Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

Video footage outside Jamycheal Mitchell's cell no longer exists

http://www.richmond.com/news/article_b6c51cce-7d99-555e-86df-bab012b52162.html



Video images captured outside Jamycheal Mitchell’s cell at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in the days and hours leading up to his death no longer exist, even though an attorney representing the mentally ill man’s family says he asked the jail’s superintendent to preserve it.

The only people who saw the video before it was recorded over are employees of the jail, said Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor III, an assistant superintendent at the jail.

Taylor said the video was not saved because it did not show any type of criminality or negligence, but the attorney representing Mitchell’s family said the jail should not have the authority to make that judgment call on its own.

“You have a death of a severely emaciated person who was mentally ill in his cell,” said Mark Krudys, an attorney representing Mitchell’s family. “Those circumstances are highly unusual, and you would have thought they would have preserved anything and everything related to those circumstances, including the videotape.”

Mitchell, a 24-year-old Portsmouth resident, was confined at the jail for 101 days last year after he allegedly stole $5 worth of snack food from a convenience store.

He died in August awaiting transfer to Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, where a judge had ordered him to be placed after finding Mitchell incompetent to stand trial.

Mitchell weighed 190 pounds when he arrived at the jail on May 11 and weighed 144 pounds during the autopsy performed after he died Aug. 19, Taylor has said.

The Medical Examiner’s Office in Norfolk said he died because of a heart defect and “wasting syndrome,” or extreme weight loss.

Jail officials have declined to release the results of an internal investigation, which Taylor has said clears jail employees of wrongdoing.

In an interview earlier this month, Taylor told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that video images outside Mitchell’s cell showed him receiving food through a slot in the heavy steel door.

The cell had concrete walls and only a small window in the door. The cameras did not show whether Mitchell actually ate his food, Taylor said.

“There was no indication that Mr. Mitchell was not eating,” Taylor said. “If the officers had any indication that he was not eating his food, he would be placed on what is determined to be suicide watch or hunger strike.”

***

The Times-Dispatch requested a copy of the video outside his cell through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the request was denied because the video does not exist.

“There is no security footage taken outside of Mr. Mitchell’s cell during his incarceration at Hampton Roads Regional Jail,” Superintendent David L. Simons wrote in a response to The Times-Dispatch’s request.

When asked to clarify whether or not such video existed, Taylor said the video taken at the time Mitchell was incarcerated was part of an old system that automatically recorded over existing video every 18 days.

Fourteen days after Mitchell died, Krudys said his office hand-delivered a letter addressed to Simons that requested the jail preserve “all records, documents ... videos and other electronic/digital media, and all other tangible things concerning Mr. Mitchell.”

Krudys provided a copy of the Sept. 2 letter last week to The Times-Dispatch after he was told the video no longer existed.

He said the jail was obligated to have kept, at the very least, the last four days of Mitchell’s life — a critical time period that would have shown what kind of medical care he received in his cell — because his firm delivered its request to preserve records 14 days into the 18-day loop.

Jeff Rosen, an attorney with Virginia Beach-based Pender & Coward who is representing the jail, said he could not comment on Mitchell’s case because Krudys has said he intends to file a lawsuit on behalf of the family.

When asked why the video was not saved even after Krudys requested that officials keep it, Taylor said it had been recorded over because the jail did not have any reason to keep it.

“If there’s nothing on the video that’s going to show any type of criminality or negligence, we’re not going to maintain it,” Taylor said.

“We only save video whenever there’s something significant we need to review.”

Asked if an inmate’s death qualified as a significant event, he said: “For example, if an individual is in their cell and something occurs and we look at the video, and the cell door doesn’t open, no one goes in, no one goes out, and there’s no negligence, there’s no reason for us to maintain that.”

Mitchell, who often soiled his cell with his own feces, was supposed to be checked at least 49 times a day — every 30 minutes by guards and at least once a day by medical staff. The cameras presumably would have recorded how often he was seen by guards and how often his quarters were cleaned, Krudys said.

“Were medical rounds being undertaken?” he said. “Were any medical staff going in to see him to take vital signs? Were social workers going in to see him? All of those types of things. How is he being treated?”

The Mitchell video was viewed by Taylor and the jail’s internal investigators but was not seen by outside agencies such as the Office of State Inspector General, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, or Portsmouth police, all of which conducted inquiries into Mitchell’s death.

It’s not clear from the reports issued by the inspector general’s office or the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services whether investigators with those agencies attempted to view the jail’s video taken outside Mitchell’s cell.

It’s inappropriate that the jail made the final determination about whether the video contained information of significance, Krudys said. The cameras presumably would have been able to capture how often Mitchell was offered food, how much food typically was on his trays, and whether the trays came back empty.

Taylor said he saw Mitchell receiving food through a slot in the door on the videos, and he saw empty trays returned. It’s unclear whether Mitchell flushed his food down the toilet or otherwise disposed of it in his cell.

Krudys does not take jail officials at their word that Mitchell was fed consistently, given his extreme weight loss.

***

Jamie Fellner, a senior adviser with Human Rights Watch who has written extensively about the treatment of mentally ill people in prisons and jails, said video is “hugely important” in death investigations.

“It is truly reprehensible that, in a case like this, it was allowed to be taped over,” Fellner said. “If policy permitted that, then the policy needs to be changed.

“Obviously when there is a death — even if in their judgment the recording showed nothing of interest — it should be preserved.”

Fellner had many of the same questions as Krudys: How often was Mitchell fed? Did medical staff assess him? If he wasn’t eating, why wasn’t he taken somewhere with adequate mental health care?

“Negligence and indifference can be as lethal as affirmative physical abuse,” Fellner said. “The staff doesn’t have to beat up someone to kill him; they can kill him by not paying attention to his needs.”

Video obtained by the CBS news program “60 Minutes,” which aired April 17, showed guards repeatedly checking on a man jailed at Rikers Island in New York City. Like Mitchell, Bradley Ballard was schizophrenic and soiled his cell with feces.

Ballard repeatedly flooded his toilet, and a maintenance worker cut off water to his cell, according to the “60 Minutes” report.

The stench grew so strong, guards could be seen in the video spraying air freshener outside his cell, and an inmate delivering food through a slot in the door covered his nose with his shirt.

Medical help wasn’t called until Ballard had been locked in the cell for six days. His quarters were “grossly unsanitary,” according to the report.

An officer asked Ballard if he could get up on his own. “I need help,” Ballard said.

He went into cardiac arrest and died hours later, according to the report.

His death was ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner, who called his medical and custodial care “so incompetent and inadequate as to shock the conscience.” No one has been charged with a crime.

In Virginia, Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid released video footage last year of a six-member “extraction team” attempting to shackle 37-year-old inmate Natasha McKenna of Alexandria at the Fairfax jail.

As soon as the cell door opens and McKenna emerges naked, she can be heard saying, “You promised that you wouldn’t kill me. I didn’t do anything.”

The men, several of whom wore what appeared to be biohazard suits, wrestled her to the ground. They shocked her with a Taser four times after she was restrained.

McKenna stopped breathing and was taken to a hospital, where she died days later.

“Since Feb. 3 of this year, there have been numerous media reports about what allegedly occurred,” Kincaid said in a video introduction to the recording. “There is no better way for me to share what actually occurred than to make this video available for the community to view in its entirety.”

Her death was ruled an accident, but Kincaid banned the use of Tasers and changed the way the department handles mentally ill inmates.

In Virginia Beach, Sheriff Ken Stolle allowed the family of a 31-year-old woman who died in jail to review video taken from her cell in 2011, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Last week, Stolle said there are more than 500 cameras in the Virginia Beach jail, and the system begins recording over old video every 30 days. But video that captures critical incidents that need to be investigated typically is kept for about three years.

Without seeing the video from outside Mitchell’s cell, Stolle said he could not say whether it contained pertinent information but, if it did, “the logical standard is to keep that evidence to be reviewed.”

[Andrea]

No Charges for Police in Virginia Man's Death After Repeated Tasings

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-charges-police-virginia-mans-death-after-repeated-tasings-n566386

Prosecutors have decided not to charge police officers in the death of Linwood Lambert, a Virginia man who died in police custody after repeated tasings in May 2013, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Virginia prosecutors briefed Lambert's family about the decision on Monday, two days before the third year anniversary of the incident in South Boston, Va.

"We waited three years to get back to the same place, where these officers are not going to be held accountable for their actions," said Gwendolyn Smalls, Lambert's sister, after leaving the meeting Monday evening.

According to another source with knowledge of the inquiry, the lead prosecutor, Halifax County Commonwealth's Attorney Tracy Quackenbush Martin, investigated whether the repeat tasings were the actual cause of Lambert's death — while another prosecutor, Michael Herring, Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Richmond, focused on whether the officers had the criminal intent to harm or kill Lambert.

The prosecutors are expected to release a report of their findings on Tuesday.

Tom Sweeney, who represents Smalls in a civil suit against the police, said he "was disturbed to learn" that the prosecutors "reached out to a paid consultant for Taser International analyzing the decision on whether or not these officers acted within the law."

The three officers discharged their tasers 20 times during the incident, including while Lambert had his hands and feet bound — a violation of police rules.

The incident had been under investigation since it occurred in May 2013, and drew renewed scrutiny after video of the tasings were exposed by MSNBC in November 2015.

Police files files obtained by MSNBC also suggested police misled investigators about the incident.

Lawyers for the officers have denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Police initially took Lambert into custody not as a suspect, but to bring him to the ER for medical care after reports that he was acting erratically in a hotel room. He broke their squad car window when arriving at the hospital entrance, where police then tased him repeatedly, shackled his legs, and then removed him from the hospital and took him to jail, where he died.

In the civil suit regarding his death, his family is arguing police had an obligation to provide him the medical care they initially offered.

Sweeney says the suit is currently on appeal, focusing on a lower court's ruling "regarding the initial tasings" and whether the police violated the Constitution by depriving Lambert "of medical care."

Apart from the local investigation and the civil suit, the FBI also recently opened an inquiry into the incident.

Smalls, Lambert's sister, says that a separate inquiry is welcome because she does not think the local prosecutor was fair or impartial.

"It's unbelievable, her theory was more supportive to the police officers, because her husband is a sheriff and she works with the police," Smalls told NBC News.

That prosecutor, Martin, did not immediately return calls on Monday evening. She has previously said she would take a thorough and fair approach to the case and follow the facts where they lead.

[Andrea]

Michael Slager charged with federal civil rights violation, obstruction in Walter Scott shooting

http://www.postandcourier.com/20160511/160519884/michael-slager-charged-with-federal-civil-rights-violation-obstruction-in-walter-scott-shooting

A federal grand jury this week indicted former North Charleston officer Michael Slager on charges of a violating civil rights law and misleading investigators in Walter Scott’s death, a rare measure in police shootings that gives authorities another route to reach a conviction.

S.C. civil rights cases

Since 1993, nine public officials in South Carolina have been charged with deprivation of civil rights in six different federal cases. Sorted by the year they were filed, those are:

2016: North Charleston police officer Michael Slager indicted in the April 2015 shooting death of Walter Scott.

2010: Greenville officers Jeremiah Milliman and Matthew Jowers got three years of probation for assaulting homeless people, some of whom were handcuffed, for a laugh.

2009: S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Alexander Richardson entered pretrial diversion and served 100 hours of community service for hitting and injuring a fleeing suspect with a patrol car in April 2009.

2000: David Grice, a polygraph examiner, was fined $250 for his role in secretly videotaping a conversation between a murder suspect and a defense attorney in May 1995. Civil rights charges against Assistant Solicitor Francis Humphries Jr. and Lexington County Deputy Scottie Frier in the same case were dismissed.

1995: Archie Lee got a year in prison for fondling women in the early 1990s during his time as an Horry County magistrate.

1993: Moses Cohen Jr. was sentenced to 15 months in prison for beating up men in the late 1980s while serving as police chief in Fairfax, a town in Allendale County.

Slager is charged with three crimes. The chief among them is deprivation of civil rights under the color of law, a statute barring abuses of power that violate federally protected “rights, privileges or immunities.” The indictment alleges that he was acting with his authority as a policeman when he used excessive force — a violation of the Constitution — by shooting Scott five times from behind.

He also was indicted on counts of using a firearm in a violent crime and obstruction of justice after he told state investigators that Scott was coming at him with his own Taser when he fired. A video showed Scott running away.

The officer is white and Scott was black, but race is not alleged to have played a role.

The charges could serve as a backstop if the state’s murder case against Slager, 34, were to fail. Putting him on trial in both state and federal courts for the same shooting would not be double jeopardy because the alleged crimes are different.

No minimum prison term would come with a conviction on the civil rights charge. Because Scott died, the maximum sentence is life behind bars. Execution is sought only under the rarest of circumstances that are not present in this case, experts said.

An arraignment of Slager is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in U.S. District Court in downtown Charleston. Scott’s family plans to discuss the development after the proceeding.

His killing came during close scrutiny of law enforcement tactics and uses of force nationwide. Video of the death made it an especially poignant moment in that debate and prodded the U.S. Department of Justice to step in.

The grand jury, which first met nearly a month ago, handed down the indictment Tuesday. Officials kept it under wraps until making it public Wednesday. It makes the case one of the few high-profile American police killings in recent years to result in a federal criminal charge. In South Carolina, Slager is the ninth public official since 1993 to face the civil rights count, records show, but he is the only one of those accused in a shooting.

Such prosecutions are relatively rare in police shootings, said Seth Stoughton, a University of South Carolina law professor who studies policing. It reveals the government’s eagerness to weigh in on controversial police killings like Scott’s regardless of actions taken in state courts, he said.

“The feds may be prosecuting because they think it’s important to use this case to send a message,” Stoughton said, “and that message might not be sent if officer Slager were just prosecuted and even convicted on the state charges.”

Slager’s lawyer in state court, Andy Savage of Charleston, has said that such a development would have a significant negative impact on the defense. The attorney has maintained, though, that his client’s actions were justified.

It was not immediately clear who would represent the former officer on the federal charges. Savage said he is committed to defending Slager only in state court, where he has worked for free.

The indictment came more than a year since April 4, 2015, when Slager pulled over Scott’s Mercedes-Benz for a broken brake light. The patrolman acted professionally, his attorney said, as Scott, 50, couldn’t provide documents for the car.

As the officer checked with dispatchers on Scott’s identification, the motorist got out and ran. Slager gave chase and tried to use his Taser, but the stun gun had little effect.

A struggle followed. Slager’s attorney said later that the officer suffered a beating and that Scott grabbed the Taser.

Nearby, a bystander filmed the final moments of the scuffle with a cellphone. The video shows the stun gun fall, then Scott turn and start running again. Slager drew his .45-caliber pistol and fired eight times with Scott’s back turned to him. Scott fell.

After the gunfire, the officer is seen picking up the Taser and dropping it near Scott’s lifeless body. Seconds later, he plucked it from the ground and returned it to its holster.

Three days passed before he was arrested.

In state court, a grand jury indicted Slager on a murder charge that carries between 30 years and life in prison. He was freed on bail in January to prepare for a trial now set for Oct. 31.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and FBI agents, meanwhile, worked on building their own case.

The federal government in recent years has zeroed in on allegations of police misconduct and opened its own probes into controversial deaths of black men. The cases included the 2014 killings of Michael Brown in Missouri, Laquan McDonald in Chicago and Eric Garner in New York, along with Freddie Gray’s death last year in Baltimore.

In 2014, the FBI reported getting 72 criminal indictments for deprivation of civil rights, but none of them came in the high-profile deaths. Scott’s is the first of those cases to prompt the indictment.

The four-page indictment is signed by U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles, South Carolina’s chief federal prosecutor, and Principal Deputy Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who leads the Civil Rights Division in Washington. It revealed for the first time some details of Slager’s interview with State Law Enforcement Division agents in the hours before his arrest.

“Slager knowingly misled SLED investigators by falsely stating that he fired his weapon at Scott while Scott was coming forward at him with a Taser,” the document alleged. “In truth and in fact, as ... Slager then well knew, he repeatedly fired his weapon at Scott when Scott was running away from him.”

While the federal case could serve as a backup if Slager were acquitted in state court, experts said, the civil rights charge also carries a high burden of proof for prosecutors.

Legal concepts on self-defense give defendants leeway to use force against perceived threats. Appeals courts also have ruled that using deadly force on a fleeing felon who poses a threat to the community can be legally justified — a key component to Slager’s defense against the murder charge.

Authorities, though, have said that any danger Slager or the community faced had subsided by the time he opened fire. Representatives of Scott’s family also have called the defense, which highlights evidence of the victim’s alcohol and cocaine use, “smoke and mirrors.”

While state prosecutors must prove their murder case by showing that Slager acted with malice — an evil intent or disregard for life — their federal counterparts must show that he purposefully meant to deprive Scott of a right by using excessive or unreasonable force, said Stoughton, the law professor.

In both cases, intent is key.

Defendants can fight the civil rights charge by arguing that they made an error in good faith — a reasonable mistake in the heat of the moment — instead of a conscious decision to violate a personal right, Stoughton said. Simply playing a video that prosecutors say shows an over-the-top reaction might not be enough to persuade jurors to convict Slager, he said.

“Murder is not easy to prove either,” he said, “but willfully violating someone’s constitutional right in these circumstances is a difficult charge for prosecutors to prove, which is why we see it so rarely.”

[Andrea]

Televised Police Chase Ends With Officers Beating Suspect

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/televised-police-chase-ends-with-officers-beating-suspect_us_5733a8d8e4b077d4d6f20ee5?

Police officers beat a suspect on television following a car chase through Massachusetts and New Hampshire on Wednesday.

As news helicopters circled overhead, the driver of the pickup truck involved in the pursuit opened the driver’s door and crawled onto his hands and knees in Hudson, New Hampshire. About eight officers closed in on him, some with their guns drawn, and at least two officers struck the man. One of the officers pummeled the man with repeated blows.

It wasn’t immediately clear which police departments were involved in the arrest.

The chase began when a suspect wanted on multiple warrants refused to stop for police in Holden, Massachusetts, near the state line, according to WCVB. From there, the chase wound through Concord, Littleton, Chelmsford, Billerica, Nashua, Hudson and several other towns.

“Now they’re incorporating the arrest,” a WFXT newscaster said as officers pounced on the man and the ariel camera pulled back. The station’s broadcaster didn’t appear to address the violence as it unfolded.

CBS Boston, which carried the footage, also used euphemisms to describe the action.

“Here’s the video as they approach him, and they take care of him when he gets outside the cab of that truck,” the CBS broadcaster says.

Other news footage captured about 30 seconds from the time the driver steps out of the truck.

“No details on what precipitated this,” a reporter says as the suspect stands with arms handcuffed behind his back. “But it was with great force that they get that guy on the ground.”

[Andrea]

Disturbing Video Shows a Cop Brutally Beat a Child for Riding Her Bike, Charges HER with Assualt

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-beats-young-girl-riding-bike-mall-parking-lot/

On May 24, 2014, 15-year-old Monique Tillman and her brother were riding their bikes when they were stopped and this young girl brutally assaulted by Tacoma Police Officer Jared Williams.

Tillman and her brother had done nothing wrong, and were merely targetted by this ‘public servant’ because they had the unfortunate luck to have crossed paths with him.

As the duo travelled home, they cut through a mall parking lot, as they had done countless times before. However, this time, Officer Williams was in that parking lot, in his full Tacoma Police department uniform, yet off-duty, working as mall security. As the teens travelled through the lot, Williams began pursuit of these hardened criminals and accused them of trespassing.

Knowing they’d done nothing wrong, Monique attempted to explain to the officer that they cut through the parking lot all the time on their way home. However, this tyrant was having nothing of it.

As the duo attempted to ride away from a man whose intentions were clearly unscrupulous, Williams attacked. A recently released surveillance video shows the disturbing scene that unfolded next.

This heroic officer ripped the girl from her bike and slammed her up against a parked car with his hand around her neck. As the child struggled to breathe, this abusive tyrant grabbed her by the hair and flung her around like a rag doll.

Clearly overpowering the small child, half his size, the officer wasn’t satisfied with the damage he’d inflicted so far. So, for good measure, Williams pulled out his taser and sent 50,000 volts into this poor girl.

“He was choking me, grabbed me by my hair and tried to slam my face into the concrete. The next thing I know, I’m on the ground being tased,” Tillman said.

Now face down, tasered, handcuffed and brutalized, Williams stood over his victim like a hunter and his kill. He had protected society from the likes of a dangerous brother and sister riding their bicycles.

Williams then arrested Monique and charged her with resisting arrest and, get this, assault on an officer.

After viewing the surveillance video of the incident, however, all of the charges were thrown out.

Vito de la Cruz, Tillman’s attorney, has filed a lawsuit seeking damages from Officer Williams, the Simon Property Group who owns the Tacoma Mall and Universal Protection Services, the private security company in charge of Tacoma Mall security.

“A child riding a bike should not have to worry that a police officer will stop her without legal cause and brutalize her,” said de la Cruz. “Our communities are weary of another African American child being hurt by unwarranted and excessive police force.”

The Free Thought Project reached out the Tacoma PD to inquire about Williams’ current status and if any disciplinary action had been taken. However, our requests for comment were not returned.

Below is what policing in modern day America has become.

[*Anya*]

Now if you are in the Netherlands, the police return a baby goat to a petting zoo, instead of shooting unarmed teens and tasing teenage girls riding a bike.

I feel so helpless each time I read of another horror.



http://m.imgur.com/pk035qr

[Andrea]

Cleveland corrections officer accused of punching handcuffed inmate

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/05/cleveland_corrections_officer.html

A Cleveland City Jail corrections officer is accused of punching a handcuffed inmate.

Jose Quinones, 42, is charged with assault and interfering with civil rights in the Feb. 6 incident. Both charges are first-degree misdemeanors.

Quinones was issued a summons to for a May 31 arraignment in Cleveland Municipal Court.

Quinones took Kosch from the Cleveland City Jail to the Cleveland House of Corrections. Quinones punched Kosch on the left side of the head while Kosch was handcuffed, according to court records.

A city spokesman said Tuesday that Quinones, who was hired by the city in May 2008, was placed on restrictive duty. He will still work at the jail but will have no direct contact with inmates.

A pre-disciplinary hearing has been scheduled with the city. Quinones will not be punished until the criminal case is completed.

No attorney is listed in court records. Quinones could not be reached for comment.

Kosch was arrested Feb. 6 after he failed to appear for court hearings in his 2013 drunken driving case.

Kosch said in a phone interview that he went to court and was taken to the city jail. He said he didn't have his blood-pressure medication with him and started to feel dizzy. He told a corrections officer who took him to see a nurse.

Officials told him he was being shipped to the Cleveland House of Corrections. Kosch said he was walking with Quinones and was upset about not getting medical treatment. He said he felt a dizzy-spell coming on and sat against a wall.

"I had an attitude with him but I didn't provoke him," Kosch said. "I was being demanding because I wasn't feeling good."

Kosch said Quinones insulted him, then handcuffed him. Quinones turned to walk away, then turned around and punched him on the left side of the head, Kosch said.

"My left ear was red and was ringing for a couple of days," Kosch said. "Other than that it was alright."

Kosch eventually pleaded no contest to drunken driving in the case. He was sentenced to take a drug and alcohol abuse class instead of serving jail time.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Andrea

[B]Mitchell, a 24-year-old Portsmouth resident, was confined at the jail for 101 days last year after he allegedly stole $5 worth of snack food from a convenience store.

He died in August awaiting transfer to Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, where a judge had ordered him to be placed after finding Mitchell incompetent to stand trial. ( he was suffering from schizophrenia)

Mitchell weighed 190 pounds when he arrived at the jail on May 11 and weighed 144 pounds during the autopsy performed after he died Aug. 19, Taylor has said.

In an interview earlier this month, Taylor told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that video images outside Mitchell’s cell showed him receiving food through a slot in the heavy steel door.

The cell had concrete walls and only a small window in the door. The cameras did not show whether Mitchell actually ate his food, Taylor said.

“There was no indication that Mr. Mitchell was not eating,” Taylor said. “If the officers had any indication that he was not eating his food, he would be placed on what is determined to be suicide watch or hunger strike.”

***

The Times-Dispatch requested a copy of the video outside his cell through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the request was denied because the video does not exist.

$5 worth of snack food? He is mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. He was in a concrete cell with steel doors and a small window to slide food through. For taking 5$ worth of snack food. A mentally ill person. What is wrong with people? How can human beings do this? These are the people who are supposed to protect and serve. What has gone wrong? And why aren't we all up in arms? It is too exhausting I think. It wears you down.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

$5 worth of snack food? He is mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. He was in a concrete cell with steel doors and a small window to slide food through. For taking 5$ worth of snack food. A mentally ill person. What is wrong with people? How can human beings do this? These are the people who are supposed to protect and serve. What has gone wrong? And why aren't we all up in arms? It is too exhausting I think. It wears you down.

There is a group that are "up in arms". Campaign Zero is doing amazing things.

http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision

[Andrea]

Woman, 27, Shot And Killed By Police In San Francisco

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/05/19/woman-27-shot-and-killed-by-police-in-san-francisco/

Authorities say a 27-year-old woman was shot and killed by San Francisco police Thursday morning in the Bayview district.

The woman was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where she died. Her name was not released.

The shooting happened at Industrial Street and Shafter Avenue.

No officers were injured.

Police Chief Greg Suhr says the woman was driving a stolen car and refused officer’s commands to stop the car. Officers approached her on foot and she drove away. She was then shot by police.

Other details were not immediately available.

The shooting happened in the same neighborhood where Mario Woods was killed when an officer shot him on Dec. 2. That shooting enraged groups of activists and community leaders, prompting calls to fire Suhr.

[Andrea]

Exclusive: Inmate Died in Prison, Was Buried Before His Bronx Family Was Notified

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/criminal-justice/2016/05/19/ny1-exclusive--inmate-buried-upstate-without-bronx-family-being-notified.html

With tears rolling down his face, Lonnie Hamilton says he's living a nightmare. His namesake died in prison and was even buried without the family knowing it.

Hamilton: I want to know why my son is dead. I want to know why you buried him without asking me. I want to know why we weren't allowed to properly send him off.
Meminger: Where is your son's body?
Hamilton: I don't know.

Lonnie Hamilton, 22, was doing time at Marcy Correctional Facility, outside of Syracuse. He was convicted in the Bronx of robbery.

His family says they tried to reach him for several weeks and then decided to send him a letter. Looking for his prison's address on May 6, they went on the state's correctional website. They were shocked to see he was listed as deceased. He died on March 18.

"I'm thinking, 'This can't be right. It has to be some sort of typo or joke or whatever.' So we start reaching out to the facility" his father said. "Days later, they finally say he is deceased."

And he was already buried in a cemetery near the prison.

State Corrections tells NY1 it made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the inmate's next of kin, his father. They said the father's phone number didn't work.

Corrections say it also searched Hamilton's belongings for contacts but couldn't find any. They also reached out to police in Georgia, where Hamilton was originally from.

His father says he is easy to find because he's lived in the Bronx for many years and that's where his son was arrested.

"He was picked up, my doorstep. Knock on my door, 'Is your son here?' Taken out of my home," he said. "So they knew where I lived."

"They have nothing in writing at all to date that says their son is deceased. They have no autopsy report of how their son died. They don't know anything," said the Rev. Kevin McCall of the National Action Network.

The family says they were unofficially told their son committed suicide, but they find that hard to believe. They want his body exhumed and their own autopsy done. They are also calling for an independent investigation.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Woman, 27, Shot And Killed By Police In San Francisco

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/05/19/woman-27-shot-and-killed-by-police-in-san-francisco/

Woman killed by SF police sergeant IDd as Jessica Williams, 29

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Woman-killed-by-SF-police-sergeant-IDd-as-Jessica-7887427.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twit ter

The woman who was shot and killed by a San Francisco police sergeant Thursday morning after she allegedly attempted to flee officers in a suspected stolen car was identified Friday by the medical examiner as Jessica Williams, 29.

Williams, who the medical examiner said was from the Bay Area, died at San Francisco General Hospital.

Police said there was no immediate indication that the woman was armed or had been driving the car toward officers when she was shot.

Williams was shot one time, and despite the on-scene officers’ attempt to resuscitate her, she died Thursday at San Francisco General Hospital, the officials said.

Williams’ family has been notified of her death, the medical examiner said.

Thursday’s shooting was what many community members and city authorities called the last straw in excessive force from police, more specifically against people of color, igniting a chain of events that ended with Police Chief Greg Suhr’s forced resignation later in the day.

Mayor Ed Lee, who for weeks had brushed off calls from critics of Suhr to fire him, asked for the chief’s resignation during a lengthy meeting with him Thursday afternoon. Lee announced at a City Hall news conference about 5 p.m. Thursday that Suhr had tendered his resignation.

The officers involved in Thursday morning’s shooting, a Bayview station sergeant and another officer, have not been identified by police officials. They were working a special enforcement project that seeks to recover stolen vehicles.

The officers tried to apprehend Williams after spotting her in a parked, stolen car about 9:45 a.m. at Elmira Street near Interstate 280, Suhr told reporters Thursday at the scene. But a witness said she sped away, making it only 100 feet before crashing into a parked utility truck.

The white sedan Williams was driving became wedged beneath the truck, police said. Williams was trying to dislodge the vehicle, by shifting it forward and in reverse, and was not complying with police orders, Suhr said, when the sergeant fired one shot, striking her.

Police removed Wiliiams from the car and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation before paramedics arrived at the scene and took her to the hospital, Suhr said.

There was no immediate indication that she was armed, police at the scene said, but added that they planned to search the vehicle for weapons.

Police said the investigation into the shooting of Williams is still in its early stages.

[Andrea]

NYPD cop stripped of gun, shield for pointing gun and punching bystander filming him making arrest in Harlem (WARNING: Graphic language)

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/nypd-points-gun-punches-bystanders-filming-harlem-article-1.2644471?utm_content=buffer866ad&utm_medium=socia l&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsT w

An NYPD cop was stripped of his gun and shield Friday after video emerged showing him pointing his weapon at bystanders filming him — and then punching one of them in the face, cops said.

The plainclothes officer was nabbing a suspected illegal dirt bike rider at an apartment building at W. 134th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. in Harlem around 6:40 p.m. Thursday when he whipped out his handgun, aiming it at the onlookers, the video shows.

In another video, the same cop is seen cracking one of the amateur videographers with a right hook outside the building, and tackling him.

The 32nd Precinct officer, whose name was not released, has been placed on modified duty while the episode is investigated, cops said.

The 21-year-old man seen being cuffed in the video, Dayshawn Bettway, was suspected as one of two men on dirt bikes circling cops as they stopped a gray Hyundai sedan double-parked down the block minutes earlier, an NYPD spokesman said.

The car's driver and another man escaped in the confusion.

Police later learned the car had been reported stolen in Connecticut. Cops discovered marijuana and 25 rounds of live ammunition inside.

A sergeant and an officer responded to the scene and spotted Bettway running into the building's lobby.

He was charged with assault after allegedly body-slamming an onlooker who opened his door to see what was going on. He was also charged with reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, police said.

The man seen being punched in the video, 19-year-old Jahnico Harvey, was given a desk appearance ticket on misdemeanor charges of menacing and disorderly conduct, a police spokesman said.

[Andrea]

Georgia Police Officers Caught on Camera Allegedly Fatally Tasering Georgia Man – and High-Fiving Afterward

http://www.people.com/article/parents-watch-as-police-allegedly-taser-son-to-death

When Mary Ann Sherman's son started acting erratically after smoking synthetic marijuana last November, she did what she thought was the right thing: She called police for help.

The Florida mom had no idea her 32-year-old son, Chase Sherman, would end up dead after allegedly being handcuffed and then Tasered multiple times by deputy sheriffs. The deadly incident, which played out in front of his parents' eyes, was caught on police body-camera and dashboard videos, which have been obtained by PEOPLE. The videos, taken on November 20, 2015, show Chase Sherman apparently resisting arrest as shouts of "Stop fighting!" can be heard in the background.

"He's got my Taser!" one sheriff can be heard yelling on the videos.

Even though Chase seemed to give up after a minute and a half, saying at one point, "I quit! I quit!" officers continued to Taser him for minutes. In total, he was Tasered 15 times, the family's attorney, L. Chris Stewart, tells PEOPLE.

Just before he seems to stop breathing, the footage shows him saying, "I'm dead."

Sherman's family watched in horror as police dragged his limp body out of the Jeep Patriot onto the highway. Someone on the footage is heard saying, "He ain't breathing. He ain't breathing!"

The video shows one of the deputy officers say, "Dude, I'm [expletive] fired, man." Someone else responds, "Nah, you're good."

After Chase's body is loaded into the ambulance, two sheriffs are seen high-fiving each other. Chase was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead later that day.

"It's really a tragedy because it's an example of how some officers deal with the mentally ill, which is what this is really about," Stewart, the family's attorney, says.

"They knew he was having a mental breakdown and didn't try to deescalate the situation," says Stewart, who successfully negotiated a $6.5 million settlement for the family of Walter Scott, the man fatally shot from behind in April 2015 by a North Charleston police officer after a daytime traffic stop.

"They actually got Chase cuffed easily, but pulling out Tasers escalated the whole thing," Stewart says.

The Shermans are asking the Coweta County District Attorney to take action. "Their whole world was destroyed," says Stewart. "Chase had never had a criminal record. He was engaged to be married. He helped with the family business. He was the nicest guy on the planet. This is a tragedy."

Coweta County District Attorney Peter Skandalakis tells PEOPLE, "This is a tragic case and it's one we are looking at rather closely. I have been a prosecutor more than 32 years and never encountered this type of situation, given all these facts."

Skandalakis adds, "The first decision we have to make is whether a crime was committed and if a crime was committed, then it would go to a grand jury. But at this point we are still looking at all the facts."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which had completed its investigation in February and sent its findings to the DA, has also reopened the case, says Stewart.

Happy Family Trip Turns Tragic
On November 20, 2015, Kevin and Mary Ann Sherman were in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, on a layover from their oldest son's wedding in the Dominican Republic to their home in Destin, Florida, when Chase began acting strangely, according to police records.

When he refused to board a plane from Atlanta to Florida, the Shermans decided to rent an SUV and drive five hours home.

Chase told his family and his fiancée, Patti Galloway, he was having a bad reaction to the synthetic drug, Spice. At that point, his mother said the family planned to take him to a doctor when they got home, according to police records. But when the family reached Palmetto, Georgia, Chase began acting erratically in the SUV.

Wanting to get Chase to a hospital, Mary Ann called 911, saying her son "is freaking out" and was "on some kind of drug," according to a statement released by Coweta County District Attorney Peter Skandalakis, who is reviewing the case.

"Chase's parents did what everybody is supposed to do," says Stewart. "You call 911 because it brings help, but in Chase's case, it brought death."

When Coweta County deputies and an EMT responded to the scene, they found Chase "physically combative and would not cooperate in getting out of the back seat," the DA's statement says. It adds, "Multiple attempts were made to subdue Sherman but the Tasers did not seem to have an effect."

The Coweta County Sheriff's Office did not immediately return calls for comment.

CBS News reports that both deputies are still employed with the department, according to Col. James Yarbrough with Coweta County Sheriff's Office. They're identified in incident reports as J.D. Sepanski and S.F. Smith.

In his statement, Skandalakis says, "the review of this case is not complete, the investigation is ongoing and a final decision has not been made concerning the outcome of this case."

Skandalakis's statement adds, "However, in recognition of the great public interest in this matter I have decided to make the body camera and dash board videos available to the media."

[Andrea]

Montgomery Co. officer accused of using excessive force on female student at school's prom

http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/144250107-story

A Montgomery County police officer is facing allegations of excessive force at a high school prom. FOX 5 has learned Officer Mauricio Veiga has been removed from his assignment as a school resource officer at Sherwood High School following the outcome of an investigation.

Montgomery County police are looking into the allegations and reviewing surveillance video from the prom held at a local hotel two weeks ago, which allegedly shows an altercation between the officer and a female senior student.

Teachers at the high school who were present at prom filed the complaint against Officer Veiga, a 12-year veteran with the department, claiming he placed a female student in a headlock, tackled her to the ground and then holding her arms behind her back as if he was going to arrest her following a verbal altercation between the teenager and a fellow student.

The father of the high schooler told FOX 5 that he has seen the video of his daughter being restrained by the officer and he agrees that excessive force was used.

He said the video was recorded by a camera in the lobby of the Bethesda Marriott where the prom was held. The victims father does not want to be identified, but says the officer was also wearing a body camera but for reasons unknown, the incident did not get recorded.

Teachers claim Veiga has used questionable judgment before. In one instance, a picture shows him with school faculty pointing a Taser-like weapon towards a teacher's head.

Officer Veiga has been charged with harassment in the past and was also arrested back in 2012 for DUI. Those charges were adjudicated.

Then in 2014, he was charged again with DUI – this time while driving his police cruiser. He was found guilty and ordered to supervised probation. Veiga was subsequently taken off patrol and reassigned as a school resource officer at Sherwood High School.

A few months afterwards, Officer Veiga spoke at a drug and alcohol awareness seminar at Sherwood.

[Andrea]

Portland Police Chief Placed on Leave After Forgetting to Mention He Accidentally Shot a Guy

http://gawker.com/portland-police-chief-placed-on-leave-after-forgetting-1778541625?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter& utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

On Tuesday, the police chief of Oregon’s largest city was placed on paid leave after allegedly misleading an investigator about a hunting accident last month.

According to The Oregonian, Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea failed to tell a responding officer he accidentally fired the shot that hit a friend in the back, instead suggesting the victim shot himself:

O’Dea didn’t identify himself as Portland’s chief or even as a police officer when he was questioned by the deputy who responded April 21 to a 911 call outside Fields, [Harney County] Sheriff Dave Ward said in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

O’Dea and some of his companions at the scene steered the deputy into believing the shooting was a “self-inflicted’’ accident, Ward said.

“We need our Police Bureau operating at its best, and our officers can’t do that when there’s turmoil and confusion surrounding their leader,” wrote Hales. “I am awaiting the outcome of internal and external investigations before commenting about the incident, and urge all Portlanders to do the same.”“I do know it didn’t happen the way it was originally portrayed,” he said.

According to Sheriff Ward, investigators only learned O’Dea was involved when they interviewed the victim almost a month later.

“The victim made it pretty clear he didn’t shoot himself,’’ said Ward. “The victim knew who shot him.’’

While the shooting occurred in April, O’Dea did not inform the public about the incident until reporters asked him about it last week. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales—who was out of town attending a White House conference on gun violence prevention—announced O’Dea’s leave of absence in a prepared statement.

“We need our Police Bureau operating at its best, and our officers can’t do that when there’s turmoil and confusion surrounding their leader,” wrote Hales. “I am awaiting the outcome of internal and external investigations before commenting about the incident, and urge all Portlanders to do the same.”

[Andrea]

Middle school student charged with larceny for taking free carton of milk

http://blavity.com/middle-school-student-charged-larceny-taking-free-carton-milk/

Ryan Turk, a Virginia middle school student, was handcuffed and suspended from school over a 65-cent carton of milk.

Turk is a part of Graham Park Middle School’s free lunch program and returned to the line to get his milk, which he said he’d forgotten. When he went back, a police officer accused him of stealing. Turk was handcuffed, taken to the principal’s office and searched for drugs, his mother said.

Police say Turk became disorderly, which is why he was cuffed. Turk admitted to pulling back. His mother said the officer let the situation get out of hand over 65-cents.

Shamise Turk told CBS News 6, “I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m mad. It just went too far. They are charging him with larceny, which I don’t have no understanding as to why he is being charged with larceny when he was entitled to that milk from the beginning.”

The teen is charged with larceny and a school spokesperson said he is suspended for theft, being disrespectful and using his cell phone in school.

“The need for disciplinary action is determined by how a student behaves throughout any given incident,” the school spokesperson said. “An appeals process is in place to ensure the fairness of any disciplinary action.”

[Andrea]

EXCLUSIVE: City Hall Held Secret Meeting To Get Story Straight On Laquan

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160526/downtown/exclusive-city-hall-held-secret-meeting-get-story-straight-on-laquan

“Get your story straight.”

Cops will tell you that phrase is code, part of the “Thin Blue Line” code of silence in the Police Department, that signals an expectation to fall in line with an agreed upon narrative of an event regardless of what actually happened.

Apparently, getting your story straight is not a practice unique to the Chicago Police Department.

A few days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Dec. 9 publicly acknowledged that a code of silence exists within the Police Department, his top aides called a secret meeting at City Hall.

The goal: To make sure everybody — top police brass, Chicago Police Board president Lori Lightfoot and members of the Independent Police Review Authority, the independent agency charged with investigating police misconduct — had their story straight, so to speak, before being grilled by aldermen at a City Council joint hearing of Human Relations and Public safety committees in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting, DNAinfo Chicago has learned.

In a Dec. 13 email, top Emanuel-aide Janey Rountree told former acting police Supt. John Escalante, members of the police command staff and others to cancel their own “prep session” for the joint hearing and instead attend a roundtable meeting at City Hall.

“I think it will be really important for CPD to be in the same prep session as IPRA and the Police Board President so everyone has the same information,” Rountree wrote in the email obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

“I know this conflicts with an internal CPD prep session, so I hope it’s not too much trouble to reschedule yours.”

Rountree’s email also laid out a tentative plan for which members of the Police Department would address questions from aldermen at the hearing. The email, sent weeks before Emanuel removed Escalante as temporary top cop, did not mention Escalante by name.

“Right now, the plan is for Chief [Eugene] Williams and Chief [Eddie L.] Welch to speak for CPD,” according to the email, which also includes a list of questions police brass should be prepared to answer.

“You should review these and decide who else you’ll need in the room, particularly the General Counsel and maybe [Deputy Chief of Support Services] Jonathan Lewin. I think we have some flexibility as to who is testifying,” Rountree wrote.

On Dec. 15, Emanuel’s press secretary Adam Collins followed up with Escalante by emailing him a few things “that came up in our prep yesterday” that included expected questions and answers that were written in first-person that read more like a script than a suggestion.

If Escalante were to get asked “Is there a code of silence in CPD?” Collins offered the top cop exact lines he should say that did not answer the question:

“ – I’ve been part of CPD for more than 29 years, and I’ve been honored to serve with some of the finest men and women I know. I’m sure each of you could share incredible stories about officers in your wards and in your communities who have dedicated themselves to making our city a better place to live.
- But we also need to be honest that in an organization of our size there will be some who break the rules, and unfortunately some who break the law.
- When that happens, those people need to be held accountable.
- And if and when anyone tries to hide information from investigators – they need to be held accountable.
- We have those rules on the books. It’s called Rule 14.
- And we need to uphold it.”

How should Escalante answer if he was asked when Mayor Emanuel found out about the Laquan McDonald shooting?

“A: I have no idea.” Collins wrote in the email.

What if Escalante were to be asked, “Who briefs the Mayor on police-involved shootings?”

Collins wrote: “A: We haven’t had one since I became Superintendent and I couldn’t speak to what Superintendent McCarthy may have done around these instances.”

Escalante, who now serves as the Police Department’s second in command, did not testify before the joint committee until "supper time," eight hours after it began when just 12 aldermen were present, WBEZ's Natalie Moore reported at that time.

At the hearing Escalante read from a written copy of remarks that started, "Good morning," the radio station reported.

Asked about the City Hall script for the hearing, Escalante said, "It’s not uncommon for the police department — similar to other city department and agencies — to work with the Mayor’s office on city announcements and events. As they are hired to do, communications staff regularly provide city officials — including police leadership — with recommendations and pointers on a wide range of topics."

Collins, who was recently promoted as Emanuel’s top spokesman, said the emails show "basic routine interaction" between the mayor's office and city agencies.

"Nothing in here questions the independence of IPRA or the Police Board in any, shape or form. Neither our office nor CPD is involved in IPRA's independent investigative work. All this shows is the basic routine interaction between Mayoral liaisons and city agencies. It is common for the Mayor's office ... to hold prep meetings for agency heads before scheduled committee hearings to ensure that those expected to testify are prepared to answer any and all questions that may be asked by Aldermen during the hearing," Collins said.

"You’d expect nothing less because this type of routine preparation ensures that those testifying are able to provide the Aldermen and the public with full and complete information."

City Council got "spun"

Even after the City Hall prep session and follow-up Q&A scripts, the City Council joint hearing on Dec. 15 turned into a marathon session that the Tribune described as a display of “political posturing” and Ald. Danny Solis (25th) called “a waste of time.”

When Solis on Wednesday learned of the City Hall “prep session” before the joint hearing, the veteran alderman said he remains frustrated by the lack of action being taken to fix the city’s “problem” with the police code of silence and the efforts taken to keep aldermen from getting specifics about the state of the Police Department.

“I think we were definitely spun during that hearing in December. I hope that is still not happening now,” Solis said.

“We have a problem. The cat is out of the bag. We have to figure out how to deal with it. We have got to change at our level. The mayor has responsibility and the City Council has responsibility and the police union has a responsibility to come up with solutions.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said he wouldn’t have been surprised by the Emanuel administration's “prep session” if it was just for the Police Department.

After all, "they typically hand out talking points to aldermen telling them what to ask. You can tell because you see some [aldermen] reading something they haven't seen before that's written in language that's not how they usually speak," he said.

But the inclusion of IPRA members and the Police Board boss — who were described in Rountree’s email as part of “all people testifying for the city” — in a City Hall roundtable orchestrated by the Emanuel administration doesn’t seem right to the North Side ward boss.

“I think around the city people see the word ‘independent’ in an agency’s name and they think it’s some other entity; not one that it’s run by a mayoral appointee getting directives directly from [Emanuel’s} 5th Floor office,” Waguespack said.

“I’m not surprised they tried to get everyone lined up to answer the same way especially with the situation so heated. You can understand when it’s a matter of legal review on a controversial situation but this goes way beyond that. It’s political maneuvering and manipulation. That’s [Emanuel’s] M.O. He choreographs everything. When they do that instead of letting people answer honestly they just dig the hole deeper.”

"Was there a cover up?"

Ald. John Arena (45th) said the emails obtained by DNAinfo Chicago show that the Emanuel administration, while being very careful with its messaging related to the Laquan McDonald shooting, "still hasn't leveled with us about what they knew and when they knew it about Laquan. We're still sitting here scratching our heads when it comes to that question."

"Was there a cover-up here? That still needs to be answered. What they knew and how much they knew are the most important questions hanging out there. For me, reading [the emails] adds to that fundamental question that needs to be answered at some point."

The City Hall emails obtained by DNAinfo Chicago shed additional light on how much control the Emanuel administration wields on the day-to-day operations of the Police Department, which is currently the subject of a U.S. Justice Department probe.

The Justice Department investigation, however, has been limited to the policies and practices of the Police Department and, as far as anyone knows, has not been expanded to include City Hall.

Not yet, anyway.

In December, I laid out why the feds should do just that, explaining that Chicago’s mayor “historically sits atop an elaborate pyramid of power designed by the Democratic Machine that cynics will tell you was constructed to preserve a publicly accepted level of crookedness locals refer to, sometimes lovingly, as 'The Chicago Way.'”

An outsider might think Chicago’s top cop runs the Police Department, but it’s Chicago’s mayor who is the real boss. The mayor hires the police superintendent, sets the police budget and, as former police Supt. Garry McCarthy will tell you, calls almost every day for briefings on department doings.

Emanuel’s Corporation Counsel Steve Patton, City Hall's top lawyer, is the guy who negotiates the police union contract that includes provisions that for generations have helped crooked cops escape punishment for misconduct.

And when an officer gets accused of misconduct, Patton is the guy who defends officers in court, sometimes by settling civil lawsuits that have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Then there’s the City Hall spin machine that Collins' email appears to show at least attempts to control over almost every word that comes out the top cop's mouth.

Arena stopped short of calling on the feds to take their investigation to City Hall. Instead, the Northwest Side alderman and staunch mayoral critic said he trusts the Justice Department will do what's right.

"The fact that the Department of Justice is investigating is important. That's not an investigation that's easy to subvert. If the Justice Department has a sense that there's more to this they are going to, on their own volition, expand their investigation," he said. "They need to do their work and follow the leads where they go."

Arena clarified his stand by pointing to the words the City Hall Spin Machine had scripted for Escalante in December.

"It's like how they coached Escalante on how to answer about whether there's a code of silence in the police department: If someone breaks the rules they need to be held accountable. If the Department of Justice finds that their investigation leads to the administration they will track down and accordingly hold people accountable," Arena said.

"They won't be held back by any local politics or federal politics and follow the scent where it takes them. When that happens, we'll get the answers."

[Andrea]

Lawsuit says man beaten unconscious in jail, held on misdemeanor

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Lawsuit-says-man-beaten-in-jail-7949531.php?cmpid=twitter-mobile

A 28-year-old Houston man whose father is a deputy constable claims in a lawsuit filed Friday that he was beaten unconscious by two jailers at the Harris County jail after being arrested on a minor trespassing charge.

Michael Alaniz was denied medical treatment for more than a day and was eventually diagnosed with a concussion and a broken nose, according to the lawsuit.

The two deputy sheriffs are not identified in the lawsuit, which notes that Alaniz knows only a physical description of the two men.

Alaniz was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge after going to the Metropolis & Extravaganza night club on Richmond Avenue on Oct. 23, 2015. The suit says that Alaniz's friend began acting erratic, and that Alaniz was handcuffed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy when he did not leave promptly. He was then placed under arrest by officers with the Houston Police Department.

The problems began after the Houston police officer left him at the jail and he began to be processed by the two deputies, according to the suit.

He was strip-searched publicly in an area where he could be seen by both male and female inmates, and said the jailers ignored his protests, the suit says.

He was then taken to a holding cell, where he said the two jailers slammed him to the ground and beat him repeatedly until he lost consciousness. The suit said that one of the deputies later apologized for the injuries, saying, "he was sorry, but that when told to do so, you have to do your strip search."

He later asked repeatedly for medical treatment but was not seen by medical personnel until 36 hours later. He was prescribed ibuprofen.

After being released from the jail on Oct. 27, Alaniz was taken to Ben Taub Hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken nose and concussion, the suit says.

The suit, filed by attorney Allen H. Zwernemann, seeks undisclosed damages.

[Andrea]

Jury Awards $22M To Man Who Says Cleveland Cop Kept Him In Closet For Days

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ju...cleveland-jail

A jury has awarded $22 million to a man who says he was brutally beaten by an East Cleveland police detective, locked in a storage closet with no toilet for four days and given nothing to eat or drink except for a carton of milk.

The Cleveland jury deliberated for a day before finding for Arnold Black, 48, of East Cleveland, in a three-day civil trial. Relatives testified that Black suffers from physical and emotional problems from the beating and had to undergo surgery to remove dried blood on his brain.

In a strange twist, the trial was held without attorneys representing East Cleveland. City Law Director Willa Hemmons, when contacted Wednesday by The Associated Press, said she wasn't aware that a trial had been held.

She said the trial should have been stopped because of an appeal she had filed with the Ohio Supreme Court and any verdict should be void. A local appeals court twice refused to hear appeals filed by Hemmons on rulings made by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Sutula that excluded evidence and witnesses the city had hoped to present at trial. Sutula couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

Black's attorney, Bobby DiCello, said the judge ordered the trial to proceed because all the parties had been notified.

An East Cleveland police detective said at trial that he had asked a patrol officer to stop Black's truck on April 28, 2012, because he believed there was a kilogram of cocaine inside, said Black's attorney, DiCello said.

When no drugs were found, detective Randy Hicks began punching Black in the face and head and patrol officer Jonathan O'Leary held Black upright so that Hicks could continue the beating, Black testified.

Black also testified that the officers put him in the storage closet to hide the severity of his injuries. Black said an East Cleveland jail guard gave him a carton of milk on his second day of confinement and let him use a cellphone to call his girlfriend, who had been searching for him.

Police took Black to the Cuyahoga County Jail on May 2, 2012, and he quickly was freed on bond.

Hicks testified at the civil trial that Police Chief Ralph Spotts confronted him several days after Black's arrest and forced him to resign. Hicks also testified that Spotts encouraged a culture of violence within the East Cleveland Police Department.

The jury award includes $10 million in compensatory damage against East Cleveland, Hicks, O'Leary and Spotts. It awarded Black $11 million in punitive damages against Spotts and $1 million against O'Leary.

No publicly listed telephone numbers were available for Hicks, Spotts or O'Leary. All have left the East Cleveland Police Department.

East Cleveland provided none of the evidence that DiCello said he requested, including police reports, Hicks' personnel file or footage from O'Leary's dashboard camera that he said would have shown the arrest and beating of Black.

Black was indicted by a grand jury on drug possession, criminal tools and tampering with evidence charges. An assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor asked that the case be dismissed in July 2012 because East Cleveland police failed to provide any evidence to support the charges. DiCello said that while Hicks was forced to resign, O'Leary was never punished.

It's unclear how cash-strapped East Cleveland could pay Black anything as officials there consider filing the state's first-ever municipal bankruptcy and explore a merger with neighboring Cleveland.