a handcuffed Holley appears to lift himself up as he is led to lean over the back of a police car. The teen, then a sophomore at Elsik High School, was ultimately booked on a burglary charge.

The video was recorded by a surveillance camera around 4 p.m. on March 24, 2010, at Uncle Bob's Self-Storage at 8450 Cook near Beechnut. The footage offers more than one viewing angle and was forwarded to HPD and the district attorney by the business within a week of the incident.

Read More

Family seeks $20M for Latino Man Shot in the Back of the Head by Santa Ana Police

/

In the lawsuit, attorneys for Ramirez's family say he was cooperating with police and was standing with his hands up when an officer approached him from behind and shot him in the back of his head.

The officers then "created a blatantly false story" that Ramirez had a knife, the suit says.

Dana Douglas, an attorney representing the family, said investigators hired by her law firm had spoken to a witness to the shooting, someone who lives in an apartment nearby, who said Ramirez had his hands up.

However, people in the neighborhood are afraid to speak up, and "we're not confident" that the witness will testify in court, said James Rumm, another attorney representing the family.

Read More

Parents sue Winslow Police (PA) - Officers Beat Black Man to Death in front of Convenience Store

/

Winslow Officer Sean Richards, a 12-year veteran, was on his way into the Wawa for hot chocolate when he passed Briscoe, 36, and told him he could not remain in front of the business smoking a cigarette and drinking his soda.

Richards told authorities he heard Briscoe ask a passerby for money, but Briscoe's family has insisted that he was always given the money he needed and had no reason to panhandle.

On his way out of the Wawa, Richards confronted Briscoe a second time and attempted to arrest him when Briscoe refused to leave, be handcuffed, or get into Richards' cruiser.

According to the lawsuit, the situation quickly escalated as the Wawa manager ran to assist the officer and held Briscoe's legs while two customers also jumped in to help. All are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

"As Briscoe was lying facedown in the rain, Richards was pressing one knee into the back of Briscoe's head and the other knee into Briscoe's shoulder," the lawsuit said. Other officers responded as well, some coming from nearby Pine Hill and Berlin.

The lawsuit alleges that several officers held Briscoe down, collectively using excessive force as he lay in the prone position.

Read More

Closing Arguments Begin In Oddie Tribble Trial: SC Deputy Left Handcuffed Prisoner with Broken Leg

/

Former Kershaw County Sheriff's deputy Oddie Tribble spent nearly two hours on the witness stand in federal court Tuesday morning as he explained why he needed to use his metal police baton on a handcuffed detainee.

Charles Shelley, the inmate whose Aug. 5 beating was captured on security cameras installed at the Kershaw County Detention Center, was using foul language as he threatened Tribble and his family, Tribble said. Shelley made the threats during the nearly 10-minute ride to the detention center, he said.

And, Shelley refused to obey commands given to him by Tribble once they arrived at the jail, Tribble said.

"I had directed Mr. Shelley to come down off the van," Tribble said. "Once he jumped off the van he jumped in my face and said, 'What?' At which time, he jerked away and said get the (expletive omitted) up off of me."

That is when Tribble said he felt the need to use his baton.

"He was non-compliant," Tribble said.

However, Tribble became tripped up on his story during an intense cross examination by Tara McGregor, a special assistant U.S. attorney from the National Advocacy Center in Columbia. McGregor introduced three previous statements given by Tribble during last summer's investigation of the beating.

Read More

Jesse Jackson Looks To Block Pension Of Cop Who Tortured Black Men

/

From [HERE]

Chicago — Last week, Chicago’s Police Board voted to allow convicted police lieutenant Jon Burge to keep his $3,000-a-month pension. But one civil rights leader plans to fight that ruling tooth and nail.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the elder statesmen of the civil rights movement and a major political force in the city and nation-wide, has announced his plans to file a lawsuit to keep Burge from receiving his pension, according to CBS.

As Jackson points out, state law says that pensions are not to be paid to any official “convicted of any felony relating to or arising out of or in connection with service.”

Burge is believed to have tortured and overseen the torture of dozens, if not hundreds, of suspects during his time as the commander at Area 2, in an attempt to extract confessions. He has become a notorious figure in the city’s battle with police brutality, as many of his former victims have been exonerated by DNA evidence and have told stories of his and his subordinates’ abuse. 

Denver Police Beat Handcuffed Black College Student

/

An African American college student accuses three Denver police officers of beating him bloody and using racial slurs during a January 2009 traffic stop, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

 The lawsuit accuses the officers of stopping 19-year-old Alexander Landau after midnight on Jan. 15, 2009, for making an illegal turn, then calling him the N-word and beating his face and head with their fists, a radio and a flashlight until he was unconscious, according to the lawsuit first reported Wednesday on Westword.com.

 The lawsuit contains photographs of Landau just after the incident with a blood-covered face and a swollen eye, wearing a neck brace.

Landau, a student at Community College of Denver, was treated at the hospital for a broken nose, brain bleeding, a concussion, a hemorrhage in his right eye and head lacerations that required several dozen stitches, the lawsuit said.

Read More

Family of Black College Football Star Shot by Mount Pleasant (NY) Police File Lawsuit

/

Three months after a college football player in New York was shot and killed by police during an altercation outside a bar, his family said today they intend to take the first steps towards filing a wrongful death suit against police. "All we're looking for is the absolute truth," Danroy Henry Jr.'s mother, Angella Henry, said on "Good Morning America."

Henry, a 20-year-old student at Pace University, was killed in October as he sat in his car with his friends after a night out celebrating a homecoming game in suburban Thornwood, N.Y.

There are differing accounts of what happened. Police say they were responding to an unruly crowd outside a bar, and when officers approached Henry's car parked in a fire lane, and knocked on the window, the college student tried to speed away and struck an officer. Police say a second officer, Aaron Hess of the Mount Pleasant police department which responded to the disturbance, was thrown onto the hood of Henry's car. Police say Hess then fired in self-defense.

Several eyewitnesses say the police overreacted and that Henry was trying to move his car out of the fire lane when the police opened fire.

Read More

Jury Awards $1.7 million in fatal LAPD Shooting of Autistic Arabic Man

/

A federal jury Wednesday awarded $1.7 million to the parents of an autistic man killed by a Los Angeles police officer.

Joseph Cruz, who was later fired from the LAPD for dishonesty in an unrelated case, killed Mohammad Usman Chaudhry early on a March morning in 2008. Cruz and his partner had encountered the 21-year-old man laying in the bushes alongside a Hollywood apartment building. Cruz has insisted that Chaudhry tried to attack him with a knife and that he fired his gun in self-defense.

Chaudhry's parents filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court. Lawyers for the family presented evidence that called into question Cruz's account of the shooting. DNA testing on the knife Cruz claimed that Chaudhry used, for example, showed no evidence he had handled the weapon. On Monday, the jury found unanimously that the ex-officer had used excessive force and acted in "a reckless, oppressive or malicious manner."

Read More

Justice Department investigates ACLU's call for federal oversight of Newark police

/

The U.S. Department of Justice is actively investigating the American Civil Liberties Union’s call for federal oversight of the Newark Police Department, talking with law enforcement and civic leaders and seeking details of police abuse allegations.

A city councilman, three civil rights leaders, the presidents of Newark’s police unions and a defense attorney who often represents officers accused of misconduct all said they have been approached by federal officials since October.

The probe has focused largely on excessive force complaints and the department’s internal affairs bureau, according to those involved. They said investigators also asked to speak with victims of alleged abuse and requested union documents.

Last month, investigators told Newark’s Fraternal Order of Police they might begin interviewing officers, said Derrick Hatcher, the union president. A federal attorney described the agency’s actions as a "preliminary investigation," Hatcher said.

The Department of Justice has not made any announcements and declined to comment on the probe. But the string of interviews and meetings suggest federal officials are considering the ACLU’s push for oversight of the 1,098-member police department, the state’s largest.

Read More