Sunday, May 13, 2012
Cop Caught on Video in 'Beating' - New York Post
Bronx cops is allegedly seen on video punching and kicking handcuffed suspect.
Video Shows Alleged NY Police Abuse - New York Post
Raw Video: Housing Officer David London is seen beating Walter Harvin, an Iraq vet, moments after the man pushed the cop.
Police abuse - Officer slams black teens head against wall
Michigan police officer slams teen's head against wall for violating rules. Knocks out 3 teeth. Officer: "Teens injuries unintentional". 3 day suspension from duties.
Full audio version with teen screaming here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VT4uTFrdZE
NY Officer on Trial for Videotaped Beating
The second police-conduct trial in as many months is under way in New York City. The officer is accused of beating an Iraq war veteran and then lying to cover up the attack. (June 22)
Police Brutality: Cops Shoot Toddler, Mom 42 Rounds!
Police are under scrutiny after a toddler was accidentally shot by officers aiming at a robbery and carjacking suspect at a fast food drive-through in Jacksonville last Friday.
Authorities say 2-year-old old Daniel Crichton was shot in the arm and upper torso after a suspected bank robber forced his way into the car in which the toddler was seated.
The child remains in critical condition.
"We had a very volatile situation," Sheriff John Rutherford told the Florida Times Union. "I just don't want to try to speculate on why they felt the need to shoot at the suspect while he was in the vehicle."
The child's mother, Joann Cooper, was hit once in the foot. A 7-year-old girl also in the car was not injured.
The suspect was killed but has not been identified.
The gunman did not discharge his weapon.
Five officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office fired a total of 42 rounds at the vehicle. Four of the officers involved were veterans, and one was a rookie still in field training, the Times Union reported.
Thomas J. Aveni, executive director of The Police Policy Studies Council, told the newspaper that training for situations where gunfire may be necessary amid crowds is nearly impossible. He added that police departments are working toward better guidelines to give officers on when to fire at moving cars.
"Officers tend to miss significant number of rounds when firing at human beings on foot," Aveni said.
Police Shoot & Kill 7 Year-Old Girl During Botched Raid
Detroit Police Shoot, Kill 7-year-old Girl During Home Search...
Detroit, Michigan - A 7-year-old girl was shot and killed when a Detroit
police officer's gun went off while searching a home for a suspect
wanted for murder.
Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said at a news conference Sunday that the victim, Aiyana Jones, was hit in the neck by a single bullet and died at a hospital. "This is any parent's worst nightmare. It also is any police officer's worst nightmare," Godbee said.
According to Godbee, officers with the Special Response Team set off a flash grenade as the entered the house at about 12:40 a.m. Sunday. The officers had a warrant to search the house and were looking for a suspect wanted in the brutal Friday shooting of a 17-year-old boy.
Assistant Chief Godbee said that the officers encountered a 46-year-old woman upon entering the house, and said, "It appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact at about the time the officer's weapon discharged one round."
Officers immediately took Aiyana to St. John's Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit where she was pronounced dead.
A full investigation into the shooting will be conducted.
As for the raid, Godbee said, "Because of the ruthless and violent nature of the suspect in this case, it was determined that it would be in the best interest of public safety to execute the search warrant as soon as possible and detain the suspect while we sought a murder warrant."
The victim's father told reporters "I would like to say that y'all killed an innocent child, my only daughter that I will never ever get back, she was my pride and my joy, that's what made me happy and I will never be the same man again not without my daughter, y'all ruined my life."
Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said at a news conference Sunday that the victim, Aiyana Jones, was hit in the neck by a single bullet and died at a hospital. "This is any parent's worst nightmare. It also is any police officer's worst nightmare," Godbee said.
According to Godbee, officers with the Special Response Team set off a flash grenade as the entered the house at about 12:40 a.m. Sunday. The officers had a warrant to search the house and were looking for a suspect wanted in the brutal Friday shooting of a 17-year-old boy.
Assistant Chief Godbee said that the officers encountered a 46-year-old woman upon entering the house, and said, "It appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact at about the time the officer's weapon discharged one round."
Officers immediately took Aiyana to St. John's Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit where she was pronounced dead.
A full investigation into the shooting will be conducted.
As for the raid, Godbee said, "Because of the ruthless and violent nature of the suspect in this case, it was determined that it would be in the best interest of public safety to execute the search warrant as soon as possible and detain the suspect while we sought a murder warrant."
The victim's father told reporters "I would like to say that y'all killed an innocent child, my only daughter that I will never ever get back, she was my pride and my joy, that's what made me happy and I will never be the same man again not without my daughter, y'all ruined my life."
Cops Kill Young Father-to-Be in Botched Marijuana Raid
Trevon Cole, a 21-year-old father-to-be was killed last Friday night by a Las Vegas Police Department narcotics officer serving a search warrant for marijuana. Trevon Cole was shot once in the bathroom of his apartment after he made what police described as "a furtive movement."
Police have said Cole was not armed. Police said Monday they recovered an unspecified amount of marijuana and a set of digital scales. A person identifying herself as Cole's fiancée, Sequoia Pearce, in the comments section in the article linked to above said no drugs were found.
Pearce, who is nine months pregnant, shared the apartment with Cole and was present during the raid. "I was coming out, and they told me to get on the floor. I heard a gunshot and was trying to see what was happening and where they had shot him," Pearce told KTNV-TV.
According to police, they arrived at about 9 p.m. Friday evening at the Mirabella Apartments on East Bonanza Road, and detectives knocked and announced their presence. Receiving no response, detectives knocked the door down and entered the apartment. They found Pearce hiding in a bedroom closet and took her into custody. They then tried to enter a bathroom where Cole was hiding. He made "a furtive movement" toward a detective, who fired a single shot, killing Cole.
"It was during the course of a warrant and as you all know, narcotics warrants are all high-risk warrants," Capt. Patrick Neville of Metro's Robbery-Homicide Bureau said Friday night.
But a person identifying himself as Pearce's brother, who said he had spoken with his sister, had a different version of events: "The police bust in the door, with guns drawn to my little sister and her now deceased boyfriend," he wrote. "My sister is 8 ½ months pregnant, two weeks until the due date. But they bust in the door, irritated they didn't find any weapons or drugs, drag this young man into the restroom to interrogate him and two minutes later my sister hears a shot. They shot him with a shotgun, no weapon. For what? My sister is a baby, this young man is a baby, now my sister is at his house telling his mom her son is dead, and he is barely 21."
Pearce herself told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Monday that police forced her to kneel at gunpoint in the bedroom and that she could see Cole in the bathroom from the reflection of a mirror. According to Cole, police ordered Cole to get on the ground, he raised his hands and said "Alright, alright," and a shot rang out.
According to Pearce and family members, Cole had no criminal record, had achieved an Associate of Arts degree, and was working as an insurance adjustor while working on a political science degree at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He was not a drug dealer, Pearce said.
"Trevon was a recreational smoker. He smoked weed, marijuana. That's what he did," she told KTNV-TV. "They didn't have to kill him. We were supposed to get married next year, plan a black and white affair," she said. "He was all I ever knew, we were gonna make it."
LVPD Monday identified the police shooter as narcotics detective Bryan Yant, a 10-year veteran of the force. This is the third time Yant has controversially used his police firearm. In 2002, he shot and killed a robbery suspect, claiming the suspect, who was on the ground, aimed a weapon at him. But although the suspect's gun was found 35 feet away, a jury took only half an hour to find the shooting justified.
The following year, he shot and wounded a man armed with a knife and a baseball ball who had been hired to kill a dog that had killed another neighborhood dog. Yants claimed the man attacked him and that he mistook the bat for a shotgun, but the man said he was running away from Yants when Yants fired repeatedly, striking him once in the hip. Because there was no death in that case, no inquest was held, but the department's use of force board exonerated Yants.
Yants is on paid administrative leave while the department investigates. The family has hired an attorney to pursue a civil action. And another American has apparently been killed for no good reason in the name of the war on drugs.
"Narcotics warrants are high risk warrants," said Capt. Neville. The question is for whom, and the answer is obvious: The people on the receiving end of them. The police? Not so much, as we have shown in our annual surveys of police casualties in the drug war.
Police killing and the black community
Video shot after an incident where a black man was shot and killed by police under mysterious circumstances. Shot during the darkness of night, so of course visibility is low. However, you can hear the opinions of the black community regarding another outrage and cover up.
New Orleans Police Plea Guilty to killing two men in Danziger Bridge Shooting
New Orleans Police Officers have entered a guilty plea to killing two men in the Danziger Bridge Shooting in the chaotic days immediately following Katrina. The family of the one of the two men shot and killed by New Orleans Police Officers on the Danziger Bridge speaks out and tells his family's side of the story.
According to reports, the New Orleans Police Officers falsified police reports and planted evidence.
USA Reality - Katrina - Vigilantes Shooting Black Men
Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist".
-
December 19, 2008
Katrinas Hidden Race War: In Aftermath of Storm, White Vigilante Groups Shot 11 African Americans in New Orleans
In a shocking new report, The Nation magazine exposes how white vigilante groups patrolled the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, shooting at least eleven African American men. Local police have never conducted investigations into the shootings. We speak to reporter A.C. Thompson and New Orleans resident Donnell Herrington, who nearly died after being shot by a white vigilante.
A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter whose latest article Katrinas Hidden Race War appears in The Nation magazine. A.C. Thompsons reporting on New Orleans was directed and underwritten by the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute. ProPublica provided additional support, as did the Center for Investigative Reporting and New American Media.
Donnell Herrington, New Orleans resident who nearly died on Sept. 1, 2005, after he was shot by a white vigilante in Algiers Point.
When Hurricane Katrina ripped into New Orleans, most people tried to flee. In one neighborhood, however, a band of fifteen to thirty people refused to evacuate. With the police department crippled, these people amassed weapons and began patrolling the streets. Before long, bullets began to fly.
Fearing an influx of outsiders, the gunmen of Algiers Point barricaded their streets. Malik Rahim is one of a handful of blacks living in Algiers Point. In the days after Katrina, he says he was threatened at gunpoint by several white neighbors.
what we did over the span of eighteen months is we would try to recreate the history. We tried to go back and figure out exactly what happened in basically the two weeks after the storm hit. And so, what I did is I tracked down people like Donnell Herrington. I tracked down people who admitted to being involved in the gunfire, the vigilantes themselves. I tracked down eyewitnesses, people like Malik Rahim. And I asked everyone, What did you see? Dont tell me about what you heard about. Dont tell me about what people told you about. Tell me about what you saw, what you were involved in, what you experienced.
And what I came to believe from my interviews was that at least eleven people, all of them African American males, were shot in the Algiers Point neighborhood during about the week after the storm hit. That information was bolstered, one, by a trauma surgeon, the doctor who operated on Donnell, who said, Hey, we had a whole stream of people in our emergency room who had been shot, some of them fatally. He said at least five or six non-fatal gunshot wounds, three fatal gunshot wounds. And he said, Look, I dont think any of these cases have been investigated. I think they went unreported.
Chicago Cop Shoots Unarmed Black Couple (Rekia Boyd Commentary)
**EMAIL CHICAGO P.D. at: nwsaffr@chicagopolice.org** They have ducked and dodged questions from me via telephone & email, but I have not stopped in my quest for answers. They can be reached at 312.745.6110 & for Independent Police Review Authority 312.446.3298.
Instead of turning in your guns, start collecting them. Instead of turning the other cheek, take an eye for an eye.
Life teaches you a lot, if you've lived it long enough, and what I've learned is that the bullying doesn't stop until you confront the bully/ies.
Yesterday it was Trayvon Martin in Florida, today it was Rekia Boyd in Chicago, who will it be tomorrow?!
Where are the Larry Davis' of the world or are you guys comfortable with getting picked off like ducks?
Chief Superintendent Garry McCarthy seems to think this MURDER was justified but he never explains how. I called his office to get some answers and if you have questions regarding his decision to give a pass to his murdering officer you can reach Garry McCarthy at (312) 745-4290.
Police Chase Ends With Fatal Shooting
Police opened fire on a grand theft auto suspect at the end of a pursuit in Orange County, CA. The suspect would not survive his wounds and would die on the scene.
Orange County police fatally shoot Black man alledgedly wielding a knife
The family of 22-year-old Michael Lembhard dispute allegations by New York, Orange County police that he was threatening them leading cops to kill him in a hail of bullets.
Protest of Police Killing of 22 Year Old Michael Lembhard in Newburgh, NY
One of a series of protests demanding a murder investigation by a special New York State prosecutor and a Federal Civil Rights investigation by the US Attorney for the Southern District, NY, in Newburgh, NY on March 31, 2012. Michael Lembhard was one of six young Black men killed by Newburgh police in the last past six years, and one of five killed by police in the Southern District of New York. To date, there has not been a single indictment. Video courtesy of www.CPRmetro.org - Community Progressive Radio.
No police officer indicted in black man killing
Prosecutors of a New York courthouse say the grand jury finds no "reasonable cause" to indict the officers, who shot dead a black man and former Marine in his apartment last November, Press TV reports.
District Attorney Janet DiFiore called the shooting of the former US Marine a "tragedy on many levels."
"It's really hard to indict an officer, police officer in connection with the killing of a black man" US Civil Rights Attorney and Chamberlain family's lawyer, Randolph Mclaughlin said.
Police Body-Slam Elderly Woman At Wal-Mart
Caught On Tape August 1, 2009 in Columbus Ohio:
This old lady was in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Whitehall, Ohio, swinging a knife at people. When the police arrived, she wouldnt drop the knife, so the police officer took her down. The identity of the woman and the police officers are not available at this time.
Police beat man for unzipped jacket
Police order a man in New Jersey to zip up his jacket. After he does , Beaten to the ground and then arrested for resisting arrest. Featured on my Anti Police Brutality site shieldthetruth.com
Atlanta Police Kill 92 Year Old
Undercover police raid the wrong house AGAIN, as usual, and shoot a 92 year old black woman. But this elderly lady didn't go out without a fight, she was able to shoot 3 of the officers before going down. I consider this lady to be a kind of hero, she stood up and defended her life, freedom, and home. We could learn something from her.
Just another piece of evidence, in a never ending stream, showing the results of the militarization of the civilian police and the crimes against humanity that they are committing.
Indiana Police Beat Up Pregnant Woman Leading To Her Miscarriage
(INDIANAPOLIS) — The Indianapolis Metro Police chief plans to investigate allegations of police brutality involving one of his officers.
An Indianapolis woman is suing the city in federal court. LaDonna Dixon claims the officer beat her so severely during an arrest that she had a miscarriage.
"[He was] punching me, kicking me, after he maced me," Dixon said.
"This person was angry, was enraged and just beat her," said Dixon's attorney, Everett Powell. "I would say it's a crime."
LaDonna Dixon is suing the city over what she claims happened in her yard last June. She says she was helping a friend who collapsed from a seizure and needed medicine.
When police arrived, the complaint says Officer Scott Childers told Dixon she was disrupting emergency crews and that she needed to get in her house.
Dixon admits she argued with Childers, but says that's when the officer turned violent.
"He says I was resisting arrest, but I don't see how I'm resisting when I'm already handcuffed and maced," Dixon said.
Dixon claims that the beating continued even after she told the officer she was three months pregnant. She says she miscarried at Marion County's arrestee processing center, just hours after her arrest.
"She was beaten so bad that she passed out," Powell said. "She was hemorrhaging directly after getting beaten like this."
Dixon says she was refused medical attention at the jail.
Her attorney filed a tort claim with the city last year.
It was denied in March, saying "a settlement is not warranted in this matter."
Now, Dixon has filed suit in federal court, seeking punishment for the officer in what she claims was an unnecessarily violent arrest.
"Justice, I mean...can't bring back my child," Dixon said.
Dixon's attorney fears a pattern in excessive force by police.
This lawsuit comes just a few weeks after a Metro officer was fired and another disciplined after beating an Indianapolis teenager.
Wednesday evening, Metro Police Chief Paul Ciesielski released the following statement:
"After claims of alleged police brutality being brought to my attention today, I have begun a review process of the arrest of Ms. Ladonna Dixon on June 21, 2009 at 6132 Nelson Place. We have decided to voluntarily review this arrest and will release more information once this review is completed."
Police kill an African American
On August 24, 2009, 23 year old Mark Anthony Barmore was killed inside a day care center housed inside a church.
Two witnesses say that Mark Anthony Barmore had ran into a boiler/storage room. The police shined a flashlight in the room and ordered Barmore to come out. Witnesses say that Barmore proceeded slowly to walk out with both hands up and his head down. But then, the police shot him and according to one eyewitness, after Barmore had been shot numerous times and was on the floor, one officer continued to shoot, with a final bullet to Barmore's head. It is reported that the police fired 8 rounds.
The police allege that Barmore fought with them trying to get an officers gun.
Barmore was killed in the daycare center within the hearing and sight of children.
Police Chief Epperson said that Barmore was wanted in connection with two domestic disputes, one of which may have involved the use of a knife. A police squad followed Barmore after he ran into Kingdom Authority International Ministries. The House of Grace Daycare Center is located in a building connected to the church. House of Grace cares for 43 infants and 166 toddlers. It is reported that there were 10 children in the room when the officers killed Barmore.
"My concern was for the children," says daycare worker, Sheila Brown. "I wanted to make sure they were okay. I tried to push them as far back into the corner so they wouldn't see anything."
The officers were not injured and have been placed on administrative leave.
The Police Department would not release the names of the officers. However, one officer was readily identified by other officers (off the record) and witnesses as Officer Oda Poole. Reports have it that Officer Poole has been involved in three shooting of unarmed suspects.
In April 2007, Rockford, IL police officer Poole was involved in the suicide by cop case, firing the shot that killed Lewis Henderson Jr., 66, of Rockford. Henderson left behind a message saying that he was going to pretend having a gun so that the cops would kill him. (Ref: http://www.wickedlocal.com/rrstar/news/x1633044797)
In May of the same year, Officer Poole was awarded a law enforcement medal of honor for a 2006 incident where he risked his life to save occupants of a building that was on fire.
In or about February 2007, Oda Poole, who was then 35, shot two unarmed men. Officer Pooles shooting of the two men, Billy Peavy, 44, and Robert Evitt, 39, both of Rockford, was said to be justifiable as an act of self-defense when one allegedly attempted to run over Poole with his car.
On August 25th, Chief Epperson met with the pastor of the church where Barmore was killed. He refused to answer any questions from the media. The community gathered and discussed the situation. It is not only a matter of the police killing an unarmed man in the presence of children inside a church's daycare center. It is also a matter of Oda Poole, who is White, seemingly having a reputation for shooting unarmed Black men.
Cops Shoot, Kill Unarmed Man
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is still investigating a deadly deputy-involved shooting at an Orange County apartment complex. Eyewitness News first reported Tuesday morning when deputies used deadly force to stop a suspected car thief as he rammed several patrol units in the SUV he was driving. We now know nine Orange County deputies combined to fire more than 100 rounds at known thief and felon Torey Breedlove.
Deputies stopped Breedlove in the Alta Westgate apartment complex on Hiawassee Road, but they say he rammed several cruisers with his car. Breedloves sister told Eyewitness News that is no reason to use deadly force. Ramming a car is not putting your life in danger. I mean, you are trained officers to move out of the way to handle these types of things, said Tiffanye Breedlove, victims sister. It was very cruel for a human being to be fired upon like an animal.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said Tuesday that he does not believe the number of shots fired was excessive. The nine deputies involved are on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
Police Shoot Unarmed Marine in the Back
US police officer kills Marine in front of his 2 children in California. Adrenaline fueled simians at it again.
Here we go yet again, seems like these stories are happening on a daily basis.
Adrenaline fueled simians, also known as US police officers, kill Marine in front of his 2 children in California.
"IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- An Orange County Sheriff's deputy shot a Marine inside his car while his two young daughters were in the back seat.
The driver's-side window of an SUV was shattered by at least one bullet. The Orange County Sheriff's Dept. says Marine Sergeant Manny Loggins was shot inside his vehicle in front of his 9- and 14-year-old daughters seated in the back.
'Here to explain and not to defend: The perceived threat in the deputy's mind that the girls lives would be in danger if he were allowed to leave,' said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the sheriff's department.
The department alleges the Loggins, 31, crashed his SUV through a gate at San Clemente High School before 5 a.m. Tuesday. An Orange County Sheriff's deputy parked nearby quickly pulled up and called for backup.
'All during this time the deputy is giving him a set of commands which he is ignoring,' said Amormino.
Investigators allege Loggins then walked to the athletic field where he stayed for up to five minutes. Loggins then returned to his SUV, ignoring the commands of the deputy, who now had his gun drawn.
'Because of the irrational behavior of Mr. Loggins, his failure to obey commands, the threat perceived by the deputy was for the safety of the children,' said Amormino.
Authorities are not saying how many times the deputy fired but confirm Loggins did not have a weapon."
Police Video of Justin Elmore Shooting
Child witnessed police shooting
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation interviewed many witnesses after the police shooting of Justin Elmore, but the account provided by an 8-year-old girl seemed most closely to mirror what was seen in police car videos.
The child's statement was in the agency's investigative report shared Tuesday with the Richmond County grand jury. The jury did not indict two sheriff deputies for any criminal charge.
The report was released Wednesday through an Open Records request. It reveals both Deputies Jose Rivera Ortiz and Michael Hodge fired their weapons at Mr. Elmore the afternoon of Dec. 14. The deputies fired eight times total. Mr. Elmore, 23, was shot once in the head.
17 year old attacked by 2 NYPD Police
2 NYPD cops attacked a 17 year old for talking back to them after he was released from a Bronx precinct for disorderly conduct. The police routinely beat up minority men because they think they can get away with it. The NYPD operate like a gang of ruthless thugs that are above the law and can do whatever they like including assaulting citizens and even murder.
New York Police killing unarmed teen
Outrage continues to build on the streets of New York one week after police shot and killed a teenager in the bathroom of his own home.
18 year old Ramarley Graham was unarmed even though police say they believed he was carrying a weapon. An outrageous and overused lie, say his neighbors who say the officers involved, committed murder.
Police have released video to back up their claims that Ramarley Graham was running from the scene of a drug buy. But security video from his home shows the teen walking to open the door then being pursued by police who break in without a warrant.
Graham was shot in the upstairs bathroom after one officer screamed 'gun, gun' No weapon or drugs were found in the home or on the victim.
The NYPD says they are investigating the incident and reviewing the procedures of the narcotics unit that was involved. But the parents of the dead teen are angry and they believe cops are trying to smear their son's reputation to justify his death.
Officer Richard Haste, who fired the fatal bullet, and Sgt. Scott Morris have both been stripped of their guns and placed on modified duty for the duration of the investigation.
On Monday demonstrations will continue over the shooting as hundreds are set to march in front of the Bronx Districts attorneys offices.
Protestors are demanding that the police officers involved be criminally charged with murder. The next day Ramarley Graham's family will bury the teenager they loved so much.
Army Vet Shot by Vegas Police Had Sought Help
Stanley Gibson, a 43-year-old Gulf War veteran, was gunned down by Las Vegas police early Monday. His life was spiraling out of control and he sought help from Veterans Affairs days before he was killed. (Dec. 14)
Cop Tasers Teen Then Runs Him Over Killing Him
PENSACOLA, Florida - The Pensacola Police Department has banned the firing of Taser guns by officers from moving vehicles following the death of a 17-year-old. The teenager died this month after a patrol officer fired the
stun gun from his cruiser. The teen then fell from his bike and the officer hit him with his cruiser, according to witnesses. The officer had ordered Victor Steen to stop after spotting him at a vacant construction site early on the morning of Oct. 3. The officer is on paid leave while authorities investigate. The death has prompted community protests and vigils. On Friday, Assistant Pensacola Police Chief Chip Simmons said officers would no longer be allowed to fire Tasers from their cruisers.
Police Kill Unarmed Man on Ground
Kenneth Brian Walker was a middle-class African American man with no prior criminal record who was employed at Blue Cross at the time of the shooting. It was determined that the vehicle Walker was riding in fit the description that police had of some armed gang members. The police made the traffic stop, ordered all four passengers to the ground, but opened fire when the deputy could not see one of Walker's hands. No drugs or guns were found in the vehicle. On Nov. 23, 2004 a Muscogee County grand jury failed to return an indictment.
It was reported that Hodges allowed the shooter, a former deputy at the time of grand jury, to testify at grand jury without swearing him in as a witness or placing him under oath, which would make his testimony invalid. Hodges did not make the recommendation that the grand jury return a True Bill so the matter would go forward to trial before a judge and a jury.
Civil rights groups and citizens from the African-American community appealed to Hodges to bring a second grand jury. Attorney General Baker left the decision up to Hodges and a second grand jury was never convened. Hodges admitted to the family he had made a mistake by not swearing in the former deputy. Hodges promised that he would bring a second grand jury, then later stated that he would only bring a second grand jury if there was new evidence to present. The requirement for new evidence to convene a second grand jury is not supported by Georgia law.
Police Murder LA Youth in Imperial Courts Projects
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