Category: Police State

Another day in Chicago

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Or almost any big city. Because it’s so extremely rare for cops to suffer consequences for their actions:

Chicago police accidentally killed a 55-year-old mother of five early Saturday when responding to a domestic disturbance, according to a police statement late Saturday.

“The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed,” the statement said. “The department extends it’s [sic] deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.”

Bettie Jones was one of two victims killed by police in the incident. The other victim was Quintonio Legrier, 19, whose father lived in another unit in the building and reportedly called the police.

The shooting occurred at about 4.25am on Saturday when police were responding to a domestic disturbance call in the building where they live, according to police and family members.

“Upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon, fatally wounding two individuals,” the Chicago police department said in a release.

The police dispatcher told officers that a “male caller said someone is threatening his life”.

“It’s also coming in as a domestic,” the dispatcher continued. “The 19-year-old son is banging on his bedroom door with a baseball bat.”

The police did not say whether any weapons had been recovered at the scene. They also did not specify how many officers were involved in the shooting.

“The officer(s) involved will be place on routine administrative duties for a period of 30 days,” police said.

Burger King confirms Chicago cops deleted video of shooting

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

On the heels of dashcam footage of the Laquan McDonald shooting released today, other news is coming out about how Chicago police worked to suppress video proving he was shot without justification. According to NBC News Chicago, 86 minutes of security video was missing after the shooting, after police ran through and reviewed it but before… Continue reading “Burger King confirms Chicago cops deleted video of shooting” →

Cops shoot, kill six-year-old boy

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

jeremymardis

A 6-year-old boy died late Monday in Marksville, Louisiana, after a high-speed chase involving the police and his father ended with gunfire. The boy’s father, Chris Few, was fleeing authorities after he backed his car into a city marshal’s vehicle, according to Avoyelles Today and The Town Talk, two local publications. The authorities pursued Few, caught… Continue reading “Cops shoot, kill six-year-old boy” →

FBI opens probe into violent arrest of black student

~ susie

The FBI and the US Justice Department have opened investigation into the violent arrest of a black female high school student by a white police officer, footage of which has gone viral and sparked outrage. The agencies “have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a student at Spring Valley High… Continue reading “FBI opens probe into violent arrest of black student” →

NY cop punished for exposing illegal quotas

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

So of course they haven’t changed a thing since Frank Serpico. The NYPD is still up to their old tricks:

A New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, who spoke out publicly against the department’s use of illegal quotas for summonses and arrests, filed a lawsuit [PDF] in federal court this week alleging his superiors discriminated and retaliated against him based on his race and speech.

NYPD Officer Adhyl Polanco began voicing his concerns during roll call at his South Bronx precinct in 2009 after he became frustrated with the pressure the department was putting on officers to issue summonses and arrests each month. According to Polanco’s lawsuit, the NYPD was threatening officers with “termination and negative employment actions, such as low performance evaluations and punitive postings,” to force them to meet their quotas.

After his complaints were met with silence and punishment, he began making audio recordings of the roll call meetings. His superiors could be heard on tape, on multiple occasions, urging officers to complete a “20 and 1”: twenty summonses and one arrest within about twenty days of patrol. They also told officers to get their numbers by targeting minority communities.

“If you think one and twenty is breaking your balls, guess what you’ll be doing,” one supervisor is heard saying on tape recorded by Polanco. “You are going to be doing a lot more, a lot more than what they are saying.” Another supervisor continued, “next week twenty five and one, thirty five and one, and until you decide to quit this job and go to work at Pizza Hut, this is what you are going to be doing ’til then.”
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Maryland is first state to adopt guidelines on police profiling

~ susie

On Tuesday, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh unveiled new guidelines that prohibit police profiling. Frosh said the guidelines will help “repair the frayed relationship between police and many in the community by making mutual respect the norm in everyday police encounters.” Maryland is the first state to adopt rules banning law enforcement profiling practices.

The guidelines divide police work into two groups: routine policing and specific investigations. The new rules prohibit police from ever using race, religion, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation as factors when conducting routine stops and operations. During investigations, police officers may use personal characteristics in searches only if they have “credible information” that those characteristics are “directly relevant” to the investigation.

“Profiling based on personal bias is not only illegal but also hurts relationships between police departments and communities,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger.

The new guidelines come in the wake of several high-profile national controversies involving police and their treatment of minorities. One of these incidents, the death of Freddie Gray and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore, placed Maryland at the center of the conversation.

One of the example situations in the guidelines addresses the conditions that led to Gray’s death. Gray was arrested after running away from the police upon seeing them and died in police custody. According to the new guidelines, police cannot stop people on vague grounds of suspicious behavior.

According to Baltimore criminal lawyer Seth Okin, “this new regulation is a step in the right direction when it comes to protecting the rights of the many individuals who have been profiled and unjustly charged with crimes in Maryland.”

 

In addition, several civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the ACLU of Maryland, have released statements praising the new guidelines.

 

Toni Holness, an attorney working with the ACLU, said “The ACLU of Maryland welcomes the Attorney General’s guidance as an important step toward ending discriminatory profiling in Maryland and mending fractured relationships between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to serve… Everyone should be treated fairly and equally, and this guidance is a step toward making that a reality of Marylanders.”

 

NY attorney general to investigate woman’s death in jail

~ susie

A New York woman’s mysterious death in custody last week will be investigated by the state attorney general’s office, marking the first use of a new state law that expands independent oversight of deaths involving police, officials said Monday. Raynette Turner, 42, a mother of eight, was found dead in a cell at Mount Vernon police… Continue reading “NY attorney general to investigate woman’s death in jail” →

‘They were supposed to be fired’

~ susie

https://youtu.be/4PDQx9BV_DM

I didn’t think this story could get any worse, but it just did:

Two police officers who corroborated a seemingly false account of the fatal shooting of Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati were previously implicated in the death of an unarmed, hospitalised and mentally ill black man who died after he was “rushed” by a group of seven University of Cincinnati police officers.

Kelly Brinson, a 45-year-old mental health patient at Cincinnati’s University hospital, suffered a psychotic episode on 20 January 2010 and was placed inside a seclusion room at the hospital by UC officers. He was then shocked with a Taser three times by an officer and placed in restraints. The father of one – son Kelly Jr – then suffered a respiratory cardiac arrest and died three days later.

In court documents obtained by the Guardian and filed by Brinson’s family in a civil suit against the UC police and the hospital, all seven officers are accused of using excessive force and “acted with deliberate indifference to the serious medical and security needs of Mr Brinson”.

According to the lawsuit, before Brinson was placed in restraints he “repeatedly yelled that slavery was over and he repeatedly pleaded not to be shackled and not to be treated like a slave”.

The documents named University of Cincinnati officers Eric Weibel and Phillip Kidd – the same men who, in a formal report, supported officer Ray Tensing’s claim that he was “dragged” by DuBose’s vehicle on 19 July.

Tensing’s account that he was “dragged” was used as justification for the lethal use of force. It was later dismissed as an attempt to mislead investigators and as “making an excuse for the purposeful killing of another person” by the Hamilton County prosecutor Joseph Deters, who charged Tensing with murder on Wednesday.

The revelation that officers Weibel and Kidd provided the corroboration for Tensing’s account of the incident was met with anger by Brinson’s family members, who told the Guardian on Thursday that if both officers had been disciplined correctly in 2010, the death of DuBose might have been avoided.

“If something had been done in 2010, I don’t think this wouldn’t have happened,” Kelly Brinson’s brother, Derek, said in an interview.
Continue reading “‘They were supposed to be fired’” →