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Police were called to the superstore after a female Walmart employee reported that she had been shoved out of the way when she attempted to use a restroom shortly before 11 p.m.
The redactions make the document difficult to understand in parts, but it said the first Cottonwood officer who arrived at the Walmart parking lot was immediately attacked and disarmed by one of the Gavers.
A second officer who arrived on the scene reported hearing the first officer say, "they got my gun," as he confronted five members of the family in the parking lot, according to the court document. He also heard someone say, "stop or get shot," it said.
The family had gathered outside their older model Chevrolet Suburban when officers arrived. The confrontation started when one of the officers said they would split up the family to talk with them about what happened inside the store, Fanning said.
But the father, 55-year-old Peter Gaver, and one of his sons stepped in and told police they wouldn't allow them to separate the family, Fanning said.
Another officer approached the mother, 52-year-old Ruth Gaver, and her 11-year-old daughter when one of the brothers ran in between them. Police Sgt. Jeremy Daniels grabbed the man and the melee was on, Fanning said.
The family utilized tactics that had to be "taught," Fanning said. For instance, they knew that punching officers on the body was futile because of their protective vests. Instead, the fought officers by grabbing at their eyes, ears and mouths and pulling hard.
They also had been taught to roll after they were shot with stun guns in order to break the wires and stop the shock, and to appear to give up by putting their hands in the air in order to get close to attack again.
The family refused orders to "get on the ground" and eventually overpowered Daniels. Two of the suspects, including Enoch Graver, battled the officer for his gun, which went off and wounded him in the leg.
Four more officers arrived and Enoch Graver, 21, was shot to death and his 18-year-old brother David Graver was shot in the abdomen.
Even with eight officers on the scene, nothing the officers tried appeared to stop the family, including the use of stun guns, pepper spray and police batons. In almost every instance, the suspects continued to fight the officers.
Fanning said to four people to get one of the brothers in handcuffs and two officers to get the remaining male suspects in cuffs.
A Walmart loss prevention employee, whom Cottonwood police knew, was also key in preventing more harm being done to family members or the original four officers on the scene, Fanning said. The employee fought to protect the officers throughout the brawl.
Clearly some of these officers cops are out of control ....
Prosecutors in Oklahoma are reviewing a 73-year-old reserve sheriff's deputy's fatal shooting of a suspect after the officer said he mistook his handgun for a stun-gun.
On April 2, Robert Bates, a reserve deputy with the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, shot and killed Eric Harris, in an incident that the Sheriff's Office calls an accident.
"Initial reports have determined that the reserve deputy was attempting to use less lethal force, believing that he was utilizing a Taser, when he inadvertently discharged his service weapon, firing one round which struck Harris," the sheriff's office said in a press release after the incident.
Harris, 45, was the subject of an undercover operation, police said, and had allegedly sold meth to undercover investigators and told them he had access to guns. On April 2, Harris allegedly met the undercover investigator in a parking lot to sell him a firearm, police said.
Video released Friday by the sheriff's office shows Harris get into a car and pull a gun out of his backpack. Less than a minute later, a car pulls up, and when deputies get out, Harris runs.
A second video shows officers pursuing the suspect and then appearing to struggle to subdue him.
After a single gunshot, someone says, "I shot him! I'm sorry."
According to the sheriff's office, the words were spoken by Bates just after he shot his weapon, when he realized that he hadn't shot his Taser.
"He got out of the car with weapons in both hands," Tulsa Sheriff's Capt. Billy McKelvey said. "He thought in his mind that he had transitioned from his pistol to his Taser."
The sheriff's office said the investigation is under review by the Tulsa County District Attorney.
Harris' family has reviewed "the heavily edited version of video released by the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office" and has "many concerns and unanswered questions" according to a statement released today by the family's attorney, Daniel Smolen.
The family said they are "saddened, shocked, confused and disturbed" by the TCSO's version of the incident and the findings from its internal investigation."
The family called for a "truly independent investigation" by a "third party with no connections to TCSO," they said.
This latest shooting is eerily reminiscent of the infamous Oscar Grant killing in San Francisco ... and similarly the police are quick to call this an "accident". But even if this 73 year old reserve deputy meant to taser Mr. Harris ... the question then becomes WHY? He was already face down on the ground with several other deputies on top of him by the time he arrived at the scene. Arms stretched out and immobilized. Where the hell was he going? Just look at the video good people and you will see that these deputies were more interested in piling on top of Mr. Harris and threatening/yelling at him ... one with his knee on his head and another on his back and yet another on his left arm ...than actually handcuffing the man. Throughout the entire video they made no attempt to handcuff him and then provide emergency medical attention. But what the other deputies had to say is quite telling. When Mr. Harris kept saying "He shot me! He shot me!" the one deputy with his knee on his head said "Motherf*cker you move again I will beat your ass!" ... even though he clearly wasn't moving. When Mr. Harris continued saying "He shot me! He shot me!" the other deputy on his left arm saw fit to scream at him "You ran mother*cker! You ran! You hear me? You f*cking ran! Shut the f*ck up!" And then the pièce de résistance ... when Mr. Harris said "I'm losing my breath." one of the deputies said "F*ck your breath!" And then an hour later Mr. Harris died in the hospital.
Interestingly enough, I'm actually inclined to believe that Deputy Bates didn't mean to shoot Mr. Harris with his firearm given his immediate expression of contrition. What's more troubling for me are the comments of the other two deputies. Their apparent mentality that simply running away justified Mr. Harris being shot. And their utter disregard for the fact that he was in medical distress.
That's kind of what worries me about our old-timers being called back in, due to lack of deputies. They're good people, but too old and easily confused to be active.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
According to court documents filed last week in the case, Campbell provided police officials with an external hard drive for them to load with e-mail and other data responding to his discovery request. When he got it back, he found something he didn't request. In a subfolder titled DBales Court Order, a computer security consultant for Campbell allegedly found three well-known trojans, including:
Win32:Zbot-AVH[Trj], a password logger and backdoor
NSISownloader-CC[Trj], a program that connects to attacker-controlled servers and downloads and installs additional programs, and
Two instances of Win32Cycbot-NF[Trj], a backdoor
All three trojans are usually easily detected by antivirus software. In an affidavit filed in the whistle-blower case, Campbell's security consultant said it's unlikely the files were copied to the hard drive by accident, given claims by Fort Smith police that department systems ran real-time AV protection.
As I've said before ... some people just refuse to believe that fat meat is greasy.
Racial tensions exposed by the shooting death of a black man by a white police officer here extends beyond the community and into the police department itself, according to one of the few black officers on the police force.
A current North Charleston police officer told msnbc that a number of the department’s white officers are privately supporting former officer Michael Slager. Videotaped evidence shows Slager fatally shot Walter Scott in the back on April 4 and apparently lied about the circumstances that led to the fatal encounter.
“I heard some white officers trying to justify what really took place, asking for more evidence after the video,” said the officer, who is African-American. “For me, I don’t need any more evidence. What’s evidence is what we saw,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media and fears reprisal.
Slager was fired from the force after the video evidence surfaced, and he has since been jailed and charged with murder. And while Slager’s actions have been widely and broadly condemned by the police chief and political leaders, the extent of support for Slager within the department has exacerbated racial tensions there, the black officer said.
Some white officers, he said, feel that Slager should not be charged based on the publicly available evidence. “They still got that ‘we against them’ attitude,” in which police feel they are alone against an antagonistic public. “Making statements like that doesn’t help us in the healing process. Once you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” the officer said.
The same officer said a majority of the force’s black officers are not supporting Slager. No other police officer was interviewed for this story.
Asked for a response, Spencer Pryor, a spokesman for the North Charleston police department, said that “we have no knowledge of, and no comment about, an anonymous complaint.”
What began as a routine traffic stop for a broken brake light turned into a chase and confrontation between Slager and Scott. It ended with the officer first shooting Scott with a Taser and then with his gun as Scott tried to run. Scott was shot four times in the back. A fifth bullet hit his ear.
Slager initially told officials that Scott, 50, wrestled away his Taser and that he feared for his life.
Moments after the shooting, Slager is heard on his police radio saying, “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser.”
But a witness’s cell phone video, which captured the shooting and the horrific last moments of Scott’s life, contradicts Slager’s assertions. After the shooting, as Scott lay handcuffed and dying in a grassy lot, Slager is seen jogging back to where the confrontation began, picking up an object many believe was his Taser and then dropping it by Scott’s body.
The officer who spoke with msnbc said Slager, 33, shamed the department.
“One of the traits you look for in an officer, first thing, is integrity. You’d like to have his back and believe what he says through all,” the officer said. “And when stuff came out later and showed that he was dishonest, it kind of puts you back, especially with the relationship here in North Charleston we’re trying to build with the community, he’s putting us back.”
The officer said that while he doesn’t know Slager personally, he had a reputation within the department for being aggressive with black residents.
“They say he was kind of a scared guy when it came to African-Americans,” the officer said. “He was a scared kind of guy who was always reaching for his weapon or something, wanted to be aggressive. That was the word about him from other officers.”
Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.
At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.
You think to yourself, "Good on those guys for not signing off." And then you think, "Bad on those guys for not reporting the gross breach of standards plus the completely unqualified guy being put on duty." Basically, these guys should be punished for standing by and doing nothing. Doing nothing caused someone to get killed.
Undersheriff Tim Albin has said the video cuts off after Harris was shot because the camera battery died. The video was filmed on a “sunglasses cam” purchased by Bates for the task force.
Bates was Glanz’s 2012 re-election campaign manager and also was named reserve deputy of the year in 2011.
He has purchased five automobiles for the task force. Bates and other task force members drive the vehicles, which the Sheriff’s Office equipped with lights and other police equipment.
So is it a "mentality problem" of those who want to, or have become police officers, or is it more of crappy HR staff doing a shitty job of filtering out the bad cops? Is it a union thing? A much better system needs to be developed to safely acquire cops and their management. I don't think the localities have qualified HR folks, and a political environment doesn't help these communities to have a better police force.
A suspect who is reportedly mentally ill. Trying to commit "suicide by cop" after a crime spree. Fires off a round in the air as the police approach and keeps walking. Literally run over from behind by a police cruiser. Didn't even see it coming. He was armed and certainly a potential threat ... even though he never pointed the rifle at any police officers. So one can argue that the officer simply neutralized this potential threat in rather "creative" manner. Let's face it ... this guy is lucky to still be alive! But OTOH ....
None shot. None killed. And none run over from behind by a speeding police cruiser. Just saying ...
OAW
8 white people out of how many who didn't? How many black people have managed to point guns without being shot? Do we bother to try and keep up with that stat? Oh wait, I forgot to put on my "see everything as institutionalized racism" glasses.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
These are great questions that can not be answered properly because law enforcement doesn't collect data that might help us determine such things.
I think that's more the state and federal government's job to aggregate that type of data, isn't it? It is collected at each police dept, they have details on every arrest and incident, it just hasn't been compiled.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
I think that's more the state and federal government's job to aggregate that type of data, isn't it? It is collected at each police dept, they have details on every arrest and incident, it just hasn't been compiled.
But the “legal intervention” deaths — an average of 406 per year from 1999 to 20113 — are not useful on their own since many police homicides are misclassified simply because the coroner’s report does not mention police involvement. This count, along with the FBI’s estimate and an independent count of “arrest-related homicides” by the Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2003 to 20094 complete the trio of official-sounding but incomplete police homicide stats.
Some of those 3,000 deaths are police homicides, justifiable and unjustifiable — there’s no way of knowing how many. They also include other homicides that are not reported to the SHR but which have nothing to do with police involvement — for example, killings that occur in federal jurisdictions.
It’s likely there are homicides recorded in the SHR that should be attributed to police as “justifiable” but aren’t. And, as I mentioned earlier, there’s an unknown number of unjustifiable police homicides that aren’t marked with any evidence of police involvement. Account for all that, and you would have the true number of police homicides each year.
I started to search in earnest. Nowhere could I find out how many people died during interactions with police in the United States. Try as I might, I just couldn't wrap my head around that idea. How was it that, in the 21st century, this data wasn't being tracked, compiled, and made available to the public? How could journalists know if police were killing too many people in their town if they didn't have a way to compare to other cities? Hell, how could citizens or police? How could cops possibly know "best practices" for dealing with any fluid situation? They couldn't.
The bottom line was that I found the absence of such a library of police killings offensive. And so I decided to build it. I'm still building it. But I could use some help. You can find my growing database of deadly police violence here, at Fatal Encounters, and I invite you to go here, research one of the listed shootings, fill out the row, and change its background color. It'll take you about 25 minutes. There are thousands to choose from, and another 2,000 or so on my cloud drive that I haven't even added yet. After I fact-check and fill in the cracks, your contribution will be added to largest database about police violence in the country. Feel free to check out what has been collected about your locale's information here.
The biggest thing I've taken away from this project is something I'll never be able to prove, but I'm convinced to my core: The lack of such a database is intentional. No government—not the federal government, and not the thousands of municipalities that give their police forces license to use deadly force—wants you to know how many people it kills and why.
It's the only conclusion that can be drawn from the evidence. What evidence? In attempting to collect this information, I was lied to and delayed by the FBI, even when I was only trying to find out the addresses of police departments to make public records requests. The government collects millions of bits of data annually about law enforcement in its Uniform Crime Report, but it doesn't collect information about the most consequential act a law enforcer can do.
I've been lied to and delayed by state, county and local law enforcement agencies—almost every time. They've blatantly broken public records laws, and then thumbed their authoritarian noses at the temerity of a citizen asking for information that might embarrass the agency. And these are the people in charge of enforcing the law.
They could start with arrest related homicides and go from there, 406 /year doesn't seem like too many to collect, read through, and publish, IMO.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
And this is how it goes down when it's not captured on video.
A Fulton County magistrate granted a $10,000 bond Thursday to a man who is charged with aggravated assault with a gun on two Atlanta police officers after his lawyer said POLICE SHOT HIM SEVEN TIMES, PRIMARILY IN THE BACK, WHEN HE WAS FLEEING.
The man’s lawyer, Tawanna K. Morgan, noted it was “absolutely rare” for a magistrate to set such a low bond when police allege someone threatened or attacked them — which normally would be evidence the person was a danger to the community — and indicated a questionable shooting.
“In these type of cases, there is always a concern about even receiving a bond,” she said.
Yuric J. Ussery, 22, was shot while fleeing police April 8 after two officers, who were part of a crime-suppression unit, tried to stop him for JAYWALKING in the high-crime Mechanicsville neighborhood. Instead, Ussery fled and the pursing officers said they shot him after he pointed a gun at them.
Morgan took issue with suggestion that her client pointed a pistol at police, noting his only arrest had been for being in possession of a stolen car when he was 17.
“It is definitely disputed that he ever pulled out a gun,” Morgan told The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Thursday. “What is not in dispute is the physical evidence of him being shot in his back, which is consistent with him still running.”
She contended her client fled the two plain-clothes officers after they confronted him aggressively for crossing McDaniel Street outside of a crosswalk without identifying themselves as police.
The police report said the two officers identified themselves as police during the foot chase.
“As the foot pursuit continued the suspect produced a pistol from his waistband and pointed the loaded weapon at the officers,” the report said. “The officers fearing for their lives and the safety of others discharged their City issued firearms striking the suspect. The suspect was then taken into custody and the suspect’s weapon was recovered.”
The two officers involved are still on administrative leave and “will remain on non-enforcement status until the preliminary investigation is complete,” Sgt. Greg Lyon told The AJC on Thursday.
Both officers have been on the force for less than three years. Officer Jimmy Alvaran was hired in May 2012 and Officer Sean Fagan was hired in February 2013, according to police records.
Atlanta police, who are investigating the shooting, initially reported that a pistol was found under a tree in the vicinity of the shooting. But police have not told The AJC if Ussery was shot in the back, how many times he was shot, how many officers or people witnessed the shooting, and the distance between the wounded Ussery and the recovered firearm.
Last week, Chief George Turner said the crime-suppression unit makes stops for quality-of-life-infractions, such as jaywalking, and that Ussery was walking down the middle of the busy road, not simply crossing the street.
Officers felt threatened by the mere presence of a weapon — regardless of whether he pointed it — and a civilian witness heard officers shout Ussery was armed, which bolstered the officers’ version of events, Turner said.
The semi-automatic pistol police recovered at the scene was jammed with a bullet, which could have happened if Ussery fired or tried to chamber a round, Turner said. He suspected Ussery ran because he was on probation and illegally had a weapon that had been reported stolen last year.
Mawuli Mel Davis, a senior attorney involved in the case, said the fact police did not report finding any spent shell casings or gunshot residue on Ussery’s hands is strong evidence didn’t fire a weapon.
“The fact that the chief would say, ‘Maybe he fired it,’ that is deceptive to even say that,” Davis said. “That is a smoke screen and that is the very reason that APD should not be investigating itself because they have a vested interest in this being a ‘good shooting.’”
Nationwide there has been a movement to have outside law enforcement agencies investigate police shootings. The approach recently has been embraced in DeKalb County, where the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate officer-involved shootings.
The APD, citing the investigation, declined to further comment. Late Wednesday, Ussery was booked into the Fulton jail after spending seven days at Grady Memorial Hospital. He has lost the use of one arm, at least temporarily, and now needs a cane to walk, his lawyers said.
It'll hinge around whether they can prove the gun was his, I guess. Were his prints on it, etc.. Did he run because it was his and he didn't want to be found to be illegally in possession of a firearm, which would have broken his probation? If not, why run? *queue Chris Rock video on how to get your ass kicked*
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
It'll hinge around whether they can prove the gun was his, I guess. Were his prints on it, etc.. Did he run because it was his and he didn't want to be found to be illegally in possession of a firearm, which would have broken his probation? If not, why run? *queue Chris Rock video on how to get your ass kicked*
According to the article, the police did not identify themselves until the foot pursuit had already begun. That kind of sucks.
If two plainclothes dudes drew weapons on me I'd run like hell too without giving it any thought. I wonder if they identified themselves before or after they shot him in the back?
It would be super easy for the police to produce a gun as justification for the shooting. Time will tell whether the guy's prints are on it. Analysis of the gun should also be able to tell if the gun was jammed trying to chamber a round (in my experience, a gun cannot jam without having been fired first as the jam happens when the next round is chambered incorrectly OR the operator of the gun is utterly oblivious to it's loading state). Also, if the gun has an internal magazine it is highly unlikely that the gun jammed while being charged for firing. Please correct me if I err in my logic here but:
1) The gun was not fired by the suspect, so the 2nd round jamming scenario is very unlikely.
2) If the gun was loaded via the magazine, it very likely did not jam during chambering/charging unless the suspect attempted to charge it a 2nd time with a round already chambered though did not bring the slide all the way back enough to eject the chambered round and advanced the slide too far back to keep the initial round correctly in the chamber (i find this unlikely). It is possible that the suspect had a round chambered previously before the police interaction and attempted to charge it again while running (though failed to eject the round and jammed the gun).
3)The gun could absolutely have jammed if the suspect was attempting to load a single round directly to the chamber, though if there were rounds in the magazine this scenario is extremely improbable.
4). The police shot him in the back - so if he turned around with a gun in his hand the ballistic and forensic evidence should support this scenario. We'll have to wait and see.
I think that's more the state and federal government's job to aggregate that type of data, isn't it? It is collected at each police dept, they have details on every arrest and incident, it just hasn't been compiled.
Perhaps we should petition the ACLU or a related group to use FOIA to compile these findings.
Perhaps we should petition the ACLU or a related group to use FOIA to compile these findings.
With "only" 400 /year it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult a task (I'm still surprised by that, I thought the number would be much higher).
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
According to the article, the police did not identify themselves until the foot pursuit had already begun. That kind of sucks.
If two plainclothes dudes drew weapons on me I'd run like hell too without giving it any thought. I wonder if they identified themselves before or after they shot him in the back?
That is really effed up.
Originally Posted by Snow-i
It would be super easy for the police to produce a gun as justification for the shooting. Time will tell whether the guy's prints are on it. Analysis of the gun should also be able to tell if the gun was jammed trying to chamber a round (in my experience, a gun cannot jam without having been fired first as the jam happens when the next round is chambered incorrectly OR the operator of the gun is utterly oblivious to it's loading state).
Another possibility is that the gun was planted by the police to justify their actions after the fact.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
That takes some brass testes (and lies in the face of what you're taught as an officer). While commendable in some ways, it could have gotten him killed if backup hadn't arrived when it did.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
That's 3 in just one week, but at least they weren't racially motivated, right? Whew.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
But the “legal intervention” deaths — an average of 406 per year from 1999 to 20113 — are not useful on their own since many police homicides are misclassified simply because the coroner’s report does not mention police involvement.
Some of those 3,000 deaths are police homicides, justifiable and unjustifiable — there’s no way of knowing how many. They also include other homicides that are not reported to the SHR but which have nothing to do with police involvement — for example, killings that occur in federal jurisdictions.
For a person to accept the 400 number, you have to take police reports at face value.
That takes some brass testes (and lies in the face of what you're taught as an officer). While commendable in some ways, it could have gotten him killed if backup hadn't arrived when it did.
In my anecdotal readings, I've noticed that the militarily trained are much better about their handling civilians. Which could make sense as they get an assload of training our police do not.
Four bicycle officers tried to stop Gray about 9 a.m. on April 12 in the 1600 block of W. North Ave. for an alleged violation that police have not disclosed. He ran, police said, and the officers caught him and restrained him on the ground while awaiting backup.
According to the police timeline, he was conscious and speaking when he was loaded into a van to be taken to the district station. Medics were called to the station, and he was taken to an area hospital, police said.
Rodriguez said police "have no physical, video or any other evidence of an altercation" that would result in Gray's injuries.
Gray, 25, died a week after he suffered a broken vertabra after being arrested near Gilmor Homes in Sandtown-Winchester.
Police have not given a cause for Gray's injuries or specified why he was arrested, citing an investigation into the incident. Officials are expected to look into any criminal conduct by Gray and whether criminal charges against officers are warranted.
"What we know is that while in police custody for committing no crime — for which they had no justification for making the arrest except he was a black man running — his spine was virtually severed, 80 percent severed, in the neck area," Murphy said. He called Gray's injuries "catastrophic."
It's Baltimore, where the Wire was based out of, so draw your own conclusions.
Relatives, activists and even Baltimore city officials have more questions than answers about what happened to Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who died one week after he was rushed to the hospital with spinal injuries following an encounter with four Baltimore police officers.
Gray, who died Sunday morning at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, was stopped by Baltimore Police Department officers on bike patrol April 12. Police have said Gray was running away from the officers when he was arrested and placed in a transport van. Police say roughly 30 minutes later, Gray was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Billy Murphy, an attorney for Gray’s family, said Sunday that 80 PERCENT OF THE MAN’S SPINAL CORD HAD BEEN SEVERED NEAR HIS NECK.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and top police officials promised accountability and transparency Sunday at a news conference at City Hall.
“How was Mr. Gray injured? Were the proper protocols and procedures actually followed? What are the next steps to take from here?” Rawlings-Blake said.
She promised a thorough investigation and “real answers” for the community.
“I will ensure we will hold the right people accountable,” Rawlings-Blake said.
Gray’s family has declined, so far, to interact with police, said Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. He said the department would try again this week to share information with them.
“A mother has lost her son,” Batts said. “Freddie Gray passed. My greatest hope and wish and desire is that any time we have an interaction as a police department or a contact, that everyone goes home safe.”
Batts said he is assembling a “hybrid task force” that will include homicide investigators and the force investigation team.
Officers and other witnesses have been interviewed, according to Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez. However, not everyone has been interviewed, Rodriguez noted, saying the officers who are subjects of the criminal investigation have a right not to potentially incriminate themselves.
But Murphy said he has interviewed 11 witnesses as part of an investigation on behalf of the Gray family, and has asked the department for video footage, which it has declined to release to the public. Murphy said he disputes the department’s timeline of events, and believes Gray was in police custody for longer than they say.
“We are tired of the words. We want to see action,” Murphy said Sunday. “We want to see fair compensation for victims of police brutality, we want to see a fair response and an impartial investigation not cops investigating themselves.
“We have no confidence that the city or the police department is going to fairly and objectively investigate this case,” Murphy added. “We have no confidence the investigation will reveal the truth.”
Meanwhile, Baltimore’s activist community on Sunday called for increased transparency and accountability of the city’s police department, which last year volunteered for a Justice Department review of its policies and procedures.
Outside of the Western District station house, where Gray was brought after his arrest and before officers called for medical assistance, Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the Baltimore chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, called Baltimore a “police state” where criminalization of African American men is a pervasive problem. Witherspoon called for action, and an independent investigation into Gray’s death.
“They want the citizenry to be patient. They want the citizenry to let the investigation play out,” Witherspoon said. “We can’t do that. There has never been honest and genuine conversation with the police department and the people on the ground. We want an independent investigation. We want the officers fired, we want them stripped of their pension and we want them charged.”
For a person to accept the 400 number, you have to take police reports at face value.
You're alleging that they're killing people and not writing reports? These are people who will, rather absurdly, write reports about not having anything to report. Hell, I was encouraged to write reports about how often (and where) I took a piss and where I ate lunch. Seriously, they document everything under the goddamned sun.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
You're alleging that they're killing people and not writing reports? These are people who will, rather absurdly, write reports about not having anything to report. Hell, I was encouraged to write reports about how often (and where) I took a piss and where I ate lunch. Seriously, they document everything under the goddamned sun.
I'm not going to quote the article a third time. It explains why not to take the 400 at face value. Given that you yourself seem to find the numerical value unlikely, I'm not sure why you're balking.
In my anecdotal readings, I've noticed that the militarily trained are much better about their handling civilians. Which could make sense as they get an assload of training our police do not.
Every police dept wants veterans, but vets generally don't want to join the police. The pay is awful, the hours are worse, and they're tired of being ordered around. Those who do still find it attractive jump directly to state police, the FBI, or the intel communities, because even though they still have to take orders at least they're making a decent wage with superior benefits.
...Brown. (But really looks like another cops can't deal with people with mental issues)
I was told in this thread that hispanics are actually white (surprised me too, at the time).
The problem is this too easy. It shouldn't be this easy.
The problem is that it takes some serious blinders (or brain damage) to believe that 8 white guys getting away with pointing a gun at police means that any white person can get away with it, when it's painfully obvious, even with a casual search that took all of 10 seconds, that isn't the case at all. If you point a gun at a LEO you're probably going to get shot, you should get shot, because you're threatening their life.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
I'm not going to quote the article a third time. It explains why not to take the 400 at face value. Given that you yourself seem to find the numerical value unlikely, I'm not sure why you're balking.
Perhaps the FBI should appeal to the Justice dept to make all UCRs mandatory, instead of strictly voluntary. That sounds like a good place to start.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
I was told in this thread that hispanics are actually white (surprised me too, at the time).
And the reality is, just like being a black or brown person, the main factor is the actual tone of their skin. Light skinned blacks report being treated a hell of a lot better than darker skinned ones. Logically, the same goes for hispanics.
Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants
The problem is that it takes some serious blinders (or brain damage) to believe that 8 white guys getting away with pointing a gun at police means that any white person can get away with it
Straw man. No one is arguing that absurd extreme.
Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants
when it's painfully obvious, even with a casual search that took all of 10 seconds, that isn't the case at all. If you point a gun at a LEO you're probably going to get shot, you should get shot, because you're threatening their life.
It's also painfully obvious that there seems to be a huge difference in mortality rate of the people based on skin color. Not that that can be statistically quantified either, I imagine.
A suburban Detroit police officer who was seen on dash-cam video dragging a black man from his car before kicking and punching him repeatedly will be charged with two felony counts, a county prosecutor said Monday.
A remaining drug possession charge against the man, Floyd Dent, 57, will be dropped, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. Dent's treatment by Inkster police during a Jan. 28 traffic stop sparked outrage after the video was released by NBC affiliate WDIV.
William Melendez, who allegedly punched Dent 16 times while keeping him in a chokehold during an arrest, will be charged with one count of mistreatment of a prisoner and one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, Worthy said.
WDIV had also later released a video that showed officers stripping Dent down to his underwear and searching him while he was being held in jail.
If convicted, Melendez could face up to 15 years in prison.
The case was independently investigated by the Michigan State Police and separately by the Wayne County Prosecutors Office.
"We cannot turn our heads when the law enforcer becomes the law breaker," Worthy said during a news conference Monday. "The alleged police brutality in this case cannot and will not be tolerated."
Charges against Dent of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer were dropped after the video was released nearly two months after the incident occurred. A count of possession of cocaine remained, but Dent claimed the drugs were planted in his car, and Worthy said her office would reconsider the charges after Dent passed a lie detector test. The drug charge against Dent was dropped "in the best interest of justice," Worthy said.
In the past three years, Tampa police have written 2,504 bike tickets — more than Jacksonville, Miami, St. Petersburg and Orlando combined.
Police say they are gung ho about bike safety and focused on stopping a plague of bike thefts.
But here's something they don't mention about the people they ticket:
Eight out of 10 are black.
A Tampa Bay Times investigation has found that Tampa police are targeting poor, black neighborhoods with obscure subsections of a Florida statute that outlaws things most people have tried on a bike, like riding with no light or carrying a friend on the handlebars.
Officers use these minor violations as an excuse to stop, question and search almost anyone on wheels. The department doesn't just condone these stops, it encourages them, pushing officers who patrol high-crime neighborhoods to do as many as possible.
There was the 54-year-old man whose bike was confiscated because he couldn't produce a receipt to prove it was his.
One woman was walking her bike home after cooking for an elderly neighbor. She said she was balancing a plate of fish and grits in one hand when an officer flagged her down and issued her a $51 ticket for not having a light. With late fees, it has since ballooned to $90. She doesn't have the money to pay.
The Times analyzed more than 10,000 bicycle tickets Tampa police issued in the past dozen years. The newspaper found that even though blacks make up about a quarter of the city's population, they received 79 percent of the bike tickets.
Many of the tickets did go to convicted criminals, including some people interviewed for this story. And there are cases where police stopped someone under suspicious circumstances and found a gun or caught a burglar.
But most bike stops that led to a ticket turned up no illegal activity; only 20 percent of adults ticketed last year were arrested.
When police did arrest someone, it was almost always for a small amount of drugs or a misdemeanor like trespassing.
On Davis Islands, where Mayor Bob Buckhorn lives near baseball star Derek Jeter, police could issue multiple tickets. But they don't. One recent night, the Times observed a couple leaving an ice cream shop on unlit beach cruisers and a cyclist riding along the dark coastline, visible only because of the reflectors on his pedals.
Only one ticket was written last year on Davis Islands. It went to a black man.
The same goes for Bayshore Boulevard, another of the city's main biking destinations. Only one person got a ticket there last year. He, too, is black.
The racial breakdown of the tickets suggests police are using their discretion differently when it comes to bikes. For more serious driving offenses, blacks were not more likely to be cited. For failing to stop at a red light in 2014, blacks got only 11 percent of tickets. Bike tickets that year, 81 percent.
Officers get yearly "productivity reports," calculating, in part, how many tickets they give. One personnel file detailed a "red grid patrol" in which officers are encouraged to "engage and identify offenders through street checks, bike stops and traffic stops."
In another file, a supervisor told a new officer he should learn rarely used traffic statutes. The fact that he wasn't familiar with them was noted as a "significant weakness" in his 2012 performance review. The next year, the new officer impressed his bosses with his "dramatic increase" in "self-initiated activity."
He wrote 111 bike tickets, the most in the department. All but four of the cyclists were black.
For the past three years, no law enforcement agency in the state has given as many bicycle tickets as the Tampa Police Department. It is responsible for 12 percent of all bike tickets written in Florida.
Last year, Tampa police wrote at least four tickets for something no longer illegal: riding a bike without holding the handlebars.
Yada yada yada. That's only snippets from the first half of the article. Poor urban planning strikes again!
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
Such an iconic image from the Ferguson protests! Tossing a tear cas canister away in an American flag t-shirt all while holding a bag of Red Hot Riplets* potato chips.
And the reality is, just like being a black or brown person, the main factor is the actual tone of their skin. Light skinned blacks report being treated a hell of a lot better than darker skinned ones. Logically, the same goes for hispanics.
Not in my experience, and I am hispanic.
Straw man. No one is arguing that absurd extreme.
That was what the article was stating.
It's also painfully obvious that there seems to be a huge difference in mortality rate of the people based on skin color. Not that that can be statistically quantified either, I imagine.
All the guys were shot in the torso, like cops are trained to do, it's pure luck that 2 of those guys didn't die.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
Well we all know how much you value personal experience.
Okay.
In that case, **** them.
Indeed, and that's the way it was presented on this forum, as well.
None shot. None killed.
So "**** them"?
That's a good point, so here's another stat we don't have: Rounds fired at suspect. My guess would be black guys get more rounds fired at them.
Pure conjecture, but I'd be more than happy to read a study on that subject.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
ownloader-CC[Trj], a program that connects to attacker-controlled servers and downloads and installs additional programs, and
Oh wait, I forgot to put on my "see everything as institutionalized racism" glasses.
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