Police earning the hate

Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:44 pm

Florida police arrested after videos showed them kicking a handcuffed suspect and punching the person recording it
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... -arrested/
A police lieutenant had already forced Dalonta Crudup to the ground at gunpoint and then made him put his hands behind his back. As Crudup was lying face down, another officer had started to handcuff him. A swarm of about a dozen more officers quickly rushed to back them up.

That’s when Officer Kevin Perez joined the scrum of fellow Miami Beach Police Department officers surrounding Crudup. While most of the others stood around, Perez allegedly kicked Crudup four times before slamming his head into the ground.

Then, Sgt. Jose Perez allegedly kicked Crudup three more times — including at least twice in the head — while the 24-year-old suspect remained handcuffed.

The Perezes, who aren’t related, are two of five Miami Beach police officers who were arrested Monday and charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly attacking Crudup and a man who filmed Crudup’s arrest. The other officers charged are Robert Sabater, David Rivas and Steven Serrano.
...
The officers claimed they had been trying to stop Crudup after he illegally parked and then struck an officer while fleeing the scene on a blue scooter. Crudup told WPLG he was riding a scooter but never hit an officer.

Regardless, police chased him into the Royal Palm, which is where the hotel surveillance footage, officer body cameras and bystander cellphone video captured his arrest.

The footage, which Fernandez Rundle walked reporters through on Monday, shows Crudup darting into an elevator. But before the doors close, a police lieutenant points a gun at him and forces him to exit, starting the chain of events that led to the two officers allegedly kicking Crudup a total of seven times.

Bystander Khalid Vaughn, 28, who had been filming Crudup’s arrest backed away as an officer approached him, Fernandez Rundle said. Still, Sabater allegedly charged and tackled Vaughn as he retreated. Officers pursued Vaughn, eventually pinning him into a corner. That’s where officers Rivas and Serrano punched him repeatedly, the state attorney said.


So more than a dozen cops dogpile and assault a guy who supposedly hit an officer while in a scooter. And for good measure they attack and punch a bystander who was merely filming them.

Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:49 pm

A man spent almost three years in a mental hospital in Hawaii before officials discovered they were holding the wrong man
https://boingboing.net/2021/08/04/a-man ... g-man.html
In 2017 Joshua Spriestersbach fell asleep on a sidewalk while waiting for a meal outside a Honolulu homeless shelter. A cop found him and thought he was Thomas Castleberry, wanted on a 2006 drug [warrant]. Spriestersbacher was arrested and sent to mental health hospital, where he was locked up for over two years.

Attorneys representing Spriestersbach said police never bothered to check to see if Spriestersbach's fingerprints matched Castleberry's. Nor did they check prison records, for if they had they would have learned that Castleberry was incarcerated in Alaska.

While Spriestersbach was in the Hawaii State Hospital he was forced to take psychiatric medication. The Hawaii Innocence Project eventually learned of Spriestersbach's situation and petitioned the court, saying, "The more Mr. Spriestersbach vocalized his innocence by asserting that he is not Mr Castleberry, the more he was declared delusional and psychotic by the HSH staff and doctors and heavily medicated. No one would believe him or take any meaningful steps to verify his identity and determine that Mr. Spriestersbach was telling the truth – he was not Mr Castleberry."

After officials were made to understand their mistake, they released Spriestersbach, returning the 50 cents he had in his pocket when he was arrested. AP said the Honolulu Attorney General's Office refused to comment.

Beveridge
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Police earning the hate

Postby Beveridge » Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:55 pm

They couldn't even pay interest on the 50 cents. Sad!

Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:03 am




Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Aug 11, 2021 12:30 am

L.A. sheriff’s detectives face charges after fellow deputy accuses them of lying
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... cted-lying
The search of an East L.A. home by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s gang detectives yielded a sizable haul: an assault rifle and other guns, a large amount of meth, some black tar heroin, and plastic baggies and a scale used in drug dealing.

Two men were arrested on that Saturday in 2018 and, after the search, Det. Pedro Guerrero-Gonzalez, the lead investigator, approached another detective with a startling question: Would he be willing to say he’d seen one of the suspects holding the rifle before throwing it to the floor?

“I told him no, that that’s not what happened and that I wasn’t going to say that,” Det. Jason McGinty recalled in May during secret testimony before a grand jury in a downtown courtroom. Detectives had found the rifle in a case and neither of the suspects had touched it, he said.

Undeterred, Guerrero-Gonzalez, 34, wrote in his report on the search that McGinty had made the claim about the man throwing the rifle, a prosecutor from the L.A. district attorney’s office told the grand jurors. Another detective, Noel Lopez, 41, also included the allegedly bogus detail in a sworn declaration, the prosecutor said.

Both detectives now face criminal charges alleging they lied in the drug and gun investigation. They have pleaded not guilty.

Remember, police lie so often in declarations, affidavits, police reports, and on the witness stand that there's a slang term for it: "testilying."

Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:22 pm

Arizona’s ‘drinking toilet water’ jail lawsuit ends
https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/i ... wsuit-ends
GILA COUNTY, AZ — An Arizona grandmother has settled a lawsuit with Gila County after she was forced to drink toilet water in jail.

Tamara Barnicoat, 63, said she received $130,000 in the case, which stemmed from her 2019 detention. Barnicoat, who is diagnosed with mental illness, said she was delusional at the time of her jailing, which prevented her from advocating for herself. Her lawsuit detailed several civil rights violations.

“They didn't get away with it, you know, for treating me the way they did,” Barnicoat said.

During a series of reports in February 2020, The ABC15 Investigators were the first to break the story about Barnicoat’s treatment in the Gila County Jail. The jail is located in Globe, 90 miles east of Phoenix.

Globe officers arrested Barnicoat in October 2019 after she threw a cup of water, claiming it was poison, on a car wash employee.

Inside the Gila County Jail, Barnicoat said she did not get her medication nor mental health treatment.

At first, Barnicoat was locked in an isolation cell. A detention officer shut off water to her cell. Violating jail policy, nobody turned the water back on for at least two days. Isolated and dehydrated, Barnicoat resorted to drinking from the toilet. Jail employees, and even the sheriff, confirmed this account through written reports and interviews with ABC15.

“I was crying the whole time I was in jail,” Barnicoat said. “I kept telling them, you know, you're taking away my rights, and they seemed like they didn't care.”

While jailed, no criminal charges were filed against Barnicoat, but she was not released for 27 days. At that point, her public defender and a judge noticed, and the judge ordered her immediate release. Barnicoat also sued her public defender, Ray Geiser, and they reached a separate settlement.

"Absolutely, we wish we would have known earlier, and then it wouldn't have happened," said Sheriff Adam Shepherd in a February 2020 interview with ABC15.

Several weeks after ABC15’s initial report on Barnicoat, a sheriff’s official came to her house with a check for $7,500 and a written agreement not to pursue future legal claims, according to court documents.

Barnicoat’s civil lawyers, Robert Campos and Kevin Garrison, later argued that the agreement should be null-and-void. They said the sheriff’s office, which had previously traumatized Barnicoat in jail, was now taking advantage of the mentally ill woman, who did not have a lawyer to help her understand the documents.

After Barnicoat filed a notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, with a $500,000 settlement request, her old criminal case suddenly resurfaced. The Gila County Attorney used the original police report about water throwing to charge her with trespassing, disorderly conduct, and assault.

After ABC15 reported on what many saw as retribution, the criminal case was transferred to an outside county attorney who dropped all the charges.

“You got to fight for what you believe in,” Barnicoat said. “No matter how they treat you, just hang in there and fight for what you believe that you deserve.”

ABC15 has identified a total of four families with similar allegations against the Gila County Jail. They claim people with mental illness have routinely been neglected, mistreated, and denied their civil rights.

Like Barnicoat, Memory Burns said she was denied mental health care, and she was jailed for weeks beyond her court-ordered release.

The families of Gene “Chad” Beason and Anthony Stewart said the lack of mental health treatment in jail ended with their deaths by suicide.

“One of our goals was to get this out in the open so that the community could see what happens in their jails,” Campos said.

“I'm glad there is definitely a closure now,” Barnicoat said. “I just hope that, you know, they treat people better than what they have.”

Sheriff Shepherd declined an interview about the lawsuit settlement, and the sheriff’s office refused to discuss any improvements in inmate management or mental health care.

The executive director of the Arizona Counties Insurance Pool spoke briefly to ABC15 Investigator Melissa Blasius by phone. He confirmed a settlement had been reached with Barnicoat, but he refused further comment and hung up. He did not answer a call back.

So the police in Arizona threw a mentally-ill grandmother in jail, turned off her water so he had no choice but to drink from the toilet, got her no treatment and denied her medication, kept her in jail for weeks even though she was never charged with a crime (and despite the fact that Arizona law requires an inmate to be charged or released within 48 hours), attempted to coerce her into a quick settlement, and retaliated against her by filing charges only when she fought the coerced settlement. And they've done similar things to multiple other people, several of whom committed suicide.

Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:11 pm

Loveland police shot developmentally delayed 19-year-old suffering mental health crisis, attorney says
https://kdvr.com/news/local/19-year-old ... rney-says/
LOVELAND, Colo. (KDVR) — The civil rights attorney for a 19-year-old man shot three times by a Loveland Police officer Monday night said he is developmentally delayed and was suffering a mental health crisis.

The officer responded to a disturbance at 1620 Tennessee St. just before 7 p.m. Alexander Domina was in his backyard with a knife in hand, police said. The Domina family attorney, Mari Newman, said the officer shot Domina in the abdomen three times.

“Alex’s grandmother called 911 because he was having a mental health crisis. She was very clear to the 911 dispatcher that he had not hurt anybody, that he could be talked down,” Newman said. “And then when the officer came, she repeated that it’s a mental health crisis, he can be talked down, and yet a Loveland officer came in, guns ablazing, and shot this young man three times.”

Newman said Domina’s grandmother is raising him because he was severely abused during his childhood and has serious developmental delays as a result. She said he has an IQ of about 62.

“My goodness, that is something no family member should ever have, where we can’t call 911 without the fear that something horrifying might happen just like this,” Newman said. “Instead of serving and protecting, will actually be the ones that ultimately shoot and maybe even kill an innocent young man.”

Newman said Domina’s grandmother called 911 to protect herself and him and told police he had not harmed anyone.

“There is absolutely no legal, no moral, no human justification for shooting this innocent young man. He was very clearly in the throes of a mental health crisis,” Newman said. “His grandmother had said time and time again that he could be talked down, but instead of doing what needed to be done, Loveland Police officers did the same thing they did just a few months ago.”

The Loveland Police Department has been under scrutiny following the use-of-force in the arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia. The officers involved in that case were charged and resigned.

“Unfortunately, instead of treating this family with compassion, the Loveland Police officer who shot Alex wouldn’t provide him with any medical care, wouldn’t even let his grandmother go over and hold his hand as he was crying out, as he was probably dying,” Newman said.

As of Tuesday night, Domina was listed in serious condition at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. Newman said his condition was dire.

As mentioned, this is the same Colorado police department that broke the arm and dislocated the shoulder of 73-year-old Karen Garner, who suffers from dementia, and then joked and laughed about her injury while she was shacked in a cell, didn't get her medical attention, and lied about the arrest.

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Police earning the hate

Postby MR25 » Sat Aug 21, 2021 11:47 am



More Colorado cops

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Police earning the hate

Postby nocera » Mon Aug 23, 2021 10:33 am

Local hate!

Homestead police chief suspended after yelling at pregnant woman, calling officers to move car
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/h ... EFITRPTHE/
The Homestead community is outraged and some are calling for Police Chief Jeff Desimone to step down after a video surfaced of him in plain clothes yelling at a pregnant woman waiting in the drive-thru of a local Giant Eagle pharmacy.

The woman said she was picking up medication for her sick child -- whom you can hear coughing in the back seat -- and the pharmacy was really slow that day. She said the chief, who wasn’t in uniform, put on his lights to get her to leave. She declined to do so.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:22 pm

‘Pain compliance’: Video shows trooper pummeling Black man
https://apnews.com/article/police-louis ... 7bf705e944
MONROE, La. (AP) — Graphic body camera video kept secret for more than two years shows a Louisiana State Police trooper pummeling a Black motorist 18 times with a flashlight — an attack the trooper defended as “pain compliance.”

“I’m not resisting! I’m not resisting!” Aaron Larry Bowman can be heard screaming between blows on the footage obtained by The Associated Press. The May 2019 beating following a traffic stop left him with a broken jaw, three broken ribs, a broken wrist and a gash to his head that required six staples to close.

Bowman’s encounter near his Monroe home came less than three weeks after troopers from the same embattled agency punched, stunned and dragged another Black motorist, Ronald Greene, before he died in police custody on a rural roadside in northeast Louisiana. Video of Greene’s death similarly remained under wraps before AP obtained and published it earlier this year.

Federal prosecutors are examining both cases in a widening investigation into police brutality and potential cover-ups involving both troopers and state police brass.

State police didn’t investigate the attack on Bowman until 536 days after it occurred — even though it was captured on body camera — and only did so weeks after Bowman brought a civil lawsuit.

The state police released a statement Wednesday saying that Jacob Brown, the white trooper who struck Bowman, “engaged in excessive and unjustifiable actions,” failed to report the use of force to his supervisors and “intentionally mislabeled” his body camera video.

Before resigning in March, Brown tallied 23 use-of-force incidents dating to 2015 — 19 of them targeting Black people, according to state police records.

Aside from the federal investigation, Brown faces state charges of second-degree battery and malfeasance in Bowman’s beating. He also faces state charges in two other violent arrests of Black motorists, including one he boasted about last year in a group chat with other troopers, saying the suspect is “gonna be sore” and “it warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”

On the night Bowman was pulled over for a traffic violation, Brown came upon the scene after deputies had forcibly removed Bowman from his vehicle and taken him to the ground. The trooper later told investigators he “was in the area and was trying to get involved.”

Wielding an 8-inch aluminum flashlight reinforced with a pointed end to shatter car glass, Brown jumped out of his state police vehicle and began bashing Bowman on his head and body within two seconds of “initial contact” — unleashing 18 strikes in 24 seconds, detectives wrote in an investigative report.

“Give me your f------ hands!” the trooper shouted. “I ain’t messing with you.”

Bowman tried to explain several times that he was a dialysis patient, had done nothing wrong and wasn’t resisting, saying, “I’m not fighting you, you’re fighting me.”

Brown responded with: “Shut the f—- up!” and “You ain’t listening.”

Bowman later can be heard moaning, still on the ground. “I’m bleeding!” he said. “They hit me in the head with a flashlight!”

Brown, 31, later said Bowman had struck a deputy and that the blows were “pain compliance” intended to get Bowman into handcuffs. Investigators who reviewed Brown’s video months after the fact determined his use of force was not reasonable or necessary.

Brown did not respond to several messages seeking comment.

Bowman, 46, denied hitting anyone and is not seen on the video being violent with officers. But he still faces a list of charges, including battery of a police officer, resisting an officer and the traffic violation for which he was initially stopped, improper lane usage.

Brown not only failed to report his use of force but mislabeled his footage as a “citizen encounter” in what investigators called “an intentional attempt to hide the video from any administrative review.”

Bowman’s defense attorney, Keith Whiddon, said he was initially told there was no body-camera video.
Cop who has racked up 23 use-of-force incidents in six years beats a motorist--who had been pulled over for an "improper lane change"--with a flashlight. He then lies in his report ("testilying"), and the department lies and hides the fact that there's body-cam video. Lies on top of lies.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:25 pm

California reaches reform deal with police condemned over deadly force
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... settlement
California’s justice department has announced a court-enforced reform settlement with the Bakersfield police department, following a years-long state civil rights inquiry initiated after a 2015 Guardian investigation found that police in the state’s Kern county were the deadliest in America.

The settlement, known as a stipulated judgment or “consent decree”, was announced on Monday by the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, more than four years after the department commenced its investigation, and requires the police department to revise and reform its policies, overseen by an independent monitor.

The California justice department concluded that Bakersfield police “failed to uniformly and adequately enforce the law, in part because of defective or inadequate policies, practices, and procedures”. It noted that police had engaged in unreasonable use of force and fatal force, as well as unreasonable stops, searches and arrests.

The consent decree requires the department to revise its use-of-force guidance to focus its officers on de-escalation and proportionality; strengthen its use-of-force training for officers; strengthen investigations into officers’ use of force; and modify the use and training of police dogs.

Bonta labelled the court-enforced reforms as “both needed and necessary”.

In a statement, he said: “For Californians who are hurting, trust will not come back overnight – and we cannot afford to be complacent. We must continue to engage and stay on task. Justice demands it.”

The five-part Guardian investigation into Bakersfield police department and the Kern county sheriff’s office – the two largest law enforcement agencies in the county - revealed that the two departments had killed people at a higher rate than police in any other county in America during 2015 and unearthed a culture of violence, corruption and impunity within the agencies.

It was revealed that a number of officers had been involved in multiple fatal shootings over the years, that the majority of investigators examining police killings in the county were former department officers, and that the Kern county sheriff’s office had made multiple cash payments – sometimes as low as $200 – to women who had been sexually assaulted by it officers in order to buy their silence.

In December 2020 the Kern county sheriff’s office entered into a similar consent decree with the California DoJ, following a civil rights investigation that uncovered similar widespread failures in the department.

On Monday, attorneys working with police reform advocates in Bakersfield, including victims of fatal police violence in the city, welcomed the settlement but argued it fell short in a number of areas.

Stephanie Padilla, a staff attorney with ACLU Southern California, said: “We are glad that the state department of justice recognizes there are systemic problems with the Bakersfield police department. But this stipulated judgment doesn’t go nearly far enough.

“It will not, on its own, eliminate deeply harmful practices such as the use of canine force or discriminatory traffic stops for excessive force and intimidation, especially on Black and brown community members.”

Last week, the ACLU released an updated report that built on findings from a 2017 investigation that exposed evidence of continued excessive force by the two departments.

The new report found that Bakersfield PD had continued to use excessive force and pointed specifically to police canine attacks on unarmed people and fatal force incidents, which both continued at similar rates to when the California DoJ commenced its investigation and disproportionately affected Black and brown residents of the city.

“Unfortunately, over the past four years, BPD has maintained these same troubling practices, even as it has been under investigation by the California department of justice for civil rights violations,” the report concluded.

The consent decree does not equate to an admission of wrongdoing from the Bakersfield police department, and the judgment states the department continued to “deny each and every allegation” made by the state civil rights inquiry.

In a statement, the department’s chief, Greg Terry, said the city had agreed to the settlement “after much deliberation”.

“The decision came down to a choice between litigating the past or controlling our future, reassuring our community, and moving forward in a positive way,” Terry said.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:40 pm

Civil Lawsuit Filed Against Loveland Police Officer Seen On Video Shooting Dog 2 Years Ago
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/08/26/ ... -shot-dog/
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) – Disturbing video of a Loveland police officer shooting and killing a family dog is now at the center of a civil lawsuit filed in Larimer County District Court. The lawsuit accuses Officer Matthew Grashorn of violating Wendy Love and Jay Hamm’s civil rights by “recklessly killing” their 14-month-old puppy, “Herkimer.”

The shooting, which took place on June 29, 2019, happened in a vacant lot in Loveland. Love and Hamm, who own a firewood delivery business, had stopped in the lot with their three dogs. The lawsuit claimed Grashorn was investigating the couple for trespassing when the shooting took place.

In video the officer is seen parking his vehicle and exiting it. Within seconds of exiting his vehicle, body camera footage shows two dogs running through the parking lot. One, later identified as Herkimer, turns and runs toward the officer.

The officer quickly draws his firearm, and as the dog comes within feet of him he fires twice. The lawsuit, filed by Attorney Sarah Schielke, claims Herkimer was shot once in the head and once in the torso.

Audio is not available in the first moments of the video, which was released by Schielke’s Life and Liberty Law Firm. That is likely due to the officer not activating his camera until after the shooting takes place. Most body cameras only record video until the camera is activated, and then the audio will begin recording.

It isn’t clear if the dog was barking or growling at Grashorn before the shooting took place.

After the shooting Love is heard begging Grashorn to let her take the still-living dog to a veterinarian. He tells her she needs to wait until his sergeant arrives to investigate the scene.

Jay Hamm points out Grashorn could have used his taser on the dog. Grashorn responds, “Yeah okay, thanks for telling me how to do my job.”

Later, when the group calmed down somewhat, Hamm again asks Grashorn why he didn’t use his taser. The officer explained, “So if a suspect comes at me with a knife, then I need to tase him before I shoot him? It’s the same thing.”

It would be 13 minutes before Love and Hamm were able to seek medical attention for their dog Herkimer. He was later euthanized.

The Loveland Police Chief Bob Ticer and two other senior officers reviewed the video and found no policy violations and deemed Grashorn’s actions reasonable.


This is the same Loveland CO police department that that broke an elderly, demented woman's and laughed about it, and also recently shot a 19-year-old with significant mental impairments who was having a mental-health crisis. They're also in the business of shooting dogs and then lying about it.

Troy Loney
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Police earning the hate

Postby Troy Loney » Wed Sep 01, 2021 2:16 pm

Just some bad apples


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Police earning the hate

Postby Morkle » Wed Sep 01, 2021 2:26 pm

The cops police report to how they treated that Jaleel Stallings guy, versus what actually happened is exactly why they need to have body cams on at all times, and unable to be turned on/off.

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Police earning the hate

Postby MR25 » Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:43 pm


Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:34 pm

Elijah McClain case: Grand jury indicts police, paramedics in death
All five face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in death of 23-year-old

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/01/e ... ra-police/
Three Aurora police officers and two paramedics face criminal indictment in the death of Elijah McClain after a state grand jury reached a different conclusion than earlier investigations, answering cries for justice from thousands who demanded arrests during police protests, city council meetings and community forums.

The grand jury indicted Aurora police officers Nathan Woodyard and Randy Roedema, former officer Jason Rosenblatt and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec on 32 combined counts last week, according to court records unsealed Wednesday.

“We’re here today because Elijah McClain is not here, and he should be,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said at a news conference announcing the charges. “He was a son, a nephew, a brother and a friend.”

The indictment comes just over two years after McClain, 23, died after being violently detained by the officers and injected with the sedative ketamine by paramedics.

Weiser’s announcement was welcomed by McClain’s family and their supporters, who have pushed for criminal charges and police reform in the wake of his death. The grand jury’s decision was condemned by an Aurora police union.

Arrest warrants for all five men were issued Wednesday. Rosenblatt, Woodyard, Cooper and Cichuniec turned themselves in to the Glendale Police Department, where they were booked and released on $10,000 bond. It’s unclear whether Rodema has turned himself in elsewhere.

The four officers and paramedics who still work for the city of Aurora — Woodyard, Roedema, Cooper and Cichuniec — were suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the criminal charges, Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said in a statement.

All five face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

In August 2019, Aurora Colorado* police officers confronted 23-year-old Elijah McClain after responding to a 911 call about an unarmed person that looked "sketchy." Elijah McClain was unarmed, had no criminal record, and was walking home with a grocery bag of bottles of iced tea that he'd just bought at a convenience store. The cops grabbed him, threw him up against a wall, forcibly frisked him, choked him (administering a "carotid chokehold"), handcuffed him, punched and kicked him, and piled on top of McClain on the ground. McClain vomited multiple times during the assault. When paramedics arrived, they compounded the wrongdoing by administering an overdose of ketamine to "sedate" McClain without even checking his vitals. McClain went into cardiac arrest, was declared brain dead, and was taken off life support a couple days later. Of course, the original "internal investigation" cleared the police and paramedics of all wrongdoing. A subsequent independent investigation, which the the City of Aurora ordered only after protests and after more than three million people signed the petition demanding one, found that the police had no legal basis to make McClain stop walking, to frisk him, or to use a chokehold, and further the paramedics failed to properly evaluate him — or even to attempt to speak with him — before injecting him with a dose of ketamine that was grossly excessive for his body mass. And surprise, surprise, the investigation also found "inconsistencies" and "omissions" (read: blatant lies) between the police statements/reports and what was shown on the body cams. And now the cops and paramedics have all been hit with charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

* Jesus Christ, Colorado again. WTF is wrong with Colorado cops?

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Police earning the hate

Postby AuthorTony » Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:53 pm

This is interesting.
https://reason.com/2021/09/01/cop-kills ... att-maser/
Jenna Holm is facing prison time for the death of Bonneville County Sheriff's Deputy Wyatt Maser in May of 2020, despite the fact that Maser was killed not by Holm, but by one his fellow police officers.

Maser and his colleague, Deputy Benjamin Bottcher, were called to help Holm, who had crashed her car on a rural road on May 18 of last year. When the deputies arrived, Holm was in the street wielding a machete, screaming. Bottcher, who had interacted with Holm days prior at the Idaho Falls Behavioral Crisis Center, worked to calm her down during what was possibly a mental health crisis. After Bottcher repeatedly tased Holm, eventually subduing her, Maser was walking into the road toward Holm when a third police officer, Sergeant Randy Flagel, arrived on the scene and struck Maser with his vehicle, killing him.

Idaho State Police are now seeking to prosecute Holm for Maser's death.

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Police earning the hate

Postby dodint » Sat Sep 04, 2021 8:59 am

Yeah, that's not going to work.

Shyster
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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:41 pm

Police Broke This 73-Year-Old Woman's Arm During a Brutal Arrest. The City Will Pay Her $3 Million.
https://reason.com/2021/09/08/police-br ... -colorado/

The suit filed by the 73-year-old dementia sufferer who had her arm broken by the Loveland, Colorado police has been settled for $3 million, not a penny of which will be paid by any of the cops who assaulted her.
The city of Loveland, Colorado, has agreed to pay $3 million to an elderly woman who was violently arrested by police last year.

Loveland Police Department (LPD) Officer Austin Hopp threw 73-year-old Karen Garner to the ground in June of 2020, fracturing her arm and dislocating her shoulder after she allegedly stole $13.88 worth of merchandise from Wal-Mart, according to a federal lawsuit. Garner, who suffers from dementia and sensory aphasia, was picking wildflowers on her walk home when Hopp approached her. The latter ailment is a result of brain damage and makes it difficult for those like Garner to communicate and process what others are saying.

"The settlement with Karen Garner will help bring some closure to an unfortunate event in our community but does not upend the work we have left to do. We extend a deep and heartfelt apology to Karen Garner and her family for what they have endured as a result of this arrest," Loveland City Manager Steve Adams said in a statement. "We know we did not act in a manner that upholds the values, integrity, and policies of the City and police department, and we are taking the necessary steps to make sure these actions are never repeated."

Body camera footage shows Hopp moving Garner to a squad car, pressing her down on the hood while forcibly pushing her contorted left arm—which was handcuffed behind her back—above her head. "We don't play this game," he says on the body camera footage. "You understand me?" You hear a pop, and she screams.

Hopp is now facing criminal charges, including second-degree assault. Former Officer Daria Jalali was charged with three misdemeanors: failure to report excessive use of force, failure to intervene in the use of excessive force, and first-degree official misconduct. Both officers resigned in April.

Additional video shows three cops—Hopp, Jalia, and Tyler Blackett—watching the footage the day they booked Garner.

"Ready for the pop?" asks Hopp, as Jalia squirms and appears visibly uncomfortable. "Hear the pop?"

"What'd you pop?" asks Blackett. "I think it was her shoulder," responds Hopp, as he re-enacts the motion.

"I hate it," says Jalia.

"I love it," one of the male officers responds. Garner did not receive medical care for six hours after the ordeal, according to the suit. (Blackett later resigned.)

Loveland Police Chief Robert Ticer has claimed that the department was unaware of the extent of the brutality until the lawsuit became public, but the contents of an internal report released yesterday appear to directly contradict that, with documents showing that Assistant Chief of Police Ray Butler viewed the footage and said that Hopp's actions were "necessary, reasonable and within policy."

"There is no excuse, under any circumstances, for what happened to Ms. Garner. We have agreed on steps we need to take to begin building back trust," said Ticer in the statement. "While these actions won't change what Ms. Garner experienced, they will serve to improve this police department and hopefully restore faith that the LPD exists to serve those who live in and visit Loveland." He also said that department policy now requires an assistant city attorney and personnel from city of Loveland human resources to review use of force incidents, as opposed to just a member of the police force. Sarah Schielke, an attorney for the family, has called for his resignation.

"This settlement brings a measure of justice to the Garner family, but it does not deliver full justice," Schielke said during a Wednesday press conference. "Full justice to Karen Garner and this community will happen at the moment that every individual who participated in this atrocity and who fostered the conditions and culture that made its happening possible is held accountable."

Police accountability has been a mainstay of the public debate around law-enforcement reform for the last year, beginning in late May of 2020, not long before Garner's arrest. But Garner's story wouldn't come to light for several months, until April of this year, when Garner filed her suit.

Whether or not this constitutes meaningful accountability is up for debate. While it is remarkably rare that police officers are convicted of criminal wrongdoing, two have been charged here, which is also uncommon in itself. Garner's settlement was approved by the city, which means it will be financed by taxpayers and no officers involved will have to weather a civil court trial. Colorado is one of a few states to strip officers of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields certain government officials from lawsuits if the precise way they allegedly misbehaved has not yet been ruled unconstitutional in a prior court ruling.

That law was passed the day before Garner's brutal arrest. Though she will not confront the alleged culprits in civil court—perhaps an indication from the city of just how much of a legal loser their case was—she will receive just compensation, which is more than many victims of government abuse can say.
The most outrageous new piece of news is the bolded bit above. Not only did the police brass lie about not knowing about the extent of Garner's injuries, but three different supervisors signed off on ex-Officer Austin Hopp’s use of force, including the Assistant Chief of Police. In other words, three levels of supervisors watched the video of Officer Hopp throw an elderly woman to the ground, throw her over a car, and break her arm and dislocate her shoulder, and they all said, "Looks good to me!"

Violent arrest of 73-year-old with dementia was “reasonable” and “necessary,” Loveland’s assistant police chief concluded
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/07/l ... ive-force/

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:25 pm

Former Clermont police officer accused of taking $50,000 from Florida police union
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/flori ... ice-union/
CLERMONT, Fla. – A former police officer has been arrested on felony charges, accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from a police union while he was its president, officials said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in an email that former Clermont officer Jeremy Kevitt obtained an ATM card in 2014 and used it to spend money from the Clermont Police Officers Union bank accounts without approval.

Investigators said Kevitt spent some $30,000 from an account funded by monthly payroll deposits from police officers and another $20,000 from an account set up to help pay medical bills for an injured police officer, the agency said. Money in that account was generated rom donations and fundraising events.

Officials discovered the theft last November when they received an overdraft notice about one of the bank accounts, a department news release said. He was arrested Friday.

When police confronted Kevitt, he “was defensive and complained that he did not have to help managing the account," investigators said.

Kevitt then told them that all of the transactions were authorized and that he didn't keep receipts. When officials reviewed the accounts, authorities said, they found transactions that appeared to be personal.

Kevitt said a $100 supermarket purchase was spent on buying Thanksgiving dinners for the “less fortunate," and a $200 ATM cash withdrawal was given to a food bank, according to officials. When officials inquired about a $112 bill at an Indian restaurant, he ended the meeting, the agency said.

Kevitt was placed on administrative leave during an internal investigation, but submitted his resignation notice in March and left in April before the investigation was completed, the report said.

He was arrested Friday on felony charges of grand theft and organized fraud. Court records did not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Clermont police Chief Charles Broadway said in a statement that Kevitt’s actions “do not reflect the integrity, commitment and professionalism of the men and women of the Clermont Police Department.”

I wonder if the union will defend him?

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Sep 15, 2021 11:54 pm

Colorado attorney general report found Aurora police racially biased and fire department administered ketamine illegally
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/15/us/auror ... index.html
The Colorado Attorney General's Office released the findings of its 14-month investigation into the Aurora police and fire departments Wednesday.

The 112-page report found that the police department has a pattern of practicing racially biased policing, excessive force, and has failed to record legally required information when interacting with the community, according to a news release from Attorney General Phil Weiser. The report also found APD used force against people of color almost 2.5 times more than against White people.

The report revealed the fire department had a pattern and practice of administering ketamine illegally, the release said. Ketamine is used by medical professionals as an anesthetic, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, and it's also used illegally to get high.

"Our team conducted a thorough examination -- with the aid of the full cooperation of the city of Aurora -- and developed important findings on how Aurora can come into compliance with the law and elevate the effectiveness and trustworthiness of law enforcement," Weiser said.

Colorado AG to force Aurora police reform over pattern of racial bias, excessive force
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/15/a ... ive-force/
Colorado’s attorney general will require the Aurora Police Department to make sweeping reforms after a year-long investigation found officers’ pattern of racially biased policing and use of excessive force routinely violated state and federal law.

The department’s officers persistently arrested and injured Black individuals and other people of color at higher rates than white residents, according to the investigation released Wednesday.

Officers also routinely used excessive force against people unnecessarily, failed to de-escalate encounters and failed to properly document information about individuals they stopped as required by state law, the investigation found.

The department’s training and accountability structures are inadequate and create a culture of violence, according to investigators’ 112-page report.

“We observed statistically significant racial disparities — especially with respect to Black individuals — in nearly every important type of police contact with the community, from interactions to arrests to uses of force,” the report states. “These disparities persisted across income, gender and geographic boundaries. Together with the other information we reviewed, we find that Aurora Police engages in racially biased policing, treating people of color (and Black people in particular) differently from their white counterparts.”

Attorney General Phil Weiser will seek to create a legally binding agreement, known as a consent decree, with the Aurora Police Department that will outline the steps his office believes necessary to fix the problems investigators discovered. State law gives the attorney general’s office and city administrators 60 days to come to an agreement.

“If this effort is unsuccessful, we will seek a court-imposed order correcting these problems,” the report states.

The exact terms of the consent decree have not been written, but Weiser said they will require the city to hire an independent monitor, overhaul its training and use-of-force policies and seek reform to the city’s Civil Service Commission, which hires new officers and has final say on discipline.

The investigation is the first under a new law passed in the summer of 2020 as large-scale protests against police brutality and racism continued across Colorado following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The bill, SB-217, gave Weiser’s office the authority to conduct such an investigation and, if agencies didn’t make the required changes, to force them to do so via civil litigation.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Sep 15, 2021 11:59 pm

The specific findings in the report:
Aurora Police has a pattern and practice of racially biased policing.

Aurora Police has a pattern and practice of using excessive force.

Aurora Police has a pattern and practice of failing to document stops as required by law.

While it administered ketamine, Aurora Fire had a pattern and practice of using ketamine in violation of the law.

And the reasons for those findings:
First, Aurora Police’s culture leads to the frequent use of force, often in excess of what the law permits. Training is ad hoc and does not address specific needs of the organization as shown by officer behavior. Policies are short on detail or practical guidance, often doing little more than reciting the legal requirements set forth in court cases and applicable statutes or regulations. In short, Aurora Police has failed to create and oversee appropriate expectations for responsible behavior.

Second, Aurora Police does not meaningfully review officers’ uses of force, relying on formal and informal systems that favor findings that officers followed policy and that hamper candid feedback on how to improve.

Third, the Aurora City Charter gives the Civil Service Commission total control over entry-level hiring and the right to reverse all meaningful discipline that the Chief of Police can impose. The Commission overturns discipline in high-profile cases in a way that
undermines the Chief of Police’s authority, such that as a result, Aurora Police officers who violate law or policy often remain on the force. And because of the Commission’s hiring practices, Aurora Police officers do not reflect the diversity of the city.

So we have lousy training that leads cops to shoot first and ask questions later, no real oversight or repercussions for cops who break the rules or law, and policies that make it nearly impossible to fire bad cops. Seems like I might have heard those things before.

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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Mon Sep 20, 2021 6:10 pm


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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:31 pm

Police Officer In Westmoreland County Accused Of Using License Plate Readers To Terrorize And Stalk Estranged Wife
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/09 ... nged-wife/
WESTMORELAND COUNTY (KDKA) — A police officer in Westmoreland County is accused of using his position to stalk and terrorize his estranged wife.

“I am first to be happy that we have someone in this uniform now out of this uniform, that was using what the people had given him to protect them illegally to take advantage of people,” Allegheny Township Police Chief Duane Fisher said.

The 29-year-old McSherry, who at one time was a police officer in four different Westmoreland County police departments, is now the one in handcuffs. He’s accused of using police computers and other means to stalk and harass his estranged wife.

Police took McSherry into custody after a domestic incident at a home in Allegheny Township where the woman was staying.

“Subsequent investigation revealed that in his capacity as a law enforcement officer, he was utilizing his position and the tools of that position to track his wife and family members,” Chief Fisher said.

McSherry, who worked for the New Kensington, Vandergrift, Kiski and most recently Frazer police departments, is also accused of using license plate tracking technology to keep an eye on the woman’s movements, and not just a few times.

“The printout that we received regarding his use of the license plate readers included over 100 pages of entries as far as the positions, locations and times of family members,” Fisher said.

McSherry also allegedly used a GPS tracking device on the woman’s vehicle and threatened her and other relatives.

“There were several threats made. One of the charges refers to terroristic threats where they were going to feel his wrath,” Chief Fisher said.

McSherry also faces child pornography charges after police say they found an inappropriate image on his cell phone.

This is a good reminder that the rates of domestic violence for police officers are vastly higher than the general public, and as many as 40% of police officers are domestic abusers.


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Police earning the hate

Postby Shyster » Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:57 pm

Georgia Tax Crimes Unit Illegally Spent Asset Forfeiture Funds on Trinkets and Swag
A state watchdog concluded an office in the Georgia Department of Tax Revenue illegally kept $5 million in forfeiture funds and spent it partially on swag like sunglasses and engraved guns
https://reason.com/2021/09/29/georgia-t ... -and-swag/
An office within the Georgia Department of Revenue illegally spent $3.1 million in money seized through civil asset forfeiture, according to a report from the Georgia Office of State Inspector General (OIG).

The state watchdog agency issued a report last week finding that the department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) kept $5.3 million dollars in asset forfeiture revenues between 2015 and 2020 that should have gone into the state's general fund. It then illegally spent $3.1 million of that, including on items such as office furniture, vehicles, gym equipment, and Fitbits.

Investigators concluded that the illegal use of forfeiture funds "did not stem from a simple misunderstanding of the law." Rather, former Office of Special Investigations director Joshua Waites "repeatedly disregarded legal advice" and "intentionally misled" Department of Revenue leadership regarding his office's power to to collect and spend civil asset forfeiture funds, the OIG found.

"OIG's investigation revealed an office culture at the highest levels of leadership within OSI that disregarded any semblance of their professional responsibilities," State Inspector General Scott McAfee said in a statement.

The inspector general report confirmed a joint investigation published last March by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News. The news outlets found that the OSI had used asset forfeiture funds on frivolous expenses such as engraved firearms, commemorative badges, sunglasses, and gym equipment.

One day after the investigation dropped, the agency quietly returned $2.1 million to the state treasury. Waites resigned that same month as the news outlets were preparing to report that he had falsely stated in his job application that he had a degree from a college that did not exist.

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