Posts Tagged ‘police use of force’

New Study: For Every 1000 People Killed by Police, Only 1 Cop is Convicted of a Crime

Posted: April 15, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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A new study released by the Washington Post reveals that for every 1000 people killed at the hands of police, only one officer is convicted of a crime. Since 2005, although there have been thousands of fatal shootings by police officers, only 54 have been charged. Of those charged, most were cleared or acquitted.

This analysis is, to date, the most comprehensive of its kind. According to the Post:

“The 54 criminal prosecutions were identified by Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip M. Stinson and The Washington Post. Cases were culled from news reports, grand jury announcements and news releases from prosecutors. For individual cases, reporters obtained and reviewed thousands of pages of court records, police reports, grand jury indictments, witness testimony and video recordings. Dozens of prosecutors and defense attorneys in the cases were interviewed, along with legal experts, officers who were prosecuted and surviving relatives of the shooting victims.”

It stands to reason that if there are thousands of fatalities due to police shootings, the number of police charged would be much higher than it is. According to the analysis, in order for prosecutors to press charges, there had to be exceptional factors at play. These include “a video recording of the incident, a victim shot in the back, incriminating testimony from other officers or allegations of a coverup.”

According to Bowling Green criminologist Philip M. Stinson, “To charge an officer in a fatal shooting, it takes something so egregious, so over the top that it cannot be explained in any rational way. It also has to be a case that prosecutors are willing to hang their reputation on.”

On the rare occasion an officer is charged with a crime, the punishment on average is much lower than would be expected, some spending only weeks behind bars. The prosecutors and defense lawyers interviewed in the study attribute this to the fact that “Jurors are very reluctant to punish police officers, tending to view them as guardians of order.” 

The most alarming part about this study is that the number of people fatally shot by police could potentially be much higher because police departments are not required to keep the database of police shootings updated. This is terrifying, as it’s arguably one of the most important records a police department could keep.
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/study-reveals-police-officers-murder-alarming-rate/#kpTMbbf9GEKIOo0b.99

Video Shows Cops Arrest Healthy Man, Hours Later He’s in ICU in a Coma with Severe Injuries

Posted: April 14, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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freddie-Gray-in-a-coma-after-arrest1

Baltimore, MD — 27-year old Freddie Gray is now hospitalized in critical condition and in induced coma, after an incident with Baltimore police Sunday morning.

An eyewitness captured video footage of Gray being restrained and hauled into the back of a police van after being chased and arrested by bike cops. What happened after that is a mystery, as Freddie Gray is now unconscious in Shock Trauma with multiple injuries.

Gray’s godbrother did not want to be identified, but he did give a statement after he left the ICU, saying “I seen police, him handcuffed, him tased while he was handcuffed. I seen the police officer bending his leg to the point where it looked like he broke it. He was completely healthy, fine being carted off aside from his leg. It’s nowhere near how he’s sitting in the ICU right now.”

According to the family, Gray has spinal injuries and is barely alive. Richard Shipley, Gray’s stepfather, told local news affiliate WJZ, “His face is swollen. He just looks really horrible. Like I said, he’s in an induced coma. We’re all praying.”

Police will not say why the bike cops arrested the fleeing Gray, or how he ended up in the hospital in an induced coma. The arrest was described by witnesses as brutal, but Baltimore Police Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said he did not see any use of force by police in the video, adding that the investigation was at an early stage.

“A number of officers made an arrest of a man who fled from them,” Rodriguez stated. “This is a very serious incident, that we are looking at thoroughly. I have been on the phone with the State’s Attorney’s Office and we are going to work jointly on this investigation.”

The officers involved in the mystery incident have been assigned to administrative duties.

While Deputy Commissioner Rodriguez denies any use of force in the video, there is a considerable amount of time not documented. So what happened after Freddie Gray was loaded into the police van to put him in critical condition? Did Gray receive a “nickel ride” from the fine folks at the Baltimore Police Department?

For those who don’t know, “nickel rides,” as reported by the Inquirer in 2001, were a witness-free way for police to punish unruly, uncooperative, or arrogant suspects – without ever laying a hand on them. For rogue police, it was a literal way to deliver “street justice.”

Anyone else with evidence of the arrest is being encouraged to contact police. Unfortunately, police have a history of tampering with and erasing video evidence incriminating them. We at The Free Thought Project encourage anyone with evidence regarding this situation to send it to contact@thefreethoughtproject.com or any other media source you trust.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=11386489

Coroner: Teen killed by police in Illinois shot in back

Posted: April 7, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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ZION, Ill. (AP) — An autopsy has revealed that a teenager killed by a police officer in Illinois over the weekend was shot twice in the back, authorities said Monday.

Justus Howell was shot by Zion police on Saturday afternoon. Police say officers responding to a call about an altercation began chasing a male when he ran from the scene. They say that after the teen was shot, officers recovered a handgun.

The Lake County Coroner’s Office said in a statement Monday that one bullet struck the 17-year-old in the left back and penetrated his heart, spleen and liver. Another bullet struck him on the right side of his back. Tests to determine whether drugs were in the victim’s system are pending.

The Zion police chief didn’t return calls Monday seeking comment about the autopsy results. Zion is a community of about 24,000 people along Lake Michigan about 45 miles north of Chicago, near Illinois’ border with Wisconsin.

Howell was black and his relatives contacted the NAACP asking its officials to speak on their behalf, according to Lake County NAACP president Jennifer Witherspoon. She says Howell’s relatives are hoping to find out exactly what happened as quickly as possible.

“Whether it was a mistake on his part or a mistake on the police’s part, they want answers to make sure something like this never happens again,” she said.

View gallery

A Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Investigator …

A Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Investigator holds an evidence bag on Saturday, April 2, 2015  …

The teen’s death comes months after an unarmed black 18-year-old was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, an incident that sparked protests and heightened concerns about how minorities are treated by police around country. Police in Zion haven’t provided any details on the officer involved in Howell’s shooting, including the officer’s race.

“Here in America we are seeing this with too many brown and black boys,” said Witherspoon, who added she was encouraged that Zion police quickly handed the investigation over to the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.

Family members gathered Sunday near the site of the shooting to pay tribute to Howell.

Howell, was a high school junior who transferred from a school in Wisconsin to Waukegan Public School District 60, spokesman Nick Alajakis told the Chicago Tribune.

Alajakis said the teenager attended the Lakeshore Academy, a privately-operated school that takes students from the district and, according to the district’s website, serves academically struggling students.

Officer kills man upon return from leave for other shooting

Posted: March 17, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — On his first day back from a mandatory leave for shooting and wounding a knife-wielding man earlier this month, a Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an armed suspect after confronting him following a chase, authorities said.

Kenosha police officer Pablo Torres returned from leave Saturday, 10 days after shooting a man who advanced on police armed with knives, the department said. While that March 4 shooting was investigated, Torres was placed on administrative leave by department policy in police-involved shootings. He also attended annual in-service training before returning to work last weekend, police said.

On Saturday morning, police chased a car driven by 26-year-old Aaron Siler, who was wanted on a felony probation and parole warrant, Lt. Brad Hetlet said in a statement. Siler crashed at around 9:30 a.m. and took off running.

When Torres confronted Siler, Siler “armed himself with a weapon” and Torres fatally shot him, Hetlet said.

Wisconsin online court records show a man with the same name and birthdate as Siler was charged in 2011 in Kenosha County with strangulation, false imprisonment, battery and disorderly conduct. He pleaded no contest to strangulation with the other charges dismissed and was sentenced in 2013 to four years of probation on condition he serve one year in jail.

In 2011, the same man pleaded guilty to bail jumping and was sentenced in May 2013 to credit served for 563 days he spent in jail. A theft charge was dismissed.

In the earlier officer-involved shooting, Torres was among three officers and a recruit who went to a home after a woman called to say her husband had gone into the garage to kill himself. Police say the man was armed with two knives and was seated in a running vehicle. When the man refused to drop the knives, two officers shot him with Tasers. When the man began advancing on police, Torres shot him once in the stomach. The man is expected to survive.

Hetlet said police had no additional information to release about the shooting of Siler.

Kenosha is in southeastern Wisconsin between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Another day, another drug raid fatality

Posted: March 8, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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From Balko…

Meet Derek Cruice, your latest collateral damage in the drug war:

A deputy shot and killed an unarmed man while attempting to serve a narcotics search warrant in Deltona, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said deputies were entering the home on Maybrook Drive when Derek Cruice, 26, allegedly advanced on a member of the SWAT team around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“Volusia County Sheriff’s Office narcotics investigators and the Street Crimes Unit were attempting to serve a search warrant at a residence. They were met with resistance and a shooting occurred,” Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said.

A deputy shot Cruice in the face right in the doorway, investigators said.

Cruice was taken to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Hospital in Orange City as a trauma alert, but later died.

There were five other people inside the home at the time of the shooting, but no one else was injured.

If he was shot in the doorway, it seems unlikely he had much time to process what was going on around him. In fact, not only was Cruice unarmed, according to his roommates, he was wearing only basketball shorts. The roommates also dispute the police account that Cruice “advanced” on them.

Two of Cruice’s friends, who told WESH 2′s Claire Metz that they were inside the house when he was shot, insist that he did not threaten or resist the deputy.

“That is completely a lie. I was there; I watched the whole thing. There was no advancement. There was no reaching for anything. The guy was wearing basketball shorts like I am. It’s kind of hard to conceal anything or hide anything when this is all you have on,” said Cruice’s friend, who asked not to be identified.

Another friend called the incident “murder.” There were no weapons in the house.

It seems likely that Cruice was dealing pot. The police say they found a ledger book, a scale, about a half-pound of marijuana and some cash. It also seems likely that if the police had simply knocked on the door and waited, or apprehended Cruice as he was coming or going, Cruice would be still be alive. This insistence on serving drug warrants by barreling into homes creates needless violence, confusion and confrontation. They’re designed to do this. I doubt that Cruice knowingly decided to take on a raiding police team armed only with his basketball shorts. It seems far more likely that he thought they were criminal intruders and was either trying to confront them, or was trying to escape. But there is no room for errors in judgment for the people on the receiving end of these raids — even though sowing confusion and disorientation are the stated aim. But it is only the suspects, the targets of the raids, who are expected to do everything right. When the police screw up and kill someone, they’re generally forgiven, owing again to the volatility of the situation.

So judging from the many, many prior incidents similar to this one, it’s probably safe to say that this officer will be cleared of any wrongdoing. It’s also probably safe to say that any investigation will determine that there’s nothing wrong with the police department’s warrant service policies. At least that’s how these investigations usually go. And if it is determined that the cops in these cases are following policy, and that there’s nothing wrong with the policies themselves, then the only conclusion we can draw is that the police agencies believe unarmed men getting shot in the face is an acceptable consequence of the effort to stop people from getting high on marijuana.

Of course, even that is an illusion. If there’s one thing we can say with near-absolute certainty, it’s that it is no more difficult to buy pot in Volusia County, Fla., today than it was before Derek Cruice was gunned down in his own home. And so we add another body to the pile.

Central Florida man killed by police serving search warrant

Posted: March 4, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – A 26-year-old Central Florida man died after being shot in the face early on Wednesday morning by a sheriff’s deputy attempting to serve a search warrant in a narcotics investigation, authorities said.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office reported in a press release that the victim, Derek Cruice, advanced on a member of the SWAT team as the officer was entering the house, leading to his killing.

Spokesman Gary Davidson said a further description of the encounter would follow a report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which investigates fatal shootings by police.

Michael Grady, one of six people in the house, told reporters at the scene that he opened the door when officers knocked, stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Within a couple of seconds, as officers pushed him to his knees, Grady said he heard the gunshot behind him, according to video of his interview posted on the Daytona Beach News-Journal website.

Reuters could not reach Grady for comment.

The deputy who fired the shot was Todd Raible, 36, a 10-year employee of the sheriff’s office, according to Davidson, who said no one was arrested.

“advanced on the SWAT team my ass-the trigger-happy stormtroopers shot him IN THE FACE!

Merika!

CPD releases fact sheet on Homan Square facility

Posted: March 1, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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CHICAGO (WLS) —

The Chicago Police Department released a fact sheet Sunday disputing claims they operate a secretive facility in Homan Square on Chicago’s West Side where criminal suspects are denied basic rights.

The fact sheet is three pages: one detailing facility facts, one addressing what experts are saying regarding claims of abuse and the last page explaining the department’s arrest and interview procedures.

The information refutes all claims of abuse. Police say Homan Square open to the public as home to CPD’s Evidence and Recovered Property Section, where “members of the public can collect evidence recovered during now complete criminal investigations, or found property.”

They also say Homan Square is “the base of operations for officers working undercover assignments. These men and women dress in plain clothes and work to disrupt gang activity and clear drug markets out of neighborhoods. Advertising their base of operations could put their lives at risk, which is why Homan Square features little signage.”

Regarding allegations that a death at the facility may have been the result of physical violence from Chicago police officers, the fact sheet says, “The allegation that physical violence is part of interviews with suspects is unequivocally false… Published news reports indicate the Medical Examiner’s autopsy report shows the man died of an accidental heroin overdose.”

Saturday, activists gathered outside the Homan Square facility for a protest, where they made demands including calls for a town hall meeting.

“If Chicago Police Department doesn’t have anything to hide, then open up the doors!” said Rev. Greg Greer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “Open up the doors!”

The “Fact Sheet”…

CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT FACT SHEET
March 1, 2015
THE FACTS ABOUT CPD’S HOMAN SQAURE FACILITY
Recently, inaccurate and misleading information reg
arding Homan Square has been making
its way around the Internet. The below provides fac
ts about the facility and its uses, and the
arrest and interview procedures of CPD.
Homan Square is a facility owned and operated by th
e Chicago Police Department since
1999. It serves a number of functions, some of whic
h are sensitive and some of which are
not, however
it is not a secret facility
.
In fact, Homan Square is home to CPD’s Evidence and
Recovered Property Section, which is
open to the public. Homan Square is the only CPD fa
cility where members of the public can
collect evidence recovered during a now complete cr
iminal investigation, or found property.
Portions of the facility are sensitive. Homan Squar
e is the base of operations for officers
working undercover assignments. These men and women
dress in plain clothes and work to
disrupt gang activity and clear drug markets out of
neighborhoods. Advertising their base of
operations could put their lives at risk, which is
why Homan Square features little signage.
Other sensitive units housed at the facility includ
e the Bureau of Organized Crime (including
the narcotics unit), the SWAT Unit, Evidence Techni
cians, and the CPD ballistics lab.
Like more than 25 CPD facilities throughout the Cit
y, such as district stations and detective
bureaus, Homan Square contains several standard int
erview rooms. Most individuals
interviewed at Homan Square are lower-level arrests
from the Narcotics unit. There are
always records of anyone who is arrested by CPD, an
d this is no different at Homan Square.
EXAMPLES OF FALSE INFORMATION RECENTLY PUBLISHED
•
The allegation that physical violence is a part of
interviews with suspects is
unequivocally false, it is offensive, and it is not
supported by any facts whatsoever.
•
The articles say a man died in one of the Homan Squ
are interview rooms, and imply
this may have been a result of physical violence at
the hands of CPD officers.
Published news reports indicate the Medical Examine
r’ autopsy report show the
man died of an accidental heroin overdose.
•
The articles describe Homan Square as a “secretive
warehouse” despite the fact that
the public is able to claim inventoried property th
ere and members of the media
have been invited on tours of the facility on a reg
ular basis. CPD has even held press
conferences inside the facility.
•
One of the articles implies that during an intervie
w police turned up the heat in an
interview room at Homan Square to get an individual
to admit to a crime, yet there
is no way to regulate heat in individual rooms at t
he facility. Any change in
temperature would affect an entire floor or zone, a
nd can only be done by calling in
a building engineer.
***It takes an engineer to turn up a thermostat?***

Chicago protesters demand probe of what they call police ‘black site’

Posted: March 1, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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By Tracy Rucinski

CHICAGO (Reuters) – About 200 protesters gathered outside a police facility in Chicago on Saturday, demanding an investigation into a media report denied by police that the site functions as an off-the-books interrogation compound.

British newspaper The Guardian said in a report earlier this week the Chicago Police Department holds suspects and witnesses for long periods of time at a former warehouse called Homan Square, without giving them access to attorneys or phone calls to family and without recording their detention.

The piece was the subject of intense debate in recent days in Chicago, with some criminal justice experts saying it was exaggerated and others giving it credence.

The protest represented an effort by organizers to pressure city leaders to look into the matter.

The Guardian has compared the location to a CIA “black site” facility, and in a piece posted on its website on Tuesday it quoted a man who said he was held in shackles at the site for 17 hours.

“Everything that happens in this facility is off the books, so they can’t prove that these things never happened,” said Travis McDermott, one of the organizers of the protest.

Chicago police spokesman Martin Malone did not immediately return a call requesting comment on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in a statement said it “abides by all laws, rules and guidelines pertaining to any interviews of suspects or witnesses” at Homan Square and other facilities.

“There are always records of anyone who is arrested by CPD, and this is not any different at Homan Square,” it said.

The city of Chicago has paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits arising from Chicago police commander Jon Burge’s torture methods in the 1970s and 1980s.

The controversy over the site comes as the city prepares for a mayoral election on April 7, with incumbent Rahm Emanuel facing opponent Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Crime has been a top issue during the campaign.

Roughly 200 people braved frigid temperatures to join the protest on Saturday. Its organizers included Black Lives Matter and the Stop Mass Incarcelation Network

Chicago police are running a horrifying CIA-style black site out of a warehouse

Posted: February 24, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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A remarkable report from Spencer Ackerman at The Guardian has revealed in detail the existence of an interrogation facility used by Chicago police to detain and hold people in secret. The report describes how police have used a “nondescript warehouse” to keep detainees out of booking databases, beat prisoners, shackle them for “prolonged periods,” and keep them from legal counsel for up to 24 hours — including even children as young as 15.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the US has used similar facilities around the world since 9/11 in its prosecution of the “war on terror.” CIA “black sites” around the world have been used to secretly detain, interrogate, and torture alleged enemies of state. Use of these sites for “extraordinary rendition” is one of the darkest aspects of the US war on terror, and has been the target of criticism from a broad spectrum of observers.

America has entered a period of constitutional horror

Unlike the CIA’s black sites, The Guardian reports that the Chicago facility targets people who aren’t suspected of terror-related activities; the site is reportedly shared by anti-gang and anti-drug police units.

In one instance, The Guardian reports, 12 people who were protesting a Nato summit in 2012 were taken to the warehouse. One man, Jacob Church, says he was cuffed to a bench for around 17 hours and interrogated without receiving Miranda rights. “Essentially, I wasn’t allowed to make contact with anybody,” Church told The Guardian. “I had essentially figured, ‘all right, well, they disappeared us and so we’re probably never going to see the light of day again.'” An attorney who eventually gained access to the facility reportedly had to talk to Church through a “floor-to-ceiling chain-link metal cage.” But most attorneys, The Guardian notes, have been completely turned away from the site.

One detainee, John Hubbard, died in the facility, The Guardian reports. At the time, The Chicago Tribune unceremoniously reported the event under the headline “man in custody found unresponsive, dies.”

“That scares the hell out of me.”

The Guardian‘s report lands in the wake of a national conversation that began last year about police militarization in the US. Last August, the world witnessed a shocking display of force against residents of Ferguson, Missouri, who assembled to protest the killing of an unarmed teenager. Police in military battle dress rolled armored vehicles with sonic weapons down suburban streets, pointed sniper rifles at peaceful protesters, assaulted and harassed journalists, and unilaterally heightened tensions for dubious reasons. Police militarization and brutality have, of course, been an issue before Ferguson — just ask the participants of Occupy Wall Street.

As The Guardian’s report demonstrates, it’s not just weapons from the war on terror that are flowing to police departments across the country: it’s tactics and attitudes, too. “I’ve never known of any kind of organized, secret place where they go and just hold somebody before booking for hours and hours and hours,” retired DC homicide detective James Trainum told The Guardian. “That scares the hell out of me that that even exists or might exist.”

No charges for Los Angeles officers who shot unarmed man after chase

Posted: February 24, 2015 by gamegetterII in Police state USSA
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(Reuters) – Three Los Angeles police officers who fatally shot an unarmed man after a televised car chase in 2013 will not face charges over the killing, prosecutors said on Monday, in a case that has drawn criticism from the department’s police chief.

The news was contained in a letter dated Jan. 29 and released by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. It came as national scrutiny over police killings of unarmed people remains high after several high-profile deaths.

The three Los Angeles officers said they thought 51-year-old Brian Beaird, who was white, was reaching for a gun or shooting at them when they fired on him 21 times on Dec. 13, 2013.

“There is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (the officers) did not act in self-defense and in defense of others,” the letter said.

The incident began as a car chase when Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies tried to pull Beaird over in his silver Corvette for reckless driving, police said.

After Los Angeles police officers took up pursuit, Beaird’s vehicle collided with another car at a downtown intersection and he emerged flailing his arms, police said.

An officer fired a non-lethal bean bag shotgun at Beaird. Shortly after, the three officers – Armando Corral, Leonardo Ortiz, and Michael Ayala – opened fire on him, killing him, officials said.

“I find that the tactics utilized by (the officers) substantially and unjustifiably deviated from approved department tactical training, thus requiring a finding of administrative disapproval,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck wrote in a report of the incident last December.

Media reported that Beaird’s family had obtained a $5 million settlement from the city over the shooting. Bill Beaird of Fresno, California, told reporters at the time he saw police shoot his son on live television.

“I’ve seen a lot, but nothing affected me like this, I just can’t seem to get over that,” he said.

The decision not to charge the officers comes as officials in Washington state are investigating the fatal shooting by three police officers of an unarmed man who was throwing rocks.

That fatal shooting prompted protests in the state’s agricultural heartland, and a lawyer for the man’s family said his constitutional rights had been violated.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco)
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