Officer had body camera turned off at scene of Taser incident, a violation of department policy

http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/officer-had-body-camera-turned-off-at-scdene-of-fatal/article_5a987e88-4933-5d3f-8ff1-6617b94723c3.html

Only one of the four officers who dealt with Zachary Bearheels during his fatal encounter with police was wearing a body camera. And the officer’s camera was turned off — a violation of Omaha Police Department policy.

Scotty Payne, who used a Taser on the handcuffed Bearheels, was the sole officer with a body camera, said Capt. Kerry Neumann of the Omaha Police Department. It’s not clear why Payne’s camera was off.

“It’s a violation of our policy that he didn’t have the camera on,” said Neumann, who leads the team that investigates in-custody deaths. “At this point we don’t know what the reason behind it is.”

The Omaha World-Herald has learned that Payne and another officer at the scene, Ryan McClarty, have been recommended for termination.

Police went to the Bucky’s convenience store at 60th and Center Streets on June 5 to respond to a disturbance about a person refusing to leave.

Bearheels, 29, was asked for his identification and why he was at Bucky’s, but his speech was garbled and he displayed signs of impairment, Schmaderer said last week.

Officers put Bearheels in handcuffs, Schmaderer said. Payne used a Taser on him after he struggled with them and refused to get into the back of a police cruiser. Payne shocked Bearheels with the Taser 12 times, and McClarty repeatedly struck Bearheels with his fists, Schmaderer said.

Bearheels was not breathing and had no pulse when he was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center, where he died.

In addition to the four officers already on scene, two officers arrived toward the end in the encounter. Those officers, Michael Hempel and Ashley Morris, were wearing body cameras, and those cameras were on, Neumann said.

“They had very minimal involvement in this,” he said.

Neumann declined to say what the video from those body cameras showed. Much of the encounter was caught on cruiser cameras, and that video and audio will be released either after a grand jury decision or during a potential criminal court case.

The Omaha Police Department began using 115 body cameras last spring and will distribute more to officers next year. The goal is to eventually equip all uniformed patrol officers and all gang unit officers with cameras.

Department policy requires officers activate body cameras when they arrive on scene. If they do not do so, they must document why.

Jersey City suspends officers who kicked victim on fire after crash, 2 deputy chiefs transferred

http://pix11.com/2017/06/12/jersey-city-suspends-officers-who-kicked-victim-on-fire-after-crash-transfers-others/

Four police officers in Jersey City who were caught on camera kicking a man who was on fire after being struck by a car as it crashed have been suspended indefinitely without pay, local officials said.

Two deputy chiefs were also transferred and face charges for their role in the incident, Mayor Steven Fulop said. The prosecutor is still involved in determining any additional punishment.

Fulop has called for the termination of the officers after the incident.

It started after Leo Pinkston, 48, crashed his car in front of the EconoLodge after being chased by cops for six miles. Officers had fired shots as they chased him.

The officers kicked a man on fire after he crawled away from the wreckage. But the man wasn’t Pinkston; it was an innocent bystander.

4 police officers suspended without pay + 2 D.Cs transferred. 4 Officers face dept charges. Next step is wait on feedback from prosecutor

“Where appropriate, there could, and probably would be criminal charges,” said Mayor Steven Fulop.

It’s unclear why the officers decided to kick the man instead of helping him.

“Look, we have a high standard for the police department,” said Mayor Fulop in an interview after the incident first came to light. “They do a tremendous job. We’re not going to let just a few bad apples be a reflection on the entire police department or the entire city. We’re going to be aggressive with them.”

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez released a written statement that reads in part:

“This video is now part of all the evidence we are considering as we investigate the actions of all individuals…we will utilize all resources available to the Prosecutor’s Office for a full and thorough investigation as we seek to bring this matter to a rightful conclusion.”

Carmine Disbrow, president of the Jersey City Police Officer union, told PIX11 the entire incident is being investigated.

“We repeat our call for a full and impartial investigation into this incident,” Disbrow said. “Unfortunately Mayor Fulop continues to indicate that he has no intention of allowing this to be the case.”

Sacramento County Deputy Shoots Suspect Hiding In Closet

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/06/13/sacramento-county-ois/

A man was shot by a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy inside a home during a search on Tuesday.

Deputies were searching a home on 53rd Avenue looking for a 38-year-old man who violated a restraining order and was reported to have a gun. The man was spotted entering the vacant home.

A deputy found the man hiding in a closet, and at that point a deputy fired one shot, hitting the suspect in the shoulder.

The suspect is expected to survive.

The shooting is under investigation.

Minnesota officer acquitted of manslaughter in shooting Philando Castile during traffic stop

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/06/16/minn-officer-acquitted-philando-castile-shooting/102927488/

A Minnesota police officer was found not guilty Friday of manslaughter in the shooting death of Philando Castile, a black motorist whose girlfriend streamed the aftermath live on Facebook.

Jeronimo Yanez was also cleared of two lesser charges in the July traffic stop in Falcon Heights, a St. Paul suburb. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for a bit more than four days before reaching a verdict in the death of Castile, who was shot just seconds after informing Yanez that he was carrying a gun.

Family members and supporters of Castile left the courtroom in tears. Castile's mother, Valerie Castile, yelled an expletive the moment the verdict was read.

Defense attorney Earl Gray, meanwhile, rubbed the shoulder of Yanez. Raguse described the scene as extremely emotional.

Outside the courthouse, Valerie Castile said Yanez got away with “murder,” noting that her son was wearing a seatbelt and in a car with his girlfriend and her then-4-year-old daughter when he was shot.

“I will continue to say murder,” she said. “I am so very, very, very … disappointed in the system here in the state of Minnesota. Nowhere in the world do you die from being honest and telling the truth.”

“He didn’t deserve to die the way he did,” Philando Castile’s sister, Allysza, said, through tears. “I will never have faith in the system.”

Yanez, who is Latino, testified that Castile was pulling his gun out of his pocket despite his commands not to do so. The defense also argued Castile was high on marijuana and said that affected his actions.

Yanez stared ahead with no reaction as the verdict was read. Afterward, one of his attorneys, Tom Kelly, said the defense was “satisfied.”

“We were confident in our client. We felt all along his conduct was justified. However that doesn’t take away from the tragedy of the event,” Kelly said.

Prosecutors declined to comment.

Castile had a permit for the weapon, and prosecutors questioned whether Yanez ever saw it. They argued that the officer overreacted and that Castile was not a threat.

Castile was killed the night of July 6 during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. The St. Anthony department contracts with Falcon Heights to provide police protection. Yanez said he pulled Castile over because of a broken tail light on his car, but radio transmissions later revealed that the officer thought Castile resembled a suspect in the robbery of a convenience store just days earlier.

Yanez approached the window of Castile’s car, had a brief verbal interaction, then fired seven shots in a matter of seconds, fatally wounding Castile with two shots to the heart. Bullets fired by the officer came within inches of Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, in the passenger seat and Reynolds' 4-year-old daughter in the back seat.

Following a four-month investigation of the shooting, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi charged Yanez with manslaughter, and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm. Choi said under Minnesota law, as written, the deadly use of force in Castile's death was not justified.

"I have given Officer Yanez every benefit of the doubt on his use of deadly force, but I cannot allow the death of a motorist who was lawfully carrying a firearm under these facts and circumstances to go unaccounted for," Choi told reporters.

The trial of Yanez began during the last week of May, with prosecutors maintaining that Yanez failed to use correct protocol, such as ordering Castile to put his hands on the steering wheel after being informed the motorist was carrying a permitted gun, and then panicked when he thought Castile was reaching for it.

“Officer Yanez used deadly force as a first option rather than a last resort," Ramsey County Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Paulsen told the jury during closing arguments.

The Yanez defense team steadfastly maintained that the officer clearly saw a gun in Castile’s pocket, felt he was reaching for it and feared his life was in danger when he discharged his weapon, a decision supported by two use of force experts and Yanez’s chief, all who testified in the two-week trial.

Attorney Earl Gray also hammered away at alleged drug use by Castile and his girlfriend, telling jurors that Castile’s being high contributed to his failure to follow Yanez’s commands.

“Drugs and guns don’t mix,” Gray said during closing arguments.

Castile’s shooting was among a string of killings of blacks by police around the U.S., and the livestreaming of its aftermath by Diamond Reynolds attracted even more attention. The public outcry included protests in Minnesota that shut down highways and surrounded the governor’s mansion. Castile’s family claimed he was profiled because of his race, and the shooting renewed concerns about how police officers interact with minorities. Minnesota Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton also weighed in, saying he did not think the shooting would have happened if Castile had been white.

In another development Friday, the city of St. Anthony announced on its website that Yanez is no longer employed by the city as a police officer. The decision was announced in a brief press release.

I am heart-sick, over and over again, each time our so-called system of law fails those whose lives have been destroyed by those charged to uphold the law: to Serve & Protect. Yet there's not a single day that goes by that this type of social injustice spirals deeper, cutting deeply into the very social fabric of those who are not (.......).

How does anyone recover from such a travesty???

:( (w) (w) (w)

Video shows fatal takedown of 75-year-old man in Orange County Jail

Video shows fatal takedown of 75-year-old man in Orange County Jail

New video shows Orange County corrections officers tackling a 75-year-old man inside his jail cell.

The Orange County Medical Examiner said the man's injuries killed him two days afterward.

According to his arrest report, William Howard was arrested on Nov. 16, 2016, after his wife said he "began to act strange."

She said he attacked her in the front yard of their Orlando home, beating her and stabbing her with a kitchen knife.

The man who had never been arrested before now faced an aggravated battery charge.

Two days later, the video shows corrections officers trying to coax Howard out of his solitary cell.

He appeared confused as one officer tried to show him where the jail door was located.

"I'm over here," he's heard saying in the video as he shook his keys. "Come over here. Come over here. Listen to the noise and follow this noise, so I can get you out of here."

The officers use similar techniques for more than 15 minutes when the decision is made to use force.

A team of corrections officers is seen barreling inside Howard's jail cell, tackling him and throwing him to the ground on his head.

The only sound Howard utters is a cough afterward.

The Orange County Medical Examiner noted Howard suffered cardiac arrest one day after the use of force incident.

The report indicated he died one day after that.

The autopsy report showed Howard broke two of his vertebrae in his neck, his spinal cord was crushed and his brain was swollen.

The medical examiner ruled Howard's death was a homicide.

Officials with the Orange County Jail say a nurse was fired and two other nurses faced disciplinary action when they discovered they did not perform a medical evaluation on Howard after the use of force incident.

The Office of the State Attorney declined to prosecute any of the workers involved, saying there was no evidence a crime took place.

News 6 found out the Orange County Jail is still conducting its own internal investigation.

Howard's daughter spoke to News 6 by phone Thursday. She said the family has hired an attorney, and she wouldn't say if they planned to file a lawsuit.

Seattle police fatally shoot pregnant woman who they say confronted officers with a knife

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/19/seattle-police-fatally-shoot-black-mother-of-four-who-confronted-officers-with-a-knife/?utm_term=.9310012e7ca7

Seattle police officers shot and killed a woman at her apartment Sunday morning in front of “several children” when the woman, who relatives said was pregnant, “confronted” them with a knife, according to a statement from authorities.

The Seattle Times reported that the 30-year-old woman had called police to report a possible burglary.

At a vigil Sunday night, family identified the woman as Charleena Lyles, according to the Times, and relatives said she had a history of mental health struggles. She was several months pregnant, her family said, and too “tiny” for officers to have felt threatened by her — even if she had a knife.

“Why couldn’t they have Tased her?” Lyles’s sister, Monika Williams, said to the Seattle Times. “They could have taken her down. I could have taken her down.”

On Sunday morning just before 10 a.m., two patrol officers were dispatched to investigate a reported burglary at Brettler Family Place, an apartment complex for people transitioning out of homelessness, according to Detective Mark Jamieson.

Usually, only one officer would respond to a standard burglary call like this one, Jamieson told reporters. But police were familiar with Lyles and her apartment, he said, and her call flagged “hazard information” affiliated with her apartment that “presented an increased risk to officers,” the detective said.

Officers walked to the fourth floor and “at some point, the 30-year-old female was armed with a knife,” Jamieson told reporters. Both officers, who have not been identified, fired their weapons. They performed CPR, according to authorities, but Lyles was later declared dead by fire department officials at the scene.

Children inside at the time were not injured, according to police. Officials who did not say if they were Lyles’s children. Police were trying to determine Sunday whether the children had witnessed the shooting.

The department’s Force Investigative Team is investigating the officers’ decision to use deadly force. Both officers will be placed on administrative leave during the investigation, authorities said.

Florida Carroll, a relative of the victim, cries into her phone at the scene of the shooting. (Bettina Hansen/Seattle Times via AP)

Authorities offered few immediate details about what led police to fire their weapons. Early Monday, the police department released an audio recording capturing what they described as “some of the interaction with the caller prior to the rapid development of the use of force incident.”

On the recording, which officials said was captured by dashboard video cameras in the patrol cars, officers can be heard discussing a woman who had previously made “all these weird statements.” Neither officer is identified, and police say all names have been removed from the recording.

The recording captured officers speaking to a woman about an Xbox that she said was taken. Seconds after that interaction, however, the encounter suddenly escalates and the officers can be heard shouting at the woman to back away.

“Hey, get back! Get back!” an officer shouts, a call echoed by the other officer, before a volley of gunshots are heard.

In a short statement accompanying the recording, police said that both police officers involved “were equipped with less lethal force options, per departmental policy.”

Family members told the Seattle Times that they believe Lyles’s race — she is black — was a factor in her death. Seattle police told the newspaper that the officers who shot her are white.

Sean O’Donnell, captain of the department’s north precinct, where the shooting took place, said one of the officers is an 11-year veteran of the force and the other is “newer to the department,” reported the Times.

King County jail records show that Lyles was arrested June 5 on charges of harassment, obstruction of a public official and harassment of a law enforcement officer. She was released conditionally on June 14. Williams told the Seattle Times that one condition was that she receive mental health counseling, although the newspaper could not independently verify that information Sunday.

Williams told TV station KOMO News that her sister’s arrest earlier this month was connected to another incident at the apartment. Lyles was charged with obstruction because she refused to hand over one of the children to officers until Williams arrived at the scene. She had scissors in her hand, Williams said.

“She didn’t charge nobody or nothing,” Williams told KOMO News.

She said Lyles had “mental health issues” that were going untreated.

Around a hundred people gathered Sunday for a vigil honoring Lyles. The mourners taped a photos of the woman and her children to the back of black plastic chairs and spelled her name out on the sidewalk with small votive candles. Friends and family wondered aloud how police could shoot and kill a mother in front of her children.

Lhora Murray, 42, lives in the apartment directly below Lyles and told the Stranger she often heard yelling from the woman’s unit and called security multiple times. When she heard gunshots Sunday morning, Murray said she called people — unaware it was officers who had fired their weapons.

Murray told the Stranger that after the shooting, police handed her two of Lyles’s children, a 10-year-old and a toddler. “They shot my mom,” Murray said the 10-year-old told her as she took the kids outside.

The deadly shooting in Seattle came just two days after a jury in Minnesota acquitted an officer who was charged with fatally shooting Philando Castile, a local school employee, during a traffic stop last year. That acquittal sparked intense protests late Friday and early Saturday around St. Paul, where police estimate thousands of people were demonstrating, including a group that blocked the freeway.

The shooting in Seattle was “a tragedy for all involved,” Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement. He promised a full and thorough investigation, citing “historic police reforms” that are “in place to address such crises.”

The Seattle Police Department has been operating under a consent decree since 2012, following the conclusion of a federal investigation the previous year.

The Justice Department’s investigation concluded that the Seattle Police Department, one of the 40 largest local police forces nationwide, engaged in an unconstitutional pattern or practice of excessive force. While the 2011 investigation did not find that Seattle police officers have a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing, federal officials said their investigation raised “serious concerns on this issue,” concluding that some of the department’s “policies and practices, particularly those related to pedestrian encounters, could result in unlawful policing.”

After the investigation, the city of Seattle and the Justice Department negotiated a consent decree, which the federal government has used for nearly a quarter of a century to bring about court-enforceable reforms overseen by an independent monitor. These agreements were a key legacy of the Obama administration, but they are far less popular with the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has criticized such decrees, ordered Justice Department officials to review all reform agreements nationwide.

In April, less than a week after Sessions ordered a sweeping review of consent decrees, the Seattle police monitor filed a report saying that use of force by officers had gone down. Notably, the monitor concluded that officers and people in Seattle were not imperiled by this shift.

“Overall, use of force has gone down even as officer injuries have not gone up and crime, by most measures, has not increased,” the monitor wrote. “At the same time, the force that SPD officers do use is, by and large, reasonable, necessary, proportional, and consistent with the Department’s use of force policy.”

The report studied more than 2,380 incidents involving a use of force over a period of 28 months, the monitor wrote. During that time, more than half of the incidents involved someone determined by police to be “exhibiting some sign of impairment,” described as a mental health or behavioral crisis or potential intoxication. During that 28-month period, the monitor said there were 15 shootings by police officers; in six of those cases, the person facing police “appeared to be experiencing a behavioral crisis.”

White St. Louis cop shot black off-duty officer — then claimed it was a ‘friendly fire’ incident

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/white-st-louis-cop-shot-black-off-duty-officer-then-claimed-it-was-a-friendly-fire-incident/#.WUxD2v-l9y4.twitter

A St. Louis police officer shot a black off-duty officer from his own force after a car chase ended in a crash outside the off-duty officer’s home.

The African American officer, who has not yet been identified, came outside of his home while off-duty after hearing the commotion from a car chase that ended nearby. Despite identifying himself as a cop, the man was ordered to the ground by two officers. He complied, and soon after, they recognized him and told him to get up.

That was when a third officer entered the scene, and because he did not recognize the black off-duty cop and claimed to “fear for his safety,” shot the off-duty cop in the arm.

The Post-Dispatch reported that police are calling the incident an example of “friendly fire” due to the suspects from the car chase firing at police. The paper also reported that police initially claimed that the 38-year-old African American officer, who has been on the force for 11 years, was “caught in the crossfire.”

“This is the first time that we are aware, that a black professional, in law enforcement, himself being shot and treated as an ordinary black guy on the street. This is a real problem,” Rufus J. Tate Jr., the attorney for the injured off-duty officer, told the local Fox affiliate.

“In the police report, you have so far, there is no description of threat he received. So we have a real problem with that. But this has been a national discussion for the past two years. There is this perception that a black man is automatically feared,” the attorney concluded.

Dashcam video shows cop's 'brutal attack' of Minnesota motorist, ACLU says

http://www.startribune.com/dashcam-video-shows-police-brutal-attack-of-minnesota-motorist-aclu-says/430187073/

State leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union released squad car video Thursday of what they say is a law enforcement officer's "disturbing and completely unnecessary … brutal attack" on a motorist in Worthington, Minn., who was suspected of initiating a dangerous road-rage encounter and resisting arrest.

The civil rights group is calling for local authorities in southwestern Minnesota to investigate what it alleges is the use of excessive force during the July 2016 arrest of Anthony Promvongsa, 22, of Worthington.

Worthington Police Chief Troy Appel and task force Cmdr. Nate Grimmius responded in a joint statement: "The video, viewed in a vacuum, shows only a short segment of the incident that is the basis of the criminal charges." The two declined to say more about the officer's actions.

The video shows Joe Joswiak, a member of the Buffalo Ridge Drug Task Force and a Worthington police officer, pulling over the suspect's sport-utility vehicle and kneeing the belted-in motorist three times, then throwing punches and an elbow before putting on handcuffs.

Recorded from the dashcam of a second squad car at the scene, the video does not show any resistance by Promvongsa, who went to a hospital for evaluation and was released that day.

"Agent Joswiak's use of force against Anthony Promvongsa is disturbing and completely unnecessary," Teresa Nelson, executive director in Minnesota for the ACLU, said in a statement. "We are calling for an investigation of Agent Joswiak's behavior and for him to be held accountable for his brutal attack … up to and including termination and prosecution.

Nelson said Joswiak has not been disciplined.

Promvongsa, in an explanation released by the ACLU, said, "I was literally blindsided with this unnecessary attack. I immediately pulled over for the Worthington squad car, and before I know what was happening, I was beat and ripped from my vehicle."

The criminal complaint charges Promvongsa with assault with a dangerous weapon, fleeing police in a vehicle, marijuana possession and driving after his license was revoked.

Kathleen Kusz, the Nobles County attorney, cautioned that the video merely "shows a portion of the evidence that would be presented at trial."

According to the criminal complaint, Promvongsa caused a road-rage incident that started about 9:30 a.m. on July 28. Promvongsa is accused of endangering an off-duty Worthington police officer, including tailgating, swerving, making hand gestures out the window and speeding up before stopping just short of the officer's car.

The off-duty officer then met up with a fellow off-duty officer. Promvongsa sped between their vehicles, saying he was "going to get his boys and come back to get them" before speeding off, the complaint said.

After Promvongsa's encounter with the off-duty officers, Joswiak drove in his unmarked car to where the suspect was last seen and found Promvongsa. The complaint alleges that Promvongsa swerved toward Joswiak and kept going.

Joswiak and another officer, Sgt. Tim Gaul, got Promvongsa to pull over.

The complaint's version of the arrest says that Joswiak, gun drawn, yelled at Promvongsa to exit the vehicle, which he never did. Joswiak then kneed Promvongsa several times, punched him and pulled him to the street before putting on the handcuffs.

Promvongsa, who is no longer in custody, awaits the scheduling of a trial date. His criminal history in Minnesota as an adult includes convictions for underage drinking, drunken driving and driving on a revoked license.

Teen killed by bullet when LA County deputies fired at pit bull: Sheriff's office

http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-killed-bullet-la-county-sheriffs-deputies-fired/story?id=48216488

As Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were shooting at a pit bull that was charging at them, a 17-year-old boy was apparently struck in the chest by one of the bullets and died, the sheriff's office said.

The shooting happened at about 3:45 a.m. today in Palmdale, California, after deputies responded to a report of loud music, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. As the deputies walked up the driveway, a 60- to 65-pound pit bull "aggressively charged at the deputies and attacked one of them," biting the deputy on the knee, the sheriff's department said.

At that time, a young man came out from behind an apartment complex and restrained the dog and took it to the back of the building, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies were helping the injured officer and waiting for paramedics when "the pit bull came from the rear of the apartment and again charged at deputy personnel," the sheriff's office reported. "At that point, two deputies shot at the pit bull from a 5- to 7-feet distance, at which time, the pit bull retreated back to the rear of the apartment complex into the carport area."

The deputies went to the back of the complex "in an attempt to corral the dog to prevent additional victims," the sheriff's office said, and as they walked to the rear carport area, they found a teenager on the ground who appeared to have been shot in the chest, the sheriff's office said. The teen was hospitalized and later died.

The sheriff's office said "detectives believe when the juvenile came out from behind the building, which was approximately 40 feet away from where the shooting occurred with the dog, the juvenile may have been struck by one of the skip rounds." Capt. Christopher Bergner of the sheriff’s office said it appeared that the "skip round" that hit the teenager had ricocheted off the ground, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The deputy bitten by the pit bull was also hit in the leg by a bullet fragment, the sheriff's office said. According to the Los Angeles Times, Bergner said in a press conference the deputy's injury also appeared to have been from a skip round that had ricocheted off the ground. He was transported to a hospital and is listed in stable condition, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's department said the investigation is ongoing. Because this was a fatal deputy-involved shooting, separate investigations will be conducted by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner - Coroner, Sheriff's Homicide Bureau and Internal Affairs Bureau, the sheriff's office said. The Office of the Inspector General is expected to provide independent oversight during the investigation and the Los Angeles County District Attorney is also involved. "Once concluded, every aspect of the shooting is reviewed by the Sheriff's Executive Force Review Committee," the sheriff's office added.

The pit bull will be euthanized, the sheriff's office said.

Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, said the department's policy for using a firearm on an animal is, "Personnel may use firearms to employ deadly force when dealing with animals when they reasonably believe that death or serious physical injury is about to be inflicted upon themselves or others.

"The shooting of animals that are not a threat of serious bodily injury to a person has proved to be inherently dangerous to bystanders as well as Deputy personnel. Therefore, Department members shall not use firearms to shoot animals fighting with other animals (e.g., dogs)," Nishida said. "If it becomes necessary to destroy an injured (euthanasia) by use of a firearm and the conditions are such that there is an extended or inappropriate response time by the animal control agency, authorization to use a firearm on an animal must be obtained from an on-scene supervisor."

Tonight there was a march and rally in Seattle to bring justice for this woman's death..........

After Philando Castile's Death, Investigators Tried to Secretly Get Access to Diamond Reynolds' Facebook and Phone Records

After Philando Castile's Death, Investigators Tried to Secretly Get Access to Diamond Reynolds' Facebook and Phone Records

On July 7th, 2016, just one day after Diamond Reynolds streamed video of a police officer shooting and killing her boyfriend, Philando Castile, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began working to obtain records from Reynolds’s phone. The BCA, which was in charge of investigating Castile’s death, submitted a preservation request to Facebook for Reynolds’ accounts, and obtained a search warrant one day later. The BCA also served a search warrant on Sprint for Reynold’s cell phone records.

BCA took things one step further—they ordered Facebook and Sprint not to tell Reynolds that investigators intended to rifle through her accounts.

Facebook opposed the gag order and, after weeks of discussion between the BCA and a lawyer at Facebook, the warrant was rescinded altogether. Sprint, however, complied with the warrant, and turned over Reynolds’ call records, voicemails, and cell tower information that revealed her location.

The newly released correspondence reveals how Facebook interacted with law enforcement in the high-profile case, and juxtaposes the social media company’s opposition with Sprint’s compliance. The warrant applications, as well as emails between BCA special agent in charge Scott Mueller and Facebook associate general counsel Gavin Corn, were recently released to journalist Tony Webster in response to a public records request. Webster shared the files with Gizmodo.

Companies like Facebook walk a delicate line with law enforcement agencies. They don’t want to appear welcoming to criminals, and providing information when they’re able to gives companies some cover when they can’t turn over encrypted data. But if companies are too quick to turn over information, they can face backlash from their users and criticism from civil liberties groups.

Facebook and Sprint regularly receive search warrants from law enforcement—so frequently, in fact, that the companies have automated portals for agencies to submit their requests. But it’s Facebook’s policy to notify users when their data is requested, a spokesperson told Gizmodo. (Sprint didn’t immediately return a request for comment, but we’ll update if we hear back.)

“Our policy is to notify people about law enforcement requests for their information before disclosure unless we’re legally barred from doing so. In this case, we decided to challenge gag orders on our ability to provide this important notice, and the authorities ultimately withdrew these warrants altogether,” the spokesperson said.

Between July and December 2016, the most recent period for which data is available, Facebook received 14,736 search warrants from US law enforcement agencies. It produced some data in response to over 85 percent of those warrants. Sprint received 10,194 search warrants between January and June 2016 (its most recent reporting period), but does not disclose how often it complies with warrants.

In Reynolds’ case, the BCA requested all data from her three Facebook accounts, including messages, wall posts, and photographs with metadata that would show when the picture was taken and what device was used. The request spanned from July 4th, two days before the shooting, until July 8th. BCA also requested data from Castile’s account for the same time period.

The bureau also requested a log of Reynolds’ calls and text messages from Sprint, as well as cell phone tower data that would reveal her location during the four-day period. Sprint complied, sending the voicemails in August and additional data in October.

In contrast, investigators subpoenaed the phone records of officer Jeronimo Yanez, who shot Castile, that covered just one day—from July 6th at 9pm through July 7th at midnight.

The BCA justified its request by saying it was looking for evidence of “criminal activity” conducted by the couple. Shortly after Castile’s death, Officer Yanez claimed that he smelled weed in the vehicle; Reynolds admitted this was true later, but said neither she nor Castile had been smoking at the time. Yanez also reportedly told the couple they had been pulled over for a broken taillight, though he also claimed he stopped the vehicle because he believed Castile fit the description of someone who was involved in a nearby robbery. That claim was never validated. (A spokesperson for BCA declined to comment for this story.)

“Individuals frequently call and/or text messages to each other regarding criminal activity during and/or after and [sic] event has occurred,” BCA special agent Bill O’Donnell wrote in the warrant application. “The Affiant is also of the belief that a review and analysis of text messages and chats regarding the individuals involved in this incident may in fact assist in corroborating or refuting statements made by the individual involved in this investigation.”

The warrants were accompanied by indefinite gag orders that, if enforced, would have prevented Facebook and Sprint from ever notifying Reynolds about the search of her messages.

Corn argued that Facebook should be allowed to notify Reynolds and Castile’s family about the warrants, the emails show. BCA’s investigation into the shooting was already public and had been discussed by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, so there was no reason for secrecy. Facebook had also temporarily preserved data from Reynolds’ and Castile’s accounts, so even if Reynolds was informed of the warrant, she wouldn’t be able to erase data.

“We respectfully request that you seek to formally remove or strike the nondisclosure orders included with the warrants. Facebook then intends to provide notice to the users (including the deceased user’s next of kin and legal representative(s)) and to allow the users a minimum of 10 days to submit any objections they may have to the Court over the basis for, or scope of, these warrants,” Corn wrote.

Even though Corn asked to speak with a lawyer with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office or the Department of Justice, Mueller demurred, apparently preferring to handle the legal argument himself.

Mueller asked if Facebook would consider a delayed notification that would allow BCA to search Reynolds’ account before she was notified. After more than a week of back-and-forth, Corn warned Mueller that Facebook would file a legal challenge to the warrants.

“The sooner you can tell us whether you will be rescinding the warrants the better as we are preparing legal filings now,” he wrote.

On July 20, Mueller finally rescinded the warrants to Facebook.

Although it has taken nearly a year for her suspicions to be proven correct, Reynolds believed in the aftermath of the shooting that she was being treated like a suspect. “I was treated like a criminal,” she said on the day after the shooting. “I was treated like I was the one who did this.”

Reynolds said that police took her phone away after she live-streamed the shooting, and that she begged them to give it back, worrying they would take down the video from her Facebook page. The video did indeed disappear for about an hour, which Facebook attributed to a “technical glitch,” and was later reinstated.

“Diamond was not a suspect and was nothing but a victim in this case,” her attorney, Larry Rogers Jr., told Gizmodo. “I did think it was an invasion of her personal privacy to begin to dig into her personal communications when she was nothing other than a witness and a victim.”

Rogers said that Sprint apparently complied with the gag order—it never informed Rogers that it was turning over Reynolds’ phone records. He said that details about BCA’s investigation into Reynolds’ communications have only recently become known after Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who shot Castile, was acquitted last week.

“It’s an example of how far the authorities go in some instances,” Rogers said. “When it relates to investigation of witnesses, I think it’s entirely questionable conduct.”

Man killed by King County deputy was carrying a pen, not a knife as initially reported

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/man-killed-by-king-county-deputy-was-carrying-a-pen-not-a-knife-as-initially-reported/

A 20-year-old man, fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy last week after he reportedly stabbed at a Burien homeowner’s door and charged deputies with what was believed to be a knife, was actually carrying a pen, the King County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

The sheriff’s office originally reported that Tommy Le had a sharp object and advanced on two deputies around midnight on June 13. However, sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West said Le was holding a pen.

West said the department won’t release a photo of the pen. Deputies aren’t equipped with dashboard or body cameras, she said.

Le’s death was the second deadly police shooting in King County in the past two weeks. Two Seattle police officers shot and killed Charleena Lyles, 30, on Sunday after they say she threatened them with two knives in her apartment when they responded to an alleged burglary.

Lyles’ death has sparked community outrage while Le’s death has largely gone unnoticed.

Little is known about Le, except that he lived nearby and had no criminal history, said West.

Linh Thai, director of Seattle’s Vietnamese Community Leadership Institute, told the Seattle Weekly that the Vietnamese-American community is dealing with a range of emotions.

“I think the community is struggling with two narratives. On the one hand, it’s a fellow Vietnamese-American person, a member of the community, and that them being shot dead by anyone regardless of whether it is police is difficult for the community to grapple with,” Thai told the Seattle Weekly, which first reported that Le was carrying a pen when he was killed. “It’s impacting everyone in that sense.

“On the other hand, the community also has a tradition of respecting the law. … We trust the police. They’ll tell us what happened when they’re ready to tell us.”

The Burien incident started when a friend of a homeowner in the 13600 block of Third Avenue South reported someone was chasing him with a knife and yelling. The homeowner went outside and thought he saw a man holding a “knife or some sort of sharp object in his hand,” according to a sheriff’s news release issued after the shooting.

The homeowner fired his handgun into the ground, hoping to scare the man, the sheriff’s office said. But the man approached him and he fled back inside his house.

West said the man then pounded on the door and stabbed it, while screaming he was “the Creator.”

Deputies responded to several 911 calls reporting a gunshot. When two deputies arrived, several neighbors pointed him out at the corner of 128th Street and Third Avenue South.

“Citizens yelled ‘there he is’ as he was coming back,” West said Friday. “The officers went to talk with him and he started charging at them with what they thought was a knife. The deputies ordered him repeatedly to put it down.”

Both deputies fired their Tasers, with one deputy hitting Le. But that didn’t stop Le, who was refusing deputies’ commands, West said.

Deputy Cesar Molina shot Le three times, she said. One of the deputies performed first aid and called medics. Le was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.

Le carried no identification.

West said toxicology reports are pending from the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

She said the sheriff’s office didn’t send out a second news release clarifying the initial account because she was on vacation and when she returned there had been no further inquiries.

Molina has been with the sheriff’s office for two-and-a-half years and had taken 40 hours of hour crisis-intervention training. Molina also worked as a deputy in California for two-and-a-half years, West added.

The city of Burien contracts with the sheriff’s office for police services.

Molina is on administrative leave while a criminal investigation and an administrative review continue, West said.

Bad officers let go due to misconduct moving easily to new departments, sheriff says

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/defenders/bad-officers-let-go-due-to-misconduct-moving-easily-to-new-departments-sheriff-says

One of Michigan's top police officers said enough isn't being done to weed out bad cops. Instead, problem officers move from department to department when something goes wrong.

Many agencies don't share information when they fire an officer, which allows the officer to get hired again somewhere else. It's happened dozens of times in Metro Detroit and can put all of the state's citizens at risk.

When police get in trouble on the job for roughing up a citizen, drug and alcohol abuse or insensitive racial or sexist remarks, they are often given a choice: They can resign or be fired.

Many officers choose to walk away, and they end up right back on the beat at a new police department, where nobody is aware of their past bad behavior.

"They're unaffectionately called gypsy cops," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "Where they move around and sometimes the hiring agency doesn't have any knowledge of the background."

Bouchard said dozens of Metro Detroit cops have been forced out or fired only to end up across town patrolling streets and interacting with the public, potentially putting citizens at risk.

"Absolutely, it's common," Bouchard said. "It's especially common in certain kinds of communities that may be financially stressed. Where they don't maybe have the resources to do some of the backgrounds."

In 2015, Inkster police Officer William Melendez was arrested, charged and sent to prison for beating motorist Flody Dent after a traffic stop.

"I thought he was going to kill me," Dent said.

Before Melendez was an Inkster officer, he worked in Detroit. He left the Detroit Police Department after multiple lawsuits and a federal indictment were filed against him for roughing up citizens and tampering with evidence.

Melendez tried to get a job at the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, but a background check raised multiple red flags. A short time later, Melendez was hired in Highland Park and Inkster as a police officer.

"To pin a badge on that person's chest after what had transpired at a different agency was a recipe for disaster," Bouchard said. "Those are the kinds of high-profile cases, exactly what that speaks to. When those things happen once, they should not be allowed to happen again."

"Why should the police be immune from that?" attorney Greg Rholl said. "They should have some oversight mechanism."

Rholl is Dent's attorney, and he said his client settled the lawsuit for $1.3 million -- money the taxpayers in the financially troubled city of Inkster had to pay.

"We pushed three buttons on Google and found all the information we need to scare us, and to say, 'What was he doing on the police force?'" Rholl said.

Residents said they were shocked to hear that many small police departments can't afford to do background checks.

"They definitely should do a background check," said Gwendolyn Davis, of Westland. "You don't know what you're hiring."

The problem is even bigger. Michigan police agencies that force an officer to resign often refuse to tell other agencies why they parted ways with the cop out of fear they will be sued.

Bouchard supports a new Senate bill that would force police agencies to create and keep records of why each police officer left, and would make departments immune from civil lawsuits for sharing the information.

Some said they would like to see even more accountability. In Michigan, it's not permitted to have prospective employees take a polygraph test. Some officials believe before they are hired, applicants should be quizzed on past crimes, lawsuits and firings while hooked up to a lie detector.

"When I became a police officer I took a polygraph test," Bouchard said. "A lie detector. Why would you prohibit that?"

It's also prohibited to look at applicants' private social media accounts. Agencies could learn a lot about a prospective officer by what they post, but the law only allows employers to look at public accounts, not those with privacy settings.

"I would like to know that the people who are looking over the city, that I can trust them," said Jaclyn Rey, of Whitmore Lake.

Senate Bill 223 is in the House. If it passes, it will go to the governor for consideration. Law enforcement experts said the bill would be a good first step, but much more still needs to be done.

Detective who didn't investigate dozens of cases was burned out, defense lawyer says

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2017/06/detective_who_didnt_investigat_1.html

Looking worn and defeated, a former Clackamas County sheriff's detective stepped to the front of a courtroom Thursday and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to investigate reports of child abuse.

But the charges against Jeffrey Allen Green covered only a small slice of the more than 50 cases that investigators believe Green ignored during his six years as a detective. Green was assigned to an array of crimes in Wilsonville, including rape, the sexual assault of children and theft.

In some cases, Green didn't track down and identify suspects, submit DNA evidence from a rape kit to the state crime lab for analysis or make contact with victims or their families, prosecutors said.

Green closed cases with little or no work done, meaning some victims never saw justice and their attackers may still be walking free, said Deputy District Attorney Bryan Brock.

Defense attorney William Bruce Shepley offered the first public explanation for his client's lapses. He said Green, now 59, experienced health problems in the later years of his career and had a hard time emotionally coping with the horrific cases of abuse he saw.

"He suffered from a terrible case of burnout by the end of this," Shepley told Clackamas County Circuit Judge Michael Wetzel.

Green pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree official misconduct.

The judge abided by the terms of a plea deal and sentenced Green to one year of probation, $1,100 in fines and fees and an order to relinquish his police certification so he can never work as an officer again.

Green won't serve a jail term. As outlined in the plea agreement, he turned himself into the Clackamas County Jail after his sentencing hearing. Staff took his fingerprints and his mugshot, then released him 33 minutes later.

It's the very jail that Green locked up the suspects he'd arrested during his 22-year career as a sheriff's detective. Now the tables have turned.

Wearing baggy blue jeans and an oversized black short-sleeve shirt, Green didn't make any statements before the judge in the courthouse where he'd testified for the prosecution so many times before. Green also declined to comment after the hearing.

Brock told the judge that he'd worked with Green on several cases and the DA's Office worked with him on a regular basis. He said Green was a "very experienced" detective and his mishandling of dozens cases wasn't due to a lack of intellect.

"I do know Detective Green, and I certainly know him to be a capable detective when he chose to be so," Brock said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owen told The Oregonian/OregonLive that his office didn't perceive any potential conflicts of interest with handling Green's case. And given his retirement two years ago, Green isn't someone the DA's Office will work with again.

Brock wrote in a memo to the judge that Green's malfeasance came to light after sheriff's Sgt. Matt Swanson doggedly pursued the case. Days after being assigned to the Wilsonville office in February 2015, Swanson noticed problems with Green's work and began pushing his supervisors to take action.

Green retired in April 2015, but Swanson still pressed the Sheriff's Office to investigate Green. It took more than a year after Swanson first raised red flags for the Sheriff's Office to call upon an outside agency -- the Milwaukie Police Department -- to independently investigate Green in March 2016.

On Thursday, Brock said Green "had neglected his duties to a level I had not seen before."

Those strong words drew an audible gasp from Green's wife, who was sitting in the courtroom gallery. She put her hand on her forehead and began shaking her head back and forth.

"Ma'am," the judge said, in an effort to quiet her down.

"Sorry," she said.

Brock continued, saying that prosecutors charged Green with the only crimes it could: failing to investigate reports of child abuse that were sent to him by child welfare workers. State law required Green to initiate an investigation, and when he didn't he became guilty of second-degree official misconduct, Brock said.

The type of cases Green neglected, he said, were generally tougher cases, and it's questionable whether any of them would have netted convictions.

"They were challenging cases from the start," Brock said. "They were the ones that required a lot of extra work."

Shepley, Green's defense attorney, said he hopes the public focuses on Green's many accomplishments over his more than three-decades long career as a police officer and detective, rather than the criminal case against him focusing on the "twilight" of his career.

"In some respects, the county owes him a big debt," Shepley said.

Green now lives in La Grande. At the time he retired, he was making nearly $89,000 a year. He now draws an annual pension of $51,863 under the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System.

Hundreds of civilians prevented from filming NYPD cops as officers knock cellphones away, threaten arrests: report

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-cops-knock-phones-threaten-arrests-civilians-film-article-1.3283987?utm_content=bufferb84f7&utm_medium=socia l&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

NYPD officers have been accused of trying to prevent hundreds of civilians from videotaping them over the past three years by knocking cell phones from their hands, blocking them or threatening to arrest them, according to a report by the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

The CCRB received 257 complaints from 2014 to 2016, making 346 allegations that officers tried to interfere with civilian recordings of police activity, according to the report, released early Wednesday.

The watchdog agency substantiated 96 of those 346 allegations, or 28%.

The CCRB is recommending that the NYPD add a new Patrol Guide entry with guidelines on what to do if a civilian pulls out a camera phone and starts taping — including a section describing the public’s right to record police activity.

More than half of the complaints were made by people recording their own interactions with cops, and in 65 cases, the officers were accused of damaging the recording device or deleting the recording.

Civilians shouldn’t have to de-escalate police

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article159117354.html

Thank you to my friends and people throughout the country who have reached out to show support in the wake of my potentially tragic encounter with Knoxville Officer Matthew Janish. I also thank Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch for coming to Charlotte to explain the decision not to discipline Officer Janish and answer my questions. I am disappointed, but not surprised. The system is broken.

On May 3, I was confronted at gunpoint by Officer Janish while I was putting a license plate on an SUV that I purchased from his mother-in-law the previous week. The incident occurred in her driveway, which is across the street from Officer Janish’s home. Janish, who was off-duty, thought I was stealing the truck. After investigating, Knoxville Police determined that Officer Janish’s actions were “lawful and proper.”

My case is another example of how the system is broken. Although my encounter didn’t end tragically, it could have, as all too many have (Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Michael Brown and others), and his actions likely would have still been deemed “lawful and proper.”

The system is designed to exonerate police officers, not provide justice for their victims. My incident, however, gives me new insight into just how much the law values police lives over the citizens they are supposed to protect.

Chief Rausch said that when investigating complaints, it is essential to understand an officer’s mindset to determine the facts. A mindset is not a fact.

Knoxville Police are looking into an officer’s actions after a Charlotte woman said the off-duty officer pulled a gun on her as she changed a license plate on her newly purchased SUV. Tonya Jameson, 45, is a former Charlotte Observer reporter and columnist.

Here are the facts that Janish appeared to focus on – the unmarked cab, a black person, the duffel bag and the license plate.

Then here are other facts that he ignored – he knew his mother-in-law was selling the car, it was broad daylight, and I knew her first name, but not her last name. I offered to show him the keys, registration and bill of sale signed by his mother-in-law.

Those are the actual facts. Officer Janish’s mindset was the scenario he created in his head. His fears weren’t facts.

The moment I arrived at Officer Janish’s mother-in-law’s house I became a suspect, and under the law, it seems that Officer Janish became a victim. He could have stayed at his house, called 911 and waited for the sheriff’s department to arrive. Instead he grabbed his weapon and came outside to confront me.

Had I not reacted calmly, Officer Janish likely would have been within his legal rights to shoot me although I wasn’t doing anything illegal. My mere presence with a duffel bag was deemed a threat.

In her statement, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero talked about the extensive training officers receive in appropriate use of force and de-escalation. Asking common-sense questions, before unholstering a weapon, should also be included in police training.

I’m sure the situation looked questionable from Officer Janish’s house, but it warranted the question “what are you doing?” That’s exercising common sense. That’s de-escalation.

During his visit, Chief Rausch talked about lessons learned. I didn’t overreact. I didn’t get angry. So, I survived. He said my behavior is how everyone should act in those situations – comply, survive and complain later. But, it’s not natural to be accused of doing something wrong and not prove your innocence.

I wanted to show him the keys or reach into my bag for the registration and bill of sale. I fought every impulse to do anything that would make him feel threatened. I don’t have de-escalation training. I’m the one being held at gunpoint. I’m the one thinking my life could end if he panics. Yet, I’m the one expected to remain calm.

It seems that the legal system is really asking civilians to de-escalate adrenaline-fueled cops. We must remain calm while facing a loaded gun while the trained officers can panic and overreact.

What about our lives? Who protects us from the people who are supposed to protect us?

Update: Audio Interview Confirms Dejuan Guillory Was Unarmed, Lying on The Ground When a Cop Shot Him In The Back

http://www.theroot.com/dejuan-guillory-was-unarmed-lying-on-the-ground-when-a-1796731246

Update: Saturday, July 8, 2017, 11:49 p.m. EST- A new interview sheds light on the Mamou, La., death of Dejuan Guillory. The interview is with Joe Long, the attorney for DeQuince Brown, who witnessed an Evangeline Parish Sherriff Deputy shoot Guillory in the back on July 6, killing him.

Pen Point News investigative reporter Daniel Banguell’s interview with Long confirms many of the details reported earlier. Brown has been unable to tell her side of the story, as she has been in jail with charges of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer since the incident.

In the recording, Long affirms that Guillory was on the ground with his hands behind his back, begging for his life, pleading, “please don’t shoot me, I have three kids,” when Paul Lafleur first shot Guillory. Long states:

“They were both on the ground. Guillory was on the ground, on his belly, his hands behind his back, and the officer had a gun trained at Guillory’s back, maybe a foot or two from Guillory’s body. They were still arguing back and forth but Guillory was on the ground as directed. His hands were behind his back. He was not resisting. All of a sudden, a shot rang out.”

According to Long, DeQuince Brown then jumped on the officer’s back to prevent him from killing her boyfriend and bit LaFleur (hence the reported injuries to the officer). LaFluer then fired three more shots at Guillory.

Long also states that two ambulances came to the scene, but “One ambulance loaded the deputy in and took him to the hospital. The other one left empty. When she left in a police car, Guillory’s body was still on the gravel road.” When asked if anyone treated Guillory, the attorney added, “As far as she knows, she never witnessed anybody attempt CPR for Guillory. It may have happened, but she didn’t see it.”

Earlier: Dejuan Guillory was 27-years-old. Everyone who knows him calls him sweet, hard-working and charming. Everyone who ever laid eyes on him objectively says he was good looking. He loved his children. He had a troubled past that he put behind him, but he had a promising future as a concrete contractor.

So, when a sheriff’s deputy stood over Guillory in an isolated road in the backwoods of Louisiana, fired multiple shots into his back and left him there to die, he didn’t kill DeJuan, he transformed him. Before Guillory took his last breath on a dusty, Southern road just outside of the tiny town of Mamou, La., he was a man with a future moving away from his past. He was a loving father, a smile and promise.

Now, Dejuan Guillory is just dead.

As soon as he was served death through the barrel of an infallible police officer’s gun, Guillory was changed. First he became a “suspect.” Then they made him into a thug. Soon he will be a villain. Then a martyr. Then a hashtag. Then attorneys and a judge in a courtroom somewhere will refer to him as “the deceased” before he eventually disappears into the ether like the bullet-riddled dark-skinned bodies before him—just another dead, black thing.
Dejuan Guillory and DeQuince Brown

But on the morning of July 6, DeJuan Guillory was alive. According to his family members, Guillory had just been paid for two concrete jobs and wanted to do something with his new girlfriend—DeQuince Erin Brown. Guillory decided they would hop on his all-terrain vehicle and go recreational frog hunting, called “frogging” in Southwest Louisiana.

Brown says through the Guillory family’s attorney Pride Doran in an exclusive interview with The Root, that the couple was on the ATV on Chad Lane when they happened upon a parked vehicle. The car flashed its lights, stopping the couple, and out stepped Paul Holden LaFleur, a deputy with the Evangeline Parish Sherrif’s Department.

There are several questions as to why LaFleur was parked in the middle of nowhere at 4 a.m. in the morning. The police department says he was answering a burglary call. It is unclear whether LaFleur was on duty, in police uniform or even in a marked car, but both Guillory and his girlfriend recognized LaFleur as an officer. The officer allegedly asked both parties for identification and when they objected, LaFleur ordered them off the four-wheeler. Doran says that Guillory and the officer got into a heated argument and after a brief altercation, LaFleur told Brown and Guillory to get on the ground.

According to Doran, who represents Guillory’s family, both Brown and Guillory complied, but when Guillory was prostrate on the ground, LaFluer reportedly fired his weapon multiple times at Guillory, shooting Guillory three or four times.

In.

His.

Back.

But of course, LaFleur did as he was trained and immediately called for backup and medical care, right?

Nope.

Doran told The Root that the deputy went back to his car and stayed there for an extended period of time. However, during their altercation, LaFleur happened to drop his police radio, and it was Brown who called for help, using LaFleur’s radio.

Then, like so many unarmed black men before him did during police encounters, Dejuan Guillory lay down and died.

Thus began the transformation of Dejuan Guillory.

It started immediately. LaFleur said he was attacked, so DeQuince Brown was arrested on attempted first-degree attempted murder of a police officer. Then the police announced that LaFleur (who was parked on a dirt road at 4:10 a.m. with his lights off) was in the area answering a burglary call (even though no one in the area knew of such a burglary).

You could see it happening. The Acadiana Advocate kicked it off by calling it an “officer-involved shooting.” Dequince Brown was no longer a girlifrend out frogging with her boyfriend, she was now an attempted murderer. But that wasn’t enough, so The Daily Advertiser dug into Guillory’s past and reported it this way:

It’s unclear why Guillory wasn’t in jail since he was sentenced in December by 13th Judicial District Court Judge Gary Ortego to 10 years in jail, with all but five years suspended, according to documents with the Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court Office.

Guillory was arrested in August 2015 after he allegedly stole an ATM from Citizen’s Bank using a backhoe, according to news reports at the time.

See how it works? Guillory was supposed to be in jail, according to them. But even now that they had successfully turned the corpse into a criminal, they were not yet done. They then made him into a suspect. Here is a sample of the headlines:
Burglary suspect killed, deputy wounded in Mamou shooting

An Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s deputy was wounded and a burglary was suspected was killed in a…

Suspect killed in deputy-involved shooting identified

To be clear, Dejuan Guillory was never questioned about a burglary. DeQuince Brown’s charges do not include burglary charges. She has been in jail for 48 hours and no law enforcement official has asked her about a burglary.

Apparently they believe Brown hopped on an ATV before dawn and drove down a country road with the “specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon a fireman, peace officer, or civilian employee of the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory or any other forensic laboratory engaged in the performance of his lawful duties, or when the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm is directly related to the victim’s status as a fireman, peace officer, or civilian employee.”

Brown and Guillory have now been mysteriously transformed before our eyes. This is the prestidigitation that magically metamorphosizes black boys into thugs, black women into miscreants and black bodies into cadavers.

That is what Dejuan Guillory has become—a lifeless afterthought in a small-town newspaper. A mythical, scoundrel supercriminal who can overpower armed cops while lying on the ground.

Or, as Paul LaFluer intended—just a dead, black thing.

Caught On Camera: Police Officer Push Woman Out Of Her Wheelchair!

http://www.thegrandreport.com/caught-camera-police-officer-push-woman-wheelchair/

Andrea: Click link to see video

Black Teen ‘Mistaken’ for Larger, Bald Black Man Says Police in Calif. Drew Gun on Her, Punched Her in the Mouth

http://www.theroot.com/black-teenager-mistaken-for-larger-bald-black-man-says-1796840022

A black 19-year-old woman says she was confronted by police at gunpoint, punched in the mouth and bitten by a police dog after Bakersfield, Calif., police apparently mistook her for a much larger, bald black man who was suspected of threatening people with a machete at a nearby grocery store.

According to the Bakersfield Californian, Tatyana Hargrove’s story is picking up more and more attention since the NAACP in Bakersfield posted a video to its Facebook page of her sharing her story. That video, in which Hargrove insists that race played a role in the brutal encounter, has gotten 3.8 million views so far.

In the video, the 19-year-old is holding crutches and close-ups are shown of the scratches, bites and other bruises on her body and face that were suffered during the June 18 encounter with Bakersfield police.

Hargrove explained in the video that she had ridden her bicycle to a local store to buy a Father’s Day gift before realizing the establishment was closed. On her way back home, she stopped to get a drink of water out of her backpack. That’s when she noticed three police cars behind her. The teen said one of the officers already had his gun drawn by the time he got out of his patrol car.

The teen said that officers demanded to see her backpack, but she asked them for a warrant. When officers pointed out their K9 dog to her, Hargrove said she got scared and gave them her backpack, but that at that point the officer grabbed her by the wrist and neck and punched her and threw her on the ground. At that point, she said, the K9 dog bit her.

Hargrove says one officer put his knee in her back and another knee on her head.

“I told him ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’ and then I started yelling out, ‘Somebody help, somebody help me, they’re gonna kill me!’” she said.

Ultimately, the teen was arrested on suspicion of resisting or delaying an officer and aggravated assault on an officer.

Bakersfield police say they mistook the 5-foot-2, 115-pound Hargrove, age 19, for a suspect who was described as being a 25- to 30-year-old bald man with a goatee, who stands at around 5 foot 10 and weighs 170 pounds.

Hargrove, arresting Officer Christopher Moore wrote in a report, “appeared to be a male and matched the description of the suspect that had brandished a machete and was also within the same complex the suspect had fled to.”

Moore accused Hargrove of ignoring police commands and putting her feet on her bike pedals, appearing as if “she was going to flee.”

At no point does the report say that Hargrove actually left the scene.

Moore said that as another officer, identified as G. Vasquez, was handcuffing the teen, she spun her left shoulder into him, knocking Vasquez off balance and taking him to the ground. Hargrove, police say, fell on top of Vasquez and then spun around into a “mounting position.” That was when Vasquez punched her in the mouth, according to the report.

Moore said at that point he realized Hargrove was within reach of her backpack, in which Moore still apparently suspected held a machete, causing him to release his K9.

Right ...

Moore said he didn’t realize Hargrove was a woman until she told him her first name, “Tatyana.”

“Don’t lie to me, that’s a girl’s name. What is your name?” Moore asked.

“I’m a girl. I just don’t dress like one,” she said.

The actual suspect police were looking for, 24-year-old Douglas Washington, was arrested the next day and remains in jail.

Video shows man caught in bite by SDPD K9
Andrea: Video shows handcuffed, down on the ground black man being bitten by K9 police unable to control

Video shows police officer beating homeless woman

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/11/us/georgia-police-beating/index.html

A police department in Georgia has reopened an internal investigation after a cellphone video surfaced showing a DeKalb County police officer striking a homeless woman with his baton several times during an arrest.

The incident occurred at a gas station station in Decatur on June 4. The officer had gone to the Chevron in response to a complaint about the woman begging for money from customers.

The video posted on YouTube doesn't show what led to the incident.

It starts with a tense scene in which the woman, identified as Katie McCrary in a police report, is on the floor as a male police officer beats her with his baton. The officer had filed a Use of Force report after the incident and had been cleared following an internal affairs investigation.

In light of the new cellphone video, the DeKalb County Police Department said in a statement Monday: "Now that the Department has this new evidence we have reopened the investigation and will determine whether the incident is consistent with policy and the law."

The incident marks another controversy that has risen over the scrutiny of police tactics.

The identity of the police officer in the Decatur incident hasn't been released.

In his incident report dated June 5, the police officer said, when he arrived at the gas station, McCrary "attempted to push me out of the way and walk out of the door."

McCrary allegedly tried to walk past the officer again and told him she was a federal agent, according to his incident report. More words were exchanged and McCrary "reached out and grabbed my badge," and after being warned not to touch him, she "grabbed my vest and radio," according to his incident report. He said he used his baton on her legs, forearms and "one strike inadvertently struck the side of her head as she was moving around."

The cellphone video starts with McCrary lying on the floor with her arms and legs in the air as she attempts to kick at the officer who is standing. He swats her multiple times with his baton.

"Hey, Katie. Stop resisting!" yells an unknown man in the store. "Stop resisting."

The officer strikes her several more times as the woman squirms on the ground.

At one point, he places the baton on the back of her neck and pins her down with his knee on her back. When she grabs his baton, he says twice, "Let it go, or I'm going to shoot you."

"No. Please don't shoot her," a bystander says.

Near the end of the video, the officer places her in handcuffs.

McCrary asks repeatedly, "What did I do? What did I do wrong?"

DeKalb County Police Department said in a statement, "The narrative in the officer's report appears to be consistent with the video."

The officer wrote in his incident report that he took McCrary to DeKalb County Jail, "where she was refused and deferred to Grady Memorial Hospital for further evaluation." He noted she had a half-inch cut on her shin and a welt on her forearm. She was later released by the hospital.

McCrary was charged with obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers. She was given a criminal trespass warning at the request of the convenience store manager, police said.

CNN is attempting to reach McCrary or her lawyer.

CNN affiliate WGCL reported McCrary is currently in jail for an unrelated charge. One man who says he knows McCrary told WGCL that she's often seen at the store asking for money and alluded to mental health issues.

Minneapolis Police Officer Fatally Shoots Australian Woman Who Called 911 for Help

http://fusion.kinja.com/minneapolis-police-officer-fatally-shoots-australian-wo-1796964768?utm_source=fusion_facebook&utm_medium=s ocialflow&utm_campaign=socialflow_fusion_facebook& utm_content=link

A 40–year–old spiritual healer from Australia who was engaged to be married next month was shot and killed Saturday night by a Minneapolis police after calling 911 to report suspicious activity in an alley by her home.

Police have not released many details of the shooting, and family members of the woman’s fiancé, a 50–year–old Minnesota man, say they are frustrated by the lack of cooperation from the police department.

The name of the victim, who lived in the U.S. for about three years, has not been released pending notification of relatives in Australia.

A statement by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released Sunday and reported by the Star Tribune said that two officers responded to the 911 call about a possible assault in an alley off W. 51st Street around 11:30 p.m.

“At one point one officer fired their weapon, fatally striking a woman,” the statement said.

The son of the victim’s fiancé said she would have walked about 100 yards in a well–lit alley to reach the scene of the shooting.

According to the Tribune, the responding officers’ body cameras were turned off during the incident, and patrol car cameras were unable to record what happened.

The shooting occurred just over a year after former police officer Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed Philando Castile in a St. Paul suburb during a traffic stop. Castile, whose girlfriend and her 4–year–old daughter were in the car at the time, had complied with the officer’s orders when Yanez inexplicably began firing.

Last month, a mostly white jury found Yanez not guilty of manslaughter charges, sparking nationwide protests including in Minneapolis–St. Paul, where thousands took to the streets in anger after the verdict was announced.

A vigil and rally for the latest victim was planned for Sunday evening in the southern Minneapolis neighborhood where the shooting occurred.

Interesting info
 

How Fake Cops Got $1.2 Million in Real Weapons

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/07/21/how-fake-cops-got-1-2-million-in-real-weapons?ref=hp-1-112#.Cs5eHRmFT

When you think of a federal sting operation involving weaponry and military gear, the Government Accountability Office doesn’t immediately jump to mind. The office is tasked with auditing other federal agencies to root out fraud and abuse, usually by asking questions and poring over paperwork.

This year, the agency went a little more cowboy. The GAO created a fictitious law enforcement agency — complete with a fake website and a bogus address that traced back to an empty lot — and applied for military-grade equipment from the Department of Defense.

And in less than a week, they got it.

A GAO report issued this week says the agency’s faux cops were able to obtain $1.2 million worth of military gear, including night-vision goggles, simulated M-16A2 rifles and pipe bomb equipment from the Defense Department’s 1033 program, which supplies state and local law enforcement with excess materiel. The rifles and bomb equipment could have been made functional with widely available parts, the report said.

From left, examples of night-vision goggles, a simulated M-16A2 rifle and a pipe bomb trainer obtained from the Department of Defense by the Government Accountability Office through a fictitious law enforcement agency. GAO

“They never did any verification, like visit our ‘location,’ and most of it was by email,” said Zina Merritt, director of the GAO’s defense capabilities and management team, which ran the operation. “It was like getting stuff off of eBay.”

In its response to the sting, the Defense Department promised to tighten its verification procedures, including trying to visit the location of law enforcement agencies that apply and making sure agents picking up supplies have valid identification, the GAO report said. The department also promised to do an internal fraud assessment by April 2018.

A Defense Department spokesman declined to comment further.

The sting operation has its roots in the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. At the time, many were surprised to see law enforcement respond to protests with armored trucks, sniper rifles, tear-gas bombs and other weapons of war.

Reporting by The Marshall Project and others found that much of the equipment came from the obscure 1033 program, which dates back to the Clinton era. Any equipment the U.S. military was not using — including Humvees, grenades, scuba-diving gear and even marching-band instruments — was available to local cops who could demonstrate a need.

The program has transferred more than $6 billion worth of supplies to more than 8,600 law enforcement agencies since 1991.

After Ferguson, then-President Barack Obama issued an executive order prohibiting the military from giving away some equipment and deeming other equipment “controlled,” establishing strict oversight and training requirements for law enforcement agencies that wanted it. The order also required a Defense Department and Justice Department working group to ensure oversight.

But since President Donald Trump took office, the group has not met, according to the Constitution Project, a bipartisan thinktank that had been participating in the meetings. Trump has said that he will revoke Obama’s executive order, although he has not yet.

Congress ordered the GAO to look into the program last year. A survey of local law enforcement did not turn up any instances of outright abuse at the state level but did find one illegitimate agency that had applied as a federal entity and was approved for equipment, Merritt said.

That’s when the agency launched the sting. Contrary to its public image, GAO has snagged other agencies with undercover work in the past, including an investigation of the Affordable Care Act in which the agency submitted fictitious applications and was approved for subsidized healthcare coverage.

In this case, the GAO created the fake law enforcement agency — whose name the agency would not reveal — and claimed it did high-level security and counterterrorism work. Once approved, the agency easily obtained the items from a Defense Department warehouse of unused military goods.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which lists rescinding Obama’s executive order one of its top priorities for the Trump administration, said the possibility of fraud does not indict the whole program.

“It suggests only that the U.S. military is one of the world’s largest bureaucracies and as such is going to have some lapses in material control,” Pasco said. “Law enforcement is going to get that equipment and we’re going to use it, to protect both officers and civilians. And if we don’t get it free from the military, we’re going to have to buy it with taxpayer dollars.”

But to Madhuri Grewal, senior counsel for the Constitution Project, and other opponents of police militarization, the problem is more fundamental.

“There just aren’t many everyday policing uses for military equipment like this,” Grewal said. “The question is why can real law enforcement agencies get some of this stuff, let alone fake ones?”

Andrea: Bolding mine

Two Baltimore detectives plead guilty in racketeering case

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/21/us/baltimore-police-guilty-pleas/index.html

Two former Baltimore police officers pleaded guilty Friday to federal racketeering charges, admitting that they committed armed robberies, made fraudulent overtime claims and filed false affidavits.

Detectives Maurice Ward and Evodio Hendrix were among seven Baltimore officers indicted in March as part of an alleged conspiracy involving those and other crimes. The seven officers, members of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force, were accused of stopping people -- some of whom were not suspected of any crimes -- seizing their money, and pocketing it.

In one instance, Hendrix and Ward, allegedly with another officer, stole $17,000 in cash from a suspect's house following a SWAT raid.

In another instance, several officers stopped a nursing home maintenance supervisor and stole $1,500 that he was planning to use to pay his rent, according to the indictment.

The stolen amounts range from $200 to $200,000, authorities said.
"These are really robberies by people who are wearing police uniforms," said then-Maryland US Attorney Rod Rosenstein in March.

Attorneys for Ward and Hendrix did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. A spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department said the men are no longer employed with the department.

The other five officers included in the indictment are awaiting trial, scheduled for January 2018.

The indictment said the seven officers schemed to steal money, property and narcotics by detaining people, entering residences, conducting traffic stops and swearing out false search warrant affidavits.

The investigation began a year ago and included electronic surveillance of the officers.

Hendrix and Ward committed "large-scale time and attendance fraud," according to prosecutors, a charged leveled at their five co-defendants as well.

In one instance, Ward, Hendrix and another officer were paid for two days of work while on vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to the indictment.

Two of the officers were heard on a phone call boasting about their colleagues, including Hendrix and Ward, committing overtime fraud for "a whole year" and making "at least $8,000 to $10,000 a month," the indictment states.

"These are 1930's style gangsters as far as I'm concerned," Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said in February. "This is a punch in the gut for the Baltimore Police Department."

The pleas come as the State's Attorney's office reviews about 100 cases in a separate investigation sparked by body camera footage allegedly showing a Baltimore police officer planting evidence at the scene of a January drug arrest.

It is also about seven months after the Justice Department, under former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and the city of Baltimore announced a consent decree mandating police reforms in Baltimore.

That followed a DOJ report which said unconstitutional practices by some of Baltimore's officers lead to a disproportionate rates of stops, searches and arrests of black residents, and excessive use of force against juveniles and those with mental health disabilities.

I see Betsy Hodges has thrown her Police chef under the bus! By what I saw on the news, I thinking the voters will do the same to her!

They must have watched the Jonah Hill movie (War Dogs) or read the book first. These two guys exploited holes in bidding on government contracts and bought weapons to sell.

Watching it, I kept thinking, "This didn't really or couldn't really happen, could it?"

Our tax dollars at work:

"With the war in Iraq raging on, a young man (Jonah Hill) offers his childhood friend a chance to make big bucks by becoming an international arms dealer.

Together, they exploit a government initiative that allows businesses to bid on U.S. military contracts. Starting small allows the duo to rake in money and live the high life. They soon find themselves in over their heads after landing a $300 million deal to supply Afghan forces, a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people."

From IMDb.com

Officers kill man with no active warrants at wrong house

http://m.wmctv.com/wmctv/db_401748/contentdetail.htm?full=true&contentguid=AUdiWnEV&p n=&ps=#display

SOUTHAVEN, MS (WMC) - Documents show that Southaven officers went to the wrong house to serve a warrant on Monday, which resulted in the shooting death of a man who did not have any active warrants out for his arrest.

A warrant out of Tate County shows Samuel Pearman was wanted for domestic assault. But, when Southaven officers arrived on Surrey Lane to arrest Pearman, they did not show up to the correct house.

Instead, officers missed their target by 36 feet. Those 36 feet made all the difference to Ismael Lopez and his wife.

"Someone didn't take the time to analyze the address," attorney Murray Wells, who represents the family, said. "This is incredibly tragic and embarrassing to this police department that they can't read house numbers."

Wells pointed out that the house officers should have gone to, the one where Pearman was located, had a large 'P' on the door. While officials sort out what happened, the man they were looking for took to social media.

Pearson even posted on Facebook Live on Tuesday afternoon claiming he didn't do anything wrong.

"They made me out to be something I'm not," he said. "I haven't hurt her. She's the one who slapped me."

Ismael Lopez and his wife, Claudia Linares, were asleep inside their house across the street from Pearson when officers arrived.

Linares said her husband went to the door to see what was happening outside. That's when she heard gunshots and by the time she reached her husband, he was already dead.

"Bullet holes suggest they shot through the door," Wells said.

Officers said Lopez came to the door pointing a gun at them. Those officers claim to have asked Lopez multiple times to drop the gun before they started shooting.

But, neighbors said they didn't hear anything like that.

"I didn't hear yelling," neighbor Nicholas Tramel said.

Tramel's room is right next to the Lopez home. He said he never heard police tell Lopez to put his rifle down.

Wells implied that officers had reasons not to tell the truth in their account of what happened. Namely, because they could face consequences for shooting Lopez. He also said that Claudia, who was the only one on the property who could not be held responsible for shooting Lopez, did not hear any commands or instructions being given. In addition, Wells said Lopez never pointed a gun at the officers.

"There was a gun on the premises, but the man did not have the gun with him when police shot him," he said.

Wells said Claudia Lopez wants justice and for the world to know that her husband was a good man.

"When they came to my office, it wasn't money they sought. They wanted the story to come out," he said. "What they want everyone to know is who he was and what happened."

Wells described Lopez as a hardworking employee who, up until about four years ago, worked for City of Bartlett as a mechanic.

"They've been in that home for 13 years. The only time the police had ever been there was when they had been robbed," Wells said. "No criminal history whatsoever. A long-standing employee of the city of Bartlett, mechanic. Loved in the neighborhood."

He continued, "This could have happened to anyone. Her [Claudia's] sense of justice doesn't really come from a place of anger, but of confusion."

Cellphone videos raise questions about Kentucky State Police cover-up in man’s arrest

http://www.wdrb.com/story/36066730/sunday-edition-cellphone-videos-raise-questions-about-kentucky-state-police-cover-up-in-mans-arrest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The testimony in front of a Harlan County grand jury last summer left little doubt Lewis Lyttle did not follow orders, became combative and assaulted Kentucky State Police officers as they tried to arrest him outside a hospital.

“We was trying to get him handcuffed and I think Detective Miller was trying to hold his legs to keep him from kicking and he ended up getting kicked too in the chest,” Trooper Jimmy Halcomb testified on Aug. 1, 2016, according to a recording of the grand jury hearing.

“We finally had to force the handcuffs on him because he wasn’t complying with anything.”

But cellphone videos and more than a dozen sworn statements from eyewitnesses paint a different picture, and are the focus of a wrongful arrest and assault lawsuit against police.

State police said an internal investigation completed last month concluded that one of the officers used excessive force and was suspended four months and demoted.

Lyttle’s attorneys argue, however, the investigation didn’t go nearly far enough, and that evidence shows state troopers lied to prosecute Lyttle and tried to cover up their actions from the June 15, 2016 arrest.

“There were several glaring omissions in (Halcomb’s) testimony,” said defense attorney Douglas Asher, who represented Lyttle in his criminal case. “The sad part of it is, that if it weren’t for these witnesses, this old man would be in the penitentiary.”

Lyttle, 68, is a former construction worker who has been disabled since 1992 with a back injury.

On the day of the incident, Lyttle left his home in St. Charles, Virginia, to drive his neighbor to Harlan Appalachian Regional Hospital because she was having problems with chronic bronchitis.

Someone called the police to complain that Lyttle was exposing himself in the hospital parking lot.

When the first witness video begins, Lyttle can be seen sitting on the ground, his hands already handcuffed behind his back as Halcomb and KSP Sgt. Rob Farley hover over him.

In an instant, Farley reaches down and slaps Lyttle across the face, sending him to the pavement.

The woman who filmed the incident on her smartphone from an office overlooking the parking lot and those watching with her can be heard gasping after Lyttle is struck.

“He had no business smacking him in the face,” one woman can be heard saying on the video.

“I bet that’s part of the movie, reckon?” another said, talking about a crew filming in Harlan at the same time.

A second witness, also using a smartphone, captured what happened next.

The officers pick Lyttle up and uncuff him. Farley stands in front of Lyttle and Halcomb behind him. Then, two other KSP officers arrive.

Because the video was filmed inside an office building, it was unclear what was said between Lyttle and the officers, but Lyttle doesn't appear to make any aggressive movements toward them.

Unlike some local departments such as Louisville Metro, state police do not equip their officers with body cameras to record their interactions with the public.

After about 30 seconds, Farley reaches out and grabs Lyttle by his beard, knees him in the stomach and yanks him to the ground.

As Lyttle lies on the pavement, Farley punches him while another officer kicks him, the video shows.

“They are just punching him, beating the s--- out of him,” said the man recording the incident from the window of a nearby building. “Four cops for one man, and as old as he is.”

The officers then handcuffed Lyttle, again, and arrested him.

When he testified to the grand jury, Halcomb did not disclose that he had successfully handcuffed Farley before other officers arrived.

Instead, he tells grand jurors Lyttle resisted, kicking him, and the trooper “hollered for assistance.”

“So it took all of you all to try and get him handcuffed?” the prosecutor asked Halcomb.

“Yes,” Halcomb said.

Halcomb also did not tell jurors about how the officers slapped, punched and kicked Lyttle.

Based on Halcomb’s account, the grand jury indicted Lyttle on charges of assaulting Halcomb and Det. Kevin Miller, driving drunk, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and menacing, among other charges.

Both Lyttle’s criminal attorney and the lawyers representing him in the civil case claim Halcomb lied and intentionally omitted evidence.

“Trooper Halcomb said (Lyttle) was resisting arrest and that he kicked two of the troopers, but the video clearly shows it was the troopers who were kicking Mr. Lyttle as he was laying on the ground,” said David Ward, a Louisville attorney representing Lyttle in the lawsuit, which was filed two days after the incident on June 17, 2016.

The lawsuit remains pending.

“Mr. Lyttle did nothing, he complied with all of the officers’ requests and, during that period of time, he was submissive with them. And as a result of that, he was assaulted, brutally assaulted, for no reason,” Ward said.

Case dismissed

The criminal case against Lyttle unraveled and in January, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the felony charges.

Prosecutors based the decision on evidence that came to light after Lyttle was indicted. That evidence included the two cellphone videos of the incident and 16 sworn statements by witnesses who said Lyttle was the one assaulted.

Harlan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Parker Boggs, who handled the criminal case, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

In February, eight months after the arrest, state police launched an investigation “shortly after the events were brought to our attention,” Trooper Josh Brashears, a KSP spokesman, said in a statement emailed to WDRB News.

In a report completed last month, investigators found Farley used excessive force. He was suspended for 120 days and demoted from sergeant to trooper.

Brashears wrote that troopers were called to the hospital after Lyttle was accused of exposing himself to a juvenile and he then became combative, resisted arrest and spit on troopers.

“But even under these circumstances, KSP officers are trained and expected to uphold professional standards of conduct and must be held accountable for violations,” Brashears wrote in an email to WDRB.

The state police internal investigators questioned the other officers involved with Lyttle’s arrest and cleared them of wrongdoing. Lyttle still has a misdemeanor indecent exposure case pending in Harlan District Court.

And attorneys for the troopers said video of Lyttle’s arrest represents only an incomplete snapshot of what happened.

“You can’t form a conclusion based on just the video,” said attorney Scott Miller, who represents Trooper Kevin Miller, who is accused of kicking Lyttle.

Attorney Jason Nemes, who represents Halcomb, said “we believe our guy did what was appropriate.” Nemes is also a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he represents a Middletown-area district.

The attorneys declined to go into detail. Lawyers for the other troopers declined to comment.

In court records, Halcomb said in his investigative summary that after he “forcibly cuffed” Lyttle and sat him on the ground, the trooper noticed the cuffs were too tight and Lyttle’s wrists were bleeding.

When Farley arrived, Halcomb said he decided to uncuff Lyttle and reapply the handcuffs for the defendant’s comfort, according to Halcomb’s summary of the arrest.

After taking the left cuff off, Lyttle “clinched his fist and pulled it back,” prompting Farley to grab his beard and “put his hand up,” Farley wrote in his summary.

When Lyttle would not let Halcomb cuff him, Farley “applied a knee strike” and officers took him to the ground, Halcomb wrote.

Lyttle then “started kicking and being aggressive” and troopers forcibly cuffed him, according to Halcomb.

In a response to the lawsuit, troopers said they were reacting to Lyttle’s conduct and trying to get him to comply with being handcuffed and arrested, claiming he was “fiercely combative, spit at the officers, kicked the officers, tried to draw back his fist ... and refused to comply with repeated lawful commands from the officers to submit to the attempt to peacefully arrest him.”

"Had to fight him"

But the KSP findings, and Halcomb’s investigative summary, are just part of a larger cover-up by state police, Ward said.

He pointed out that several witnesses provided affidavits to investigators saying Lyttle was not aggressive with troopers, didn’t resist arrest and never spit at them.

The other officers should have been punished, and state police failed to hold Halcomb accountable for lying to the grand jury, Ward said.

The lawsuit argues that Halcomb uncuffed Lyttle and Farley began “verbally taunting him in order to provoke him to fight. When Lyttle refused to fight, Farley became infuriated, grabbed Lyttle's long, white beard, violently jerked his head downwards, and then kneed him in the groin area.”

Ward also argues that KSP knew about the alleged use of excessive force long before February, noting multiple witnesses called police during the arrests claiming Lyttle was being assaulted.

One witness identified Farley specifically and told a dispatcher in a 911 call during the incident that she wanted to talk to a supervisor about what she saw, according to a recording of the call in court records.

Lyttle’s attorneys also point to the murky circumstances surrounding the resignation of Lt. Jason Adams, the state police supervisor who immediately followed up on the incident. They claim Adams coached the officers on what to say to avoid culpability.

Adams called the hospital on the day of the arrest and asked for any video, saying his troopers “ended up arresting a guy over there and they had to fight him,” according to audio of a phone call in court records.

The lawsuit claims Adams helped the troopers draft “untruthful memorandums regarding the assault of Lyttle. These memorandums were crafted so that” the troopers “would not be disciplined or criminally charged for their conduct.”

On Jan. 13, 2017, the day the charges against Lyttle were dropped, Adams resigned. On his resignation letter, KSP officials wrote that he would not be considered for rehire as a trooper “or in any other capacity.”

Another note on the resignation letter said: “Based on the circumstances surrounding Lt. Adams’ retirement, I am unable to recommend him” for a program that allows retired troopers to work part-time. The notes do not go into further detail.

One of the hospital employees interviewed by Adams a few weeks after the incident said in an affidavit she believed Adams was trying to protect the troopers rather than find out what really happened.

Misty Mullins said Adams interviewed her about what she saw and “for someone who is supposed to be an un-biased fact finder, (he) went out of his way to inflame my emotions against the old man,” according to her affidavit. “In fact, I think he was nothing but biased.”

She claims Adams told her “that if that old man had exposed himself to my child and I had beaten the old man up that ‘we’ (KSP) … would not even arrest you for it.

“I told Lt. Adams that it didn’t matter what the old man had been accused of, the officers couldn’t just beat him like that,” she said in her sworn statement.

She said Lt. Adams theorized that while he didn’t know what Farley was thinking, he had a young daughter and “he was just upset over what the old man had done (allegedly).”

Mullins wrote that several of her coworkers who also witnessed the incident would not talk to Adams “because it will all be covered up like it normally is and nothing will be done about it anyway.”

The findings by state police also ignore conduct by the other troopers, Ward said.

“To only discipline Sgt. Farley for what occurred, and not the other troopers – who were on video kicking a helpless old man – is troubling,” he said.

The lawsuit is on hold as Lyttle’s attorneys last month asked a federal judge to order Kentucky State Police to turn over records from the internal investigation.

“The ultimate goal in filing the suit is to hold the troopers accountable for their actions,” Ward said. “What they did was reprehensible and … they should be subject to the same laws as everybody else.”

A cop stopped a car for speeding - then pointed a gun at a passenger for more than 9 minutes

http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article165788587.html

A video taken during a traffic stop in California is drawing debate over the officer's decision to keep his gun pointed at the passenger for more than nine minutes.

The stop took place last Wednesday morning along U.S. Route 101, south of San Jose, after an officer noticed a car pass him going 85 mph, according to the Campbell Police Department.

After stopping the car for speeding, the officer requested the driver's license and additional paperwork. The driver and passenger spent several minutes looking for the paperwork before the officer walked back to his motorcycle to write a citation, police said.

It was at that point their stories diverged. According to police, the passenger began reaching "under his seat."

"It is not clear why the passenger chose to reach under the seat since the officer was not requesting any other paperwork," Campbell police said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the passenger's unexpected movement towards the bottom of the seat, caused the officer to perceive a threat and draw his handgun."

However, a man sitting in the vehicle's passenger seat - the target of the officer's gun - maintained throughout the incident that he had simply been reaching for some papers on the floor to try to find the vehicle's license and registration, as requested.

A video that apparently was recorded by a woman in the car begins as the male passenger is expressing incredulity that the officer has pulled a gun.

"Wow," the passenger says in the video, laughing. "We're looking for the f-ing paperwork, bro. Oh my God."

"I understand that," the officer replies. "Don't move, all right?"

The passenger sounds indignant as his hands remain on his lap. "Why are you still pointing that gun at me, bro?" he asks the officer. "Why are you still pointing the gun at me, though? Record this sh-t. Why are you still pointing the gun at me, bro? My hands are right here."

"I understand," the officer says.

"No, you don't understand," the passenger protests, as the officer tells him to relax. "No, I'm not going to relax. Get the f-king gun off me."

A woman in the car asks the officer: "Is that really necessary? His hands are both out."

The officer says that it is necessary as he waits for backup to arrive, eliciting another round of protests from the vehicle's passengers. For several more minutes, they remain at an impasse, with the passenger muttering periodic complaints as music plays in the background. The entire time, the officer's gun is trained on the man.

Toward the end, the officer relays something through the radio and the passenger begins protesting again. At one point in the video, the officer mentions that there had been a screwdriver on the floor of the car.

"Why are you trying to make this bigger than it is, bro?" the passenger says. "We complied with everything you asked for."

The video lasts a little more than nine minutes total, and the officer's gun is pointed at the male passenger the entire time. Police said in a statement the officer had to wait longer than usual for backup to arrive "and provide assistance in safely resolving the situation."

"We understand that it is never a comfortable position to have a gun pointed at you, regardless of whether it is a police officer," police said. "Unfortunately, the length of time that the officer's gun was drawn lasted much longer than normal based on his location."

Police said the traffic stop was resolved amicably.

"In the end, the officer had a conversation with the passenger of the vehicle explaining his actions and why the gun was pointed at him," police said. "The passenger indicated he understood why it happened and actually apologized to the officer. Both the driver and the passenger were issued citations and were allowed to leave."

However, the video was uploaded to Facebook last Saturday with a caption that suggested there may not have been as much understanding as police thought. (Note: The video contains profanity.)

"CAMPBELL COP IS A B--!!!!!!!!!!" wrote a Facebook user named "Feo Mas" who identified himself as the passenger in the video. "(He) pulled out a gun cuz I reached for paperwork he asked for."

A week later, the video had amassed nearly 2 million views on Facebook, as well as tens of thousands more on YouTube. Online, a debate raged: Several people defended the police officer and said they felt the passenger should have remained quiet, while others were outraged at how long the officer had trained his gun on the passenger despite the man's hands being visible at all times.

Police departments are under increased scrutiny for violent, often fatal interactions with suspects. So far this year, 594 people have been shot and killed by police, according to The Washington Post's Fatal Force database. Last year, police shot and killed 963 people.

The Facebook user who posted the video did not respond to an interview request sent by Facebook Sunday.

The Campbell Police Department said in a statement it was aware of the video circulating online, as well as the thousands of comments surrounding it. Police also cited an officer-involved shooting that had taken place in nearby Los Banos, California, as an example of the "unfortunate reality" that people sometimes attack police.

"As an agency, we can understand the response to the Facebook video, and that is why we have and will continue engaging our community," police said. "The comments on the Facebook video bring up a lot of different viewpoints about how the officer could have responded differently or used different tactics. Our officers receive a tremendous amount of training on a consistent basis and that training is what dictates our response. This is intended to protect our officers as well as those they come in contact with."

Police said they had reviewed footage from the officer's body cam, which included the beginning and end of the incident not shown in the Facebook video. The department did not release any footage from the officer's camera and did not immediately respond to an email Sunday.

"We are thankful that this incident resolved itself with no one getting injured and hope that this additional information provides clarification," police said.

Deputies Go Unpunished for Invasive Cavity Search on Houston Roadside

https://www.texasobserver.org/cops-go-free-warrantless-body-cavity-search-houston-roadside/amp/

The courts have long ruled that warrantless body cavity searches are, in most circumstances, unconstitutional. Impromptu roadside anal and vaginal probes are prohibited by both state law and policies adopted by many of the state’s largest law enforcement agencies, including the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean cops who engage in warrantless roadside cavity searches will always face consequences. This month, Harris County prosecutors dropped criminal charges against two Harris County sheriff’s deputies accused of helping vaginally probe Charnesia Corley after they smelled weed during a June 2015 traffic stop in north Houston. The sheriff’s office has already cleared both deputies of any wrongdoing, and both are expected to stay with the department. One of them could even soon return to patrol duty.

That’s what prompted the attorney handling Corley’s federal lawsuit against the county to release dash-cam footage on Monday that he says proves she was subjected to an illegal search. The video, first published by the Houston Chronicle, appears to show the deputies forcing Corley face-first on the pavement near her car before spreading her legs and shining a flashlight around her genitals.

Corley’s attorney, Sam Cammack, also called for officials to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue charges against the deputies. In a phone call with the Observer this past weekend, ahead of the video’s release, Cammack called the footage “undeniable proof this woman was violated.”

The deputies’ attorneys have claimed they “never penetrated” Corley during the stop, something that the dash-cam footage released Monday doesn’t seem to prove or disprove. In a response filed in the federal lawsuit, Harris County attorneys deny the deputies ever conducted a body cavity search, but rather forced Corley to the ground during a “visual strip search.” Natasha Sinclair, chief of the DA’s civil rights division, which investigates allegations against police officers, told the Observer that while grand jurors didn’t think the deputies committed any crime, “We don’t condone this type of search at all. This is by no means us saying this is an appropriate way to conduct a search.”

The courts have long ruled that the kind of warrantless search Corley says she endured is only justified when police can show that waiting for a judge’s approval would have resulted in “imminent loss or destruction of evidence,” which the county hasn’t even argued in Corley’s case.

However, roadside probes like Corley’s have surfaced in state and federal courts across Texas in recent years. In 2014, a North Texas state trooper pleaded guilty to two counts of official oppression after sticking her hand inside the pants of two women on the side of the George Bush Turnpike while searching for drugs. Even after DPS updated its policy to ban warrantless roadside cavity searches, drivers still complained of deputies probing them during traffic stops. In 2015, state lawmakers passed a new law requiring cops to obtain search warrants before conducting roadside body cavity searches.

That law, which went into effect three months after deputies strip-searched Corley in a Texaco parking lot, carries no criminal penalties for law enforcement officers who violate it.

Citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, Sinclair wouldn’t explain why her office dropped charges against the deputies in Corley’s case earlier this month, other than to say her office had discovered new evidence they presented to another grand jury, which on August 4 cleared the deputies of any wrongdoing. “I’m prohibited from commenting on exactly what that content was,” she told the Observer.

Cammack meanwhile bristles that the deputies, who were both cleared of wrongdoing by an internal sheriff’s office investigation, will likely remain with the department. In a statement published by the Chronicle on Monday, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said, “I understand and respect the community’s concerns” regarding Corley’s treatment. Gonzalez said both deputies are expected to remain with the department. One of them, he said, “will be allowed to return to patrol duties.”

Cammack says that’s an unacceptable outcome. “This woman was half-naked, handcuffed and face-down on the ground when they penetrated her,” he said. “That deserves some kind of accountability.”

California prison psychologist alleges guards locked her in with a convicted rapist

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article167322442.html

A California prison psychologist has filed a lawsuit against the state alleging she was threatened and demoted after she reported mistreatment of gay and transgender inmates at a correctional facility in Vacaville.

On two occasions, psychologist Lori Jespersen alleges, a correctional officer locked her in a confinement area with dangerous criminals after she filed complaints on behalf of transgender inmates at the California Medical Facility.

“The shocking nature of (the corrections department’s) retaliation against Dr. Jespersen – trapping her in units with notoriously dangerous prisoners, soliciting prisoners to harm her, and more” compelled her to take a one-month leave from her job in 2016, the lawsuit says.

Jespersen, 41, has worked for the corrections department since 2008 and at the Vacaville prison for the past eight years. She is a married lesbian who claims that the prison subjected her to a hostile work environment, illegally retaliated against her and violated state whistleblower protection laws by punishing her after she attempted to report misconduct.

Representatives for the corrections department and the federal program that oversees California prison health care declined to comment on the lawsuit because they had not seen it. The lawsuit was filed late Monday at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Jespersen’s attorneys, Felicia Medina and Jennifer Orthwein, said the psychologist wants her lawsuit to compel the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to better protect gay and transgender inmates, who according to studies are more likely to experience unwanted sexual contact in prison than the general population.

Jespersen wants “to fight for members of her community that are being horribly treated and abused at the CMF. For her, this is about seeing people be held accountable,” Orthwein said.

The lawsuit describes a number of incidents in which Jespersen believed prison employees were complicit in the abuse of gay and transgender inmates. It says she attempted to report the incidents to prison officials and to outside state departments but believed her complaints did not receive appropriate attention.

Her allegations include:

▪ A correctional officer failed to lock a shower door in March 2016, which enabled a prisoner to rape a gay inmate.

▪ An officer in June 2016 prevented transgender inmates from attending a therapy group and insulted them. The correctional officer reportedly told the transgender women, “You’re no woman ... your breasts can’t give milk and you will never have a man” and “I don’t agree with your lifestyle and I never will, and this is a men’s prison, you are not ‘she.’ ”

▪ Correctional officers have compelled transgender inmates to strip in the open and denied them privacy screens. Correctional officers also have used derogatory language around transgender inmates.

▪ Three prison employees in July 2014 “outted” a transgender inmate by disclosing personal information about her on Facebook. The prison employees referred to the inmate as “he/she” and “that thing,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit describes two instances in which Jespersen said she feared physical harm after reporting alleged misconduct. In one, she was locked in a housing unit with a convicted rapist after she filed a report of a transgender inmate being mistreated by a correctional officer.

In the other, she was locked in a housing unit with two prisoners a day after she filed a complaint on behalf of a transgender inmate. In both cases, she was “unsupervised, alone and without access to a safety alarm.”

Jespersen also reported that a correctional officer insulted her in a manner that was intended to provoke violence against her by inmates. In one instance, the correctional officer allegedly told inmates, “She needs to be reminded where she’s at.”

Jespersen took a leave of absence in June 2016. When she returned, she was given a desk job where she does not work directly with inmates, the lawsuit says.

SOUL SNATCHERS: Countering the State Sponsored Conspiracy to Destroy Pedro Hernandez (Part 3)

https://medium.com/@ShaunKing/soul-snatchers-countering-the-state-sponsored-conspiracy-to-destroy-pedro-hernandez-part-3-1b6307828eb6

Have you ever been arrested by the police and charged with a crime you didn’t commit? I don’t mean pulled over for a speeding ticket. I don’t mean harassed or ridiculed. I don’t mean treated like a suspect.

(Read Part 1 of Soul Snatchers HERE & Part 2 HERE.)

I’m asking, have you ever been arrested by the police, then charged by a prosecutor, then sent to jail to await trial, for a crime you absolutely did not commit? Do you know anyone personally who this has happened to? I don’t mean have you heard of a person who was falsely arrested and charged, then later exonerated, but do you know someone?

Before he even had a chance to graduate high school, standout student Pedro Hernandez, a good kid from The Bronx, had his entire life flash before his eyes with such false arrests and charges — not once, or twice, which would be absolutely outrageous, but seven different times.

This series is called “Soul Snatchers” for a reason. When another Bronx teenager, Kalief Browder, was arrested and charged for a crime he did not commit, and then left to rot in jail on Rikers Island for three years without ever being found guilty of a crime, he was routinely beaten and humiliated in the worst possible ways. When the charges were eventually dismissed, and he was simply let out without as much as an apology, his injured body was functioning, but his soul had been ripped out and damaged beyond repair. Kalief’s family surrounded him with love and support. Jay Z and Rosie O’Donnell did the same. The three years in Rikers, though, had damaged Kalief in ways that were mostly invisible to us, but painfully real to him.

Earlier this week I sat and had breakfast with Pedro Hernandez and his family. Fighting back tears, his mother Jessica told me that all of the false arrests, all of the fake charges, and all of the times in and out of jail — where he, too, was brutally beaten and abused — has left her son a hollow shell of his former self. He’s sometimes jumpy and nervous. He won’t leave the house — afraid that it may all happen again. She can hardly get him to leave his room. The smell of certain foods reminds of him of Rikers and he simply can’t eat.

Two straight years of hell on earth haven’t simply hardened him — they appear to have changed his very nature. He’s still Pedro. He still responds when you call his name. He still remembers wonderful memories and moments from his childhood, but he’s just not the same. And how could he be?

What I am about to tell you is the story of criminal conspiracy by the NYPD, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, and the City of New York to destroy Pedro Hernandez. After Kalief died, in photo op after photo op and press conference after press conference, elected officials and city leaders pledged that what happened to Kalief would never happen to another child in this city again. They lied. It’s happening to kids all over New York City — particularly in The Bronx — and it’s happening to Pedro Hernandez right now. He’s on life’s edge and his future continues to hang in the balance.

“I knew we were in trouble when Detective David Terrell of the 42nd Precinct got my cell phone number off of a report from my oldest son and started calling me at home,” said Jessica Perez, mother of Pedro Hernandez. “That was all the way back in 2011. He wouldn’t even pretend to talk about police matters. It started with him literally having the nerve to ask me if I would cook Spanish food for him then it got worse from there. That was in October. I changed my number a few months later because he just wouldn’t let up.”

This is a common refrain heard from families who were targeted by Terrell. At least five different women have now gone on the record to say that he sexually harassed them and offered to stop targeting their kids if they’d give in and have sex with him.

When I first heard Pedro’s story — that he was an innocent kid locked up at Rikers — being framed by police and prosecutors — I wanted to believe it, but I just couldn’t afford to take his friends and family at their word. The allegations were so outrageous, and so damning, that if true, only a criminal conspiracy of historic proportions could explain such a thing.

On December 15th, 2014, the NYPD, in concert with the Bronx DA’s office, began a full on assault against 15-year-old Pedro Hernandez. He was a sweet kid in a rough neighborhood, and had never been arrested before. He never should’ve been arrested.

Standing on a corner near 168th Street in the Bronx, Pedro was talking to his brother’s friends, who were sitting inside of a double-parked car. When police from the 42nd Precinct pulled up in an unmarked car, they got out and asked Pedro to do something he had never heard before. “Get in the car,” the officer demanded to Pedro, speaking of the car his brother’s friends were in. On TV, he had heard police officers yell for people to “get out of the car,” but he had never heard them demand that someone get into someone else’s car. Pedro then told the officer that he lived close by and didn’t need a ride. The officer repeated his order, “I need you to get in the car.” So Pedro complied. This simple moment was a turning point in Pedro’s life.

At almost the very instant the driver of the car shifted it into drive and moved it forward less than 30 inches, police turned their flashing lights on and ordered the car to stop. They had asked Pedro to get into the back seat for a reason — they could not arrest him, as they planned to do with everyone in the car on that evening, if he was just outside of it talking to them. They needed Pedro to be inside of it. Police in The Bronx are full of tricks like this.

Claiming that they thought they smelled the faint hint of marijuana, police now ordered Pedro and the other guys out of the vehicle and handcuffed them all, rounded them up, and took them to the 42nd Precinct, without informing any of them why they were being arrested.

Without an attorney or his mother present, Sgt. Barnett asked Pedro, “Why are all of the passengers saying the gun we found in the car was yours?” Pedro had no idea what he was stepping into at the time, but the question from Sgt. Barnett was NYPD 101. Of course, none of the passengers said any gun in the car belonged to Pedro, but perhaps Pedro would name someone else if he thought they had named him. “I was never even in the vehicle until the police told me I had to get in it. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Life would never be the same for Pedro Hernandez again. That next morning, from the 42nd Precinct, he was taken to Horizon Juvenile Center. A few hours later he was taken to Family Court. A few hours later he was taken to another temporary detention center. Yet a few more hours later he was taken to New Bridge Non-Secure Detention Center. It’s not what you think. It’s a house in a neighborhood in the middle of The Bronx except it has officers who guard it and the house has bars on the windows. The 16 days Pedro stayed at New Bridge were the beginning of the end of his childhood.

On January 5th, 2015, something horrible happened to Pedro at this facility. At 12:15AM, with no provocation, Officer Gregory Hyman forced Pedro out of bed, shoved him out of his room, and into an empty room in the house and began brutally beating him. One punch from Hyman to Pedro’s face was so forceful that it caused Pedro to hit his head on a scorching hot radiator, also injuring his hands and neck as well. Not once did Pedro return force, but Hyman continued the brutal beating. When another child in the facility saw and heard the beating, he attempted to barge in to save Pedro, but other officers blocked the door. The child continued to try to get in there to stop it, but couldn’t, as Pedro screamed for help. Hyman then proceeded to choke Pedro.

Here’s the video, released in full for the first time. It’s painful to watch.

The Director of New Bridge, who was not in the house at the time of the incident, but saw it on camera, immediately fired Gregory Hyman for the assault, notified police and Pedro’s mother, and immediately had Pedro transferred out of her facility. Over the next 24 hours, Pedro was then bounced back to Horizon Detention Center, then Family Court, then Bronx Hope School, then New View Detention Center — where he was denied proper medical care at each place, before finally being transferred to Lutheran Detention Center.

But here’s what’s wild. The Bronx DA’s Office had the video of Pedro being brutally assaulted for 20 months and did nothing about it until private investigator Manuel Gomez obtained the video and sent it to local reporter James Ford, of New York television station, Pix 11. A full 20 months after a grown man assaulted a child in the dark of the night, Gregory Hyman was finally arrested and charged with with assault, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal obstruction of breathing and blood circulation, and harassment.

From this point forward, having already trapped Pedro inside of the criminal justice system, the NYPD and the Bronx DA’s Office began a series of flagrant, illegal arrests of Pedro Hernandez — threatening and forcing false witnesses with prosecution and even violence if they did not identify Pedro in crimes he absolutely did not commit.

What follows is the detailed history of those false arrests and the evidence, including affidavits and videos from witnesses who openly state that Detective David Terrell, Detective Daniel Brady, and Assistant District Attorney David Slott wantonly and flagrantly demanded that they identify Pedro in crimes he didn’t commit — or suffer severe consequences. It’s a lot of information that took me over a month to sort through and understand. Here, I’ll try to do it as clearly and methodically as I can.

On July 12th, 2015, a 15 year old boy named Tyrese Revels was shot in the calf. Pedro didn’t shoot him. Pedro didn’t even know Tyrese Revels and Tyrese Revels did not know Pedro. Consequently, not a single shred of physical evidence existed showing that Pedro had anything at all to do with this shooting. Nothing. It didn’t matter. And you will soon see — evidence, truth, lies, guilt, innocence — none of it matters to the detectives in the 42nd Precinct or the prosecutors in the Bronx DA’s office. They are just out to get arrests and convictions and are fully willing to railroad anyone to get them. I’m sure that sounds harsh, but evidence will prove that is the case.

Remember, Tyrese Revels is not only a kid, but he’s a kid who has been shot. With no concern for his well-being, Detectives Terrell and Brady, alongside Assistant District Attorney David Slott, begin demanding that Tyrese identify Pedro as his shooter.

Here’s Tyrese, the shooting victim, in his own words, on being pressured to falsely identify Pedro:

In another interview, Tyrese Revels details how Detective David Terrell threatened him with physical violence if he didn’t lie and say he saw Pedro shoot him.

Even though police knew full well where 15-year-old Pedro Hernandez lived, they released his photo to every single news station in the city as their lead suspect in the shooting of Tyrese Revels. The photo came from Pedro’s Facebook page. Sure enough, the news media ran with it. On July 13th, 2015 New York’s News 12 showed Pedro’s photo as an important suspect in a shooting. From morning until night they showed his image with a message that the NYPD needed help locating him. He was literally sitting at home the whole time. That’s the web version of it above.

Pedro’s mother, Jessica, seeing this on the web and on the news, then called the 42nd Precinct to inform them that she would be bringing Pedro in for questioning the next day. When Jessica brought him in, instead of simply questioning him, the police arrested Pedro right there on the spot and charged him with the crimes of attempted murder in the second degree; assault in the first degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; assault in the second degree; reckless endangerment in the first degree; assault in the third degree; reckless endangerment in the second degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and harassment in the second degree. They didn’t bother taking it before a grand jury. It would’ve never held up — they had no evidence.

Now, I just need us to stop right there. Let’s not get too deep. I just need you to imagine what it would feel like if you got arrested and charged with 9 crimes, most of them serious felonies — including attempted murder — when you didn’t commit a single one of them. Imagine what that would do to you emotionally, physically, and financially. Imagine what it would do to your family. Now imagine it happening to you when you were 15. Now imagine it happening to you when you were 15 and you had already been brutally beaten by a guard while locked up previously. Because that’s exactly where Pedro and his family were emotionally. To them, this wasn’t a news story, or a headline, or a trending topic, their entire lives were turned upside down. They wondered if Pedro might end up getting sent to prison for decades for some foolishness that he didn’t even know anything about.

First the police sent Pedro to central booking. Next, they sent him over to Horizon Juvenile Center for six days, before he was finally released on his own recognizance, but the charges remained.

From his release in July until February of 2016, Pedro and his family attended five different court hearings on the attempted murder charge — wondering each time if police might lock him back up. Then, without even a small explanation or apology, all charges were simply dropped against Pedro on February 29th, 2016.

Andrea: Click the link for the videos and the rest of the article.

King County deputy on leave after pulling gun during traffic stop

http://www.king5.com/news/local/deputy-on-leave-after-pulling-gun-during-traffic-stop/468786232

A King County Sheriff’s deputy will be placed on administrative leave Tuesday after a video surfaced that shows the deputy confronting a motorcyclist with a gun during a traffic stop.

King County Sheriff John Urquhart said he didn’t want the deputy on the streets until the incident was investigated.

Based on the footage he saw Monday afternoon, Urquhart said he found the video to be upsetting and the deputy’s use of force likely violates department policy.

Alex Randall recorded the video while riding his motorcycle on August 16.

“This video shows the boldness of the King County Sheriffs Deputies and lack of fear of repercussions in threatening and intimidating an unarmed citizen with excessive use of force,” Randall wrote on YouTube.

The footage shows Randall pulling up to a stop light. The deputy walks up to the left side of the motorcycle with a gun pulled close to his chest pointed at Randall. He does not show a badge or identify himself.

“What are you doing to me?” Randall said.

“What do you mean what am I doing?” the deputy said. “You’re f****** driving reckless. Give me your driver’s license or I’m going to knock you off this bike.”

“I will pull over. I am unarmed,” Randall said.

After a brief exchange, the deputy reached into Randall’s front pants pocket and took out Randall’s wallet to get his ID.

“I’m sorry. You have a gun drawn on me, so I’m a little panicked,” Randall said.

“You’re right, because I’m the police,” the deputy said. “That’s right. When you’re driving and you’re going to place people at risk at 100 miles an hour plus on the God dang roadway.”

After looking at Randall’s ID, the deputy put his gun away. He identified himself as with the King County Sheriff’s Office and told Randall he could be arrested for reckless driving.

In a post at the end of the YouTube video, Randall claimed he was not traveling 100 miles per hour, writing that the deputy’s comment was “a fabrication and an exaggeration.”

Sheriff Urquhart posted the following statement on Facebook Monday night:

Late Monday afternoon I was sent a video of a traffic stop of a motorcyclist by a King County Sheriff's detective. With the caveat that I have not yet heard the other side of the story, I was deeply disturbed with the conduct and tactics that were recorded.

I have ordered the detective be placed on administrative leave as of Tuesday morning pending a full investigation of the facts.

In every encounter I expect my deputies to treat others with respect. Our manual requires that firearms not be drawn and pointed unless the deputy believes their use may be required. Generally that means the deputy believes the safety of him or herself is in jeopardy, or a member of the public. Drawing your weapon on someone when investigating a misdemeanor traffic offense is not routine. All of these issues will be covered in a full investigation. In the meantime, the detective involved will not be working with the public.

Video shows Utah nurse screaming, being dragged into police car after refusing to let officer take blood from unconscious victim

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/08/31/utah-nurse-arrested-after-complying-with-hospital-policy-that-bars-taking-blood-from-unconscious-victim/

A nurse alleges she was assaulted and illegally arrested by a Salt Lake City police detective for following a hospital policy that does not allow blood draws from unconscious patients.

Footage from University Hospital and officer body cameras shows Detective Jeff Payne insisting to nurse Alex Wubbels that he be allowed to get a blood sample from a patient in the burn unit who had been injured in a July 26 collision in northern Utah that left another driver dead.

Wubbels responded that blood cannot be taken from an unconscious patient unless the patient is under arrest, there is a warrant allowing the draw or the patient consents. The detective acknowledges that none of those requirements is in place but insists he has the authority to obtain the draw, according to the footage.

At one point, Payne says, “She’s going to jail,” if he doesn’t get the sample.

After Wubbels consults with several hospital officials and repeats the policy, Payne tells her she is under arrest and grabs her, pulling her arms behind her back and handcuffing her. The footage shows the detective dragging her out of the hospital and putting her inside a patrol car as she screams.

Parts of the footage were shown Thursday at a news conference at the office of Karra Porter, a Salt Lake City attorney representing Wubbels.

Salt Lake police Sgt. Brandon Shearer said the department started an internal investigation, which is ongoing, in response to the incident.

Payne was temporarily suspended from the department’s blood-draw program — where officers are trained as phlebotomists so they can get blood samples — but remains on duty, Shearer said. The department also has held training for the officers in the program, he said.

Andrea: Click link for video and rest of article

Ohio news photographer reportedly shot by deputy while setting up to take pictures of traffic stop

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/05/ohio-news-photographer-reportedly-shot-by-deputy-while-setting-up-to-take-pictures-traffic-stop.html

A small Ohio news organization said one of its photographers was shot by a sheriff's deputy Monday night while he set up to take pictures of a random traffic stop.

Andy Grimm "had his camera in his hand" when he was shot in his side by a Clark County sheriff's deputy in New Carlisle, which north of Dayton, The New Carlisle News said in a Facebook post.

He was rushed to Miami Valley Hospital for surgery and is expected to recover.

Grimm had left the newsroom around 10 p.m. on Monday to take pictures of a lightning storm, the paper said. While he was taking pictures, a traffic stop occurred on the same road, according to the article.

"I was going out to take pictures and I saw the traffic stop and I thought, 'Hey, cool. I'll get some pictures here.'" he told the newspaper. He said he pulled into a parking lot in full view of the deputy, got out of his Jeep and started setting up his tripod and camera. "I turned around toward the cars and then 'pop, pop."

The newspaper speculated that the deputy may have mistaken the camera for a weapon. Grimm said the deputy, identified in reports as Jake Shaw, gave him no warning.

"I was just doing my job," he said. "I know Jake. I like Jake. I don't want him to lose his job over this."

Sources told the newspaper that there was “some confusion” surrounding the shooting.

“I just talked to Andy and he said that he is very sore, but in good spirits,” Dale Grimm, the photographer's father and publisher of the New Carlisle News, told Fox News. “He said the hospital expects to be releasing him Tuesday. He also stressed that he does not want the deputy to lose his job over this.”

The Dayton Daily News reports the case has been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

“This is a small town. Everybody knows everybody. It was just a terrible misunderstanding,” his father said.

Thanks always, Andrea, for these timely updates. And thanks for posting about the coverage by Shaun King, concerning Soul Snatchers. It's horrifying, what the abuse of power can do to another human being, but I'm glad that King is willing to risk his life and career and the safety of his family by blowing the whistle. :rrose:

The cops could not tell the difference between a bald, 5"10, 170lb male suspect and a female 5"2, 115 lb. ??
 

Teen girl files claim against police who mistook her for a male suspect and punched her

By Amy B Wang September 5 at 5:10 PM

Nearly three months later, Tatyana Hargrove still can’t talk about what happened to her on June 18 without tearing up.

It had been a sweltering Sunday when, on a bike ride back from shopping for a Father’s Day gift, Hargrove was suddenly stopped by police officers in Bakersfield, Calif.

The officers had been looking for a suspect — described as a 25- to 30-year-old, bald, black man standing 5 feet 10 and weighing about 170 pounds — who had threatened several people with a machete at a nearby grocery store, according to a police report.

Thinking she was that man — and despite her protests — the officers seized on the 5-foot-2, 115-pound Hargrove, in an altercation that escalated until police punched her in the mouth, unleashed a K-9 dog on her and arrested her. It wasn’t until officers placed her in their patrol car that they asked Hargrove’s name and realized she was female — and thus not the suspect they were looking for.

Though police later admitted it was a case of mistaken identity, Hargrove was charged with resisting or delaying an officer and aggravated assault on an officer. It wasn’t until August that those charges against her were dropped, her attorney said.

“It changed me. Very bad,” Hargrove, 19, said last week at a news conference. “My friends tell me I’m different.”

That’s about as far as she was able to get before breaking down crying.

“I hope and I pray this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” she said through tears.

Frustrated with what they say has been a lack of accountability for the officers’ actions, Hargrove is filing a claim against the city of Bakersfield. A precursor to a lawsuit, the claim will almost certainly lead to legal action against the city.

Neil K. Gehlawat, Hargrove’s attorney, said this option was the only way they felt they could bring justice in this case. Only the district attorney’s office or a U.S. attorney’s office has the ability to punish the officers, he added, but there was “virtually zero percent chance” they would.

“Our job is to hold the officers accountable for what happened and all the law allows us to do is to seek money,” Gehlawat said. “But our hope is that, by going through this process and by potentially having this case heard by a jury, that they will send a loud and clear message to the officers in the department that what happened is not appropriate and it should not happen again.”

Bakersfield police spokesman Ryan Kroeker said the department is aware a claim was filed and had been expecting it, but did not comment further. In July, a police spokesman told The Washington Post the department had determined the officers had exercised appropriate use of force on Hargrove.

Gehlawat said the Bakersfield police chief did call Hargrove and her parents to apologize for what happened, but also suggested Hargrove should have complied before complaining.

“Which I think is just victim-blaming,” Gehlawat said.

In a widely shared video of Hargrove’s account of the incident, filmed by the Bakersfield chapter of the NAACP in July, the teenager stands with a pair of crutches near the intersection where she was stopped by police and described how one of the officers demanded she give him her backpack, she said.

When she asked if they had a warrant, one of the officers gestured toward a police K-9 behind him, she said.

“I then got scared and then I was like, here, take the backpack, just take the backpack,” Hargrove added.

After that, she said in the video, the officer grabbed her by her wrist, then punched her and threw her onto the ground; shortly afterward, the police K-9 “came and started eating at my leg.”

The same officer then put his knee on her back and other knee against her head, despite her protests, she said.

“I told him ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’ and then I started yelling out, ‘Somebody help me, somebody help me! They’re gonna kill me!’” she said. “And then finally, he let me up, he tied my hands behind my back and then he tied my feet together and he threw me in the back of the car.”

Hargrove was arrested and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of her injuries, including abrasions on her face and scrapes and punctures from the police K-9’s “engagement on her right thigh,” Christopher Moore, the arresting officer, wrote in his police report.

Moore wrote that “several nurses” at the hospital referred to Hargrove as a male and that “when I corrected them and advised she was a female they were surprised and apologized for the mistake.”

After she was treated for her injuries, Hargrove was booked into jail, the report said. She was detained for nearly 16 hours there before being bailed out by her parents, according to the NAACP.

In the police report, Moore wrote that Hargrove had “spun into” one of the officers with her left shoulder, causing him to fall backward, and then “quickly maneuvered her body to get back on top of him” after the officer punched her.

“At this time I was forced to quickly consider the following; [Hargrove] matched the description of the suspect that had brandished a machete, her backpack was within her arm’s reach and the main compartment was unzipped allowing her immediate access to the machete,” Moore wrote. After weighing whether he could use his Taser or baton on Hargrove, Moore wrote that he decided to unleash the police K-9, Hamer.

In the police report, Moore wrote that after officers placed Hargrove in a police car, she continued to scream out of the window at them for about five minutes.

“While Hargrove was in the back seat I asked what her name was and when she provided it as ‘Tatyana’ I said, ‘Don’t lie to me, that’s a girl’s name. What is your name?’ ” the police report stated. “Hargrove said, ‘I’m a girl, I just don’t dress like one.’ This was when I first discovered she was a female.”

A search of her backpack revealed no weapons, the report stated.

The claim against Bakersfield alleges police used “excessive and unreasonable force” against Hargrove, as well as civil rights violations under federal and state law.

“One of the questions in my mind is, even if this case is a case of mistaken identity, why didn’t they do more to ascertain her identity prior to using excessive force?” Gehlawat said.

He described the impossible situation Hargrove had been put in to reporters last week: “She tried to get the dog off of her. The officers described that as her not being compliant, but I bet that if any one of us had a canine biting onto some part of our body, our natural instinct might be to try to get the dog off of us so that the dog wouldn’t keep biting us.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.9181edad4058

Man Claims Citrus Heights Police Used Excessive Force During His Arrest

http://fox40.com/2017/09/13/man-claims-citrus-heights-police-used-excessive-force-during-his-arrest/

CITRUS HEIGHTS -- The fence is still locked in front of the boarded up, three-story house where an electrical fire burned everything back in June.

"All's I can remember yelling is this is my mom's house, this is my mom's house," said Dryw Westerman.

Westerman's childhood home in Citrus Heights was burning.

"I'm just trying to figure out where my daughter is, where my mom is," he said.

But instead, the 34-year-old father, who has no criminal history, ended up going to jail.

Westerman says police used too much force that day.

"The subject refused, and again tried to drive forward, causing one of our officers to have to get out of the path of the vehicle he was driving," said Sgt. Richard Wheaten with the Citrus Heights Police Department said.

Police say Westerman was trying to drive through police tape at the scene, something they admit people attempt regularly when emotions are heightened because they are worried about their family members.

"It is rare for people to go this far to not follow directions when we're trying to help get them to their family and help keep them safe at the same time," Wheaten said.

Westerman was charged with resisting arrest and being an unauthorized person in an area closed for safety.

"Wasn't blocked off at all, I had plenty of room to go down there," he said.

Westerman says he was trying to turn down a side street that wasn't blocked off and that he explained that to officers. But he says they opened the door to his car and twisted his arm out of the window.

"Pressed me against the steering wheel," Westerman said.

And then he says they tackled him to the ground while he was wearing shorts, burning his knees on the hot asphalt.

It's something he's seen happen in Citrus Heights before with James Nelson about a mile and a half away and within days of his arrest in June.

"I'm grateful that didn't happen to me, but it could have been me," Westerman said.

Westerman says the burns on his knees are much less severe, but he also got abrasions on his wrists from the handcuffs.

"His injuries are not consistent with a burn or anything like that," Wheaten said.

The police department says he was brought up from the asphalt rather quickly and that Westerman's story is not entirely accurate.

"I wasn't raised like that," Westerman said.

Right now, he's raising his 4-year-old son, Michael.

"He teaches me everything," Michael said.

When Michael grows up, he wants to be a cop.

Man Holding Stick Shot Dead By Oklahoma City Cop

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-shooting-oklahoma-city_us_59c23f23e4b0f22c4a8dce68

An Oklahoma City police officer shot and killed a man holding a stick on Tuesday, according to authorities. The shooting is under investigation.

The slain man had been a suspect in a hit-and-run that occurred on Tuesday evening, Capt. Bo Mathews, a police spokesman, told reporters.

At least two officers confronted the man, who was holding a stick, in the front yard of a home. One officer fired a Taser stun gun at the man, Mathews said, and the other shot the man with a gun.

The dead man, whose identity wasn’t released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The identities of the two officers have not been released.

During a press conference ― footage of which was shared online by KOCO 5 News ― a reporter noted the slain man had been identified by several locals as deaf. Mathews said that he had no such information, and stressed that the investigation was in a “preliminary” phase.

The officer who shot the man, Mathews added, had been placed on paid administrative leave.