In photo, Gabriel Carrillo after deputies beat him at jail. From [HERE] and [HERE] Jail commanders condoning the beating of inmates. Evidence withheld from inmates accused of attacking guards. A photo of a woman wearing an official-looking badge while brandishing handguns at a nightclub. Allegations and litigation continue to dog Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who has acknowledged being out of touch about problems in his jails and failing to reform his massive department that oversees the largest county jail system in the nation.

Bad news in the past week has come from his own brass, his chief critics and a photo that surfaced in an unrelated federal investigation -- all serving to sully the reputation of the popular four-term sheriff, who enjoys the limelight and is flown around the world at the invitation of others to talk about policing tactics.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a constant critic of the sheriff and a court-appointed monitor of jail conditions, sued Tuesday alleging that inmates charged with assaulting deputies have been unable to get evidence that could help exonerate them.

At the core of the problems facing the department is how its deputies treat some of the estimated 15,000 inmates in county jails. The ACLU has filed another lawsuit accusing Baca and some other department officials of condoning violence against inmates. That sued was filed in January. 

Last year the civil rights group released a report that documented more than 70 cases of alleged abuse and other misconduct by deputies, many of which occurred at Men's Central Jail. The FBI has launched its own investigation and asked for internal department records dealing with inmate abuse.

From [HERE] and [HERE] A 43-year-old Worcester man was shot and killed by a Massachusetts state police trooper after he allegedly drove a stolen vehicle toward the trooper early Thursday morning. Officials say Victor Davilla was shot to death near the intersection of Chandler and Irving Streets shortly after midnight. Police said an officer working the midnight shift from the Holden barracks spotted 1997 Honda Accord that was reported stolen in Worcester. When the officer tried to stop the vehicle, police said the vehicle continued to move toward him. Police said the officer fired one shot at the car, hitting Davilla in the chest. Police are still looking for a woman that jumped out of the car prior to the shooting. They believe they know her identity and have some information about the direction she fled in. She is not believed to be a threat to the public.

“The trooper was standing in front of the suspect vehicle,” State Police spokesperson David Procopio said. “And the evidence indicates that the vehicle definitely was in drive and possibly driving toward him, putting him in fear for his safety.” [MORE] 

However, two other witnesses said they saw the trooper standing in front of the car. They said the driver was trying to back up and drive away. They said the trooper yelled repeatedly for the man to stop and then fired into the vehicle when he did not comply. The men said that once the trooper opened the car door and pulled the man out, the car coasted forward into a small tree. [MORE]

Procopio said the findings of an accident reconstruction team, ballistic evidence, and the fact that Davila later crashed his car into a utility pole confirmed the trooper’s account. (Police message: believe everything we say always. why even bother to investigate or even ever have any trial then?) 

From [HERE] On July 9, Houston police fatally shot Rufino Lara. Two witnesses (one of whom, a 14-year-old boy, didn't know Lara) are disputing police officers' account of the confrontation. According to the Houston Chronicle:  Houston Police Department officials said Rufino Lara refused officer J. McGowan's commands in Spanish and English to stop when she spotted him walking away while she was investigating an assault Monday afternoon. He kept one of his hands tucked under his shirt, police said. When he turned around suddenly with his hand still under his shirt, McGowan shot him once, killing him, police said.

Florida Ruvio, a family friend, bumped into Lara on his way back from a liquor store near the 7000 block of Bissonnet near Fondren in southwest Houston. Lara told her that some men were chasing him with a knife and asked her to call police. When two officers arrived to investigate the assault report, they approached Lara, asking him to stop and put his hands up. "They were speaking to him in English only," Ruvio said at a news conference

In an all-too-familiar detail, there are also reports that a cellphone with which Ruvio attempted to film the aftermath of the shooting was taken from her. Police have not released the video, if it still exists or if it show anything relevant. However, the theft of the phone provoked harsh criticism from the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

From [HERE] A federal court is refusing to order a new trial for a Frederick County sheriff’s deputy cleared of liability in the stun-gun-related death of a Frederick man. The Frederick News-Post reports that U.S. District Judge William Quarles Jr. rejected the motion filed by Jarrel Gray’s parents in a ruling filed Wednesday in Baltimore. 

The family of Jarrel Gray filed a $145 million lawsuit against Frederick County, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins and Corp. Rudy Torres for the Taser-related death of the 20-year-old in November. A jury found in January that Cpl. Rudy Torres didn’t use excessive force against the 20-year-old man by shocking him twice. 

An autopsy report listed the cause of death as undetermined, associated with restraint and alcohol intoxication.  Gray’s parents claimed the verdict contradicted the weight of the evidence. They said their intoxicated son posed no threat lying face-down and unresponsive after the first jolt from Torres’ stun gun.

On May 9, 2008 a Frederick County grand jury found Torres justified in his actions, following the presentation of an investigation by the Frederick Police Department into the circumstances surrounding Gray's death. [MORE] 

From [HERE] Gregory Jeffries says his face was left swollen and bloodied after a Chicago police sergeant struck him four times in 2010 without provocation. "I felt pain," Gregory Jeffries testified Thursday during the first day of the trial of Sgt. Edward Howard Jr. on charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct.

Jeffries was 19 and handcuffed when the alleged beating took place in a South Side parking lot. The incident was captured on a surveillance camera. The lawsuit claims Gregory Jeffries was stopped by police Oct. 11 as he and a friend were leaving the King Gyro carry out at 79th Street and Vincennes Avenue. During the stop, Jeffries was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and was hit several times by an unnamed sergeant, causing Jeffries to spit blood onto the ground, according to the complaint.

Jeffries was charged with trespassing, but the charge was dropped in December, according to the complaint filed in federal court in Chicago.  Jeffries said he never received medical treatment for his injuries but still sought "justice" for the attack. He gave mostly brief answers to questions and didn't show any emotion from the witness stand.

From [HERE] A scuffle between Los Angeles Police and local residents erupted Thursday night after police alleged that citizens were vandalizing public property by, no joke, writing on the pavement with chalk. As tensions heightened, police fired rubber bullets into the crowd and arrested eleven individuals, primarily for chalk-related offenses.

Members of Occupy Los Angeles planned an artistic demonstration to coincide with downtown’s monthly Art Walk event. In recent weeks, twelve affiliates of Occupy have been arrested for writing on public streets and sidewalks with chalk. Feeling that their First Amendment rights were being stifled and that they were being targeted for a harmless offense, Occupiers distributed chalk to passersby in order to illustrate that chalking should not be considered a crime.

Police arrived on the scene and began arresting those who used chalk. They contend that the situation became violent when Occupiers threw bottles and rocks at them. However, Occupiers argue that the situation escalated when the crowd watched a young girl forcefully shoved to the ground and arrested for writing with chalk. They cite that the agitators who threw the bottles were not Occupiers, but unaffiliated community members who were fed up with the police’s tactics, and that most Occupiers had left the scene by the time violence occurred.

From [HERE] A Massachusetts police officer is under investigation after allegations that he directed a racial slur at Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford last week. Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said the patrolman is on vacation and will be put on desk duty when he returns next week.

The mayor said Friday that he expects the city's inquiry to conclude by Tuesday at the latest, and that officials are hoping to interview Crawford as part of the probe. Mazzarella said the city's police chief is conducting the investigation, and the chief would make a recommendation to him about any potential discipline if the allegation is sustained. The mayor would then decide on any sanctions, which he said could include anything from suspension to termination.

Mazzarella, a life-long Red Sox fan, wouldn't name the officer who's involved since the allegation hasn't been proved. But he said the officer is a 5-year force veteran and white, with no prior disciplinary issues. The mayor said that even while off-duty, police officers should be held to a higher standard of conduct than other people when it comes to free speech.

From [HERE] A man who saw an undocumented immigrant from Mexico get shot with a stun gun by U.S. border authorities said he testified Thursday to a federal grand jury amid signs that prosecutors are considering criminal charges in the immigrant's death after more than two years of silence on the politically charged case. Humberto Navarrete said that he testified for about 90 minutes at a San Diego courthouse and told the grand jury he thought the border officials' actions were excessive. The grand jury questioned Navarrete about what he saw and viewed a grainy video that he took on his cellphone.

Navarrete's video, which he released immediately after the May 2010 incident at San Diego's San Ysidro port of entry, captured audio of a man believed to be Anastasio Hernandez pleading for help and passers-by asking border authorities to leave him alone. "He was lying face-down on the ground, surrounded by agents," Navarrete, a 26-year-old San Diego resident, said he told the grand jury. The U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division has been presenting evidence to the grand jury on Hernandez's death, family attorney Eugene Iredale told the AP.

Hernández was caught trying to enter the United States from Mexico near San Diego. He had previously lived in the United States for 25 years and was the father of five U.S.-born children. But instead of deportation, Hernández-Rojas’s detention ended in his death. A number of border officers were seen beating him, before one tasered him at least five times. He died shortly afterward. The agents say they confronted Hernández-Rojas because he became hostile and resisted arrest. But previously undisclosed videos recorded by eyewitnesses on their cellphones show a different story. "All eyewitnesses that we spoke to basically tell the same story of a man hogtied and handcuffed behind his back, not resisting, being beaten repeatedly by batons, by kicks, by punches, by the use of a taser, for almost 30 minutes until he died," says reporter John Carlos Frey as part of a joint investigation by the PBS broadcast, "Need to Know," and the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute. [MORE] 

From [HERE] and [HERE] Scotland Neck (NC) police officer has been indicted in connection to the November death of Roger Anthony. A grand jury in Halifax County indicted John Turner, 26, on the charge of involuntary manslaughter, in the Nov. 21 death of Roger Anthony, 61, who died after Turner shot him with a stun gun. Turner is free on bond and is due in court Aug. 6. Turner resigned from the Scotland Neck Police Department after Anthony’s death.

CBS Affiliate WRAL reports officers had responded to a 911 call about a man who had fallen off his bicycle in the parking lot of a bank. The caller told dispatchers that the man appeared drunk and may have hurt himself.

When Police Officer John Turner arrived, he saw Roger Anthony pedaling along 10th Street and followed in his patrol car. Turner put on his sirens and lights and yelled for him to stop, but Anthony continued to ride away, police said. Anthony was not under arrest and not suspected of committing a crime so apparently there was no lawful basis for police to stop him. 

Scotland Neck Police Chief Joe Williams said Turner saw Anthony take something out his pocket and put it into his mouth. Turner got out of the car and yelled for Anthony to stop. When Anthony didn't, the officer used a stun gun on him, causing him to fall off of his bike. Anthony was transported to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, where he was declared brain dead, his sister Gladys Freeman said. She said her brother had trouble hearing.

From [HERE] In a court declaration filed Thursday a man claims he was kidnapped and beaten by three Pasadena police detectives working a homicide case. Jeremi Carr, 24, identified the detectives as Kevin Okamoto, Keith Gomez and William Broghamer. None of the three officers could be reached for comment. Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said his office is "evaluating" Carr's claim. The new allegations filed by Attorney Michael Kraut claim the officers beat Carr in an effort to coerce him into making false statements in an 2007 murder investigation into the slaying of Shawn Baptiste in Pasadena.

According to Carr, Okamoto, Gomez and Broghamer stormed a Pasadena home in December 2007, grabbed Carr and took him against his will to Pasadena Police Department headquarters. There, Carr alleges, they attempted to beat him into agreeing with untrue statements related to the Baptiste murder investigation.

In his claim, Carr, a Pasadena resident, alleges he suffered injuries to his ribs, shoulder lower back and face as a result of the beating. He was not arrested or charged, alleges he was taken to police headquarters where the trio of officers initially handcuffed him to the wall. Carr alleges Okamoto told him to give false statements that would implicate another person in the Baptiste case, which he refused to do.

He said he asked police for access to a lawyer 10 times, but his request was denied; Carr alleges that at one point Broghamer said, "I don't want to hear any of this lawyer (expletive)." A beating followed, Carr said. He alleged that Broghamer assaulted him while Carr's arms were handcuffed behind his back.

From [HERE] This NY Times article is about the stop and frisk policy in Philadelphia, which is racist. Nevertheless, this article is written with a sympathetic tone towards police and justifies the racist idea that Blacks & Latinos are inherently dangerous persons who are not entitled to the full protection of the Constitution or dependening on where you are, a Brown person's Constitutional rights can be somehow comprromised and balanced against racist fear. As with Arizona, when the police can stop, detain & put there hands on persons based on nothing but skin color, a pre-condition of genocide exists. Mr. Messing, the civil rights lawyer, said the problem was that as the number of stops escalated, the number of complaints he received grew even faster. “We were seeing huge numbers of stops being made without legal cause,” he said, adding that very few arrests were made and that guns were seized in about only 1 in 1,000 stops.

Mahari Bailey, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that when he returned to Philadelphia after graduating from Georgetown University’s law school, he was repeatedly stopped by officers who often behaved aggressively. “It just became too much,” Mr. Bailey said.

In one instance, Mr. Bailey said, he was standing with friends outside a house in West Philadelphia when an unmarked car screeched up and two men in plain clothes jumped out, guns drawn, and told them to put up their hands. “We thought we were being robbed,” he said.

Two other cars arrived. Mr. Bailey was handcuffed and placed spread-eagle against a police car. When Mr. Bailey said he was a lawyer and asked why he had been stopped, he got no answer, he said. But the officers threatened to call his employer “and say I was hanging with drug dealers.”

From [HERE] A second police officer has been fired in the wake of numerous allegations of police brutality against certain members of the North Chicago Police Department. William Bogdala, 33, an eight-year veteran of the force, was terminated effective June 29, according to City Attorney Chuck Smith, who said Bogdala will likely appeal through the Fraternal Order of Police grievance process. Six-year veteran Brandon Yost was fired in April for his role in the Nov. 6 arrest and police beating death of Darrin Hanna, which sparked a public outcry.

Hanna, 45, died Nov. 13, a week after he was arrested inside his apartment by six North Chicago police officers on a domestic battery charge.  He was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun by North Chicago police. In police recordings from the scene, an anguished Hanna can be heard pleading, “Put me down, please, I was down,” while an officer tells him, “You are OK ... relax.” Advocates have said the recordings show Hanna was cooperative, still conscious and understandable after being arrested, though he was barely conscious and unintelligible by the time he was carried out of his apartment on a stretcher.

From [HERE] and [HERE] Authorities were investigating a Washington police officer on Thursday over a possibly threatening remark he allegedly made about first lady Michelle Obama, reports said.

The unidentified officer assigned to a motorcade detail was speaking with colleagues on Wednesday about potential threats against the Obamas and allegedly made a comment about shooting Mrs. Obama, The Washington Post reported, citing police sources. The Huffington Post reported that the unnamed officer showed off a picture of a gun on his cellphone during morning roll call on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. He allegedly claimed he would use that gun to shoot Michelle Obama. The Secret Service has been notified of the alleged incident, and the incident is under investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department Internal Affairs Division.

From [HERE] and [HERE] A City Council member today called for a federal probe of a Saginaw police shooting that killed a homeless black man on July 2.  The shooting about 85 miles northwest of Detroit is being investigated by Michigan State Police.

Councilman Norman C. Braddock said he’s not satisfied with the ongoing state probe examining the shooting of Milton S. Hall, a 49-year-old man who police say was acting aggressively with a knife in a plaza parking lot on July 1. Witnesses tell a different story. 

Mechelle Evans was at the Riverview Plaza on Sunday with her kids. Her son walked out a door before her and told her there were police outside. When she walked out, Evans said she saw several Saginaw Police officers and a man standing in front of them. "When I came out their guns were drawn. The dogs were out and the man was standing right by the wooded plant stand area in the front of the parking lot. "They were yelling 'get down, drop your weapon!' There was so much commotion," she said. Evans froze. Her kids stood still. She said the man was frozen, too."The man was not moving. He was just standing there looking. I think he was scared of the dogs and the yelling," she said. 

Evans said she didn't witness the man go after police. "They opened fire and unloaded on him," she said. "When they opened fire it sounded like a bomb went off. We ran back in the store and it had to be maybe 20 or 30 shots, well at least that is what it sounded like."

From [HERE] A federal judge has told attorneys to pare down their lists of potential witnesses in a civil lawsuit alleging that three white Pittsburgh police officers used excessive force against a Black college student two years ago.

U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster's statement came in a pretrial conference on the federal civil rights suit by 20-year-old Jordan Miles alleging physical and psychological injuries stemming from the 2010 arrest. He also contends the officers working a special anti-drug detail in a high-crime area approached him simply because he was a young black man and concocted claims he was acted suspiciously after things went awry. The officers say Miles resisted arrest and they used proper force. The judge also ruled that evidence on the backgrounds of plaintiff and officers can be introduced only for impeachment or rebuttal.

The officers said they confronted Mr. Miles because he appeared to be "sneaking around" 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. No weapons were found. 

From [HERE] Did San Antonio Police Officers use excessive force on a pregnant woman? That's what the Department is looking into tonight, after a Fox San Antonio viewer shot video of three officers holding down a pregnant woman. One of those officers hits her repeatedly.

It was the sound of a woman screaming that caught Lorenzo Rios's attention. "All I heard was her yelling to get off me, I heard her yell I'm pregnant," said Rios. So, he started to record this video with his cell phone. "She was already cuffed and they started to beat her, which I don't think was right. It was pretty messed up. She was already down and pretty small compared to the other officers."

According to a police report, 21-year-old Destiny Rios was arrested for prostitution and resisting arrest. She's 5'1, 126 pounds and pregnant. "She did look pregnant, she looked about two months pregnant," said Rios. It was the 4th of July around 5:30 p.m., when an officer saw Rios walking on Culebra. When he stopped to ask her name, he found out she had an active warrant for prostitution. When he started to arrest her, police claim that she assaulted them. 

"Size makes no difference, it's the amount of fight in the person," said Chief William McManus, San Antonio Police. Fox San Antonio gave the police department a copy of the video, but the Chief says he didn't see it. When we offered to show him, he said he didn't need to see it.

From [HERE] Mexico's foreign ministry has accused a U.S. border patrol agent of fatally shooting a Mexican citizen over the weekend. The shooting occurred near the bridge that connects Brownsville, Texas, with the Mexican town of Matamoros, the foreign ministry said Sunday in a statement condemning the violence.

The ministry said a Mexican national died after being shot by the U.S. agent, but did not release details about the circumstances surrounding the Saturday violence. "The Mexican government has repeatedly expressed that the disproportionate use of lethal force in the exercising of immigration control functions is unacceptable under any circumstance," the foreign ministry said, calling for a thorough investigation.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said two agents fired shots Saturday morning during "dangerous encounters" along the border. But U.S. officials have not confirmed any deaths related to the shootings.

From [HERE] Well, the story of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's back-and-forth with Houston police at a club last Saturday morning gathered a bit more weight. Not only has Peterson hired attorney Rusty Hardin -- the man who represented Roger Clemens in the pitcher's recent perjury trial -- but Peterson's father recently revealed that according to what he's been told, the police officers involved in the incident treated Peterson far less than respectfully.

"Adrian has a high regard for people in the military and the officers that help protect us," Nelson Peterson told TwinCities.com. "The officer said he pushed him, shoved him, then why is he not charged with assault? Only charged with resisting arrest. Doesn't make sense."

Two things we do know: Peterson has no history of physical violence outside of the embarrassment he hands out to defensive players, and the Houston police have an interesting backstory when it comes to physically imposing men of African-American descent.

Hardin said: Adrian Peterson did not resist arrest this past Saturday morning and any suggestion that he pushed, struck or shoved a Houston Police Officer is a total fabrication. He, in fact, was struck at least twice in the face for absolutely no legitimate reason, and when all the evidence is impartially reviewed, it will clearly show Adrian was the victim, not the aggressor.

From [HERE] Detroit police still don't know how an off-duty officer's holstered gun discharged and killed a woman who reportedly embraced him from behind during a backyard party, according to news reports.

Adaisha Miller -- who would have turned 25 today -- died of a single gunshot wound that passed through a lung and struck her heart early Sunday. Although the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. said a preliminary investigation indicates it was an accident, the Detroit Free Press says.

The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. Sunday at the home of Officer Issac Parrish. Godbee said at a news conference that Miller was dancing behind Parrish and touching his waist when his department-issued Smith & Wesson M&P 40-caliber semi-automatic somehow fired.

Godbee said the Neoprene holster, being worn on the officer's right, was soft enough for the trigger to have been pulled with the gun stowed. The gun has an external safety but not an internal trigger safety, police said. For the gun to fire, the trigger, which requires 6.5 pounds of pull to discharge, must be pulled completely, Smith & Wesson says.

"Somehow, in the course of dancing with the individual to his rear and touching his waist, his Detroit Police Department-issued weapon discharged, striking Ms. Miller," Godbee said. "There is absolutely no indication that the officer placed his hand on his weapon at all."

From [HERE] One arrest that took many sports fans by surprise was that of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who was arrested on Saturday morning on a Houston nightclub for resisting arrest. He was released on $1,000 bond a few hours later. Aside from a few traffic stops in his career (including one for failing to wear his seat belt!), Peterson is about as squeaky-clean as any high-profile athlete can be. He is universally acknowledged as a team leader, and many players cite his impressive recovery from injuries to be an inspiration.

Some are speculating that Houston Police Officers profiled him. Attorney Stephanie Stradley said, "anytime there's a resisting arrest situation and no other charges, and there's a large, black athlete involved, it's one of those situations where it raises eyebrows," Stradley said. "Because there have been some very high-profile situations in the Houston area where African-Americans have been targeted by HPD wrongfully."

NBC Sports said [HERE] that the incident culminating in Peterson’s arrest was captured by one or more surveillance cameras.  Multiple persons also witnessed the event. Peterson, his girlfriend, and some family members were at a nightclub in Houston.  At closing time, a group of police officers entered the club, and they began instructing the remaining patrons to leave. Peterson wanted to get some water before he left, but an officer told Peterson that he needed to leave.  Some words apparently were exchanged, but Peterson eventually walked to the exit with one of the club’s bouncers.

It’s believed that one of the officers then jumped on Peterson’s back from behind and tried to take him down. Other officers then joined the fray and completed the arrest. Peterson was charged with resisting arrest, which implies he was being arrested for something else.  He is charged for now with no other crime.