From [HERE] and [MORE] The family of a 32-year-old mother of five shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent as he rode on her car's hood in suburban San Diego has filed a wrongful death claim against the agency, saying the agent had a long history of misconduct in a previous law enforcement job and should not have been on the street.

Attorney Eugene Iredale filed the claim Friday with the Border Patrol on behalf of Valeria "Munique" Tachiquin Alvarado and provided a copy to The Associated Press. The documents, a required precursor for a lawsuit, say the agent, 34-year-old Justin Tackett, was suspended four times for misconduct including crashing a patrol car and violating suspects' rights in the nearly four years that he worked as an Imperial County sheriff's deputy. Tackett had been given a notice that he'd be fired just before he quit the job in 2003, the documents say.

In one 2002 probation case, according to the claim, Tackett "willfully disobeyed a direct order" and "provided false and misleading information during the investigation." In a different incident in 2001, Tackett was called to assist police in Brawley with an incident and told to wait for them at a scene but instead rousted the suspect himself, engaged him in an altercation and cuffed him without a warrant.

From [HERE] Prosecutors accused four Milwaukee police officers Tuesday of illegally strip searching and sexually assaulting nearly a dozen people over a two-year span.

According to a criminal complaint, 10 men identified only by their initials told prosecutors the officers searched them between February 2010 and February 2012. The stories are strikingly similar. They allege that Officer Michael Vagnini stopped them, placed his hand down their pants and probed their anus or shifted their genitals, saying he was looking for drugs. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm charged Vagnini with 25 counts, including conducting an illegal strip search, misconduct in office, sexual assault and conducting an illegal body cavity search.

Chisholm also charged Jeffrey Dollhopf with conducting an illegal strip search, conducting an illegal body cavity search and two counts of misconduct in public office; Brian Kozelek with conducting an illegal strip search and misconduct in public office; and Jacob Knight with conducting an illegal body cavity search and misconduct in public office.

In this photo taken Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, vehicles drive along the border fence in Nogales, Mexico. A U.S. Border Patrol agent opened fire on a group of people throwing rocks from across the Mexican border, killing a teenage boy and eliciting outrage from the Mexican government over the use of lethal force, authorities said Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012. From [HERE] and [HERE] A mayor in Mexico says a boy killed by a U.S. federal agent was shot seven times.

Nogales Mayor Ramon Guzman Munoz called the shooting "deplorable." The Sonora State Investigative Police, or PEI, said 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez of Nogales, Sonora was found dead of gunshot wounds on the sidewalk on the south side of Calle Internacional, which faces the border fence on the west side of downtown.

Eyewitness account

In a report Thursday afternoon on Radio XENY of Nogales, Sonora, reporter Cesar Barron said that according to an eyewitness, two males were climbing on the border fence, apparently on their way back from the U.S. side, when the Border Patrol agents arrived.

According to the witness, the agents told the suspects that they were going to be arrested, and that they were better off behind bars in the United States than in Mexico. The suspects reportedly responded with an obscenity.

At that point, four more males arrived on the Mexican side and began to throw rocks toward the fence in an apparent effort to help the two suspects escape. That's when an agent began firing, the witness told Barron.

Some of the bullets reportedly struck the walls of a medical office behind Rodríguez. Luis Contreras Sánchez, the physician who operates the office, was quoted by the newspaper Expreso as saying the building was hit 14 times. Other news outlets put the count between five and “12 or more.”

From [HERE] and  [MORE] Witnesses to the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Black man disputed official accounts of the incident Thursday, saying Kenny Releford, thought by neighbors to be mentally ill, had his hands over his head when the officer fired. The incident, which occurred at the intersection of Sampson and Francis about 12:10 a.m. Thursday, marks the second time in less than a month that an officer-involved shooting drew criticism for how police handled a suspect with possible mental problems.

In the latest incident, police spokesman John Cannon said Officer J. Rosemon  went to Releford's home and asked to speak with him. Releford stepped onto his porch with his left arm behind his back, Cannon said, disregarding the officer's command to keep his hands in plain sight.

Then, Cannon said, Releford began screaming at the officer, moving toward him with his hand still concealed. Again Rosemon ordered the man to stop, but Releford continued to advance, the spokesman said. When Releford stepped within five feet of the officer, Rosemon, fearing for his life, fired two shots, Cannon said. Releford was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he later died. Neighbors, though, told a dramatically different story.

A neighbor spoke with the media after the incident and disputed the officer’s claims that Releford wasn’t listening to his commands. She also said the suspect had both his hands in the air.

From [HERE] The State's Attorney has decided against charging a police officer after the rifle used in the accidental killing of a 13 year old girl by playmates was found in his car.  Officer John Ward remains on departmental suspension.

But he will not face charges related to events that followed the shooting earlier this year that left Monae Turnage dead. The girl's body was hidden under trash in an alley after she was accidentally shot while playing with two friends. Later the rifle was found in Ward's vehicle. He has been suspended while his conduct in the aftermath of the shooting is under investigation

The Sun reported that prosecutors found insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.

Officer Ward was engaged to a relative of one of the two boys whose cases are being handled in the juvenile justice system. The rifle belonged to a relative of one of the boys. Now that man faces related charges of reckless endangerment.

From [HERE] Two more New York police officers are being sued by the parents of a college football player who was killed in his car by another officer.

The new federal lawsuit claims the officers failed to get immediate help for Danroy Henry Jr. of Easton, Mass., after he was shot in 2010. After being shot by police, the officers removed him from the car and handcuffed him. Witnesses say police left him like that in the street for 15 minutes without medical attention. [MORE] 

Henry, a Pace University student, was driving away from a disturbance outside a bar. The officer who shot him said Henry was driving toward him and wouldn't stop.

Several witnesses, including passengers of Henry’s car, said that Henry drove away because another officer had ordered him to move his car from the fire lane. Before he could slow down, Hess jumped in front of the vehicle, jumped onto the hood, and started firing. 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]

Video of the immediate moments after police killed Diaz. In the video Diaz was still alive--and police stood there for over three minutes and did nothing. Instead, they seem more concerned with pushing witnesses away from the scene, the better to diminish the video quality of the footage, when they weren't actively trying to block the source from recording. From [HERE] and [HERE] An Anaheim policeman who was named rookie of the year and whose name recently appeared on a charity fight card was identified Tuesday as the officer who fatally shot a man who police say ran when officers tried to apprehend him. Nick Bennallack was named in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Manuel Diaz, 25, whose July 21 shooting, followed by another officer-involved fatal shooting the next day, ignited days of protests in Anaheim. 

Police initially refused to identify the officers involved in the two shootings, saying they had received death threats. In September, Investigator Kelly Phillips was named as the officer involved in the second shooting, which killed Joel Acevedo.

Diaz's family filed a $50 million lawsuit against Anaheim and the Police Department, alleging federal civil-rights violations and wrongful death. Diaz was responding "instinctively" when he fled as Bennallack approached, the suit said. The suit says Bennallack shot toward Diaz's legs, making him fall, and then he or another officer fired a second gunshot into the back of Diaz's head. The officer with Bennallack that day has not been identified.

The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, although only one sentence long, protects people against unjustified detentions by the government. It reads: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Video [HERE] WFTV obtained new information about a federal lawsuit against the Orange County sheriff and two deputies that was filed by a Black teen claiming his constitutional rights were violated during an arrest in 2009. In the complaint, Trey Brown, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, said Sheriff Jerry Demings failed to supervise and properly train deputy sheriffs to prevent the assault of the minor.

Brown, and two other teens, were pursued on foot by Deputies Courdney Ramsaroop and Hector Avilez near Texas Avenue and American Boulevard. The chase was in connection with a battery incident, officials said. According to the complaint, Brown "was threatened at gunpoint by Ramsaroop by having a firearm placed to his head and neck and threatened to be shot and killed." Brown also claims both deputies punched him multiple times, and the lawsuit states Ramsaroop also struck Brown in the groin with a closed fist. Brown said the violent beating happened while he was in handcuffs.

Brown said in the suit that he has "suffered bodily injury, humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish, oppression, pain and suffering, inconvenience, loss of dignity and loss of liberty" as a result of the defendants' actions in 2009. He demands judgment by jury trial.

From [HERE] The fight for justice for a man who died in Milwaukee police custody last year rises to new heights. Billboards are going up to raise awareness about the death of Derek Williams. The billboards are being paid for by a family that does not know the Williams family, but they say they share the family's pain. Michael Bell is paying for the 17 billboards around the city.

His fight with law enforcement started in 2004 when his 21-year-old son was shot in the head by a Kenosha police officer while in handcuffs.

"Our family has been fighting for change in the law enforcement review process," says Bell.  "Within 48 hours the Kenosha Police Department cleared itself of any wrongdoing." In 2010, Bell's father settled out of court with the city for more than $1 million.  The settlement money is paying for the billboards.  The billboards have different messages including one which shares Williams' last words "Sir, I can't breathe."  They are designed to grab your attention to a call for change. 

Williams suffocated to death while handcuffed, naked from a strip search, in the back of a police car. He repeatedly told officers he couldn't breathe for at least 15 minutes between the time of his arrest and his death. They repeatedly ignore him as he suffocates to death. It is captured on graphic video which was released last month. 

From [HERE] The family of an Arkansas man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Little Rock police officer in 2010 asked the Justice Department on Monday to investigate his death. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, lawyers for Eugene Ellison's family also alleged a cover-up after his death by the same department that has employed his two sons. Ellison's younger son, Sgt. Troy Ellison, joined the Little Rock police department in 1995. Ellison's older son, Spencer Ellison, is a former Little Rock police officer who now teaches criminal justice at the University of North Texas at Dallas.

Their attorneys' letter to Holder comes nearly two years after Donna Lesher, shot Eugene Ellison, 67, twice at an apartment complex where she and another off-duty officer, Tabitha McCrillis, were working as security guards. Prosecutors said last year that they wouldn't file charges the officers, saying Ellison attacked them with his cane and could not be subdued. Lawyers for the police stated that Ellison's apartment door was wide open on a cold night and that Lesher and McCrillis went inside to investigate.

Lawyers for Ellison's family, meanwhile, contend that the door was partially opened and that they went inside without a proper reason. At some point, a struggle ensued and McCrillis left and called for backup, Laux wrote in the letter to Holder. Two other officers showed up and Lesher left Ellison's apartment unit.

"Inexplicably, with four (4) police officers now outside the unit and only Ellison inside, Lesher unholstered her gun, pointed inside and shot Ellison twice," Laux wrote in the letter to Holder. "Among the first words out of Lesher's mouth after she killed Ellison were 'Call my husband please ... call my husband.'"

From [HERE] A former Houston police officer was sentenced to life in prison Monday for raping a woman he abducted while on duty. The woman's identity has not been disclosed to the public but she is a Latino Woman in her late 20's. [MORE]  Abraham Joseph was found guilty on Thursday of two counts of aggravated sexual assault. While on duty in January 2011, a uniformed Joseph abducted a waitress outside a Houston-area nightclub, handcuffed her, drove her away and raped her in a park, KPRC reported.

Joseph was fired from the Houston Police Department in 2011, after he was indicted for the crime, according to Houston radio station News 92 FM. Joseph shook his head and began to cry when the judge affirmed the verdict, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Prosecutors said the victim was courageous in coming forward and taking the stand for three days to testify, according to the Chronicle. During closing arguments, prosecutors told the jury that Joseph used his authority to intimidate several women, KPRC reported. Three other women took the stand during the sentencing phase to talk about their alleged sexual attacks, the Chronicle reported.

An investigation would likely pit Det. Hamdy's word against that of Ms. Deferrari, as their versions of events clash sharply and the incident wasn't witnessed directly by anyone else (a curious statement from the WSJ- other cops were present but they refuse to snitch, as there were two police vans carrying a "group of other officers." Killer cop Hamdy drove one of the vans and the witness said an "army of officers" swarmed the car". In fact the other passenger in Polanco's car was an off-duty NYPD officer Vanessa Rodriguez, who claims she slept through the entire thing. [MORE] White media supporting the actions of white police= white supremacy).

Police said the fatal encounter was preceded by Mr. Polanco driving erratically in a Honda Fit along the eastbound lanes of the Grand Central Parkway at about 5 a.m., twice cutting off two unmarked police vehicles carrying Det. Hamdy and a group of other officers. Mr. Polanco didn't comply with orders, delivered over the police vehicle's loud speakers, to pull over, forcing the officers to pen his vehicle in. 

Once the car was stopped, Hamdy approached the Honda from the passenger side, where he shot Polanco through the open passenger-side window. Hamdy’s lawyer, Philip Karasyk, said that Hamdy believed Polanco was reaching for a gun. But a witness, Diane Deferrari, who was seated in the passenger’s seat, rebutted that account, saying the oficer fired without giving Mr. Polanco a chance to comply with his orders to put his hands up and that his hands were still on the steering wheel when he pulled the trigger."Had I moved an inch, it would probably have been me.'' [MORE]  No weapon was found in the car. A small power-drill was found under Mr. Polanco's seat, police said.

Don't think its Murder? Why Not? Murder is the intentional pre-meditated killing of another without excuse, justification or mitigating factors. Here, a psychopathic white officer made a number of decisions leading to his conclusion to kill this Latino man: 1) After NYPD officer driving police car got cut off in traffic, he got angry. 2. What did he do about it? The Officer reacted by deciding to catch up to him and to "drive him of the road." 3. The Officer got real angry- a passenger in Polanco's car said that one of the officers — but not Detective Hamdy — stuck up his middle finger and was screaming obscenities from one of the moving police trucks. 4) After deciding to pull him over, the officer immediately exited his car. 5) He pulled out his gun and drew it. 6) Without provocation or warning to Polanco he decided to kill him by blasting him. Polanco had his hands on the steering wheel. Will white prosecutors have the courage to file a murder charge? [MORE]. From [HERE] The death of an unarmed driver on the Grand Central Parkway continues to raise questions—about what could have prompted (racism) a veteran ESU detective to fire and about the detective himself. As both NYPD Internal Affairs and the Queens DA's office investiate the fatal shooting of Noel Polanco, a 22-year-old National Guard reservist, it's now been revealed that the detective has been previously sued for police abuse.

Detective Hassan Hamdy, 39, was named in two federal civil rights lawsuits filed against police officers that the city eventually settled. The NY Times reported they were in 2001—$235,000—and 2008—$291,000. Hamdy was one of many officers in both cases: "One lawsuit accused the officers of breaking down the door of a man’s home without a warrant and assaulting him; another charged that officers repeatedly harassed a business owner. (in photo, Sharpton with Polanco's mother.)

From [HERE] and [HERE] A federal judge in Lubbock ruled that sufficient information exists to allow an excessive force lawsuit filed this summer against two Brownfield police officers to go forward. U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ruled that there are legitimate questions for trial about whether officers Joshua Coronado and Matthew Valdonado violated Zackary Kegan Cruz’s Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure during a July 2011 traffic stop.

The suit alleges Coronado kicked Cruz in the head while he was handcuffed and on the ground and that Valdonado then picked him up and slammed his head onto the hood of a police car.

In a ruling Thursday on a defense motion to dismiss the suit, Cummings threw out charges against the Brownfield police department and a constitutional complaint that argued the violence that occurred during the traffic stop also violated Cruz’s Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The judge dismissed the charges with prejudice because Cruz's lawyer failed to properly name the defendants being sued in the complaint filed. 

"If you're going to protect and serve us as people, as human beings, no one should die like my nephew died," said Maeleen Jordan, Derrick Willams' aunt. Chief said Police Did Nothing Wrong after Watching Complete graphic video (sound after a few minutes) [HERE] From [HERE] and [HERE] The reaction to the released video of Derrick Willams, a Black man who died in the back of a police squad car and the racist handling of the Darius Simmons case (see story below) is leading the Black community to call for the removal of Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn.

There was a closed-door meeting Thursday night between Chief Flynn and the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. Mayor Barrett acknowledged a high level of unrest in the community over the handling of the Williams and Simmons cases.  “He’s got a four-year term. Every indication he’s going to be staying,” said Mayor Barrett. “He wants to address these problems. Everyone shares the same goal and that is to make sure we have a safe city, a city where police respect citizens, and citizens respect police and he is clearly indicated he is willing to work to make sure that happens.”

Last month the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office revised its ruling on the death of Derek Williams, who died in Milwaukee police custody in July 2011, from natural to homicide. The decision came after the Journal Sentinel alerted an assistant medical examiner to newly released records - including a video of a suffocating Williams pleading for help from the back of a squad car - and also made him aware of a national expert who said Williams, 22, did not die naturally of sickle cell crisis. The police reports include key details about Williams' arrest that the medical examiner didn't know originally. 

The graphic video shows a handcuffed Williams, his eyes rolled back, gasping for breath and begging for help in the back seat of a Milwaukee police car as officers ignore his pleas. Williams, his hands cuffed behind him, repeatedly begged and told officers he couldn't breathe for at least 15 minutes between the time of his arrest and his death. Officers ignored him and believed him to be acting.  Officers told internal investigators they did not hear him ask for help. In the video Williams is naked - as police had conducted a strip search before placing him in their cruiser.  

From [HERE] and [HERE]  The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission has concluded that Milwaukee's Police Department didn't violate any rules, procedures or policies during the homicide investigation of 13-year-old Darius Simmons. The commission released a 10-page report on Friday following community concerns surrounding the investigation.

Simmons, a black 13 year old, was allegedly murdered by his white neighbor, 75-year-old John Spooner, in front of his mother in the front of her home at 1905 W. Arrow Street at 9:48 a.m. on May 31. Apparently, because the white man accused the boy of theft in order to justify the murder, the MPD went on a baseless search of her house, locked up her other son and detained her in a police car. 

Simmons’ mother claims she was detained in the back of a squad car for several hours. Police forced her to sit in a squad car rather than let her hold her dying son or join him at the hospital. Officers also rifled through her home looking for stolen firearms, and arrested another of her sons on a year-old truancy violation -in the immediate aftermath of the murder. Nothing unlawful was found in her home from the illegal police search.

According to the criminal complaint, Simmons was retrieving the garbage from the curb when Spooner walked up to him and confronted him. Spooner, who claims to be a victim of multiple burglaries, accused the teen of being the culprit of at least one of the burglaries.

Spooner asked Simmons for his belongings back, including two shotguns. Simmons denied having anything to do with Spooners’ stolen property. Simmons’ mother Patricia Larry told police that she also told Spooner they had nothing to do with his stolen property. The criminal complaint says that’s when Spooner pulled out his gun and fired two shots at Simmons' chest, as his mother watched. When police arrived Spooner said, “Yeah I shot him.” [MORE] Simmons was unarmed and posing no threat to Spooner.

From [HERE] and [MORE] A New York police detective shot and killed an unarmed man, whose hands, a witness said, were on the steering wheel of his Honda, after he had been pulled over early Thursday for cutting off two police trucks on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, the authorities said.

The detective, Hassan Hamdy, 39, a 14-year veteran assigned to the Emergency Service Unit, fired one bullet through an open window of the car, which his squad had just pulled over with the help of a second police vehicle. The bullet struck the driver, Noel Polanco, 22, in the abdomen. He was declared dead less than an hour later at New York Hospital Queens.

A passenger in Mr. Polanco’s car, Diane Deferrari, said in a phone interview Thursday night that just before pulling the car over, officers appeared irate that Mr. Polanco had cut them off. She said that one of the officers — but not Detective Hamdy — stuck up his middle finger and was screaming obscenities from one of the moving police trucks.

“As soon as we stopped — they were rushing the car,” Ms. Deferrari said. “It was like an army.”

She said a group of officers swarmed the car, yelling for the three people in Mr. Polanco’s car to put their hands up. Mr. Polanco, whose hands were still on the steering wheel, had no time to comply, Ms. Deferrari said. At that instant, a shot rang out, and Mr. Polanco gasped for air, she said.

Black Man with No Crminal Record Stopped for Open Container. Officers Perjured themselves with False Reports. White Prosecutors Approve of Conduct by White Officers. From [HERE] A young Black college student named Aibuedefe Oghogho is suing the LAPD after he was assaulted and tased while leaving a Hollywood nightclub. Oghogho claims he was unjustly beaten by officers.

According to the student, who has no criminal past, “All I could remember was just sirens and punches."  Oghogho has filed a lawsuit against the LAPD, alleging excessive use of force and a violation of his civil rights for the arrest that happened on Oct. 22, 2010. The entire incident was captured on video. 

In the video, officers can be seen pulling up in an unmarked car and asking Oghogho what he’s holding. He says one of the officers pushed him, and Oghogho admits to putting up an arm and saying, “Stop.” That’s when he says things went south.

During the struggle, Officer Jenkins can be seen pulling his baton and striking Oghogho in the neck. He and his partner, Officer Tafoya, are then seen repeatedly punching Oghogho while he is on the ground. Oghogho is then put in handcuffs and is motionless on the ground when what appears to be an army of backup officers arrive.

“They picked me up, threw me onto this fence and they threw me onto the fence started hitting me while I was on the fence and then they slammed me down like head first,” Oghogho said. “And I’m…and it’s the whole time they’re doin’ it, the whole time they’re doin’ it, I hear one officer keep punching me in my face, he’s telling me, ‘stop resisting arrest, stop resisting arrest’ and all I could say to myself was, ‘I’m not resisting.’”