Gun Control? 50 Shots Fired at Unarmed Innocent Black Man. From [HERE] A former NYPD detective, who was the only officer involved in the 2006 police shooting of Sean Bell to be booted from the force, is suing for reinstatement. Gescard Isnora charges in a suit in Manhattan Supreme Court that the NYPD arbitrarily singled him out for dismissal, while brass allowed two other detectives, who were previously acquitted of manslaughter raps along with Isnora, to resign.

Those detectives, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper, cut plea deals and resigned, keeping all or part of their pensions. Isnora, who was the first to fire at Bell outside a Queens strip club and squeezed off 11 shots, was canned after a departmental trial earlier this year. He was never offered a plea deal. Officer Micheal Carey, who rejected one, was found not guilty at the same departmental trial. The only other cop who fired, Officer Paul Hedley, was reprimanded, but not charged, by the department.

The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States on November 25, 2006, when three men were shot at a total of fifty times by a team of both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers, killing one of the men, Sean Bell, on the morning before his wedding, and severely wounding two of his friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.[1] The incident sparked fierce criticism of the police from some members of the public and drew comparisons to the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo.[2] Three of the five detectives involved in the shooting went to trial[3] on charges ranging from manslaughter to reckless endangerment, and were found not guilty.[4]

From [HERE] A mayor-appointed committee will review ways to better diversify Saginaw’s police force. The announcement came during today’s Saginaw City Council which featured community leaders — elected or otherwise — discussing how the police shooting of Milton S. Hall on July 1 should put in focus the Saginaw police force’s lack of diversity and the relevancy of a 77-year-old policy governing public safety hiring.

About 75 residents packed Saginaw City Hall during today’s City Council meeting. A majority of the crowd came to hear the council talk about the death of Hall, a 49-year-old black homeless man police report they killed when he was acting aggressively with a knife. 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 few days after the Fourth of July, a police officer here logged onto his Facebook account and offered some advice to his 1,346 friends.

"A word to the wise never get drunk and trip off of meds and call a cop a 'N' results broken jaw and criminal charges……WPD for life," wrote Officer Anthony Easterling, who is black. After initially saying the post would only concern him if somebody filed a complaint, police Chief Michael Szczerba reversed course this past week and called for the department's Office of Professional Standards to review the online message.

From [HERE] and [HERE] A police shooting that left a man dead led to a near riot Saturday as angry witnesses threw bottles at officers who responded with tear gas and beanbag rounds. The man was shot around 4 p.m. in front of an apartment complex on the 600 block of North Anna Drive following a foot chase, Anaheim Sgt. Bob Dunn said. He died three hours later at a hospital.

The Orange County Register cited family members and neighbors who said the man shot was Manuel Diaz. His niece, 16-year-old Daisy Gonzalez, said her uncle likely ran away from officers when they approached him because of his past experience with law enforcement. “He (doesn’t) like cops. He never liked them because all they do is harass and arrest anyone,” Gonzalez said.

Crystal Ventura, a 17-year-old who witnessed the shooting, told the Register the man had his back to the officer. She said the man was shot in the buttocks area. The man then went down on his knees, and she said he was struck by another bullet in the head. Another officer handcuffed the man who by then was on the ground and not moving, Ventura said.

“They searched his pockets, and there was a hole in his head, and I saw blood on his face,” she said.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn told The Times the incident began Saturday when two patrol officers tried to approach three men in an alley in the 600 block of North Anna Drive about 4 p.m.

It was unclear why the officers first approached the men, but Dunn said they gave chase and one of the officers followed one of the men to the front of an apartment complex in the 700 block of North Anna, where the shooting occurred about 4 p.m.

Police Go Off

Chaos erupted in the streets of Anaheim after residents protested the fatal shooting of man by local police officers. Residents expressed concern over the circumstances of the shooting, and the way the police communicated with them in the moments afterward. A protest was planned around noon today, the Orange County Register reported.

Video captured images of Anaheim police firing rubber bullets into a crowd full of men, women and young children. A police dog was released on the crowd and it can be seen attacking residents (police claim the dog escaped by accident). Here's the report from KCAL 9 that includes the chaotic amateur video. [MORE] 

From [HERE] and [HERE] The city police officer who yelled "nigger" during the Nov. 19 standoff that ended with the death of a retired Black corrections officer and former Marine has been suspended without pay and now faces departmental disciplinary charges. Officer Steven Hart was presented with the charges Friday, Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said, and has until July 30 to respond. Chong would not say what the specific charges are, but said if found guilty he faces penalties ranging from a reprimand to dismissal from the police force. 

The shooting occurred in November after police responded to a call from the victim, Kenneth Chamberlain, who suffered from respiratory and heart problems, as he had set off his medical alert device, indicating he needed help. The encounter was recorded by audio and video devices. Transcripts from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office of audio recordings reveal Officer Steven Hart as the officer who said to Chamberlain, “Stop, we have to talk nigger” before police broke down his door.

Earlier this month the Chamberlain family filed a $21 million federal lawsuit, claiming among other things that cops taunted the 68-year-old Chamberlain for more than an hour before breaking down his apartment door. Police, responding to an accidentally activated medical alarm device, said Chamberlain, who had been drinking, attacked them with a knife and a hatchet and threatened to kill them.

Although Chamberlain insisted that he was OK and did not need help, police demanded that he open his door so they could check on him.

From [HERE] As the sun beat down on the Saturday afternoon of July 7, a group of about 90 marchers made their way down Church Avenue in East Flatbush toward the 67th Precinct headquarters. “No justice, no peace,” they loudly chanted. “No racist police.”

The men, women and children wore T-shirts decorated with photos of Shantel Davis, a young woman shot and killed by a 67th Precinct officer less than a month earlier, on June 14. Due to the intense heat, many marchers fanned themselves with the small picket signs they carried. “WANTED FOR RACIST MURDER,” the signs read, accompanied by the images of three men — George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman accused in Trayvon Martin’s death; New York Police Department officer Richard Haste, who is at the center of a controversial shooting of a Bronx suspect; and Narcotics Detective Phillip Atkins, who was involved in the Davis incident.

Atkins, known around the neighborhood as “Bad Boy,” was the officer who shot Davis. During his career, he has often faced allegations of having used excessive force. That history, combined with the fact that the N.Y.P.D. has not yet met with East Flatbush’s community leaders to discuss improving police-community relations, has led to a series of weekly protest marches every Saturday since June 16.

Records show that Atkins has been a defendant in six federal lawsuits. A law-enforcement official said he also is the subject of a number of misconduct complaints lodged with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. An agency spokeswoman said the records aren't public, and the disposition of the complaints couldn't be determined.

• In the case that prompted the largest known settlement, Vincent Burgess said he was waiting in a Brooklyn lobby in March 2003 when Detective Atkins hit him with a walkie-talkie and arrested him without cause. Charges of obstruction of justice, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana were later dropped. The city settled the case for $50,000 in June 2005. "I think he's a bully," said Mr. Burgess, now 29.
• The city settled another false-arrest lawsuit in March for $20,000, although the complaint doesn't spell out Detective Atkins's alleged role in that case.
• The owner of a Brooklyn business received a $15,000 settlement in 2008 after claiming Detective Atkins and others illegally searched his business and car, records show. 
• Margaret Ferguson, then 39, lost her job after Detective Atkins arrested her in July 2007 for possession of marijuana, said her attorney. The charges were later dropped, and the case was settled for an unspecified amount. The two other lawsuits are pending, records show.  [MORE] 

From [HERE] A civil rights trial against Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-styled "America's Toughest Sheriff," began today in which Arpaio and his department stand accused of racial profiling Latinos in Maricopa County. The class-action suit, which started with a complaint by a retired Mexican schoolteacher who was stopped in Arizona in 2007, has grown to encompass all Latinos who were stopped without probable cause from 2007 until the present.

"It's our view that the problem starts at the top," said Stan Young, an attorney for the plaintiffs, at the start of the federal trial today. Plaintiffs are not asking for damages, but rather an apology from the department and a change in policy. If found guilty, Arpaio will not face jail time or fines. Arpaio is expected to take the stand at some point during the bench trial. 

From [HERE] A federal judge overseeing civil cases filed after a Pleasantville police officer shot and killed Danroy Henry Jr. expressed skepticism earlier today of a lawyer’s arguments to dismiss some claims against Officer Aaron Hess. The hearing turned testy at points, as U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas took Brian Sokoloff, a lawyer for Hess, to task. Sokoloff argued that some claims against Hess made by a plaintiffs’ attorney, Bonita Zelman, were overly broad and lacked evidence.  But Karas warned the lawyer that he may be wasting his time, since Hess is named in several other parts of the suit. “I would give that some thought before you ruin your summer,” the judge said. 

Henry, a 20-year-old junior at the university located in Pleasantville, was shot outside a bar in the early morning hours after a homecoming game celebration. Two officers fired, but it is believed that Hess fired the fatal shots. Several witnesses, including passengers of Henry’s car, said he drove away because an officer had ordered him to leave the fire lane. Before he could slow down, Hess jumped in front of the vehicle, onto the hood, and started firing, they said. The passenger in the car, Brandon Cox, told authorities that Henry slowed down before he was shot by police. [MORE] According to witness testimony, Henry was handcuffed and placed on the sidewalk, where he lay dying. He was left on the street for 15 minutes without any medical attention. [MORE]

The Ghost of Rodney King? The Miles trial got underway on tues. The eight person jury selected has only one black person; five men and three women. Apparently there are no Latino jurors.  From [HERE] A young black man told jurors Thursday he was beaten by three white plainclothes police officers, then choked and told to "shut up" when he began praying during what he contends was a wrongful arrest on a snowy night more than two years ago.

The officers occasionally shook their heads while listening to testimony from 20-year-old Jordan Miles during their federal civil rights trial stemming from his Jan. 12, 2010, arrest. A district judge dismissed all criminal charges, including prowling and assault, against Miles two months later after expressing doubt about the officers' version of events. But on Thursday, the officers' attorneys were ridiculing Miles' version, in particular his claim that he didn't realize the plainclothes officers were police until uniformed officers showed up minutes later.

Defense attorney James Wymard sarcastically referred to his client and two other officers as the "three white mystery men" when cross-examining Miles and, at one point said, "You knew all along, Mr. Miles, that they were police officers." (whether he knew he was running from actual police officers or not - police had no right to beat him until he had brain damage. When they caught up with him they 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. The officers put him in handcuffs, and repeatedly shoved his face into the snow, causing a piece of wood to impale his gums, He is 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed. No weapons were found. He suffers from permanent brain damage. [MORE]) 

From [HERE] The widow of a Mexican native who died while in the custody of federal immigration authorities in Georgia has reached a settlement with the government in the $1 million wrongful death lawsuit she filed in March. But attorneys representing the federal government, Sara Hernandez-Gonzalez and her late husband, Roberto Medina-Martinez, are declining to disclose the terms of their settlement. They intend to finalize their agreement by September and then file papers to dismiss the case, court records show. 

In March 2009, Roberto Martinez-Medina was detained and arrested for not having a driver’s license or proof of legal status. Immediately after his arrest, Medina was sent to CCA’s (Corrections Corporation of America) Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.  Less than a month later Roberto Martinez-Medina was dead.

The U.S. Government contracts with CCA to operate the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. The ICE facility detains illegal aliens who are apprehended and placed into removal proceedings. During his detainment at Stewart Detention Center–the largest private prison in the country–Medina complained of a pre-existing heart ailment, but was denied medical care over several shifts. There is no medical service available at the detention center, and the nearest hospital is at least an hour away. The main reason for this lack of basic care: CCA had cut medical care costs and other basic needs to increase their quarterly and yearly profit.

From [HERE] and [HERE] While investigating another story, Telemundo's video team says it caught a brutal L.A. County Sheriff's arrest on tape -- adding to the leaning stack of "excessive force" allegations on some neglected desk at the sheriff's Internal Affairs Bureau. Video footage from an arrest the morning of Friday July 13 shows a young Latino man being slammed mercilessly into the sidewalk and a deputy stomping on his head.

Although he does not appear to be resisting the three Transit Services deputies who take him down one deputy in a green vest begins repeatedly elbowing/punching his face into the concrete. And, near the end of the arrest, the suspect is dealt a final crippling blow by the bottom of the deputy's boot. He instantly goes limp.

A news release from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, issued before the beating video surfaced, identifies the arrestee as 30-year-old Alexis Husmario Torres. He's currently being kept in the section of the L.A. County jail reserved for people with possible mental illness.  After deputies tried to take Torres into custody at 1st and Hill downtown, they say he became uncooperative and fought with deputies. As a result, the deputies and the suspect received minor injuries and were treated at area hospitals." Torres was booked for sexual battery and battery on a peace officer, as well as possessing a fake ID. 

From [HERE] and [HERE] Jury selection in the federal civil rights trial of three white undercover police officers accused of beating and wrongfully arresting an 18-year-old black student at the city's performing arts high school appeared to be moving swiftly Monday. Most of the jury questioning was conducted in U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster's chambers. The judge had previously ordered that, indicating potential jurors would be more forthcoming when asked about their knowledge of the case and any racial or other biases they might hold if they were not asked such things in open court.

Jordan Miles, now 20, claims the officers accosted, chased and beat him for no reason other than he was a young black man walking in a high-crime area. The jury consists of six jurors and two alternate jurors. Lawyers for both sides selected them from 65 people whom the court called for jury duty from 13 counties in Western Pennsylvania. Out of the total jury pool only three were black, all men. The eight person jury selected has only one black person; five are men and three are women. Apparently there are no Latino jurors. 

Jordan claims undercover officers approached him without articulable suspicion. Officers chased him when he ran and when they caught up with him they 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. The officers put him in handcuffs, and repeatedly shoved his face into the snow, causing a piece of wood to impale his gums, Miles has said. He is 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed. No weapons were found. He suffers from permanent brain damage. [MORE] 

From [MXM] A human rights crisis confronts Black people in the United States. Since January 1, 2012, police and a much smaller number of security guards and self-appointed vigilantes have murdered at least 110 Black women and men. These killings are definitely not accidental or random acts of violence or the work of rogue cops. As we noted in our April 6th, 2012 “Trayvon Martin is All of US!” Report (see http://mxgm.org/trayvon-martin-is-all-of-us/), the use of deadly force against Black people is standard practice in the United States, and woven into to the very fabric of the society.

The corporate media have given very little attention to these extrajudicial killings. We call them “extrajudicial” because they happen without trial or any due process, against all international law and human rights conventions. Those few mainstream media outlets that mention the epidemic of killings have been are unwilling to acknowledge that the killings are systemic – meaning they are embedded in institutional racism and national oppression. On the contrary, nearly all of the mainstream media join in a chorus that sings the praises of the police and read from the same script that denounces the alleged “thuggery” of the deceased. Sadly, too many people believe the police version of events and the media’s “blame-the-victim” narratives that justify and support these extrajudicial killings.

However, we have studied each of the reports of these deaths — including false, implausible and inconsistent claims by police and witness reports that contradict police reports. From this study [HERE] and many peoples’ experience, we must reject the corporate media’s rationalization for the horrible fact that in the first six months of this year, one Black person every 40 hours was executed. This wanton disregard for Black life resulted in the killing of 13 year-old children, fathers taking care of their kids, women driving the wrong cars, as well as people with mental health and drug problems.

This report documents how people of African descent remain “without sanctuary” throughout the United States. Nowhere is a Black woman or man safe from racial profiling, invasive policing, constant surveillance, and overriding suspicion. All Black people – regardless of education, class, occupation, behavior or dress – are subject to the whims of the police whose institutionalized racist policies and procedures require them to arbitrarily stop, frisk, arrest, brutalize and even execute Black people.

From [HERE] Authorities in Puerto Rico are investigating a policeman accused of firing at an 85-year-old handicapped woman who failed to stop after she backed into a car while leaving the grocery store. The officer, who was on his bicycle, shot at the woman's car nine times and hit it five times, Victor Carbonell, director of a special investigations unit that probes police shootings, said Tuesday.

One bullet went through the windshield on the driver's side and another through the driver's side window, he said. But no bullets struck the woman. "It's a miracle she's alive," Carbonell said, adding that it is unclear whether Catalina Reyes Rivera knew she had hit someone when she put the car in reverse. He said the woman inside the car that Reyes hit flagged down the officers who gave chase and forced Reyes out of the car at gunpoint and ordered her to kneel.

Reyes's daughter, Rosa Elsie Rosado, told reporters that her mother has two prosthetic knees. "It was horrific. I never imagined that something like this could happen, much less to my mother," she said. "He didn't notice that she was an elderly person ... He kept shooting like she was an animal."

From [HERE] A grand jury will convene tomorrow at 9:00 A. M. to hear the case of a police officer who is accused of shooting and killed a man during an armed robbery call. The shooting happened last December 9.

Mason, 21, of Carencro was shot to death by a Lafayette police canine officer the evening of Dec. 9 as Mason left his girlfriend's apartment in the Campus Crossings apartment complex on Theater Drive. The shooting happened last December 9. Quamaine Dwayne Mason was shot and killed when leaving his girlfriend's apartment at Campus Crossings on Theatre Drive. According to police, officers noticed Mason was armed and fired several shots at him, killing the 21-year old man.

Mason's girlfriend told news reporters the next day that Mason's hands were up and his gun was not drawn when the police officer shot him multiple times.  As Mason and Babino exited the apartment, they encountered four to five police officers, guns drawn. Babino told news reporters the next day that Mason raised his hands in response. But a canine officer saw a gun on Mason's hip and shot him. Mason died on the walkway near his girlfriend's apartment. [MORE] 

From [HERE] The Texas Civil Rights Project has filed a lawsuit against the City of Austin, claiming it violated state open records laws by not responding to a request for documents related to the fatal shooting of Ahmede Bradley by a police officer in April. According to the suit filed in state District Court in Travis County last week, the nonprofit civil rights group faxed a request to the city under the Texas Public Information Act on April 6, a day after Bradley was shot during what officials say was a struggle with an officer after a traffic stop in East Austin.

The incident began in the 6000 block of Manor Road when Copeland stopped Bradley for playing loud music from his vehicle, police officials have said. During the stop, Copeland smelled what he believed to be marijuana and moved to search the vehicle, officials said.

Bradley then drove off with Copeland in pursuit and later fled on foot near Overbrook Drive, officials said.

The two engaged in a series of struggles, officials said. During the second fight, Bradley tried to choke Copeland with his radio cord, police have said. Copeland then shot Bradley three times in the chest, killing him, officials said. Assistant Police Chief Sean Mannix said Tuesday that the case is under investigation and has not been presented to a grand jury.

Police Marred Funeral with Searches & Helicopter Surveillance

From [HERE] and [HERE] and [HERE] Cicero police shot a man in the back as he rode a bicycle and let him bleed to death, then planted a gun by him, "threatened to kill" a witness, and intimidated and arrested other witnesses, the dead man's father claims in Federal Court.  G. Cesar Munive, father of the late son Cesar Munive, sued [complaint] the Town of Cicero, its "police Officer Dominick Schullo "and other unknown Cicero police officers for conspiracy, recklessness, excessive force and other charges. Schullo is  the son of former Cicero Police Chief Emil Schullo who was sentenced to nine years in prison for mob-linked corruption schemes during the town’s Betty Loren-Maltese scandal a decade ago.

The suit states: "On Thursday, July 5, 2012, Cesar Munive was riding his bike at the corner of 13th Street and 57th Avenue. A police officer drove at a high rate of speed, and pulled onto the curb and parkway at the corner. He jumped out of his car and without lawful cause or justification shot the unarmed decedent, Cesar Munive, once in the back.

After being shot the decedent screamed in pain and yelled that he had not done anything. The decedent fell down to the grass, bleeding. As Mr. Munive lay on the ground bleeding, the defendant officers forcefully handcuffed him with his hands behind his back and dragged him on the ground and delayed seeking medical attention. As a result of defendant Schullo's unlawful use of force, Munive suffered pain during his last conscious moments. The fatal police shooting was totally unjustified. Mr. Munive never did anything which could have justified the use of deadly force." Munive says his son "bled to death on the scene."

From [HERE] and [HERE] A raid on a marijuana dispensary in Long Beach was caught on video showing police officers smashing surveillance cameras and stepping on a suspect, moves that prompted accusations against the officers of excessive force. A black volunteer at the collective can be seen in the video below with his neck stomped on by one of the officers who raided the facility.

The video was posted to YouTube by user "Long Beach Raids" on July 1. The two-minute-long video opens to show a man surrendering to police, three of whom surround him while two put him in handcuffs. One of the officers is seen stepping on volunteer employee Dorian Brooks' back with both feet before stepping on his neck, with what Brooks described as 300 pounds of pressure.  Brooks, “told NBC Los Angeles that the amount of force used to arrest him was excessive and out-of-proportion considering the crime.” "They noticed there was a camera that was on the wall right above my head, so they proceeded to smash it with a metal rod," said Brooks, adding that the camera shattered on him. "I wasn't able to protect myeslf because my hands were cuffed." "I felt violated; I felt disrespected," Brooks said. 

He filed a claim seeking $1 million in damages from the city of Long Beach. The papers, which were filed July 5th, state that the raid was illegal and allege that the officers involved used excessive force. According to a report by the Huffington Post, employees of the dispensary are claiming $10,000 in damage and destruction of evidence in addition to allegations of police brutality.

From [HERE] The case of a black teenager whose federal civil rights trial against three white Pittsburgh police officers begins on Monday has polarized the city like no other incident since a black motorist died in an altercation with white officers in 1995, lawyers and activists say. “I’ve never had more white people discuss a case since the Jonny Gammage case,” said Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of the Black Political Empowerment Project. “It has touched a big nerve.”

Jordan Miles, now 20, claims Officers Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak used excessive force when they arrested him Jan. 12, 2010, on a Homewood street near his home and then filed false charges against him to justify their actions. The officers contend they had probable cause to chase a fleeing Miles — who they thought was armed — and used the appropriate amount of force to subdue him.

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. According to Miles, he was walking along Tioga Street to his grandmother’s house, talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone, when a car swerved to a stop in front of him and three men in dark clothes jumped out. The men asked him where his money, drugs and gun were. Thinking he was about to be robbed, he ran a short distance before slipping and falling in the snow. The officers were not wearing uniforms and were an unmarked car. Police apparently also did not activate any sirens or identify themselves.

The officers 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. The officers put him in handcuffs, and repeatedly shoved his face into the snow, causing a piece of wood to impale his gums, Miles has said. He is 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed. No weapons were found.