Police State

Aide To Mentally Handicapped Man Murdered By Police Speaks Out

"It happened after three deputies removed him from a Frederick movie theater for not having a $12 ticket. Ethan's aide who was with him that night shared her story only with WUSA9's, Debra Alfarone. She says when she heard that Ethan had died, 'I just started crying.' She says she's done so many more times since that fateful January night. She asked that we not identify her, nor show her face on camera. She is 18, and was Ethan Saylor's aide for the last 3 months of his life. Now, hers will never be the same. Today, she joined the Saylor family as they delivered 340,000 signatures to Governor Martin O'Malley, asking for an independent investigation into his death," Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAide To Mentally Handicapped Man Murdered By Police Speaks Out

Cop Beaten Up on Camera While Bystanders Watch; No One Calls 911

"When a Philadelphia transit officer attempted to detain a ticket-scam suspect near a train station platform last week, surveillance video records the suspect turning on the cop and wrestling him to the ground, pinning him between a glass barrier and a bench. But the video also shows a crowd of at least seven transit customers observing the fight, including one who pulled out her phone to record the incident. Notably a similar incident happened at the same train station last week, WTXF reported. And again video captured two plain-clothes officers getting beaten up in front of a much larger crowd at Cecil B. Moore station in north Philadelphia." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCop Beaten Up on Camera While Bystanders Watch; No One Calls 911

“For Their Own Protection”: Children in Long-Term Solitary Confinement

"Solitary confinement was once a punishment reserved for the most-hardened, incorrigible criminals. Today, it is standard practice for tens of thousands of juveniles in prisons and jails across America. Far from being limited to the most violent offenders, solitary confinement is now used against perpetrators of minor crimes and children who are forced to await their trials in total isolation. Often, these stays are prolonged, lasting months or even years at a time. How can a practice be both widespread and hidden? State and federal governments have two effective ways to prevent the public from knowing how deep the problem goes." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“For Their Own Protection”: Children in Long-Term Solitary Confinement

Police change story after video shows breaking student’s leg over ticket

"A group of police officers who allegedly broke the leg of an arts student and told her 'we don't care if it's legal' have been allowed to change their defence at the eleventh hour after CCTV footage of the assault emerged. Rachel Gardner is suing the NSW police force claiming she was kicked, sat on, handcuffed, pushed against a fence, loaded into a paddy wagon and then dumped at a nearby train station without charge after being caught without a train ticket on March 13, 2011. Police initially denied the kick occurred but sought to amend their defence in the Sydney District Court on Monday, minutes before the beginning of a five-day trial." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice change story after video shows breaking student’s leg over ticket

Are Government Schools a Form of Child Abuse?

"Two seventh-grade students in Virginia Beach, Va., were handed long-term suspensions Tuesday that will last until the end of the school year for playing with an airsoft gun in one of their front yards while waiting for the school bus. WAVY-TV reports that 13-year-old Khalid Caraballo and Aidan Clark will face an additional hearing in January to determine if they will be expelled for 'possession, handling and use of a firearm' because the guns were fired at two others playing in Caraballo’s yard. The school’s so-called 'zero-tolerance' policy on guns extends to private property, according to the report." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAre Government Schools a Form of Child Abuse?

Making the Victim Pay for the Bullet

"A few months after being assaulted by police in an entirely unjustified raid, Mrs. Injeyan filed a $290,000 damage claim with the City of Laguna Beach – an impressively modest amount, given the expenses incurred to the victim as a result of grotesque police overkill. After that claim was rejected, Marilyn filed a federal lawsuit. The City responded with a motion for summary judgment on the basis of the spurious and all-sufficient doctrine of 'qualified immunity.' Judge O’Connell added another layer of vindictive privilege to this familiar ritual by ordering the elderly, impoverished victim of police abuse to pay the legal costs incurred by the government whose agent had assaulted her." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMaking the Victim Pay for the Bullet

Private Probation Firm Illegally Extended Sentences, Judge Finds

"Last week, a Georgia county judge ruled that Sentinel Offender Service had illegally extended the sentence of Mantooth and potentially thousands of others who were required to pay the firm monthly probation fees, and was illegally ordering electronic monitoring for misdemeanor offenders — prohibited by state law — while charging probationers for their own monitoring. Other named plaintiffs in the pair of cases were hauled off to jail and/or subjected to electronic monitoring for alleged probation violations six years after their probation had ended for minor offenses like possession of marijuana and no proof of insurance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrivate Probation Firm Illegally Extended Sentences, Judge Finds

Missouri cops now using 80,000-volt ‘stun cuffs’ on prisoners

"The Sheriff’s Department in Buchanan County, Missouri has begun using 80,000-volt enhanced handcuffs for prisoner transfers and some court appearances while dismissing potential safety concerns, KQTV-TV reported on Monday. The 'stun cuffs,' as they have been called, are tied around a prisoner’s arm or leg and can be operated via remote control from as far as 100 yards away. His department is currently using only two pairs, valued at $2,200 apiece, citing 'bugs and kinks' that need to be corrected before more are ordered. In one demonstration, an unidentified officer from another department was seen flailing on the ground after being shocked while wearing the device." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMissouri cops now using 80,000-volt ‘stun cuffs’ on prisoners

New trial for Florida mom serving 20-year term for shooting at wall

"The 1st District Court of Appeal ordered the retrial after ruling a judge had not properly instructed the jury that convicted Marissa Alexander. But the appeals court decided the judge properly blocked Alexander from using the state’s 'Stand Your Ground' law in her defense. The 33-year-old Jacksonville woman said she fired the bullet into a wall in 2010 to scare off her husband because he was threatening her. A jury rejected her self-defense claim and convicted Alexander of discharging a firearm, triggering the 20-year term under the state’s mandatory minimum guidelines for gun crimes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew trial for Florida mom serving 20-year term for shooting at wall

Judge ejects Sikh from court for refusing to remove ‘that rag’ from his head

"The officers who pulled Singh over believed that his kirpan — a ceremonial 'sword' worn by Sikhs that poses as grave a danger to the public as the crosses donned by many Christians — was a 'dangerous weapon,' despite the fact that it had been sewn into the waistband of his pants. Singh tried to educate the lead officer by 'show[ing] him, and other officers present, videos stored on his phone and on Youtube about the Sikh faith.' The officers responded with mockery, one of them allegedly referring to Sikhs as 'depraved' and 'terrorists.' As if that was not humiliating enough, when Singh returned to Pike County to contest his arrest, presiding Judge Aubrey Rimes ejected him from the courtroom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJudge ejects Sikh from court for refusing to remove ‘that rag’ from his head