Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

13 prison officers fired for negligence, violating policies

http://www.12news.com/news/local/valley/13-prison-workers-fired-for-negligence-violating-policies/135307090

Thirteen correctional officers were fired and six others were disciplined in a move we’ve never seen before from the Arizona Department of Corrections.

It’s in response to an investigation into the suicide deaths of two inmates and violations of policies and ethics.

Video released by the DOC shows the moments a correctional officer at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Perryville found an inmate, Cynthia Apkaw, 25, hanging from her cell.

She had a rope around the air vent, attached to a bed sheet around her neck.

Could the correctional officers have saved her August of 2015? They tried with chest compressions and other life-saving measures, but she was pronounced dead after midnight.

According to an investigation released by the DOC, entries in a Correctional Service Journal were not accurate.

It shows checks were made every half-hour, but security footage contradicts that, showing a pill call at 4:41 p.m. that day. The officer is not seen coming back to the inmate's cell until 7:03 p.m. -- two hours and 22 minutes later.

Another incident occurred when officers attempted life-saving measures on Scott Saba, 45, back in February.

Officers found him with an electrical cord around his neck. The weight of his body blocked the cell door from opening. It took officers more than five minutes to pry it open.

The DOC’s investigators revealed two days prior, Saba tried to make 56 phone calls, and during one of them he's heard explaining part of the Bible.

A correctional officer observed Saba acting “paranoid,” and the inmate also asked to get out of his cell because he "wasn't feeling good."

That complaint went ignored; the correctional officer failed to notify the medical department about Saba’s comment.

The reports from this incident also show that correctional officers lied about the time they performed one of their security sweeps, and one turned in keys and a radio before clocking out.

Saba was in prison for a drug-related crime. He has small children and comes from a prominent family who owns Saba's Western Wear in Scottsdale.

Evaluation of his mental health score is mentioned twice in the report.

The Department of Corrections has not revealed what his scores were leading up to his death.

[Andrea]

Cook County sheriff releases excessive force videos

http://wgntv.com/2016/04/15/report-cook-county-sheriff-to-release-excessive-force-videos/

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has decided to release videos documenting cases of excessive force against jail inmates.

“The public has a right to know when officers abuse the public trust as well as the ramifications of that abuse,” said Sheriff Dart.

The videos correspond to six individual cases, involving 14 officers. Five officers were fired, one resigned, and the other eight were suspended without pay ranging from 45 to 180 days, according to The Sun-Times.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says no prison has released video like this before. But he says the public has a right to transparency.

The Cook County Sheriff invested more than $10 million to install more than 2,400 cameras throughout the jail compound.

Cara Smith, of the Cook County Sheriff's Department says they're valuable in bringing transparency.

"Cameras are a great deterrent. They're also a great tool to exonerate staff when complaints made against them are false and to hold them accountable," Smith said.

The officers’ union is reportedly threatening to sue over the release of these videos.

[*Anya*]

First-graders cuffed, arrested, charged; Murfreesboro outraged

USA TODAY NETWORKJessica Bliss, The (Nashville) Tennessean
April 20th, 2016

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Police handcuffed multiple students, ages 6 to 11, at a public elementary school in Murfreesboro on Friday, inspiring public outcry and adding fuel to already heightened tensions between law enforcement and communities of color nationwide.

The arrests at Hobgood Elementary School occurred after the students were accused of not stopping a fight that happened several days earlier off campus. A juvenile center later released the students, but local community members now call for action — police review of the incident and community conversation — and social justice experts across the country use words such as "startling" and "flabbergasted" in response to actions in the case.

Parents and community members sharply criticized the arrests of the students at a church meeting Sunday. The Murfreesboro police chief on Sunday cited the incident as a learning experience, a chance to "make things better so they don't happen again." The city manager said Sunday: "If something needs to be corrected, it will be."

It remains unclear exactly how many children were arrested. State law prohibits the release of juvenile law enforcement records, and police have denied a media request for the information. Murfreesboro police didn't say what state law the kids violated, but parents of several of the arrested children say the kids were charged with "criminal responsibility for conduct of another," which according to Tennessee criminal offense code includes incidents when a "person fails to make a reasonable effort to prevent" an offense.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...m_content=link

[Andrea]

NYPD detectives charged with assaulting postal worker who accidently gave directions to cop killer

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-detectives-charged-assaulting-postal-worker-article-1.2608423?cid=bitly

Two NYPD detectives have been arrested for assaulting a postal worker who unwittingly gave an assassin directions to a Brooklyn housing project where the maniac killed two police officers, officials said Wednesday.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown charged Detectives Angelo Pampena, 31,and Detective Robert A. Carbone, 29, with assault.

Pampena and Carbone are accused of dragging Karim Baker out of his car on Oct. 21, 2015, and punching and kicking him.

Baker was in his postal uniform at the time, officials said.

As the assault, which was first reported by the Daily News, was investigated, Pampena filed a false affidavit claiming that the fight broke out after Baker’s car was found parked in front of a hydrant — but surveillance video of the area shows he was parked legally, officials said.

The Queens DA’s office requested $10,000 bail, but the two detectives were ordered released without bail after a brief court appearance on Wednesday.

They will return to court to respond to the charges in June, according to a Queens DA spokeswoman.

Baker and his attorney claim that the Fed Ex worker turned postal employee has been repeatedly harassed by police after he unknowingly directed Ismaaiyl Brinsley to the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant just before Brinsley shot and killed Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in December, 2014.

For months after the assassination, Baker said he has been stopped by police about 20 times — but never ticketed — for traffic infractions by vengeful cops before he was attacked by Pampena and Carbone.

“I have nothing in my heart against law enforcement at all,” Baker, the son of a former correction officer, told the News in November.

Pampena is a nine-year veteran of the NYPD. Carbone has been with the department for eight years.

Both have been suspended pending the outcome of the case.

[Andrea]

Sheriff Hailed Cops as Heroes, But Dashcam Shows them Listen to 3 Girls Scream as they Drowned

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dash-cam-video-reveals-cops-lied-save-drowning-teens/#mlw7DHydWkiAW1Lf.99

Newly released dash cam footage reveals a Florida sheriff lied last month when he falsely claimed that his deputies took off their gun belts and attempted to save three drowning teenage girls. Instead of attempting to rescue the dying teens, the deputies can be seen on video standing beside the pond while listening to the girls’ final screams.

According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, a friend asked 35-year-old Damien Marriott to drive the three teenage girls to Child’s Park on Wednesday, March 30. For some reason, Marriott reportedly stopped at a Walmart to buy a TV when he left his keys in the ignition with the engine running along with three girls that he did not know sitting in his 1990 Honda Accord. Although Child’s Park closes at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Marriott did not return to his vehicle or report his car stolen until 8:30 p.m. that night.

Several hours later, deputies reported seeing the Honda run a red light without its headlights on during a pursuit. Entering the back of a cemetery, the girls accidentally drove the Honda into a pond as deputies exited their vehicles and remained standing on shore.

While the Honda submerged into the swamp, a recently released police dash cam video recorded a deputy exclaiming, “I hear them yelling, I think!”

As the video moves forward another deputy can be heard saying, “They’re done. They are 6-7, dude.”

“They were yelling,” a deputy responds. “I thought I heard yelling.”

“As it was going down,” the other deputy interjects. “But now, they’re done. They’re done.”

Although Sheriff Gualtieri announced at a press conference that his deputies flung off their gun belts and dove into the swamp in a failed attempt to save the teenage girls, police dash cam video actually shows the deputies standing near the shore listening to the girls scream to death.

Two hours later, a tow truck pulled out a vehicle containing the deceased bodies of 16-year-old Dominique Battle from St. Petersburg High School, 15-year-old Ashaunti Butler from Dixie Hollins High, and 15-year-old Laniya Miller from Gibbs High.

“My daughter was not perfect,” Miller’s mother, Natasha Winkler, recently told ABC Action News through tears. “What 15-year-old is?”

Despite the fact that the sheriff initially released false information and his deputies likely provided false reports claiming they tore off their gun belts and dove into the murky water to save the dying teen girls, no criminal charges have been filed against any of the deceitful deputies. Caught on police dash cam video, the deputies clearly falsified their reports after standing around while callously listening to the drowning girls die.

[Andrea]

Cape cop suspended after March excessive force incident

http://www.abc-7.com/story/31795731/cape-cop-suspended-after-march-excessive-force-incident

A Cape Coral police officer received an 80-hours unpaid suspension after using force on a drunk person in a parking lot last month in a viral video.

It happened across the street from Dixie Roadhouse in a parking lot on March 13.

Brittnie Fails admitted to being drunk and had no problem being arrested for it. But she did have a problem with what she says was excessive force used to detain her.

The video shows the officer grabbing Fails and throwing her to the ground after she was arguing with her boyfriend.

Since the video's release, the officer was placed on administrative duty.

The incident was recorded on a bystander's smartphone and the video that was posted online went viral.

There were no criminal charges against the officer as reviewed by the state attorney.

The Professional Standards Bureau's internal affairs investigation found that the subject officer in violation of department policy for conduct unbecoming, improper use of force, and failure provide medical aid in a use of force incident.

The suspension will begin Monday, April 25.

[Andrea]

My version of the correct headline: 13 year old child with a toy gun was shot running away from two plain clothes police in an unmarked car

Baltimore police investigate officer's shooting of teen who had replica gun

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/us/baltimore-13-year-old-shot/index.html

A Baltimore police officer shot and wounded a 13-year-old boy who was carrying a replica handgun.

The teen, who police say is expected to recover, was shot at the end of a foot chase Wednesday after officers spotted him walking down the street. They pursued the boy thinking he had a real gun, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters.

It turned out to be a pellet gun, Davis said.

But he said, "It's a dead-on ringer for a Beretta 92FS semiautomatic pistol."
The officers who chased the teenager -- detectives assigned to the department's intelligence unit -- identified themselves before shooting him, Davis said.

He said he did not know why the teenager had the pellet gun or why he ran. He said officers had interviewed the teen's mother and that she knew he had left the house with it.

He defended the officers' actions, saying officers couldn't have known the gun was a replica, but even then, replica guns have been used in crimes before. Officers, he said, had no idea what the teen's intentions were.
"We can't allow someone to walk down the street in broad daylight anywhere in Baltimore with what looks like to be a semiautomatic pistol in his hand," Davis told reporters.

The shooting came on the first anniversary of violent protests over the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody.

It also occurred two days after the city of Cleveland agreed to pay $6 million to the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who died in 2014 after police shot him while he was in possession of a replica handgun.

While police spokesman Detective Donny Moses said Baltimore was quiet overnight and into Thursday, reaction was mixed on social media.

"We have more questions than answers today," Baltimore civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson said on Twitter. "Why did the Baltimore officers approach the 13 year old child? Why did they shoot him?"

One Twitter user told Baltimore police, "Awesome job! I hope you arrest his mother for negligence or contributing to delinquency. She's unfit."

But on Facebook, Darren Willis said in a reply to the police update on the incident that "cop kissing jerks" praising the department had missed the point.

"How was he to even know they were cops? He was 13 and ran away from grown-assed men who were strangers and armed. Details matter. I know, blame the target and the mom. It's easy for racists and idiots."