Police State - Official Thread

[Skeletor]

It seems like violent and dangerous goons can get away with anything these days.

Video of Cops Beating this Man Was So Bad, All the Officers Were Fired

Agawam, MA — Three police officers so horrifically beat a man in custody, all of them — a sergeant and two veteran patrolmen — were fired. Now, Police Chief Eric Gillis has released video footage of the brutal attack — and what it shows makes shockingly clear why they lost their jobs.

On June 19, 2016, David Desjardins, Jr., became too inebriated at a bar in the Six Flags New England amusement park; but when a bartender cut him off, he acted belligerently and began arguing. Park security called the police, MassLive reports, who confronted Desjardins and had to use pepper spray several times before they were able to make the arrest.
Agawam Police Officers John P. Moccio and Edward B. Connor, and Sergeant Anthony Grasso, then dealt with Desjardins during the booking process, but claimed in reports the man was drunk and unruly — thus their use of force had been justified. Desjardins was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and assault and battery on a police officer.

“Under the policies and procedures, the use of the force was authorized,” said Attorney John Connor, who represents the officers, reports 22News, “They may disagree with that, but that doesn’t mean that these officer didn’t act in accordance with the policies and their training.”

However, video shows Desjardins stripped down to his underwear and seemingly — despite the lack of audio recording — only vaguely disruptive and certainly not deserving of the beating he then receives.
As footage begins, the man sits on a bench in the station and appears to receive a stern talking-to by one officer. Suddenly the officer gestures to another and the pair, along with two others, violently grab Desjardins and force him into a holding cell, containing the typical metal toilet and a concrete slab without any padding.

Desjardins weakly attempts to wriggle free from one officer’s grip and is then roughly forced down onto the concrete slab with three of the four officers holding him down — as one of them uses a baton to beat his back. When that seems not to satisfy the officer, he takes a step back and — as the other two lie on top of the drunken man, holding him down — begins pummeling Desjardins’ kneecaps and ankles with the baton.

Video shows the cops clearly have control of the situation and resistance from Desjardins, if any, is both minimal and likely in self-defense.
As the two officers grip the man’s wrists and head, the third then proceeds to smash the baton against Desjardins’ shins — worse, footage seems to show the tip of the baton being used to jab him in the abdomen or groin.

In obvious pain from this, Desjardins smacks his foot against the concrete slab.
When the officers seem to relent to leave the cell, it becomes apparent one had been using two hands to press the man’s face onto the slab — but even as they move to leave, and he slowly sits up, one officer still casually hits him with the baton.

As Desjardins stands, the verbal altercation continues — but one of the officers then shoves him into the corner of the slab, smashing his head on the concrete and cinder block wall. One officer puts his hands on Desjardins face as if to poke him in the eye or smother him — and though it looks like the beating will begin again, officers cuff his wrists and ankles.

Fully two minutes elapse from the time Moccio, Connor, and Grasso forced Desjardins into the cell until they finally stopped the brutal assault.
Chief Gillis has come under fire for his decision to terminate the officers’ employment — but he has no doubt the firings were justified.

“When I saw the video I was shocked by it,” he told MassLive. “I knew that it was very serious and as the investigation proceeded it became more and more clear to me how serious it really was.
“As chief of police it’s my job to make sure that our officers conduct themselves appropriately at all times and deal with the people we come into contact with appropriately at all times.”

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni informed Gillis recently there would be no charges filed against any of the officers over the barbarous beating.
Moccio, Connor, and Grasso have all appealed their terminations.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/video-cops-beating-man-officers-fired/

[Skeletor]

Funny how the criminal try to justify their crimes by charging people with any bogus crime they can think of. He also conveniently left the job after the investigation started, maybe another gypsy cop.

Cop Charged With Felony Assault After Breaking into Bedroom, Repeatedly Tasing and Beating Victim

Sonoma, AZ – A former sheriff’s deputy was jailed and charged with felony assault after using excessive force against a 37-year-old man sitting in his own bed in his home. Scott Thorne, 40, turned himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest, and was released two hours later on $10,000 bail.

The charge came after a 3-month investigation by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office and the District Attorney. The victim, a 37-year-old Marine Corps veteran and former police officer, is still recovering from injuries sustained during the Sept. 24, 2016, incident, where he was beaten with a baton and repeatedly tased.

A neighbor called 911 after hearing a “heated argument” next door, which prompted a domestic disturbance call to the victim’s house. A woman answered the door, and one cop stayed with her while two others went to the back of the house. The victim was locked in his bedroom and refused to come out.

“Thorne forced his way into the bedroom where the man lay on the bed. Thorne grabbed the man’s arm when he refused to get up, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The man pulled away, and Thorne shocked him with a stun gun, but it had little effect on the man, who sat up and pulled out the Taser wires, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Thorne then used his baton and hit the man in the leg, officials said. Thorne and [Officer Beau] Zastrow tried to physically restrain the man on the bed and the third deputy, [Officer Anthony] Diehm, came to the room to assist.

Thorne swung his baton several times, striking the man in the back after he broke free from his grasp and ran toward the door, officials said. He fell to the ground and a struggle continued. Diehm fired his Taser at the man, and they were able to handcuff him.”

It’s not clear whether the cops were invited into the home or not, but even though they broke through the bedroom door and violently subdued the man, he was arrested for “threatening an officer, battery and obstructing an officer.” The charges were later dropped when prosecutors reviewed body cam footage. The Sheriff’s Office then reviewed footage and launched an investigation.

Thorne left the job soon after the investigation started, although “state law prevents the county from saying whether he resigned or was fired.” The two other officers are still on duty and their actions are being reviewed for excessive force and integrity of written reports.

The victim managed to get some video footage which he gave to the Santa Rosa police and DA investigators. His injuries included bruises, injuries and welts

“The man is still recovering from injuries sustained when he was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun, according to [Attorney Izaak] Schwaiger.

“There’s also the psychological trauma when someone comes into your own home, into your bedroom and commits this kind of violence,” Schwaiger said.”

The county’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach will be reviewing the case when the Sheriff’s Office has completed their review. The case has already led to changes at the department, including the requirement that supervisors “review all incidents when deputies report force was used or a person resisted arrest.”

Perhaps the victim’s cell phone footage and/or body cam footage will be released in the future, which will show us how bad this beating was that it would change department policy and actually bring the arrest of at least one officer.

Hopefully the neighbor realizes now that calling the cops can put people in far more danger than the alternatives.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-charged-felony-assault-breaking-bedroom-repeatedly-tasing-beating-victim/

[Skeletor]

Once again the cops attacked and arrested an innocent man on bogus charges to cover up their crimes. Of course the charges were later dropped by a judge but the cops cleared themselves of any wrongdoing.

DASHCAM: Cops beat, arrest innocent man after accusing him of stealing his own car

Evanston, IL — All too often, those who blindly support authority without question will say,  ‘If you don’t want to get beat up by police, don’t break the law.’ However, time after time after time, they are proven wrong — often in the worst way. Lawrence Crosby is the latest proof that not breaking the law is no protection against getting hurt by police as he was beaten and arrested by cops who thought he’d stolen his own car.
Although this scenario unfolded on October 10, 2015, the infuriating and brutal dashcam video wasn’t released until this week. What it shows is nothing short of incompetence, brutality, and the viciousness of more than a half-dozen of Evanston’s finest.

Crosby is not a criminal. In fact, he’s an upstanding citizen and accomplished engineering student who was on his way to night school to complete his doctorate at Northwestern University that night. However, in today’s see something, say something society, not even innocent doctoral candidates are safe from police abuse.

At around 7:00 pm that night, Crosby was working on his car when a woman drove by. Seeing a black man working on his car was enough to trigger this do-gooder into calling the cops and then apparently following him.

“Hi somebody’s trying to break into, somebody’s trying to break into a car,” the woman told the dispatcher. ”I think the person just got into the car.”

Not knowing that he’d just been reported for stealing his own car, Crosby began his drive to campus from his apartment. However, as his own private dashcam shows, Crosby quickly noticed something fishy and he began heading to the police station to report the fact that someone, most likely the woman who reported him, was following him.

However, he did not make it to the station. Cops pulled Crosby over in a church parking lot and all hell broke loose.

“On the ground… on the ground… down on the ground… down on the ground…turn around,” the cops yelled.

Confused and afraid, Crosby did not immediately fall to the ground, so almost as soon as cops gave the command, they pounced on him.
“I’m cooperating…sir, you’re on video… that’s an FYI,” Crosby said to the abusive cops.

Believing they had a car thief, cops held no punches as the blue gang swarmed the innocent man doling out blow after blow. During the melee, Crosby can be heard telling police that he had only moved and hesitated so he could get in front of his own cameras.

Crosby, knowing he did absolutely nothing wrong, tells the officers that he is the owner of the car. Within less than a minute after they beat him, cops were entirely aware that Crosby was indeed the owner of the car and they had no reason to stop him. However, they weren’t about to let this stop go to waste.

Knowing they had no legitimate crime to charge him with, officers began telling Crosby that he resisted and did not cooperate.

Instead of an apology, Crosby was kidnapped and charged with resisting arrest and disobeying officers.

“I understand being a police officer is a tough job, but we need them to exercise judgment in their day to day operations. And in this situation, within ten seconds of Mr. Crosby getting out of his car with his hands in the air, he was tackled, he was kneed while he was standing up, then he was punched repeatedly by multiple officers, for allegedly stealing his own car. Our police officers need to be better than that,” Alderman Brian Miller said.

Luckily for Crosby, after reviewing the video, a judge threw out the charges. However, not one of the cops who savagely beat an innocent man that night has faced any discipline. In fact, Evanston Police found the use of force justified.

Want to know why there is so much divide in America today between the police and the policed? Watch the video below.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dashcam-cops-stealing-own-car-beating/

[Skeletor]

Good Cop Leaks Video of Bad Cop Shooting Inmate in Chest with Tear Gas — Guess Who’s Facing Jail

Houston, TX — In May of 2015, Lt. Cody Waller sent a nonviolent inmate to the hospital after firing a tear gas canister at close range, into the center of his chest. Waller will not be fired and faced no charges. However, the Free Thought Project has just learned that the good cop who filmed the abuse and leaked the video of it is facing two to 10 years in prison for blowing the whistle.
In a clear case of retaliation for exposing violence in his department, Elderick Brass, the officer who filmed the abuse, was indicted late last month and appeared in court last week to face felony charges for “misuse of official information.”
“You have right and you have wrong, and this is definitely wrong,” Brass told ABC13’s Ted Oberg in August 2015. “This type of behavior is unacceptable. It wasn’t warranted. You clearly see the offenders are not being aggressive; they’re not cursing at staff, they’re not doing any of that.”

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) also admitted to ‘several mistakes’ they made that night:

• The tear gas round used in the incident never should’ve been used inside. It was designed for outside use.
• The tear gas round never should have been aimed towards an inmate’s chest. Instead it is designed to be shot against a hard surface like the floor or a wall spreading the gas.
• The prison system told ABC13 it should have been shot through a slot in the dormitory door, not feet away from two groups of angry inmates with numerous corrections officers in the room as well.

However, in spite of all those mistakes, the only person being charged with a crime is the one who exposed it.

In the video taken in 2015, on May 19th, Waller walks up to a group of “largely motionless inmates” and fires the canister, striking an inmate in the chest at close range.
The searing projectile, slightly larger than a stick of butter, appears to burn a hole in the inmate as it sparks for a few seconds.  He suffered burns and other injuries and was subsequently hospitalized.
Initially, Waller was placed on probation and still served in the same prison unit at Pam Lynchner State Prison. However, he is now back on full duty.  Incredibly, the TDCJ says that pulling the trigger was not wrong, only that mistakes were made.

Lt. Waller displays a shocking level of savagery as he fires the canister at head level into the group of standing inmates at close range.  It could have easily struck someone in the face, which would have killed or severely maimed the inmate.

The incident was prompted by a racial dispute between Hispanic and African-American inmates.  The TDCJ says the latter group threatened to jump the former once the lights were out.  The Hispanics then refused to “rack up” and go to bed as ordered.  They did comply with orders to move away from the door and allowed staffers to walk freely.  They were then cornered by Lt. Waller who shot the tear gas canister.

What this incident shows is why the proverbial ‘good cop’ is so rare. When good cops do come forward, as in the case of Brass, they are retaliated against. Brass’ only ‘crime’ was exposing brutality within his ranks — brutality that the public has every right to know exists. However, instead LT. Waller, the perpetrator of the crimes being charged, it’s the man who documented them.

In case after bloody case, cops can kill unarmed and even innocent people, on video, and never see the inside of a jail cell — often times even keeping their jobs.
Sadly, with departments across the nation upholding their reputation of vilifying anyone who dares to cross the thin blue line, it’s no wonder there is such a shortage of police willing to speak out against the atrocities we have been witnessing.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/leaks-video-cop-shooting-tear-gas/

[Skeletor]

Once again the brave heroes violent criminals still roam the streets, their crimes unpunished.

Elderly Deaf Man Beaten by Cops for 7 Minutes for Not Responding to Their Yelling

Oklahoma City, OK — Police officers assaulting or even killing deaf people for being unable to hear their commands is a tragic reality. Pearl Pearson Jr. has learned that reality the hard way. For nearly seven minutes, Pearson, 64-years-old at the time and diabetic was beaten and arrested by police officers as they yelled at him to stop resisting.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers, Eric Foster and Kelton Hayes were the two officers that were involved in what an affidavit claims was a 7-minute altercation.

When the original incident happened on January 3, 2014, police refused to release the video. However, weeks later, after the media frenzy died down, police quietly released the dashcam. The disturbing video shows troopers yelling at Pearson and drag him from the vehicle.

He was dragged from the vehicle in spite of the fact that he did everything he was supposed to as a deaf driver, according to his family.
According to Pearson’s family, Pearl pulled over and rolled down his window expecting an officer to ask for this identification. An officer struck him in the face before Pearl had the chance to do anything.
The photos of his swollen and bruised face clearly show the result of the police action.

After Pearson was beaten by police, he was arrested and charged with resisting arrest. He was thrown in jail, and, according to his family, an interpreter was never provided while Pearl was under the care of law enforcement — not during the booking, hospital, or time at the jail was an interpreter provided — even though Pearl requested one.

Pearson was sitting in a jail cell, battered and bruised, and had no idea ‘why.’

Pearson has no criminal record, and in fact is a father to a police officer, his son-in-law is also a cop. In 2015, Pearson was given an award for his amazing service to the community for working with people with disabilities.

Finally, after 3 years of holding it over his head, the District Attorney’s office decided to drop the charges. However, they dropped the charges, not because they thought the cops were in the wrong, and not because they thought Pearson was innocent. In fact, neither of the cops involved in beating a deaf man for being unable to understand them has faced any discipline at all. The sole reason the case was dropped was because the trial cost was too high.

Pearson, who learned sign language during segregation, learned a different way of communicating other than the traditional American Sign Language (ASL). He needs a translator for court officials to understand him. Because the cost of translators was so high, the DA decided to toss the case out.

The DA announced this week, that Pearson would no longer face the charges.

“It is the District Attorney’s responsibility to be a good steward of the taxpayer’s money,” District Attorney David Prater wrote. “Though it is important to prosecute matters to promote public safety and assure that the State of Oklahoma’s laws are enforced, the financial burden placed on the State to prosecute a matter is a legitimate consideration; especially as in this case, the matter is a misdemeanor.”

Below is the video of this glaring incompetence.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/elderly-deaf-man-beaten-charges-dropped/

[Skeletor]

He kept evidence from a murder case in a storage unit? Maybe he was involved in that murder?

Cop’s Unpaid Storage Unit Auctioned Off — Full of Evidence from Unsolved Child Murder

When child prodigy Candace Hiltz was found murdered in her home on August 15th, 2006, her family immediately called the Fremont County Sherriff’s Office. When investigators arrived, they conducted what the family believed was a shoddy investigation, leaving key pieces of evidence behind. Police, however, believed they’d identified their prime suspect, Candace’s brother James. James was mentally ill, lived in the woods by himself, and often came to the house for food.

But Delores Hiltz says the police failed to do their jobs and remove key pieces of evidence from the home which indicated there was more than one person involved. The family, who had no real training in crime scene investigative work, decided to gather the evidence on their own and submit it to the police. One of the things they found, while going through the home, was an empty shotgun shell, found in Candace’s daughter’s crib. They also located rope and an ax that they said someone had used to kill their dog, just days before Candace was killed.

The family also found, away from the home, bloody towels they believed the attackers used to wipe off Candace’s blood. The DNA on the towels didn’t match any of the family members according to Delores. Also, a bloody blanket which was used to wrap Candace was also gathered. After she had gathered all the evidence they could find, she called the FCSO and asked that they come get it. They did. And that was the last Delores saw of the evidence she says proves more than one person was involved in her daughter’s killing.

But it wouldn’t be the last time the evidence was ever seen. That’s because it all turned up in a storage locker that Lieutenant Robert Dodd had rented but failed to keep up the payments on. The contents of the storage unit were sold at auction to Mr. Rick Ratzlaff. After the purchase, he began to look through the storage locker he’d just purchased and realized it belonged to Dodd when he found a lot of Dodd’s old uniforms inside the unit. But after digging a bit deeper into his unit, he then realized the deputy had kept evidence from Candace’s Hiltz’ unsolved murder case inside his storage unit. Ratzlaff did the only thing he felt like he should and that was to contact the FCSO to let them know he’d found something he believed should be locked away in an evidence room somewhere.

Ratzlaff described what he found to reporters, “When I opened it, I knew it was a sheriff’s officer’s because there were uniforms and sirens and lights off of cop cars.” Then he described the moment he knew he’d gotten more than he bargained for. “There were manila envelopes that had evidence across them in big black letters and a stamp for a case number, but there was no case number. The big one had a bloody rope; the smaller manila envelope had two female blood-soaked socks; and the medium one had a weapon fall out the bottom of it. It was a chrome ax that also had blood on it,” Ratzlaff said. Ratzlaff said he also found a brown paper bag containing a single bullet casing inside, and a blanket with blood on it. These were the precisely the items Delores Hiltz says she delivered into police custody. “I knew it was Robbie Dodd’s unit because his uniforms had name badges on them and there were pictures of him in the unit,” Ratzlaff said.

Ratzlaff told reporters someone in Dodd’s family sent him a message through Facebook offering to buy back all of the contents inside the locker because it contained “childhood memories” but since Ratzlaff said he doesn’t check FB that often he didn’t get the message until much later. In the meantime, he asked Sherriff Beicker to come over and look at what he had in his possession. “He says, ‘I hear you have a storage unit that used to be an officer’s.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Can I get it?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know.’ He said, ‘Well, your life could be in danger here.’ “It was like a threat,” Ratzlaff told reporters but agreed to meet the sheriff to discuss a possible handover.

When Beicker arrived at the storage unit with FCSO Cmdr. Jeff Worley Ratzlaff’s wife, Arin Reed, recorded the entire conversation on her cell phone. In the encounter, Beicker appeared amazed one of his deputies had so much evidence in his possession. He told Ratzlaff he would contact the CBI, but then as the pair of deputies were leaving, they asked Ratzlaff for his help in getting out of the gate at the storage facility. When Ratzlaff went to help them leave, he said he came back to his storage locker to find that all the evidence had been removed in the time it took for him to drive down to the gate and let out Beicker and Worley.
Later, in a statement, Beicker admitted to taking the items. He said he and Worley, “briefly look(ed) at the evidence in the storage locker and immediately contacted CBI regarding the matter. With their consultation, we cataloged, photographed, collected and secured the items, moving them into the Fremont County evidence storage…On Jan. 3, the CBI sent two agents to meet me and they took over all the evidence. Because it’s an active investigation, until it is complete I will be unable to give any further information.”

Since the news broke, a detective had maintained a storage locker with evidence from an 10-year-old unsolved murder case inside, the Colorado State Bureau of Investigations has opened its own investigation of Dodd’s use of the storage locker and the reasons behind why he kept the evidence hidden away. Dodd has since been relieved of his duties (supposedly still receiving his salary) pending the outcome of the investigation.

Delores Hiltz maintains her belief that sheriff’s deputies may have killed her daughter. She said the fact that they did such a botched job of investigating the crime was proof enough for her that they knew more than what they were telling. Also, the fact that she and her relative had to gather up more of the crime scene evidence to take to police lets her know they were not doing their jobs.

Now, after all these years, it seems a mother’s cries for help will finally be heard. But it took the discovery that one of the detectives had been hoarding evidence of her daughter’s death in his possession to allow the case to come back to life.

Candace was a child prodigy. Her mother said she was doing Calculus by age 11, had enrolled in Brigham Young University and by age 17 was enrolled in her third year of college. She had wanted to become a lawyer with the dream of becoming a Supreme Court justice. She was looking to get into Stanford Law School and by her past achievements would most certainly have gotten accepted. But she was cut down in her prime when she became pregnant. Candace’s daughter Paige was less than a year old when Candace was murdered. It is unclear who the father of the baby was. Paige, who was born with hydrocephaly, only lived until the age of 7 before she, too, passed away.

Whether or not Dodd had anything to do with Hiltz’ murder is anyone’s guess but serious questions are being raised as to why he had the evidence in his possession in the first place. He now is the suspect of a CBI investigation, and the right thing to do would be to reopen Hiltz’ murder investigation at the state level. As a result of her death, her brother James has been locked away in a mental hospital since her death.
The simple discovery of towels with unknown DNA being located away from the property is reason enough to keep the investigation open and get to the bottom of the unsolved murder. One way to start the investigation is to determine if the DNA belongs to anyone on the FCSO police force, especially now that one of the lead investigators on the case chose to keep the murder evidence locked away like a trophy in his own storage unit. How disgusting! “These deputies (need to be) held accountable for what they did. The family’s been wronged and it’s been a long time for her death to be unsolved,” Ratzlaff said.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sheriffs-deputy-caught-unsolved-murder-evidence/

[Skeletor]

It should be investigated if the police or the prosecutors knew about this practice or if they encouraged it.

Tens of Thousands of Drug Convictions to be Overturned After State Caught Falsifying Lab Tests

After years of injustice, thousands of people wrongfully convicted on drug charges in Massachusetts will finally have their convictions overturned. The ruling centers on drug lab tests that were falsified by a state-employed chemist named Annie Dookhan.

“The state’s highest court on Wednesday ordered prosecutors to drop a large portion of the more than 24,000 drug convictions affected by the misconduct of former state drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan, issuing an urgent call to resolve a scandal that has plagued the legal system since 2012.”

Dookhan was imprisoned in 2013 after being charged with a suite of crimes relating to her years-long career of deceit, where she falsified tens of thousands of reports to jail innocent people. She would mark results as ‘positive’ for illegal substances without actually testing them, even adding cocaine to samples when no cocaine was present.

At sentencing, Judge Carol S. Ball stated, “Innocent persons were incarcerated, guilty persons have been released to further endanger the public, millions and millions of public dollars are being expended to deal with the chaos Ms. Dookhan created, and the integrity of the criminal justice system has been shaken to the core.”

After the shocking revelations, some of the ‘Dookhan-tainted’ convictions were overturned, but when 2017 came around, 24,391 of those convictions still remained. Most of these people were poor and charged simply with possession. Many remained in prison or on parole, and many more were denied jobs and housing due to their criminal records.

The Massachusetts high court ruled that each defendant had a right to a hearing, but the cost and logistics of doing so would be unfeasible. Prosecutors sent cryptic, confusing letters to the defendants to supposedly inform defendants of their rights, which prompted the ACLU to get involved.

Incredibly, state prosecutors were fighting to keep the convictions in place, despite justices saying these cases involved “egregious government misconduct.” Despite being victimized by a serial liar under an immoral war on drugs, each defendant had to appeal their case individually.

“It’s as though the state is almost addicted to prosecuting its way out of the problem of drug abuse,” said Mathew Segal, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “The addiction is so strong that the state won’t even walk away from convictions tainted by fraud. And they could walk away. Prosecutors could walk away from these cases right now.”

But prosecutors didn’t walk away, and the state’s high court finally put an end to most of the injustice.

“The court said district attorneys across the state must “exercise their prosecutorial discretion and reduce the number of relevant Dookhan defendants by moving to vacate and dismiss with prejudice all drug cases the district attorneys would not or could not reprosecute if a new trial were ordered.” The cases affected by the ruling include people who pleaded guilty, were convicted, or admitted that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. By vacating the cases, the convictions would effectively be erased…

The court said defendants whose cases aren’t dismissed should receive a notice that their cases had been affected by Dookhan’s misconduct. Then, any indigent defendants would receive public counsel to explore requests to vacate their pleas or get new trials.”

Almost all of the defendants convicted of simple possession have already served their jail sentence. Being locked in a cage for a non-crime is enough to scar a person for life, but at least they will not be hindered the rest of their life by a conviction.

This scandal demonstrates one way in which the war on drugs provides opportunity for the State to ruin lives for the victimless behavior of possessing a substance deemed illegal by arbitrary, baseless means. When control of the drug lab was transferred to the Massachusetts State Police, several red flags on Dookhan were ignored by superiors, and the lab silenced whistleblowers who reported Dookhan.

It all points to an insidious obsession by government to attack citizens – especially the less fortunate who have no means to fight the system – by treating drug use as criminal behavior instead of a health issue. It’s past time to end the war on drugs, which will prevent the kind of abuse carried out by Dookhan and her superiors.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/drug-convictions-overturned-false-tests/

[Skeletor]

This deranged pig should be sent straight to an isolation cell for at least 10 years.

Man Kidnapped, Strip-Searched, Jailed After Cops Mistook Sports Soak for Drugs

The quota and points driven drug bust culture that exists in many police departments around the country has seen its fair share of scandals as of late. But one man was able to cash in on the mistreatment he received at the hands of one hysteria-driven police force.

Bronx native Anthony Small was traveling as a passenger with his two brothers in a car going through Fort Lee, NJ on October 28th, 2013. The trio had just met with VH1 producers who were interested in featuring Small’s line of clothing.

Officer Richard Hernandez pulled the car over for a minor moving violation but noticed a bag of bath salts in the car. Believing the substance to be illegal bath salts and not the kind in which an athlete soaks, everyone in the car was arrested.

The arrests were made in spite of the fact the salts were properly labeled as a muscle relief product and in their original packaging. Small tried telling Hernandez the product was given to his girlfriend at an NFL promotion. The substance was a muscle relieving bath treatment called “Soak,” which is a brand endorsed by many professional sports teams. Hernandez didn’t believe the story and the three were hauled off to jail.
Hernandez didn’t believe the story and the three were hauled off to jail.

Small was charged with distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of narcotic paraphernalia. Unable to make bail immediately, he spent the next four days in jail. Hernandez sent off the salts for narcotics testing, only to find out the substance was legal bath salts and not narcotics.

According to NJ.com, a judge set Small’s bail at $25,000 with no option to pay 10 percent cash. Police strip-searched him and sent him to Bergen County Jail when he couldn’t make bail immediately. He spent the next several days in a cage because of incompetent cops waging an immoral war on arbitrary substances.

As a result of the substance being a legal one, all charges were dropped against Small, but only after months of undue suffering, on March 20, 2014.

Small sued in court, alleging the police officer, the department and the Fort Lee, NJ borough had violated his fourth amendment rights by performing an unreasonable search and seizure. The rights violating police incompetence resulted in the subsequent and significant loss of income from his VH1 deal. He did, indeed, make a deal with VH1, but had he not been in jail, his clothing line would have been promoted in at least 5 more episodes. The borough settled out of court by paying Small 75,000 for his unlawful arrest, strip searching, unlawful imprisonment, loss of income, and other unspecified damages.

Luckily, Small did, indeed, make a deal with VH1, but had he not been in jail, his clothing line would have been promoted in at least 5 more episodes. The borough settled out of court by paying Small $75,000 for his unlawful arrest, strip searching, unlawful imprisonment, loss of income, and other unspecified damages.

As The Free Thought Project has reported on several occasions, there is a need for the federal government to end the drug war, which is only still continuing because locking people up is big business for cities across the country who balance their police departments’ budgets by citation writing, jail fees, court costs, and plea deals.

The steady stream of inmates going into the corrections system feeds the prison industrial complex with fresh meat. But when individuals like Small are arrested, while not being guilty of any crimes, the costs to cities and boroughs from lawsuits and settlements is quite astounding.

Cases like this are nothing new, in fact, we report on them on a regular basis.

Earlier this month, Ross LeBeau, of Houston, was cleared of drug charges after he was arrested for possession of Methamphetamine. It turns out that LeBeau was actually in possession of kitty litter, not meth. However, this made no difference to the cops who kidnapped and caged him for it.

On May 8 of last year, Gale Griffin and her husband Wendall Harvey, who’ve been driving trucks together for the last seven years were wrongfully charged with possession of cocaine. They were targeted by incompetent cops who used criminally ineffective drug test kits on a white powdery substance found inside the couple’s truck. The kit identified the substance as cocaine. But it was not cocaine. It was baking soda Griffin used for stomach problems. However, they were caged for months while the reckless cops ignored their pleas of innocence.

Also this year, Alexander Bernstein of Brooklyn was jailed and had his life ruined after cops mistook soap for cocaine.

Wenonah resident John Cokos recently settled a lawsuit against the Gloucester County police department for $35,000. The lawsuit comes after an arrest for drug possession because the officer claimed that his crackers were crack rocks.

In October, college student John Harrington was thrown in prison after police, with one of these field drug test kits, tested sugar, and came up with a false positive for cocaine.

“Really, I’m really in jail right now for powdered sugar, ” John Harrington thought after it happened.

We’ve also seen the case in which police mistook Jolly Ranchers for meth and jailed an innocent man. Love Olatunijojo, 25, and an unidentified friend purchased Jolly Ranchers at the It’Sugar candy emporium in Coney Island in June of 2013. Several blocks away, cops stopped and searched the friends and mistook the candies for crystal meth. Olatunijojo was then thrown in jail.

In August, we reported on the story of a man who was held in prison for over four months because police falsely identified salt as crystal meth.
And the list goes on….

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/man-kidnapped-strip-searched-caged-cops-mistake-epsom-salt-original-package-drugs/

[Skeletor]

‘They Killed the Wrong Guy’ – Cops Respond to Home Invasion, Kill Homeowner

Pittsburgh, PA — A family is now grieving after a home invasion left their beloved Christopher Mark Thompkins dead. The burglar, however, was not the one to kill Thompkins — the police who responded to the 9-1-1 call did.

“They shot the wrong guy,” said Brenda Thompkins, 51, of Penn Hills.

Early Sunday morning, Brenda and Christopher Thompkins were asleep in bed when they awoke to the sound of an intruder. Brenda, who is a licensed gun owner, handed over her pistol to Thompkins who pursued the would-be attacker through the house.

The couple was upstairs and all Christopher could think about, according to Brenda, was to get downstairs to save his mother.
“He was just saying, ‘My mom, my mom,’” Brenda Thompkins said. “That’s all he was worrying about.”

When Christopher got downstairs, he encountered Juan Brian Jetter-Clark, 23, who had broken into their home. Fearing for he and his mother’s safety, Thompkins opened fire on Jetter-Clark. He missed.
Just as Thompkins was opening fire, however, two patrol officers showed up responding to the family’s burglar alarm. Thinking Thompkins was shooting at them, police opened fire on Thompkins, killing him.
Meanwhile, Brenda was on the phone with 9-1-1, and hiding onto a roof behind the home.

After hearing the gunshots, Brenda said police came up and got her off the roof.

“I heard ‘boom, boom, boom,’ I didn’t know it was the cops,” she said. “I turned around and ran away, and I jumped out the window on the roof. When the police came in, I was gonna jump [from the roof], but the police told me, ‘Don’t jump.’ I was screaming, ‘I’m a victim. Don’t shoot me. I’m on the phone with 911.’ ”

When she came downstairs, she saw Christopher dead under a blanket and Jetter-Clark in handcuffs on the sofa. Police had killed the wrong person.

Police claimed they thought Thompkins was shooting at them. However, Brenda refutes that story, noting that she saw where Thompkins was shooting.

“I could see Mark shoot down the stairs at the guy. The cops came, and they shot through the door. Mark was shooting at the robber, not the cops,” she said.
“He didn’t want to hurt no cops. He was trying to save his mother,” Brenda said.

Jetter-Clark was arrested and charged with criminal trespass.

As per police protocol, both of the officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave. They will also be given 48 hours before they are asked any questions by investigators — also part of protocol.
“There is an ongoing investigation with oversight of the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office,” Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said. “Additional information will be released by the Bureau at the appropriate time.”

Adding suspicion to the events that unfolded that night, police removed Thompkins’ screen door as supposed evidence.
According to TribLive, Police removed for evidence a front screen door that had six to eight holes in it. It was unclear whether the holes were the result of the shooting. There were no holes in the front door, which remained attached to the house after police removed the screen door.

Instead of simply photographing the door and moving on, the entire door was removed and taken by police. What was so important on the door that it had to be taken? Did it show all the bullets fired were from the police weapons or the same caliber as the police weapons?

Sadly, police officers, in the heat of the moment, often shoot the wrong person.

Indianapolis Metropolitan police responded to a 9-1-1 call about an armed robbery early last August. When IMPD officers showed up, however, they shot the first person they saw — the innocent homeowner.
In only a matter of minutes, a woman went from being in shock after being robbed at gunpoint, to praying that her husband survives the holes put in him by police bullets.
Dispatched to the wrong house on a burglary call less than a year ago, a DeKalb County officer shot a homeowner and a fellow officer. A dog was also killed in the needless shooting.

Responding to a 911 call in June, Henry County, GA police arrived at the wrong house and shot the innocent homeowner in the neck.
In a travesty of justice, a Henry County grand jury decided that the cop who went to the wrong house responding to a 911 call and killed the homeowner, an innocent father of three, will not be charged.
Unfortunately, Christopher Thompkins is now on that list.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/family-fends-off-home-invasion-cops-show-kill-homeowner/

[Skeletor]

Funny how the cop/cock lovers say that cops don't wake up and decide to commit crimes, especially this career criminal.

Florida Deputy Befriends Elderly Woman, Prays with Her, then Tries to Kill Her

The Florida deputy met the elderly lady back in October when she called the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office for help.

Sarasota sheriff’s deputy Frankie Eugene Bybee, 46, transported her to the hospital and prayed with the 79-year-old woman, gaining her trust and confidence.

He also agreed to care for her Yorkshire in exchange for $1,000, even texting her a photo of himself with the dog to show that it was safe.

But then it appears he sold the dog on Craig’s List.

He then spent the next few weeks visiting her at her home while on on-duty and off-duty, introducing her to his three children.

But within two months, the woman called the sheriff’s office to report that he had become too controlling.

Sarasota sheriff’s investigators then learned that he likely wrote checks from the woman’s account to himself and children for $65,000 after the woman denied ever writing them and his fingerprints were found on at least one check.

The 18-year veteran with a history of disciplinary action against him was then placed on administrative leave.

Three days later on January 12, the deputy donned dark clothes and latex gloves and entered her home through an unlocked door, grabbing her face and forcing a pill down her throat.

He then turned her car on, leaving the door open from the garage to the kitchen in an attempt to fill the home with carbon monoxide to kill her, according to the arrest affidavit.

According to the  Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

An examination found lacerations, abrasions and bruises to her face and body. The Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant that obtained cell phone data, photographs, security video and latex gloves.

Knight said the investigation concluded Bybee attempted to kill the woman and stage a suicide. Bybee was arrested at 7 a.m. Monday and paperwork initiated to terminate his employment.

Knight called Bybee’s alleged actions a disgrace to the agency and policing.

“It is beyond unacceptable that an individual who works in a position of trust and guardianship to their community, is capable of such heinous crimes. His actions are a disgrace not only to our agency but to law enforcement professionals everywhere. Now that he is off our streets and behind bars, we will let the criminal justice system will take its course,” Knight said.

Bybee was charged with attempted murder; battery of a victim 65 and older; burglary of an occupied dwelling; exploitation of the elderly; two counts of grand theft; forgery and petit theft.

He is being held on a bond of more than $1 million, and had an annual salary of $66,406 with an additional $1,560 in incentives.

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/01/24/florida-deputy-befriends-elderly-woman-prays-with-her-then-tries-to-kill-her/

[Skeletor]

Remember this case? This same scumbag didn't learn and continued with this disgusting antics.

Cop Who Gave Homeless Man a Shit Sandwich, Fired AGAIN for 2nd Poop Prank

San Antonio, TX — In November, the Free Thought Project brought you the disgusting story of a San Antonio cop defecating on a piece of bread and giving it to a homeless man as food. For making a literal sh*t sandwich, San Antonio police officer Matthew Lockhurst was fired. However, the Free Thought Project has just learned that Lockhurst was involved in yet another feces related ‘prank’ — after the sh*t sandwich.

“It was a disgusting, vile act — that, there is no excuse; there is no explaining it; there is no justification,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told KOMO News after the termination of an officer for, quite literally, giving a homeless man a sh*t sandwich.

“It’s a disgrace to the department, it’s a disgrace to the badge,” McManus continued.

In May, Officer Matthew Luckhurst inexplicably thought it would be humorous to place feces in between two slices of bread and offer it to a likely-starving homeless person in a styrofoam takeout box, and then boast of this ‘prank’ to his partner.

His partner, however, didn’t share the sentiment — and the pair of cops returned to the scene, where Luckhurst ostensibly disposed of the sickening, cruel offering.

Only a month after being caught in this sick and twisted ‘prank’ on an innocent homeless man — before he was fired — Lockhurst pulled another sh*t prank.  This time, his shitty shenanigans would be on his fellow cops.

Luckhurst and a second officer, Steve Albart, carried out the incident together in June after a female officer asked that the women’s restroom at a bike-patrol office remain clean, KSAT-TV reports.

To get back at the officer for asking that the women’s bathroom remain clean, Albart and Lockhurst then defecated in the toilet and then Lockhurst smeared a feces-like substance all over the seat.
For not flushing the toilet, Albart was suspended for 30 days, which he’s already served.

You cannot make this up.

Apparently, Lockhurst’s infatuation with shitty ‘pranks’ was so strong that he was unable to control himself — even after it threatened his job when he was caught the first time.

Naturally, Lockhurst’s attorney, Ben Sifuentes, said Luckhurst had only been joking about the poop sandwich and is fighting the suspensions claiming that the allegations are unfounded. This is, quite laughably, in spite of the fact that Lockhurst himself admitted to the prank in November.

“This has taught me to stop acting childish and making stupid baseless jokes,” Luckhurst wrote in a statement to investigators. “I need to stop the pranks and juvenile jokes to get arise (sic) or reaction from fellow officers and friends.”

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-fired-sht-sandwich-fired-poop-prank

[Skeletor]

Another "isolated incident". Why are they not prosecuted like a criminal organization? The RICO act is used even for minor cases, why not here?
Where are the cop apologists who say the saintly cops don't wake up every day and go about committing crimes?

Isolated Incident? Half of ENTIRE Police Dept Fired, Quit Amid Corruption Probe

Willow Springs, IL — It’s become apparent that there is a systemic problem in policing, yet many Americans continue to be willfully ignorant of the dark reality transpiring outside of their front doors. Often people will claim “it’s just a few bad apples,” but the truth is that problem is much more deeply ingrained. The following example is evidence of the previous claim.

In Willow Springs, Illinois, a three-year long internal investigation is coming to fruition and the rats are scurrying for the exits. After hundreds of pages of depositions and many hours of investigations, half of the Willow Springs department has now been fired or forced to quit.

Isolated? No.

“The residents needed to know,” Mayor Alan Nowacyzyk told NBC 5 of the massive corruption from within.

According to a recent press release, the investigation is still ongoing, so there could be even more cops ousted from the department in the coming months.

As NBC 5 reports, Nowacyzyk said it all began with a former officer, Michael Giorgetti, in 2013. Giorgetti got in an accident driving his squad car while doing private business in Wisconsin, Nowacyzyk said. The village said Giorgetti was working for a former village contractor and had traveled with another village official to retrieve equipment they planned to store in a village-owned public works garage.
“That police officer attempted to cover up certain facts, lied through an investigation, was terminated, turned around (and) sued the village for wrongful termination,” he said.

All too often, police officers, even if they are entirely in the wrong, will use the power of police unions to turn around and sue their departments for their jobs back and back pay. We’ve covered cases of this on the Free Thought Project that involved cops caught on video beating handcuffed victims getting fired — only to turn around and get their jobs and lost pay back.

During the investigation into Giorgetti, it was discovered that another officer falsified police documents, so he was fired too. A third officer then retired immediately after the investigation began — another tactic corrupt police officers use to avoid prosecution for their crimes while on the force.

The resultant investigation has turned into a calamity as Giorgetti is now claiming this retaliation for a whistleblower case he had against Nowacyzyk.
“It’s troubling,” Nowacyzyk said.

What Giorgetti is saying is entirely plausible and, indeed, likely, as cops who try to expose corruption from within are all too often fired, threatened, or worse. However, these individual cops are usually ousted by the department as a whole and rarely blow the whistle in groups.

When looking into Giorgetti’s past, the story gets even more ominous.

During an independent investigation last year, Giorgetti, who’s spent a decade working undercover for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, on loan from Willow Springs, was involved in a massive drug war asset scandal.

According to a statement from the Justice Department, Giorgetti was ‘trusted too much.’

Willow Springs trusted the decisions made by now-former police personnel. Unfortunately, they were trusted too much.
Mr. Georgetti, who a judge determined repeatedly lied under oath amid an investigation into his misuse of taxpayer resources, personally oversaw this fund and often used his home address to secure bids for purchases. An investigation determined Mr. Georgetti and other officers used village resources for personal gain and falsified reports, leading to their resignations, terminations and retirements.
Some of the assets Giorgetti helped confiscate from people accused of possessing certain substances deemed illegal by the state were used to buy extravagant items for the department.

A 2013 Firehawk 26-foot boat with a water cannon and a Ford F-250 towing it are just two of the purchases made with drug money seized by former Willow Springs Police Sgt. Mike Giorgetti, reported NBC 5 back in November.

When a DOJ audit exposed corruption in the use of funds, the case was blown wide open.

According to NBC 5, the mayor said although nearly half the force was affected, they’ve been hiring full and part-time staff that more than compensate for the officers no longer on the street—and residents need not worry about safety.

Given the fact that Willow Springs is only 17 miles from downtown Chicago, it is entirely likely that everyone is corrupt considering the recent light being shed on Chicago’s finest.

After the DOJ investigation came to a close last year, the corruption was so rampant that the federal government removed the department’s ability to seize people’s belongings.

Because of the egregious nature of the audit’s findings and the agency’s inability to remedy those findings as part of our compliance review, the Justice Department has found the agency to be ineligible to participate in the Equitable Sharing Program. They are required to return any equitable sharing funds on hand.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/isolated-incident-half-entire-police-dept-fired-resign-amid-corruption-charges/

[Super Natural]

Scott Adams

"As a trained persuader, I’m seeing a dangerous situation forming that I assume is invisible to most of you. The setup is that during the presidential campaign Trump’s critics accused him of being Hitler(ish) and they were sure other citizens would see it too, thus preventing this alleged monster from taking office. They were wrong. The alleged monster took office. Now you have literally millions of citizens in the United States who were either right about Trump being the next Hitler, and we will see that behavior emerge from him soon, or they are complete morons. That’s a trigger for cognitive dissonance. The science says these frightened folks will start interpreting all they see as Hitler behavior no matter how ridiculous it might seem to the objective observer. And sure enough, we are seeing that. To be fair, Trump made it easy this week with his temporary immigration ban. If you assume Trump is Hitler, that fits with your hypothesis. But of course it also fits the hypothesis that he’s just doing his job. We’re all seeing what we expect to see.
 But lately I get the feeling that Trump’s critics have evolved from expecting Trump to be Hitler to preferring it. Obviously they don’t prefer it in a conscious way. But the alternative to Trump becoming Hitler is that they have to live out the rest of their lives as confirmed morons. No one wants to be a confirmed moron. And certainly not after announcing their Trump opinions in public and demonstrating in the streets. It would be a total embarrassment for the anti-Trumpers to learn that Trump is just trying to do a good job for America. It’s a threat to their egos. A big one. And this gets me to my point. When millions of Americans want the same thing, and they want it badly, the odds of it happening go way up. You can call it the power of positive thinking. It is also the principle behind affirmations. When humans focus on a desired future, events start to conspire to make it happen. I’m not talking about any new-age magic. I’m talking about ordinary people doing ordinary things to turn Trump into an actual Hitler. For example, if protesters start getting violent, you could expect forceful reactions eventually. And that makes Trump look more like Hitler. I can think of dozens of ways the protesters could cause the thing they are trying to prevent. In other words, they can wish it into reality even though it is the very thing they are protesting. In the 3rd dimension of persuasion, the protesters need to be proven right, and they will do whatever it takes to make that happen. So you might see the protesters inadvertently create the police state they fear. If you are looking for the tells that this dangerous situation is developing, notice how excited/happy the Trump critics seem to be – while angry at the same time – that Trump’s immigration ban fits their belief system. If you see people who are simply afraid of Trump, they are probably harmless. But the people who are excited about any Hitler-analogy-behavior by Trump might be leading the country to a police state without knowing it. So watch for that." -

[mazrim]

Scott Adams

"As a trained persuader, I’m seeing a dangerous situation forming that I assume is invisible to most of you. The setup is that during the presidential campaign Trump’s critics accused him of being Hitler(ish) and they were sure other citizens would see it too, thus preventing this alleged monster from taking office. They were wrong. The alleged monster took office. Now you have literally millions of citizens in the United States who were either right about Trump being the next Hitler, and we will see that behavior emerge from him soon, or they are complete morons. That’s a trigger for cognitive dissonance. The science says these frightened folks will start interpreting all they see as Hitler behavior no matter how ridiculous it might seem to the objective observer. And sure enough, we are seeing that. To be fair, Trump made it easy this week with his temporary immigration ban. If you assume Trump is Hitler, that fits with your hypothesis. But of course it also fits the hypothesis that he’s just doing his job. We’re all seeing what we expect to see.
 But lately I get the feeling that Trump’s critics have evolved from expecting Trump to be Hitler to preferring it. Obviously they don’t prefer it in a conscious way. But the alternative to Trump becoming Hitler is that they have to live out the rest of their lives as confirmed morons. No one wants to be a confirmed moron. And certainly not after announcing their Trump opinions in public and demonstrating in the streets. It would be a total embarrassment for the anti-Trumpers to learn that Trump is just trying to do a good job for America. It’s a threat to their egos. A big one. And this gets me to my point. When millions of Americans want the same thing, and they want it badly, the odds of it happening go way up. You can call it the power of positive thinking. It is also the principle behind affirmations. When humans focus on a desired future, events start to conspire to make it happen. I’m not talking about any new-age magic. I’m talking about ordinary people doing ordinary things to turn Trump into an actual Hitler. For example, if protesters start getting violent, you could expect forceful reactions eventually. And that makes Trump look more like Hitler. I can think of dozens of ways the protesters could cause the thing they are trying to prevent. In other words, they can wish it into reality even though it is the very thing they are protesting. In the 3rd dimension of persuasion, the protesters need to be proven right, and they will do whatever it takes to make that happen. So you might see the protesters inadvertently create the police state they fear. If you are looking for the tells that this dangerous situation is developing, notice how excited/happy the Trump critics seem to be – while angry at the same time – that Trump’s immigration ban fits their belief system. If you see people who are simply afraid of Trump, they are probably harmless. But the people who are excited about any Hitler-analogy-behavior by Trump might be leading the country to a police state without knowing it. So watch for that." -

Well written/said.

[Skeletor]

Another "officer" protecting the public. Of course he resigned before termination and moved on to a different gang.

Cop Arrested for Pulling Woman Over, Kidnapping, then Raping Her

Fort Pierce, FL — For the majority of people who see those red and blue lights turn on behind them as they drive down the highway, your adrenaline spikes, your heart races, and the last thing going through your mind is, “I am being protected right now.” While most of these stops end with a promissory note of extortion for a victimless crime, sometimes, especially for women, things can get quite dangerous.

As the Free Thought Project has reported countless times, all too often, police officers will abuse their authority to force unwilling victims into performing sexual favors in exchange for leniency. Also, many times, there is no quid pro quo and police officers will simply rape people they pull over — case in point, Daniel Holtzclaw.

A young Florida woman has learned the hard way about police rape last week when she was stopped by St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Deputy, Evan Cramer, 28.

According to Sheriff Ken Mascara, Cramer pulled over his latest victim last Tuesday night for a minor traffic violation. However, instead of simply writing a ticket and moving on, Cramer proceeded to use his authority to rape this woman.

Cramer is accused of telling the victim she had multiple warrants out for her arrest and said she could avoid jail time if she granted sexual favors, Mascara said.

According to police, Cramer then kidnapped his victim, threw her in the back of his cruiser, drove her to a vacant car lot, and raped her.

Immediately after it happened, his frightened victim then went to the local hospital to report she’d been raped.

“She was terrified,” said Sheriff Ken Mascara. “You could hear it in her voice. You could see it. It was palpable.”

Cramer was arrested the next morning after a brief investigation. He was charged with sexual assault/battery and unlawful compensation, the sheriff’s department said. He is currently being held on a $850,000 bond.
Mascara told the media last week that it is, indeed, likely, that Cramer had done this before and urged any potential victims to come forward.

“He made comments to this victim that support that he’s done this in the past,” the sheriff said. “He actually compared her to other victims. It’s apparent there are some other victims out there, based on his own statements.”

“During a time in our nation when respect for law enforcement is at an all-time high, incidents such as this quickly erode that trust and respect,” Mascara said. “I want to apologize to our community and other members of the law enforcement family for the dishonorable actions of this one person.”

While this apology sounds okay, perhaps Mascara should apologize for hiring this officer with such a troubled past in the first place. After the arrest, WPBF looked into Cramer’s past — what they found was trouble.
As WPFB reports:

We’ve obtained Cramer’s personnel file for when he worked for the Sandford Police Department. He started there in March of 2015 and in January of 2016, three of his superiors recommended to the chief that Cramer be fired.
 
A Lieutenant in the department cited multiple reasons for the recommendation, including “using inappropriate language in public” and “using his authority to gain compliance.”
 
Cramer resigned from the department in January before he was fired.

Less than four months later, he was hired at the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-raped-woman-traffic-stop/

[Skeletor]

Mom Assaulted & Arrested for Stopping Cop From Killing Her Dog on Video Files Lawsuit

Parkersburg, WV — In 2015, the Free Thought Project broke the story and the video of a courageous mother, Tiffanie Hupp who stepped in front of an officer who was about to shoot her dog.
For stopping the trooper from killing her dog and getting slammed to the ground in front of her 4-year-old son, Tiffanie was charged with misdemeanor obstruction.

Of course, Hupp pleaded not guilty, as the video clearly showed that she was the victim. However, the city railroaded Tiffanie by forcing her to use their public appointed defender, with obvious conflicts of interest.
She was given a public defender who was married to a state trooper. She was told she had no legal grounds for a lawsuit because she lacked serious bodily harm and she was well on her way to being declared guilty for a crime she clearly did not commit.

However, thanks to a selfless attorney who saw Hupp’s story, Tiffanie was able to fight back. Charleston Attorney, David Schles took her case pro bono.

“I was shown the video of the incident last August and I found it unjustifiable for Tiffanie to be charged with any crime for her reasonable, non-forcible,  actions to defend Buddy the dog. When I was told the lawyer appointed to represent Tiffanie was married to a state trooper and did not inform Tiffanie of this  relationship, I decided I would represent Tiffanie pro bono if she wanted my services,” Schles told The Free Thought Project.

And, in 2016, Hupp was found not guilty.

Now, after that good news in 2016, Hupp has taken the fight back to the city in 2017. A national group advocating for the humane treatment of animals has filed a lawsuit on behalf Hupp.

In a release last week, the Animal Legal Defense Fund announced the suit.

As the News and Sentinel reports:
According to the release, Hupp is one of three plaintiffs and the other defendants in the case are the West Virginia State Police and Col. C.R. “Jay” Smithers, who was State Police superintendent at the time.
 
The complaint alleges excessive force, unlawful arrest and unlawful search and seizure, as well as malicious prosecution, negligent training of a police officer and the intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery and slander.

The incident began after a neighborhood argument escalated to the point of a man calling the police to prevent further turmoil. The homeowner, Cliff, called the police after his neighbor allegedly threatened him. However, when the police showed up, they were more interested in Cliff’s dog than preventing any disturbance.

Randall Hupp, Tiffanie’s father, who gave us the video, explains that after the cops had arrived, the situation was calm, but then they quickly got out of control.

Things were going fine and my son decided to film for posterity sake in case anything should happen. There were two dogs present in the area at the time of the video, a black dog which was the neighbors dog that was running loose…and Cliffs dog, which was chained up.

Cliff’s dog, which was on a chain, merely barked as the officer walked up to the home. His tail was still wagging, and he seemed to calm down immediately. However, the fact that this dog was on a chain, not growling, nor posing any threat whatsoever, was of no consequence to the state trooper who quickly pulled out his service pistol, took aim, and almost killed the dog.

Before the state trooper could shoot the dog, however, Tiffanie courageously stepped in between the dog and the officer to prevent the puppycide.
The state trooper, seemingly offended by Hupp’s attempt to thwart his dog killing, then proceeded to attack her. Hupp explained to the Free Thought Project, last year, what happened next,
The trooper approached with gun in hand, grabbed her by the arm and slammed her to the ground. After the troopers realized that they had been filmed, they entered the home illegally without warrant or probable cause and confiscated all digital devices including my 4-year-old grandson’s tablet. We only recently received the devices back and released the video.

During the trial, Hupp told the Free Thought Project that she had a hard time not bursting out in court when Trooper Cook, who assaulted her, took the stand.

“When the trooper was on the stand, it was hard to keep my mouth shut…lie after lie after lie. He told them I had a crossbow in my hand, that I stepped up to him, not in between (him and the dog), that I raised my hands at him first,” explained Tiffanie.

But the video proved these were all lies, illustrating the importance of filming police encounters. Had Tiffanie’s husband decided not to pull out his camera that fateful day, an innocent woman would have been found guilty of a crime she did not commit.

Now, it is time for the police, who tried to railroad Hupp, to be held accountable.

Hupp and the other plaintiffs are seeking restitution, including funds so her son can be treated by a mental health professional, which they have not been able to afford, the release says. The child suffers from anxiety and emotional distress when in the presence of police officers, the release says, as reported by the News and Sentinel.

“It shocks the conscience that police would arrest and prosecutors would seek to incarcerate a woman who did nothing other than protect a dog from being illegally shot,” one of Hupp’s lawyers, John Campbell, says in the release.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/mom-sues-arrested-stopping-cop-killing-dog/

[Skeletor]

These violent criminals are ruthless and dangerous, they don't even respect the EMTs.

Video Shows Cop Choking EMT for Advising Against Him Tasering Injured Man

Portsmouth, OH — An intense video uploaded to Facebook this week is beginning to go viral as it shows a Portsmouth police officer choking an EMT.

The video, which was taken Saturday night outside of a Portsmouth bar, shows what happens when a police officer has his authority questioned. Predictably, the police department is claiming that the video doesn’t show everything that happened. However, multiple eye-witnesses have come forward and have told their versions — they are all the same.

The video, like most videos, actually does not show 100 percent of what happened. However, according to those who watched the situation unfold, in person, there is no question as to what happened.
According to police and witnesses, a fight had broken out in front of a bar in downtown Portsmouth last Saturday night. Police and EMS responded and the EMT began treating a man who’d been bleeding and knocked unconscious.

While the EMT was prepping the man for a trip in the ambulance, the man regained consciousness and was naturally startled.
“He just woke up from being knocked out, and he’s got guys all around him grabbing a hold of him,” Trevor Conley, one of many witnesses said. “You’re going to freak out.”

Instead of calming the man down, as the EMT was trying to do, police rushed over and began tasering the man. At this point, acting out of concern for the man’s life, the EMT questioned the officer’s choice to taser a man who was bleeding and unconscious and tried to prevent it. However, he was swiftly met with police violence of his own.

“The EMT said, ‘You can’t be tasing this guy, he’s bleeding, got head problems,’ ” Josh Journey, another witness said. “Then after that, he grabbed the EMT, took him across the street, and I saw him have his hand on his throat all the way across the road and had him up against that cruiser.”

“When the EMT was telling him ‘you can’t do that, you can’t do that, he’s got head trauma,’ he grabbed him up here,” Chad Bennett said, who also witnessed the incident first hand, as he gestured around his neck.

At this point, Journey says that’s when he started recording. Journey’s video is clear and shows the officer holding the EMT by his throat against the police cruiser — allegedly for the act of questioning his authority.
But this cop’s anger wasn’t over yet. After he attacked the EMT, he turned his attention to the people who just documented the attack.

“He saw us with our phones out,” Journey said. “That’s when he came across the street at us and was pretty hostile.”

In an apparent fit of rage, the officer verbally berates the witnesses and attempted to confiscate their phones. However, he was unsuccessful.
“I think they realized that they’d messed up,” Journey said.

“He could’ve handled it a little better,” Conley said. “I know the situation was crazy.”

According to the Portsmouth police chief, the case is under administrative review which is expected to be completed by Wednesday.

Oddly enough, this is not the first time we’ve reported on a cop choking an EMT.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Daniel Martin decided that it would be a good idea to pull over an ambulance for failing to yield to his squad car — never mind the fact that the ambulance had a sick woman in the back, bringing her to the hospital.

Martin became belligerent at the scene when the ambulance drivers wanted to continue on to the hospital and ended up assaulting and arresting driver Maurice White.
Charges were eventually dropped against White, and Martin went on an all expense paid, taxpayer funded vacation.
He was never fired.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-shokes-emt-taser-man

[Skeletor]

This sounds horrific.

Epileptic Woman Writes ‘God Help Me’ in Her Own Blood As She’s Gang Raped by Officers — Lawsuit

Cincinnati, OH — An Ohio woman has filed a federal lawsuit after she says she was brutally raped at the Warren County, Ohio jail, and claims the jail withheld her seizure medicines as well. The woman, who’ll remain unidentified, accuses at least three men of brutally raping her, forced her to go without clothes, and made her drink from her own cell toilet.

Her attorney Jennifer Branch filed a federal lawsuit, in Cincinnati’s federal court, against several unidentified alleged assailants and nursing staff. Because no charges have yet to be filed, their identities are also confidential.

The woman turned herself in on a 4-year-old warrant for deception to obtain drugs on May 3, 2013. Once in jail, she was denied her epilepsy medication, according to the suit, which left her in a vulnerable state. On May 14, after a horrifying 11-day torture session, the woman was “found naked in her cell, crying and mumbling,” and was sent to a psychiatric hospital, Summit Behavioral Center, the suit says. She was diagnosed with “psychosis induced by the trauma of the sexual assault” at the jail, the suit claims.

“In her cell she’s put on her stomach. Three different officers in uniform are present,” Branch told WCPO on Monday. “She can see parts of them and can hear their voices and she knows what they did to her.”
“They kept her naked in her cell. She was on the floor on top of a garbage bag,” Branch said of the treatment she received. Afterward, the jail sent the woman to the hospital for treatment of her epilepsy. While there, her attorney said semen was found in her urine, “The only way she would have had that (semen presence) was if it happened at the jail.”

Chief Deputy Barry Riley issued a statement which read in part, “None of the citizens of Warren County should take our silence about the lawsuit filed by one of our former inmates as an indication that there is any truth to her allegations.”

Strange as it may seem, Deputy Riley’s statement implied the accuser is making up the incident. But police departments have a moral obligation to investigate such claims. After all, being in jail is scary enough, why should the general population fear sexual assault while being helplessly caged like animals for drugs?

As WCPO reported, saying she was “tortured,” the 38-year-old woman claims the jailers shattered bones in her shoulder during the rapes, used a stun gun on her more than once, took away her clothing, left her covered in her own blood and feces, shut off water to her cell and forced her to drink from a toilet.

“She was so desperate for help she attempted to write on the cell wall, in her own blood, ‘God, please help me,’” according to the federal lawsuit.

If the semen has been preserved, it won’t take long for investigators, should they choose to investigate one of their own, to arrive at a conclusion about to whom the semen belongs. But from the way the statement reads, there may be little to no investigating of the woman’s incomprehensible and shocking claims.

The lawsuit also alleges the jail disposed of the woman’s plastic mattress that would have contained DNA and other forensic evidence.

Claims involving alleged rapes should be taken very seriously by law enforcement. If an inmate comes forward with such claims, they must be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. For the meanwhile, the criminal complaint will be presented to the suspected guards involved in the alleged incident. They’ll have 30 days to respond.

As The Free Thought Project has faithfully reported, when a citizen is captured, kidnapped, and caged for drugs there are no longer any family and friends to protect them. They’re at the mercy of those who are being paid to maintain law and order in the jail. But as we’ve reported, several people have endured a lot of trauma at the hands of police officials.

One man was forcefully penetrated by an officer who was doing a cavity search for drugs. And another inmate was brutally killed by corrections officers. The truth is the badge abuse knows no bounds. Often times, as TFTP has reported, the victims are mentally ill patients and are often deprived of their medicines while in police custody — just like this case illustrates.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/epileptic-woman-gang-raped-jailers/

[Skeletor]

Another "honorable hero" gang member caught stealing by his own bodycam. In typical gang member tradition, he resigned before being fired so he can join another department gang later. Funny how when a cop is accused of a crime the investigation takes a long time (if the cop is not cleared by his buddies that is) but when it comes to mere citizens they are summarily investigated and arrested. How many other criminals like him have taken advantage of people and stole their money or abused them?

Sheriff: Video shows 'thieving idiot' Volusia deputy stealing cash

A body camera video released Monday shows a deputy taking two $100 bills from a man's wallet and tossing the money in the patrol car's trunk before arresting him and charging him with DUI.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20170130/sheriff-video-shows-thieving-idiot-volusia-deputy-stealing-cash

[illuminati]

You do a great job posting this information up.
It just gets harder & harder to keep reading.

Your use of the term "Gang Members"  is so apt.

They resign before being sacked & join another Gang & just carry on as before.

It's sickening.

[Skeletor]

The "highly trained" police dogs.. Why are there no charges and why is this dangerous beast - or maybe both beasts, the dog and its owner- put down? Is not the death of a man and the serious injury of an elderly woman enough?

Cop’s Former Police Dog Let Loose, Mauls Woman & Kills a Man — No Charges

Grover Beach, CA — No charges have yet been levied against a Grover Beach Police officer whose former law enforcement K-9s ran loose from his yard, mauled an 85-year-old woman, and killed a 64-year-old man.
On December 13, Betty Long took her small dog on a walk, when witnesses say a Belgian Malinois and a German shepherd — running loose in the neighborhood — viciously attacked.

Neighbor David Fear rushed to assist the elderly woman, and was, himself, besieged by the violent dogs.

Long and Fear were transported to the hospital with critical injuries, but Fear had lost so much blood, he later died after organ failure.

Long, reports The Tribune, “sustained a broken pelvis and shoulder and will require four to six weeks of treatment, according to her family.”

A man was killed and an elderly woman mauled because someone didn’t bother with responsibility for their animals — but this someone happens to be a Grover Beach Police officer. So, instead of facing charges of negligent homicide, leash violations — or anything at all — the officer has been given the customary paid vacation, administrative leave, all cops suspected of wrongdoing receive.

Fear has been hailed as a hero for selflessly protecting his neighbor — and paying the ultimate price — but blind worship for a uniform and the myth of selfless service in law enforcement grants the officer ultimately responsible for the killing, an expected shield of impunity, with pay.

Worse, reports the Tribune, the Belgian Malinois “had bitten a trainer on the hand during a bite suit exercise six months before his officer owner moved to Grover Beach and took the dog with him as a personal pet, records show.

“The dog — a 2 1/2 -year-old Belgian Malinois named Neo — was not taken out of service at the Exeter Police Department after the training incident. When the dog’s handler, Officer Alex Geiger, resigned and bought the the fully certified police K-9 from the city of Exeter for $5,287 in late August, Geiger signed a waiver relieving Exeter of any future liability, records provided to The Tribune show.”

Geiger worked for the Exeter Police Department as a provisional and then K-9 officer before his employment with Grover Beach. While at Exeter, Geiger handled, trained, and patrolled with Neo.

Exeter police Chief Cliff Bush and Exeter Deputy City Attorney Matt Pearce refused to elaborate to the Tribune on the extent of injury in the training incident, and whether the dog or the trainer had been at fault — so the outlet filed a public records request, and received nearly 90 pages from the City of Exeter.

Weekly bite training sessions with Neo and other K-9s were being conducted when the Belgian Malinois was commanded to ‘engage’ with an officer named ‘Hayes,’ who was wearing a protective bite suit.
“Neo engaged like he was supposed to, however he accidentally grabbed ahold of the part of the suit near the right hand and partially Hayes’ right hand,” Geiger wrote in a report of the incident, cited by the Tribune.

According to the records, the bite Hayes endured was relatively minor — around a half-inch that drew blood.

Police K-9 trainers insist the dog behaved as would be expected, and if a “hand is dangling out of the suit, they will get them,” retired Modesto Police Lt. Ron Cloward, who trains law enforcement dogs, told the Tribune. “I wouldn’t take a dog out of service because it bit a decoy in the hand.”

After moving to Grover Beach for the new job, Geiger attempted to start a K-9 program for the department, but a $30,000 proposal to Police Chief John Peters was refused.

Following the attack on Betty Long and David Fear, Neo was euthanized and the German shepherd quarantined — the latter was found not responsible in the attack by investigators.

By all appearances, it seems Geiger will not be held responsible in any manner for the mauling of an 85-year-old woman and the death of her neighbor. Grover Beach police initially refused even to identify the officer responsible and have guarded as much information in the case as they’re able — but the families of the two victims deserve some semblance of justice for Geiger’s utter irresponsibility.

Arteries in Fear’s arms were torn to shreds, and he suffered severe loss of blood which ultimately caused organs to shut down.

Daughter, Sarah Fear, still in shock soon after the attack, lamented her father would not be able to walk her down the aisle as planned in her upcoming wedding.
“It was just a completely disgusting, irresponsible act.”

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-former-k9-escapes-kills-man/

[Skeletor]

Unbelievable. Not even fellow "officers" are safe from other violent gang members. As expected, the violent and deranged criminal got a sweet deal and resigned and he can go on and join another criminal gang.

Cop Charged with Beating Fellow Officer, Locking Her in Dog Kennel — Not Fired

Lawrence, KS — In an infuriating case of blue privilege, a cop, with mountains of evidence against him committing unspeakable crimes, will get to remain a cop — in spite of being arrested. To add insult to injury, this abusive cop is now suing the city for the unlawful search and seizure which was allegedly used to collect all the evidence against him.
The Lawrence Police Department, in February of 2015, gathered enough evidence against Officer William Jacob Burke, 34, to arrest him on felony charges of aggravated battery, criminal threat, aggravated assault, domestic battery, and kidnapping.
The evidence showed that Burke had beaten a fellow officer, choked her until she blacked out, and then chained her, naked, inside of a dog kennel.
Among the evidence collected were text messages from Burke to the female officer which read, “I’ve never hit a girl before. I beat you.”
“I’m not sure next time it won’t keep going,” read another.
Lawrence Journal-World published the findings from the city’s January 17th filing which detail the events as they unfolded. They are nothing short of horrifying.

During the incident, Burke slapped the woman harder than ever before and began choking her, she told investigators.
 
“When she started to see spots, she told Burke, ‘Stop’ as best she could,” the report says. “She reached up and tried to pull Burke’s arms away but she couldn’t and she blacked out.”
 
Having never been “strangled to unconsciousness” before, the woman told investigators she was scared. Shortly afterwards, Burke told her to join him downstairs, where he demanded she undress and get inside a dog kennel.

Burke then demanded the woman drink a beer and hand over her cell phone and password, she told investigators. He then “took a thick chain and wrapped it around the dog kennel to prevent her from leaving” and left her downstairs for several minutes.
 
When Burke returned he gave the woman another beer, told her he had looked through her phone and left again, she reported.
 
At this point the woman told investigators she was “shivering and tried to wrap herself in the towel at the bottom of the dog crate.”
 
Once more Burke returned, the report says. He lectured the woman “about how she should learn to keep her mouth shut and that she should not talk to anyone about their relationship.”
 
“Burke took a mallet and started swinging at the dog kennel,” the report says. “He hit the kennel numerous times and she was scared of the plastic cover breaking and the mallet striking her head.”

The next day, the female officer took pictures of her injuries which included hemorrhaging to her face and swelling. However, she told investigators that she “she was hesitant to report the incident” and that “Burke owned several firearms and had told her several times that he could kill her and that he knew people who could make her body disappear,” according to the report.

However, after another officer noticed her injuries, he reported it to a supervisor which led to the subsequent investigation and arrest.

Seems cut and dry, right? Officer Burke is probably sitting in a jail cell where he belongs, right?

Wrong.

Shortly after his arrest, the city, for unknown reasons and in spite of the evidence, decided not to file charges against Burke.

As Journal-World reported, Burke claims he resigned from his position as an officer after a Lawrence police captain called his attorney and said he would be given a “favorable disposition” regarding criminal charges if he were to step down.

Naturally, the city and Douglas County District Attorney, Charles Branson deny the allegations of giving Burke favorable disposition.
“We were never a party to any agreement or offer to that extent whatsoever,” Branson said.

However, as the Free Thought Project has reported numerous times, police officers accused of crimes are frequently allowed to quietly resign to avoid serious charges down the road. Months or weeks later, they are the rehired by other departments only to be caught committing more crimes. Case in point, Timothy Loehmann, the cop who killed Tamir Rice. Loehmann was let go from his previous job for being mentally unfit for duty. He was then quietly rehired months later at the department where he would go on to kill a child.
 
When asked why the city accepted Burke’s resignation in light of the probable cause leading to his arrest, Lawrence City Attorney Toni Wheeler declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation, according to Journal-World. Burke’s attorney, Theodore Lickteig, also declined to comment.

Aside from failing to comment, both the department and the city have refused to release the arrest affidavit in spite of the fact that Burke is a public servant.

Now, instead of rotting in jail for his horrific abuse, Burke is suing the city for $525,000, claiming that he was illegally searched and defamed. On top of the lawsuit, Burke also keeps his police officer’s license and can still work as a cop.

And so it continues — the brutal and corrupt cycle of blue privilege and unaccountability.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-beat-fellow-officer-locked-dog-kennel/

[Skeletor]

The criminal gang covered up for this dangerous criminal and yet the citizens have to pay the bill once again.

Woman Calls 911 for Help, Serial Rapist Cop Shows Up, Violently Raped Her

MILWAUKEE (CN) – Milwaukee’s failure to remove a rapist from its police force will cost the city $2.5 million in a civil settlement, according to a letter from the city attorney.
Iema Lemons sued the city, the police chief and Ladmarald Cates, a former officer who is now serving a 24-year federal prison term for violently raping her after she called to report vandalism to her home, the 2013 complaint states.

Although Cates was the subject of multiple complaints regarding his on- and off-duty behavior, prior to July 16, 2010, the date of Lemons’ rape, he was not removed from the force and remained in daily contact with the public while performing his duties.

Complaints against Cates included a domestic violence arrest for choking and pushing his girlfriend, who was also a police officer, and accusations of sexual misconduct made in 2005 against Cates by a female inmate.

Cates was again accused of sexual misconduct in 2007 after a woman arrested for theft claimed he had sex with her in a jail cell after promising he would get her released if she complied. Her case was eventually closed without proper investigation, Lemons claims in her suit.

Lemons asserts in her lawsuit that Cates qualified as a sexual predator, since the first allegation involved a female inmate who was severely intoxicated and the second involved one who was clearly mentally ill, and that “Sex with a prisoner constitutes criminal sexual assault.”

Also in 2007, Cates was accused of sexual misconduct while on duty, this time with a minor, but again the witness was considered unreliable. Police Chief Edward Flynn, who had by then replaced the former chief, admitted while being deposed that the allegations against Cates were “disturbing,” but did nothing to discipline him.

When officers responded to Lemons’ call in 2010, they did not address her complaints of bricks being thrown through her window, the complaint states. Instead, they arrested her brother, and while he and Cates’ partner was in the squad car, Cates cornered Lemons in her bathroom.

Cates was armed when he repeatedly ordered Lemons to perform oral sex on him.

“She was afraid he would kill her if she did not comply with his demand and that, as a police officer any story he invented to cover such use of force would be believed,” the complaint states.
While he forced Lemons to perform oral sex, Cates “shov[ed] his fingers into her vagina,” then strangled her as he forced his penis inside her vagina, according to the complaint.

After she collapsed on the porch following the rape, the officers arrested her, falsely claiming she had assaulted Cates’ partner. On the way to the police station, officers ignored her repeated requests for help and claims she had been raped.

When she arrived, Lemons was handcuffed to a table, and Cates was allowed to enter the room, according to the complaint.

“Cates threatened Iema that other police officers would attack her if she continued to claim she had been raped,” the complaint states. “He also told her that, if she withdrew her claim, she would only get a ticket for her alleged criminal conduct…Cates told her that, even if she continued to say he raped her, he would only get suspended.”

Though that had been the case in the past, this time Flynn fired Cates for his sexual misconduct, albeit five months after the rape.

During an internal affairs investigation that followed Lemons’ rape accusation, Cates lied and said he had no sexual contact with Lemons, but later changed his story and admitted to on-duty sexual contact, claiming it was consensual.

Though the Milwaukee County district attorney declined to pursue charges, the U.S. Department of Justice took up the case, resulting in a 24-year prison sentence for Cates in 2012.

Deputy City Attorney Miriam Horwitz, who frequently handles police misconduct claims against the city, has asked the Milwaukee Common Council to approve a $2.5 million settlement in Lemons’ civil suit, which will absolve all parties in the case.

“As the matter proceeded to the January 9, 2017 trial date, mediation resulted in a proposed settlement of 2.5 million dollars, inclusive of all claims for damages against all parties, and inclusive of attorney fees and costs,” Horwitz’ Jan. 13 letter states. “The City Attorney now recommends settlement of this matter for the total sum of $2.5 million as recommended by the magistrate judge.”

A voicemail left with the Office of the City Attorney before business hours Tuesday was not immediately returned.
Lemons’ attorneys declined to comment.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/woman-calls-911-cop-raped-her/#8qwDUV2ITkEqPshv.99

[Skeletor]

More information on a previously reported case.
This is the problem with these criminals who think they have "authoritay". Maybe the EMTs should not respond to incidents involving cops out of the reasonable fear that they will not be allowed to perform their duties or even get attacked by these violent criminals.

New Bodycam Shows Hero EMT Stand Up to Bully Cop Before Being Choked

Portsmouth, OH — As the Free Thought Project previously reported, an intense video uploaded to Facebook this week is beginning to go viral as it shows a Portsmouth police officer choking an EMT. However, on Friday, body camera footage from an officer on scene was also released.
The original video, which was taken Saturday night outside of a Portsmouth bar, shows what happens when a police officer has his authority questioned. Originally, the police department claimed that the video doesn’t show everything that happened. However, multiple eye-witnesses have come forward and have told their versions — they are all the same. And now, we have the body camera footage to back it up as well.
According to police and witnesses, a fight had broken out in front of a bar in downtown Portsmouth last Saturday night. Police and EMS responded and the EMT began treating a man who’d been bleeding and knocked unconscious.

As the newly released body camera footage shows, the victim of the alleged fight was laid out on the curb, unconscious and bleeding from the head.

While the EMT and firefighters were prepping the man for a trip in the ambulance, the man regained consciousness and was naturally startled.

“He just woke up from being knocked out, and he’s got guys all around him grabbing a hold of him,” Trevor Conley, one of many witnesses said. “You’re going to freak out.”

Instead of calming the man down, as the EMT and other first responders were trying to do, Portsmouth Police Sergeant Joel Robinson rushed over and began tasering the man. At this point, acting out of concern for the man’s life, the EMT questioned Robinson’s choice to taser a man who was bleeding and unconscious and tried to prevent it. However, he was swiftly met with police violence of his own for daring to touch the officer on the shoulder.

The EMT told Robinson that he cannot taser the guy as he has a massive wound to the back of his head.

Josh Journey, another witness, explained,  “Then after that, he grabbed the EMT, took him across the street, and I saw him have his hand on his throat all the way across the road and had him up against that cruiser.”

“When the EMT was telling him ‘you can’t do that, you can’t do that, he’s got head trauma,’ he grabbed him up here,” Chad Bennett said, who also witnessed the incident first hand, as he gestured around his neck.
At this point, Journey says that’s when he started recording. Journey’s video is clear and shows the officer holding the EMT by his throat against the police cruiser — allegedly for the act of questioning his authority.
But this cop’s anger wasn’t over yet. After he attacked the EMT, he turned his attention to the people who just documented the attack.

“He saw us with our phones out,” Journey said. “That’s when he came across the street at us and was pretty hostile.”

In an apparent fit of rage, the officer verbally berates the witnesses, threatens them all with jail, and attempted to confiscate their phones. However, he was unsuccessful.
“I think they realized that they’d messed up,” Journey said.

“He could’ve handled it a little better,” Conley said. “I know the situation was crazy.”

In a press conference on Thursday, Portsmouth Police Chief Robert Ware noted that the officer’s actions were justified and Robinson would not receive any punishment.

“Oftentimes we look at video in a vacuum,” Ware said. “We take what we see in one angle and we form an opinion based on that angle. Sometimes, subconsciously we add our own filler to figure out what happened.”

Police claim that Robinson only grabbed the paramedic under the arm and never put his hand around his throat. However, it is entirely clear, even from far away, on the body camera footage, that Robinson had his hand around the EMT’s neck.

On Friday, the Portsmouth Daily-Times put out a ridiculous cover piece for the police almost making it seem like Robinson was some hero:



However, as you can clearly see in the video above, that is a lie.

https://www.facebook.com/policethepoliceACP/videos/1639550822728574/

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/watch-body-cam-shows-raging-cop-berate-citizens-and-choke-out-emt/

[Skeletor]

Handcuffed Woman Who Fell Out of Moving Police Car Fending Off Rapist Cop Gets $3.5 Million

Los Angeles, CA — Taxpayers of Los Angeles will have to pay for their police department’s misconduct yet again, as a woman who fell out of a squad car in 2013 has been granted a $3.5 million settlement.

Kim Nguyen had been arrested for alleged public drunkenness, handcuffed, and put in the back of a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car. At speeds of around 30 mph, Nguyen leaned against one of the back doors — which turned out to be unlocked — in an attempt to escape a sexual assault by one of the officers, according to her lawsuit.

Reports My News LA:
“Officers David Shin and Jin Oh arrested Nguyen for public intoxication after they saw her run across the street about 3 a.m. on March 17, 2013. At the time, Nguyen was a graduate student in her last semester at Loyola Marymount University’s MBA program.

“Nguyen was handcuffed and put in the back seat of a squad car off Sixth Street between Oxford and Serrano avenues, according to her court papers, which state that she ‘was not seatbelted into the car and the manual door lock was not engaged.’

“The officers chose not to arrest a male companion who also was drunk, according to Nguyen’s lawyers, who also alleged that one of the officers got into the back seat with their client and inappropriately touched her.”

A deposition from 2013, paraphrased by CBS News, states:

“A male officer sat with her in the back of the car, where he started to open her legs and grab her inner thigh, Nguyen stated in a deposition taped in December. She alleged that the officer pulled her ears and touched her chest to make her get closer.”

Nguyen had to undergo “extensive and painful surgeries” — including having her jaw wired shut — for the injuries sustained in the fall, and was hospitalized for 17 days. Nguyen also lost all of her teeth from the impact of the pavement.

According to the lawsuit, the officers involved failed to follow several standard procedures — including seatbelting Nguyen properly and securely locking the patrol car’s doors.
“No female officer was called … to pat her down for possible dangerous weapons,” court documents cited by My News LA state. “She was not seatbelted into the car and the manual door lock was not engaged.”

Although defense attorneys claimed Nguyen had been trying to escape, the lawsuit states the handcuffed woman had merely been huddled against the door — to be as far away from the inappropriate contact of the officer in the back seat as possible — when it swung open, causing her to fall out.

CCTV captured Nguyen falling from the LAPD patrol car, with her dress ‘removed’ from the waist down, lending a great deal of credence to her claims of being groped by the cop.

Court documents also note video footage reveals the perpetrator cop “nonchalantly standing over plaintiff who lies bloodied, with her face swollen, in the middle of the street.”

Nguyen will now receive at least the semblance of justice for the ordeal she endured.

But, like nearly all settlements and judgments concerning police abuse, misconduct, excessive force, and more, the cops responsible for this gross negligence and sexual assault won’t have to pay a dime — the city’s ‘settlement’ comes straight from the taxpayers.

This isn’t some fault of Nguyen’s or of other victims, but until errant police officers and departments are forced to feel the sting of punishment where it really hurts — their wallets — cops have no tangible fear of consequence for bad behavior.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/lapd-sexual-assault-police-car-fell/