Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

Plainclothes officer who killed Florida church drummer is charged with manslaughter, attempted murder

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/06/01/plainclothes-officer-who-killed-florida-church-drummer-charged-with-manslaughter-attempted-murder/

Florida prosecutors announced Wednesday that a grand jury indicted former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja on charges of manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm for the shooting death of 31-year-old Corey Jones.

The charges come seven months after Jones, a well-known area musician, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, 2015, while he waited for a tow truck after his car broke down on an Interstate 95 off-ramp. Jones was armed at the time with a weapon he had purchased legally just three days earlier when he was approached by Raja, a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg announced Wednesday that a grand jury concluded Raja’s use of force was unjustified. Documents released Wednesday allege that Raja never identified himself to Jones as a police officer as he drove up to the stranded motorist, yelled commands and then opened fire.

“The grand jury today found that the use of force by Mr. Raja was unjustified,” Aronberg said. “Mr. Raja has been arrested and taken into custody.”

After the shooting, Palm Beach police officials said that Raja believed he was investigating an abandoned vehicle when he was suddenly confronted by an armed man. However, for the months that the case has been under investigation, it has remained unclear whether Raja announced himself as an officer or what other words were exchanged between the men prior to the shooting.

Charging documents released Wednesday by prosecutors state that: According to an audio recording of the interaction, at no point did Raja identify himself to Jones as a police officer; he was not wearing his tactical vest identifying himself as a police officer; and Raja’s vehicle was not immediately distinguishable as a police vehicle. Prosecutors say Raja drove his unmarked van the wrong way down the interstate off-ramp in order to confront Jones about 3:15 a.m.

“A reasonable person can only assume the thoughts and concerns Corey Jones was experiencing as he saw the van approaching him at that hour of the morning,” prosecutors wrote in the charging documents. “Raja stopped his van at a perpendicular angle directly in front of Jones’s vehicle. … At no time during the recording did Raja say he was a police officer.”

According to the transcript included in the charging documents, Raja asked Jones several times if he was “good,” before transitioning to demanding he put his hands in the air.

Raja: You good?

Jones: I’m good.

Raja: Really?

Jones: Yeah, I’m good.

Raja: Really?

Jones: Yeah.

Raja: Get your f—ing hands up! Get your f—ing hands up!

Jones: Hold on!

Raja: Get your f—ing hands up! Drop!

Then, according to the documents, Raja fired three shots in rapid succession, prompting an AT&T call center operator who had been on the phone with Jones as he waited for the tow truck to exclaim “Oh my gosh!” Then, 10 seconds later, Raja fired three more shots.

Prosecutors say that Raja then called 911, about 30 seconds after firing his last round.

“I came out, I saw him come out with a handgun,” Raja told the 911 dispatcher. “I gave him commands, I identified myself, and he turned, pointed the gun at me and started running. I shot him.”

When other officers arrived at the scene, they found Jones’s body about 192 feet away from his car. Jones’s gun was found between him and the car, about 72 feet away from the vehicle.

Jones was one of 990 people fatally shot by police officers in 2015, according to a Washington Post database tracking such incidents. Raja becomes just the 12th officer charged in connection to a fatal police shooting that occurred in 2015, and is the only officer charged in connection to a shooting in which the person killed was allegedly armed.

Jones’s family, in a statement issued through the law firm of civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, praised the prosecutor’s decision to bring charges.

“We were relieved to learn that officer Nouman Raja, who senselessly killed Corey Jones, was arrested earlier today and will face criminal charges for his reckless act. While we understand that nothing can bring back our son, brother and friend, this arrest sends a message that this conduct will not be tolerated from members of law enforcement,” the statement said. “Our goal now as a family is to ensure that this never happens to another innocent citizen. In spite of this news, our hearts are heavy. We lost a wonderful soul. But rather than focus on the reprehensible actions of one police officer, today we choose to celebrate Corey’s life.”

Rep. Patrick E. Murphy (D-Fla.), who has introduced body camera and police data collection legislation in response to Jones’s death, also praised the decision to bring charges against Raja.

“Today’s indictment of former officer Nouman Raja demonstrates that no one is above the law,” Murphy said in a statement. “It is also an important step forward for our community to begin to heal and to restore trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. While nothing will bring Corey back, I hope today’s action brings some peace to his loved ones as we continue to honor his life by working together to prevent future tragedies such as this.”

[Andrea]

Video release of police shootings, incidents marks seismic shift in Chicago's secrecy

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-videos-met-20160603-story.html

The Emanuel administration posted evidence online Friday morning from more than 100 pending investigations of police shootings and other incidents, marking a watershed moment for a city that fought for decades to keep videos in excessive force cases hidden from the public.

The document dump comes more than six months after video of a Chicago police officer shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times changed the landscape for the embattled Police Department.

As many as half of the 100 cases still under investigation by the city's police oversight agency include dashcam videos, surveillance footage and audio, including a handful deemed "sensitive" because they depict citizens being beaten or shot, city officials said.

The move marks the official rollout of a new policy to release video of shootings by police within 60 days of most incidents — an unprecedented shift toward transparency that even longtime critics of the secrecy of the Police Department have praised as an important step.

"I think this is a big thing," said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who has studied police misconduct. "We are experiencing a sea change, and lots of credit should go around for that."

Andrea: Click link for rest of long article that includes police misconduct examples

[*Anya*]

Originally Posted by 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.

Every time that I think I could not possibly read anything more outrageous than the travesty I had read about previously: there is yet another one even more horribly unbelievable but true!

What the living fuck is going on with the police in this country??

[Andrea]

SEE IT: Infamous NYPD sergeant points gun at man recording her, then busts into apartment and arrests him

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/nypd-sergeant-aims-gun-man-recording-illegal-search-article-1.2661248?cid=bitly

An NYPD sergeant is facing disciplinary action for pointing her department-issued gun at a Brooklyn man who was recording her with his cell phone, the Daily News has learned.

Sgt. Diana Pichardo then confronted the man, David Rivera, called him a "motherf-----," and snatched the phone from his hand — which was all captured on a recording.

Rivera, who was arrested on a slew of felony charges which the Brooklyn district attorney's office declined to prosecute, reported the shocking incident to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. The CCRB substantiated Rivera's allegations that Pichardo pointed her gun at him, abused her authority by searching his apartment without a warrant, and spoke discourteously to him.

Rivera's video, which he shared with The News, is the second video to surface recently which depicts an NYPD cop pointing a firearm at someone merely holding a phone. Harlem cop Risel Martinez was stripped of his gun and badge last month after he was caught on camera menacing onlookers and punching a man recording him.

"I think many police officers fear the camera and attempt to stop the recording because they're concerned it's going to be used against them," said lawyer Jason Leventhal who plans to file a lawsuit on Rivera's behalf this week in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Andrea: Click link for rest of article

[Andrea]

Off-duty cop allegedly punched elderly woman because of dog

http://nypost.com/2016/06/06/off-duty-cop-allegedly-punched-elderly-woman-because-of-dog/

An off-duty cop punched a 72-year-old woman in the face during an argument over her dog in Brooklyn, according to police sources and the lady.

NYPD Officer Vladimir Radionov, 46, allegedly became enraged when Janet Goldschmidt tried to bring her 9-pound Yorkshire terrier onto the elevator of their building on Sea Coast Terrace in Brighton Beach and began arguing with her around 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

“He came at me like a bull,” Goldschmidt told The Post. “He just attacked me.”

She said she’d just returned from walking her small dog, whose name is Alvick, when Radionov started cursing her after she stepped into the elevator.

“He says, ‘Take your motherf–king dog out of the elevator. I don’t want to go up with your f–king dirty dog,'” she recalled.

Dogs are only allowed in the service elevator, but Goldschmidt asked if she could ride up to her floor in the passenger lift first.

Goldschmidt said the off-duty officer became enraged after she entered the lift with her dog, Alvick.Photo: Gabriella Bass

“He said ‘No’ and started punching me,” she recalled. “I throw a cup of coffee, thinking this is going to stop him but it doesn’t. He punches me in the back. He grabs me and pulls me out like I am a child.”

Footage from a surveillance camera inside the elevator shows Radionov dragging the petite, 5-foot woman and her dog outside the lift, sources said.

Goldschmidt told police the cop then slugged her in the back of the head. A law enforcement source said the punch was not caught on camera.

At one point, the elderly woman fell backward to the floor, injuring her tailbone and hitting the back of her head. She also scraped her arm during the fall, sources said.

When Radionov tried to get back into the elevator, Goldschmidt lunged after him to try to retaliate, sources said.

He then allegedly gave her one last shove before she hurled a cup of coffee on him as the doors shut.

Janet Goldschmidt, 72, was allegedly attacked on an elevator with her dog, Alvick.Photo: Gabriella Bass

Goldschmidt called the building superintendent and described her attacker before he gave her Radionov’s name and apartment number.

She then called cops, who went up to Radionov’s apartment and brought him down on the elevator.

Once in the lobby, Goldschmidt identified Radionov to cops, who arrested him and later charged him with assault.

She was taken to Coney Island Hospital for treatment.

“He hit a 72-year-old woman, it is unbelievable,” Goldschmidt said. “I thought I was going to die from anxiety, I couldn’t breathe.”

Radionov will likely be arraigned Monday.

“This is like someone’s grandmother,” said a police source who questioned Radionov’s judgment as an officer based on how he handled the situation.

“He has a special manual for himself on professional manners and respect.”

[Andrea]

St. Louis Police Secretly Paid Thousands To Victims’ Families Without Prosecutors’ Knowledge

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/06/06/3784967/st-louis-settlements/

In the past few years, St. Louis police have shelled out $4.7 million in settlement money for fatalities, injuries, and wrongful imprisonment. According to an investigation by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, three of those settlements were made long before prosecutors decided whether or not to file criminal charges against the officers responsible — or weren’t reviewed by prosecutors at all.

The Post-Dispatch discovered that St. Louis police have settled 44 cases since 2010. One of those cases involved the fatal shooting of Jason Stockley, which was settled for $900,000, two years before the officer involved was charged with murder. The families of two other police shooting victims, Cary Ball and Normane Bennett, received money for cases that Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce didn’t intend to investigate or prosecute. Ball’s family received $400,000 roughly five months after he was shot 21 times by police officers. Bennett’s family received $212,500 nearly two years after the 23-year-old was killed while running away from police.

In response to the investigation, Joyce’s office expressed concern that police agreed to pay hundreds of thousands to Ball and Bennett’s families without having the cases looked into by prosecutors. However, there is still no intention to review them in the future, because of a lack of funding and “manpower.”

Is St. Louis Really Committed To Police Accountability? Or Are They Just Papering Over The Problems?

The decision to pay victims' families occurred in the years leading up to Michael Brown's shooting, which put a spotlight on St. Louis for officers' excessive use of force. The city's police are now under fire for making unconstitutional, warrant-less arrests. The settlements suggest that officers have tried to cover up misconduct for years.

“In my considerable experience, police departments do not settle and certainly don’t settle for a lot of money unless there is clear evidence of liability, clear evidence the shooting was unjustified,” Jon Loevy, an attorney with the Chicago firm Loevy & Loevy, told the Post-Dispatch. The firm recently won a $2.5 million settlement in court for an exoneree whose case involved St. Louis police. “I can tell you from experience, they don’t just cough up money routinely. They fight hard, they are reluctant to resolve cases and there is just not that kind of money lying around unless there is merit.”

St. Louis is far from the only city to shell out money to victims. In April, Cleveland agreed to pay Tamir Rice's estate $6 million following a wrongful death lawsuit. In New York City, Eric Garner's family received $5.9 million. Baltimore agreed to a $6.4 million settlement for the death of Freddie Gray.

But police departments -- or the officers accused of wrongdoing -- rarely foot the bill. Operating on limited budgets, most departments simply don't have the money. Police forces that do have larger budgets to work with, such as the NYPD, are bogged down with multiple lawsuits and financially drained as a result. In the end, the government usually pays for the settlements using taxpayer money.

[*Anya*]

Distracted California patrol officer kills teenager in crash

Updated 4:19 pm, Wednesday, June 8, 2016

ORLAND, Calif. (AP) — Officials say a Northern California teenager is dead after a California Highway Patrol officer became distracted and rear-ended another vehicle.

The Glenn County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that 15-year-old Weston Sites of Willows, California was pronounced dead at the scene along Interstate 5 near the town of Orland.

CHP Sgt. Tony Odell tells television station KCRA-TV (http://bit.ly/1OdDyjw ) that the officer was looking down at his computer about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

He didn't notice that northbound traffic was slowing until it was too late to avoid rear-ending the vehicle where Sites was riding in the back seat.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/D...ls-7971283.php

[Andrea]

Video: SAPD officer suspended after challenging arrestee to fight, removing his handcuffs

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/crime/article/VIDEO-SAPD-officer-agreed-to-fight-man-during-7973241.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop

A San Antonio Police Department officer received an indefinite suspension in May for an incident last year in which he removed an arrestee's handcuffs and challenged him to a fight outside his cruiser.

During the Aug. 1, 2015 incident, the officer, identified as Matthew Belver, removed the man's restraints, let him out of his cruiser and said he would "beat your ass... Are your ready?," according to dashcam video obtained by mySA.com.

Belver called the man, identified as Eloy Leal, a coward after he refused to fight and, when Leal asked what he was being charged with, the officer responded "I'll think of something... How about public intoxication, pedestrian in a roadway? Whatever else I can think of."

Leal was charged with interfering with the duties of a public servant, but that charge was later dropped, according to online records.

After Leal gets back into the car, he asks the officer if he was serious about the challenge.

“You were actually gonna let me fight. Really? Honest to God? One-on-one?”

Belver said he was ready to go.

“You could kick my a--, take my gun, shoot me in the head, I don’t give a f--- what you do,” Belver said.

According to suspension documents, Belver was among officers who responded to a shooting around 5 a.m. in the 3100 block of Cahmita Street on the South Side, where he detained a man identified in the documents as Eloy Leal.

The dashcam footage begins with Leal sitting in the back of Belver’s patrol vehicle, where he appears to be talking, but there is no audio of his voice initially.

When the audio begins less than 30 seconds later, Belver and Leal exchange a few words. Leal can be heard saying I'm in the "backseat and now you want to talk all this s---."

The officer can be heard saying “let’s take the cuffs off,” as Leal sits restrained in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Belver agrees to the one-on-one fight and proceeds to remove the man’s restraints and pull him out of the car.

When Leal does not engage in the fight with the officer, Belver handcuffs him again and puts him back in the vehicle.

“I thought you were gonna fight, like you said,” Belver said.

According to suspension records, Belver called Leal a coward and a “dumb f---” while transporting him to the central magistrate's office.

The San Antonio Police Department confirmed on Thursday that Belver is appealing the suspension.

[Andrea]

City of Stockton Settles Abuse of Force Lawsuit Involving K-9

http://fox40.com/2016/06/13/city-of-stockton-settles-abuse-of-force-lawsuit-involving-k-9/

The city of Stockton will shell out $307,500 to settle a federal abuse of force case against the Stockton Police Department.

In grainy cell phone video, 18-year-old James Smith is handcuffed on the ground while a Stockton police K-9 repeatedly bites him. The video is hard to make out, but for Teresa Smith, it’s a clear example of Stockton police officers abusing their authority.

"I birthed him, I love him, and I will fight for him because I am his keeper!” said Teresa Smith of Stockton.

According to a complaint, the use of force event in question happened in November 2014 near Smith’s home on East Flora Street in Stockton.

Teresa Smith said the officers involved should have never used force on her son because he was born mentally disabled.

"They beat me up with a dog,” James Smith said.

On Monday, her attorneys with the Dolan Law Firm said the city of Stockton settled the civil lawsuit.

FOX40 also contacted the Stockton Police Department who said: “Out of respect for the litigation process they cannot comment.”

Officers said they were breaking up a fight.

Teresa Smith, who was at church at the time, claimed the neighborhood boys were just roughhousing.

Five officers are named in the complaint, including Houston Sensabaugh, now known as Houston Stevens. Attorneys claimed Stevens was involved in three deadly officer-involved shootings. Teresa Smith wants him off the force.

"I don't feel safe. Officer Sensabaugh did a crime and he need to pay for it,” she said.

Even though the case has been settled, Teresa Smith said she’ll never stop fighting for her son.

"Money, it can't buy justice,” she said.

[Andrea]

State Trooper Gets Just 6 Months For Raping Car Accident Victim

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/04/state-trooper-gets-just-6-months-for-raping-car-accident-victim.html

An Alabama state trooper accused of raping a car accident victim and forcing her to perform oral sex was sentenced to just six months in jail.

Samuel H. McHenry II, 36, pleaded guilty on Thursday to misdemeanor sexual misconduct under a deal with prosecutors. He originally faced charges of rape and sodomy for the December 2015 incident, but those were dismissed.

Under the agreement, the ex-trooper’s state certification will be revoked and he will be required to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported.

McHenry will also be permitted to serve his sentence “in increments at his own discretion,” WSFA reported. The 182 days must be served within the next year.

The Alabama Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Both sides have to agree to it, so in that sense there was that discussion about is this acceptable to both sides,” Mcgowin Williamson, one of the attorneys who represented McHenry, told the Associated Press.

When reached by The Daily Beast on Thursday, Williamson wouldn’t comment on McHenry or the Internet’s outrage over his client's plea deal.

The attorney said the victim and her attorney were present during the proceeding, indicating civil litigation may be forthcoming.

“The normal thing is … this [deal] would not be done without the victim’s agreement and acquiescence,” Williamson told The Daily Beast. “As I wasn’t privy to those communications, I don’t know in this case, but normally that would happen.”

Williamson told the AP that prosecutors offered McHenry the plea deal. The agreement came after three hours of negotiations, according to Judge J. MacDonald Russell Jr., the AP reported.

“I suppose the court can always refuse a plea bargain, but that’s not done very often,” Judge Russell told the AP. “I’ve never refused a plea bargain that the parties have hammered out and worked on, since they know the facts.”

Still, the allegations against the former cop are shocking.

McHenry, of Rutledge, was supposed to help the victim on Dec. 6 when he was called to the scene of the accident in Butler County around 10 p.m.

Instead, the sicko threatened to arrest her after spotting pill bottles and an empty nasal spray bottle in her vehicle, Birmingham’s WVTM reported.

According to an affidavit, McHenry placed the woman in a caged area in the back of his squad car and drove her to an exit off Interstate 65 in south Alabama.

Once in a new location, he opened the back door and told her, “Fuck me or go to jail,” court papers state. He then pulled her pants down, raped her and afterward, forced her to perform oral sex, according to the documents.

McHenry then allegedly drove to another exit and dumped the victim at a closed store before taking off. The alleged assault ended around 1:45 a.m. on Dec. 7, court records state.

The trooper was arrested, freed on bond and fired shortly after. At the time, Alabama Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier called the allegations “unsettling.”

“This type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Collier said, according to WVTM. “Because of the seriousness of this incident, [State Bureau of Investigation] agents have worked nonstop with local law enforcement and the district attorney.”

Last month, the AP reported that McHenry was fighting prosecutors’ request for a saliva sample, which they said would ensure a full investigation.

According to the AP, the victim was examined Dec. 7 at a hospital and a rape kit was obtained. Prosecutors said samples taken from McHenry’s patrol car tested positive for the presence of semen.

McHenry’s attorneys sought to block authorities from obtaining a saliva sample until they could consult with an expert to ensure the samples would be properly taken, AP reported.

The cop-turned-sex offender had worked as a state trooper since 2009, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency confirmed.

He was required to pay a $500 fine and restitution for the heinous crime and was ordered not to contact the victim, WSFA reported.

[Andrea]

Chemist May Have Tainted 24,000 Court Cases

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/17/chemist-may-have-tainted-24-000-court-cases.html?via=twitter_page

Four years after chemist Annie Dookhan was arrested for falsifying evidence at Massachusetts’ state drug lab, less than 1 percent of the 24,000 cases she may have tampered with have been reviewed.

Dookhan’s story—of how she tainted drug evidence in criminal investigations on a massive scale—has been well-documented by local media. But lost in the focus on the chemist herself are the more than 20,000 defendants who may have been wrongfully convicted thanks to her mishandled results. It’s one of the largest breaches of justice in Massachusetts has ever seen—so why, four years later, hasn’t it been fixed?

“It’s a huge embarrassment,” says Matthew Segal, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “Just a ridiculous comment on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to solve this crisis. We’re just now getting a list of cases, five years after she was caught.”

Hired as a chemist in 2003, Dookhan—the daughter of immigrants—was known as a star employee at the state drug lab. It was her obsession with maintaining a perfect image, according to The Boston Globe, that drove her to falsify drug evidence for years. Her crimes were not necessarily motivated by malice, but by the desire to be valued for her speed. And for a while, she was very speedy.

Dookhan regularly tested 500 drug samples a month, three times more than her peers, who did between 50 and 150. From 2003-2012 she was responsible for testing more than 60,000 drug samples connected to 34,000 criminal cases.

It wasn’t until 2011 that her perfect image began to crumble. According to court documents, a colleague had caught her forging signatures on more than 95 samples. Her efficiency, experts learned, wasn’t the result of unmatched talent, but the result of deception. She routinely failed to test the drugs, mixed them together, forged signatures, and reported false positives.

“I screwed up big time,” Dookhan reportedly told Massachusetts officials. “I messed up bad. It’s my fault. I don’t want the lab to get in trouble.”

Assistant Attorney General John Verner testified that Dookhan would regularly grab a pile of 15-20 drug samples she was responsible for, test only five of them, then “list them all as positive.” In some cases if a sample would test negative, she would add drugs from another sample and retest it. Beyond tampering with the drug samples, she lied about her own credentials on the stand, claiming she had a masters in biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts on 14 occasions.

In September 2012, Massachusetts state police arrested Dookhan at her home. Three months later the 36-year-old was officially indicted on 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence, and one count each of perjury and falsification of academic records. After pleading guilty in Suffolk County Superior Court she was sentenced to three to five years in prison.

The lab was promptly shut down and more than 300 people serving time for cases she’d handled were released. The tens of thousands who were formerly prosecuted would have to wait.

It wasn’t as if the state was blind to the gravity of the problem.

During the sentencing, Attorney General Martha Coakley released a scathing memorandum on Dookhan’s actions. “With no regard for the consequences, the defendant ensured that samples would test positive for controlled substances thus eviscerating both the integrity of the lab’s internal testing processes, and the concomitant fact finding process that was a jury’s to perform.”

Coakley argued that Dookhan should receive a harsher sentence than just a few years in prison. “The total costs to rectify Dookhan’s actions have climbed into the millions with no end in sight,” she said. “The financial aspect does not even address the loss of liberty of affected individuals, the significant deleterious effect on the safety of the public, or the breakdown of public trust in the system.”

Since then, the colossal “loss of liberty” that Coakley recognized remains unchanged.

In 2015, the ACLU began to take legal action against the state, filing a lawsuit on behalf of three people—Kevin Bridgement, Yasir Creach, and Miguel Cuevas—allowing them to challenge their convictions, which were based on Dookhan’s testing. Included in the ruling was a mandate that the prosecutors release a list of the tens of thousands of people who may have been wrongfully convicted because of Dookhan.

In May, the ACLU finally obtained the official number of those potentially affected: 24,000. The statistics were staggering. Dookhan’s cases accounted for an estimated one in four successful drug prosecutions in the seven counties that relied on the Hinton State Lab, and one in six successful drug prosecutions in the Commonwealth from 2003-2012.

With an official list of those whose cases may have been tainted now available, a tug of war over what to do with it is in full swing. Hanging in the balance are defendants who faced jail time, criminal records, and deportation for convictions based on the mishandled evidence.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the state’s public defense group, the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), seem to be in a virtual war over what to do about the cases affected by Dookhan’s bad evidence. The DA’s office told The Daily Beast it is prepared to notify each of the 24,000 defendants that they have a right to an attorney and a new trial—but CPCS claims there aren’t enough public defenders in the entire state to relitigate 24,000 cases. Instead, it wants all guilty pleas based on Dookhan’s work to be thrown out altogether.

And so both sides are apparently at a standstill. Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County DA, told The Daily Beast that the argument that CPCS is understaffed is untrue. “Massachusetts pays 2,500 attorneys defendants and 700 prosecutors, there is simply no merit to the argument that they are spread thin,” he says. “They do two-thirds of the legal work with three times the amount of lawyers.”

Wark claims that within a period of a year, the DA office will set up a series of “special court sessions” where anyone with a Dookhan-related drug case can move to withdraw their guilty plea. “There is no waiting list now,” he says. “Anyone who has a case can come.” When asked how people will know that they may have been wrongfully convicted—especially before the DA’s office sends out notifications to all 24,000—Wark points to the media. “This was a crisis in the state’s criminal justice system of unprecedented public publicity,” he says. “It’s been publicized and broadcast for four years.”

Plus, Wark argues, most of the punishments were likely mild. “In Massachusetts you have to work very hard to go to prison. The great majority of the defendants on Dookhan cases weren’t sentenced to jail at all,” he says. “They very certainly were not sent to prison, the overwhelming majority.”

Benjamin Keehn, a public defender for CPCS calls Wark’s depiction of his office “simply untrue.” Whether or not the public defenders have enough staff to handle the typical caseload is one thing, but to take on tens of thousands of new cases? “These people will get a notice saying they have a right to a free lawyers and reach a public defender’s office that doesn’t have any lawyers left to work with,” Keehn tells The Daily Beast.

Keehn says the DA’s office has fought “every step of the way” to keep the cases from getting dismissed. “They’ve refused to agree to anything other than trench warfare, case by case,” he says. “They came up with nifty ideas like [agreeing] to vacate their guilty plea then re-prosecute them and get more time. So the prize for exercising your due process rights is additional punishment?

“We want notices to go out to say your cases are dismissed, maybe with some limited opportunity for the DA to attempt to reprosecute. That’s the only fair solution,” Keehn adds. “Handling 24,000 cases one by one is going to bankrupt everyone and take years—it’s a nonstarter.”

The ACLU agrees. “People are denied due process when they are wrongly convicted or when people frame them,” Segal says. “Now it’s becoming a process of due process delay. It’s unbelievable that it’s taken that long. We are talking about a situation where justice delayed has been justice denied.”

While the majority of those sentenced likely did not face jail time, all have a permanent offense on their record—which can turn basic things like finding a job, applying to school, and securing housing into near impossibilities. “The notion that poor folks who have been victimized by wrongful convictions in the war on drugs don’t need to be told—by the state wrongly convicted them?” Segal says, “That is absurd.”

[Andrea]

Video of officer punching man during arrest sparks internal investigation

http://wgntv.com/2016/06/20/video-of-officer-punching-man-during-arrest-sparks-internal-investigation/

Chicago police have launched an internal investigation after video of a man being punched by an officer surfaced on social media.

What led up to the video is something police and witnesses disagree on.

22-year-old Robert Foreman was released from custody Monday after he was charged with resisting arrest and public drinking. Foreman says he had just been robbed before the arrest took place, but police dispute his account.

The video in question was recorded by a witness near the intersection of 88th St. and S. Wabash Ave. in the Chatham neighborhood. Maurice Fulson, who recorded the arrest, says he saw the officer tackle Foreman just before the punches were thrown.

“He was down, you can see it on the film. He was not fighting back, he wasn’t trying to flip,” Fulson said.

A police source says officers were going to write Foreman a ticket for public drinking before he took off running. Now he’s facing charges of public drinking along with resisting arrest.

Foreman says he had just been robbed and stopped as soon as he realized it was police chasing him.

“When I turned around and I seen him I’m like, ‘alright, I give up,’ and he just grabbed me and threw me down to the ground; I didn’t resist or nothing,” Foreman said.

Police issued a statement tonight, saying:

"Based on this video, CPD has opened an internal affairs investigation into this incident and will be forwarding the video and all relevant reports to the Independent Review Board for investigation. We are committed to the highest levels of integrity and professional standards and look forward to IPRA's review of this incident"

Foreman and his family say they’re seeking representation from a lawyer.

[Andrea]

Texas Police Officer Who Manhandled Black Teens At Pool Party Will Not Face Charges

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-teen-pool-party-police-charges_us_576c3e97e4b0dbb1bbb9ef1a

A Texas grand jury has decided not to indict McKinney Police Officer Eric Casebolt in the manhandling of a black teenager at a pool party last June.

After police responded to disturbance calls at Craig Ranch North Community Pool, a cell phone video caught Casebolt yanking 15-year-old Dajerria Becton to the ground and pulling his gun on two other teens.

One of the teens, Miles Jai Thomas, told The Huffington Post that the cops showed up after a fight between two adults and “started cursing and yelling at us.”

Following national backlash to the incident, Casebolt resigned. The Texas Rangers began investigating the case and, in January, gave their findings to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, which presented them to a grand jury. The complete investigation has not been released, WFAA reported.

“The Casebolt news is not surprising,” said Kim T. Cole, the attorney representing Becton’s family. “We are currently in a day and time where the very people who are sworn to enforce the law are not held to uphold the law — and that has got to change.”

“We’re glad that the system worked in his favor in this case,” Tom Mills, an attorney for Casebolt, told The Dallas Morning News.

The McKinney Police Department announced it would hold a meeting with community leaders Monday.

[Andrea]

Video shows corrections officer shooting inmate through cell door

http://www.fox13news.com/news/fox-13-investigates/165103353-story

A half dozen corrections jail incident reports about what happened when a corrections officer shot 29-year-old Matthew Trevino, who suffers from mental illness, are remarkably consistent with one another. But they are not consistent with a video recorded by one of the officers.

The video of the August 2015 shooting will likely be at the center of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Earlier that day, Trevino had been booked into the Pasco County jail on a probation violation.That night, deputies, who wanted to search his cell for contraband, told him to place his hands through the slot of his door to be handcuffed, according to both the reports and the video.
Video shows corrections officer shooting inmate through cell door

Trevino, who was alone in his cell and naked, would not put his hands through the door. Instead, he was exposing his genitals, making incoherent statements and taunting officers.

"You never finished the academy and I'm a Marine, open this door and I will kick your ass," he said, according to the report by Cpl. Robert Haas.

His attorney, Lee Pearlman said the Army veteran suffers from schizophrenia.

"I don't know how you wouldn't be aware of it,” he said about the officers. "He's absolutely having a schizophrenic break and the statements he's saying are bizarre."

Haas' report said he aimed a 12- gauge shotgun loaded with a Nova round – the equivalent of a flashbang grenade – at Trevino.

Accounts of what happened in five of the six officers' reports are worded similarly.

Sgt. Robert Lowry's report said, "Trevino appeared to take a step back away from the food chute, and Cpl. Haas deployed the Nova discretionary round.”

Similarly, deputy Logan Kelly's report said the inmate "took a step back" and "Haas saw a window of opportunity."

And deputy Joseph Fauci's report said, "Haas observed a window of opportunity when Inmate Trevino stepped back from the cell door."

Finally, Cpl. Manuel Haag's report says, "Haas observed a window of opportunity once Inmate Trevino stepped back from his cell door." When Trevino “stepped back,” Haas fired his shotgun, according to his report.

The sixth deputy's report did not mention Trevino taking a step back. Lt. Richard Bain "voluntarily separated" from the agency in March, according to personnel records.

Despite the remarkable consistencies between five of the officers' accounts, they are inaccurate.

A video of the incident, recorded by one of the officers and obtained by his attorneys, shows Trevino had his face pressed up against the door when Haas fired, aiming at the door opening where the Army veteran had exposed his genitals.

"He was right up against the door. Completely unnecessary," said Trevino's attorney, Mark Rankin. "There's no reason, at this point, that they have to force their way into the cell. This is not an emergency situation. There's certainly no reason they have to use this level of force."

The level of force is the subject of an upcoming federal civil rights lawsuit Trevino’s lawyers plan to file against the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Trevino's injuries, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times on Thursday, sent him to the Veterans Administration hospital for months. He’s had three surgeries so far.

The corporation that manufactures the Nova rounds, Lightfield Ammunition, warns they should never be fired directly at humans or pets, or the "less lethal" ammunition could be lethal. A company training video for the Nova ammunition, posted on YouTube, shows it being used by SWAT teams to blast open a locked door. The company said it can be used as a device to distract animals or people.

In this August shooting, it caused officers in the hall to jump back. Trevino fell on the floor, with injuries to his thigh that left his muscle exposed, according to medical records reviewed by FOX 13 News.

Sheriff Chris Nocco refused to answer questions about the incident.

"A criminal with a violent history in the jail failed to comply with lawful directions. His actions dictated our reaction," he said in an emailed statement from one of his spokespeople.

Trevino has no violent crime convictions.

Pearlman said the Pasco County Sheriff's Office has not disciplined any of the officers.

"There was a finding, essentially, that because there was no actual policy in place about the use of this round or how to use it, no policies were violated and therefore no disciplinary actions were taken," Pearlman said.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe did not respond to an inquiry about whether his office has investigated the incident.

[Andrea]

Fresno cops fatally shoot man, 19, while searching for suspect with rifle, setting off protest with Confederate flags, 'White Lives Matter' signs

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fresno-cops-shoot-kill-19-year-old-hated-life-article-1.2689168?cid=bitly

Rowdy protesters flocked to a California gas station Sunday after a 19-year-old man lamenting his life was fatally shot by cops searching for a rifle-toting suspect the previous day.

A demonstrator waving a Confederate flag was among those shouting “f--- the police,” throwing bottles and blocking the Fresno street where cops confronted the teenager for alleged speeding Saturday afternoon, according to local reports.

The group gathered following a Sunday night vigil where mourners posted signs that said “White Lives Matter,” a phrase appropriated from the “Black Lives Matter” movement to protest police-involved shootings of young black men.

Police said the suspect — identified in a report and by protesters as Clovis High School graduate Dylan Noble — continued driving for half a mile before pulling over during a traffic stop.

The driver, a white male, got out of the pickup truck, walked away and then refused to show his hands.

“The subject made a statement he hated his life,” Fresno Deputy Chief Pat Farmer told reporters Saturday.

Two cops, with body cameras strapped to their chests, feared that the suspect was reaching for a weapon behind his back and opened fire.

Those officers, who have a combined 37 years of experience on the force, shot the teen multiple times. He was hospitalized in critical condition and died while in surgery Sunday, according to KSEE-TV.

Investigators did not find a weapon after the shooting.

It’s unclear if the teen was the same man whom 911 callers claimed was carrying a rifle along a nearby street.

Relatives rushed to the crime scene and confronted Fresno police over the shooting.

KSEE-TV recorded video of a woman asking “Is he dead?,” while a man went face-to-face with a police officer and stated “You guys shot my kid?”

The television station said protesters attending a vigil for Noble threw glass bottles while facing off with a line of police officers outside the gas station.

It’s unclear if any arrests were made late Sunday.

[Andrea]

Mississippi Officer Allegedly Shot An Unarmed Man And Let A Police Dog Mutilate His Groin

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/28/3793133/tupelo-mississippi-shooting/

The Tupelo Police Department in being investigated by Mississippi officials after one of its officers allegedly shot and killed an unarmed man and allowed a police dog to mutilate him. The incident occurred after the man ran from the officer during a routine traffic stop.

Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert was driving a friend’s vehicle around 9:30 pm on Saturday, June 18 when he was pulled over by Tupelo Police Officer Tyler Cook, according to attorney Carlos Moore, who’s representing Shumpert’s family. The 37-year-old father of five immediately exited his vehicle and ran for unknown reasons.

In response, the officer released a K-9 who found Shumpert hiding under a nearby home. The dog attacked him, gashing a hole through his testicles and scratching him across his body. When the officer found Shumpert, he shot him four times.

According to Moore, Shumpert was also found with injuries to his face and teeth, indicating that there may have also been a physical altercation between him and the officer.

Shumpert was handcuffed and transported to the North Mississippi Medical Center where he died roughly five hours later.

“We believe the officer just went berserk,” Moore told ThinkProgress. “It was a modern day lynching.”

On Monday, Moore announced in a press conference that an eyewitness he interviewed said that Shumpert did not instigate violence. In fact, according to his attorney, Schumpert was voluntarily surrendering to the police and coming out of his hiding space when the K-9 violently attacked him in the groin, mutilating his testicles. While Schumpert was attempting to get free from the dog, the officer allegedly walked up and shot him four times — three times in the chest and one time in the stomach.

Cook has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which has been handed off to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Moore said it’s unclear why Cook decided to use the K-9, but noted that he has a complaint on his record for using excessive force just two months ago.

“From my understanding, officers are allowed to use K-9s in a search for a suspected felon,” Moore said. “What we do know is that at the time that Mr. Shumpert was being chased, he was not a suspected felon. They didn’t even know his name. It was a simple traffic stop.”

The potentially harmful use of dogs by police departments has been well-documented. But the details of Shumpert’s attack are particularly gruesome.

“It whipped and mutilated and annihilated this man,” he said. “He tore his body to shreds, basically. It’s just horrible the way it was done.
Black lives, in fact, do not matter in Tupelo.

“If you’re going to release your dog and your dog gets to him first, why are you then going to turn around and execute him in cold blood?” he continued. “Your dog has already mutilated him. He could not have been a threat to anyone.”

Moore said that the Tupelo Police Department has not yet provided him or Shumpert’s family with an explanation for why the initial traffic stop occurred, why shots were fired, or why the K-9 was released. Shumpert’s friend and the owner of the vehicle who was in the passenger seat at the time of the incident told officers that there were no drugs or illegal items in the vehicle, according to Moore. The friend was interviewed by police but released without charge.

Representatives for the police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The head of the Tupelo-Lee County chapter of the NAACP has said that he is “in dialogue” with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the incident and that the federal agency will monitor the examination into Shumpert’s death.

In a press conference Monday, Moore demanded that the city appoint an independent police review board and that the police department ends its use of racial profiling and eliminates its quota system.

“My investigation has revealed that black lives, in fact, do not matter in Tupelo,” Moore said.

“Tupelo, you are no better than Ferguson.”

[Andrea]

HCSO Deputies Who Ordered Cavity Search at Gas Station Indicted [UPDATED]

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/hcso-deputies-who-ordered-cavity-search-at-gas-station-indicted-updated-8524840

A year after Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies took off a woman's pants in a gas station parking lot to search her vagina for marijuana, a grand jury has indicted two officers for their conduct.

Deputies William Strong and Ronaldine Pierre face one count of official oppression, a misdemeanor offense.

On June 21, 2015, Strong and another deputy pulled over Cornesia Corley for allegedly rolling a stop sign. As we reported last year, one of the officers claimed he smelled marijuana during the stop and ordered 21-year-old Corley to “step into my office” (the back of the police cruiser) as deputies searched her car. They failed to find anything illegal.

But when one of the deputies came back to the police cruiser, he claimed he still smelled marijuana. Corley's attorney, Sam Cammack, told the Houston Press that a deputy told the passenger in her car that “we're gonna find it one way or another.” That's when Strong told Corley the police would have to perform a body cavity search. He called in female deputies to do it — even though police obtained no warrant for the search, which multiple attorneys, law professors and advocates believe was unconstitutional.

Cammack told us Corley said she wasn't wearing any underwear when the female cops ordered her to pull down her pants, and was understandably hesitant to comply because she was in the parking lot of a Texaco gas station. But apparently, this didn't matter to the sheriff's department. Instead, deputies handcuffed Corley and took off her pants themselves. Cammack said deputies, including Pierre, put her on the ground and made her spread her legs while another deputy stuck her fingers in Corley's vagina.

Interestingly, that's the deputy who was not indicted, Cammack said (he thinks the reason is that she was just following orders and said she believed the search was wrong). Strong and Pierre, though, have been suspended for an indefinite amount of time, according to the sheriff's office.

Cammack said the charges were a relief for Corley, but that they are still fighting against Harris County in federal court: Corley has filed a lawsuit alleging a civil rights violation, asking for $15 million in damages.

Last June, though deputies claimed they found .002 ounces of pot during the search, Cammack said the case was tossed because, since the search was unconstitutional, the police had no probable cause to arrest Corley. She was also charged with resisting arrest — apparently for being squeamish about a stranger shoving her hand up her vagina — but that charge was also dropped.

A sheriff's department spokesman did not return a request for comment, and in its obligatory press release, the department said little about the incident — certainly nothing that conveyed an admission that the warrantless cavity search was inappropriate for deputies to perform. Not long after the incident, though, spokesman Thomas Gilliland told Channel 13 that HCSO believes “the deputies did everything as they should."

If that means performing vaginal or anal searches for marijuana during a traffic stop at a gas station —something many experts agree is illegal — then we sure as hell hope none of you get stopped by a Harris County sheriff's deputy.

*Update, July 1, 3:55 p.m.: The sheriff's office has released a more detailed statement and is sticking to its original opinion that the deputies totally did nothing wrong here. Its Internal Affairs Division also agreed at the conclusion of its own investigation that searching a woman's vagina in public was completely warranted, even without a warrant. HCSO claims the indictments are based on media reports and that “rumor, innuendo and sensationalism do not correlate to the facts surrounding Corley’s arrest.” It looks forward to the court's opinion.

[Andrea]

Video captures white Baton Rouge police officer fatally shooting a black man, sparking outrage

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/06/video-captures-white-baton-rouge-police-officer-fatally-shooting-black-man-sparking-outrage/

A video showing two white police officers involved in a deadly altercation with a 37-year-old black man in Baton Rouge circulated across the Internet early Wednesday morning, prompting peaceful street protests in the city and anger elsewhere.

The video showed two Baton Rouge police officers attempting to detain Alton Sterling after the officers responded to a call “from a complainant who stated that a black male who was selling music cd’s and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun” outside the Triple S Food Mart, a convenience store, a Facebook post by Baton Rouge Police Department said. Police said they responded about 12:35 a.m.

Sterling was shot and killed while pinned down by the officers.

His killing is the latest in a nationwide string of fatal police-involved arrests captured on video. Like many others, the first versions of what happened are coming more from a video showing a fragment of the incident than from police, who have had relatively little to say so far. Thus no clear picture has yet to emerge of the full sequence of events that led to the death.

The cellphone video of the incident surfaced on social media. The footage began with police standing a few feet from Sterling. A loud pop — like that of a stun gun — can be heard.

“Get on the ground,” a police officer yelled.

“Get on the ground,” the voice yelled again, followed by a second pop.

Sterling, a large man, remained on his feet.

A police officer tackled him over the hood of a silver car, then onto the ground.

Meanwhile, another restrained his left arm behind his back and knelt on it.

“He’s got a gun,” someone yelled.

“Gun. Gun.”

Both officers drew their pistols from their holsters. In the video, Sterling appeared to be fairly immobile.

Then, the officers shouted something unintelligible, which seemed to include the phrase “going for the gun.”

Two noises that sounded like shots rang out immediately after.

Whoever filmed the video then dropped the cellphone.

“Oh, s—,” someone said.

Three more shot-like sounds rang out.

“They shot him?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, my f—ing goodness.”

Sterling was pronounced dead on the scene when an ambulance arrived at 12:46 a.m.

Warning: the following video contains graphic language and violence.

[*Anya*]

St. Jude patient sues airport and TSA after bloody scuffle with Airport Police

Bloodied and bruised Hannah Cohen was led from Memphis International Airport in handcuffs.

The 19-year old was headed home to Chattanooga after treatment for a brain tumor at St. Jude Hospital June 30, 2015.

It's a trip they've made for 17 years.

This time, an unarmed Hannah, set off the metal detector at a security checkpoint

“They wanted to do further scanning, she was reluctant, she didn't understand what they were about to do," said her mother Shirley Cohen.

Cohen told us she tried to tell TSA agents her daughter is partially deaf, blind in one eye, paralyzed, and easily confused, but said she was kept at a distance by police.

“She's trying to get away from them but in the next instant, one of them had her down on the ground and hit her head on the floor. There was blood everywhere,” said Cohen.

Hannah was arrested, booked and on the night she should have been celebrating the end of her treatment, she was locked up in Jail East.

“Here we were with nowhere to go, not even a toothbrush, our bags had gone to Chattanooga,” said Cohen.

Authorities later threw out the charges but the family filed a lawsuit against the Memphis Airport, Airport Police, and the Transportation Security Administration.

None of them would comment citing the suit, but Sari Koshetz of TSA released a statement that said, “Passengers can call ahead of time to learn more about the screening process for their particular needs or medical situation.”

Cohen said after all the help here, she can't believe it ended like this.

“She's 19 but she'll always be my baby. We've been through so much.”

http://wreg.com/2016/06/30/disabled-...irport-police/

[Andrea]

Minnesota man Philando Castile shot and killed by cops during traffic stop; girlfriend pleads for help on Facebook livestream (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-shot-dead-minn-police-traffic-stop-article-1.2701935

A woman livestreamed the heartbreaking moments after her boyfriend was shot and killed by a cop near Minneapolis Wednesday.

In a Facebook video, Lavish Reynolds claims that the couple were pulled over for a busted taillight and that her boyfriend, identified by WCCO as Philando Castile, was shot four or five times.

She said that Castile told the officer he was carrying a permitted firearm and had been reaching for his wallet before the officer opened fire.

“Please no, don’t let him be gone. Why?!” Reynolds yells on her video as Castile, 32, slumps back in the driver’s seat of his car, blood running across his shirt.

A St. Anthony police officer can be seen outside the car, his gun drawn on Castile. Reynolds, who like Castile is black, describes him as Asian.

“I told him not to reach for it,” the cop says as he continues to point his weapon into the vehicle. “I told him to get his hand off it.”

Near the end of the clip, Reynolds starts to scream as she sits handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser with her young daughter.

Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds livestreamed the moments directly after he was shot. At right, an unidentified officer points his weapon at Castile as he lies bleeding.

“It’s OK, mama,” the little girl says as her mother pleads for help from Facebook viewers. “It’s OK, I’m right here with you.”

Alton Sterling's hands were empty when Baton Rouge cops shot him

St. Anthony cops confirmed the shooting took place in Falcon Heights, a sleepy St. Paul suburb that hosts the state fair.

Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a local Montessori school, later died at Hennepin County Medical Center.

In Reynolds' video, an officer said that she was being detained. An employee at the Ramsey County Communication Center confirmed early Thursday that she had been questioned by police and released, though did not have information about which police force questioned her.

On social media, Castile’s friends and relatives expressed their grief at the sudden and violent loss.

Baton Rouge activist recorded Alton Sterling police shooting

"My family will never be the same!!! This has rocked me to the core!!! I lost my cousin to the hands of the police," IRok Wilson posted.

St. Anthony interim police chief Jon Mangseth told reporters Wednesday night that two of his officers were the ones at the traffic stop with Castile.

He said that he was aware of the Facebook video, which was taken down before being put back up early Thursday, but did not have details about it.

Mangseth said early Thursday that the officer who opened fire was on paid administrative leave. He also noted that he could not remember another officer-involved shooting in the immediate area.

In wake of Alton Sterling 'lynching,' Colin Kaepernick speaks out

Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident.

More than 100 people gathered at the scene of the shooting late Wednesday, according to Nekima Levy-Pounds, the president of the Minneapolis NAACP.

She told the Daily News early Thursday that “there is no reason why he should have wound up dead at the end of that encounter with the police. There have been white men who have been armed and had confrontations with the police and ended up alive.”

“Why did that officer feel the need to take his life and how is that acceptable in this society?” she asked, adding that the officers involved should be fired and prosecuted.

Alton Sterling’s death calls for justice against rotten cops

She added that she was coordinating with the St. Paul NAACP about a response to the shooting.

Protesters including Levy-Pounds also gathered at the Governor's Mansion early Thursday, chanting Castile's name as late as 5:30 a.m. local time. They were also seen draping gates in police tape and shouting "no justice, no sleep."

Social media users also voiced their concerns over the shooting, which came less than 48 hours after the police shooting of Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La.