Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

No charges for New Jersey cop in slaying of black man with hands up

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-jersey-police-idUSKCN10Y04A?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&u tm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter

Federal prosecutors on Monday declined to bring criminal charges against a police officer in New Jersey who fatally shot a black man as he exited a car with his hands raised during a routine traffic stop.

The December 2014 slaying of Jerame Reid in Bridgeton prompted protests in the city similar to demonstrations that have been held across the United States in response to a series of fatal police shootings of unarmed black men.

Reid was killed by Bridgeton Police Officer Braheme Days after the driver of the car in which Reid was riding was pulled over on suspicion of ignoring a stop sign, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey.

Reid was unarmed, the attorney's office said.

"Viewing the evidence as whole, the government determined that federal charges are not warranted," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.

The charging decision follows a $1.5 million tentative settlement agreement Reid's family reached about a month ago with the city of Bridgeton and the officers.

A grand jury in Cumberland County last year declined to file charges against the officers, local media reported.

Video of the incident shows Days approaching the parked car on Reid's side. "Hey, how are you all doing?" he says before asking why they had not stopped at a stop sign.

Within a few seconds, Days pulls out his gun and tells his patrol partner, Roger Worley, who is white, that there is a gun in the glove compartment.

"Don't you fucking move. I'm going to shoot you," Days said.

He also shouted at Worley to get the men out of the car.

The video shows Days reaching into the car and removing what appears to be a gun and dropping it to the ground. Days repeatedly orders the men not to move and show their hands.

Moments later, Days shouts: "He's reaching! He's reaching!"

Days steps back from the car, and Reid emerges with his hands up around shoulder height.

Almost instantly, both police officers shoot at him. At least six shots can be heard as Reid falls to the ground.

Although Worley also fired his weapon, only the shots fired by Days struck Reid, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

A lawyer for the family did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Bridgeton Police Department.

[Andrea]

Video Shows Police Pepper Spraying 84-Year Old Woman, Tasering Son

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cops-pepper-spray-elderly-woman_us_57c3268de4b085c1ff29d428

Andrea: Unable to copy article. Clink link to read.

[Andrea]

Oakland Fires 4 Officers, Suspends 7 Others In Wake Of Sex Scandal

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/09/07/oakland-fires-4-officers-suspends-7-others-in-wake-of-sex-scandal/

A Northern California police department announced Wednesday that it started disciplinary against a dozen officers implicated by a teenage prostitute in a wide-ranging sex scandal.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says the city’s police department started dismissal proceedings against four officers, but noted some may have previously left the department. The department earlier announced that two officers implicated in the scandal previously resigned. A third killed himself last year.

In addition, seven officers will serve a range of unpaid suspensions before being allowed to return to duty. Another officer will be required to attend training classes.

“I am deeply sorry for the harm this scandal has caused,” Schaaf said.

Schaaf declined to identify the officers. It’s unclear if any of the officers were represented by lawyers. The officers’ union said previously it wasn’t representing most of the implicated officers because the alleged misconduct occurred while they were off duty.

The 19-year-old woman at the center of the scandal said she has had sex with about 30 law enforcement officials throughout the San Francisco Bay Area over the last two years. She said she had sex with four officers before she turned 18 and sometimes traded sex for protection from arrest or tip offs to planned prostitution stings.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify sex crimes victims.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley has launched a criminal investigation. Her office didn’t respond to requests for comment late Wednesday.

“We are being very sensitive to the young woman who has been exploited and been hurt,” O’Malley said on Aug. 9 when activists arrived unannounced at her office and demanded officers be charged criminally. “We are working diligently.”

Most of the implicated officers work in Oakland, which has placed three other officers on leave. In June, the department cycled through three chiefs in 10 days after the teen’s allegations were first reported in the media.

Six Richmond police officers and several others working for other law enforcement agencies have also been implicated.

[Andrea]

WATCH: Black Man's Hands Up, Cop Tases Him in Back

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/watch-black-mans-hands-cop-tases-him-back

The ACLU of Colorado just posted a video of an Aurora, Colorado, police officer using a stun gun on Black man last February.

The edited video, which was posted by the ACLU today (September 8), shows Darsean Kelly and another man’s February 19, 2016, interaction with police officers of the Aurora Police Department. It was drawn from one of the officers’ body camera.

Per the video, which contains text meant to narrate the events, the officers were responding to a call about a man who pulled a gun on a child. The caller did not provide a description of the man. Kelly and his companion were standing on the sidewalk when officers told them to put their hands behind their heads and turn around. Kelly repeatedly asked why he was being detained, and just after he said, “I know my rights!” he was hit in the back with the stun gun, which caused him to fall backward into the street. When Kelly reminded one of the officers that there were witnesses, the officer said, “It's all on video, sweetheart.”

Kelly was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct for failing to obey a lawful order, and the officer wrote that he thought he might be reaching for a weapon. The ACLU of Colorado has filed a motion—which was emailed to Colorlines—with the municipal court to dismiss the case, arguing that Kelly was unlawfully detained and arrested without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.

Watch the video of the incident above.

[Andrea]

Georgia policeman charged with raping woman on way to jail

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/us/georgia-riverdale-police-officer-charged-with-rape/index.html

A Georgia police officer is accused of raping a woman while he was transporting her to a jail in an Atlanta suburb, state authorities say.

Former Riverdale Police officer James Larry Robinson Jr., 36, of Jonesboro is charged with rape and sexual assault against a person in custody. He appeared in court Wednesday, and bond was denied, according to the Clayton County Court clerk's office.

The alleged victim made the complaint against the officer August 7, prompting a Georgia Bureau of Investigation inquiry, said GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles.

The woman says Robinson was taking her from the Riverdale Police Department to the Clayton County Jail when he pulled alongside an empty building and assaulted her, according to CNN affiliate WSB.

The building is next to a custom tire shop, and workers there say the upset woman came by the shop and requested footage from their security cameras, WSB reported.

Riverdale police requested the GBI investigate the incident. Robinson turned himself in without incident Tuesday, the same day he was terminated from the force, Miles said.

Robinson remains in Clayton County Jail on no bond, according to inmate records.

CNN's calls to the Riverdale Police Department; Robinson's defense attorney, Keith Martin; and the police union, the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, were not immediately returned.

[Andrea]

Former cop pleads guilty to sex offenses against adopted daughter

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/former-cop-pleads-guilty-to-sex-offenses-against-adopted-daughter/article_75c40360-753c-11e6-859f-c7872bfe902d.html#.V9H2ainNPBA.twitter

The Concord Police officer charged with raping his adopted daughter plead guilty to several charges in a plea bargain agreement.

Douglas Buckwell, 42, is in a medium security prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a felony rape case involving his adopted daughter, according to court and prison records.

The case was settled with a plea agreement last week when Buckwell pleaded guilty to one count of sex offense in a parental role, one count of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of misdemeanor child abuse.

After Buckwell made his plea, he was sentenced to 25 to 90 months for sex offense in a parental role and 16 to 29 months for indecent liberties with a child. A variety factors of determine how much of the sentence is served in prison.

Before the agreement, Buckwell could have received 203 months in prison if convicted on all counts, according to court records.

The case originated on Feb. 11, 2016, when a report was made to the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office alleging her adopted father had committed a number of sexual offenses against her between August, 2009 and January, 2016. She alleged that many of the offenses occurred before she was 16 years old. She was 18 when she made the report.

Buckwell was suspended as an officer while an internal investigation was conducted by Concord Police, but resigned in April before that investigation was complete.

Buckwell was originally charged with first-degree statutory rape, statutory rape, first-degree statutory sex offense, statutory sex offense, indecent liberties with a child, sex act by a substitute parent and three counts of misdemeanor child abuse.

The state dropped 12 charges as part of the agreement, according to court records.

Buckwell was admitted into the Craven Correctional Institution in Vanceboro on Thursday, Sept. 1, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety offender website.

Buckwell was a 19-year-veteran of the Concord Police Department and served as a school resource officer since 2000 at Central Cabarrus High School.

According to a press release from law enforcement released in March, there was no evidence Buckwell committed any criminal acts while on duty or serving in the capacity of a Concord police officer.

The case was prosecuted by Rachel B. Larsen, a child abuse resource attorney with the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys. The conference handled the case because of Buckwell’s previous working relationship with the Cabarrus County District Attorney’s Office.

[*Anya*]

I read this thread because I feel I need to look with unblinking eyes at the tragedies that law enforcement officers and departments have committed but it is difficult to do and painful to read.

[Andrea]

Southlake officers disciplined after using Taser on DWI suspect

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article101215492.html

A patrol officer has been demoted and another was suspended for a day after a Keller woman was stunned with a Taser in March before her blood was drawn, according to the police chief and the motorist.

Cpl. Brian Fitzgerald was demoted to the rank of officer while Officer David Tatsak was suspended without pay for a day.

“As Chief of the Southlake Police Department, I expect our officers to uphold the highest standards of accountability within our community,” Southlake Police Chief James Brandon said in an email.

Hannah Fossier, 21, of Keller has told the Star-Telegram she repeatedly refused to have blood drawn on the night of March 20, but officers stunned her twice, and then got a nurse to draw her blood.

“I must have told them at least 10 times no,” Fossier told the Star-Telegram in a May telephone interview. “One officer said if you don’t cooperate, I’m going to Tase you, and he did.”

Brandon has declined to comment on whether officers had a warrant to draw blood from Fossier. Generally, a warrant is needed by officers in Texas to draw blood when a motorist refuses, according to local defense attorneys.

Jail records and Fossier gave this account:

Fossier said she was driving home from her job in Southlake when she was involved in an accident in the 400 block of Pearson Lane. Records indicated she is a cashier at Victoria’s Secret in Southlake.

No serious injuries were reported as a result of the crash.

Fossier said she failed a field sobriety test at the scene.

“I told them that I would submit to a Breathalyzer, but I didn’t want blood drawn,” Fossier told the Star-Telegram in May. “The officer said they didn’t do Breathalyzer, and that we were going to the hospital for blood.”

Fossier said she didn’t know where the officer took her. A major area hospital is Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southlake.

“Two officers held me while a nurse tried to draw blood, but I kept telling them no,” Fossier said. “An officer Tased me once, and then a second time. Then they got my blood.”

Jail records showed that Fossier was arrested at 8:46 p.m. March 20.

Fossier was freed after she posted $1,000 bail shortly after her arrest.

Tarrant County court records indicate Fossier was charged with driving while intoxicated April 5. Records were not available showing her blood-alcohol level.

“I had bruises from where they held me down,” Fossier said. “I never gave them permission to take my blood.”

A trial for Fossier is pending.

“The next day I was made aware of concerns with the arrest by police department staff, so I immediately initiated an internal investigation,” Brandon said in a May email.

The officers were disciplined this summer.

[Andrea]

#DeEscalateDontKill: Black Man Fatally Shot by Florida Cops in His Own Backyard

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/09/black-man-shot-by-florida-cops-in-his-own-backyard/

In the last year, there has been a hashtag directed towards law enforcement all over the nation: #DeEscalateDontKill.

But the police in Broward County, Fla., must have missed the memo.

The Broward Palm Beach New Times reports that police responded to a domestic disturbance call on Friday night and shot and killed a man who was holding a pocket knife—a “rusty pocket knife”—in his own backyard.

The tragedy was set in motion at about 10 p.m. after Gregory Frazier’s sister called 911 because he was arguing with his niece.

By the time police arrived, Frazier, 56, was planted in the backyard of his Pompano Beach home eating chicken wings and fries with a small Swiss Army-style pocket knife in his hand.

The outlet reports that Frazier’s nephew, Quartaze Woodard, says three deputies showed up and told Frazier to get down on the ground. Frazier responded, “Leave me alone.” The deputies repeated the order. Again, Frazier asked them to leave him alone.

Moments later—not one, but two—deputies from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office opened fire. The New Times reports that neighbors say Frazier was hit between five and six times in the back.

Then, after handcuffing him, and removing the handcuffs once they realized he was non-responsive, police attempted to perform CPR. But it was too late.

As per departmental policy, the deputies were placed on paid administrative leave.

“Yes, he had a pocket knife. A rusty pocket knife,” said sister Deborah Frazier to the Miami Herald. “I believe those three cops could have sat down, talked to him, used Tasers, anything, to constrain him.”

She added to the New Times, “I never would have called the cops if I’d known this was going to happen. They just came in and started shooting right away.”

[Andrea]

A Chicago cop was just indicted on civil rights charges for the first time in over a decade

http://fusion.net/story/348362/chicago-police-shooting-civil-rights-indictment/?utm_campaign=ThisIsFusion&utm_source=Twitter&utm_ medium=social

A federal grand jury indicted Chicago police officer Marco Proano on Friday for a 2013 incident in which he shot indiscriminately into a car full of six unarmed black teenagers, wounding two of them, charging that Proano deprived the victims of “the right to be free from unreasonable force by a police officer,” enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. This marks the first time that federal officials have charged a Chicago police officer for a shooting in 15 years, despite more than 700 police shootings in that time, 215 of them fatal, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

This particular shooting was brought to the public’s attention after a retired Cook County judge, Andrew Berman, released video of the shooting to the Chicago Reporter. “My first reaction was, if those are white kids in the car, there’s no way they [would] shoot,” Berman told the Reporter, saying that he released the video to hold Proano accountable for his “outrageous overuse of deadly force.”

The city of Chicago eventually settled a lawsuit three of the victims’ mothers brought against the officers involved for $360,000, but Proano, who has had at least eight other misconduct complaints filed against him and has been named in at least three other misconduct lawsuits the city settled with his victims, has yet to face any punishment for the shooting beyond being relegated to desk duty and being relieved of his police powers in December—two years after the shooting.

The Independent Police Review Authority, the embattled agency that oversees most police misconduct investigations, told the Reporter that it had recently sustained some allegations against Proano, but refused to say what they are and no record of them appears on their website. The Police Department said its legal office was reviewing the recommendations made by IPRA, but would not say what they were.

A previous shooting by Proano, in which he killed 19-year-old Niko Husband outside of a dance, was the subject of a lengthy Chicago Reader look at one of the rare cases a civil lawsuit in a police shooting case makes it all the way to a trial. The jury found in favor of Husband’s family, but the judge nullified the verdict on a legal technicality.

Outside of Chicago, federal officials have rarely filed civil rights charges in police shootings, declining to charge the officers who shot Jamar Clark in Minneapolis, Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee, or Michael Brown in Ferguson. (A notable recent exception is the officer who shot Walter Scott in South Carolina.) A review by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review found that federal prosecutors decline to pursue criminal charges against law enforcement officers 96% of the time.

[Andrea]

METRO officer at center of assault allegations suspended without pay

http://www.click2houston.com/news/2-metro-officers-suspended-after-confrontation-with-man

A man who METRO police said should not have been beaten with a baton was released from jail Friday night and taken to the hospital after charges against him were dropped.

Why Giles was hospitalized wasn't made immediately available.

The METRO police officer at the center of an investigation into allegations of excessive force has been suspended without pay, and a second officer at the scene has been suspended with pay, according to the agency’s police chief.

According to investigators, Officer Jairus Warren approached 31-year-old Darrell Giles, who was slumped over in a seat at the Burnett Station platform Wednesday morning. After a confrontation, Warren beat Giles with a baton.

METRO Police Chief Vera Bumpers said that after Warren and another officer at the scene, identified as Daniel Reynoso, reported a use-of-force incident, a supervisor reviewed video taken by security cameras at the station.

Bumpers said the video showed Warren beating Giles, but she was not able to determine how many times he was struck. Giles’ attorney said her client was hit more than a dozen times.

“One is too many, in my opinion, if it's not justified," Bumpers said.

The video did not show any use of force by Reynoso, Bumpers said.

Giles' mother, Ossie Giles, said she was shocked when she learned of the incident.

"When I seen him on the news, my blood pressure shot through the roof," she said.

Ossie Giles said the only thing her son can be accused of is sleeping on a bench at a train stop.

"It still hurt[s] my heart every time I see it, that they beat my child like that," she said.

Black Lives Matter has demanded that the video be released. Bumpers said it won't be released until the investigation is complete. The group has threatened to occupy the agency’s headquarters until its demands are met.

Bumpers said she apologizes to Giles for anything that he feels was inappropriate. She said she will not tolerate excessive force, and the agency’s policy is to treat everyone with respect.

Originally, Giles was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespass. Those charges were dropped Friday, according to court records.

Bumpers said there had been no previous complaints of excessive force against Warren.

Giles is expected to recover from his injuries, Bumpers said.

[*Anya*]

Court: Officer killed man less than a second after command

By AMANDA LEE MYERS

September 16, 2016

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California police officer gave a man less than a second to raise his hands before opening fire and killing him, a federal appeals court noted Friday in rejecting the officer's request to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against him.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Tustin Police Officer Osvaldo Villarreal couldn't reasonably have feared for his safety when he shot 31-year-old Benny Herrera after responding to a domestic dispute call in December 2011.

That determination ran counter to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, which said in 2013 that the shooting was reasonable and justified because Villarreal fired after Herrera ignored orders to show his hands.

A video captured by a police dashboard camera shows otherwise, according to the 9th Circuit judges who cited the footage.

"Less than a second elapsed between Villarreal commanding Herrera to take his hand from his pocket and Villarreal shooting him," the court wrote. "Just as Herrera's hand came out of his pocket, Villarreal fired two shots in rapid succession ... The command and the shots were almost simultaneous."

The video has not been made public and is under a court seal.

The seven-page review of the case by the Orange County District Attorney's Office does not mention the existence of a video and appears to rely heavily on Villarreal's own statements.

Sonia Balleste, the senior deputy district attorney who wrote the review, said Friday that she didn't immediately recall the case or why the review didn't mention the video but that she was sure she "looked at all the evidence that was available."

"As a general practice it wasn't my custom and habit to write down everything I looked at," she said, adding that her office has since changed how such reviews are written to include more information.

Attorneys for Herrera's parents and four children, all under 7 years old, filed a civil lawsuit against Villarreal and Tustin in 2012. Friday's ruling allows that lawsuit to move forward to trial and upholds a lower court's order declining to toss it out.

Tustin City Attorney David Kendig, speaking on behalf of Villarreal and the city, noted that the 9th Circuit was looking at the case in the light most favorable to Herrera's family.

He said the city provided the district attorney's office with video of the shooting but didn't know why it didn't make it into their review of the case.

Dale Galipo, who represents Herrera's family, criticized the district attorney's review as a "farce."

"Are they not getting all the information from the agency? Did they not get the video, or are they just ignoring facts that support that the shooting was excessive?" Galipo said. "The whole process is flawed. It really is a joke."



http://bigstory.ap.org/article/631a6...-after-command

[Andrea]

Man fatally shot by Tulsa police was unarmed, chief says, as ‘disturbing’ video is released

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/19/man-fatally-shot-by-tulsa-police-was-unarmed-chief-says-as-disturbing-video-is-released/?utm_term=.153f48142eec

Tulsa, Okla., police released video footage Monday that shows a white police officer fatally shooting an unarmed black man — footage that the city’s police chief called “very disturbing.”

“It’s very difficult to watch,” Police Chief Chuck Jordan said at a news conference Monday. “The first time I watched it I watched it with the family … we will do the right thing, we will not cover anything up.”

Jordan said investigators never found a weapon on Terence Crutcher or in his vehicle after the 40-year-old was shot and killed Friday as he stood beside his stalled SUV.

Crutcher died in a hospital later that evening.

Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie had earlier told reporters that two officers were walking toward the stalled SUV when Crutcher approached them from the side of the road.

“He refused to follow commands given by the officers,” MacKenzie said. “They continued to talk to him; he continued not to listen and follow any commands. As they got closer to the vehicle, he reached inside the vehicle and at that time there was a Taser deployment, and a short time later there was one shot fired.”

U.S. Attorney Danny Williams has announced that the Justice Department has opened an independent investigation into the shooting.

The footage is the latest in a series of controversial videos showing white police officers fatally shooting unarmed black men, and promises to add a new chapter to an already bitter and divisive debate about race and policing in America.

Crutcher is one of at least 680 people — 161 of them black men — who have been shot and killed by police officers this year, according to a Washington Post database tracking police shootings.

As has been the case in city after city following fatal police shootings, local officials called for calm and promised transparency in the hopes of preempting civil unrest.

“Please maintain the peace,” Jordan urged.

The chief released few details about the shooting Monday, but said that officers discovered an SUV running in the middle of the road with its doors open. He said that officers then encountered Crutcher, who the officers claim did not comply with their demands and appeared to reach into the vehicle.

Video shows Crutcher walking toward his vehicle with his hands above his head while several officers follow closely behind him with weapons raised. He lingers at his vehicle’s driver’s side window, his body facing the SUV, before slumping to the ground a second later.

“Shots fired!” a female voice can be heard yelling.

Based on the video alone, it appears unclear who fired the fatal shot or why it was fired.

After Crutcher is hit, footage shows his limp and bloodied body lying on the roadway beside his vehicle. Officers appear to wait more than a minute before approaching Crutcher while he bleeds in the street.

“It was reported that Terence died at the hospital, that is not true,” said Demario Solomon Simmons, one of the attorneys for Crutcher’s family. “Terence died on that street by himself.”

On Sunday, police released the names of the officers involved. Officer Betty Shelby, who has been with the force since 2011, fired her service weapon, and officer Tyler Turnbough, who was hired in 2009, deployed his Taser, police said. Both officers were placed on administrative leave with pay.

Police showed the video to Crutcher’s family Sunday afternoon, and then to a group of local community leaders and ministers.

The Crutcher family and their attorneys were particularly angered by audio recordings of the responding officers, in which one officer describes Crutcher as a “bad dude.”

“We’re truly devastated. The entire family is devastated,” said Tiffany Crutcher, the slain man’s twin sister. “That big bad dude was a father, that big bad dude was a son, that big bad dude was enrolled at Tulsa Community College just wanting to make us all proud, that big bad dude loved God, that big bad dude was in church singing with all of his flaws every week.”

Crutcher said her family’s demand is for the “incompetent” officer who killed her brother to be charged immediately.

She recalled celebrating her and her brother’s recent 40th birthday, on Aug. 16. On that day, Crutcher texted her to promise that he would complete his community college classes.

“I have his text message, and it said: I’m going to show you. I’m going to make you all proud,” she said. “And now he’ll never get that chance.”

Ray Owens, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, was one of the the ministers shown the video before its public release and said the images were even worse than expected.

“I didn’t expect the video to be this troubling, but it is troubling,” Owens said. “The officer who shot and killed Terence said he refused to show his hands. The video footage, however, shows him with hands in the air, he walks away from the police at a slow pace, leans against the car, and that is when he was shot.”

Owens said that the group of leaders gathered in the room were shocked by what they had seen, especially because it appeared that officers did not render aid to the dying man for more than a minute after he was shot.

“We asked questions of the police officers and the chief of police, who was there,” Owens said. “And there didn’t seem to be a real good explanation for why police would not have rendered medical aid for so long.”

“He needed help, he needed a hand. And what he got was a bullet in the lungs,” said Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney who has represented the families of the slain in many high-profile police shootings.

Crump compared the shooting to that of Jonathan Ferrell in North Carolina and Corey Jones in Florida, both cases which began with a black man having his car break down only to end up shot dead by an officer.

“What was Terence Crutcher’s crime?” Crump asked. “When unarmed people of color break down on the side of the road, we’re not treated as citizens needing help, we’re treated as criminals, as suspects.”

For Tulsa, Friday’s shooting is the second time in as many years that the police have been involved in a controversial, high-profile shooting that was captured on video. This year, 74-year-old Robert Bates, a wealthy insurance executive who was a reserve Tulsa deputy, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter by a jury after he was caught on camera killing an unarmed black man fleeing police.

In April, jurors only needed three hours to find Bates guilty. His lawyer blamed “negative press” for the verdict.

The insurance executive had pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the death of Eric Harris, the unarmed black man he shot and killed during an undercover operation April 2, 2015. Moments after shooting Harris, Bates could be heard on camera claiming that he shot Harris after mistakenly reaching for his gun instead of his taser at the end of a foot race.

According to the Tulsa World, Bates’s lawyer called a psychiatrist to testify that Bates “mistakenly shooting Harris was reasonable given the stress of the situation, and before closing arguments jurors were instructed on the statutory requirements for ‘excusable homicide.’ ” Jurors didn’t buy the argument, agreeing with prosecutors after the 1 1/2-week trial that Bates was guilty of criminal negligence.

Andre Harris, the brother of the slain man, said four years in prison would “teach [Bates] a lesson,” the newspaper reported. “That place ain’t that nice,” Andre Harris told reporters. “He said he hopes Bates learns that all lives matter, and he said Bates should not have been on a drug task force chasing supposedly deadly criminals,” the newspaper reported. “Not at 73.”

[Medusa]

The Terence Crutcher video has been popping up on my Facebook feed all morning.

They shot that man in cold blood. In the back. With his hands in the air. As he walked away from them.

I am sick to my stomach.

[Cin]

There were zero police officers convicted when charged with murder or manslaughter of citizens while on duty in 2015. ZERO. To my knowledge that number is still zero. I have not been able to find any police officer convicted when charged of murder or manslaughter while on duty as of yet in 2016. It's possible I just have not been able to find a record of it in 2016 and somewhere, somehow a cop was held accountable, but I'm not aware of it and I know for a fact no accountability in 2015. It is so disturbing I have found myself too angry to read about this sometimes. It is really alarming that the police kill someone every 8 hours. There were 1207 people killed by the police in 2015 and so far as of September 20 there were 837. Are Americans that dangerous a people that even unarmed, they need to be shot dead in the streets every 8 hours? To my knowledge there is no reliable data kept federally regarding police killings. Many are not even reported. The Washington Post started keeping track of fatal shootings by police, the Guardian started keeping track of all deaths at the hands of police regardless of the weapon or means and there is a website, Fatal Encounters, that keeps track also. It seems really sketchy to me that there is no public record of deaths of citizens by police officers. Here is another website called killedbypolice.net that keeps track if you have the stomach for it http://www.killedbypolice.net/

I want to thank Nat for starting this thread and Anya and the others who post articles here, but most of all I want to give a shout out to Andrea for her unflinching dedication to this issue. It is not an easy thing. Thanks Andrea!

[Andrea]

An Inmate Died Of Thirst In A Jail Run By A Loudly Pro-Trump Sheriff

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-clarke-jail-death-terrill-thomas_us_57e03580e4b04a1497b5f12e

Authorities have ruled the death of an inmate at a jail run by a top law enforcement supporter of GOP nominee Donald Trump a homicide caused by “profound dehydration.”

Terrill Thomas, 38, was found dead in a Milwaukee County Jail cell on April 24, nine days after being arrested in connection with a shooting. Other inmates heard Thomas beg for water in the days before he died, the Journal Sentinel reported in July.

The Huffington Post has been tracking jail deaths ― more than 800 ― in the year since Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail on July 13, 2015.

Last week the Milwaukee County medical examiner announced that Thomas’ death was due to profound dehydration, according to the Journal Sentinel. By labeling the death a homicide, the medical examiner indicated that it was caused by the actions of another person, although that judgment does not necessarily mean that anyone will be criminally prosecuted in the case.

The Milwaukee County Jail is run by Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., an outspoken Trump supporter and critic of the Black Lives Matter movement. Clarke, who is technically a Democrat, has become popular in conservative circles in recent years for his specific criticism of President Barack Obama and more general critiques of liberalism. A recent disclosure form revealed that Clarke took in more than $150,000 in speaking fees, travel reimbursements and gifts in 2015.

Inmates told the Journal Sentinel that the water in Thomas’ cell had been shut off for six days, and one inmate allegedly said to a guard, “If something happens to that man, it’s your fault.”

“No one should ever die of dehydration. It just should never happen,” Erik J. Heipt, a lawyer for the Thomas family, told The Huffington Post.

Heipt, who has represented the families of a number of individuals who lost their lives in jail, said dehydration deaths were relatively rare. He pointed to a lawsuit involving a 25-year-old man who died of dehydration and malnutrition in a Island County Jail in Washington state, which was settled for $4 million last year.

“They may well have had reason to turn off the water. There absolutely could be reasons why you’d want to turn off someone’s water in their cell. But to then not give them drinking water? That’s crazy,” Heipt said. “To make a human being die of thirst, where they have no ability to get their own water for survival, that’s pretty inhumane. It doesn’t get much worse than that.”

Heipt said he has received calls from other former inmates of the Milwaukee County Jail who said the water to their cells had been cut off, too. In fact, another inmate, Antonio Cowser, died in 2011 after water to his cell was turned off.

“They could have gave him some water,” Thomas’ mother Celia told the Journal Sentinel.

Clarke’s office issued a press release stating that it will not be commenting on the death until all investigations, as well as any civil lawsuits, have ended

The Huffington Post is continuing to collect information on jail deaths that took place in the year after Bland died. Her family recently reached a settlement with Texas authorities in connection with her death.

[Andrea]

Man dies 3 days after allegedly fighting with Baltimore County police in Middle River

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-co-police-fight-20160920-story.html#

A 21-year-old Baltimore County man died Wednesday, days after police say he struggled with several police officers in Middle River.

Tawon Boyd was injured in the confrontation Sunday morning, authorities said, but they did not provide details. An attorney for Boyd’s family said his kidneys and heart failed.

An autopsy is to be performed to determine the cause of death, authorities said, and the county police and fire departments are conducting internal investigations.

Police say officers who were called to the first block of Akin Circle in Middle River just after 3 a.m. Sunday arrived at a chaotic scene. They said Boyd’s girlfriend had called 911 and said he was acting “crazy.”

Officers said they found Boyd “confused and paranoid, sweating heavily.”

Boyd tried to run to different police cars and get inside and was banging on neighbors’ doors, according to police and his grandmother.
Tawon Boyd

Tawon Boyd, a 21-year-old Baltimore County man, has died after allegedly fighting with police in Middle River early Sunday morning. This image shows Boyd in the hospital after the incident. (Family photo via WJZ / Handout)

Linda Burch, Boyd’s grandmother, lived with the couple and their toddler son on Akin Circle. She said Boyd “was acting kind of strange, like he was on something.”

But she said police used too much force to restrain him.

“He was just hollering and screaming on the ground, and they just kept pushing him down, pushing him down, on his shoulder and back and stuff, hitting him,” Burch said. “He was trying to get them off of him.”

Burch said she and Boyd’s girlfriend were afraid he would be seriously hurt.

“I kept telling them stop before they hurt him because I told them they could kill him like that,” she said. “They told me to go across the street before they lock me up.”

Police said Boyd resisted arrest. They said three officers who restrained Boyd were injured. One wrote in a police report that he punched Boyd twice because Boyd was hanging onto him.

The officers said they were able to finally restrain Boyd by holding him down with their arms and body weight.

Medics were called and administered something to Boyd, but the treatment was redacted in the police report, and police officials said medical privacy laws prevented them from releasing it.

Boyd calmed down, police said, and an officer asked a medic to check his pulse. Boyd was still breathing and had a heartbeat as he was loaded into an ambulance, police said.

“Mr. Boyd was in need of medical attention, and the police responded with violence,” said Latoya Francis-Williams, the family’s attorney. “The police beat him into intensive care, and now he’s no longer with us.”

[Andrea]

Cops Pepper-Spray Girl Who Fell Off Bike

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/22/video-white-cops-pepper-spray-black-girl-after-she-falls-off-her-bike.html

When a teenage girl riding her bike collided with a car, cops didn’t simply take her to the hospital but instead handcuffed her, pepper sprayed her, and threw her in the back of their squad car.

A bystander’s cell phone footage shows the 15-year-old girl from Hagerstown, Maryland being loaded into a police car Sunday. At this point the girl, a minor whose name is being withheld, ask to speak with “Zack,” an officer she says is black, unlike her arresting officers who are white. Then, while the girl is handcuffed in the back of the car, police are seen firing pepper spray at her through the window.

“I can’t breathe!” the girl screams.

Instead of taking the girl to the hospital like they initially told her, police took her to the police station for interrogation. But her lawyer said she never should have been in the squad car in the first place.

“She was flipped over in the air, came down hard on the pavement, was motionless there for at least 30 seconds,” attorney Robin Ficker told The Daily Beast. “Then she recovered, woke up and the ambulance came. She did not want to go with the strangers in the ambulance, she wanted to go to her home nearby. She got on her bike, started peddling away to go home, and a huge officer grabbed her off her bike without any warning whatsoever from behind.”

Body camera footage released by the Hagerstown Police shows the girl refusing to go with polic before an officer grabs her backpack. Then she is handcuffed and pushed against a brick wall while bystanders gather. “You let that badge go to your head,” one onlooker tells an officer.

While the officers had allegedly arrived on the scene to take the girl to the hospital, they began referring to her in criminal terms.

“We’re detaining you for incooperation with an investigation,” one officer says while the girl is forcibly cuffed.

Hagerstown Police told The Daily Beast that they were simultaneously investigating the girl’s bike crash while attempting to take her to the hospital.

“The reason she was placed in custody, is first and foremost we were investigating an accident she was involved in,” Hagerstown Police Captain Paul Kifer told The Daily Beast. “She attempted to leave on a bicycle … she refused to give ay info on who she was.”

Even if the officers had wanted to take her to the hospital, they had no legal grounds for doing so forcibly, Ficker said.

“They said ‘you have to come in, you can’t refuse treatment.’ Well there’s no Maryland law that says you can’t refuse treatment,” he told The Daily Beast. “They certainly don’t arrest every Jehovah’s Witness that refuses treatment. There’s no law that says you can’t refuse treatment.”

When bystanders began arguing with police, an officer used the girl’s age to justify her arrest, saying that she could not refuse treatment as a minor.

“What happens when she’s like ‘I’m fine,’ and has a brain injury afterwards?” an officer says when an onlooker filming the event asks why the girl is being arrested. “She could die later … all we want to do is make sure she’s okay.”

Kifer said the girl’s detention was standard procedure.

“We’re not gonna let her go until she’s released to a parent or guardian,” he told The Daily Beast. “If we let her go and she goes around the corner and has an aneurism and dies, that’s on us.”

But Ficker said the force of the girl’s arrest contradicts the police argument that she required urgent treatment.

“Well if someone may have brain damage, why are you slamming her against a wall? Why are you putting her in a police car,” he said, “without a seatbelt, I might add, in violation of police policy.”

Even after police seat the handcuffed girl in the squad car, she refuses to pull her feet into the vehicle, body camera footage shows. Police fire pepper spray at her face from close range and slam the door while she is coughing and screaming. The car pulls away while the girl is still shouting and crying.

But police did not take her to a hospital, Ficker said. Instead, the girl was transported to the police station, where she was interrogated and charged with disorderly conduct, two counts of second degree assault, possession of marijuana and failure to obey a traffic device.

Ficker contends that the “flake” of marijuana found in the girl’s backpack was planted by police, a claim police adamantly deny.

“I categorically deny that,” Kifer said. “It’s absurd and offensive for an attorney to accuse law enforcement of planting anything.”

Police did not return a request for a copy of the arrest report. But Ficker says the official reason for the girl’s arrest, as listed in her medical report was not criminal at all.

“Police told the hospital that the reason she was arrested was not because she was refusing treatment, but because she wouldn’t give insurance information,” Ficker said. “Insurance was never mentioned, and furthermore, who expects a kid on a bike to have insurance information?”

“It’s ridiculous,” he added. “These cops are lying.”

[Andrea]

Three Phoenix police officers resign after being accused of forcing a man to eat marijuana

http://www.businessinsider.com/three-phoenix-police-officers-resign-after-being-accused-of-forcing-a-man-to-eat-marijuana-2016-9

Three Phoenix police officers have resigned after a man alleged they forced him to eat marijuana found in his vehicle to avoid going to jail, Chief Joseph Yahner said Thursday.

A fourth officer, Jeff Farrior, was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant for being aware of last week's incident and not taking appropriate action, Yahner told reporters.

"Their actions are appalling and unacceptable. This conduct is against everything that we stand for," Yahner said.

Police identified the three officers who quit as Richard G. Pina, Jason E. McFadden and Michael J. Carnicle.

Two of them are being investigated both criminally and by the department, Yahner said, adding that the third officer is considered a witness to the act and is the subject of just the administrative investigation.

Yahner said all of the officers' video cameras were turned off and did not record the incident in which a 19-year-old Phoenix man was stopped for a traffic violation around 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 13. The man, whose name was not released by police, was issued a citation and had his car towed.

He later told a patrol supervisor that the officers demanded he eat the marijuana, estimated to be about a gram, or go to jail.

The man reported feeling ill after ingesting the marijuana of an unknown potency, but didn't need any medical attention, a police spokesman said.

Yahner called the allegations about the officers' actions "disturbing and upsetting."

The three officers who quit were all in their first year with Phoenix police and were probationary employees, according to Yahner.

"I was going to fire them. They chose to resign," he said.

Yahner declined to discuss details of the criminal and internal investigations.

[Andrea]

Caught on Camera: Texas Transit Cop Resigns After Train Station Beating

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/caught-camera-texas-transit-cop-resigns-after-train-station-beating-n654821

A Texas transit cop resigned on Monday after a train station camera captured the officer repeatedly beating a man with a baton two weeks ago, authorities said.

Metro Police Department Chief Vera Bumpers said in a statement that a review board concluded that the officer, identified only as J. Warren, used excessive force in the Sept. 14 encounter.

"The board recommended termination of the officer," Bumpers said. "Officer Warren, however, presented his resignation before that action could be taken."

Video footage published by NBC affiliate KPRC showed two officers approaching a man slumped over on a platform bench at Burnett Transit Center, north of downtown Houston.

The station identified the man as Darren Giles, 31.

In the two-and-a-half-minute silent video, Warren can be seen attempting rouse Giles while a second officer looked through a cooler that sat beside him. When Giles stood up, Warren struck him repeatedly for approximately eight seconds.

As Giles writhed on the platform floor — and as the two officers restrained him — Warren struck him two more times.

Giles was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespass, KPRC reported, though those were later dropped.

The second officer, Daniel Reynoso, will return to duty after additional training, Bumpers said.

"This incident is not reflective of our police force and I will not tolerate inappropriate use of force by officers," she said.