Police State

Criminalizing Criticism of the Police

"Dominic Ray Aguilar, a 37-year-old cab driver from Roseville, California, has been charged with making 'terroristic threats' against Police Officer John Moody, who shot 35-year-old Ernesto Duenez 11 times in the driveway of his home in June 2011. Duenez, who was suspected of violating his parole, was unarmed and exiting his pickup truck when Moody shot him. He tried to comply with Moody’s order to get down on the ground, but his foot was caught in a seat belt. On the Facebook page memorializing Duenez, Aguilar wrote: '50 rounds to your dome Moody.'" Continue reading →

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“Gun Control” Means More State-Licensed Gun Violence

"Barack Obama paid a brief visit to Minneapolis today to rally support for his administration’s proposals to restrict private firearms ownership. Significantly, he didn’t address the public; instead, he met with police officials at the Minneapolis PoliceDepartment Special Operations Center. The White House praised Minneapolis as 'a city that has taken important steps to reduce gun violence and foster a conversation in the community about what further action is needed.' One of those steps was the overt militarization of law enforcement through the promiscuous use of SWAT teams." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Gun Control” Means More State-Licensed Gun Violence

Phila Police Officer Charged After Randomly Firing Shots At Building

"A Philadelphia Police Officer has been charged with Recklessly Endangering another Person, Possessing an Instrument of Crime, and False Reports to Law Enforcement Authorities. Pharez Morris, the 27-year-old officer fired 13 bullets in the direction of an unspecified building on West Rockland Street in October of last year. After the police were called to the scene by a witness, a false 9-1-1 call was made by Morris, to try to distract officers from his discharge." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPhila Police Officer Charged After Randomly Firing Shots At Building

Former Camden cop sentenced to nearly 4 years for conspiracy

"From May 2007 to October 2009, Stetser engaged in a conspiracy with other Camden police officers to deprive individuals of their due process rights by charging them with planted evidence; threatening certain individuals with arrest using planted evidence if they did not cooperate with law enforcement; conducting illegal searches without a search warrant or consent; stealing money during illegal searches and arrests; paying for cooperation and information with illegal drugs; failing to report found drugs and stashing them to use as planted evidence; and preparing false police reports or testifying falsely in court to conceal his actions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Camden cop sentenced to nearly 4 years for conspiracy

Culpeper ex-cop convicted of manslaughter for shooting unarmed woman in her car

"Jurors are due back in a Culpeper courtroom to recommend punishment for a former police officer they found guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman. The jury on Tuesday convicted Daniel Harmon-Wright of voluntary manslaughter in the Feb. 9, 2012, death of Patricia Ann Cook. Harmon-Wright was also found guilty of shooting into an occupied vehicle and shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in manslaughter. He was acquitted of a charge of using a firearm in commission of a felony." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCulpeper ex-cop convicted of manslaughter for shooting unarmed woman in her car

NYPD officer threatened to shoot grandmother of killed teen, lawsuit claims

"After shooting dead an unarmed teenager in his bathroom, a New York City police officer threatened to kill the boy’s distraught grandmother, a newly filed lawsuit alleges. Filed Friday, a day before the one-year anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham, the suit accuses the NYPD of improperly training its officers, disproportionately targeting minority youth through its controversial stop and frisk practices and covering up the facts surrounding the death. The suit names police officer Richard Haste, the man responsible for shooting Graham, as well as NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly and a number of other officers as defendants." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYPD officer threatened to shoot grandmother of killed teen, lawsuit claims

California school district pays $650,000 to settle police brutality & false arrest case

"In their suit, the plaintiffs claimed they were arrested on Sept. 17, 2010, in North Highlands for no reason and taken to the district police station, where one officer allegedly choked three of them. They were all eventually jailed, but the District Attorney's Office declined to file any charges against them. The suit also accused the district's top managers of fostering a toxic climate within its police force, which has drawn widespread community criticism for its enforcement tactics and became the focus of a grand jury investigation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia school district pays $650,000 to settle police brutality & false arrest case

Settlement for officer who assaulted mentally handicapped teen in his home

"At one point, a neighbor tried to tell Hooper about Kersey’s disabilities, but was told to go back into his home or he would be arrested, the lawsuit stated. The officers shot Kersey in the back with their Tasers as he opened his front door. They fought with him, and during the struggle, the officers struck him with fists and a retractable nightstick and pepper-sprayed him, then hog-tied him, the lawsuit stated. Kersey’s mother opened the door and pulled her son in, at which point Hopper fired his Taser, hitting the 17-year-old in the back. Officers used physical strikes and baton strikes to the thigh to take Kersey to the ground and handcuff him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSettlement for officer who assaulted mentally handicapped teen in his home

‘Dorner’s Last Stand’ game surfaces as protesters decry LAPD brutality

"An online video game depicting ex-Los Angeles Police officer and quadruple-murder suspect Christopher Dorner’s battle with authorities surfaced online as demonstrators criticized his former department for mishandling the case. The New York Daily News reported on Friday that the game also features racist imagery and language. Meanwhile, about three dozen protesters gathered outside police headquarters criticizing the LAPD’s handling of the case, which included two shooting incidents that resulted in three people being injured after being mistaken for Dorner." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Dorner’s Last Stand’ game surfaces as protesters decry LAPD brutality

We’re Locking Up Fewer Black People and More White People

The USA incarcerates a higher percentage of its citizen than any other nation on earth. (We're #1!) Needless to say, we've accomplished that feat largely on the backs of minorities, particularly black people, who are incarcerated at more than six times the rate of white people. But, the broader takeaway is that the racial mix of those we incarcerate (particularly women) is changing, but the fact of America's mass incarceration is not. 'The overall rate of incarceration in the United States remains at five times the rate that prevailed in 1970.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWe’re Locking Up Fewer Black People and More White People