Racist Idiocracy. Self deluded & really stupid,Criminal President praises police violence to audience of laughing cops.
From [HERE] Police should treat the people they arrest violently, President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon, encouraging cops to get “rough” when they toss people into a police vehicle.
Trump offered the praise for flagrant retributive violence by uniformed law enforcers during a wide-ranging speech to cops in Brentwood, New York. Officers present laughed and applauded in response.
“When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddywagon, you just see ’em thrown in rough. I said please don’t be too nice,” the president said, to a murmur of chuckles.
“Like when you guys put somebody into the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand, like, don’t hit their head, and they just killed somebody, don’t hit their head,” he went on. “I said, you can take the hand away, okay?”
The police laughter grew louder, giving way to applause and cheers.
From [HERE] A federal appeals court has upheld a judge's refusal to throw out a lawsuit questioning a Ferguson police officer's use of force against the man who was with Michael Brown when that officer shot Brown to death three years ago.
On April 29, 2015, Johnson filed a lawsuit in state court against Wilson, Jackson, and the City of Ferguson for being stopped by Wilson without probable cause, reasonable suspicion or legal justification to detain him. The lawsuit claimed that according to the findings of the § DOJ investigation into the Ferguson Police Department, law enforcement efforts focused on generating revenue rather than protecting the town's citizens.
Tuesday's 2-1 ruling by an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel sided with Dorian Johnson in concluding that former officer Darren Wilson and ex-chief Thomas Jackson are not immune from such litigation. The court also found that Johnson sufficiently alleged that Wilson violated his rights.
Johnson says that as he walked with Brown on a street on Aug. 9, 2014, Wilson illegally detained him by using his police vehicle to block their path. Moments later, Wilson shot and killed Brown during a struggle. Johnson fled and was not wounded.
Johnson insists in his lawsuit that Wilson "acted with deliberate indifference or reckless disregard" for Johnson's rights, used excessive force and essentially detained him unlawfully by using his police vehicle to impede his movement.
The 8th Circuit on Tuesday agreed, with Judge Michael Melloy writing for the panel's majority that based on Johnson's version "the law was sufficiently clear" that "a reasonable officer in Officer Wilson's position would not have shot his gun."
The 8th Circuit's Roger Wollman countered that Johnson's movements were not illegally restrained by Wilson and that the lawsuit should be thrown out, likening Johnson's flight to that "of a moonshine-carrying" defendant.
The death of 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed, by the white officer launched months of protests and led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found racial bias in Ferguson's police and court system. But a St. Louis County grand jury and the Justice Department cleared Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.
Ferguson reached a settlement with the Justice Department that calls for revised police practices, court changes and other modifications.
In June, a federal judge in St. Louis approved a $1.5 million settlement to Brown's parents in their 2015 wrongful-death lawsuit against Ferguson, Wilson and Jackson, who each denied wrongdoing.
The Purpose of Body Cams is to Surveil You Not Exonerate You. [Audio exoneration re-mix sold separately]. Here, the first minute of body camera footage doesn't include audio. Why? The camera’s microphone wasn’t turned on yet. Deputy Chief Richard Bash explains that's a result of the camera's technology. "The first 60 seconds will not have any audio because that is the lookback feature," Bash says. "So as soon as an officer activates their camera, the video portion goes back 60 seconds. The audio doesn’t start ‘til the officer actually activates his camera." [MORE] and [MORE]
Columbus Cops can apparently can turn "their" bodycam on and off like a light switch. Although both officers were wearing body cameras at the time, only one camera was on at the time of the shooting. The second camera was turned on shortly after. [MORE] Policy is for officers to activate the camera at the start of an enforcement action or the first reasonable opportunity to do so. [MORE]
The audio in the Jones video starts after he's already been shot. [racists are masterful liars & this "lookback" shit smells like "bullshit, but white jurors won't have ears to hear]
From [HERE] and [HERE] A lawsuit alleges Ohio police shot and mortally wounded a black man without justification and conspired to provide misleading information about the July 7 confrontation. Besides money, the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus seeks an injunction against “the use of excessive and unreasonable force and the extrajudicial shooting of civilians, particularly African-Americans.”
Columbus police say two officers spotted 30-year-old Kareem Ali Nadir Jones walking between cars and behaving erratically that evening. Police say they fired when his behavior escalated and they perceived a threat from Jones, who had a gun. It is not clear whether they knew he had a gun when they first encountered him. Police did not articulate how exactly they were threatened by Jones. Although cops claim they tried to stop him the video shows cops exiting their cruiser with their gun already drawn.
The federal civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday by his sister, Marica Phipps, alleges that Jones presented no threat and that Officers Samuel James and Marc Johnson repeatedly fired “without cause or provocation” and violated Jones’ constitutional rights. James is Black and Johnson is white. [MORE]
“It’s our contention that these two officers executed Kareem Jones,” said Andrew Stroth, one of Phipps’ attorneys.
In the bodycam footage, Jones faces the two officers in a yard while running backwards and sideways with his arms outstretched as the cops chase after him.
He eventually turns around, starts running with his back towards James, and reaches behind his back.
Both officers open fire, leaving Jones immobile against a fence. He died three days later.
Many questions remain, such as why did the cop already have his gun drawn before he got out of his cruiser [see photo above]? Had he already shot Jones through his driver side window which was down in the video? Did Jones ask the cop 'why did you shoot me before the audio comes on?' Did Jones reach for a gun because he feared for his life after already being shot? He was walking in between what cars? [MORE]
Police say witnesses reported that Jones didn’t follow officers’ commands to get on the ground. They say a stolen 9mm handgun was recovered at the scene.
In one of the videos, James explains what happened to an additional officer at the scene.
"We roll up, we’re talking to him, and we see a bulge in his waistband under his shirt and we say, 'That’s gotta be a phone.’ And as we let him walk towards this girl, we go, ‘Is that a gun or a phone?’ I’m recording all this by the way," Jones says. "Anyway, he draws down on him, he pulls his f*cking gun on us." [MORE] Huh? didn't cops say the gun was in his waistband and that he was reaching for it when he fired?
Racist suspect Jason Pappas, the president of the local police union representing the officers, called the lawsuit’s allegations baseless and said police are trained to draw their firearms when a suspect is armed.
“There’s no question here that what they did was absolutely appropriate and in compliance with their training and the law,” he said.
According to the agency's investigation, Flores fled the scene of a traffic collision on the 91 freeway in Anaheim on the night of November 19, 2016 and ran into the driveway of a nearby home. The report states he held one hand behind his back when officers confronted him. Flores refused to comply with repeated commands to show his hands. Officer Scott Eden, Uribe's partner, told investigators that he said Flores held a cellphone or thought he did. "Don't say that!" Uribe rebuffed the rookie policeman on the scene.
After issuing a final command for Flores to show his hands, Uribe opened fire four seconds later when he didn't. Police searched Flores only to find a cellphone. "By saying 'Don't say that,' the inference is Uribe already had the intent to shoot," says Humberto Guizar, an attorney for the family. "That's very powerful circumstantial evidence."
The forty-page complaint paints a different picture than the OCDA report. It states Flores held his hands in the air before being gunned down, a claim Guizar says is based on information he's received from witnesses. As Flores "raised his hands in the air," the suit reads, "Uribe drew his firearm and opened fire on...Flores in the front yard of a residence."
The Guizar, Henderson & Carrazco firm hasn't had the opportunity yet to review any body-worn camera footage of the shooting. The OCDA report cites video evidence that purportedly shows Flores holding an object behind his back "in a manner that suggested it was a gun." But the suit counters that Flores posed no threat of imminent death to officers before the shooting and was denied immediate medical assistance after it.
The litigation on behalf of Flores' four children, their mother and his parents seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages. In making their case, lawyers summon the Anaheim Riots that happened five years ago when two Latino men were killed by police in back-to-back shootings. "The protests reflect a deep racial division in Anaheim which is historically rooted between APD and minority communities," the suit reads before criticizing a "code of silence" within the department.
From [HERE] After one judge recused herself and another was removed at the request of the special prosecutor, Cook County associate judge Domenica Stephenson will manage the trial of three former Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers charged with allegedly covering up Laquan McDonald's 2014 shooting death by ex-colleague Jason Van Dyke. Stephenson is a white woman. [MORE]
The Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday (July 18) that Stephenson replaced county circuit court judge Diane Gordon Cannon to administer the trial against former detective David March and former officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney. A Cook County grand jury charged each man with felony conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice charges last month. ABC 7 reported at the time that the indictment accuses the officers of collaborating with Van Dyke, who is White, to mask the truth of his fatal encounter with the Black teen. McDonald's videotaped killing and the subsequent cover-up allegations provoked major protests that led to former police superintendent Garry McCarthy's resignation and Cook County state's attorney Anita Alvarez's electoral defeat. Van Dyke still faces six murder, one misconduct and 16 aggravated battery charges—one for each of the 16 bullets he shot into McDonald's body.
Special prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes filed a motion, published by DNAInfo, to replace Cannon last week. The motion notes that any prosecutor or defense attorney who requests a judge's replacement—an option also available to attorneys representing each of the three defendants—must prove that the judge is biased against their argument. Holmes declined to tell media outlets why she filed the motion, which also doesn't specify her justification.
DNAInfo reports that Cannon previously acquitted CPD commander Glenn Evans on charges that he allegedly shoved his gun into the mouth of 22-year-old Ricky Williams and threatened to kill him in 2013—an accusation supported by a state police forensic scientist's finding that Williams' DNA was on the barrel of the gun.
Cannon replaced the trial's first judge, county circuit judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan, who recused herself, per the Chicago Tribune. Brosnahan did not explain her decision, but the Tribune cites unpublished police records revealing that Kriston Kato, her husband and a former CPD detective, visited the scene of McDonald's killing as a Fraternal Order of Police union representative and spoke with involved officers.
Per the Sun-Times, Judge Stephenson made headlines earlier this year for two cases: one where she dismissed convictions against four men incarcerated for a 1995 double murder, and another where she sentenced a cab driver to 22 years behind bars for sexually assaulting a woman during an attempted robbery. Stephenson told the Sun-Times that the next court hearing for the case is set for August 29.
In the history of modern law enforcement there has not been a a single instance of a black police officer shooting or killing an unarmed white person.[MORE] Above, hater of Blacks, Tucker Carlson would care less if this tragic incident happened to a non-white person. Go fuck yourself buddy.
White Lives Matter Most to FoxNews. From [HERE] On July 17, developments emerged in two cases of fatal officer-involved shootings, but Fox News rushed to cover only one of them and focused disproportionately on the officer’s nationality in doing so.
On the day Balch Springs, Texas, police officer Roy Oliver was indicted for the fatal shooting of Jordan Edwards, a black teenager, news broke of the July 15 shooting of an Australian woman by a Minneapolis, MN, police officer who was later identified as Mohamed Noor. Noor is Somali-American. While Fox News aired several segments about Noor, the network made not a single mention of the indictment of Oliver, who is white, continuing its disinterest in the case since Edwards was killed on April 29 in Dallas, TX.
In the first three days of coverage following the shooting of Justine Ruszczyk (who went by the surname of her fiancé, Don Damond), Fox News covered the story in 11 segments, six of which mentioned that the officer was “Somali-American,” an "immigrant" from Somalia, the first Somali-American to patrol that precinct, or that Minneapolis boasts a “very significant Somali population.” A Fox News article online began both its headline and body with Noor’s Somali background. In the same period, MSNBC and CNN both dedicated seven and 14 segments, respectively, to the story. CNN reporters did mention his Somali-American identity twice when prompted by hosts for more details about his background. MSNBC did not mention that he is Somali-American.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson went so far as to claim the mainstream media is engaged in a deliberate cover-up of the officer’s nationality. On the July 18 edition of his show, Carlson said, "Mohamed Noor was an immigrant from Somalia. Is that a relevant fact? We don't know. But it's being treated as one by many news organizations. How do you know that? Because they're not reporting it."
From [HERE] and [HERE] It was a routine drug arrest in one of Baltimore’s more troubled neighborhoods. But it has become a flash point sparked by video from one of the officer’s body cameras.
The public defender’s office looked at the video and contended it showed an officer planting evidence in a trash-strewn alley.
Baltimore police countered with a more complicated explanation. They are investigating whether the officer had legitimately found drugs but, realizing he had forgotten to turn on his body camera, reconstructed his find. His body camera captured both him hiding the drugs and then finding them. Authorities said that would be improper but would not be an effort to make a false arrest of an innocent citizen. [It would also be improper to use such fake video to convict someone of a felony!]
The video led prosecutors to drop the felony drug case against a suspect who had been jailed for nearly six months. Baltimore police said one officer has been suspended and two others were placed on desk duty amid an internal investigation.
One officer has been suspended and two others have been placed on administrative duty, police said. Police said they have not reached any conclusions as to the conduct depicted in the video. Other cases in which the officers are involved are now under review as well, police and prosecutors said.
The case is among the latest to show the challenges faced by the growing number of police agencies whose officers wear cameras, including questions of when officers should start and stop recording, and how much discretion they should be given. [huh? stop & start the public's cameras?]
The public defender’s office, which released the footage, said it was recorded by an officer during a drug arrest in January. It shows the officer placing a soup can, which holds a plastic bag, into a trash-strewn lot.
That portion of the footage was recorded automatically, before the officer activated the camera. After placing the can, the officer walks to the street, and flips his camera on.
“I’m gonna go check here,” the officer says. He returns to the lot and picks up the soup can, removing the plastic bag, which is filled with white capsules.
Police cameras have a feature that saves the 30 seconds of video before activation, but without audio. When the officer is first in the alley, there is no audio for the first 30 seconds.
The public defender’s office flagged the video for prosecutors last week, prompting prosecutors to drop the heroin possession charge against the man arrested.
The man, unable to post $50,000 bail, had been in jail since January, according to attorney Deborah Levi, who is leading a new effort to track police misconduct cases for the public defender’s office.
Levi said prosecutors called the officer just days later as a witness in another case — without disclosing the allegations of misconduct on the officer’s part to the defense attorney in that case.
“You can’t try a case with that guy and not tell anyone about it,” Levi said.
From [HERE] Another major delay in the Terrence Sterling family's fight for justice for their slain son, shot and killed by D.C. police.
Friday, DC Superior Court Judge Jennifer Di Toro granted the Attorney General's motion to delay or "stay" the civil lawsuit until September 22, 2017, more than one year after the death of 31 year old Terrence Sterling.
In December, the family filed a $50 Million wrongful death lawsuit against the District of Columbia, Metropolitan Police Department, and Officer Brian Trainer. Officer Brian Trainer has pled the fifth in response to the civil suit.
The city has responded and in court documents admit to pursuing the motorcycle because Sterling was reportedly driving "erratically."
According to the court record, police blocked the intersection of 3rd and M Streets, NW in order to prevent Sterling from crossing the intersection. That's when his motorcycle sturck the passenger side door leaving minor damage. Police allege he "rammed" the cruiser. Officer Brian Trainer, who was in the passenger seat, then shot Sterling in the neck and back. He was pronounced dead at 4:54 a.m. onon September 11, 2016.
According to a press release from the law firm representing the Sterling family in the lawsuit:
"The complaint alleges that Metropolitan Police officer Brian Trainer shot Mr. Sterling in the back, killing Mr. Sterling from the safety of a police vehicle despite the fact that Mr. Sterling was unarmed and posed no danger to Officer Trainer or any other person.
"The complaint alleges that Officer Brian Trainer and his partner violated multiple Metropolitan Police Department General Orders in the moments leading to Mr. Sterling’s death. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that General Order 301.03 prohibits officers from placing themselves in front of an oncoming vehicle where deadly force would be the likely outcome. In spite of this General Order, officers unlawfully placed themselves in front of Mr. Sterling’s oncoming motorcycle.
"Additionally, the complaint alleges that General Order 301.03 also prohibits officers from intentionally causing contact between their police vehicle and a civilian’s vehicle, or attempting to force a civilian vehicle into another object or off the roadway. The officers violated this Order by intentionally blocking Mr. Sterling’s path of travel, causing contact with his motorcycle, and trapping his motorcycle between the police car and the curb. While Mr. Sterling was trapped between the curb and the police car, Officer Trainer unlawfully drew his gun, pointed it at Mr. Sterling, and shot him, using deadly force in violation of General Order 901.7.
"The complaint alleges that each of these violations independently caused the death of Terrence Sterling."
"An additional claim alleges that Officer Trainer committed battery by using excessive force in shooting and killing Mr. Sterling. Inexplicably, there is no video from Officer Trainer’s body camera because the Metropolitan Police Department and the District of Columbia failed to properly train and supervise Officer Trainer and all MPD officers on the required use of body cameras and the appropriate use of force," the press release continued. "As a result, Officer Trainer did not activate his body camera to properly document Mr. Sterling’s death, which has deprived the Sterling family of valuable evidence depicting the circumstances leading to Mr. Sterling’s death."
In November, prosecutors with U.S. Attorney’s Office opened a grand jury investigation into this case.
From [HERE] A white police officer in a Dallas suburb was indicted by a grand jury on a murder charge for fatally shooting an unarmed black high school freshman in April with a high-powered rifle as the teenager and four others drove away from a house party, prosecutors said Monday.
The former officer, Roy D. Oliver II, an Iraq war veteran who was on the police force in the working-class city of Balch Springs, was also indicted on four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant.
The charges were announced by the Dallas County district attorney, Faith Johnson. If convicted of murder, Mr. Oliver, 37, could face a prison term of five to 99 years or life, the same range as the aggravated assault charges.
“These types of multiple charges against a police officer are historic in Dallas County,” said Daryl Washington, a lawyer for Jordan’s family in a lawsuit against Balch Springs and Mr. Oliver. “It sends a message to bad cops that you can no longer kill an unarmed person and get no billed.”
Mr. Oliver, who had been a Balch Springs officer since 2011, was fired in May after he shot Jordan Edwards, 15, on April 29. The department found that he had breached its policies after officials reviewed body camera footage.
The video showed Mr. Oliver firing his AR-15 rifle into a car that was traveling away from him and another officer. The car was carrying Jordan, his two brothers and two other teenagers; Jordan, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, was hit in the head.
Mr. Oliver was charged with murder on May 5 and turned himself in that night after the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department issued a warrant for his arrest.
Elizabeth Saab, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, clarified the relationship between the May murder charge and Monday’s indictment. “There was probable cause to arrest him in May for murder, and that’s why the Sheriff’s Department issued the warrant for his arrest,” she said. Texas law “requires that every felony case go before a grand jury, which is part of the process.”
Ms. Johnson, the district attorney, said in a statement on Monday, “This is the very first time we have issued an arrest warrant for a police officer before the case was presented to a grand jury.”
“Previously, the process in police-involved shootings was to present the evidence to a grand jury and then let them decide,” she said. “However, just as we would in any other case where we believe there is probable cause, we issued an arrest warrant prior to a grand jury decision.”
Last month, in a separate case, a grand jury indicted Mr. Oliver on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant over accusations that he pulled a gun on a woman who had been involved in a car accident with him. Mr. Oliver was off duty and not in uniform at the time of the accident, about two weeks before Jordan’s killing.
Mr. Oliver has been out on bail on the aggravated assault charges and the original murder charge.
Although There was No Ongoing Emergency & No Hostage, Racist Suspect Cops Didn't See It That Way. From [HERE] and [MORE] A federal jury in Seattle has awarded nearly $15 million to the family of an unarmed black man shot and killed by police in front of his young son near Tacoma, Washington, finding police had no reason to use deadly force.
The award includes $3 million in punitive damages against SWAT commander Mike Zaro during the 2013 standoff; another $1.5 million in punitive damages against Lakewood Officer Michael Wiley, who led an assault on the home and shot the family dog; and $2 million in punitive damages against Lakewood Sgt. Brian Markert, the sniper who shot Leonard Thomas from 90 feet away, The Seattle Times reported Friday (https://goo.gl/fHFgKc).
Thomas was shot outside his home in Fife, Washington, when he grabbed for his son after police used explosives to enter the home.
Jurors had been deliberating since Monday afternoon before returning the verdict Friday. One juror was dismissed during the week when she refused to deliberate.
The award is one of the largest in a police use-of-force and wrongful-death lawsuit in the state's history.
Attorney Tiffany Cartwright, one of the lawyers representing Thomas' parents and his now 9-year-old son, told the jury that nothing that the drunken, despondent, bipolar man did warranted a massive police response the night of May 23, 2013, for a misdemeanor, domestic-violence offense. Two armored vehicles and at least 27 officers responded, including the Pierce Metro SWAT team.
Based on photographs introduced in trial, the majority, if not all, of the officers were white. Attorneys for Thomas' family said in court documents that the case was "steeped in race."
Cartwright also told the jury the situation was "that close" to resolving peacefully when Zaro ordered an assault team to breach the back of the home using plastic explosives to blow down a door. They also shot the family dog five times.
From [HERE] White Ohio prosecutors announced Tuesday that they will not seek a third trial against Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer charged in the 2015 death of an unarmed black driver.
Tensing, who is white, has been tried twice for murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 43-year-old Samuel DuBose. Both cases were before mostly white juries, the most recent of which ended last month, concluded in mistrials after the juries said they were deadlocked.
His last jury conssited of Nine whites and 3 African Ameircans (9 women and 3 men). [MORE] His previous jury was composed of 10 whites. [MORE]
Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Deters said the decision "rips my heart out," but that he didn't feel he would be able to bring a successful case against Tensing.
"After discussing this matter with multiple jurors — both black and white — they have, to a person, said to us that we will never be able to get a conviction in this case," Deters said, later he added:
"After two trials and a million dollars, the best lawyers I could come up with were unsuccessful at conviction. I've concluded we cannot win a trial on this case in these facts." [MORE]
On July 19, 2015, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Samuel DuBose (43), an unarmed Black man, was fatally shot by Ray Tensing (27), a University of Cincinnatipolice officer, during a traffic stop for a missing front license plate. Tensing fired after DuBose started his car. Tensing stated that DuBose had begun to drive off and that he was being dragged because his arm was caught in the car. Prosecutors alleged that footage from Tensing's bodycam showed that he was not dragged and a grand juryindicted him on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. He was then fired from the police department. He was released on bond before trial. A November 2016 trial ended in mistrial after the jury became deadlocked. The retrial began in May 2017 and also ended in a hung jury on June 23, 2017.
In January 2016, following two days of mediation with civil rights attorney Al Gerhardstein, the University of Cincinnati agreed to pay $4.85 million to the DuBose family. In addition to financial compensation, the settlementincluded free undergraduate education for DuBose's children, the creation of a memorial in his name, an apology from the school's president, and engagement by the family in police reform at the university.It also protected all potential defendants from any future civil litigation in DuBose's death.
Car Did Not Move. He Was Not Stuck to the Car. But a forensic frame by frame analysis of the the bodycam video [see below] showed that the car did not move or barely moved an inch before Tensing fired his gun. The bodycam video also shows Tensing was not dragged. Also, a report by a risk-consulting firm hired by the university said that the video showed that Mr. Tensing was not being dragged, that the car had barely moved before the gunshot was fired and that Mr. Tensing had made several critical errors — including drawing his gun and reaching into the car.
During the trial Tensing admitted that he was not stuck to anything in the car and that he was not being held in the car by Dubose. He said he misperceived being stuck to the car. He said he realized he was not stuck after he watched the video. [See [full testimony] on video above at 1:45:51]. It also seems improbable that he could perceive being run over because he was on the drivers side of the vehicle - as the car moved forward not sideways.
Tensing's beliefs were actually delusions or misperceptions. He told the jury a story more in accord with the apppetite of the racist listener, not with the realities of life: He was scared to death of a frightening young Black man - and he was by himself.
During the white cop's tearful testimony [crying w/o tears, see video] last Friday at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Tensing, dressed in a dark suit, said that DuBose was evasive during the traffic stop and attempted to speed away.
"He just mashed the accelerator to the floor," said Tensing, who paused occasionally to wipe his eyes with a tissue [yet there were no tears]. "I protected my life," Tensing said when asked by prosecutors if he had served and protected DuBose. Tensing said repeatedly that he shot to "stop the threat."
A: Collective power is the institutions and systems that benefit one group at the expense of another group, and allow one group to dominate another group in all areas of human activity.
For example, when a white policeman shoots an unarmed black man, his fellow officers, the police chief, internal affairs, the union, the media, the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury will support, defend, and finance that white police officer’s “right” to shoot (murder) an unarmed black person. That is white collective power.
Anon explains: It is rare for a white police officer to be punished for using excessive force against a black man, woman, or child. It is just as rare for a black police officer to use excessive force against a white person.
In fact, the authors were unable to find a single instance of a black police officer shooting or killing an unarmed white person in the history of modern law enforcement. This is not surprising but it is absolute proof that the black individual operating within a system of white supremacy cannot mistreat whites even if he or she is wearing a uniform, a badge, and carrying a gun."[MORE] BW knows of only one alleged incident with off duty cop Christopher Dorner - which was never proven. DO you know any others?
From [HERE] The white mayor of Minneapolis said she wants to hear from the African officer who fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman.
But so far, officer Mohamed Noor has exercised his constitutional right to not speak to state investigators, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Tuesday.
And, it's not clear if or when he will.
"He has a story to tell that no one else can tell," Mayor Betsy Hodges said in a news conference Tuesday. "We can't compel him by law, but I wish that he would make that statement."
The news conference capped a day of developments in a case that's raising questions about police training, use of force and body camera policies. The shooting has led newscasts in Australia, where Ruszczyk is originally from.
- BCA says Officer Matthew Harrity, who was in the car with Noor, gave a statement to investigators Tuesday
- So far, BCA says Noor has declined to speak to investigators, and his lawyer has not said if or when he will
- Preliminary investigation finds that Noor fired at Ruszczyk from the passenger seat of his police vehicle
- The officers turned on body cameras after the shooting; the squad car camera was never turned on
- The police department has opened an internal affairs use of force review, assistant chief says
From [PBS] The Tulsa, Oklahoma officer who fatally shot Terence Crutcher last year is resigning from her administrative position at the Tulsa Police Department, a national police union said Friday.
A jury acquitted Betty Shelby in May of all charges related to the death of Crutcher, a 40-year-old black motorist. She was allowed to return to the department days later in an administrative role.
Since then, “I have found that sitting behind a desk, isolated from all my fellow officers and the citizens of Tulsa, is just not for me,” Shelby said in a letter posted to Facebook by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93.
Shelby, who is white, said she would resign Aug. 3.
She thanked her white supporters and “fellow [white] officers for the moral support they gave me the last 10 months,” adding that “the incident with Terence Crutcher was a tragedy for everyone involved, and I am sorry he lost his life.”
“I pray [to my white God and his white son] for healing for his family, I will continue to pray for the unity of our community, the safety of our citizens and our police officers,” she added.
Before the jury’s decision in May, Shelby had been on unpaid leave since prosecutors charged her with first-degree manslaughter in September.
On Sept. 16, 2016, dashcam footage captured the fatal encounter between Shelby and Crutcher, whose vehicle was found stalled in the middle of a road. Crutcher can be seen raising his hands in the video.
Shelby testified that Crutcher had refused to comply with her commands and she thought he was reaching for a gun inside his vehicle. She responded with a single shot. Crutcher died later that day.
Last month, Crutcher’s family filed a civil rights lawsuit against Shelby and the City of Tulsa, arguing that the officer used excessive force in the eccounter.
Though the jury’s decision was to acquit Shelby, the jury’s foreman wrote a letter that said jurors were not “comfortable with the concept of Betty Shelby being blameless,” questioning why she hadn’t used a stun gun instead of a firearm to de-escalate the situation.
Shelby’s attorney, Shannon McMurray, told CBS that it’s unclear what the 43-year-old soon-to-be former officer will pursue next.
Your Government is Corrupt."Those who participate in corrupt systems, they the traitors."KRS-One. From [HERE] An awkward video has surfaced showing two white Orlando police officers pulling over Aramis Ayala, Florida's first African-American elected state attorney.
The incident took place at around 8:14 p.m. on June 19.
In the video, two white officers have a tough time explaining to Ayala, who is not only Central Florida's state attorney but arguably the most recognizable state attorney in Florida, why she had been stopped.
You may recall that racist suspect Governor Rick Scott removed Ayala from the case against Black murder suspect Markeith Loyd after she publicly announced that she would not pursue the death penalty against Loyd. [MORE] and [MORE]. Now she is in a legal battle with the white Governnor over whether Ayala had the discretion to adopt a policy not to seek the death penalty in her district. Ayala, a Democrat who took office in January, sued the Republican governor this spring over his decision to take her off two dozen murder cases.[MORE] She has been receiving death threats, including from [white people] local government employees. [MORE] Florida's death row is 46% non-white.
"Thank you, your tag didn't come back, never seen that before, but we're good now. We ran the tag, I've never seen it before with a Florida tag, it didn't come back to anything, so that's the reason for the stop."
Ayala then asks, "what was the tag run for?" which the officer then struggles to explain.
"Oh we run tags through all the time, whether it's a traffic light and that sort stuff, that's how we figure out if cars are stolen and that sort of thing," he said, as Ayala sits in her car, clearly annoyed.
"Also, the windows are really dark, I don't have a tint measure but that's another reason for the stop."
Ayala then asks for the officers' names, saying, "Do you guys have cards on you?"
The officers don't have cards, so their names are written down on a piece of paper.
From [HERE] The white Ohio police officer caught on camera kicking a Black man in the head while he was pinned to the ground has been fired.
Video of Columbus Officer Zachary Rosen posted on YouTube shows him kicking Demarko Anderson, who was being held by another cop on April 8.
The blow smacked the 22-year-old’s head into the pavement, and the video shows Rosen kneeling on top of Anderson, who was allegedly threatening to shoot people, until other officers arrive.
The local Fraternal Order of Police announced his firing on Monday, trying to explain his alleged brutality by saying that a “man with a gun” call is “one of the most dangerous and heart-pounding calls an officer ever gets.”
“As he approached, Officer Rosen saw that the gunman was not yet fully subdued and was actively resisting arrest. Police officers are trained to act quickly and with all the force necessary to make sure no one gets shot by the gunman in these circumstances,” it said in a statement to WCMH.
Immediate supervisors for Rosen, who was involved in a controversial shooting death in 2016 but not indicted by a grand jury, had said that he acted in line with department policies.
Rosen was removed from patrol after the arrest, and an investigation from Columbus deputy chief last month recommended that he be suspended.
The city’s mayor, Andrew Ginther, said in a statement that he supported the decision to fire Rosen, made by Director of Public Safety Ned Pettus.
From [HERE] A Latino family in San Antonio says they were terrorized by San Antonio police officers in their home southwest of downtown.
The officers were carrying out multiple search warrants on Royston Avenue last Thursday when the family said police used excessive force.
SAPD said the officers were conducting a narcotics and gang investigation when they tracked down a man with a criminal history, Felix Lopez, inside a home.
Lopez's grandson, Devin Valdez, 10, was sitting on the couch when officers stormed in. Lopez was showering.
"They tried to get my grandpa out of the restroom, got him out, then started hitting him, so I tried telling them to stop and they took me to the room, and put me in handcuffs and had a gun pointed to my head," Valdez said.
The family said Devin was eventually tossed outside.
"He was able to see everything they did to him," Delia Mendoza, his grandmother said.
Delia Mendoza said her fiancée was left battered and her house covered in blood.
"His face is broke, all of his cheekbone is broken, he might lose his eye, both arms are broken, he's got a slash across his head," Mendoza said.
Mendoza said the officers ransacked her home, and even shot and killed her dog that was tied up in the backyard.
Police said they found a variety of drugs behind the home they believe belong to Lopez, who is in the hospital recovering from the incident.
"Yes, Felix has a past, they need to stop judging him because of his past," Mendoza said.
A racist suspect SAPD spokesman says serving warrants is dangerous and often unpredictable.
"You have to go through that door and you don't know what to expect so you have to be mindful there are people who could be armed, there could be people trying to destroy evidence and you could have innocent kids in there that have nothing to do with what's going on and don't even know what's going on," Sgt. Jesse Salame said.
Family said it's a traumatizing event that 10-year-old Devin won't forget anytime soon.
From [HERE] and [HERE] Washington County's NAACP chapter will meet Sunday to discuss the death of a Black man after being Tased by 3 white deputies. He said the group has invited representatives from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, and county commissioners.
The GBI is investigating last Friday's death of Eurie Martin, who died on the side of Deepstep Road after being tased while deputies responded to a report of a "suspicious person" on the road.
Deputy Michael Howell, Sargent Lee Copeland and Deputy Rhett Scott were the responding officers who killed Martin according to a press release from the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office says Martin fought deputies, but a bystander's phone video doesn't show that.
Dotson called the Tasing a "wrongful death," because there's no evidence that Martin did anything wrong.
"The video doesn't show him doing anything but walking, and that's not a crime," said Dotson.
Stop Calling the Police to Help Black People 'in Distress'
Eurie Martin died on Friday while in Washington County Sheriff's Office custody.
Helen Martin, Eurie Martin's sister said, "I did find out that he had been deceased until that afternoon..on Saturday afternoon..somewhere about 2:30 maybe 3 o'clock."
Earlier that night Helen Martin received a call from a friend that her brother was walking down Deepstep Road.
"When I did make the 911 call I let them know who he was, told them his birthday. I also told them, asked them really could they go out and check on him. And I told them that I was in no condition to go out to check on him and get him myself because I just really wasn't in the condition," said Helen Martin.
What martin didn't know was that someone else had already called 9-1-1 about her brother shortly after 7 pm because of "suspicious activity," according to a GBI press release.
Helen says Eurie needed help though and couldn't be on his own.
"He couldn't function. He couldn't take care of himself really. He had really basically depend on others," said Martin.
From [HERE] Long Beach has agreed to pay almost $2.5 million to a pair of cousins who sued the city after police officers were filmed hitting them repeatedly with batons during an arrest in 2010.
Last year, the two men, Miguel Contreras and Miguel Vazquez, won an excessive force lawsuit against Long Beach. A jury awarded them more than $1.6 million.
A settlement approved by the City Council on Tuesday adds about $900,000 to cover attorneys’ fees and other costs, according to the men’s lawyers.
The deal avoids any litigation over the fees and ends any possible appeal of the jury’s verdict, according to the attorneys.
The arrest in question happened on the early morning of Nov. 27, 2010, as Vazquez and Contreras returned from The Falcon bar in Long Beach.
The violent altercation left Vazquez with a broken finger and Contreras with nerve damage and multiple fractures in his elbow, according to their lawsuits.
“(Contreras) can’t extend his elbow,” said attorney David McLane, who represented Vazquez. “He was severely damaged and suffered from PTSD as a result of this incident. It changed his life.”
During the trial in October, jurors decided that Long Beach police Lt. David Faris, who was a sergeant at the time, and Officer Michael Hynes used excessive force when they beat Contreras and Vazquez with batons.
It’s difficult to make out the baton blows in a dark, grainy video filmed from a nearby apartment, but the audio includes yelling and cries of pain from the cousins as the cops continually assault them after they are subdued.
Vazquez can be heard moaning when an officer steps on his hand, breaking his pinkie, McLane said.
In their lawsuits, Contreras and Vazquez said they’d just arrived at Vazquez’s apartment in the 1600 block of Broadway when Vazquez saw Faris and Hynes detaining a group of people that included a friend of Vazquez.
Vazquez’s lawsuit said that when he asked what was going on, one of the officers told him to go home and pushed him away.
In the recording, Vazquez can be heard saying, “Don’t [expletive] touch me.”
A man, identified in court documents as Faris, responds, “I will touch you anytime I want to touch you. You understand that?”
From [HERE] A man who was shot at 13 times by a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy in Moreno Valley last year is suing the county, claiming the deputy used excessive force, lied in his report on the incident and was not properly held accountable.
The lawsuit goes further, alleging that the shooting was the result of policies and practices within the Sheriff’s Department, including inadequate supervision and discipline of deputies, that “have resulted in a culture of violence in which the use of excessive force is an accepted and customary part of police work in the County of Riverside.”
The suit, filed Thursday in federal court on behalf of plaintiff Manuel Vasquez, 29, demands a jury trial and seeks yet-to-be-determined damages. Two defendants in addition to the county are named: Sheriff Stan Sniff and Investigator Michael Callahan, who shot Vasquez.
The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit because the litigation is ongoing.
The shooting occurred about 2 a.m. June 12, 2016. Vasquez was struck twice in the back and once each in the head and left hand, the lawsuit says. His attorney, Jeremy Jass, said in an interview that the injuries continue to hinder Vasquez’s life — he cannot use his left hand, which makes finding work difficult.
The shooting
A news release issued by the Sheriff’s Department at the time said a deputy was on routine patrol when he spotted a stolen car and followed it to the 15300 block of Canyonstone Drive, where the driver parked and approached a house. The release said only that the shooting happened after the deputy made contact with the man.
According to the lawsuit, Vasquez was driving his sister’s car — which had been reported stolen — to visit his girlfriend at her mother’s house. Callahan watched Vasquez walk up to the home and followed him with his pistol drawn.
While Vasquez and his girlfriend were talking through a window, Callahan ordered Vasquez to put his hands up, the suit said. Vasquez — “not sure who was talking to him or what was said to him” — turned around and asked, “What?”
The lawsuit contends that as Vasquez began to put his hands up, Callahan shot at him 13 times.
The lawsuit claims that Callahan “lied in his report and interview after the shooting” in saying that he saw Vasquez with a gun and that Vasquez “took a shooting stance at him.”
Vasquez was unarmed, had not committed a serious crime, did not pose a threat to Callahan, was showing his hands as ordered and was shot while he “was in a position of submission,” the complaint said. Jass said Vasquez’s injuries contradict the deputy’s claims.
From [HERE] A Black man said in a lawsuit filed Friday that he was “violently beaten, harassed, taunted, wrongfully arrested and denied medical attention” during a July 2015 encounter with a Houston police officer.
Larry Moore Jr., 33, says the officer used excessive force and violated his constitutional rights after pulling him over for a traffic stop and finding a bag of marijuana. He is seeking compensation from the officer, the police department and the city for his injuries, pain, mental anguish and medical expenses, as well as punitive damages.
Representatives of the Houston Police Department and the city of Houston declined to comment on pending litigation.
However, an official with the Houston Police Officers' Union weighed in."We believe this to be a frivolous lawsuit," said Joe Gamaldi, a union vice president. "Any force used by our officers was justified. This is an attempt of a suspect in possession of two pounds of marijuana to gain notoriety or possible financial benefit by suing our hardworking officers."
Moore was pulled over about 7:30 p.m. July 7, 2015, while driving with a passenger on Mykawa Road in southeast Houston, according to the lawsuit’s statement of facts. Moore pulled into the parking lot of the Fiesta Mart supermarket at 5600 Mykawa.
Officer Kevin Hubenak, a nine-year HPD veteran, wrote in a sworn statement used to charge Moore that he pulled over Moore’s vehicle because it ran a red light and also had a broken taillight.
Moore and his passenger “immediately turned and began looking at officers through the back window while repeatedly shifting their weight around,” Hubenak wrote in the sworn statement. As the officers walked up to the vehicle, “they immediately observed the distinct odor of fresh marijuana emanating from within the vehicle.”
The officer could see into the vehicle as the passenger moved a black trash bag from the center console, according to the sworn statement. Inside that trash bag, the officers later found two clear plastic bags filled with a little more than 2 pounds of marijuana.
Moore and his passenger stepped out of the car when the officers told them to, the lawsuit and the sworn statement both say.
Then the passenger, Michael Brooks, ran away on foot, both documents say. Hubenak’s partner caught and arrested him after a foot chase.
That’s where the accounts diverge.
Hubenak’s sworn statement says Brooks fought with the other officer and ran away after Moore already was handcuffed. It does not discuss any physical contact between Hubenak and Moore.
The lawsuit offers a different account: “After Mr. Brooks ran from the scene, officer Hubenak suddenly and violently body slammed Mr. Moore on his neck, head and face, causing him to go into a brief state of shock, as well as a severe laceration and extreme swelling. Once Mr. Moore regained consciousness, he felt that he had handcuffs on one of his wrists and observed officer Hubenak punching him in the face and body. Officer Hubenak then began kicking Mr. Moore.”
The lawsuit asserts that Hubenak only stopped when bystanders at the Fiesta Mart yelled at the officer to stop hitting Moore.
Then, the account says, Hubenak cuffed Moore’s second wrist and “placed his boot on Mr. Moore (sic) head, so forcefully that it left a dirt boot print in Mr. Moore’s hair.”
