From [HERE] and [HERE]  An Orange County federal jury could not reach a unanimous decision today in the civil case of a unarmed homeless man severely beaten in Santa Ana by two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department transit deputies in November 2009.

U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter accepted the jury foreman's report that there was a hopeless deadlock, thanked the eight members of the citizen's panel (five women and three men) for their service and, after consulting with each side in excessive force lawsuit, dismissed the jurors late this afternoon.

The jury had favored the defense of deputies Scott C. Harper and Brian Sherred, who claimed their use of force was justified because the suspect didn't rapidly comply with their orders to raise his hands.

Harper conceded in a deposition he hit Jones on the face with two “hammer blows,” while Deputy Brian Sherred kneed him twice in the ribs — both deputies accusing Jones of refusing to remove his hands from inside his waistband. As a result of the beating Jones had a fractured skull and bruised ribs.

From [HERE] MILWAUKEE - Months later, the woman who was hit by an officer while in Milwaukee police custody is speaking out about the incident.

Just last week, police officials said Officer Richard Schoen was fired for using excessive force against a black woman he stopped for swerving her car. "There is video camera (footage) showing what happened in the back seat, clearly shows that the Officer Schoen, with a closed fist, punches Ms. Tracy in her head at least four times," Tracy's attorney, Todd Korb said. Despite repeated requests, police have not released that video.

From [HERE] SEATTLE — Seattle’s mayor may soon have something in common with tough-talking Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue Mayor Mike McGinn over allegations that Seattle police officers regularly use excessive force. McGinn is due to respond this week to DOJ demands for reforms in the Police Department. If McGinn doesn’t agree to make changes that satisfy the DOJ and agree to the appointment of an outside monitor, he can expect a lawsuit from the U.S. attorney in Seattle as early as next month.

That’s the same ultimatum — standard in DOJ reviews of police departments — that drew an objection from Arpaio, who said he couldn’t stomach the idea of an independent monitor undermining his authority.

“I am not going to surrender my office to the federal government,” he said last week after the DOJ sued him over allegations that his department racially profiled Latinos.

It was only the second time since the verdict in the Rodney King police brutality case and Los Angeles riots that the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against a law enforcement agency with which it was unable to reach an agreement.

From [HERE] Two retired Los Angeles County sheriff's supervisors Monday painted a violent picture of life inside Men's Central Jail, recounting for a county jails commission tales of deputies beating prisoners, ignoring bosses, forming cliques and engaging in off-duty misconduct.

The former sergeant and lieutenant, who both retired in 2007, said they felt their efforts to discipline wayward deputies were undermined by a top manager they accused of ordering supervisors to “coddle” young deputies in the jail.

Daniel Pollaro, the former sergeant, complained that deputies used inappropriate force against inmates as a form of discipline. He cited one example in which he learned that a deputy beat an inmate being moved to a cell on the floor where Pollaro worked. The deputy, he said, left the bloodied inmate without reporting the incident or seeking medical attention for him. The inmate’s injuries were discovered during a later shift, and the deputy was suspended, Pollaro said.

From [HERE] A DeKalb County (Georgia) police officer has come under fire for kicking a pregnant woman so hard she was forced to have an emergency C-section. Raven Dozier said that when officer Jerad Wheeler came to her house to quell her brother's dispute with her mother, Wheeler used a Taser on him.

She cried out and Wheeler pounced, kicking the nine-month pregnant woman in the stomach and charging her with obstruction. Her baby Levi was born after emergency surgery and now she's demanding that Wheeler pay for his 'brutal' use of force. 'I couldn't believe an officer would kick me, with my child in my stomach,' Mrs Dozier told WSBTV.

She said that she was trying to help calm her brother down after officers were called to their home and her brother was arguing with them. Officers shot her brother with a stun gun and she cried out, causing officer Wheeler to give her a 'front push-kick to the abdomen,' according to his official report.

From [HERE] -One of the eight police officers accused of beating an unarmed Black teenager testified Monday in the trial of a now former officer who has been charged in that beating.

Andrew Blomberg, 29, is the first of the four former police officers to stand trial in the alleged attack that was caught on video. He is charged with official oppression, a misdemeanor. (After looking at the tape it seems the Government could have brought felony charges such as aggravated assault or felony assault. The Prosecutors apparently also agreed to empanel an all white jury! Do they really want to convict these cops and send a message to the HPD or are they just going through the motions? bw).  

On Friday, a 37-year veteran of the training academy testified that when he watched the videotape of the arrest, he saw Blomberg stomp on Holley's head. He said no HPD officer is trained to do that, and the technique used did not make sense. "He's treating the suspect poorly," the training officer said.

From [HERE] Is it premature to call a place a "police state" where authorities are given authority to detain a person until their immigration status is verified, without regard to the length of the detention? Will a tipping point be reached if the US Supreme Court validates all (or even a portion) of Arizona's SB 1070? The law requires among other things that local law enforcement determine status where a "reasonable suspicion" exists that the person is an undocumented alien.

The so-called "papers, please" law is an apt title because the law will require any person who is "lawfully" stopped, detained or arrested to prove his status, including a fortiorari his US citizenship. When he does not or cannot, then the person can be held for as long as it takes for the state to get confirmation from the federal government and return with a definitive answer — provided such information even exists in federal databases.

The problem is that many unintended persons, yes even law-abiding US citizens, will be adversely and unfairly affected if the Supreme Court gives the nod to Arizona to enforce federal immigration laws. There is no question, as at least one Supreme Court justice recognized at oral argument in the Arizona v. United States case last week, that many people may not even be listed in the federal immigration database but in actuality have a claim preventing their forcible physical deportation.

From [HERE] and [HERE] The city of St. Paul has reached an agreement to pay resident Deshun Carter $86,500 to settle a federal police brutality lawsuit.

The agreement is expected to be confirmed by the city council at its Wednesday, May 9 meeting.

Carter won a $35,000 punitive damages award from a federal jury last month. With attorney's fees, the final output by the city could have been higher without the settlement, which also stops any further legal action from either side. The agreement is "not to be construed as an admission of liability," the city asserted.

Carter, 31, alleged that St. Paul police attacked him while he was barbecuing in his back yard on Sept. 26, 2009. A federal jury ruled on April 16 that Officer Adam Bailey used excessive force on Carter.

 Despite petition with more than 200,000 signatures asking for District Attorney Janet DiFiore to charge the officers involved in the shooting with murder and civil rights violations - no charges are filed.

 From [HERE] and NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York grand jury has declined to indict a white police officer who shot and killed an ailing black veteran in his own apartment, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

The shooting occurred in November after police responded to a call that Kenneth Chamberlain, who suffered from respiratory and heart problems, had set off his medical alert device, indicating he needed help. The encounter was recorded by audio and video devices, which police planned to release to the public after Chamberlain's family accused police of excessive force and racial profiling. Nothing was released. According to Chamberlain's attorney, transcripts from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office of audio recordings of the night Chamberlain was killed, reveal Officer Steven Hart as the officer who said to Chamberlain, “Stop, we have to talk nigger” before police broke down his door.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A judge convicted one brother and exonerated the other Thursday in the 2010 beating of a black teenager they encountered while responding to a suspicious person report received by an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood watch group.

Eliyahu was convicted of false imprisonment and second-degree assault, and cleared of carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure and Avi was acquitted of all three counts.

The judge did not consider the testimony of the now-16-year-old victim, who was excused after refusing to testify. Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Wiggins struggled to get the teen to speak on the witness stand about the incident. The emotional teen's words were inaudible and he frequently put his head down in his lap. Finally, he stood, declaring that he shouldn't have called police and he wouldn't testify anymore. The teen's testimony stricken from the record, but his 911 call recording was allowed.

HOUSTON (AP) — A teenager testified Thursday that he was trying to surrender to Houston police officers when they repeatedly kicked and hit him, causing him to briefly lose consciousness, during his 2010 arrest on suspicion of burglary.

An attorney for Andrew Blomberg, one of the four since-fired officers accused of participating in the beating, countered his client was a "hero" who tried to secure a potentially dangerous suspect, and that he had not kicked the then-15-year-old boy. Blomberg, 29, is the first of the four former police officers to stand trial in the arrest that was caught on video. He is charged with official oppression, a misdemeanor, and faces up to a year in jail if convicted. 

The video, shows Chad Holley, then 15, running away from police before he is clipped by a police 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. 

Witness, "They was writing my statement for me...I didn't write it."

North Chicago - The girlfriend of the man beaten and tazed by North Chicago police is telling Fox Chicago News that his death didn't have to happen -- and that police are not telling the truth about the incident.

Darrin Hanna died last November. In her first television interview, Dianna Wilcox tells Fox Chicago News  she agreed to talk because's she upset that the North Chicago Police officers accused of causing her boyfriend's death went back to work.. Wilcox and Hanna were both put in handcuffs in the apartment, the night Hanna was arrested. She says, "I heard the stomping and the tasers went off six times and I heard a lot of ruffling and rangling all that stuff and you know, stomps and (the taser sounded like) 'shhhhhh---shhhh-shhhh'---like that."

Six North Chicago officers and their superviser were put on leave after an independent investigation showed Hanna was beaten and tased, AFTER he was cuffed.

From [HERE] The Drug Enforcement Administration has apologized to a San Diego college student who nearly lost his life after being left handcuffed in a cell for more than four days without food or water. The student, Daniel Chong, had been arrested in a drug raid along with six others. He was not charged with any crime and was due to be released. But instead, the DEA says agents 'forgot about' Chong after placing him inside a holding cell in handcuffs. Chong says he could hear DEA staffers outside his cell, but no one answered his pleas for help. He drank his own urine in a bid to survive before finally being found just as he says he felt his life slipping away.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called on U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asking for an "immediate and thorough" Department of Justice investigation into the matter.

From [HERE] Another Dallas County jail inmate has died after fighting with jail officers, resulting in a new federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against the county.

At issue is the question of whether restraint by the jail officers caused or contributed to the Nov. 10 death of George Barnes Koomson. Similar circumstances surround two other jail deaths that are still in litigation.

Mary Koomson, his widow, and Samuel Koomson, his father, sued the county, the jail officers involved and Parkland Memorial Hospital. The hospital provides jail medical care and was where Koomson was pronounced dead.

Their suit says Koomson, 44, was arrested by Dallas police on Oct. 31 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. On Nov. 3, he stopped breathing and was taken to Parkland where he was put on artificial life support, the suit said. He remained in a comatose state until his death a week later.

From [HERE] The Los Angeles Police Commission previously ruled that a Los Angeles police officer was justified in the shooting of 25-year-old Reginald Doucet Jr. in January 2011.

On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed the excessive force lawsuit filed by his family, reports the L.A. Times, saying that police, under certain circumstances, are shielded for their official actions.

Doucet was shot to death while nearly nude during a confrontation outside his home in Playa Vista.  Officers were acting in defense of their lives, said Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith. 

Authorities were called to the early morning scene while Doucet was naked and arguing with a taxi driver, according to the department. 

Unsuccessful in efforts to calm him, Doucet ran. When officers caught up with him, they claim Doucet went on the attack and began punching them in the face. The department alleges that Doucet grabbed the handle of Officer Aaron Goff's gun and tried to remove it from its holster. Even though the police report stated that "the officer's were fighting for their lives" and  "during the fight the suspect repeatedly punched both officers in the face and head" - the officers had very minor injuries. [MORE] 

From [HERE] and (WJZ)— The trial resumes for brothers accused of beating an African American teenager.  On Tuesday, several witnesses took the stand. The brothers, 24-year-old Eliyahu Werdesheim and 21-year-old Avi Werdesheim, are accused of beating 16-year-old Corey Ausby in 2010. He was 15 years old at the time.

The Werdesheims' attorneys will begin presenting the brothers' defense Wednesday morning. They have claimed that the brothers were acting in self-defense, that the teen was armed with a nail-studded board and attacked first. The brothers are each charged with second-degree assault, false imprisonment and carrying a deadly weapon with the intent to injure.

According to police records, Eliyahu, 24, was a member of Shomrim, an Orthodox Jewish citizens' watch group, on Nov. 19, 2010, when he and his brother allegedly confronted Ausby. Ausby was told that he didn't belong in the neighborhood, thrown to the ground and hit with a hand-held radio that Shomrim issued to Eliyahu, according to the state.

Though Ausby is black and the Werdesheims are white, none of the attorneys in the case argued during their opening statements last week that the alleged crime was racially motivated.

From [HERE] An interim chief has been hired to lead the police department in Sanford, Fla., where the chief stepped aside amid criticism over his handling of the Trayvon Martin case.

The interim chief, Richard W. Myers, a former police chief in Colorado Springs, was hired after a national search that began in March. Mr. Myers will take over the chief’s duties by the end of the week, the city said in a statement on Tuesday.

The department has been led for the last month by Capt. Darren Scott, who served as acting chief after Chief Bill R. Lee Jr. stepped aside on March 22.

“We thank Captain Scott for his service to the city during these tumultuous times,” Norton N. Bonaparte Jr., the city manager, said in a statement. “He has been an exemplary leader. The city welcomes the leadership of Interim Chief Myers.”

"Of 441 police misconduct lawsuits that led to city payments between January 2009 and November 2011," Caputo’s article says, "nearly a third -- or 145 -- involved 'repeaters.' This small group -- 140 in all -- proved costly. Despite making up one percent of the police force, they accounted for more than a quarter -- or $11.7 million -- of all damage payments incurred from police misconduct lawsuits. The city defended a good number of those officers in additional cases as well; nearly a third of the 140 officers were named in at least five misconduct lawsuits since 2000."

In the case of Evans, Unit 5 found five lawsuits filed over the past decade which accuse him of police brutality. Two cases are still pending, but three were settled by the city, although -- once again -- it admitted no wrongdoing in any of those cases.

From [HERE] The New Orleans Police Department delivered its investigation into last month's controversial killing of unarmed Wendell Allen to the district attorney's office Thursday. The NOPD announced the move in a news release issued Thursday evening. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office will now examine the case.

In an interview last week, Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas characterized the NOPD's probe as a "fact-finding mission" and said a decision on whether to pursue possible criminal charges against officer Joshua Colclough, who fired the shot that killed Allen, would be made by Cannizzaro's office.

Allen was shot and killed March 7 by a single bullet fired by Colclough, a 4 1/2-year veteran. Allen, shirtless and clad in jeans and sneakers, was shot in the stairwell of his family's Prentiss Avenue home. He was unarmed.

Police were executing a search warrant for marijuana inside the home. To date, the NOPD has released few details about its investigation and has yet to offer a clear narrative to explain what, if anything, prompted Colclough to fire on Allen.

Unarmed Black Man Shot 5 Times in the Back

From [HERE]  LOS ANGELES (CN) - Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies killed an unarmed man by shooting him 11 times - five times in the back - which is not unusual in a force that condones excessive force against minorities, his family claims in Superior Court.

The complaint from the family of Darrell Logan Jr. does not explicitly link his death to racist officers, but it does cite the neo-Nazi cop gang the Vikings, its offshoot the Regulators, and "other gang-type cliques."
     The family claims that such gangs are "tolerated and ratified by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department." Logan's family sued Los Angeles County and Does 1-100 for battery, wrongful death, and civil rights violations.