Officer Asher drove away from the court in a white sedan with a broad smile, a cigar in his mouth and giving thumbs-ups to a half-dozen protesters who stood outside the building holding signs that read: "Asher is guilty" and "Stop police brutality

From [HERE] CHICOPEE - Dogged by a clutch of civil rights protesters, retired Springfield police officer Jeffrey Asher appeared in court on Friday, though a judge declined to set a trial date.

Asher was charged in connection with the alleged 2009 beating of a motorist during a traffic stop. Asher was caught on amateur videotape [HERE] stomping and beating Melvin Jones III with a police flashlight on the hood of a car during an arrest on Rifle Street. Jones was beaten unconscious, sustained broken facial bones, nose, teeth, and was at least partially blinded in one eye. Jones claims that he was struck at least 15 times with the flashlight. Officers also allegedly called him nigger during the assault. He was pulled over by police for having a faulty muffler. [MORE] 

Jones and his lawyers contend Jones was unconscious for most of the alleged beating, while Asher and his lawyer have argued he used necessary force to subdue Jones, who made a grab for an officer's gun during a struggle. A witness told the FBI he saw Jones slump to the ground after the first couple of blows. [MORE] and [MORE] 

The story agreed upon by both sides is that L.S. was leaving a liquor store with an unidentified person when Officer Alan Leal and his partner say they saw him stuffing what they thought were drugs into his mouth. When the officers approached, L.S. ran on foot, throwing into the street a gun he had been carrying.

As the teen ran through a nearby backyard, he and Leal crossed paths and Leal confronted him. Police said at the time of the shooting that Leal ordered the boy to stop several times and then, when the boy reached for his waistband, Leal thought he was grabbing a second gun and fired on him.

However, Pointer said the boy had turned to run when he was shot in the back of the neck. Further, Pointer said, not only did toxicology reports prove he had consumed no drugs -- and was probably just eating a snack from the store -- but no weapons or drugs were found on his body at all after he was shot.

"Essentially, it was a kill shot," Pointer said. "He nearly lost his life. In the course of trying to keep him alive, doctors had to have his sternum, his chest bone, taken out of his chest.

"Now you have a guy, the rest of his life he cannot participate in any type of contact sports. He can't pick up heavy things, things you and I would take for granted. I'm lugging around a heavy briefcase today. He can't do that."

Police Chief Nate Harper: "There is no question that Mr. Jordan Miles sustained physical injuries, but there is no evidence to show it was the result of wrongful conduct by the officers."

Jordan Miles, 18, a former student at the city's Creative and Performing Arts high school, said he was brutally attacked by three undercover white police officers on a cold night in January as he walked between his mother's and grandmother's houses in Homewood.

The officers said they confronted Mr. Miles because he appeared to be "sneaking around" a house in the 7900 block of Tioga Street, with a heavy object in his coat that they thought was a concealed weapon. When he was approached by the officers he ran away, but the officers soon caught up with him and beat him into submission by delivering violent blows that left his face swollen and distorted. Police also used a stun gun and pulled out a chunk of his hair. He is  5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed.

They charged him with a string of frivilous crimes that a district judge later dismissed.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office, the Civil Rights Division and the FBI, working together, conducted an exhaustive review of the incident, which included interviews of more than 40 witnesses, some on multiple occasions, visits to the scene and careful review of all police reports, medical records, photographs, laboratory reports, cell phone records and other documentation related to the incident," the Justice Department wrote in a statement. "After a lengthy, independent, and thorough review consuming hundreds of hours of agent and prosecutor time, federal officials determined that the evidence was insufficient to prove a federal civil rights violation, beyond a reasonable doubt, against any of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers."

From [HERE] and  [HERE] DENVER - A Black man left bloodied by Denver police officers two years ago after a routine traffic stop was given a $795,000 settlement by the City Council on Monday. It is among the largest payouts in city history to resolve a police-brutality case.

Alexander Landau sued the city in federal court, saying three police officers tried to cover up a Jan. 19, 2009, beating that left Landau scarred and suffering "persisting neurological damage." The officers hit Landau with their fists, flashlights and a radio, and called him nigger, according to the suit. Two of the three officers in the suit were recently fired for lying on reports concerning other violent incidents.

The council unanimously approved the payout. The department's Internal Affairs Bureau originally reviewed the case but refused to begin a formal investigation.The city has reopened an internal-affairs investigation into the case.  Landau's suit includes graphic photos of the bloodied and beaten then-19-year-old college student. [HERE]  

Vidal said "chances were good we would lose this case in court."

From [HERE] SEATTLE (AP) – The city of Seattle said April 29 it is paying $1.5 million to the family of a homeless woodcarver who was shot by a police officer last summer, a killing that helped prompt a top-to-bottom federal review of the city's police department.

Officer Ian Birk shot John T. Williams last August after the Native American woodcarver crossed the street in front of Birk's patrol car while holding a piece of wood and a small knife. Birk later maintained Williams had threatened him, but the department's firearms review board ruled the shooting unjustified, and Birk resigned.

Birk said he shot Williams after he refused to obey his commands to put down a knife. But dash cam footage of the incident showed Birk gave Williams just seven seconds to react before opening fire. During an inquest into Williams' death, Birk claimed Williams lunged at him with the knife. But a photo taken at the scene showed Williams' carving knife was in the closed position.

Along with other incidents of force used against minorities, Williams' killing prompted the Justice Department to announce last month that it would launch a formal civil rights investigation of the police department, to determine whether Seattle police have a “pattern or practice” of violating civil rights or discriminatory policing, and if so, what they should do to improve.

From [HERE] and [MORE] The New Orleans Police Department has fired a lieutenant who was a government witness in the case against other current or former officers charged in a deadly shooting after Hurricane Katrina.

Glover was fatally shot by an NOPD officer days after Hurricane Katrina. Officer Gregory McRae then set fire to the car containing Glover's body, incinerating the remains on the batture of the Mississippi River levee in Algiers. After he was granted immunity, Lt. Joseph Meisch testified that he saw Officer McRae, laughing after he burned the body of 31-year-old Henry Glover. Meisch didn't report it to a superior, file a report, notify anyone or otherwise show any human concern for what he had witnessed. 

A jury convicted a former officer, David Warren, of shooting Glover less than a week after the 2005 storm. McRae was convicted of burning his body, while former Lt. Travis McCabe was found guilty of writing a false report on the shooting.

In the jail on the night of Sept. 7, 2009, in response to Downes’ loud complaints about the televisions being turned off in the unit, several deputies began transferring him to an administrative segregation cell. The Sheriff’s Department said Downes had become verbally disruptive and resisted the move.

Geri Green, the attorney for Downes’ family, alleged in the lawsuit that Downes had been complaining he could not breathe as deputies used forceful restraint procedures that involved placing their weight on his back and neck. Downes stood 6 feet tall and weighed more than 300 pounds.

A short time after being placed face-down in the safety cell, Downes was found to have stopped breathing.

"Mr. Downes, while handcuffed and shackled, died as a result of being asphyxiated by Sheriff’s deputies employing excessive force as well as illegal and unconstitutional restraint procedures," the lawsuit alleged.

From [HERE] and [MORE] A Tuesday autopsy confirmed that a Eutawville man killed in what's been described as an officer-involved shooting died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Bernard Bailey, 54, was shot twice in the chest and once in the shoulder, according to Orangeburg County Coroner Samuetta Marshall. Residents said that Bailey came to the town hall to pay a water bill and to inquire about a traffic ticket that his daughter had gotten. They say after that, the deadly shots rang out.

An eyewitness claims to have seen the reverse lights on Bailey’s Chevrolet truck come on. The witnesses said when the officer reached the truck, a struggle ensued at the driver’s side door. Apparently, Bailey got out of the car and a confrontation ensued. All indications are that Bailey was unarmed.  

“For you to walk out of your place and follow a man and shot him in the back three times like a dog, like he don’t belong to nobody, and then you outside drinking coffee like you didn’t do anything wrong? Something is wrong with you,” Hamilton said.

From [HERE] A celebrity-enhanced ACLU delegation criticised Puerto Rico's government on Tuesday for using police to keep the island's main university system open during a strike over a new fee, with members saying they found clear evidence in which officers abused students during the protests.

The delegation, which included Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez and former major league baseball player Carlos Delgado, said the initial findings of a fact-finding mission found a pattern of excessive police force over the past 18 months involving students, union leaders and journalists.

Their final report, which will be presented to the US Justice Department, is expected by September.

From [HERE] Mt. Pleasant Police Officer Hess fired at Mr. Henry’s car as he drove away from a disturbance that spilled out of a bar in Thornwood after Pace’s homecoming game. Officer Hess was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a grand jury. 

Sometime after 1 a.m., a police officer from the nearby village of Pleasantville noticed an unruly crowd in the parking lot outside of Finnegan’s Grill and requested help from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, according to a statement released by the Mount Pleasant police. As officers arrived and tried to subdue the crowd, one of the officers approached Mr. Henry's car that was parked in the fire lane. 

At a press conference today, Mr. Cox's father said that 'a police officer had asked Henry to move his car. As he drove away a police officer jumped in front of the car with his weapon drawn and pointed at the car and then started shooting into the car. Then the officer jumped onto the car and fired more shots through the windshield.' 

"When you think about it this is America. That kind of thing shouldn't happen here. And to handcuff DJ, after he's been shot. And to lay him on the ground face down without giving him any medical treatment. And to be left there like some while wounded animal. On the side of the road. Without medical attention. That just shouldn't happen. That shouldn't happen. I was shocked DJ was shocked. His last words to Brandon were -they shot me they shot me they shot."

Miami Police Killed 7 Black Men Over an 8 Month Period. [MORE]

From [HERE] and [HERE] A Miami commissioner said an e-mail sent by a Miami Police officer is "racist" and "unacceptable." Commissioner Richard Dunn received an e-mail of an altered photo of 24-year-old Durrall Miller. 

Miami Police sergeant and Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Javier Ortiz admitted to doctoring the photo. In the photo, Miller’s eyes were colored blood-red and his teeth were made cartoonish and jagged.

Miller is a Black man who was shot and killed in Miami Gardens by Miami-Dade police two weeks ago after police said he answered the door and threatened them with an AK-47. The shooting ended a four-day manhunt for the man alleged to have shot a police officer in the foot during a standoff in south Miami-Dade. CommissionerDunn said it is “the most racist thing I’ve seen in my life. Ortiz said the picture was intended for the view of union membership, not for public consumption.

Lawrence Police Has a History of Brutality Against Latinos  [MORE] 

LAWRENCE — Two weeks before the federal trial is scheduled, former Mayor Michael Sullivan was dropped as a defendant in a brutality lawsuit involving fired Lawrence police officer Kyle Wilcox (left). Eusebio Alicea sued Sullivan, Police Chief John Romero, the police department and the city after his Jan. 6, 2007 arrest in South Lawrence.

Alicea alleges Wilcox beat him wearing "special metal-knuckled gloves" and that the officer, in a "malicious and sadistic" manner, used hot water to wash pepper spray out of Alicea's eyes after his arrest.

Wilcox was "convicted of criminal assault and battery of two other detainees three weeks prior to the alleged assault" on Alicea, Stearns noted. Wilcox was also named in "numerous civilian complaints and lawsuits alleging the excessive use of force" against Latinos and the chief is also responsible for overseeing the department's use of force policy, Stearns added in his decision.

Wilcox was fired in 2007 for use of excessive force and convicted a year later of beating two Lawrence brothers while they were in Lawrence police custody. Stearns, in his decision, noted Wilcox is also named in four other pending brutality cases against the city.

From [HERE] NEW YORK - A delegation led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), will travel to Puerto Rico next week to hear testimony on the civil liberties violations carried out against students, very little of which has been reported in the media in the United States.

Anthony Romero, director of the ACLU in New York, told this newspaper that the purpose of the visit is to "understand better what is happening in Puerto Rico, whether there were violations of fundamental human rights against the right to demonstrate, to express yourself as you want and police abuse. These are some of the issues we care about. "

The delegation, which will remain for two days on the island, consists of popular actress Rosie Perez, former baseball player Carlos Delgado, Juan Cartagena, director of the Latino Justice PRLDEF, Angelo Falcón of the National Institute for Latino Policy, and businessman Sam McVity.

From [HERE] DENVER -- 7NEWS has learned the city of Denver may settle with a Black man who is suing over police brutality. If the Denver City Council approves the settlement, the victim, Alexander Landau, could be awarded $795,000.

The original lawsuit accused the officers of stopping Landau, 19, after midnight on Jan. 15, 2009, for making an illegal turn, then calling him "nigger" and beating his face and head with their fists, a radio and a flashlight until he was unconscious.

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 conflict erupted when Officer Nixon moved to search the trunk.  Landau asked if police had a search warrant as he "stepped toward the officers with his hands deferentially raised in the air, showing that he was not a threat. Murr grabbed Landau's left arm and Middleton clasped his right arm, the lawsuit said. "Nixon then punched the restrained (man) in the face" and Landau fell to the ground.

To provide cover for the "unprovoked attack," the lawsuit claimed, Murr falsely yelled: "He's going for the gun." Landau shouted, "No, I'm not!" the lawsuit said. The cops began pummeling Landau first with their fists, then with a police radio and a metal flashlight. Additional officers arrived from the police station a few blocks away joined in the fracas, others stood and watched. 

In police reports, the three officers said they were unable to subdue the 5-foot-8-inch, 155-pound teenager. At one point, the lawsuit said, Murr put his revolver to Landau's head and threatened to shoot him. Landau lost consciousness and awoke lying in a pool of his own blood, the lawsuit said. "Where's that warrant now, you f------- n-----?" a male officer asked, according to the lawsuit.

The three men and Glover drove to a school that had been turned into a makeshift police station. Inside, the stranger and Glover's friends asked police officers to help them treat Glover, who was bleeding but alive in the back seat of the Chevy Malibu. "Instead of offering assistance, Jeff Winn and Greg McRae of the NOPD handcuffed [the men] and beat them. Winn instructed McRae to drive the seriously wounded Mr. Glover to a secluded spot on the Algiers levee. Dwayne Scheurmann was instructed to follow McRae in another vehicle.

"[The] Malibu, with Henry Glover still in the back seat, was intentionally set on fire by McRae with the possible assistance of Scheurmann, causing his body to be burned beyond recognition and leaving DNA as the only method of identification of the remains," according to the complaint.

"Following the shooting and burning of Mr. Glover, the beating of his attempted rescuers, and the theft and burning of [the Chevy Malibu], various members of the NOPD, including but not limited to David Warren, Jeff Winn, Greg McRae, Travis McCabe, Dwayne Scheurmann, Robert Italiano, Jeffrey Sandoz, Ronald Ruiz, and Joseph Meisch, conspired to cover up the illegal actions of the various members of the NOPD, to contribute to the filing, with the assistance of other NOPD personnel, of an intentionally false and misleading police report about the incidents of September 2, 2005, and thereafter, and then proceeded to lie about the events and intentionally obstruct the federal investigation of the events thereafter."

From [HERE] Derby police are investigating whether a school resource officer used excessive force in breaking a student's arm and giving him a black eye. While some claim the officer went too far, the department says it's still too early to tell.

"He just grabbed me and tried to throw me on the ground," said Jonathan Villarreao. 17-year-old Villarreao claims he was thrown to the ground Wednesday. This, after his SRO at Derby High School asked him to pull up his pants because they were sagging, and he said 'no.' Then what began as a verbal dispute turned physical, when police say Villarreao refused to comply.

"[He] used a number of different profanities towards the officers. The SRO was was attempting to escort him back to the office of the school when he refused to go," said Derby Police Chief Robert Lee. But police are still investigating exactly what happened to spur the officer to shoot his taser, then use enough force to break Villarreao's arm and give him a black eye.

From [HERE] Police departments around the Puget Sound have started using body–mounted cameras. In Lake Forest Park, Orting and on Bainbridge Island officers can now record video as evidence with small cameras clipped to their chests or ears.

Seattle's police department is still considering whether to arm the city's officers with body cameras. As KUOW's Hansi Lo Wang reports, there are unanswered questions about the technology's effectiveness and the privacy of citizens captured on video.

Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell proposed the idea to use body cameras last July. Speaking with KUOW's Steve Scher on Wednesday, he said police depart

Can anybody show me where the penalty for resisting arrest is DEATH? [MORE] 

From [HERE]and [HERE] Preliminary autopsy results indicate that Kevin Darius Campbell — the man who died after police officers used a Taser to subdue him — did not suffer significant internal or external trauma that would explain his death, according to the Tallahassee Police Department. The officers involved with the incident were placed on administrative leave as a part of the department's policy.

Police say Campbell was arrested in an apartment that wasn’t his.  Earlier, a caller reported to police that a bald Black man was running up and down steps, in and out of his apartment and then into a woman’s apartment at 2315 Jackson Bluff Road.  Officers say they used a Taser during the struggle to take him into custody. Campbell was put in a police car, where officers say he became violent and was later removed. That’s when police say they called paramedics and he became unresponsive.

Some residents who witnessed the incident at the Hickory Hill apartments say officers used excessive force against Campbell after he was arrested.

"The most brutal part to me was the seeing them pull him out of the car by his leg and then letting his head hit the ground," said Lashae Short. "That was the most brutal thing I've seen, the hardest thing I've seen and to see a police officer was hard."

Some neighbors say they are rattled over the way they say officers treated the man and are now hesitant to call police. (Internal Affairs Department at 891-4321) [MORE] 

From [HERE] and [HERE] Family members of a Pemberton Township man who died after swallowing a plastic bag of drugs during a Camden arrest have filed a lawsuit against the city's police department.

The suit, filed Friday, alleges Jorge Rivera died after the arresting officers took no action to dislodge the bag, and instead continued to beat the 32-year-old even after he was handcuffed. Rivera died from asphyxiation shortly after the April 22, 2009, incident in North Camden.

While the lawsuit acknowledges Rivera attempted to swallow a "small plastic bag" as officers approached him, it blames the officers for Rivera's death.

"The officers' intentional attack on Rivera and use of excessive force caused the plastic bag to become lodged in Rivera's throat, causing him to asphyxiate and die," the lawsuit states.

Witnesses at the scene said that police kicked and punched the man after he was handcuffed. Police said Rivera resisted arrest.

From [HERE] HOUSTON -- An unarmed Black man who was shot in the neck by a Houston police officer has become the latest person of color to allege police brutality in a lawsuit against the city of Houston.

Steven Guidry, 42, who lives on Houston's south side, was shot after an officer tried to pull him over for failing to use his signal before turning on Feb. 24, 2010, on Noel Street. At the time, Houston police said he was shot because the officer feared he was reaching into his coat, potentially going for a weapon.

In his lawsuit filed Tuesday in Houston Federal Court, Guidry points out that he was unarmed and no drugs were found in his car, and he claims his hands were clearly visible on his steering wheel when the officer drew his gun and then fired.

In his lawsuit on Guidry's behalf, Anderson writes, "There was no objectively reasonable basis for (the officer) to use deadly force against Plaintiff since Plaintiff was not attempting to escape and posed no significant threat of death or serious physical injury to (the officer) or anyone else.

The lawsuit alleges that "Defendant Green withdrew his weapon and placed his finger on the trigger before he made a conscious decision to shoot Plaintiff." Guidry spent 23 days in the hospital, was released with a walker in March 2010, but he returned to the hospital within the past week when his throat collapsed. His lawyer said he continues to have complications from the shooting.