This blog stays updated with cases of Police Brutality against Black Men and the Black Community. These are just the cases that we are fortunate enough to hear about. But, there are several "unsung victims" whose story has never been told or videotaped. Infamous cases such as Rodney King and Oscar Grant are not isolated incidents. They exist amongst a corrupt system of impunity. Who am I? I am a “Concerned Member of the Black Community.”
"A police officer in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., confessed to taking at least one demeaning video showing an African-American man being commanded to sing and make animal noises on Friday.
Motor City Muckraker, the blog that first published videos and a photo allegedly made by police officers in the upscale suburb bordering Detroit, reported Friday that the officer was taken off duty and is "expected to face discipline next week."
The man in the videos, Michael Scipio, appeared at a protest held Wednesday at the Public Safety headquarters in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., and said he was unaware that police had filmed him. The Huffington Post last week reported that city officials had opened an investigation after the videos and photo appeared online."* Ana Kasparian, Eboni K Williams, Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report) and Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show) break it down on The Young Turks.
Kalief Browder was just 16-year-old when police officers suddenly showed up and arrested him for a crime he didn't commit. He spent the next three years on Rikers Island.
Now 20, Browder still had no idea why a person he had never met before decided to accuse him of robbery and steal his teenage years.
Browder, a Bronx native, was on his way home from a party when he was arrested. "This guy comes out of nowhere and says I robbed him," Browder told WABC. "And the next thing I know they are putting cuffs on me. I don't know this dude. And I do over three years for something I didn't do."
Browder's attorney, Paul Prestia, says the entire case rested on the accuser's fingering of Browder.
"Someone who did not know Kalief Browder, and simply told the police officer, 'Officer I was robbed two weeks ago and that kid did it', that's where it ended. That was the identification,"
Browder's bail was set at $10,000, but his family was unable to pay it. So the teen had to sit and wait in one of America's most notorious jails.
"It's very hard when you are dealing with dudes that are big and have weapons and shanks and there are gangs," he told the local ABC affiliate. "[Y]ou know if you don't give your phone call up, or you don't give them what they want you know they are going to jump you. And it's very scary."
At one point a judge tried to scare Browder into accepting a plea deal, threatening him with a 15-year sentence if he loses his trial.
Multiple court visits with no resolution left Browder desperate and contemplating suicide.
Then, one day, 33 months later, his case was dismissed and he was free.
"They just dismissed the case and they think it's all right," he said. "No apology, no nothing."
But Browder isn't sitting around waiting for a mea culpa that may not come: He's filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Bronx DA, which has so far been silent on matter, citing Browder's lawsuit as an excuse.
Browder is also trying to move on with his interrupted life.
A 10th grader at the time of his incarceration, he's already started taking high school-level courses with the hopes of completing his GED by the end of the year.
Still, he knows nothing will ever make up for what was lost.
"I didn't get to go to prom or graduation. Nothing," Browder said. "[T]hose are the main years. They are the main years. And I am never going to get those years back. Never. Never.
"A Florida convenience store owner is preparing to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against local police after collecting more than two dozen videos detailing what he describes as regular harassment by officers against both customers and his employees.
The Miami Herald reported that since installing cameras at his store in June 2012, 207 Quickstop owner Alex Saleh has amassed footage of Miami Gardens police arresting people for trespassing despite them having permission to be at the store, as well as conducting searches without a warrant and in at least one instance, reporting a trespassing arrest saying one of Saleh's employees was loitering outside the business when video of the arrest showed him being taken into custody while he was working inside.
The employee, Earl Sampson, has reportedly been put in jail 56 times, searched more than 100 times and questioned more than 250 times over the past four years, despite Saleh informing police on several occasions that he worked at the establishment."* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.
Four African-American police officers claim they have experienced discrimination from their Chief, who is also African-American. Less than one week following Police Chief Ron Davis’ departure from his position last month to take on a higher profile one in D.C., the African-American police officers filed a racial discrimination complaint against him.
The complaint was made on Nov. 1. It alleges Davis, who is African-American, is responsible for creating a hostile work environment for employees who are also African-American.
The officers behind the complaint are Sgt. Roderick Norris and Renaldo Rhodes, and Officers Paul Norris and Paul Hines. In it they state, ”His temperament toward African-American employees is abrasive, belittling and dismissive.” The officers said Davis showed his bias against African-Americans regularly; in his hiring, promotions and assignments.
Assistant city manager for human resources Barbara Powell along with City Council members was the first to receive the complaint.
According to Powell, the complaint is not to be discussed because it is considered to be a ”confidential personnel matter.” However, she also said that action will be taken.
“The city takes this very seriously, and the city will be following up on it,” said Powell.
Davis has been silent on the matter thus far. Officers Hines and Norris are both on leaves of absence, according to the receptionist at the police department.
The complaint is not empty of examples. The officers point to several in their three-page letter to Powell. They claim these examples directly show Davis’s racial discrimination. The examples, include African-American senior officers being constantly looked over for sergeant positions, there being not one African -American detective in the investigation unit, and from the dates of 2005 to 2013, only one African-American office has been added to the force.
To add insult to injury, Davis is also being accused of treating African-American women unfairly. Shortly after his arrival in 2005, the complaint alleges that Davis had the African-American secretary that he was assigned transferred to another city. Also, Davis allegedly hired two African-American women since his time as chief, but both are no longer with the department. One woman resigned and the other was transferred. Their reasoning, allegedly, has to do with the terrible treatment they received while working with Davis.
That’s not it.
The complaint also alleges that in 2011, Davis was informed by an African-American sergeant that another officer within the department had posted the “n-word” on his page. Davis reportedly ignored it. When the sergeant was then attacked by the officer and his friends, Davis still did nothing.
“The examples that have been cited are a minute glimpse into the ongoing suffering endured by African American employees since Chief Davis took over the department,” the complaint reads.
A Texas man who is currently on death row after being convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend and her friend in 1997 has been denied the chance at a new trial despite proven evidence of racial bias during his original trial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied Duane Buck’s appeal for a new sentencing, meaning an execution date can be set if the Harris County District Attorney’s Office chooses to seek an execution date.
Buck was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1997 for the murders of his ex-girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and the man who was with her, Kenneth Butler. He also shot his stepsister, Phyllis Taylor, but Taylor survived. The big question has never been on Buck’s guilt, but on why he was sentenced to death.
During his Harris County murder trial, a psychologist testified that Buck was more of a danger to society because he is African American. A few years after Buck was convicted, the psychologist, Walter Quijano, was cited by then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn for giving racially influenced testimony to juries.
Cornyn, now a U.S. senator, identified seven cases that needed to be reviewed for sentencing and Buck’s was one of them. All of the other cases have been allowed new sentencing hearings, but Buck’s has been denied.
Barneys and Macy’s do not care about your little race-themed feelings. Despite facing harsh criticism for showing signs of racial-profiling in their loss prevention practices, both retailers completely blew off a hearing in NYC on Wednesday evening meant to tackle the issue head on. The stores were among 17 retailers previously accused of racially profiling customers, currently under investigation by the City of New York for their loss prevention practices. Neither store bothered to send reps or any requested documents for review.
From The Associated Press:
The City Council tackled the emotional issue on Wednesday at a hearing that included statements from Macy’s and Barneys New York denying allegations by customers that they had been singled out and followed.
City Council member Jumaane Williams calls the problem “staggering.”
The stores did not send representatives to the session in the City Council’s main chamber.
“I’m offended that Barneys New York and Macy’s is not here. I think it’s insulting, not just to the City Council, but to the City of New York and the people who shop there,” Williams said.
The NYC Commission on Human Rights has sent letters to 17 retailers — including Macy’s and Barneys — requesting the following information: loss prevention policies; procedures for approaching and detaining individuals suspected of theft; records regarding all individuals accused of theft in the past two years; and what, if any presence, NYPD officers have in the retail locations.
The stores are: Century 21, Loehmann’s, Sephora, Target, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Sears, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, The Gap, CVS, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, Macys, Bath & Body Works/Limited Brands/Victoria’s Secret.
Letters may be sent to additional businesses, but “we selected these locations based upon previous discrimination complaints against these stores, and the size and prominence of the stores,” said Patricia Gatling, the city’s human rights commissioner. “This is only the beginning of our investigation.”
If they refused to show up and explain themselves, they either truly aren’t concerned with the comfort of their Black customers, or they must REALLY have something to hide. All the rapper-collab merchandise in the world won’t cover up a culture of racism engrained in their stores’ policies. So what do you think? Will this attitude from these corporations effect where you spend your dollars this holiday season?
Last week Grosse Pointe Park police were put on blast for some seriously racist behavior by the Motor City Muckraker blog, that report has lead to an investigation into the matter:
Grosse Pointe Park police officially opened an internal investigation today following our report Thursday that officers were capturing humiliating videos and pictures of black men and texting them to colleagues and family.
“On Thursday, November 14 2013, the Grosse Pointe Park Public Safety Department was contacted by an individual who said that he was in possession of video clips and a photo of African American males,” police said in press release to Huffington Post. “The video clips and photo are allegedly made by an officer of this department. The department has begun an internal investigation of this matter. The Grosse Pointe Park Public Safety Department does not tolerate unprofessional conduct by its officers when interacting with any citizen they may come in contact with.”
Police have declined to update us on the investigation, but we provided them with more images from the text messages today. We'll be giving them additional evidence this weekend.
Most of the videos are shot from squad cars while African American men are told to sing or “dance like a chimp.” Some of the subjects are even in the back of police cars.
One of the main culprits is Officer Mike Najm, who texted a picture of a black man in the back of a trailer and typed, “Gotta love the coloreds.” In one video, Najm can be heard telling a mentally ill black man to sing.
Despite bordering Detroit, Grosse Pointe is notorious for being a wealthy enclave where racism has long been tolerated. Which leads us to wonder whether this investigation will actually result in any real consequences for the guilty parties.
We will be releasing more racist videos later today and in the next several days.
A mother is facing felony charges and two state police officers are under investigation after a traffic stop escalated into a wild scene involving broken glass, gunfire and a high speed chase.
"Police officers from Fredericksburg, Va. have landed in hot water after a video surfaced of one policeman applying a taser to suspect, Lantz Day, 36, for what appears to be 42 seconds. The Fredericksburg police department is now conducting an internal investigation to decide if the officer used excessive force or if he was justified in his actions...".* Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur break it down on The Young Turks.
"In the first-ever study of people serving life without parole for nonviolent offenses in the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union found that at least 3,278 prisoners fit this category in federal and state prisons combined.*" Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) host of The Young Turks discusses the report.
A police department in Virginia is under scrutiny after an officer was filmed shocking a man with a Taser for more than 40 seconds.
The suspect, Lantz Day, 36, was a passenger in a car that struck five parked cars in downtown Fredericksburg on Saturday night, Fredericksburg.com reported.
The driver of the four-door Buick fled the scene, but Day remained in the area until police caught up to him.
Cops said he was belligerent and threatened to attack anyone who called 911.
Video posted to YouTube showed Day lying on the ground next to some officers before jumping up and attempting to flee.
A cop drops him with a Taser and continues shocking him for 42 seconds.
At one point, Day screams out, “Stop it! Stop it!” but the officer doesn’t let up. The stun gun’s persistent clicking is audible in the video.
Day, of Locust Grove, was charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice and released later on $3,500 bond, Fredericksburg.com reported.
A police spokesman told the news website investigators were looking into whether officer’s use of the Taser was excessive.
A white Georgia police officer who dressed in blackface for Halloween has been suspended after residents in the community became understandably outraged.
A Camden County Georgia deputy sheriff has been suspended without pay after photos surfaced of him dressed not only in blackface but as a black prisoner in a striped jail uniform ‘picking cotton’ at a Halloween party.
Sheriff Jim Proctor has suspended Deputy Sheriff Chad Palmer without pay and said while Palmer’s costume was ‘extremely insensitive,’ he doesn’t believe that Palmer is racist.
Proctor says Palmer has been placed on probation for a year and the department’s deputy sheriffs are now required to participate in sensitivity training — which begins next week. But some angry residents in the south Georgia county say that’s not enough.
The Camden County sheriff Jim made the announcement in front of a room packed with community members, local church leaders and representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Wednesday.
‘Today, we are here because of someone’s inappropriate, insensitive actions. Extremely insensitive, is what it is. I do not believe Chad Palmer is a racist. I have had to take action,’ said Proctor.
‘There's been a lot of thought, a lot of prayer in to this decision,’ Proctor said. ‘I thought about firing him but decided against it.’
Meanwhile, some members of the coastal county’s community say he should have.
‘To me, it was like a slap in the face,’ Pastor Mack Knight said of the pictures. ‘Out of all of the characters that this police officer could have chosen, he chose to go as a slave, an inmate, picking cotton.’
Community member Shelia Blake agreed.
‘That is bad. For this to be a deputy doing something like this,’ she told First Coast News. ‘This isn't causing anything but a war in Camden County. It's not good for Camden County.’
In light of the revelations and their racist implications, some residents have asked for an investigation into the possibility that Palmer’s previous arrests have been racially motivated.
Proctor said he analyzed the deputy’s record while weighing the decision and found no evidence of prejudice.
At about 12.40pm on 2 January 1996, Timothy Jackson took a jacket from the Maison Blanche department store in New Orleans, draped it over his arm, and walked out of the store without paying for it. When he was accosted by a security guard, Jackson said: “I just needed another jacket, man.”
A few months later Jackson was convicted of shoplifting and sent to Angola prison in Louisiana. That was 16 years ago. Today he is still incarcerated in Angola, and will stay there for the rest of his natural life having been condemned to die in jail. All for the theft of a jacket, worth $159.
Jackson, 53, is one of 3,281 prisoners in America serving life sentences with no chance of parole for non-violent crimes. Some, like him, were given the most extreme punishment short of execution for shoplifting; one was condemned to die in prison for siphoning petrol from a truck; another for stealing tools from a tool shed; yet another for attempting to cash a stolen cheque.
“It has been very hard for me,” Jackson wrote to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as part of its new report on life without parole for non-violent offenders. “I know that for my crime I had to do some time, but a life sentence for a jacket value at $159. I have met people here whose crimes are a lot badder with way less time.”
Senior officials at Angola prison refused to allow the Guardian to speak to Jackson, on grounds that it might upset his victims – even though his crime was victim-less. But his sister Loretta Lumar did speak to the Guardian. She said that the last time she talked by phone with her brother he had expressed despair. “He told me, ‘Sister, this has really broke my back. I’m ready to come out.’”
Lumar said that she found her brother’s sentence incomprehensible. “This doesn’t make sense to me. I know people who have killed people, and they get a lesser sentence. That doesn’t make sense to me right there. You can take a life and get 15 or 16 years. He takes a jacket worth $159 and will stay in jail forever. He didn’t kill the jacket!”
The New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" program was a major issue for voters going to the polls in the city's mayoral election.
The issue drew widespread attention in August when U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin found "stop-and-frisk" unconstitutional, saying police had relied on a "policy of indirect racial profiling" that led officers to routinely stop "blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white." While she did not halt use of the tactic, Scheindlin appointed a federal court monitor to oversee a series of reforms.
In a dramatic development last week, those reforms were put on hold. On Thursday, an appeals court stayed the changes, effectively allowing police officers to continue using "stop-and-frisk."
We get reaction from a police officer who has spoken out about problems with the program he and thousands of others are asked to carry out. Adhyl Polanco became critical of the NYPD's "stop-and-frisk" policy when his superiors told officers to meet a quota of stops, or face punishment.
Less than two months after Charlotte police shot and killed an unarmed man who was trying to find help after having a car accident, a woman is dead in Michigan under similar circumstances, shot in the head while reportedly searching for assistance late Friday night.
Renisha McBride, a 19-year-old from Detroit, is presumed to have been asking for help when she knocked on the door of a Dearborn Heights home at 2:30 A.M. on Saturday. McBride's family says McBride had been in a car accident and her cellphone was dead. Rather than offering shelter to McBride, however, the homeowner came out and shot her in the head with a shotgun. The buckshot entered McBride's head from the back, according to statements from her aunt, as the girl had already turned to walk or run away from the home. Police reports say the teenager was found dead on the home's front porch.
While the initial stories around McBride's death dubbed it a "possible case of self-defense gone wrong," today police sent a request to the Wayne County prosecutor asking for charges to be filed against the unnamed resident who shot McBride.
"He shot her in the head ... for what? For knocking on his door," McBride's aunt told the Detroit News. "If he felt scared or threatened, he should have called 911."
Michigan's self-defense act, which bears a resemblance to Florida's infamous stand-your-ground law, says that an individual "may use deadly force against another individual anywhere he or she has the legal right to be with no duty to retreat" as long as that person "honestly and reasonably" believes deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or sexual assault.
A Dearborn Heights, Michigan, homeowner told police that he shot Renisha McBride in the head when his shotgun discharged accidentally early Saturday morning. McBride was presumably looking for help following a car accident, but the man says he took her for an intruder and mistakenly shot her in the face.
The Detroit Free Press spoke with police Lt. James Serwatowski, who said, "This man's claiming—believed the girl was breaking into the home. And he's also saying the gun discharged accidentally." Serwatowski added that McBride was not shot in the back of the head, as her family has been claiming. "I don't know where the family is getting this," he said. "She was shot in the front of the face, near the mouth."
Police confirmed that McBride was in an accident and said that "some hours transpired" before the shooting, though they have yet to publicly describe what happened in the interim between those two events.
The Wayne County prosecutor's office today said it is awaiting further police investigation before deciding if it will press charges against the homeowner.
http://www.democracynow.org - A sweeping set of changes to the New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" program has been put on hold.
In August, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin found the program unconstitutional, saying police had relied on a "policy of indirect racial profiling" that led officers to routinely stop "blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white."
While she did not halt the use of stop-and-frisk, Scheindlin appointed a federal court monitor to oversee a series of reforms. The city appealed Scheindlin's ruling, saying it made officers "passive and scared" to frisk suspects. On Thursday, it got what it was hoping for, and much more.
An appeals court stayed the changes, effectively postponing the operations of the monitor, while allowing police officers to continue using stop-and-frisk tactics. In a striking move, the court also took the unusual step of removing Scheindlin from the case, saying she had "ran afoul" of the judiciary's code of conduct and compromised the "appearance of impartiality surrounding this litigation" by granting media interviews while the case was pending before her.
All of this comes as stop-and-frisk has been a major issue in New York City's mayoral election, which takes place this Tuesday. "The next mayor should consider withdrawing the appeal," says Sunita Patel, co-counsel on the "stop-and-frisk" federal class action lawsuit and a staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
"Any fair minded and neutral judge to look at the record ... will come up with the same conclusion. There was a nine-week trial, there is 23,000 pages of evidence herel; 8,000 pages of trial transcript. No one could come to a different conclusion than Judge Scheindlin."
Readers familiar with the killings of unarmed individuals in this nation during the past ten tears would probably agree the police execution of Kenneth B. Walker in December 2003 resonates as the most violent brutal shooting of an unarmed human being captured on video.
The police in the video swarmed over Walker like sharks on a feeding frenzy. As Mr.Walker lay helpless and incapacitated he was killed by two shots to the head after being pulled out a vehicle drug agents mistakenly thought was that of a Florida drug dealer. He was unarmed. There were no drugs and no weapon.
Mr Walker was born July 29,1964 only 27 days after the signing of the now famous Civil Rights Acts document which was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. His generation would be the first that would be free of segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. Walker's generation would supposedly not be subject to the past blatant abuses of discriminatory practices in employment and segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools.
Although the Civil Rights Act was intended to make Walker and his generation's lives more tolerable than previous generations his death was reminiscent of the murders of blacks who died under the violent white rage and terrorist acts in burnings and lynchings by the Klu Klux Klan.
Mr. Walker's cold blooded death illustrated the callous inhumanity exhibited by the Klan and replayed by the shooter former police officer David Glisson. Glisson was fired from his position as a result of the shooting but never convicted of any crime. His life continues, he has watched his kids mature, celebrate holidays with family and played team softball in his community.
Kenneth Walker's mother and family were only left with memories and sorrows offered by a two minute video of the last violent moments of his life.
Walker's death should remind every black person in this nation that the scourge of death still rest upon the race in America. And the killings of unarmed blacks continue today.
COLUMBUS, Georgia—More than 8,000 people marched January 15 from the Civic Center here to the Columbus Government Center to demand justice for Kenneth Walker and to protest cop brutality and anti-Black discrimination.
Walker, a 39-year-old African American, was killed Dec. 10, 2003, by two bullets to the head fired by Muscogee County deputy sheriff David Glisson. Walker was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by Glisson and other deputy sheriffs from the local police Special Response Team. The cops claimed they were looking for drug dealers who they suspected would be armed. But the police officers did not find any incriminating evidence against the four men nor did they provide any plausible explanation as to how Walker was shot dead. Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson called the shooting a “tragedy.”
Glisson was subsequently fired from the police department. On November 23, however, a grand jury decided not to indict him after deliberating for about 40 minutes.
Attorneys for Walker’s family filed a civil lawsuit the week prior to the march here, seeking $100 million in damages from the city of Columbus, Glisson, and Johnson, the country sheriff.
Warren Beaulah, Daryl Ransom, and Anthony Smith—the other men in the vehicle where Walker was killed—also filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court January 10 charging that their constitutional rights were violated and seeking damages of $3.5 million.
The men were stopped as they drove down Interstate 185 on that fatal night a little more than a year ago. The three survivors told the press later that the police ordered them to get out of the vehicle with their hands in the air and get on the ground as officers advanced, guns drawn. In the ensuing moments, Walker was shot twice in the head. Beaulah, Ransom, and Smith were then handcuffed and searched. The police found no weapons or drugs in their possession or in the car. The men were taken to the sheriff’s department where they were held in separate cells and questioned by deputies. No charges were ever filed against them.
The march and rally, on the anniversary of the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., were called by a coalition of civil rights and religious organizations. These include the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Concerned Black Clergy, Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, the National Action Network, Rainbow Coalition/PUSH, and the Nation of Islam.
Speakers included Democratic Party politician Jesse Jackson, Joseph Lowery of the SCLC, and others representing the sponsoring organizations.
Days before the march, one of its organizers, Rev. Wayne Baker of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, had predicted that “several hundred” would attend. Instead, thousands turned out, including protesters from Albany, Atlanta, and other cities in Georgia. The big majority of the predominantly Black marchers, however, came from the Columbus area and the towns in Alabama just across the river. This is significant, since Columbus is a relatively small city of about 185,000 people.
In his speech to the rally, Baker demanded a new grand jury be convened in the case.
“Last week statements were made that only a couple of people in Columbus, Georgia, were making a lot of noise about nothing,” said Cheryl Walker, the widow of Kenneth Walker, addressing the crowd. “By your presence here today, we have proved them wrong.”
On January 11, an all-white demonstration of 150 people in support of Glisson had been held at the same location.
Germeka Harvey, 25, told the Militant she came with a friend and their kids “to see that justice be served, because it wasn’t served.”
“I came for Kenny Walker,” said Joshua Maddox, 13. “It’s important to be here.” He said there was a big discussion about the case among students and teachers at his school.
“I came because I want this killing to stop, to support a brother and his family,” said Dr. Andoh, 62, a biologist in Albany, Georgia, who is originally from Ghana. “I know he was killed because of profiling. The Black man in America is like a dog.”
“People need to know that prejudice is alive and well,” said Josie Duffy, 17. “We have a long way to go.”
Renee Benson, 25, added: “I’m here to find out how I can solve the problem of the unjust system.”
A Chicago police officer who admitted to being drunk and was caught on video shooting an unarmed man 16 times after mistaking his cell phone for a gun will face zero charges for the man’s murder.
Chicago Police Officer Gildardo Sierra will not face any criminal charges for the killing of an unarmed man, Cook County prosecutors announced Tuesday, despite video footage (http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/65555204/News/Dash-cam-video-of-police-shooting) that showed Sierra standing over the victim, Flint Farmer, and shooting him multiple times. Prosecutors concluded that Sierra may have reasonably mistaken Farmer’s cell phone for a gun, and therefore was justified in firing off all 16 rounds in his gun at the unarmed man.
Farmer was Sierra’s third shooting in six months, yet the officer remained on the job. The video showed Farmer lying on the ground bleeding as Sierra shot three bullets into his back. An autopsy later determined those three shots in his back were the fatal wounds.
Sierra eventually admitted that he drank “multiple” beers before he went to work that night. However, the city waited more than five hours after the shooting to give him a breath test, so there was no way to tell if he was impaired during the shooting.
The CPD also ruled Farmer’s shooting justified, though Superintendent Garry McCarthy later told the Chicago Tribune that Sierra should not have been allowed back on the street after the two previous shootings. McCarthy said the department had no way of tracking officers’ shooting records.
In the prosecutors’ defense, putting a cop in prison is remarkably difficult. Police officers are allowed to shoot if they fear for their lives, and proving that use of force was “unreasonable” sets a very high bar. Few police who have used force under suspicious circumstances ever face a judge. A 2007 study by UChicago law professor Craig Futterman found that just 19 of 10,149 complains of excessive force, illegal searches, racial abuse, sexual abuse, and false arrests led to a police suspension of a week or more. Individual police officers are also largely protected from damages claims in civil court through “qualified immunity.”
Though Sierra has gotten off essentially scot-free for his actions, Chicago taxpayers are not so lucky. The city settled a lawsuit over Farmer’s death for $4.1 million in December. Chicago has already paid out about $50 million to settle lawsuits from decades of police torture, and recently paid $8.5 million on behalf of an officer who shot a teenager in the back. Other cities plagued by police misconduct have had to shell out similarly large sums; New York taxpayers paid $185.6 million for one fiscal year of lawsuits against officers, and police misconduct cost Oakland, CA more than $13 million in fiscal year 2011.
Say something again. Say something again, I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker, say something one more Goddamn time! - KNOW YOUR RIGHTS - http://policecrimes.com/police.html - The Supreme Court recommends that you DON'T talk to police officers, but you must say out loud "I'M GOING TO REMAIN SILENT." There's no law that requires you or your teenagers to talk or answer any questions from a police officer, just say "I'M GOING TO REMAIN SILENT." Talking to a police officer can be very dangerous!
WASHINGTON (WJLA) - Dramatic footage is released of a D.C. police officer assaulting an employee at a store in Northeast D.C. because the employee allegedly made a sarcastic remark at the officer.
Officer Clinton Turner, 42, pleaded guilty to simple assault earlier this week in connection with the 2011 incident.
Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1. The offence carries a maximum 180 day jail sentence.
It all took place at the downtown Locker Room store at Minnesota and Benning northeast on January 20, 2011.
Store clerk Daniel Fox and the officers, who were seated in the store, were friendly at first. Then something happened. Fox became angry, gestured at the officers, walked away and sat down near the register.
Turner followed him, and according to court documents, said, "don't let us get you locked up on your birthday."
Fox replied, "why."
"Say something else and will be locked up," the officer said.
Fox, sarcastically said "something else."
Turner grabbed the clerk and started beating him, authorities say and the video shows. Court records say he pulled out clumps of his hair and put him in a choke hold and arrested him for assault.
The problem for the officer is that when authorities viewed the surveillance video, they charged him with assault. And after the beating, the video shows Officer Turner lecturing Fox.
"He could have talked to him in a more calm manner. Violence should never have been used in that manner," says D.C. resident, De-An Owen.
Initially, Turner's partner was also charged but those charges were later dropped.
The defense attorney for Turner, James Rudasill, said: "It's very unusual for a police officer to be charged when there's not substantial injuries or injures requiring hospitalization."
But as U.S. Attorney Ron Machen insisted in an issued statement: "Police officers have a difficult job. When the few cross that line, they will be held accountable. As the judge found in this case, there was no justification for Officer Turner's actions."
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As a police officer, where do you draw the line between protecting and serving your community, and protecting yourself?
Sheriff John Rutherford is defending his deputies after an arrest that left a woman with two black eyes ... but her mother says what they did was wrong.
"That's her mug shot. And that is not how my baby normally looks," said Dawn Rosier.
Rosier said she can barely recognize her own daughter after her arrest.
Reading through Auriel Harris' police report, she said it just doesn't make sense.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to fight this," she said.
According to the police report, Harris was drunk and when an officer tried to arrest her, she bit him.
The report said he struck her 3 or 4 times in the face, but Rosier said neighbors tell a different story.
"She can hear my daughter just screaming, begging for her life, pleading for the officers to stop," said Rosier.
"They were beating her. They were honestly beating her because you could hear it," said a neighbor.
Rosier wants to know why they didn't stop.
"What happened to their police training? It just went totally out the door. Because you beat her. You beat her," she said.
But according to Sheriff John Rutherford, the officer did follow his training, to a T.
"If you bite one my of my officers, you can expect to get punched in the face," said Rutherford.
Rutherford called Rosier personally after she called JSO to complain.
And while he said he will look in to the allegations, on the face of it, he thinks the officer did the right thing.
"I stand completely and totally behind my officers for punching somebody in the face who was locked on to their arm to get them off. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that," said Rutherford.
Looking at the blood on her daughter's purse, Rosier said everything is wrong with that.
"When I thought JSO would protect my child's life and save my child's life if she needed it, they damn near took it," she said.
Rosier has just filed an excessive force complaint against the officer.
Auriel Harris is still in jail on charges of assaulting an officer.
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