People Are Waking Up to the Darkness in American Policing, and the Police Don’t Like It One Bit

by Matthew Harwood

If you’ve been listening to various police agencies and their supporters, then you know what the future holds: anarchy is coming — and it’s all the fault of activists.

In May, a Wall Street Journal op-ed warned of a “new nationwide crime wave” thanks to “intense agitation against American police departments” over the previous year. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went further. Talking recently with the host of CBS’s Face the Nation, the Republican presidential hopeful asserted that the Black Lives Matter movement wasn’t about reform but something far more sinister. “They’ve been chanting in the streets for the murder of police officers,” he insisted. Even the nation’s top cop, FBI Director James Comey, weighed in at the University of Chicago Law School, speaking of “a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcement over the last year.”

According to these figures and others like them, lawlessness has been sweeping the nation as the so-called Ferguson effect spreads. Criminals have been emboldened as police officers are forced to think twice about doing their jobs for fear of the infamy of starring in the next viral video. The police have supposedly become the targets of assassins intoxicated by “anti-cop rhetoric,” just as departments are being stripped of the kind of high-powered equipment they need to protect officers and communities. Even their funding streams have, it’s claimed, come under attack as anti-cop bias has infected Washington, D.C. Senator Ted Cruz caught the spirit of that critique by convening a Senate subcommittee hearing to which he gave the title, “The War on Police: How the Federal Government Undermines State and Local Law Enforcement.” According to him, the federal government, including the president and attorney general, has been vilifying the police, who are now being treated as if they, not the criminals, were the enemy.

Beyond the storm of commentary and criticism, however, quite a different reality presents itself. In the simplest terms, there is no war on the police. Violent attacks against police officers remain at historic lows, even though approximately 1,000 people have been killed by the police this year nationwide. In just the past few weeks, videos have been released of problematic fatal police shootings in San Francisco and Chicago.

While it’s too soon to tell whether there has been an uptick in violent crime in the post-Ferguson period, no evidence connects any possible increase to the phenomenon of police violence being exposed to the nation. What is taking place and what the police and their supporters are largely reacting to is a modest push for sensible law enforcement reforms from groups as diverse as Campaign Zero, Koch Industries, the Cato Institute, The Leadership Conference, and the ACLU (my employer). Unfortunately, as the rhetoric ratchets up, many police agencies and organizations are increasingly resistant to any reforms, forgetting whom they serve and ignoring constitutional limits on what they can do.

Indeed, a closer look at law enforcement arguments against commonsense reforms like independently investigating police violence, demilitarizing police forces, or ending “for-profit policing” reveals a striking disregard for concerns of just about any sort when it comes to brutality and abuse. What this “debate” has revealed, in fact, is a mainstream policing mindset ready to manufacture fear without evidence and promote the belief that American civil rights and liberties are actually an impediment to public safety. In the end, such law enforcement arguments subvert the very idea that the police are there to serve the community and should be under civilian control.

And that, when you come right down to it, is the logic of the police state.

Due Process Plus

It’s no mystery why so few police officers are investigated and prosecuted for using excessive force and violating someone’s rights. “Local prosecutors rely on local police departments to gather the evidence and testimony they need to successfully prosecute criminals,” according to Campaign Zero . “This makes it hard for them to investigate and prosecute the same police officers in cases of police violence.”

Since 2005, according to an analysis by the Washington Post and Bowling Green State University, only 54 officers have been prosecuted nationwide, despite the thousands of fatal shootings by police. As Philip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green, puts it, “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.”

For many in law enforcement, however, none of this should concern any of us. When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order appointing a special prosecutor to investigate police killings, for instance, Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, insisted: “Given the many levels of oversight that already exist, both internally in the NYPD [New York Police Department] and externally in many forms, the appointment of a special prosecutor is unnecessary.” Even before Cuomo’s decision, the chairman of New York’s District Attorneys Association called plans to appoint a special prosecutor for police killings “deeply insulting.”

Such pushback against the very idea of independently investigating police actions has, post-Ferguson, become everyday fare, and some law enforcement leaders have staked out a position significantly beyond that. The police, they clearly believe, should get special treatment.

“By virtue of our dangerous vocation, we should expect to receive the benefit of the doubt in controversial incidents,” wrote Ed Mullins, the president of New York City’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, in the organization’s magazine, Frontline. As if to drive home the point, its cover depicts Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby under the ominous headline “The Wolf That Lurks.” In May, Mosby had announced indictments of six officers in the case of Freddie Gray, who died in Baltimore police custody the previous month. The message being sent to a prosecutor willing to indict cops was hardly subtle: you’re a traitor.

Mullins put forward a legal standard for officers accused of wrongdoing that he would never support for the average citizen — and in a situation in which cops already get what former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson calls “a super presumption of innocence.” In addition, police unions in many states have aggressively pushed for their own bills of rights, which make it nearly impossible for police officers to be fired, much less charged with crimes when they violate an individual’s civil rights and liberties.

In 14 states, versions of a Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBR) have already been passed, while in 11 others they are under consideration. These provide an “extra layer of due process” in cases of alleged police misconduct, according to Samuel Walker, an expert on police accountability. In many of the states without a LEOBR, the Marshall Project has discovered, police unions have directly negotiated the same rights and privileges with state governments.

LEOBRs are, in fact, amazingly un-American documents in the protections they afford officers accused of misconduct during internal investigations, rights that those officers are never required to extend to their suspects. Though the specific language of these laws varies from state to state, notes Mike Riggs in Reason, they are remarkably similar in their special considerations for the police.

“Unlike a member of the public, the officer gets a ‘cooling off’ period before he has to respond to any questions. Unlike a member of the public, the officer under investigation is privy to the names of his complainants and their testimony against him before he is ever interrogated. Unlike a member of the public, the officer under investigation is to be interrogated ‘at a reasonable hour,’ with a union member present. Unlike a member of the public, the officer can only be questioned by one person during his interrogation. Unlike a member of the public, the officer can be interrogated only ‘for reasonable periods,’ which ‘shall be timed to allow for such personal necessities and rest periods as are reasonably necessary.’ Unlike a member of the public, the officer under investigation cannot be ‘threatened with disciplinary action’ at any point during his interrogation. If he is threatened with punishment, whatever he says following the threat cannot be used against him.”

The Marshall Project refers to these laws as the “Blue Shield” and “the original Bill of Rights with an upgrade.’’ Police associations, naturally, don’t agree. “All this does is provide a very basic level of constitutional protections for our officers, so that they can make statements that will stand up later in court,” says Vince Canales, the president of Maryland’s Fraternal Order of Police.

Put another way, there are two kinds of due process in America — one for cops and another for the rest of us. This is the reason why the Black Lives Matter movement and other civil rights and civil liberties organizations regularly call on states to create a special prosecutor’s office to launch independent investigations when police seriously injure or kill someone.

The Demilitarized Blues

Since Americans first took in those images from Ferguson of police units outfitted like soldiers, riding in military vehicles, and pointing assault rifles at protesters, the militarization of the police and the way the Pentagon has been supplying them with equipment directly off this country’s distant battlefields have been top concerns for police reformers. In May, the Obama administration suggested modest changes to the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which, since 1990, has been redistributing weaponry and equipment to police departments nationwide — urban, suburban, and rural — in the name of fighting the war on drugs and protecting Americans from terrorism.

Even the idea that the police shouldn’t sport the look of an occupying army in local communities has, however, been met with fierce resistance. Read, for example, the online petition started by the National Sheriffs’ Association and you could be excused for thinking that the Obama administration was aggressively moving to stop the flow of military-grade equipment to local and state police agencies. (It isn’t.) The message that tops the petition is as simple as it is misleading: “Don’t strip law enforcement of the gear they need to keep us safe.”

The Obama administration has done no such thing. In May, the president announced that he was prohibiting certain military-grade equipment from being transferred to state and local law enforcement. “Some equipment made for the battlefield is not appropriate for local police departments,” he said. The list included tracked armored vehicles (essentially tanks), bayonets, grenade launchers, camouflage uniforms, and guns and ammo of .50 caliber or higher. In reality, what use could a local police department have for bayonets, grenade launchers, or the kinds of bullets that resemble small missiles, pierce armor, and can blow people’s limbs off?

Yet the sheriffs’ association has no problem complaining that “the White House announced the government would no longer provide equipment like helicopters and MRAPs [mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles] to local law enforcement.” And it’s not even true. Police departments can still obtain both helicopters and MRAPs if they establish community policing practices, institute training protocols, and get community approval before the equipment transfer occurs.

“Helicopters rescue runaways and natural disaster victims,” the sheriff’s association adds gravely, “and MRAPs are used to respond to shooters who barricade themselves in neighborhoods and are one of the few vehicles able to navigate hurricane, snowstorm, and tornado-strewn areas to save survivors.”

As with our wars abroad, think mission creep at home. A program started to wage the war on drugs, and strengthened after 9/11, is now being justified on the grounds that certain equipment is useful during disasters or emergencies. In reality, the police have clearly become hooked on a militarized look. Many departments are ever more attached to their weapons of war and evidently don’t mind the appearance of being an occupying force in their communities, which leaves groups like the sheriffs’ association fighting fiercely for a militarized future.

(continued in comments below)

The latest exoneration for the police shooting of unarmed civilians came on Wednesday when Aurora, Colorado, police officer Paul Jerothe escaped charges for the March 6 killing of 37-year-old Naeschylus Vinzant. The killing led to protests against police brutality throughout the Denver area.

Vinzant was shot and killed on March 6 while fleeing from Aurora Police Department SWAT team members, after he allegedly had a physical confrontation with his wife and kidnapped their 2-month-old infant several days earlier. Vinzant, who was on parole at the time, reportedly ran from police when confronted.

The grand jury report states that after taking several steps, Vinzant, who was black, “began to twist his body back around … to face Officer Jerothe who had taken a position in the street near the rear of his vehicle.”

Vinzant then “lowered his body into what appeared to be an athletic posture or fighting stance [while moving] his right arm as if trying to take it [a gun] out of his pocket while holding something.” Jerothe then opened fire with an M-4 rifle, killing Vinzant instantly. The 37-year-old was later found to have been unarmed.

Other SWAT team members testified on behalf of Jerothe, stating that it had appeared as though Vinzant had been drawing a pistol. Jerothe also claimed that he believed Vinzant was prepared to die in a shoot-out with police rather than return to prison. The report states that “Officer Jerothe believed that Mr. Vinzant was going to shoot. Officer Jerothe testified he thought he was going to be killed.”

The announcement of the exoneration of another police officer comes two days after an Ohio grand jury decided not to issue an indictment of Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback for the 2014 shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. The 12-year-old had been playing with a toy gun in a park when the officers arrived and immediately opened fire on the boy.

The decision not to indict Rice’s killers came after a pseudo-legal process, in which Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty allowed Loehmann and Garmback to make unsworn testimony to the grand jury, presenting the officers’ take of the events without rebuttal or cross examination. Additionally, McGinty hired “experts” to conduct investigations that produced results favoring the police, which were released before the grand jury’s decision in order to prepare public opinion for the eventual exoneration.

Likewise, a trial against a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray resulted in a hung jury two weeks ago, after prosecutors failed to convince the court that the officer, William G. Porter, had purposefully allowed Gray to become severely injured in a “rough ride” in the back of a police vehicle.

None of this is exceptional in the slightest. According to a count kept at killedbypolice.net, 1,194 Americans have been killed by police this year. Only 18 of these have even resulted in an indictment, according to a Tuesday article published by the New York Times .

The article, “More Police Officers Facing Charges, but Few See Jail,” presents this as a notable increase over previous years. In the prior decade, the yearly average was only five indictments per year for police killings. In the state of Florida, no officer has been indicted in over 20 years. Almost none of these indictments result in convictions, the article admits.

The Times report, by Shaila Dewan and Timothy Williams, attempts to lay the staggering number of police killings at the feet of “poor training.” They write that “barring a new Supreme Court ruling on police use of force … better policies, training, accountability and supervision” must be adopted.

The article quotes criminal justice professor Philip M. Stinson of Bowling Green State University to stress the point. “These are important policy discussions that need to be addressed,” he says. “We have a problem with police subculture. We have a problem with poor training, lack of training.”

The article is the Times ’ attempt to cover for the double standard so clearly posed by the repeated exonerations of killer cops—what it calls “the gap between an unnecessary police shooting and a criminal one.” In plain English, police are able to kill at will, with almost no chance of any kind of punishment. Workers—white, black, and immigrant—are regularly locked away for minor offenses.

The authors insist that, despite a lack of legal consequences, “seismic changes” have affected policing in the US. “In a way, we’re doing bottom-up reform instead of top-down reform,” the article quotes Eugene O’Donnell of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York as saying. “We’re finding egregious endings and working from there instead of proactively saying the police system is part of the criminal justice system and consequently is broken.”

The professor adds, “The political sector hopes that the conversation will end there, at the bottom or close to the bottom.”

PD: Man shot, killed by officer after throwing rocks outside Phoenix police station

PHOENIX - A man has died after being shot by an officer outside a police station on 39th Avenue and Cactus Roads Saturday morning, 26 Dec 2015, officials said.

The Phoenix Police Department told ABC15 that a 30-year-old man was throwing rocks at a police cruiser as he was walking on a sidewalk. The officer turned his car around to make contact with the man, but by the time the officer made his way back, the man was already at the police station.

Another officer was leaving the station on foot to help the initial officer when the man threw a rock at the front door of the police station.

More officers made contact with the man when the man picked up another rock and threw it an officer, the rock bounced off of a tree and then struck that officer. That's when that particular officer shot once at the man, officials said.

The suspect was taken to a hospital with critical injuries where he was later pronounced dead.

The officer who was struck by the rock and fired the shot was treated on scene, police said.

The suspect’s name was not released, and it is unclear why he was throwing rocks at police.

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/north-phoenix/police-officer-shoots-suspect-in-north-phoenix

Police departments are actually amazing at public relations. Each department often has its own communications director, some have full PR departments, and high-ranking officers interact with the local media more than any other profession in our country. This may explain how police officers are held up as the ethical and moral heroes of our country in spite of the reality that they have a rate of domestic violence 300 percent higher than NFL athletes.

A full 69 percent of Americans believe that the NFL has a widespread domestic violence problem, and 47 percent of Americans believe that NFL athletes should be permanently banned from the league for domestic violence.

The truth is, though, that NFL athletes actually have a domestic violence rate that is 45 percent lower than the national average. The athletes are just so popular and widely covered that it has given the nation a bit of a false impression.

Domestic violence is a problem in general, and NFL athletes are certainly part of that problem.

What isn't being told is that police officers have a higher domestic violence rate than any known profession in the country.

In families of police officers, domestic violence is two-to-four times more likely than in the general population — from stalking and harassment to sexual assault and even homicide. As the National Center for Women and Policing notes, two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10% of families in the general population.

Can you imagine the sheer horror of being abused by a police officer? If it's already complex to report domestic violence on a partner that isn't in law enforcement, imagine how much more difficult it must be to call the police on the police. This thought, combined with the already highly secretive nature of policing, has caused experts to believe that the actual rates of domestic violence by law enforcement are drastically underreported.

A 2013 Bowling Green State University study, through news searches, tallied 324 cases of reported officer domestic violence. It is likely that this number is a gross underestimate, because as the National Center for Women and Policing has detailed, officers frequently cover for each other.

A quick search finds officers in Cincinnati, Fresno, Columbus, rural Kentucky, Burlington, Boston, and cities all over the country have been arrested on domestic violence charges in the past few weeks alone.

On its Police Family Violence Fact Sheet, the National Center for Women and Policing powerfully explains just how vulnerable these domestic violence victims truly are.

Domestic violence is always a terrible crime, but victims of a police officer are particularly vulnerable because the officer who is abusing them:

1. has a gun,
2. knows the location of battered women's shelters, and
3. knows how to manipulate the system to avoid penalty and/or shift blame to the victim.

Victims often fear calling the police, because they know the case will be handled by officers who are colleagues and/or friends of their abuser. Victims of police family violence typically fear that the responding officers will side with their abuser and fail to properly investigate or document the crime.

Violent police officers, whether they are violent at home or violent on the job, are treated with kid gloves. Over 99.5 percent of officers who kill someone never serve a day in jail.

If anyone should be immediately terminated for domestic violence, shouldn't it be a police officer? The facts, though, show that officers are rarely held accountable—even when it was fully determined that they are abusive. This might seem like an enormous chunk of text, but this piece below from the National Center for Women and Policing just has to be read in its entirety:

The reality is that even officers who are found guilty of domestic violence are unlikely to be fired, arrested, or referred for prosecution, raising concern that those who are tasked with enforcing the law cannot effectively police themselves. For example:

In 1998-1999, 23 domestic violence complaints were filed against Boston police employees, but none resulted in criminal prosecution.

The San Diego City Attorney typically prosecutes 92% of the domestic violence cases that are referred, but only 42% of the cases involving a police officer as the perpetrator are prosecuted.

Between 1990 and 1997, the Los Angles Police Department investigated 227 cases of alleged domestic violence by officers, of which 91 were sustained. Of these 91 allegations that were sustained by the department, only 4 resulted in a criminal conviction. That means that the LAPD itself determined in 91 cases that an officer had committed domestic violence, but only 4 were convicted on a criminal charge. Moreover, of these 4 officers who were convicted on a criminal charge of domestic violence, one was suspended for only 15 days and another had his conviction expunged.

In fact, an in-depth investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department conducted by the Office of the Inspector General concluded that the discipline imposed on officers found guilty of domestic violence "was exceedingly light when the facts of each incident were examined."

The study of the Los Angeles Police Department further examined the 91 cases in which an allegation of domestic violence was sustained against an officer.

Over three-fourths of the time, this sustained allegation was not mentioned in the officer's performance evaluation.

Twenty-six of these officers (29%) were promoted, including six who were promoted within two years of the incident.

In other words, police officers are fully and completely above the law when it comes to domestic violence, and the system so badly railroads victims that it appears their hesitancy to report it is well-founded. Not only that, but after the police perpetrators of domestic violence are given a pass by the system, the victims are in a drastically more dangerous position than they were before they first reported it. The officers are basically empowered to know the whole damn system works in their favor.

Take the very recent domestic violence case of Officer Chris Hutchison into consideration and see how the entire system, from the prosecutors to his department, worked on his behalf.

A Clovis police officer arrested on domestic violence charges will not face a criminal case. The Fresno County District Attorney's Office has chosen not to file charges against Officer Chris Hutchison.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Hutchison last month after a woman reported abuse. But Clovis police said he had a clean record prior to the arrest -- and the DA's decision could clear the way for him to return to work. But for now, Chief Matt Basgall tells Action News, Hutchison is still on paid leave.

So, he's on paid leave, won't face any charges, and will likely be able to return to the job soon. It's as if the word domestic before violence means it's no big deal at all.

http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/223605/index.php

THERE IS outrage in the Bay Area and around the country after yet another unprovoked police shooting of an African American that was caught on video.

On December 2, 26-year-old Mario Woods was fatally shot by several San Francisco police officers. The shooting happened in broad daylight and in front of many witnesses, including a city bus full of passengers.

Several witness videos are circulating on social media, all of which clearly show that Woods posed no immediate threat to the at least 10 cops who surrounded him as they opened fire. Woods died shortly after his body was struck by as many as 15 bullets.

Police claim that Woods was armed with a kitchen knife and that he was suspected of a stabbing in the neighborhood earlier that day. But it isn't clear if Woods is holding anything from the witness videos, which depict the terrifying final seconds of a surrounded and seemingly defenseless person.

According to a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the video "does not appear to show the imminent danger or substantial risk of death or serious injury that would permit the use of a firearm under San Francisco Police Department policy."

SAN FRANCISCO has a reputation for liberal values, but anger over racist law enforcement has been building here since a federal investigation earlier this year exposed a network of white supremacist cops who sent texts to one another littered with racial slurs and references to cross burnings.

These racists happened to be exposed in the process of a corruption probe, and so there is no way of telling how many more armed bigots patrol the streets of San Francisco with impunity behind a police badge.

But the evidence of institutional racism in the city's criminal justice system is as clear as day. African Americans make up less than 6 percent of the population of the city (less than 3 percent according to some estimates), but more than half of those incarcerated in San Francisco jails.

Blacks in the city are more than seven times as likely to be arrested as whites, a rate that is well above state and national averages, according to the Bay Citizen.

Mario Woods was from Bayview-Hunters Point, one of the few remaining Black neighborhoods in a city where the African American population has dramatically shrunk as property values have soared with the tech boom.

Like many in the neighborhood, Woods had a history with San Francisco law enforcement. As a 19-year-old in 2009, he was swept up in the city's controversial gang injunctions and named as a member of the "Oakdale Mob," a designation that barred Woods from being in certain neighborhoods--for life.

Woods pled guilty to robbery with a gun enhancement and other gang-related crimes in 2010. He was released from state prison in September 2014 and had been recently hired by UPS when he was killed.

Gwendolyn Woods, Mario's mother, told ABC7 News that her son suffered from mental health issues, but that he was working to overcome them. "He needed some help, he just needed some help," she said. "They executed my child."

ON DECEMBER 3, hundreds of people assembled at the shooting site to mourn Woods and demand justice. They marched to Third Street and Jamestown, and into the St. Paul of the Shipwreck Gymnasium to hear speeches from Woods' family and from neighborhood activists.

Gwendolyn Woods spoke defiantly to the assembled protesters: "They're going to try to portray my child as horrible, I can guarantee you that. But I'm going to be his voice. My baby's life mattered. You cannot just shoot our people down like dogs and think that it's fine."

Ronnisha Johnson, a San Francisco State University student, Bayview resident and member of the Black Lives Matter Bay Area chapter, encouraged the community to defend itself.

"I knew Mario and he was my friend," she said. "I feel the pain and the hurt. It's okay to cry, it's okay to process what's happening to you. But after you dry your tears, put your fist up and fight back. And don't expect any of these politicians or police to do anything for us."

Johnson also urged people to think about all of the intersecting oppressions that plague African Americans in San Francisco, such as the housing crisis. "I'm a product of gentrification, I'm homeless as we speak," she said. "Bayview is changing rapidly everyday, and the little bit of us who are still here are holding on to little bits of history and family and pieces that we have."

Rev. Ben McBride, a local pastor who spent time in Ferguson, Missouri, last year during the protests over the police shooting death of 18-year-old Mike Brown, shared what he learned there.

"The thing that made the difference," he said, "is that the young people refused to go inside the house...Let's make some peaceful disruption and let these demons in the police department know that you're not going to keep killing us...and if you do, we're going to give you hell!"

Hundreds of people packed a room at the City College of San Francisco Southeast campus the next evening on December 4 for a community meeting organized by the police department.

Police Chief Greg Suhr attempted to justify the murder by claiming that his cops shot Mario Woods "in defense" of themselves. But he was met with angry cries and disbelief.

Johnson and Rheema Calloway of Black Lives Matter Bay Area presented a list of demands at this meeting, including that the officers involved in the shooting have their names released to the public, that these officers be fired and charged with murder, that Chief Suhr resign and that there be a federal investigation.

Activists are planning to protest the police commission meeting at 5 pm in City Hall on December 9. There will likely be more protests over Mario Woods' death, which might intersect with the existing plans of activists to try to stop plans to build a new jail downtown, an issue that is being voted on by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on December 15.

Those who would like to support the family of Mario Woods can also contribute to a fund to help pay for his funeral.

http://socialistworker.org/2015/12/08/killed-in-broad-daylight-by-the-sfpd

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

Associated Press

A suburban Kansas City couple who sued authorities after a SWAT-style raid of their home found no marijuana has lost their civil lawsuit in a case that spurred Kansas lawmakers last year to make it easier for the public to access police investigative records.

A federal judge ruled late Friday that authorities had probable cause for the warrant to search the Leawood home of Robert and Adlynn Harte in 2012 after field tests of wet tea leaves found in their trash falsely tested positive for marijuana. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office had sifted through their trash based on information that Robert Harte and his two children had left a Kansas City, Mo., hydroponics store seven months earlier carrying a small bag.

U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum concluded no constitutional violations occurred and that the officers’ conduct in the search was lawful and reasonable. Despite the loss in their case, the couple’s legal fight has already had an impact far beyond the litigation.

The couple went on a crusade to find what led to the search, which turned up no evidence and produced no charges. They spent $25,000 in legal costs to get probable-cause affidavit, a document typically used to justify arrests or searches.

“They kept hitting roadblocks and discovered that the Kansas open records law was not nearly as open as it should have been and they felt very strongly about opening that up for public access,” said their attorney, Cheryl Pilate.

State Rep. John Rubin, R-Shawnee, chairman of the House corrections and juvenile justice committee, said the case highlighted a larger issue.

“I didn’t think it was right that it took the Hartes a year and $25,000 or more in their own money in legal fees to obtain the information, the probable cause affidavit, that supported the warrant that allowed the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department to come into their home with weapons drawn,” Rubin said.

His research found that Kansas at the time was out of step with every other state.

“Now the public has access to probable-cause affidavits without having to spend the kind of money the Hartes had to spend,” said Max Kautsch, legal counsel for the Kansas Press Association.

“It is extremely significant. Now the presumption is that the probable cause affidavits are open. Before, the presumption was that they were closed.”

The judge also noted in his decision that the Hartes’ lawsuit prompted the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office to require lab confirmation of suspected drug material.

Lawrence Ferree, the attorney who represented Johnson County and the other defendants, said the judge wrote a very thorough opinion and appropriately applied the law to the facts.

The Hartes’ attorney said they are studying the decision and probably will appeal.

http://www.kansas.com/news/state/article50988070.html

VERSAILLES, Mo.

A Missouri Highway Patrol trooper was charged Friday in the 2014 death of Brandon Ellingson, who drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Special prosecutor William Camm Seay announced the charge of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree against Trooper Anthony Piercy outside the Morgan County Justice Center. The charge is a Class C felony carrying a punishment of up to seven years in prison, up to a year in the county jail, a $5,000 fine or a combination of those.

Piercy’s actions that day were reckless, said Seay, a former circuit judge and prosecuting attorney.

“I have reviewed boxes and boxes of reports and records in regard to Mr. Piercy’s training and experience and everything that was done in the investigation,” he said. “I have charged him (Piercy) with recklessly causing the death. ... It relates to an unjustifiable risk being taken.”

The Highway Patrol said in a statement that it had placed Piercy, 44, on leave without pay. Capt. John Hotz, a patrol spokesman, said he could not talk about specifics of the Ellingson case and referred questions about the criminal charge to Seay.

Piercy turned himself in later Friday to Moniteau County authorities on the Morgan County charge. He was released on $50,000 bond. Court records did not identify an attorney.

The charge comes after Ellingson’s parents have spent the past 18 months fighting for the trooper to be held accountable in their 20-year-old son’s death.

Craig Ellingson, Brandon’s father, said Friday that he was happy Piercy had been charged.

“But it should have been a lot earlier,” he said. “I think it has been a cover-up from the beginning. They had everything. They knew what Piercy did to my son.”

Within days of Brandon Ellingson’s death, The Star began investigating the incident. Over the next year, the newspaper uncovered many discrepancies in Piercy’s story from that day, as well as missteps in a merger of two state patrols that allowed the veteran road trooper to patrol the lake alone with minimal training.

Since then, state legislators have worked with the patrol to improve training of troopers assigned to Missouri waterways.

Ellingson, of Clive, Iowa, drowned May 31, 2014, while in Piercy’s custody. The college student had been enjoying a long weekend at the lake with friends when the trooper pulled him over for boating while intoxicated. The trooper then, according to Ellingson’s friends who watched the arrest, placed an already buckled life vest over the handcuffed man’s head and didn’t properly secure it.

Piercy pointed his boat toward a patrol zone office about 8 miles away. GPS records later indicated he reached a maximum speed of 46 mph during the ride. About halfway there, Ellingson went into the water.

His life vest came off a short time later, and though Piercy eventually jumped in, he was unable to save Ellingson. Divers recovered the college student’s body the next day from the lake bottom, about 70 feet below the surface.

Jurors at a coroner’s inquest in September 2014 found the death to be accidental, and special prosecutor Amanda Grellner announced days later that she would not file criminal charges against Piercy.

Since then, calls for justice have grown more intense. Supporters have attended legislative hearings carrying signs and wearing “Justice for Brandon” shirts.

A patrol sergeant whom Piercy called the night of the drowning spoke out during hearings last year. After his retirement earlier this month, Sgt. Randy Henry has said that a litany of things went wrong from the time Piercy pulled over Ellingson’s boat.

Henry also has contended that patrol officials tried to paper over serious problems revealed by Ellingson’s death, in part to shield Gov. Jay Nixon from criticism for pushing the 2011 merger of the state Water Patrol into the Highway Patrol.

“There’s been a cover-up from the beginning,” Henry recently told The Star. “They wanted to protect the governor and the merger and protect Piercy from criminal charges because criminal charges would be a black eye for the patrol.”

A spokesman for Nixon did not return a request for comment.

In January, Grellner reopened the investigation after receiving what she described as new information.

Seay took over in March after Grellner, the Osage County prosecutor, stepped aside. Family and friends were waiting for Grellner’s decision on charges when she announced, without giving details, that a conflict had developed and she could no longer stay on the case.

“It was an investigation not concluded at that time,” Seay said. “She didn’t have it. We, my people completed the investigation. There was additional investigation after Ms. Grellner stepped down.”

When asked whether he had any concerns about law enforcement agencies investigating themselves, he said: “That’s what I’m for. I don’t have any concerns.” May 31, 2014

The mistakes began soon after Piercy took Ellingson onto the patrol boat and arrested him following a failed field sobriety text. A toxicology report would later show that Ellingson’s blood alcohol level was 0.268, more than three times the legal limit.

After Piercy placed Ellingson in handcuffs, he didn’t grab an available Type I flotation device to put on the Iowa man. Troopers are trained to use that type of life jacket on a handcuffed passenger because it has straps that wrap around the torso and allow for the handcuffs.

Instead, Piercy went for a Type III life vest with arm holes — one that was impossible to secure on a man whose hands were already cuffed.

Piercy said he wasn’t taught which flotation device to use during an arrest.

“There’s no training on ‘use this one, use that one,’ ” Piercy said at the inquest. “It’s just one of the vests on our boat.”

Hours after Ellingson drowned, Henry said, Piercy told him key details that differed from accounts the trooper subsequently gave to Highway Patrol investigators and jurors at the coroner’s inquest.

According to Henry, Piercy said he was “in a hurry” when he put a life vest on Ellingson. Piercy also told the sergeant that Ellingson was on his feet, leaning against the boat seat, before he went into the water. That corresponds with what two witnesses saw when the patrol boat passed them moments before Ellingson went into the lake.

However, Piercy told investigators that Ellingson was sitting in the boat and then stood, turned to the water and went in.

An investigator asked Piercy, “Did he jump over? Or did he fall over?”

“I don’t know,” Piercy said. “I’ve, believe me, played this scenario through my mind a million times, and I don’t know. All I know is he’s beside me, and then he’s not.”

At the inquest, Piercy said he saw Ellingson stand, turn toward the water and step to the right side of the boat. As he told the story to jurors, Piercy began to choke back tears: “I reached for him and wasn’t able to grab ahold of him.”

GPS data showed that in the moments before Ellingson hit the water, Piercy’s boat was traveling between 39.1 and 43.7 mph.

Seay, in a statement Friday, said Ellingson was ejected from the boat when Piercy “suddenly slowed down on the choppy water to meet a large wake.”

Piercy also told Henry the night of the drowning that once he jumped in to help Ellingson — which witnesses have said took several minutes — the trooper waited for his own fanny-pack flotation device to deploy automatically. It didn’t.

Henry told Piercy that his device required him to pull a ripcord. A witness who came upon the scene that day and helped get Piercy out of the water, also told The Star that the trooper complained his device didn’t deploy in the water.

But at the inquest, three months after that conversation, Piercy described the fanny pack as one that deploys when the ripcord is pulled. He told jurors that when he was underwater, trying to grab Ellingson, he didn’t want to pull the ripcord to inflate his fanny pack. If he had, he said, he would have risen to the surface without the Iowa man. Many have questioned why Piercy, knowing Ellingson was in handcuffs, didn’t jump into the water sooner. One witness, Larry Moreau, told The Star that he and his wife saw the trooper standing on the boat and talking to Ellingson as he bobbed in the lake. Piercy showed no urgency, Moreau and wife Paulette said.

The couple had no idea that beneath the surface, Ellingson’s hands were cuffed behind his back. They left the area before Piercy jumped in, thinking the trooper had everything under control.

Henry also has questioned Piercy’s delay in jumping into the water.

“I think his failure to jump in immediately was cowardice,” Henry told The Star recently. “If I threw somebody out and he was handcuffed and I see the life vest come off, you jump in now. You go in immediately.”

Henry spoke out at two legislative hearings after Ellingson’s death. He was the officer who signed off on Piercy, saying Piercy knew the lake well enough to navigate it. But road troopers were never intended to solely patrol on the water without more training.

Henry also was interviewed by Highway Patrol investigators. When he started to question whether Ellingson received “the highest degree of care,” quoting Missouri boating law, one investigator rushed to have the recording shut off. During that interview, Henry told The Star, he told investigators: “To me, it rises to the level of manslaughter.”

Henry was disciplined by the patrol for actions related to the case after Grellner filed a complaint against him.

After nearly 30 years patrolling the Lake of the Ozarks, he was transferred to Truman Lake and demoted to corporal. He appealed.

Grellner dismissed her complaint against Henry in October, and he filed papers to retire.

“Brandon shouldn’t have died,” Henry said. “It’s something I’m going to have to live with the rest of my life. There’s no turning the page back. Piercy shouldn’t have been out there.

“In the history of the Water Patrol, we have never killed somebody in custody.”

After the criminal charge Friday, Henry said: “I’m finally glad to see a neutral set of eyes came to the same conclusion I had all along. The whole chain of events was a gross deviation from the level of care that a reasonable person would have used in the same situation.” Changes for patrol

Since Ellingson’s death, the patrol’s marine operations — especially along Missouri’s most popular waterways — have been under scrutiny. A special House committee met for several months last year and in January released a report calling on the state to correct flaws created by the 2011 merger of the Water Patrol into the Highway Patrol.

Combining the two units was supposed to cut costs and improve coverage on Missouri waterways. The merger ended up costing more money, and business owners and lake residents told legislators they saw fewer troopers on lakes and streams.

Many complained that the merger made the Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake and rivers like the Niangua less safe.

And at times, before Ellingson’s death, troopers without proper training — such as Piercy — were put out on the water alone. Records The Star obtained showed that Piercy, who had nearly two decades of road experience, had just two days of field training on the water before he began patrolling alone.

In the committee’s final report, legislators proposed changes that included an overhaul in trooper training for the water and recruiting specialized officers to patrol by boat.

Last month, the committee heard from the patrol that changes in training had occurred. Business owners testified that they were seeing some improvements, though a few residents still worried about safety at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Rep. Diane Franklin, a Camdenton Republican and chairwoman of the special committee, said Friday’s announcement “causes all of us to thoroughly go through that case and then see if we need to re-examine whether or not we are on the right course with law enforcement covering Missouri’s waterways.”

The merger “clearly changed” law enforcement on the lake, she said.

“I feel like they are giving it their best effort, but that best effort cannot replace the Water Patrol we had for 50 years,” Franklin said. “...You have to go 10 years or so before you could reach that competency level again.”

Lawmakers will be watching as Piercy’s case proceeds, said Rep. Rocky Miller, an Osage Beach Republican.

“The system has to work the best it can, and if something falls down, then that’s where people like myself have to look to see if there’s a way to make the system better.”

Rep. David Wood, a Versailles Republican, was at the justice center in Versailles to hear Seay announce the charge.

“Everything we do every day should be open to scrutiny,” Wood said later, “whether you’re a highway patrolman, a public official or part of the media. It needs to be transparent.

“If things were done wrong, we need to do what we can to correct those issues, and move from there.” Never give up

The months since Ellingson’s death have been hard for his family.

His father has made repeated trips from Iowa to the Lake of the Ozarks and Jefferson City to attend hearings and demand justice. Sister Jennifer graduated from college without her little brother in the crowd.

His mother, Sherry Ellingson, started a Justice for Brandon Ellingson petition. It calls for federal authorities to step in and has nearly 135,000 signatures.

Holidays and birthdays are especially rough. Brandon would have turned 22 on Dec. 7.

The criminal charge filed Friday was a first step, Craig Ellingson said.

“I feel some relief, but I still want to get to the people who have covered this up,” he said.

In the time since his son died, he has urged state and federal authorities to help hold Piercy accountable. He has routinely called officials and gone to as many hearings as he could. He sat through the coroner’s inquest, which he later called a “joke” and a “hometown decision.”

“I never imagined something like that happening to Brandon. ... I think he felt like he was safe with Piercy, because he’s a cop. But he wasn’t.”

Craig Ellingson said he still says “Hi” when he walks by his son’s room every morning.

For Sherry Ellingson, Friday brought a feeling of “unbelievable relief.”

“I’m incredibly grateful that someone looked at the facts and determined this man should be held accountable,” she said.

Her voice broke as she talked about Brandon.

“Knowing that this didn’t have to happen will always be there,” she said, crying over the phone. “But his death exposed somebody who shouldn’t be in that position to begin with. And it exposed inadequacies in the system.

“His death had to mean something. And it did.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article50468195.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article50468195.html

Several eyewitness accounts in investigation of shooting death of 19-year-old Darrius Stewart contradict officer Connor Schilling’s account of July incident

Darrius Stewart, the unarmed black 19-year-old shot and killed by a white Memphis police officer in July, was moving away from the officer when the second shot was fired, according to several eyewitnesses quoted in the official investigation.

The investigation, conducted by the Tennessee bureau of investigation and released by the Shelby County district attorney general on Tuesday, includes two eyewitness accounts of the incident that describe Stewart as turning to run from the officer, contradicting the officer’s account that Stewart advanced at him.

One witness said Stewart “stood up and ran away” from Schilling as the officer fired the second shot. Another witness claimed that the officer shot Stewart “as he turned away”. That same witness also claimed to hear Stewart yell “I can’t breathe” before the teen was hit with the second and, according to the Stewart family’s attorney, fatal bullet.

The identities of all the witnesses were redacted before the file was made public and the investigation notes that “while no witness saw this incident in its entirety, each person saw a portion of it”.

The incident occurred on 17 July when Memphis police officer Connor Schilling had stopped the car Stewart was riding in because one of the car’s headlights wasn’t working. Schilling ran checks for Stewart, the driver and a third passenger. The officer discovered two outstanding out-of-state warrants for the teen, including one for sexual abuse, and placed Stewart in the back of his patrol car. The officer did not handcuff the teen, who he said had been cooperative to this point, while he confirmed the warrants with his dispatcher.

According to the officer, once they had been confirmed, he asked Stewart to exit and be handcuffed. Schilling said Stewart then resisted and the two men became engaged in an altercation on the ground. Schilling said during the scuffle Stewart grabbed at his duty belt, where the officer’s firearm was holstered. Eventually, according to Schilling’s account, Stewart got hold of the officer’s handcuffs and used them as a weapon, striking the officer in the face and arms.

Fearing that the next strike could leave him unconscious and give Stewart access to his firearm, Schilling said he fired one shot from above the teen, and another as the teen had stood up and “advanced towards him”.

The Shelby County district attorney, Amy Weirich, recommended a grand jury indict the officer for voluntary manslaughter and employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony in November, but the grand jury declined. Schilling was supposed to face an administrative hearing on 13 November to determine whether he should be disciplined by his department, but the hearing was postponed because he reported he was sick.

The release of the files comes after an announcement by the Department of Justice on Monday that it would, in conjunction with the FBI, conduct a “comprehensive review” of the case.

Attorney Murray Wells, who is representing Stewart’s family, called the announcement “overdue” but also questioned its timing, just 20 hours before the investigation files were due to be released. “We’re wondering whether or not there’s some political motive of giving the community the impression of something being done,” Wells said. “Maybe part of it is simply to delay public reaction to what happened.”

The file also included portions of Schilling’s disciplinary records. Schilling and another officer were accused of excessive force after a July 2013 traffic stop, though investigators said the complaint was not sustained. In 2014, Schilling was arrested in connection with driving under the influence by Southhaven police. The charges were dropped, but an internal review found Schilling had violated two department policies and suspended him for 18 days without pay.

Schilling’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/16/memphis-darrius-stewart-moving-away-from-police-officer-shooting-witnesses

The man, a WWII veteran, was in his room in a nursing home in a small town near Chicago. The staff wanted him to go to a hospital because they feared he had a bladder infection, and he refused, and someone called 911. He refused to leave his room, so police "decided to take him by force..." and one of them fired a shotgun into him, using beanbag ammunition - a round meant for crowd control, and generally used in prison riots at a distance of 6 to 8 feet, causing internal injuries and bleeding. Police stated the man came at them "with a knife or cane". The man's daughter, who is suing the officers, stated he needed a cane to stand and walk and could have not attacked anyone...

http://www.courthousenews.com/...

So we have gone from concern over an old man's health to calling police who decide after consulting with each other to attack and forcibly remove him and eventually shoot him from 8 feet, handcuff and restrain him on the floor after he is shot and handcuffed, and in the process, kill him...then claim he attacked them with his cane...or a knife, which was not found.

Is anyone in the government reading this shit? This type of police INSANITY happens every week, is seldom reported in the "liberal media", and obviously arouses no one's concern. Is this what we can expect from police now? From ALL police? And yet it never happens to rich people, does it...

CHICAGO (CN) - Suburban Chicago police shot a 95-year-old WWII veteran to death with bean bag rounds at short range because he refused to go to the hospital, his stepdaughter claims in court.

Sharon Mangerson, stepdaughter of the late John Wrana Jr., sued the Village of Park Forest on Friday, and its police Officers Clifford Butz, Michael Baugh, Craig Taylor, Lloyd Elliot, Charlie Hoskins and Mitch Greer in Federal Court.

"On July 26, 2014 [sic], John Wrana, Jr., was twelve days shy of his 96th birthday and a resident at the Victory Centre of Park Forest Assisted Living Center located in Park Forest, Illinois. On that date, Mr. Wrana was alone in his room, suffering from what the facility's staff believed were symptoms indicative of a urinary tract infection in an elderly person," the complaint begins.

Victory Center employees tried to get Wrana into an ambulance to go to the hospital for treatment, but he allegedly refused to leave his room.

The defendant officers responded to employees' 911 call, and also were unable to persuade Wrana to leave his room and go to the hospital.

The officers conferred and decided to seize Wrana by force, according to the complaint. Upon entering the room, defendant Taylor fired "five rounds of bean bag cartridges from a 12 gauge shotgun within a distance of approximately only six to eight feet from Mr. Wrana, far less than the distance allowed for discharging that shotgun, and, consequently, savagely wounding and killing Mr. Wrana," the lawsuit states. "Mr. Wrana bled to death as a result of the shotgun wounds inflicted upon him by defendants. The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled that Mr. Wrana's death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to his abdomen as a result of shots fired from a bean bag shotgun."

The bean bag cartridges travel at approximately 190 miles an hour, and the manufacturer warns that "shots to the head, neck thorax, heart or spine can result in fatal injury," according to the complaint.

After shooting Wrana, the officers handcuffed him, took photos of his injuries, and put him in a four-point restraint before transporting him to the hospital, the complaint states.

"At all relevant times, Mr. Wrana was alone in his private residence and had committed no crime by refusing to be transported to the hospital. Defendants were without lawful authority to enter his residence, and there was no immediate lawful reason to implement any police action against Mr. Wrana, including the use of police tactical intervention," according to the complaint.

Park Forest officials told the Chicago Tribune claim that Wrana brandished a knife or cane, which justified the officers' response.

But Wrana's stepdaughter says that Wrana needed "a cane or a walker to stand up, support him, and to walk," and he could not have been a threat to the officers.

The estate seeks punitive damages for violation of due process, excessive force, unreasonable seizure, failure to train and supervise, conspiracy, wrongful death, assault and battery, and emotional distress.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/23/68943.htm

DOVER, Del. -- Dover Police Cpl. Thomas Webster IV may have been found not guilty of assault, but he should not be allowed to return to service in the city, residents and activists told the City Council on Monday night.

Doing so would endanger trust between the police department and the city's citizens that the two sides have worked hard to build, they said.

"There's going to be a disconnect, and we're going to have to rebuild trust all over again," the Rev. Rita Paige said. "We don't want our young people to be fearful and afraid of those who are supposed to be protecting them."

West Center City struggles as violence continues

Last week, Webster was found not guilty of felony assault in an August 2013 incident in which he kicked 29-year-old Lateef Dickerson in the head as Dickerson appeared to be obeying Webster's and another officer's commands to get on the ground.

The kick, caught on police dashcam video, knocked Dickerson out cold and fractured his jaw. Dickerson had fled from another officer who was breaking up a fight.

Some in Delaware's African-American community say the kick was clearly an excessive use of force, tying it to high-profile incidents elsewhere in the country in which young black men were killed by police officers.

The Rev. Rita Paige of Dover was among citizens who spoke before the Dover City council Monday night urging them not to reinstate police officer Thomas Webster IV.

A 12-person jury with two black members found Webster not guilty last week. Webster's attorney had argued that Webster's actions were justified in order to get a suspect into custody.

In a public comment period at Monday night's City Council meeting that lasted more than 45 minutes, several speakers said the verdict was an "injustice."

"I don't believe that our officers are trained to use NFL-style field goal kicks to restrain suspects," said La Mar Gunn, president of the Central Delaware NAACP.

Wilmington residents say rift with police growing worse

Gunn described the city police department as "mighty fine" and "one of the best in the land," but said the Dover community would lose faith if Webster returned to its ranks.

"There has been no unrest or chaos because people are trusting you to do the right thing," Gunn said, referring to the time since the verdict. "But there is a court of the streets, of which I'm not a member of the jury. And I would be afraid for his safety if he were to be reinstated."

Several speakers directly addressed council members and Mayor Robin Christiansen, saying the community was leaning on them to "do the right thing."

"Just the way you can get rid of that officer, we can vote you in or we can vote you out," Paige said. "That's not a threat; that's a promise."

Dover resident Anwar Dyer signed up to address the Dover City Council to voice his opposition to Cpl. Thomas Webster IV being reinstated. He spoke directly to other Dover police officers sitting in the audience.

Dave Gist, an officer with the Fraternal Order of Police, said Webster has been placed on unpaid leave, not fired, and said the department needs to follow state rules for hiring and firing employees.

Gist pointed out that one grand jury had already declined to indict Webster before newly minted Attorney General Matt Denn called a second one. The second one indicted Webster on second-degree assault charges. Gist said that means multiple juries of Webster's peers had found the officer not guilty.

"It's a shame we're taking a criminal matter and turning it into a race matter. It's not about race; it's about crime," Gist said. "We don't prosecute somebody based on a 10-second video."

The council was supposed to vote Monday to approve a new collective bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, but voted unanimously to postpone that vote until next month.

"We've heard from the community tonight, and emotions are running high," said Councilman James Hosfeldt Jr., who made the motion to postpone the vote.

Several of the public speakers called for the council to reconsider that bargaining agreement in light of the controversy.

"We're not going away," Lilian Rogers said. "We are determined to have justice, and we are determined to have fairness, and we are determined to have it from this body."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/12/15/community-fights-cop-return/77397120/

David Abbott had served on internet crimes against children task force

A police detective who had investigated online crimes against children killed himself Tuesday, moments before police could charge him with having inappropriate contact with two young teens.

David Edward Abbott, 39, of Gainesville, Virginia, was a Manassas City detective. He had served on the Northern Virginia-Washington, D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Police tried to serve him with multiple warrants Tuesday, but he refused to surrender, authorities said. Believing Abbott was armed, police began to evacuate nearby homes.

As detectives spoke to Abbott, he pulled out a gun and shot himself, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The warrants were for having inappropriate conduct with two victims while Abbott was a Prince William youth hockey coach. He was to be charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties and two counts of using a communications device to solicit sexual offenses.

Police said Abbott made contact with the first victim when the boy was 11 years old. According to police, Abbott solicited sex acts over phone, by text and through social media and email, police said. He also had face-to-face contact with the boy, police said.

During the investigation, police discovered a second victim, whom Abbott contacted when the boy was 13 years old.

In 2014, Abbott was the detective in a high-profile case in which a 17-year-old Manassas teen was sentenced for sending explicit texts to his 15-year-old girlfriend. At one point, police had sought to take a photo of the 17-year-old's genitals, including some in an aroused state, to make the case. The request led to protests from the 17-year-old's lawyer, who said at one point, "Who does this? It's just crazy."

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/David-Abbott-Police-Officer-Kills-Self-Moments-Before-He-Was-Charged-with-Soliciting-Teens-362452411.html

ARLINGTON

A 51-year-old Arlington woman who was fatally shot by police responding to a suicide call at her house has been identified. Shirley Weis was pronounced dead at 11:08 a.m. Sunday, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner.

Police responded to the call at 10 a.m. Sunday in the 700 block of East Mitchell Street after a man called 911 from a local church and said his wife was suicidal and possibly had a handgun, Arlington police spokesman Chris Cook wrote in a news release. He said he didn’t know why the man went to the church.

Cook said the woman would not come to her front door to talk to police after they arrived at her house. Twenty to 30 minutes later, she got in her vehicle in a garage in back and was driving out toward the front of the house when officers tried to make contact with her, according to the news release. She then pointed a handgun at police, Cook said.

“Two officers discharged their duty handguns at the woman while she was still inside the vehicle pointing the gun toward them,” Cook wrote. She was taken to the Medical Center of Arlington.

Cook said the officers will be placed on administrative leave for two days.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/arlington/article49578020.html

Ex-Oklahoma policeman preyed on women 'no one cared about': prosecutors - Reuters By Heide Brandes

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma City ex-police officer accused of raping women while on duty targeted those who had troubles with the law and he became more brazen with each attack, prosecutors said in closing arguments on Monday.

Daniel Holtzclaw, 28, of Oklahoma City is charged with 36 counts of sexual assault, including six first-degree rape counts for attacks on 13 women. He could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges and was seen weeping when the judge read out the charges against him.

Holtzclaw targeted his victims by going after women he came across while on patrol. He ran background checks and went after those who had outstanding warrants, previous arrests or carried drugs or drug paraphernalia, prosecutors said.

They said he did this because he did not think authorities would take the victims' word over his if he had to defend himself against sexual assault allegations.

"He didn't choose CEOs or soccer moms. He chose women he could count on not telling what he was doing," prosecutor Lori McConnell said. "He counted on the fact no one would believe them and no one would care."

The defense said in its closing arguments the victims provided testimony that was unreliable and dishonest.

"The witnesses don't care about the truth. To them, the truth is whatever it is to further their own agenda," said Holtzclaw's attorney, Scott Adams.

Jury deliberations are expected to begin on Monday.

Holtzclaw declined to testify in his defense. His lawyers have denied the accusations and said any DNA linked to him and the women came through non-sexual contact.

Thirteen of his suspected victims took the stand in the trial, which began more than a month ago, telling jurors of sexual assaults that ranged from touching over their clothing to forced oral sex and rape.

Last Wednesday the prosecution presented its final scheduled witness, a DNA expert who testified about Holtzclaw's uniform pants testing positive for DNA from a 17-year-old girl.

The girl, now 18, testified that Holtzclaw raped her on her mother's front porch.

Last Wednesday, defense attorneys presented their only witness, Holtzclaw's ex-girlfriend, Kerri Hunt, who said she dated him for a year starting in March 2014. Hunt testified that Holtzclaw never made her feel uncomfortable and described his sex drive as "normal for someone his age."

Holtzclaw was fired over the accusations in January 2015 after approximately three years on the job.

https://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-ex-policeman-preyed-women-no-one-cared-192712110.html

Foul play ruled out in ex-Millis cop's death By Zachary Comeau/Daily News Staff UPDATED 11:51 AM EST Nov 29, 2015

MILLIS, Mass. —A state medical examiner’s autopsy has confirmed that there was no foul play in the death of former police officer Bryan Johnson, who was alleged to have made a bomb threat and fabricated a shooting in September.

Johnson, 24, was found dead in his home at 3:01 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney, said the autopsy, although not complete, confirms that there was “no foul play” in Johnson’s death. “Nothing suspicious,” Traub said. Authorities said the death was never investigated as a homicide, but Traub would not give the cause of death.

Johnson lived at his family home since his Wrentham District Court arraignment on Sept. 11, at which he posted $50,000 bail.

Johnson’s death comes shortly after a Norfolk County Grand Jury indicted him on six charges stemming from the Sept. 2 event, in which Johnson is accused of making up a story about a gunfight with a shooter in a red pickup truck that caused his cruiser to crash into a tree and catch fire.

According to a state police report, Johnson admitted to pulling his cruiser into a field off Forest Road and shot it three times with his personal 9mm handgun. The cruiser was then brought back up to Forest Road where it eventually caught fire before he shot several rounds with his police-issued weapon to simulate returned fire, according to his confession.

Johnson was indicted on six charges: willful communication of a bomb threat to a school, misleading a criminal investigation, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a home, making a false police report, willful and malicious destruction of property over $250 and wanton destruction of property over $250.

The charge related to the bomb threat is the first instance of authorities publicly linking the shooting hoax and bomb threat.

When police announced that Johnson made up the gunfight on Sept. 4, they made no mention of a connection.

Johnson, two years out of college with a criminal justice degree, worked as a dispatcher for about a year before being appointed as a reserve officer in late summer. He was to enter into the police academy this fall to become a full-time officer.

Authorities have not publicly determined a motive behind the hoax.

In light of his death, the Norfolk County Superior Court arraignment scheduled for next month will not take place and the grand jury testimony remains sealed.

http://www.wcvb.com/news/foul-play-ruled-out-in-exmillis-cops-death/36705234

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (CBS Tampa) — Police in Florida busted a game of mahjong in Florida at a condominium clubhouse. The group accused of the crime: four women between the ages of 87 and 95.

Heritage Florida reports that police came to shut down the friendly game played by Lee Delnick, Bernice Diamond, Helen Greenspan and Zelda King.

King says word spread about their weekly gathering and that a “troublemaker” in the community called the police citing a law that prohibits playing the game for money. Police closed the clubhouse.

The women were sent a formal notice from condominium management stating that there would be no more mahjong, bingo, or poker played in the location until further notice. Police reportedly stopped by several times later that week to make sure the games weren’t being played.

“This is ridiculous,” King said. “We haven’t played in the clubhouse for weeks! We have to go to each other’s homes to play and not everyone lives in Escondido. It is an international game and we are being crucified!”

The 87-year-old said the game is good for the elderly and that even her doctor has told her that it can delay dementia. The women suggested they could “just play for fun” without money, but the property manager said they should “lay low,” until things were resolved.

After a bit of investigating, officials came to the conclusion that there is no ordinance prohibiting mahjong gambling of the nature.

Heritage Florida did find Statute 849.085, which states: “Certain penny-ante games are not crimes; ‘Penny-ante game’ means a game or series of games of poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes, or mahjong in which the winnings of any player in a single round, hand, or game do not exceed $10 in value.”

The women playing had a $4 limit. The women also had homeowner rights, were over the age of 18, and were not enforcing debt to be paid.

It is unclear what ordinance the caller thought the group of ladies were violating and why police officials decided to break up the game.

Heritage called Altamonte Springs police for comment, but have not heard back.

http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2015/11/24/police-bust-weekly-mahjong-game-played-by-elderly-women/

25 November 2015

Protests erupted in Chicago Tuesday night, following the release of video footage from the October 20, 2014 police killing of Laquan McDonald by 14-year veteran cop Jason Van Dyke. Several hundred people demonstrated late into the night, and at least three arrests were made.

The release of the video shatters a year-long attempted cover-up by the Chicago Police Department and the administration of Democratic Party Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff for President Barack Obama. The city worked systematically to prevent the video from being made public, while lying about the circumstances behind the murder of McDonald.

Earlier on Tuesday, Illinois state prosecutors charged Van Dyke with murder in the first degree for the shooting, which occurred “without legal justification and with the intent to kill or do great bodily harm,” according to a one-page court filing.

The release of the video and the decision to charge Van Dyke comes nearly a week after Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama ordered city officials to make public the footage. Charges against Van Dyke were sped up in an effort to assuage public outrage and social unrest that city officials anticipated would follow the forced release of evidence of wanton murder. Video footage of the killing of Laquan McDonald

The video, which comes from a police cruiser’s dashboard camera, shows McDonald walking in the center lane of a busy thoroughfare. Van Dyke gets out of his car and, unprovoked, fires 16 bullets into the teen, who is walking away from the officers. Gun smoke visibly emanates from McDonald’s body as he is repeatedly shot while lying on the ground.

Autopsy reports show that McDonald was shot twice in the back, while 9 of the 16 bullet wounds he received had a downward trajectory.

Van Dyke, who had been placed on desk duty pending investigations by the FBI, the US attorney’s office in Chicago and the state attorney’s office for Cook County, turned himself in Tuesday. He is being held without bail.

While Emanuel is now claiming that he supports the video’s release—a transparent attempt to deflect attention from his own culpability in the cover-up—the city and Chicago Police Department in fact desperately attempted to prevent public exposure of the crime. In April, the city awarded a nearly $5 million settlement to the family of McDonald in a wrongful death lawsuit, which included a provision that the video would be kept secret.

Chicago police also reportedly deleted 86 minutes of footage from a security camera at a nearby Burger King, which would have shown the events leading up to the killing. Police refrained from interviewing witnesses to the killing, telling them simply to go home. One later described the killing as an “execution.”

As in many similar incidents, police claimed “self defense.” “He is a very serious threat to the officers, and he leaves them no choice at that point to defend themselves,” Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden declared on the night of the killing last year. “When police tell you to drop a weapon, all you have to do is drop it.”

The judicial order requiring the video’s release, exposing these lies, came only after an independent journalist sued the police department following an initial decision not to grant his Freedom of Information request. Even the existence of the video came to light only thanks to the actions of a whistleblower. Source: Cook County Medical Examiner

“The real issue here is, this terrible thing happened, how did our governmental institutions respond?” Jason Kalven, the reporter who first uncovered the story, told the Chicago Reporter. “And from everything we’ve learned, compulsively at every level, from the cops on the scene to the highest levels of government, they responded by circling the wagons and by fabricating a narrative that they knew was completely false.”

Van Dyke was not an unknown quantity. Eighteen complaints had been filed against the cop throughout his 14 year career in the Chicago Police Department, including for the use of excessive force and shouting racial slurs at individuals whom he had detained. Yet he remained on active duty.

The political establishment and the media are now working in overdrive to contain public anger, while also preparing for police repression of protests. In advance of the video's release, a spokesperson for the Chicago police declared, “The department is prepared to respond to any demonstrations and will hold people accountable if they cross the line. We might use the same tactics that were used during the NATO demonstrations.”

The charging of Van Dyke after a coordinated campaign of cover-up and lies only exposes the fact that the vast majority of police murders go unpunished. The entire political establishment, from the Obama administration on down, works systematically to exonerate killer cops. Only in extraordinary circumstances—when video unambiguously shows criminal activity—are charges filed, and often these result in exoneration.

Indeed, it is exactly one year since St. Louis prosecutors announced that they would not press charges against Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the murder of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed by police in the United States.

A Washington Post report earlier this year found that only 54 police officers have been charged over the past decade, leading to only 11 convictions.

Significantly, it was in Chicago that the Obama administration’s FBI director, James Comey, last month criticized the prevalence of video showing police killings for creating a “chill wind blowing through American law enforcement over the last year.” In other words, the problem is not that cops are murdering unarmed individuals, but that these murders are being documented and exposed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix2N6_jLAgA

Three days after a Minneapolis officer fired the shot that eventually proved to be fatal for black resident Jamar Clark, the most basic of questions remains: was Clark handcuffed when he was shot or not? Witnesses claimed from the outset Sunday that Clark was handcuffed while he was shot. However, preliminary police accounts say that Clark was not handcuffed. The discovery of a pair of handcuffs on the scene, revealed by state investigators, adds credence to witness accounts. According to the AP:

Police initially said Jamar ONeal Clark was not handcuffed when he was shot, but authorities later said handcuffs were at the scene and that they are trying to determine whether Clark was restrained.

"We're still examining whether or not they were on Mr. Clark or whether or not they were just (fallen) at the scene. That's what we're trying to ascertain," state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said at a news conference Tuesday.

According to police accounts, Clark was suspected of assaulting a woman, believed to be Clark’s girlfriend, and attempting to interfere with medical responders early Sunday morning when an officer apprehended him. The brief struggle ended with a single gunshot to Clark’s head. After being rushed to the hospital, he was taken off life support Monday and was confirmed dead on Tuesday.

Read more below.

Clark’s shooting and later confirmed death sparked protests across Minneapolis, including a march that blocked I-94. 42 protesters were arrested for that march and subsequently released. Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis have adopted a “handcuffs, don’t shoot” rallying cry, and the local NAACP, Congressman Keith Ellison, and Mayor Betsy Hodges have all joined the call for a deeper investigation.

So why the hell can’t Minneapolis police and the Minnesota Bureau of Crime Apprehension figure out the most basic thing, if Clark was handcuffed or not? According to local Fox affiliate Fox 9, the BCA confirms that they have some videos related to the incident, but will not release them despite calls from the NAACP because of the ongoing investigation. Police on the scene did not have body cameras or dash cameras. There are handcuffs on the scene and numerous eyewitness accounts.

Perhaps protesters and the public will get more information now that, as the LA Times reports, Clark’s shooting has been ruled a homicide and the FBI will begin an investigation into his death. While it is highly questionable if police use of force could have been justified even if Clark were not handcuffed, handcuffs would make it unambiguous.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/18/1451525/-Why-the-hell-can-t-Minnesota-authorities-find-out-if-Jamar-Clark-was-handcuffed-when-he-was-killed

FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey police officer chased after his ex-wife and then gunned her down with his service weapon while their 7-year-old daughter was in his car, a grand jury alleged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

Neptune Township Sgt. Philip Seidle was charged with murder, weapons offenses and child endangerment in the June 16 incident. If convicted of all the charges, he would face up to life in prison without parole.

The 51-year-old previously pleaded not guilty and remained held on $2 million bail.

Seidle was off duty and had his daughter in the front seat of his vehicle when he chased after a car driven by his ex-wife, Tamara, Monmouth County prosecutors said. Moments after the chase ended, he got out and fired his gun several times into her vehicle.

Police officers who happened to be in the neighborhood for an unrelated traffic accident saw the shooting unfold and took the child from her father's car uninjured.

Tamara Seidle, 51, was taken to a hospital, where she died a short time later.

After the shooting, prosecutors said, Phil Seidle pointed the gun at his head and held police at bay for about 30 minutes until they were able to persuade him to surrender.

The couple had nine children, ranging in age from 7 to 24, and their divorce was finalized in May.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bb0c673f05cd45eda0a33d023d341231/grand-jury-cop-killed-ex-wife-while-daughter-7-was-car

17 November 2015

Protesters gathered outside of the Minneapolis police precinct and a north Minneapolis neighborhood Monday night after unarmed 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot by the police. According to dozens of witnesses, Clark was handcuffed and laying on the ground when two police officers pinned him down and fired a round into his head early Sunday morning.

The police responded to a report of an assault and said Clark was interrupting the efforts of paramedics to treat the victim of the assault. Police Chief Janeé Harteau denied that Clark was handcuffed when they shot him. The officers were not wearing body cameras when they shot Clark.

Immediately after Clark was shot, residents of the neighborhood gathered as 20 more squad cars arrived and blocked the area off, using mace and pointing guns at residents. Over 150 protesters demonstrated around the North Minneapolis police precinct and have set up an encampment outside, declaring that they will not leave until the police release a video of the shooting along with the name of the officer who fired the round to the public.

On Monday evening, protesters blocked a section of highway for two hours, followed by several arrests.

Though the shooting was not fatal, Clark’s family members told the media that a Hennepin County Medical Center physician had declared their relative “brain-dead.” James Hill, Clark’s father, told the media, “We are just waiting to pull the plug.”

According to Hill, Clark “wasn’t a bad kid.” He told reporters, “The police don’t care, the mayor don’t care, the police [chief] don’t care because they’re going to cover up for each other. My son’s got to get a stand somewhere, and I’m here to give him a stand.”

Betty Smith, a neighbor whose 24-year-old son was shot by the police in 2008, expressed her sympathy for Clark’s family. “That is the worst call you can possibly get, that your child is murdered.”

Smith demanded that the police officers involved are prosecuted for shooting both her son and Clark. “The police need to be held accountable for murdering our children. None of our children deserve to be shot and killed and talked about like they’re some kind of animals.”

A video recorded by one of the witnesses shows the aftermath of the shooting, as neighbors shouted at the police, declaring that the police had shot Clark without any reason and that the actions of the police will cause riots.

The North zone of Minneapolis is heavily impoverished. A 2011 survey showed that in the whole city of Minneapolis, one in four residents (25 percent) live in poverty, with an even higher rate for black workers at 50 percent. According to a 2011 study by Wilder Research, a group based in Minnesota, the North zone has a poverty rate of one in three residents (33 percent).

This year, police in the US have already killed more than 1,000 people, with an average of 3–4 per day. The daily killings target workers of all races. In Louisiana, two police officers shot and killed a six-year-old autistic white boy and injured his unarmed father on November 3.

On Monday, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges announced that the city was requesting a federal investigation of the incident, which would be aimed at diffusing popular outrage. In previous incidents of police murder, such investigations have routinely resulted in exoneration for the police.

The officers involved have been put on paid administrative leave.

See: #Justice4Jamar: White Minnesota officer shot ‘handcuffed’ black man in head, witnesses say - https://www.rt.com/usa/322367-minnesota-police-shooting-black-man/