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Posts tagged as “police brutality”

Bill from CA Senator Holly Mitchell to Bar Secret Grand Juries in Police Deadly Force Cases Signed into Law by Governor Jerry Brown

By goodblacknews on August 13, 2015
Both measures were part of a spate of proposals introduced by lawmakers earlier this year on police accountability; some of the more controversial bills dealing with body-worn cameras or reporting on use-of-force incidents have stalled in the Legislature.
Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) offered the grand juries measure in response to high-profile incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City, where grand juries declined to indict police officers for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, respectively.
Mitchell said her bill, SB 227, would help make judicial proceedings more transparent and accountable. Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties already have opted not to use grand juries when an officer’s actions may have caused someone’s death.
“One doesn’t have to be a lawyer to understand why SB 227 makes sense,” Mitchell said in a statement.  “The use of the criminal grand jury process, and the refusal to indict as occurred in Ferguson and other communities of color, has fostered an atmosphere of suspicion that threatens to compromise our justice system.”
The measure was opposed by law enforcement groups, including the California Assn. of District Attorneys, which argued the grand jury system was a useful prosecutorial tool.

Public Enemy Drops Timely New Video "No Sympathy From The Devil"

By goodblacknews on August 4, 2015

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjgsNc6qlHE&w=560&h=315]
For those who grew up in the 1980s, Public Enemy was one of a handful of nationally-known hip-hop acts that created socially-conscious rap almost exclusively.  From “Don’t Believe The Hype” to “Fight The Power” (from Spike Lee‘s still-all-too-relevant movie about racism and police brutality Do The Right Thing) to “By The Time I Get To Arizona”, Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Terminator X and the crew were on the forefront of calling out media manipulation, systemic racism and bigotry, and the widespread mistreatment of black people in America.
Public_Enemy_Man_Plans_God_LaughsNow, over 30 years after they’ve formed and three years since their last album, Public Enemy has released Man Plans God Laughs, offering much-needed and necessary protest music once again.  The video for the single “No Sympathy From The Devil” was just released today, and it packs a chilling punch.  It ties historical acts of racism with the racism of today – and so much of it looks the same (at the 1:56 mark, Sandra Bland‘s mug shot appears and has the effect of a gut punch).
The entire album, which was released a few weeks ago on July 15, can be heard on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1pmsTgxfLMkCw7C5LuSHFD
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)

Henry Davis Wins Appeal Against Ferguson Cops Who Beat Him; Can Now Sue for Excessive Force

By goodblacknews on July 30, 2015

Henry Davis was charged with bleeding on police officers' uniforms after Ferguson protests (photo: DailyBeast.com)
Henry Davis was charged with destruction of property for bleeding on police officers’ uniforms in Ferguson (photo: DailyBeast.com)

The Ferguson cops charged Henry Davis with destruction of property because he bled on their uniforms when they beat him.
Then, as if fearing it might be outdone in ridiculousness, a federal district court ruled that Davis could not sue the cops for violating his Fourth Amendment rights because they had not injured him badly enough as he lay handcuffed on the jailhouse floor, a working man arrested on a traffic warrant in a case of mistaken identity.
“As unreasonable as it may sound, a reasonable officer could have believed that beating a subdued and compliant Mr. Davis while causing only a concussion, scalp lacerations and bruising with almost no permanent damage did not violate the Constitution,” the district court ruled in tossing out the case.
Davis appealed and his attorney James Schottel responded to absurdity with legal reasoning. He argued that the decisive factor was not the seriousness of Davis’s injuries but the nature of the officers’ actions.
The district court had ruled that the officers enjoyed “official immunity” because they “acted within their discretion and caused only de minimis [slight] injuries.”
Schottel contended that official immunity “does not apply to discretionary acts done in bad faith or with malice.”
The appeals court could not have been clearer in its response on Tuesday.
“We agree.”
The court went on to say, “That an officer’s conduct caused only de minimis injuries does not necessarily establish the absence of malice or bad faith as a matter of law.”
In recapping the case, the appeals court noted that Davis had been arrested by Police Officer Christopher Pillarick early on the morning of September 20, 2009. Davis was brought to what the appeals court calls “the crowded Ferguson jail.” Pillarick and Police Officer John Beaird escorted Davis to a cell where the only bunk was occupied.
“Davis requested a mat from a nearby stack,” the court says. “Pillarick refused because Davis was not cooperating. Davis refused to enter the cell.”
The cops radioed for backup. Police Officer Kim Tihen and Police Officer Michael White responded, along with Sergeant William Battard.  “The deposition testimony differs dramatically concerning what happened next,” the court says. “It is undisputed that White pushed Davis into the cell and a short, bloody fight ensued.”
The court notes that there is no video of the incident, but there is “testimony supporting a claim that White, Beaird and Tihen each beat or kicked Davis after he was handcuffed and subdued on the floor of the cell.”

The lower court had contended that “a reasonable officer” could believe that in beating their handcuffed prisoner they were not violating the Constitution.  The court further notes, “After the incident, Beaird completed four complaints charging Davis with the offense of ‘Property Damage’ for transferring blood onto the uniforms of Beaird, Tihen, White, and Pillarick.”

University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Samuel DuBose

By goodblacknews on July 29, 2015
la-na-university-cincinnati-shooting-20150729-001
(Photo via latimes.com)

A University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted on murder charges on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a driver this month that a prosecutor called “totally unwarranted” and “senseless.”

In the indictment handed up by a grand jury in Hamilton County, the officer, Ray Tensing, is accused of killing the driver, Samuel DuBose, during a traffic stop near the campus on July 19.

At a news conference, the county prosecutor, Joseph T. Deters, said that Officer Tensing “purposely killed” Mr. DuBose after the officer lost his temper in what he called a “chicken crap” traffic stop.  “I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Mr. Deters told reporters. “This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make, totally unwarranted.” A body-camera video of the shooting was also being released.

“He purposely killed him,” Mr. Deters said of Officer Tensing. “He should never have been a police officer.”

Officer Tensing turned himself in on Wednesday after his indictment, according to reports.

Samuel Debose
Samuel Debose

The death of Mr. DuBose, who was black, at the hands of Officer Tensing, who is white, joined a string of recent episodes — in Staten Island, Cleveland, North Charleston, S.C., and Ferguson, Mo., among others — that have raised hard questions about law enforcement use of force, and the role of race in policing. Video cameras have recorded many of the episodes and nonlethal encounters like the arrest of Sandra Bland, who died three days later in a Texas jail cell, offering disturbing evidence of the confrontations that often contradicts the accounts of people involved.

Mr. Deters, who also met with Mr. DuBose’s family, said he was shocked by the video.  “I realize what this was going to mean to our community, and it really broke my heart because it’s just bad,” Mr. Deters said.  “I feel so sorry for this family and what they lost,” he said. “And I feel sorry for the community, too.”

Mr. DuBose, 43, a father of 10, was just south of the university campus, driving a green 1998 Honda Accord without a front license plate, when Officer Tensing began following him, according to an account that Jason Goodrich, chief of the university police, gave on Monday. Moments later, the officer pulled Mr. DuBose over on a side street, a few blocks from the campus, Mr. Goodrich said.

University of Cinncinati Officer Ray Tensing (photo: nytimes.com)
University of Cinncinati Officer Ray Tensing (photo: nytimes.com)

He said that when Officer Tensing asked for a driver’s license, Mr. DuBose handed him a bottle of alcohol instead. But Mr. Goodrich gave no more insight into the confrontation that followed, in which the officer fired one shot that struck Mr. DuBose in the head.

Another university officer who arrived shortly after the shooting, Eric Weibel, wrote in his report that Officer Tensing told him that “he was being dragged by the vehicle and had to fire his weapon,” and that “Officer Tensing stated that he was almost run over.” A third officer, he wrote, said he had seen Officer Tensing being dragged.

“Looking at Officer Tensing’s uniform, I could see that the back of his pants and shirt looked as if it had been dragged over a rough surface,” Officer Weibel wrote.

On an audio recording of police radio communications, after Officer Tensing shouted “Shots fired! Shots fired,” a dispatcher asked who was injured. It is not clear if he replied “I am injured” or “I’m uninjured.”

“I almost got run over by the car,” the officer said. “He took off on me. I discharged one round. Shot the man in the head.”

Another officer can later be heard saying, “It was Officer Tensing that was injured.”

At the news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Deters dismissed Officer Tensing’s claim that he was dragged by the car. Officer Tensing “fell backward after he shot” Mr. DuBose in the head, Mr. Deters said.

The University of Cincinnati closed its main campus in anticipation of grand jury action in the case.

article by Richard Pérez-Peña via nytimes.com

TX Prosecutor Appoints Committee Outside His Jurisdiction to Investigate Death Of Sandra Bland

By goodblacknews on July 27, 2015

Sandra Bland (photo via fusion.net)
Sandra Bland (photo via fusion.net)

In the wake of funeral services for Sandra Bland this past weekend, Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis has appointed a committee of attorneys from outside his jurisdiction to review findings in the mysterious death of Bland. This committee will review evidence as it continues to be collected, all in an effort to help Mathis sort out the many moving parts of the case.
Mathis made the announcement on Monday, just as the fervor around finding out how exactly the 28-year-old Illinois woman died just three days after a traffic stop in Texas on July 10. Mathis’ office released a toxicology report last Monday, revealing that Bland had marijuana in her system. According to the Chicago Tribune, a pair of experts that reviewed the report for the Associated Press suggested that Bland may have used the drug while in custody.
Mathis said he and the collective of lawyers intend to review “credible evidence and not rumors” according to a report from CBS News. Mathis has much to contend with in that arena, as Bland’s family and supporters are questioning findings that her death was indeed a self-inflicted hanging by way of a plastic trash bag in her Waller County jail cell.

LAPD Officer Mary O'Callaghan Gets 36 Months in Jail for Assault Caught on Video

By goodblacknews on July 23, 2015
Mary O’Callaghan‘s sentencing comes amid intense scrutiny and criticism nationwide of police use of force. The last 20 months of her sentence were suspended, meaning she’ll likely spend a little more than a year in county jail.

In the video, which can be seen by clicking here, O’Callaghan jabbed at Thomas’ throat with an open hand and threatened to kick her in the crotch. O’Callaghan then raised her boot and struck Thomas, whose body shook in response.
The recording captured Thomas — who asked officers for an ambulance more than 30 minutes before one was called — breathing heavily and repeatedly saying, “I can’t.”
A few minutes later, Thomas, a 35-year-old mother, lost consciousness. She later died.
A video from a dashboard camera in a different patrol car — also played during the trial — showed O’Callaghan smoking a cigarette as she peeked inside the car at Thomas, whose legs were tied with a nylon hobble restraint.
“That ain’t a good sign,” O’Callaghan said out loud in the video.

New York City Agrees to Pay Family of Eric Garner $5.9 Million

By goodblacknews on July 13, 2015
Mr. Garner and his wife, Esaw, during a family vacation in 2011. (Photo via nytimes.com)

New York City reached a settlement with the family of Eric Garner on Monday, agreeing to pay $5.9 million to resolve a wrongful death claim over his killing by the police on Staten Island last July, the city comptroller and a lawyer for the family said.

The agreement, reached a few days before the anniversary of Mr. Garner’s death, headed off one legal battle even as a federal inquiry into the killing and several others at the state and local level remain open and could provide a further accounting of how he died.

Still, the settlement was a pivotal moment in a case that has engulfed the city since the afternoon of July 17, 2014, when two officers approached Mr. Garner as he stood unarmed on a sidewalk, and accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes. One of the officers used a chokehold — prohibited by the Police Department — to subdue him, and that was cited by the medical examiner as a cause of Mr. Garner’s death.

The killing of Mr. Garner, 43, followed by the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in August, set off a national debate about policing actions in minority communities and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Mr. Garner’s final words — “I can’t breathe” — repeated 11 times, became a national rallying cry. A Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to indict the officer who used the chokehold, Daniel Pantaleo, fueled weeks of demonstrations. The protests eased after two police officers in Brooklyn were fatally shot in December by a man who said he acted to avenge Mr. Garner’s death.

The killings of the officers shook the city anew, deepening tensions between the police and Mayor Bill de Blasio and slowing a push to enact a host of criminal justice reforms. Last year, Mr. Garner’s relatives, including his widow, Esaw Garner, and his mother, Gwen Carr, filed a notice of claim— a procedural step that must precede a lawsuit — against the city. In the notice, they said were seeking $75 million in damages. Since then, the family has been in talks with the comptroller’s office.

“Mr. Garner’s death is a touchstone in our city’s history and in the history of the entire nation,” the comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, said in a telephone interview late on Monday. “Financial compensation is certainly not everything, and it can’t bring Mr. Garner back. But it is our way of creating balance and giving a family a certain closure.”

Baltimore Plans To Equip Police Vans With Video Cameras After Freddie Gray’s Death

By goodblacknews on July 2, 2015

Protests in Baltimore over Freddie Gray
Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty

After a vociferous public outcry over the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody this spring, Baltimore officials announced plans Wednesday to equip transport vans with video recording cameras, according to Reuters.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the change comes in the wake of protests after the death of 25-year-old Gray, who was fatally injured while being transported to lockup in a police van in April on an unspecified charge. Gray’s death sparked days of fiery protests over police brutality in the Black community.
From Reuters:

We’re working through a process that will place cameras with recording capabilities in the backs of all our police vans, to ensure that we have a more complete record of what occurs there,” Rawlings-Blake told reporters.
The van in which Gray was transported had a non-recording camera that the driver could use to monitor the passengers, but it was not working at the time.

Rawlings-Blake also announced plans to review riot gear used by police during the unrest, as some of it failed to work, the report says. She said the city needs working equipment so that police can respond if trouble breaks out following trial verdicts in the Gray case.
article by Lynette Holloway via newsone.com

Baltimore Medical Examiner Rules Freddie Gray’s Death a Homicide

By goodblacknews on June 24, 2015

The medical examiner found that Freddie Gray’s “rough ride” was to blame for his death. (Photo via Colorlines.com)

According to a copy of the autopsy report obtained by The Baltimore Sun, Freddie Gray’s death was a homicide. The report—which was completed on April 30 but hadn’t yet been released to the public—found that Gray suffered a single “high-energy injury” to his neck and spine and concluded that it was likely caused by sudden deceleration in the police van where he was improperly restrained and shackled. The ME compared the injury to one obtained from diving in shallow water and wrote that the officers involved did not follow proper safety procedures “though acts of omission.”
In the report, assistant medical examiner Carol H. Allan wrote that it was “not an unforeseen event that a vulnerable individual was injured during operation of the vehicle, and that without prompt medical attention, the injury would prove fatal.” In addition to examining Gray’s body, the examiner used videos, witness statements and an inspection of the van to complete the report. She also found that there were no previous injuries to Gray’s spine, noting that he was not incapacitated by a neck hold or other type of physical restraint.
Twenty-five-year-old Gray was arrested in Baltimore on April 12 and died a week later due to a spinal injury inflicted while he was in custody. The six officers involved in his arrest and transport have all been charged with crimes ranging from second-degree depraved-heart murder to second-degree assault. Last week, each officer pleaded not guilty. Their trial date has been set for October 13, and a motions hearing is scheduled for September 2.
article by Kenrya Rankin Naasel via colorlines.com

Floyd Dent Settles Police Brutality Suit with City of Inkster for $1.4 Million

By goodblacknews on May 28, 2015

Floyd Dent Receives Settlement from Inkster Police Department (photo via my13.com
Floyd Dent receives settlement from City of Inkster (photo via my13la.com)

Floyd Dent has settled his lawsuit with the City of Inkster for $1.4 million.
However for Dent, who was beaten by Inkster police in a shocking attack caught on video earlier this year, becoming a millionaire is less important than improving police relations with the communities they are supposed to serve and protect.
Given the choice, Dent would rather be broke and never have had this happen.  “Money isn’t everything,” he said. “You can’t buy happiness.”
Dent says he hopes something good will come from the incident, a new beginning for Inkster.  “The city of Inkster needs to move on and service the great citizens of Inkster,” he said.
The Defenders broke the story, exposing video of police officers punching, kicking, and using a Taser on Dent after a traffic stop. The Defenders also uncovered a second video of police apparently imitating and mocking Dent at the police station instead of immediately him to a hospital for his injuries.
“I’m bleeding and asking for a doctor and they are sitting there joking and high fiving. That’s unreal,” Dent said.
After the video was revealed, prosecutors dropped assault and drug charges against Dent and instead filed charges against William Melendez, the now-former Inkster police officer who punched Dent 16 times in the head.
Inkster also has a new police chief and two other officers were suspended. Now, with this a seven-figure settlement, Dent says a strong message has been sent about police brutality.  “Nothing like this will ever happen in Inkster,” Dent said.
Dent’s attorney Greg Rohl said the city stepped up to do the right thing for his client and for Inkster.
“At least some good can come out of all this,” Rohl said. “Floyd is proud of being the person that brought about this change.”
Becoming a millionaire may bring friends and relatives out of the woodwork, but Dent said the money won’t change him.
“There’s going to be be a lot of people ringing my doorbell. You know, long lost friends,” he said. “Do you have any plans for the money? No, not really, I’m going back to work. I miss work. I miss the people I work with.”
The settlement is not the end of this case. Dent still has to testify against Melendez in the criminal case.
Dent said he will tell the truth and let the justice system take care of it from there. He also knows his time in the spotlight is coming to an end, which is fine with him.
“I want people to remember me as an honest person that wasn’t afraid to go against the officers that done this to me and i want people to know that I’m grateful,” he said.
article by Kevin Dietz via clickondetroit.com