As the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation holds protests in several cities today, we bring you the shocking story of Mohamed Bah, a 28-year-old college student from the African nation of Guinea. He was shot dead by New York City police officers on September 25, 2012. Police arrived at Mohamed Bah's apartment after his mother, Hawa Bah, called 911 because she thought he was depressed and wanted an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Police claimed he lunged at officers with a knife. But many questions remain unanswered. We are joined by Hawa and her attorneys, Mayo Bartlett and Randolph McLaughlin, both longtime civil rights attorneys.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Was Kylen English thrown off of the Bridge by Dayton Police or did he jump?
Grieving relatives of Kylen English said they do not believe the 20-year-old threw himself off the Salem Avenue Bridge on July 16 while he was in police custody.
The Dayton Police Department has released in-car audio of the incident during which English is heard to say to an officer driving him from Grandview Hospital to the Montgomery County Jail: “Do you believe you go to heaven if you kill yourself?”
Seconds later — with the sound of what police said was English banging his head against the cruiser’s back window — English said, “I want to die.”
Chief Richard Biehl said English’s mother told police her son had a history of depression and self-harming behavior.
On Tuesday evening, eight of English’s aunts and cousins gathered in a house on Athens Avenue to a remember a happy young man they said was defamed by the media.
They said they saw no signs of depression or suicidal tendencies in the young man, and they don’t believe the police department’s explanation of events.
“He was not violent; he was not angry. That’s not the person we knew,” said Marsha English, an aunt. They said he was raised by the whole family of aunts and his grandmother.
Jail surveillance video shows Kylen English, handcuffed with his hands behind his back, calmly standing in the sally port on the evening of July 16. In the grainy stop-action video, English is seen collapsed on the floor, part of his body hidden by a shelf.
The family believes an officer used a Taser on him, a charge Biehl said made no sense.
According to police, English hurled himself head-first into the sally port’s cinder-block wall. The video, which captures an image every 1 second to 1½ seconds, does not show that.
All Tasers issued to Dayton officers contain an imbedded computer chip that records the usage of the weapon, including the date and length of time. At the request of the Dayton Daily News, Biehl produced a printout of the firing data for the officer’s Taser.
It was used once July 16, at 3:49 p.m. for 2 seconds. Biehl said that would have been a test of the weapon at roll call. Checking the day prior, the Taser was fired once at 3:51 p.m.
Jail policy prohibits officers from bringing their sidearms and Tasers into the jail. On the video, the officer is seen opening the trunk and appears to place his weapon or weapons inside. Video inside the jail shows the officer’s firearm holster empty, but does not provide a clear view of his Taser holster.
English was arrested after a distraught 55-year-old woman called 911 about 7:30 p.m. July 16 to report that English was trying to kick down her door. She said English was the boyfriend of her 16-year-old niece and the woman had been sheltering her niece from English.
Surveillance video in the apartment hallway showed English violently kicking and pounding on the door.
Biehl has said English injured himself in the sally port to such an extent that the jail would not accept him. He was taken to Grandview Hospital and medically cleared.
While being transported back to the jail, police said the 6-foot, 210-pound English, who was handcuffed, but not belted to his seat, dove out the broken window, jumped off the bridge to his death.
The county coroner’s office initial findings were that English committed suicide. The office is awaiting the results of toxicology tests. The internal investigation is expected to take several weeks.
* * * * *
Timeline: The last day of Kylen English’s life
Editor’s note: This is a chronology of the events leading up to the death of Kylen English. It was constructed from various interviews, police statements, reports, transcripts and videos.
7:30 p.m.
Dayton Police Officers Travis Salyer and Alex Magill are dispatched to 206 Yale Ave. on a 911 call about a burglary in progress. The caller states a black male tried to kick in her apartment door. The caller told police that English was the boyfriend of her 16-year-old niece, whom the caller, the girl’s aunt, was sheltering after English allegedly assaulted during the winter.
Unknown time
Magill locates English at 1358 Harvard Blvd. Magill arrests English and places him in the back of a police cruiser without incident.
8:23 p.m.
Magill transports English to the Montgomery County Jail. While being escorted into the jail, English hits his head against the wall. Jail medics say English’s pupils weren’t responding properly. Staff at the jail refuses to take English due to the possible injuries and tells Magill to take him to the hospital.
8:45 p.m.
Magill tells dispatch, “This gentlemen I just brought to jail actually just got refused. I’m going to be transporting him to Grandview Hospital for treatment of his injuries.”
9:35 p.m.
English arrives at the hospital. He is evaluated and medically cleared. Before the trip back to the jail, English says, “Can I get a phone call please?” Magill responds, “Yeah, give me just a minute.”
9:36:07 p.m.
Magill leaves hospital to return English to jail. “537 Dispatch. Transporting adult male to jail, again. Currently 67A,” Magill says over the police radio.
9:36:16 p.m.
Magill says, “Kylen, just so you know, if you start acting goofy again, it’s going to be on camera this time.”
9:36:39 p.m.
Magill says, “I’d hate for you to have to pay for that medical bill.”
9:36:44 p.m.
English says, “Do you believe you go to heaven if you kill yourself?”
9:37:54 p.m.
Magill says, “Depends on what you believe in.”
9:37:57 p.m.
First sound indicating English is hitting the window with his head, banging noises begin.
9:37:59 p.m.
Magill says, “Hey, partner.” He then begins to pull over.
English says, “I wanna die” and banging noises are heard.
9:38:03 p.m.
The cruiser stops just as glass from the window shatters.
9:38:09 p.m.
Magill shouts “Holy (expletive).”
9:38:11 p.m.
Magill calls dispatch.
Magill: “537 dispatch, need crews on Salem Street bridge.”
Magill: “Medic, my guy just jumped out my car window and hooked over the bridge.”
Magill: “On Salem Street Bridge, uh just north. I’m sorry, just north of Robert. It’s going to be on the west side of the river. I’m sorry, east side of the river.”
Dispatch: “Is he going to be in the water?”
Magill: “No, he’s on the rocks.”
Dispatch: “OK, we’re going to get someone down here on the bike path. On the east side of the river right under the bridge.”
Magill: “The crews that are responding here, try and get someone on the bike path, if you can. I’m not sure where you get on. Try to drive down towards the south, north ... however you get on.”
9:39:20 p.m.
Magill: “537 dispatch. Do you have medics started this way?”
9:40:28 p.m.
Other officers arrive on the scene.
Magill says, “He head-dove out of the cruiser while in the middle of driving, got up again and jumped over the bridge like a no-hand swan dive. My camera’s on.”
9:40:38 p.m.
Magill says, “I had just ... I cuffed behind his back ... BAM, BAM, he jumps out ... Swan-dives over the bridge.”
9:40:38 p.m.
Magill says, “He’s right here, he’s breathing ... kind of.”
9:40:45 p.m.
Police Lt. Kim Hill arrives on the scene.
9:40:59 p.m.
Magill says, “I mean, no hesitation. None.”
10:18 p.m.
English arrives in the emergency room of Miami Valley Hospital.
10:21 p.m.
English is pronounced dead at Miami Valley Hospital.
Kylen was an aspiring singer and YouTube sensation...
Kylen was an aspiring singer and YouTube sensation...
50 Years After MLK's Speech, THIS Is the New Dream
Watch Rev. Kenneth Glasgow and Michelle Alexander,
Author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,”
in this new video, “Our Turn to Dream,”
created to spawn a mass movement against mass incarceration
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the "I Have a Dream" 50 years ago, he had no idea Jim Crow would be replaced with another oppressive system: mass incarceration and the drug war. It's our turn to dream.
Learn more at OurTurnToDream.org. Share with #OurTurnToDream.
This video was produced in partnership with the NAACP, NAACP of Alabama, National Congress of Black Women, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, PICO, Healing Communities, V.O.T.E., Project South, The Ordinary People Society, Operation People for Peace, New Jim Crow Movement (Jax), YourBlackWorld, All of Us or None, Drug Policy Alliance, Dream Defenders, CURE, Advocare, Campaign to End Jim Crow, Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People's Movement, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and Direct Action for Rights & Equality (DARE).
Video Released of Georgia Guards Beating Handcuffed Prisoners with Hammer
At the beginning of this video, you hear a prison guard shouting, “He’s down, he’s down,” and then, a moment later, with shock in her voice, “That’s a goddamn hammer!”
The deplorable beatings you’re witnessing occurred on New Year’s Eve, just before midnight, on Dec. 31, 2010. It’s taken two years and nearly eight months for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to release this video. A very persistent family member of one of the victims finally persuaded them to give it to her, and Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, a strong advocate for justice for prisoners, posted it to YouTube for the world to see.
Kelvin Stevenson: Prisoner Beaten
This photo of Kelvin Stevenson
immediately after being beaten by guards
with a hammer-like instrument
on Dec. 31, 2010, is seen for the first time
in the video of the beating finally released this month.
The family member who retrieved the video describes it as “Georgia inmates being beaten with a hammer-like object while handcuffed,” and she adds: “The Georgia Department of Corrections denies this happened but were caught on tape. The officer responsible was never arrested or reprimanded. The district attorney had the video and never sought charges.
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Miguel Jackson is shown shortly after his beating with a hammer-like object.
This photo has become an icon of the historic Georgia prison strike of Dec. 9, 2010.
“Within the entire GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) file,” says Rev. Glasgow, “no GBI investigative agent or prison official identifies the guard on the video who is clearly beating non-resisting Miguel Jackson and Kelvin Stevenson with the hammer-like object.
“If you look closely, you will see a very large man lying on top of Kelvin Stevenson as the other guard batters his head with the hammer. Eye witnesses state that Stevenson was also handcuffed at the time.
“For all those who watch this and ask what’s the whole story, first of all ask yourself why no GBI agent or prison official reported this – at least not in the ‘official report’ – when this is their video.
“The family and advocates want justice and humane treatment, the situation investigated, and the officer in that video arrested.
“The family is demanding justice for this barbaric, inhumane act. We ask everyone to help by contacting District Attorney Tom Durden at (912) 876-4151 .”
“This is how your loved ones are being treated in Georgia state prisons,” Rev. Glasgow concludes.
Why was such fury unleashed on these prisoners?
The 13th Amendment prohibits slavery in the U.S. with one critical exception: “except as a punishment for crime.” And Georgia’s prison system takes that literally. Prisoners in Georgia must provide their labor for free; they work both inside the prison and are hired out to private employers.
On Dec. 9, 2010, in a move described as the “biggest prisoner strike in U.S. history,” thousands of Georgia prisoners across the state refused to leave their cells. “Chief among the prisoners’ demands,” the New York Times reported, “is that they be compensated for jailhouse labor.”
By locking themselves in their cells, Georgia prisoners refused for one day to be slaves. In response, Georgia authorities went to war defending slavery with the fury of the Confederacy.
“In an action which is unprecedented on several levels, Black, Brown and White inmates of Georgia’s notorious state prison system are standing together for a historic one day peaceful strike today, during which they are remaining in their cells, refusing work and other assignments and activities,” wrote Black Agenda Report managing editor Bruce A. Dixon, who lives in Georgia and helped form a committee of prisoner advocates.
“This is a groundbreaking event not only because inmates are standing up for themselves and their own human rights, but because prisoners are setting an example by reaching across racial boundaries which, in prisons, have historically been used to pit oppressed communities against each other,” he wrote on the day of the strike.
On Dec. 9, 2010, in a move described as the “biggest prisoner strike in U.S. history,” thousands of Georgia prisoners across the state refused to leave their cells. “Chief among the prisoners’ demands,” the New York Times reported, “is that they be compensated for jailhouse labor.”
Even then, retaliation had begun: “We have unconfirmed reports that authorities at Macon State Prison have aggressively responded to the strike by sending tactical squads in to rough up and menace inmates,” Dixon reported.
By locking themselves in their cells, Georgia prisoners refused for one day to be slaves. In response, Georgia authorities went to war defending slavery with the fury of the Confederacy.
Dixon has stayed on the story ever since, writing in “Starving for change: Hunger strike underway since June 10 in Georgia’s Jackson State Prison,” published July 2, 2012, in the Bay View, about the continuing retaliation that still has not let up:“State corrections officials responded with temporary cutoffs of heat, water and electricity in some buildings, along with an orgy of savage assaults and beatings across multiple institutions statewide. In one instance, corrections officials apparently conspired to conceal the whereabouts and condition of one prisoner who lingered near death in a coma for most of a week while they shuffled him hundreds of miles between prisons and hospitals.
“State corrections say they rounded up 37 whom they believed were the strike leaders and put them under close confinement at Jackson, the same prison where Troy Davis was executed last year. Most of these prisoners have remained there in close confinement, with severely restricted access to visits, communication and their attorneys, and without medical attention for the past 18 months.”
In his July 2012 article, Dixon was reporting on a hunger strike by some of those men: “Since June 10, according to accounts from prisoners and their families and Rev. Kenneth Glasgow of The Ordinary Peoples Society and the Prodigal Child Project, an undetermined number of prisoners at Georgia’s massive Diagnostic and Classification Prison near the city of Jackson have been on a hunger strike.”
“Some of these men are the Jackson State Prison hunger strikers. After two weeks, according to the families of Miguel Jackson and Preston Whiting, they are weak from hunger and subject to fainting spells. But they seem to believe they have little to lose. They are, a letter from one of them asserts, "‘starving for change.’”
By this time, the photo of Miguel Jackson’s swollen face after his literal hammering had become an icon of the Georgia prison strike. Dixon wrote: “One of the strikers is Miguel Jackson, who was taken in handcuffs from his cell at Smith State Prison 18 months ago, removed to a secluded area out of range of the video cameras that monitor almost every inch of most Georgia prisons, and beaten with a hammer-like object. Jackson is one of several brutalized prisoners whose injuries have been untreated since.
“Despite a blizzard of demands by his attorney, prison officials have refused Jackson and other prisoners medical attention for months. And although they have not eaten in two weeks, Jackson’s wife said, at the nine-day mark when medical necessity usually demands prisoners be removed to the infirmary, prison officials simply told Jackson, ‘You’re going to die,’ and left it at that.”
The photo of Miguel Jackson’s swollen face after his literal hammering had become an icon of the Georgia prison strike.
Now we know that Miguel Jackson’s beating was not out of range of the video cameras. The video shows both Jackson and Kelvin Stevenson being beaten and later sitting in wheelchairs, bloody and bandaged.
Now the California prisoner hunger strike is being billed as the largest and longest in history. Originally involving 30,000 prisoners across the state, dozens still surviving on water only since July 8, 2013, are approaching two months of starvation. For their families and advocates, this video showing the fury of prison guards against prisoners who refuse to be their slaves is particularly chilling.
As we fight for the human rights of our brothers and sisters behind enemy lines in California, let us also remember the prisoners in Georgia who are still being brutally punished for their brave one-day work strike – clearly a precedent for all the prison strikes that have followed, including the current California strike. We who know that prisoners are human and deserving of human rights must unite with families and advocates in Georgia in their demand for an end to the retaliation and with all people of good will to end prison torture everywhere.
SF Bay View editor Mary Ratcliff can be reached at editor@sfbayview.com or (415) 671-0789 .
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