From [HERE] and [HERE] A Black man who claims he was retaliated against and charged with a crime after complaining to Seattle police of rough treatment by officers filed a $1.5 million claim against the city on Wednesday, just hours before the city attorney's office joined in a motion to vacate the conviction it had obtained against him.

Donald Fuller ran into trouble while walking in downtown Seattle on a Friday afternoon three years ago. "I was heading up to Steward Street," he said. "I was on my way to do some work for the homeless."

That's when he says two Seattle police officers called him over and said he could get a ticket. "And I said, 'Ticket? Ticket for what?' And he (the officer) said, 'Jaywalking,'" said Fuller. 

That was the beginning of a nightmare for Fuller and of a series of questionable actions by the Office of Professional Accountability -- the very office charged with protecting citizens from police misconduct. "I think the OPA is a sham," said James Egan, an attorney representing Fuller. "I think the OPA is a shill that actually protects officers."  Three years after Fuller was arrested, charged and convicted of obstruction, Egan has uncovered a web of documents that show Fuller never would have been charged if he had simply never complained.  

From [HERE] Before a group of 5 white Saginaw police officers shot and killed a homeless Black man staggering around with a knife in his hand on July 1, officers made attempts to retrieve a "bean bag gun" that was later found to be locked in a place no one at the station could access. Instead officers fatally shot Milton Hall with a reported 46 shots in a five-second hail of bullets. [MORE] 

More than four months after that incident, Saginaw City Council (in photo, a group of white folks) at its Monday, Nov. 19, meeting approved the purchase of three such "projectile launcher" weapons, which will be stored inside vehicles driven by the department's supervisors. Assistant City Manager for Public Safety Phil Ludos said the police department was considering such a purchase before the July 1 shooting of Milton Hall. "Clearly the Hall incident was the impetus to get it moving forward," Ludos said.

All council members present voted in favor of the $5,052 expenditure, which will buy the department three 37 mm, multi-role , two-shot over/under projectile launchers from Sage Control Ordnance in Oscoda. Ludos explained that the weapon, essentially a shotgun that fires both gas canisters and "less-lethal" ordnance at lower velocities than bullets. The idea, he said, is to give officers another way to disarm and disable a subject.

Such measures are like using a mop to clean up a levee break. The issue here is not faulty equiptment- it is white supremacy/racism [MORE]; white prosecutors upheld the decision of white police officers to murder a black man in broad daylight - the white media remains quiet and white citizens in Saginaw support the killing. [MORE] and [MORE]. Think about it, how many white people have been killed like Milton Hall by Black officers? How many unarmed white people have been killed by Black officers in the history of law enforcement? None. [MORE] 

From [HERE] The family of an Inglewood man gunned down by L.A. County sheriff's deputies this month is requesting an FBI probe of the shooting and subsequent investigation by the Sheriff's Department.

Jose de la Trinidad, 36, was shot and killed by deputies Nov. 10, just minutes after leaving his niece's quinceanera with his older brother. After police attempted to pull the older brother over for speeding, he sped off. After pleading with his brother to stop, passenger Jose de la Trinidad was let out of the car in the 1900 block of East 122nd Street in Willowbrook, family members said. There the unarmed Latino man was shot and killed by deputies. 

Sheriff's Department officials said the deputies believed Jose de la Trinidad was reaching for his waistband and, fearing he had a weapon, used necessary force.

The slain man's family, however, said that a 19-year-old woman who witnessed the shooting from her bedroom window reported that she saw De la Trinidad with his hands behind his head before shots were fired.

The family's attorney, Luis Carrillo, said the witness heard the older brother's car screech to a stop and then watched Jose de la Trinidad get out of the vehicle.

"When they told him to stop, his hands went up behind his head and he kept them there," the witness told a private investigator working for Carrillo, according to a transcript of interview notes read to The Times.

From [HERE] A Metro-North conductor was lying face down on the ground when an off-duty rookie cop in the Bronx shot him in the back. Edward Mitchell, a Black man, 41, says in a $30 million lawsuit that the officer violated his civil rights in 2005 by using excessive force after the two men had a fender-bender on an exit ramp off the Bruckner Expressway.

Jury selection in the trial is set to begin Monday. Mitchell’s lawyer, James Lenihan, said he has forensic evidence and witnesses to prove his African-American client was on the ground when white officer Anthony Adorno fired two shots.

“I remember being shot in the back by a police officer,” Mitchell told the Daily News. “It hit my leg. I fell on the ground. I remember the officer telling me, ‘Don’t move. Don’t move.’ It was very painful.” Mitchell said his most painful memories from that night involve “the ordeal of my family seeing me in a hospital with handcuffs on my wrist and my leg.

From [HERE] Police Officer Evan Cossette is expected to plead not guilty to police brutality and obstruction of justice charges when he appears today before a federal court magistrate in New Haven, his lawyer said Monday.

Cossette was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on a charge of police brutality following an investigation into a 2010 incident in which he shoved a handcuffed Latino prisoner into a jail cell, cracking the his skull. The criminal investigation of Evan Cossette, the son of Police Chief Jeffry Cossette, started after the videotape of the jail cell incident surfaced and two officers, Brian Sullivan and Donald Huston, complained to city officials that Evan Cossette had received favorable treatment because he is the chief's son.

Cossette was also charged with obstruction of justice for filing a false report of the incident.

The videotape shows Cossette pushing the handcuffed prisoner, Pedro Temich, backward into the jail cell, causing Temich to cut open his head on a concrete bench. The indictment calls it a "firm shove" of the "compliant and handcuffed" Temich, causing him to fall back.

(graphic video, no sound for first minute) White Medical Examiner, White Police Chief, White District Attorney & White Mayor All Uphold the Decisions of White Police Officers to Ignore Dying Black Man in Custody [MORE]   .From [HERE] The assistant medical examiner (a white man) whose ruling was changed in the Derek Williams death resigned - last month with no notice to the public. Williams is the Black man who died in the back of a police squad car in the summer of 2011. During his arrest police officers crushed him - they ended up on top of Williams with him facing down - the officer then put his knee in his back according to the report of Milwaukee police Detective Luke O'Day, who interviewed the officers involved. Williams then 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. On the video the officers repeatedly ignore him as he suffocated to death.

Williams first complained as he laid facedown, Officer Ticcioni pressing a knee across his back, O'Day's report says. "As soon as he released pressure, Williams began squirming, as if trying to break free, and reached around his right side to his right waistband (while still in handcuffs)," according to the report. Ticcioni worried that Williams was trying to grab a gun and "reapplied pressure with his right knee to prevent any further movement from the suspect," the report says. Officers then searched Williams. No gun was found.

They got him to his feet, and "Williams immediately went limp," the report says. Ticcioni "laid him on the ground on his back and observed that he was breathing hard." [MORE] The officers then literally pulled him to his feet and carried him to the cruiser with his feet dragging on the ground. Once in the cruiser the video begins. [MORE] 

Dr. Christopher Poulos said Williams died of natural causes.

Racist Police Department Hurt by Video From [HERE] An anonymous tip to the Prince George's County Police Dept. has led to the suspension of two Black police officers for their participation in a video Police Chief Mark Magaw described as "very inappropriate."

The video, which was posted on the Internet on Nov. 1, contains "crude stereotypes, racial slurs,"  and depicts two officers stopping a car driven by an African American male, Magaw said.

The video shows a traffic stop that appears to take place in Prince George's County. It depicts two African American officers, in uniform, who use crude stereotypes and profanity when interacting with an African American driver who appears to be an actor. "It is supposed to be a spoof but there is nothing funny about it," Magaw said at a Friday evening news conference. "It depicts our officers, our community, in a terrible light and is just unacceptable. This video does not depict this police department."

Magaw said the officers, both from District 5, have been placed on leave. "Both these officers will be held accountable for their actions. They both could be fired. It will go through the administrative proceeding just like any other violation. They are entitled to their rights, but the ultimate outcome could be termination.

From [HERE] and [HERE] The parents of a Black teenage girl who says she was "body-slammed" by an Arlington police officer during a melee at an end-of-summer party have filed a federal lawsuit against the officer. The lawsuit, filed by Julie and Kirk Perry on Thursday in Fort Worth, says officer Dylan Eckstrom used excessive force when he lifted the then-15-year-old girl a foot off the ground and drove her, back-first, into the pavement.

The incident happened in a parking lot. A cellphone video, which went viral, shows the officer forcing the girl to the ground - by picking her up from behind and bodyslamming her down on her back. The officer then scrapes her face on the pavement and pepper sprays her face at close range - which caused pain in her open wounds, the lawsuit says.

The officer outweighs the girl by nearly 100 pounds, according to the lawsuit.

The girl was charged with fighting in public after a melee broke out Aug. 8 at 1010 Collins, an entertainment and events center, when a private party was shut down early.

Eckstrom ticketed the girl, who pleaded not guilty in Arlington Municipal Court in September. A jury trial is tentatively set for July, according to a court official. In other words despite the ugly conduct of the officer, a white prosecutor made a decision to go forward with this silly case. Could a black police officer have done this to a white teenage girl in Texas?

From [HERE] Graphic, disturbing video shows a Drexel University police cruiser ramming Walter Johnson, a Black man, into a wall on Drexel's campus after a pursuit triggered by suspicions that Johnson was a burglary suspect the evening of December 30th, 2011. Johnson's pelvis was shattered. His right leg was shattered as well. The incident began when Johnson was spotted on surveillance cameras trying to enter a couple of locked buildings on the campus. Johnson, who was away from a halfway house without permission, told police he was trying to find a public rest room.

Drexel Police claimed he and his friend were trying to break in to the buildings using screwdrivers.

"I can only tell you what I see in the video. I don't see any screwdrivers," said Johnson's lawyer, Bob Levant.

Levant says Johnson had a cell phone in his left hand and a cigarette in his right hand. He says Johnson fled when confronted by police because he was not authorized to be out on the street. And that in turn led to the incident with the car, which Levant says was not justified. "I can't get in the heads of those officers. But the video suggests that car was intentionally pointed at Mr. Johnson and driven into him," said Levant.

The university is essentially declining comment, citing a pending lawsuit. After reviewing the Drexel surveillance video, Philadelphia's district attorney has dropped the charges Drexel filed against Walter Johnson.

"The question is, can the police behave that way based on what they saw in the video. Perhaps if someone was wielding a deadly weapon and was imminently going to kill someone, you could utilize a police vehicle in the manner seen in that video. Outside of that, which is obviously not what happens here, this is not okay," said Levant.

Meriden firefighters tend to Pedro Temich in a holding cell at the Meriden Police Department on May 1, 2010. Officer Evan Cossette was given a letter of reprimand for pushing Temich into the holding cell. From [HERE] and [HERE] A Meriden police officer was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on a charge of police brutality following an investigation into a 2010 incident in which he shoved a handcuffed Latino prisoner into a jail cell, cracking the his skull. The criminal investigation of Evan Cossette, the son of Police Chief Jeffry Cossette, started after the videotape of the jail cell incident surfaced and two officers, Brian Sullivan and Donald Huston, complained to city officials that Evan Cossette had received favorable treatment because he is the chief's son.

Cossette was also charged with obstruction of justice for filing a false report of the incident. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in New Haven before U.S. Magistrate Joan G. Margolis. Use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000. The obstruction charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

The videotape shows Cossette pushing the handcuffed prisoner, Pedro Temich, backward into the jail cell, causing Temich to cut open his head on a concrete bench. The indictment calls it a "firm shove" of the "compliant and handcuffed" Temich, causing him to fall back.

The tape shows Evan Cossette entering the cell at least six times and moving the unconscious Temich around, twice propping him up against the bench and another time putting him back on the floor so that the man's handcuffs could be removed. There is blood visible on the floor where Temich fell.

A dispatcher who saw the unconscious Temich in the cell made the first call for medical help. Temich was taken to MidState Medical Center in Meriden and required 12 stitches in the back of his head.

The incident wasn't reported to police administrators until six weeks later. An internal affairs investigation by the then-head of that unit, Sgt. Leonard Caponigro, found that Evan Cossette had used unnecessary force. At an administrative hearing, Deputy Chief Timothy Tupolos overruled that finding and issued a letter of reprimand. Cossette was ordered to take four hours of training on the use of excessive force.

From [HERE] A pair of Mexican drug smugglers in camouflage pants, bundles of marijuana strapped to their backs, scaled a 25 foot-high fence in the middle of the night, slipped quietly into the United States and dashed into the darkness. U.S. Border Patrol agents and local police gave chase on foot — from bushes to behind homes, then back to the fence.

The conflict escalated. Authorities say they were being pelted with rocks. An agent responded by aiming a gun into Mexico and firing multiple shots at the assailant, killing a 16-year-old boy, José Antonio Elena Rodríguez (in photo) whose family says was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Other Version According to a witness, two males were climbing on the border fence, apparently on their way back from the U.S. side, when the Border Patrol agents arrived. 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. 

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. [MORE] 

The Oct. 10 shooting has prompted renewed outcry over the Border Patrol's use-of-force policies and angered human rights activists and Mexican officials who believe the incident has become part of a disturbing trend along the border — gunning down (Non-White) rock-throwers rather than using non-lethal weapons.

 From [HERE] Laws like Arizona's SB1070 require that police determine the immigration status of people who are arrested or detained when there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are not in the country legally. This has opened the door to instances of racial profiling among Hispanics during routine traffic stops, like not wearing a seat belt or having improper rear tag illumination or tinted windows. Univision's Andrea Sambuccetti traveled to Maricopa County, Arizona, and set up a hidden camera to determine how easy it is to become a victim of racial targeting when driving. Check out the video above to see what she discovered.

From [HERE] Section 2(B) gives police too much discretion when stopping or detaining persons while “checking” their citizenship status. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and AACJ argued in their brief that Sec. 2(B) cannot be implemented without racially profiling Latinos in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. (That is, police stops and detentions of persons based on physical characteristics or people who look Latino to the police are considered reasonable under Arizona law -  any stop and detention of a non-white person). Even lawful detentions and arrests become unconstitutional when the detention becomes prolonged or unreasonable. If officers rely on profiling characteristics such as a person’s ethnicity in determining whether a person should be detained for an immigration check, Sec. 2(B) becomes an unconstitutional “stop-and-identify” law repugnant to all citizens.

From [HERE] When Pittsburgh Officer David Derbish opened the passenger door of Leon Ford's car and leaned in, he said he believed the 19-year-old was reaching for something.

But that move -- reaching into the car -- may have violated the police bureau's own rules about traffic stops, which prohibits officers from reaching into a suspect's car when the engine is running. It also raised questions about whether the officer put himself in unnecessary danger and precipitated the turn of events that led him to shoot the driver in the chest, saying he feared for his life.

Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board, said it appeared that the officer violated the policy and she believed he should face disciplinary action. "It's an insubordinate act, and there should be a consequence," she said. "He compromised his own safety by deviating from the policy standard."

Police said that after Officer Derbish opened the door, Mr. Ford, who had been pulled over for traffic violations, began driving away. Officer Derbish jumped into the car because he feared he would be dragged, police said. As Mr. Ford tried to push the officer out, the officer fired several shots at Mr. Ford, striking him in the chest. The car crashed about 100 yards later into a rocky landscaping feature near Stanton Avenue and Farragut Street in Highland Park.

From [HERE] The former Philadelphia Police veteran caught on video hitting a woman will be charged with assault, according to the president of the Fraternal Order of Police. Back in October, cell phone video was released showing former Lt. Jonathan Josey hitting a woman at the Festival de la Americas following the Philadelphia Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sept. 30. The video received more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

The incident happened near 5th and Lehigh Streets in North Philadelphia, after the parade on the Parkway. Parade organizers say they had nothing to do with the North Philadelphia event.

Officials say Aida Guzman of Chester was spraying silly string at officers involved in a traffic stop when she was hit by Josey. Her face was bleeding as officers took her away. Guzman was cited for disorderly conduct but the charge was subsequently dropped.

She doesn't speak much English, but told NBC10 "I feel angry, very angry. I go to someplace, got a good time and look this happen, for no reason". Mayor Michael Nutter apologized to Guzman for the incident days later.

Judges/Juries Believe almost Everything Police Say in Court. Now playing in courtrooms wherever Black & Latino men are; Lying Police Officers. Without such rare smoking gun evidence in criminal cases it is a waste of time to try to prove an officer is a liar. Judges/juries are only inclined to believe that an officer made a mistake or was incompetent. According to fmr. Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, "most cops lie a couple of times per shift." [MORE]    From [HERE] It's been almost two years to the day since Joshua Lawson and Christopher Franklin were arrested by Seattle police. Though they were released without charges, the night still haunts both men.  "We need justice to be served," said Lawson.  "I was terrified," said Franklin. "It was a big traumatic experience."

In November 2010, police stopped Lawson and Franklin blocks away from a reported assault. The 911 witness call identified the assailants. "It was two tall skinny African Americans," said the 911 caller. "I could tell they were both wearing jeans." There was no mention of the white sweatpants Lawson was wearing that night. But police officers stopped the two at gunpoint.

"An innocent man staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, ready to aim and fire at you? It's a life-or-death situation," said Lawson. 

In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, both men say they complied with police orders to get on the ground, but one officer kicked Lawson in the face and another forced Franklin's face into the pavement. Though one police report at the time indicated someone identified the men, no charges were ever filed. At the jail that night, the audio from one police camera caught an exchange between Franklin and one of the officers. 

From [HERE] and [HERE] "Make sure your headline says 'community outraged,'" said John Brown. He lives down the block from where L.A. County sheriff's deputies shot and killed Jose de la Trinidad late Saturday night in Willowbrook. "This wouldn't have happened in Beverly Hills, Brentwood," Brown said. "Only in Inglewood, Compton, what I call "low-scale neighborhoods." 

An autopsy is pending on the body of an unarmed Latino man shot by two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies during an attempted traffic stop. Jose de la Trinidad, 36, was shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies just minutes after leaving a party. He was unarmed. His family is demanding answers as to why deputies fired on the unarmed passenger in the car.

According to L.A. County Sheriff's Det. Edmundo Hummel, deputies attempted to make a traffic stop. As the deputies approached the vehicle, De La Trinidad's brother took off. After a short pursuit, the car stopped again - abruptly — in the 1900 block of East 122nd Street. A few minutes later, De La Trinidad got out of the car.

Jose de la Trinidad "quickly" exited the passenger seat and lifted his hands, a sheriff's official said. Authorities said he appeared to be raising his hands from his waistband. Believing him armed, deputies opened fire and fatally shot Jose de la Trinidad.

His family members insist he was lifting his empty hands to his head to surrender - apparently complying with police orders to do so. "He was not armed, he got out of the car and put his hands up," his wife, Rosanna de la Trinidad said, adding that witnesses told her they heard as many as 14 gunshots. "He did what he was supposed to do, and now he's dead." 

Family members say De La Trinidad was disabled after suffering a severe arm injury in a car accident. According to his wife, he kept his arm bent at his waist. His family wonders if that is what led the deputies to open fire. [MORE] His wife believes he simply got out of the car because he wanted no part of the chase - as the passenger he had committed no criminal offense in the incident.

From [HERE] The family of a Rosamond man, who died in the custody of the Sheriff's Department two years ago, has been awarded $4.5 million. A jury found Tuesday that the defendants acted negligently, causing the death of Jose Lucero and serious emotional distress to his parents, Florencio and Lilia, who witnessed the confrontation. The deputies, Daniel Willis, Ryan Greer, Angelos Gonzalez and Jonathan Juden, are still employed with the sheriff's department. The deputies did not face criminal charges in the death.

Attorney Michael Curls, who represents the Lucero family, says Jose Lucero suffered from mental illness and was simply hallucinating. "The evidence that we believe which prevailed, is that once he ran behind his father and his father moved, then one of the officers, two of the officers shot him with tasers and he went to the ground. Then the officers proceeded to beat him for numerous times and they tased him numerous times to the point where he basically died," said Curls. During the incident, deputies used a Taser on Lucero 29 times.

On Dec. 18, 2010, sheriff's deputies went to Lucero's home because he had been repeatedly making calls to 911, saying that a friend in Lancaster was being assaulted and murdered, said Los Angeles attorney Michael Curls, who represented the Luceros.

The confrontation started with three deputies against Lucero, but a fourth arrived later. The deputies shocked Lucero with a Taser about 29 times, Curls said. The situation was also exacerbated when one of the deputies used pepper spray in the closed environment of the home, causing the deputies to suffer the pepper spray's symptoms, as well. The incident lasted about six minutes.

From [HERE] MARTA police have exonerated officer Robert Waldo who shot to death a 19-year-old Black teen, Joetavius Stafford, last year who police claim had a gun the night he was killed. But District Attorney Paul Howard has yet to say whether his office agrees the shooting was justified.

Despite demands from outraged citizens the prosecutor still can't figure out what to do about the police killing - it has been under "review" since Oct. 15, 2011.

MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris said the agency concluded on July 17, six days after the Stafford family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, that the shooting didn’t violate use-of-force guidelines. MARTA’s internal investigation only cites Waldo’s account of the shooting, that Stafford made a threatening move. It does not quote civilian witnesses who said Stafford was surrendering or was shot in the back or while on the ground.

Family members said Stafford was heading to the Vine City MARTA Station after a football game when a fight broke out between Stafford and another group. Stafford's mother said someone fired a gun into the air, causing the gathered crowd to scatter. Rodney said his brother was running from the area when Officer Waldo began chasing him, and that he had his hands up when the officer shot him.

"I witnessed that he was shot in the back," Rodney Stafford said. "My little brother had his hands up, and they shot him in the back." He said the officer shot his brother in the back two more times when he was on the ground.

From [HERE] Two Chattanooga Police officers have been terminated after allegations they used excessive force against a man at a Salvation Army halfway house. The FBI is also carrying out an investigation.

On June 14, Chattanooga Police officers were dispatched to a disorder at 800 McCallie Ave., the Salvation Army Federal Halfway House, where Adam J. Tatum, 36, was arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, two counts of aggravated assault on police, and possession of marijuana.

Police said, "A few weeks after the incident, Police Chief Bobby Dodd was notified regarding possible excessive use of force allegations against Officers Sean Emmer and Adam Cooley, who were involved in the arrest of Tatum. After reviewing the case file and video footage of the incident, Chief Dodd initiated an Internal Affairs investigation regarding the allegations. He also contacted the local Federal Bureau of Investigations Office to review the case for possible civil rights violations and/or criminal charges on the officers.

"Due to the nature of this incident, both officers were removed from their patrol duties and placed on special assignment conducting non-law enforcement activities.

From [HERE] Ten Omaha police officers used excessive force when they arrested a Latino man at a hospital last year, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week. Attorneys for Robert Wagner, 36, said he did not resist as officers jumped on his back, hit and kicked him and stunned him with an electroshock gun. Wagner was viciously beaten in the incident which was recorded by a surveillance camera. In the video he is gang tackled by numerous white officers. After he is taken down he is pounced on, kicked and stomped on over and over. After he is subdued and handcuffed police are seen smiling and appear to be amused at their gang activity. One of the police officers said, “that was fun!”  at the end of the encounter with Wagner, the lawsuit contends.

Wagner was arrested May 29, 2011, at Creighton University Medical Center, where he had gone to visit his cousin who had been shot and was dying. At the time a crowd had gathered at the hospital because they believed he had been killed by police. Officers were called to the hospital for crowd control (negro removal).

Officers testified they told Wagner to leave the hospital after he cursed at the sight of City Councilman Ben Gray in the emergency room and called him an “Uncle Tom.” A detective testified that Wagner started to leave, moved just outside the doors, but then turned and cursed at officers and made more "threatening comments" (such as what? as he walked away and complied with their request to leave). So the detective ordered his arrest. [MORE] 

However, Omaha police officer, Danielle Cloudt, testified that she has known Wagner for years. She said she knew him as a “gentle giant” with a calm demeanor. She said she never heard Wagner make any threats. Officer Ruben Soto also said he hadn't heard Wagner make any threats. [MORE]