Resistance

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

Woman taken down, handcuffed for not showing rental agreement quickly enough

"Robert Ferreira was sure someone was breaking in his neighbor's house in the early-morning hours of Aug. 22, 2009. He saw a woman he didn't recognize trying to pry open a garage door. So he called 911. Two St. Petersburg police officers, Neil Rambaran and Jonathan VanHouten, checked out the house, at 4042 32nd Ave. N. With guns drawn and flashlights in hand, they found a man and woman inside. Rambaran took the woman to the ground, drove his knee into her back and handcuffed her; VanHouten handcuffed the man. But the man and woman were not burglars. They had recently rented the place." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWoman taken down, handcuffed for not showing rental agreement quickly enough

New York ‘cannibal’ cop watched death porn: wife

"The estranged wife of a New York policeman sobbed as she testified Monday that her husband went online to discuss torturing and killing her. Kathleen Mangan-Valle, 27, was the star witness for the prosecution in a trial that opened with her telling the jury that Gilberto Valle had a desire to 'cannibalize human flesh.' The allegations are so gruesome that the court had to screen potential jurors for their views on extreme sexual fantasies, showing them a photograph of a woman trussed up in a cooking pan, with an apple stuffed in her mouth. Valle is accused of conspiracy to kidnap and illegally accessing law enforcement databases for detailed research on potential victims." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York ‘cannibal’ cop watched death porn: wife

Former Jackson officer found guilty of killing daughter

"A former Jackson police detective is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. After an emotional trial that lasted nearly two weeks, a jury early Thursday evening found Natyyo Gray guilty of capital murder in the death of his 1-year-old daughter Zoe. Prosecutors showed gruesome images of Zoe Brown’s mangled body earlier in the trial. At the time of her death, Zoe had sustained bruises to her forehead, back and pelvis, along with extensive abdominal bruising and a large hematoma on the top of her head. She also had a lacerated liver and pancreas and was bleeding from her anus. An autopsy determined she bled to death after being beaten." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Jackson officer found guilty of killing daughter

Indianapolis police Officer David Butler gets 8-year sentence on robbery, official misconduct charge

"Suspended Indianapolis police Officer David Butler received an eight-year sentence Friday after he was found guilty earlier this month of two counts each of robbery and official misconduct. A jury determined that Butler targeted Hispanic men for traffic stops and then robbed them. In one incident in 2011, Emiliano Vasquez said Butler took his wallet and made him stand by the officer's car during a traffic stop at a gas station. Vasquez was not ticketed, but when he returned to his car and examined his wallet, he found his money was gone. Some of that stop was captured on surveillance video. In all, there were three victims in three separate traffic stops." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndianapolis police Officer David Butler gets 8-year sentence on robbery, official misconduct charge

Charge three officers in squad car asphyxiation death of suspect, jury recommends

"Three of the officers involved in the arrest of Williams, who died after gasping for air in the back of a squad car, should be charged with failure to render aid by a law enforcement officer, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail, jurors concluded. Officer Richard Ticcioni put his knee across Williams' back during the arrest. Officers Jeffrey Cline and Jason Bleichwehl each spent time in the front seat of the squad car as Williams struggled to breathe for nearly eight minutes in the back, a squad video shows. The three officers refused to testify during the inquest, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCharge three officers in squad car asphyxiation death of suspect, jury recommends