Police State - Official Thread

[illuminati]

This dangerous criminal needs to spend the rest of his pathetic life in prison.

Woman Run Over by Her Car As Crazed Cop Drags Her Out at Gunpoint for No Reason

Lee County, FL — Lee County Deputy Raymond Gallagher is a bad cop. It is cops like him that add to the fear people feel when they see those red and blue lights in their rearview mirrors as they are targeted for extortion for some arbitrary traffic violation. However, thanks to the power of video and a cop watching citizen, Deputy Raymond Gallagher is a cop no more.

In October, Gallagher pulled a woman over for speeding. It was a routine stop and it appeared that the woman wanted to get off the road, so she pulled into a parking lot at a nearby shopping mall. Never did the woman try to flee or resist or otherwise pose any threat to Gallagher. However, that did not stop him from creating the violent scene that unfolded next.

For pulling over into a parking lot — for a minor speeding violation — Gallagher rushed her vehicle with his weapon drawn and proceeded to drag her from the car. Clearly in shock and frightened as a crazed screaming man is running toward her with a weapon pointed at her head, the woman either forgot or did not have time to put the vehicle in park. However, it was not moving at all — until Gallagher dragged her out of the car.

In the officer’s dashcam video, we see him rush the car and proceed to drag the woman from the car. As she falls to the concrete with her seatbelt still attached, her foot slips off the brake causing the car to start rolling forward. Because the crazed cop didn’t allow her to remove her seatbelt — or put the car in park — she was dragged along the side of her moving vehicle.

Luckily, she was not run directly over by the back tire and killed. But she was hurt.
After the stop, Gallagher arrested the woman and fabricated an entire story to back up his reasons for the use of force and never once mentioned that she was pulled from the vehicle and dragged.
As NBC 2 reports, an internal affairs investigation also discovered Gallagher lied on the arrest report, stating the female tried to avoid him when he first made contact with her, something the video proved never occurred.

Instead of the truth, contained within the officer’s fictional report was a statement about how he “helped” the woman from her vehicle. In their investigation, the department used the Merriam-Webster dictionary to define ‘help’.

Merriam-Webster defines the work help as follow(s): to give assistance or support to; to make more pleasant or bearable; to be of use to, to change for the better. In the video, Deputy Gallagher did not appear to assist, support, please, be of use to, or change the situation for the better.

The investigation substantiated the following four charges:
• Improper Conduct- Excessive or Unnecessary Force
• Improper Conduct- Untruthfulness in Proceedings or Reports
• Job Knowledge and Performance- Knowledge of Rules and Procedures
• Improper Conduct- Conduct Unbecoming Officer/Member

“Mr. Gallagher fell far short of our expectations, training, and policy, and we dealt with him swiftly and surely,” Sheriff Mike Scott said. “I will not tolerate behavior like that.”

Thankfully, a vigilant citizen decided to stick around and act as a witness after he suspected Gallagher was going to escalate the situation or this cop may have never been exposed. The Witness, Kevin Noell then called the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to report Gallagher.

Now, nearly 5 months after the incident, Gallagher is no longer a cop, and, hopefully, it stays that way.
Below is the dramatic video showing this deputy’s aggressive and dangerous behavior.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-woman-dragged-speeding-stop/#7eEUFCQ5ZILTgDHj.99

Great they got rid of him
Now he needs a lengthy jail sentence & plenty of rough treatment.

[Skeletor]

Land of the Free? Man Facing Jail for Bumper Sticker of Stick Figures Having Sex



Nashville, TN — Last Month, Nashville resident Dustin Owens was pulled over by police who were protecting society from the likes of a bumper sticker of two poorly drawn stick figures, with the caption ‘Making my family.’ Owens was ticketed and given 45 days to comply with the citation and remove the sticker. However, Owens refused and could now face jail.

Citing Tennessee Code Annotated 55-8-187, police claim that Owen’s stick figure sticker is patently offensive.

To avoid distracting other drivers and thereby reduce the likelihood of accidents arising from lack of attention or concentration, the display of obscene and patently offensive movies, bumper stickers, window signs or other markings on or in a motor vehicle that are visible to other drivers is prohibited and display of such materials shall subject the owner of the vehicle on which they are displayed, upon conviction, to a fine of not less than two dollars ($2.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00).

On Thursday, Owens filed a countering lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court claiming the police were wrong to ticket him for the bumper sticker.

“The primary question presented in this case is whether the following sticker qualifies as an ‘obscenity’ – a narrow, unprotected category of speech reserved for hardcore pornography – thereby causing it to lose the broad presumption of free-expression protection guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” according to the complaint against the Metro Nashville Police Department.

“Because this stick-figure cartoon does not come anywhere close to satisfying the applicable constitutional standard for obscenity, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department should be enjoined from punishing the plaintiff for displaying it,” the lawsuit states.

According to Owens, he was pulled over by police and ticketed by the officer who ordered him to remove the stick figures from his car and “demonstrate full compliance” within 45 days.

“To date, Mr. Owens has not complied,” his lawsuit states. “Consequently, Mr. Owens is currently living under the pain of a pending censorship order from the MNPD, and he is subject to being punished and prosecuted under penalty of law if he does not comply with it.”

For refusing to remove this harmless bumper sticker, Owens faces the very real possibility of being kidnapped by police and thrown in a cage. This stand by Owens, although it may seem humorous because of the content, is a very real and powerful one.

“The average person applying contemporary community standards would not find that Mr. Owens’ stick-figure cartoon appeals predominantly to the prurient interest in sex. Mr. Owens’ stick-figure cartoon does not depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as defined by Tennessee law,” the complaint states. “Taken as whole, Mr. Owens’ stick-figure cartoon does not lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

When police can claim the legal authority to pull someone over and demand money from that person, because of a drawing on a sticker, something is very wrong. When a man is facing the possibility of losing his freedom for a bumper sticker that harms no one, the very notion of the land of the free is seen for the farce that it is.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/man-facing-jail-bumper-sticker/

[Skeletor]

"New York's finest".

Put them in prison and throw away the key.

Two NYPD Cops Indicted Twice in Two Months for Falsely Jailing Two Innocent Men


Two NYPD cops thought they had an open-and-shut case when they arrested a man on drug charges, claiming he had seven grams of cocaine in his waistband, which could easily have sent him to prison for several years.

But now they are the ones facing a prison sentence after a surveillance camera proved they made the charges up.

The two New York City police detectives, Kevin Desormeau and Sasha Cordoba, both 33, were indicted Tuesday by the Queens District Attorney after a grand jury found enough evidence that they committed perjury and wrote false reports.

The same two cops – one who is an award winner – were also arrested last month after it was revealed they fabricated charges on another man, which resulted in him remaining in jail for eight months.

Both incidents took place three years ago, so there’s no telling how many other innocent people they arrested over the years.

The first arrest took place on August 28, 2014 after the detectives claimed Roosevelt McCoy, 47, had been standing in front of a restaurant dealing drugs, but the surveillance video shows he was inside the restaurant the entire time playing pool.

The cops transported him to the station where they strip searched him but found nothing.

The video also shows Cordoba taking McCoy’s bag that contained $300, which ended up disappearing.

McCoy ended up spending more than six weeks in Rikers  Island before he was released.

According to the New York Daily News:

Charges against McCoy were ultimately dismissed in March 2016, when his attorney Gabriel Harvis showed the DA’s office a video surveillance feed from inside a restaurant that showed McCoy playing pool the entire time the detectives said he was outside selling drugs.

The surveillance video also showed the two detectives enter the restaurant and bar while McCoy is playing pool and then escort him outside.

“He was lucky,” Harvis said about the video surveillance that exonerated his client last month, which the Daily News exclusively reported. “But I can’t imagine how many New Yorkers were not so lucky and they are sitting in jail.”

McCoy sued and settled with the city in November for $575,500.

On November 6, 2014, the two cops arrested a man named Jamal Choice, accusing him of threatening another man with a gun, but that turned out to be a lie.

And again, it was surveillance video that exposed their lies, according to the New York Daily News.

But Choice ended up spending eight months in Riker Island before he was released.

Cordoba’s attorney claimed they are not being treated fairly.

“These detectives are entitled to the same presumption of innocence that we all afforded,”  James Moschella told the Daily News.

“They look forward to fighting the charges in court — not in the press — and, ultimately, being vindicated.”

The Daily News also reported that Desormeau was awarded the NYPD’s Combat Cross, one of the department’s highest honors, in 2011 for his role in a Queens gunfight.

But there is still no word on whether he fabricated that incident as well.

As of now, Desormeau is facing seven years in prison and Cordoba is facing four years.

The video that led to their indictment is not available online but below is a screen grab posted by the Daily News.

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/03/07/two-nypd-cops-indicted-twice-in-two-months-for-falsely-jailing-two-innocent-men/

[Skeletor]

As always, no consequences for the gang members.

Lying Cops Get Owned as They Try to Intimidate Rights-Flexing Attorney

Wilmington, NC — A powerful video, taken by an attorney while being harassed by police, illustrates the power of filming — and why cops will lie through their teeth, apply intimidation tactics, and threaten you to get you to stop it.

Attorney Jesse Bright, who works as an Uber driver in his spare time, was on a round trip drive, bringing a man who works as a pet groomer to pick up his paycheck on Feb 26. During the first Uber stop, police suddenly surrounded the vehicle and forced the passenger to submit to a search because they were near a known “drug house.”

For his safety and to account for the officers’ actions, Bright began filming. When Sergeant Kenneth Becker saw that he was recording, that’s when the lies, threats, and intimidation began.

Officer: Hey bud, turn that off, OK?

Bright: No, I’ll keep recording. Thank you. It’s my right.

Officer: Don’t record me. You got me?

Bright: Look, you’re a police officer on duty. I can record you.

Becker then walks to driver’s side of vehicle to escalate the level of intimidation.

Officer: Be careful because there is a new law. Turn it off or I’ll take you to jail.

Bright: For recording you? What is the law?

Officer: Step out of the car.

Bright: What are you arresting me for? I’m sitting here in my car. I’m just recording in case anything happens. I’m surrounded by five police officers.

Officer: You’re being a jerk.

Bright: I’m scared right now. I’m not being a jerk. I’m recording in case anything happens.

Officer: You better hope we don’t find something in your car?

Bright: You’re not searching my car?

Officer: I’m going to search your car.

Bright: You’re not searching my car.

To apply yet another level of intimidation on a man for the sole reason that he was asserting his rights, this belligerent cops then calls for a K-9 unit.

Bright: Bring the K-9s. I don’t care. I know my rights.

Officer: I hope so. I know what the law is.

Bright: I know the law. I’m an attorney, so I would hope I know what the law is.

Officer: And an Uber driver?

The cops couldn’t believe that an attorney could also work in his spare time to earn extra money.
For the next several minutes, the cops teamed up on Bright and continued their intimidation. However, Bright did not back down.

While the video was rolling, Bright held all the power and the cops knew this — thus, the reason for them trying to force him to stop filming. Finally, the cops, without Bright’s consent, intimidated him to the point where he was unlawfully coerced into conceding to a search. According to Bright, they falsely claimed their K9 alerted to the car and proceeded to get back at him for asserting his right and embarrassing them. The video also confirms this as the dog never stopped or ‘alerted’ to anything.

As the Free Thought Project has pointed out many times before, cops falsely claim their dogs alert to substances all the time. After they claimed the dog ‘alerted’, the belligerent cop then made a snide remark about the false alert.

“Funny how he’s real interested in your car, huh?” says the cop as the dog seems to only be interested in the toy his handler has.
“How’s that funny?” asks Bright as he points out this unprofessional officer’s conduct.

On Wednesday, Bright sent an email to WECT, explaining the situation.

At that time, the K-9 unit arrived at scene. I repeatedly asked the Sergeant and the K-9 what the dog’s indicator was, to indicate that he smelled narcotics in the vehicle. They refused to tell me. The K-9 lead the dog around my car 1 time, in which the dog did nothing but sniff the vehicle. He didn’t seem to make any indication at all towards the vehicle, besides sniffing in the places that the K-9 told him to sniff. After the sniff was done, the Sgt immediately went into my vehicle without my permission, and did a full search, checking all areas of the car, and pulling everything out of the center console and glove box. During the search, I was told I had to let them search my body as well, which they did. He found absolutely nothing illegal in my vehicle, or my person, and eventually walked back to his car. Another officer told me that me and my Uber passenger were free to go.

Chief Ralph Evangelous issued the following statement Wednesday in response to the videos:

“Taking photographs and videos of people that are in plain sight including the police is your legal right. As a matter of fact we invite citizens to do so when they believe it is necessary. We believe that public videos help to protect the police as well as our citizens and provide critical information during police and citizen interaction.”

However, as the video below shows, his officers apparently do not feel the same way.
The office then released another statement noting that the lying and bullying cops were wrong, but will not be punished and, instead, received ‘counseling’ — for being utterly derelict and oppressive.


According to WECT, Lt. Jerry Brewer with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office said there is no internal investigation in that department because their deputy did not violate anything.

Sheriff McMahon has viewed the Uber driver’s video and believes it is clear that Officers were incorrect in stating that it was illegal to record the encounter. Not only does the Sheriff agree that it is legal to record encounters, he invites citizens to do so. As a result, the Deputy involved has been counseled.
 
Additionally, in keeping with Sheriff McMahon’s practice of openness and transparency with the citizens that we serve, he has instructed his Staff to ensure that each Deputy has been provided with information about the citizen’s right to record encounters with law enforcement officers.

And just like that, cops can be filmed in a blatant act of intimidation and oppression, caught lying through their teeth — and nothing happens. Sadly, people still wonder why there are protests. Had Bright not pulled out his camera and filmed, this situation could have gone far worse.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/lying-police-intimidation-search-rights/#SpQSAGmFtWHBLiYO.99

[Skeletor]

Cowardly Cop Mistakes Wallet for a Gun and Shoots Innocent Airman

Lee County, AL — Fear, cowardice, dread, hate — training — one or more of these traits are present more often than not when a police officer shoots an unarmed person. And, in the dashcam video below, that assertion becomes apparent as Opelika police officer Phillip Hancock shot Airman Michael Davidson for no reason other than fear.

The incident happened on March 6, 2014, however, the dashcam was kept secret until a little more than three years to the date after the shooting. Hancock was responding to a minor accident in which Davidson had swiped the back of a tractor trailer and both parties were waiting for police to arrive after they had exchanged information.

When Hancock arrives on the scene, he immediately becomes aggressive with Davidson who was merely trying to get out of his car. Because Davidson was parked on a slope, opening his door was particularly difficult as it was much heavier at this angle. Instead of realizing this was a factor, Hancock, applying his training while experiencing high levels of fear and cowardice, escalated the situation to violence.
“Show me your hands,” screams Hancock as Davidson frantically tries to comply.

Davidson’s attorney’s, Brian Mosholder explains, as reported by WRBL, that Davidson’s wallet was in his left hand while pushing against the door to get it open, and then he reached back with his right hand. Soon after, Ofc. Hancock asks Davidson to show him his hands. Davidson brings his right hand through and up to his left hand, turned and got out of the vehicle as quickly as he could and put his hands out in front of him with his wallet in both hands and began to raise his hands. Soon after, the first shot is fired, which hits the ground. Then, Mosholder said Davidson’s hands went up and the second shot was fired, which hit Davidson.

“It’s very obvious from that part of the video that Officer Hancock is creating a situation that he wished had happened that would have justified this shooting,” Mosholder said. “When you look at the video, none of that happened. When you look at the video, in less than six seconds, from the time Michael Davidson opens his door, Officer Hancock shoots him, and he shoots him for absolutely no reason.”
After he was shot, the Airmen was seen writhing in pain on the ground — as the blood spot in the back of his jeans grew increasingly larger. Davidson was shot in the abdomen and suffered severe artery damage and “extensive internal bleeding,” according to the suit.

During the melee, the innocent truck driver was also in danger from this irresponsible cop’s fear as he fired rounds in his direction as well.

For the last three years, Davidson was hoping to seek justice against the man who shot him for no reason. However, as is the case in so many other police shootings, the shooting was found to be justified — because the cop expressed a justifiable reason to fear for his life.
“The City, the Chief of Police and its officer have always denied any wrongdoing,” a statement from the City of Opelika in response to the most recent court ruling read. “This case has now been analyzed by two federal courts … The judges have unanimously determined after a review of the evidence, which includes the dash cam video, there was no wrongdoing on behalf of the City, the Chief, or the involved officer. In reaching their respective decisions, these Federal Courts reviewed all of the evidence. Their opinions are clearly supported by all evidence.”

In affirming the district court’s ruling, according to oanow.com, the three-judge panel said it had reviewed the evidence, including dash cam video, and provided the following summary statement: “After careful consideration and review of a video recording of the shooting, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Davidson, we conclude that a reasonable officer in Hancock’s position would have feared for his life. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment based on qualified immunity in favor of Hancock on all claims.”

Below is the end result of too much fear pumped into cops during their training. Thankfully, Davidson lived, no thanks to the cops who let him bleed out for more than 5 minutes before providing any life saving methods — but he will never be the same again.

Video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5egb21_dashcam-footage-released-in-opelika-police-officer-involved-shooting_news

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fear-shooting-cop-wallet-gun

[Slapper]

Cowardly Cop Mistakes Wallet for a Gun and Shoots Innocent Airman

Lee County, AL — Fear, cowardice, dread, hate — training — one or more of these traits are present more often than not when a police officer shoots an unarmed person. And, in the dashcam video below, that assertion becomes apparent as Opelika police officer Phillip Hancock shot Airman Michael Davidson for no reason other than fear.

The incident happened on March 6, 2014, however, the dashcam was kept secret until a little more than three years to the date after the shooting. Hancock was responding to a minor accident in which Davidson had swiped the back of a tractor trailer and both parties were waiting for police to arrive after they had exchanged information.

When Hancock arrives on the scene, he immediately becomes aggressive with Davidson who was merely trying to get out of his car. Because Davidson was parked on a slope, opening his door was particularly difficult as it was much heavier at this angle. Instead of realizing this was a factor, Hancock, applying his training while experiencing high levels of fear and cowardice, escalated the situation to violence.
“Show me your hands,” screams Hancock as Davidson frantically tries to comply.

Davidson’s attorney’s, Brian Mosholder explains, as reported by WRBL, that Davidson’s wallet was in his left hand while pushing against the door to get it open, and then he reached back with his right hand. Soon after, Ofc. Hancock asks Davidson to show him his hands. Davidson brings his right hand through and up to his left hand, turned and got out of the vehicle as quickly as he could and put his hands out in front of him with his wallet in both hands and began to raise his hands. Soon after, the first shot is fired, which hits the ground. Then, Mosholder said Davidson’s hands went up and the second shot was fired, which hit Davidson.

“It’s very obvious from that part of the video that Officer Hancock is creating a situation that he wished had happened that would have justified this shooting,” Mosholder said. “When you look at the video, none of that happened. When you look at the video, in less than six seconds, from the time Michael Davidson opens his door, Officer Hancock shoots him, and he shoots him for absolutely no reason.”
After he was shot, the Airmen was seen writhing in pain on the ground — as the blood spot in the back of his jeans grew increasingly larger. Davidson was shot in the abdomen and suffered severe artery damage and “extensive internal bleeding,” according to the suit.

During the melee, the innocent truck driver was also in danger from this irresponsible cop’s fear as he fired rounds in his direction as well.

For the last three years, Davidson was hoping to seek justice against the man who shot him for no reason. However, as is the case in so many other police shootings, the shooting was found to be justified — because the cop expressed a justifiable reason to fear for his life.
“The City, the Chief of Police and its officer have always denied any wrongdoing,” a statement from the City of Opelika in response to the most recent court ruling read. “This case has now been analyzed by two federal courts … The judges have unanimously determined after a review of the evidence, which includes the dash cam video, there was no wrongdoing on behalf of the City, the Chief, or the involved officer. In reaching their respective decisions, these Federal Courts reviewed all of the evidence. Their opinions are clearly supported by all evidence.”

In affirming the district court’s ruling, according to oanow.com, the three-judge panel said it had reviewed the evidence, including dash cam video, and provided the following summary statement: “After careful consideration and review of a video recording of the shooting, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Davidson, we conclude that a reasonable officer in Hancock’s position would have feared for his life. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment based on qualified immunity in favor of Hancock on all claims.”

Below is the end result of too much fear pumped into cops during their training. Thankfully, Davidson lived, no thanks to the cops who let him bleed out for more than 5 minutes before providing any life saving methods — but he will never be the same again.

Video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5egb21_dashcam-footage-released-in-opelika-police-officer-involved-shooting_news

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fear-shooting-cop-wallet-gun

Wait a second... this is from 2014 and is coming out now???

Sounds like:

[Skeletor]

Horrifying Precedent — Court Rules Cops Can Allow Dogs to Maul Innocent People

A disturbing and reckless precedent was just set by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which held that the U.S. Constitution does not necessarily require cops to stop a K9 from tearing an innocent person to shreds. Seriously.

According to the ruling in the case of an innocent homeless man being mauled nearly to death by a K9, police officers who deliberately allow their K9 to maul innocent people will be immune from liability and victims will have zero recourse.

As Slate reports:
The grisly facts of the case are uncontested. One night in 2010, Officer Terence Garrison and his police dog, Bikkel, were tracking a robbery suspect in High Point, North Carolina. Bikkel led Garrison to an abandoned house, then attacked a man crouched behind a bush near the front stoop. Garrison quickly realized that the man did not match the physical description of the suspect. (In fact, he was Christopher Maney, a homeless man accused of no crime.) But Garrison decided that the man might still be dangerous, so he demanded that Maney show his hands before calling off Bikkel. But Maney was using his hands to try to protect himself against the dog and pleaded with Garrison to stop Bikkel’s attack, insisting that he had done nothing wrong. After allowing the mauling to continue for 10 seconds, Garrison finally told Bikkel to stop. He then put Maney in handcuffs and called medical support.

Because Garrison allowed his K9 to continue mauling Maney, the innocent homeless man suffered severe injuries. By the time he was brought to the hospital, Maney was in critical condition. Bikkel had torn apart the top of Maney’s head, removing an entire two-square-inch section of hair, skin, and tissue — which would later require a 16-inch skin graft. The dog also bit Maney’s arms and legs so severely that it led to a brachial artery blood clot with massive blood loss, bruising, and swelling.

After making a long and painful recovery, Maney attempted to hold the officer accountable for his sadistic and torturous act. He then sued Garrison for violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures.

As it stands, a dog bite qualifies as a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. So, Maney argued that the time Garrison allowed the K9 to rip him apart was unreasonable.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit did not agree. Insanely enough, the court concluded that Garrison was shielded from liability because he did not violate a  “clearly established” constitutional right.

According to the majority, as Slate reports, Fourth Amendment precedents do not unambiguously prohibit officers from “prolong[ing] a dog bite seizure until a subject complies with orders to surrender.” The majority analogized the mauling to a “Terry stop,” during which an officer may briefly stop and frisk individuals on the basis of “reasonable suspicion.” Garrison, the majority concluded, had really just engaged in a type of Terry stop in which “the classic Terry tableau is replaced by something more dynamic.”

Simply put, the court ruled that Garrison’s use of his K9 to maul a man nearly to death, was reasonable because it is no different than a stop and frisk.

Judge Pamela Harris, the only judge with enough humanity left in her to dissent, explained why this ruling is nonsensical and disturbing.

Maney was not himself suspected of any crime, armed or not, and he did not attempt to flee or to resist. Nevertheless, Officer Garrison deliberately subjected him to a canine attack in order to rule out any possibility that he might pose a threat. Whether or not a more customary Terry stop might have been authorized, I think it is clear enough that the circumstances did not justify the sustained mauling of Maney. Clear enough, that is, to warrant denial of qualified immunity to Garrison on Maney’s excessive force claim.

Harris noted that justifying the mauling by comparing it to a Terry stop was particularly ludicrous because “there was not reasonable suspicion sufficient to support a Terry stop” in the first place.

He (Garrison) was aware that there was a perfectly innocent explanation for Maney’s presence near the abandoned house. And I would not count against Maney his failure to stand and identify himself, which Maney—quite reasonably, in hindsight—attributes to his fear that a sudden movement might prompt a dog attack. Citizens are under no free-standing obligation to identify themselves to the police.

While Harris disagreed, the rest of the court believed Garrison “intentionally prolong(ing) a violent assault on Maney to determine whether he might pose a threat,” is entirely just.

It is likely that Maney will appeal this ruling. However, the mere fact that a court would rule in such a manner illustrates a much larger problem in America. Because Americans support a system that continuously refuses to hold police accountable while simultaneously granting them special privileges, cops can quite literally get away with murder.

http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Unpublished/147791.U.pdf

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/court-rules-cops-dont-stop-k9s-mauling-innocent-people/

[Skeletor]

These uniformed criminals should be imprisoned for life doing hard labor and have all their possessions confiscated.

Town Busted Running “Debtor’s Prison” Must Pay $680K, Sheriff Told to Resign

Alexander, AL — The Southern Poverty Law Center has reached a $680,000 settlement in its lawsuit against the Alabama city of Alexander and its police chief Willie Robinson. The settlement was for depriving 190 of its residents their rights to due process (6th Amendment) and the unlawful seizure of their property (4th Amendment). Sheriff Robinson has even been asked to resign by lawyers representing their client.

Each one of the 190 individuals will receive $500 cash from the city for jailing them for being too poor to pay the fines imposed on them by the town. As reported by AL.com, “Hundreds of impoverished residents have faced unconstitutional and unjust treatment in Alexander City simply because they were too poor to pay fines and fees,” said Sam Brooke, in a press release. Brooke is the SPLC’s deputy legal director. He added, “The shuttering of this modern-day debtors’ prison, along with the monetary award, brings justice to many of the people who were unfairly targeted for being poor.”

The way the injustice flourished was as follows. A resident would receive a speeding ticket, for example. If they were unable to pay, they were arrested, taken to jail, and forced to remain there. While in jail, they would earn $20 a day for just being in jail, and $40 a day for doing laundry, cleaning, or washing police cruisers, until the total sum of the fine was paid in full. Each person was not allowed to go before a judge, nor to have a lawyer present to help in aid in their defense.

“Around 30 percent of Alexander inhabitants live below the poverty line. Plaintiff Amanda Underwood is one such person, who was jailed twice for not being able to pay her fines. Underwood previously earned $8 an hour and has two young children, according to the SPLC release. After not being able to pay a fine of $205 for a traffic violation, Underwood had to borrow money to secure her release. On a separate occasion, Underwood was fined $250 for driving without a license. She spent five days in jail working off her debt.”

What may have seemed like a quick way for the town to punish offenders — and settle long-standing fines, fees, and court costs — turned out to be a complete violation of Alexander’s residents’ civil rights. Underwood reveled in the victory saying, “I am glad the city is going to pay everyone who they jailed, to try to undo some of the harm they caused…I am so proud that this lawsuit has made a difference. I hope it will help many others, especially those like me who have been unfairly punished for being poor.”

Brooke said Alexander’s settlement out of court is just the latest in a string of successful lawsuits in Alabama which have made a positive impact on civil rights. “Courts are being sued and forced to change their procedures, and judges have been censured and suspended,” Brooke said. “And now a municipality has been forced to pay those it illegally jailed. We hope and believe all courts are now getting the message: It is unacceptable to punish the poor just because of their poverty.”

There’s very little difference between jailing someone to work off a fine, and selling one’s property to pay for such fines. One is a debtor’s prison and the other results in a debtor’s auction. In both cases, the police benefit from free labor and free revenue generation. Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF) has been used for years to punish citizens accused of crimes such as drunk driving, driving with too much cash on hand, or being in possession of marijuana. Hopefully, with wins such as what the SPLC has been able to achieve in Alabama, more progress can likewise be made in CAF cases across the country as well.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sheriff-town-pay-debtors-prison/

[Nether Animal]

Fuck cops. I have a friend from New Zealand who moved over here for an extended period, and he said he was shocked and appalled at how police act here. He was actually scared to go out of the house sometimes.

[Skeletor]

Murder Trial Opens for Cop Who Killed 6-Year-Old Jeremy Mardis on Video

Marksville, LA — Sixteen months ago, one of the worst police killings ever to be recorded on video rocked the country. Jeremy Mardis, a 6-year-old boy, was gunned down in cold blood by two bad Louisiana cops — Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. Now, one of those officers is finally being tried for this horrific act which was caught on a body camera.

In what the head of Louisiana State police called ‘the most disturbing thing he’s ever seen,’ Mardis was murdered as he rode with his father, Chris Few, as he sat strapped into the front seat of the car.
“He didn’t deserve to die like that,” State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said as he announced the deputies’ arrests, less than a week after the shooting.

For almost a year, body camera footage from that fateful night was kept hidden from the public. However, last September it was released showing these two officers murder a boy and attempt to murder his father.
Jury selection for Derrick Stafford’s trial began Monday and is expected to last several days.

Prosecutors are going to make the case that the bodycam video proves Few did not pose a threat and was, in fact, surrendering with his hands up when police opened fire.
Defense attorneys, however, will attempt to convince a jury that Stafford and Greenhouse Jr. acted in self-defense — in spite of the fact they had no justification for the stop in the first place — and contradictory to the video evidence.

Despite the testimony to the contrary from a State Police detective, defense attorneys are going to try to convince a jury that Few was attempting to ram Greenhouse’s vehicle.

One of Stafford’s attorneys, Jonathon Goins, said his client “feared for his life” when he opened fired on a 6-year-old boy and his surrendering dad.
“My client wanted to go home and be with his family that night, just like any officer wants to go home and be with their family,” Goins said.
Members of Mardis’ family have since filed a federal lawsuit against several Louisiana law enforcement agencies.

An exact motive for the original traffic stop — given the fictitious claim of a warrant and that Few did not have a weapon — has yet to be publicly released by officials. Attorneys for Greenhouse and Stafford stated during court proceedings Few had been standing in the road, blocking traffic, ignored officers’ commands, and then fled the scene.

But the lawsuit contends there had been no clear reason for police to pursue the vehicle Few was driving, and when he ultimately did pull over, the vehicle, “even if it were moving forward or backwards — did not and could not have presented an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm to any of the officers at the scene or innocent bystanders.”

Police had claimed Few was armed and posed an imminent deadly threat — so Officers Greenhouse and Stafford opened fire — emptying 18 rounds at the vehicle, critically injuring Few and killing the 6-year-old, who had autism.

In actuality, no warrant had been issued for Few, and both father and son were unarmed — indeed, as video evidence shows, Few had his hands in the air when he received “two or three” bullets to the head and chest, while Jeremy suffered “four or five” shots to the head and neck.

Appallingly, Jeremy languished in agony, still holding onto life for over five minutes after being shot multiple times — but officers failed to even check for a pulse or render assistance.
“During this time, Jeremy was bleeding profusely and suffered immensely due to the gunshot wounds,” the lawsuit states.

“It was not until approximately some seven and one-half to eight minutes or so after the hail of gunfire, that an officer at the scene, believed to be Parnell, finally checked Jeremy for a pulse and discovered that he was still alive, despite having been shot multiple times including in the head and neck,” it reads.

“However, none of the officers at the scene, including Stafford, Greenhouse, Brouillette and Parnell initiated or rendered any form of first aid, nor did they undertake any other measures in an attempt to stop Jeremy’s bleeding or otherwise alleviate or mitigate Jeremy’s suffering, or made any attempts to save his life.

“Sadly, Jeremy was left to suffer — and die — while the officers casually searched for ‘gloves.’”

Both Stafford and Greenhouse, likely due to their connected statuses and blue privilege, were allowed to remain officers in spite of their past atrocities — which allowed them to be in those patrol cars that night.
As WCBI reported, before the shooting, Stafford and Greenhouse both had been sued over claims they had used excessive force or neglected their duties as police officers. The Marksville Police Department suspended Stafford after his indictment on rape charges in 2011, but reinstated him after prosecutors dismissed the charges.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/murder-trial-opens-cop-killed-6-year-old-jeremy-mardis-video/

[Skeletor]

Criminal organization.

National Sheriff of the Year Convicted in Massive Conspiracy — Facing 20 Years

Los Angeles, CA — It’s often been said (so much so it’s now become cliche’) there are only a few bad apples in the police force. Well, if that’s true, this next story serves to illustrate the entire apple tree is corrupt. Los Angeles county is the most populated county in the U.S., with over 10,000,000 citizens calling LA their home. And on Wednesday, their former sheriff was found guilty of three different felonies for his role in a corruption cover-up.

According to the LA Daily News, “Once the head of the largest law enforcement agency of its kind in the nation, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was found guilty by a federal jury Wednesday of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and giving false statements in connection with an investigation into corruption and excessive use of force inside the Men’s Central Jail.”
The 74-year-old former sheriff was convicted by a jury consisting of eight men and four women, after two weeks of testimony and evidence presented. Baca may spend the next 20 years of his life behind bars, and at age 74, it’s likely he’ll never see daylight outside of prison.

The former sheriff was charged and found guilty for his role in obstructing justice. In 2011, the FBI was investigating reports of inmate abuse and cover-ups within the LA County Jail known as the “Men’s Central Jail.”
As the Daily reported, “prosecutors set out to prove that Baca led efforts to thwart the investigation by hiding an inmate-turned-informant named Anthony Brown within the jail system, so the FBI could no longer interview him.” Yes. You read that right. He was accused and found guilty of taking a whistleblower, a jailhouse snitch, and moving him around the numerous city detention facilities so the FBI could not interview him. The Daily also reported prosecutors accused the former sheriff of allowing, “two sheriff’s sergeants to threaten the lead FBI agent with arrest in front of her home,” the same FBI agent who was attempting to interview Mr. Brown.

Baca’s guilty verdict, possibly the highest-profile conviction of its kind, may stand as evidence in a larger trial going on in the court of public opinion as to whether or not the United States has a systemic problem of corruption. After all, LA is the nation’s most populated county, and what happens in LA, may be happening throughout the country.

We, at The Free Thought Project, harp on police abuses, the planting of evidence, and subsequent cover-ups all the time. Not even we could have predicted our concerns would be validated by the arrest, trial, and conviction of the former sheriff of the nation’s largest police force. But it proves our point. We have a problem in this country we feel will only be solved with higher levels of accountability and transparency being put in place, and true penalties being implemented against officers found guilty of such crimes.

Baca makes the 10th person convicted in the abuse and cover-up investigation which has now endured for nearly six years. And while the national stage is still shaken from FBI director James Comey’s decision not to indict former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her mishandling of classified information, the case also serves to prove the FBI still has the tenacity it takes to root out corruption and bring criminals to trial.
Jones has told the press he has no regrets for his decision to become an informant for the FBI. The convicted armed robber, who’ll never get out of jail (still serving over 400 years in prison), was asked to snitch on the abuses taking place at the Men’s jail.

“The episode was life-changing for Brown. His cover as an informant was blown in August of 2011 when jail guards found Brown’s contraband cellphone stashed in a bag of Dorito’s during a routine search,” writes ABC News 7.

The phone was a given to Jones by the FBI, who were also on speed dial, in the event he was able to gather any leads in jailer abuses against inmates. “Brown’s phone calls from jail were traced by LASD investigators to a civil rights squad of the FBI – a squad that investigates potential corruption in local law enforcement,” according to the report. And the scandal could have stopped there, but LAPD decided they’d obstruct justice and attempt to prevent the FBI from making contact with Jones. “Soon after, Brown’s name was changed in the LASD computer system, he was moved repeatedly, and discouraged from further cooperating with the FBI,” writes the LA news affiliate.

Jones told Eyewitness News, “The whole ordeal of assisting the FBI was a living hell…I knew at any time I could be killed — disappear without a trace — if the LASD deputies found out I was assisting the FBI by reporting corrupt deputies.”

Baca is now facing 20 years in prison, but in 2016 attempted to reach a plea deal, agreeing to serve 6-months in jail. However, U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson believed the plea deal to be too lenient and denied it, paving the way for a jury trial. The first jury trial ended in an 11-1 mistrial. Prosecutors took another shot at a conviction, believing they could prove Baca knew about the abuse, cover-up, and the threatening of a federal agent. The plaintiffs won.

Now the former sheriff of one of the nation’s largest police forces is headed to prison. And it all could have been prevented if the police had allowed the FBI to do their jobs and root out those bad apples. So much for that theory!

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/former-national-sheriff-of-the-year-found-guilty-of-corruption/#pJjD56gQPO9IfICW.99

[Skeletor]

Wow.

For the First Time, Police Ask for Entire City’s Google Searches and the Court Says Yes

Edina, MN — An Orwellian precedent is underway just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota, which could be the downfall of internet freedom as we know it. Police in Edina, MN, have been granted a warrant requiring Google to determine everyone in an entire city who has used its search engine to look up a specific term and identify them to authorities.

The case doesn’t involve some massive terror plot to destroy an entire city or a high-level child trafficking ring. It is for a wire-fraud crime — worth less than $30,000. However, if Google caves to the warrant, it could set off a precedent that will undoubtedly be used by police across the country.

According to Ars Technica, investigators are focusing their probe on an online photo of someone with the same name of a local financial fraud victim. The image turned up on a fake passport used to trick a credit union to fraudulently transfer $28,500 out of an Edina man’s account, police said. The bogus passport was faxed to the credit union using a spoofed phone number to mimic the victim’s phone, according to the warrant application.

According to the warrant, Google must help police determine who searched for variations of the victim’s name between December 1 of last year through January 7, 2017.
The ominously worded warrant makes some chilling demands — all over a small fraud case.

A Google search, the warrant application says, as reported by Ars Technica, reveals the photo used on the bogus passport. The image was not rendered on Yahoo or Bing, according to the documents. The warrant commands Google to divulge “any/all user or subscriber information”—including e-mail addresses, payment information, MAC addresses, social security numbers, dates of birth, and IP addresses—of anybody who conducted a search for the victim’s name.

Independent journalist and public records activist, Tony Webster discovered the warrant and posted photos of it online. He has also expressed the grave reality surrounding such broad and sweeping dragnets — and their ability to sweep up innocent people in the process.

According to Webster:
But search warrants require supporting probable cause, not just mere suspicion or theory. For that reason, “anyone-who-accessed” search warrants like Detective Lindman’s can be risky to execute, as evidence could potentially be thrown out in a pretrial motion. Moreover, it’s possible that such a wide net could catch completely routine and non-criminal searches of the victim’s name by neighbors, prospective employers or business associates, journalists, or friends.
 
Could this type of search warrant be used to wrongly ensnare innocent people? If Google were to provide personal information on anyone who Googled the victim’s name, would Edina Police raid their homes, or would they first do further investigative work? The question is: what comes next? If you bought a pressure cooker on Amazon a month before the Boston bombing, do police get to know about it?

Prior to the actual warrant, Edina police sent Google an administrative subpoena “requesting subscriber information for anyone who had performed a Google search” for the victim’s name. However, according to the documents posted by Webster, Google easily refused to comply with that order as it does not have a judge’s signature.
However, after Google balked at complying, authorities pushed back even harder.

“Though Google’s rejection of the administrative subpoena is arguable, your affiant is applying for this warrant so that the investigation of this case does not stall,” officer David Lindman wrote the judge in the warrant application.
The good news is that Google, while they declined to specifically address the warrant, appears to be fighting it.

“We aren’t able to comment on specific cases, but we will always push back when we receive excessively broad requests for data about our users,” Google said in an e-mail to Ars.

If Google does comply with this order, the implications for what comes next are shocking, to say the least. Political activists, peaceful anti-establishment folks, and any generally but peaceful subversive individual could be identified and rounded up through this process. If ever there was a time to change your habits and begin using startpage.com, it is now.

As the Free Thought Project has previously reported, Google maintains a record of not only your entire search history but also your browsing history and voice recordings of all sounds associated before and after you say the words, “Okay Google.”
If you would like to know how to find out what Google has on you, how to stop it, and how to clear all of your data from their database, you can do so by clicking this link.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/first-time-court-orders-google-turn-everyone-searched-term/

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/judge-oks-warrant-to-reveal-who-searched-a-fraud-victims-name-on-google/

[Skeletor]

Cops Who Stalked and Severely Beat Innocent Postal Worker, On Video, Cleared of Charges

New York, NY — A dangerous precedent has been set in New York this week after two NYPD officers who stalked and beat an innocent postal worker — to the point of hospitalization, leaving him disabled — were let off with zero consequences.

Angelo Pampena, 32, and Robert Carbone, 30, faced up to seven years in prison on charges that they violently assaulted postal worker Karim Baker on Oct. 21, 2015. On Thursday, Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise cleared both of these cops — in spite of the overwhelming evidence against them — including video. Both of their cases were sealed and dismissed.

Baker had done nothing wrong and was being actively stalked by multiple NYPD cops for simply giving a man, who he did not know, directions.

On Dec. 20, 2014, a deranged lunatic would ask Baker for directions to the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Baker did not know this lunatic and had no idea of his intentions. However, he was seen on video giving him those directions. That demented madman was Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who went on to murder two NYPD cops in cold blood — Officers Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32 — before killing himself.
For the next ten months, NYPD officers allegedly set out to make Baker’s life a living hell after they found out he gave Brinsley those directions. Baker was stopped around 20 times by NYPD cops, before the final stop, in which they nearly killed him.

“I was being harassed, like cops outside by door and my family members’ doors, friends’ doors, just everybody. I felt just some type of way,” Baker said last year of the stalking.

“Mr. Baker began to be systematically harassed. He was pulled over by the police for various minor traffic infractions approximately 20 times in the span of nine months,” said Eric Subin, Baker’s attorney.
This final stop was caught on video.

On that fateful October night in 2015, Baker had just finished his shift when officers Pampena and Carbone moved in. Still in his uniform, the officers rolled up on Baker and began demanding he show them his ID. Baker, knowing he had done nothing wrong, refused to give his ID unless the officers could tell him why they needed it.

According to Subin, the officers claimed Baker was too close to a fire hydrant and then they began their attack. According to Subin, Baker, and surveillance footage of the incident, Pampena and Carbone, who were in plainclothes at the time, began striking Baker in the face and body multiple times before dragging him out of the car where they continued to beat him.
“He was a mess,” Subin said. “He got the hell beaten out of him.”

Baker suffered bruises to his face, tears to ligaments in his knees, and injuries to his spine and has been unable to return to work as a result of these injuries.

Baker was then arrested and charged with resisting arrest and criminal possession of a controlled substance. All charges would later be dismissed as they were baseless.
“We are gratified by the judge’s decision,” Pampena’s attorney, James Moschella, said of Thursday’s ruling. “These officers went out there in good faith and we feel the verdict is not only a vindication of their acts, but the brave actions of all New York City police officers day in and day out.”

“From the beginning, this appeared to be an overzealous prosecution not supported by the facts, so I appreciate the verdict,” Palladino said.
“I took the stand against the officers. I’m definitely worried. I still don’t feel comfortable,” said Baker of the verdict. “I feel I have to watch over my shoulder, watch my back. I just don’t feel secure. I’m just living life like under a rock, trying to be safe and secure.”

“It is pretty outrageous,” Subin said. “This beating is caught on video. There’s audio. The audio has him begging for his life and screaming for help. To have a complete acquittal, even of perjury, it just seems to me to be outrageous. It’s a bad day for victims, for justice.”
Baker is currently suing the NYPD for $100 million.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/nypd-cops-beating-baker-postal/

[Skeletor]

Mayor Calls in FBI After Multiple Cops in Dept Accused of Raping Children

Louisville, KY — Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called allegations of sexual abuse and rape by police officers of children in the department’s Youth Explorer program “our worst nightmare” — and has now appealed to the FBI to open an investigation.

“If there has been an injustice,” asserted the mayor, “it will be remedied.”

A previous probe into the accusations by the Louisville Metro Police will also be subject to inquiry by former U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey, whom Fischer hired to determine whether “errors were made” — including by top cop, Police Chief Steve Conrad.

“The allegations surrounding the Explorer program, if true, represent unacceptable conduct involving children, and the citizens of Louisville deserve to know what happened,” Harvey avowed.

Saying the FBI would have to determine whether or not to answer the call to investigate, Harvey surmised from news reports the allegations might constitute a federal violation of civil rights.

According to local NBC affiliate LEX18, “A lawsuit filed on behalf of a participant in the Youth Explorer program charges that his alleged rape by Officers Kenneth Betts and Brandon Wood was ‘concealed’ by department officials. Betts and Wood are accused of sexually assaulting the participant from 2011 through 2013 and recording the incidents to make pornography.”

David Yates, an attorney for the victim, noted the allegations — the now-22-year-old victim says officers used their position of authority to engage him in sexual acts when he was under the age of 18 — constitute third-degree statutory rape.

Betts had also been under investigation for alleged “improper contact” with a teenaged girl in the Explorer program — until Conrad ended it upon the officer’s resignation in 2014. Alarmingly, given the nature of the allegations, Wood remains active on the force, albeit in a limited, administrative capacity.

Conrad reportedly said he’s “dying” to discuss the case publicly, but has been barred from doing so by a court order sealing the lawsuit. Both the City of Louisville and the Courier-Journal have filed requests to unseal the case, which Fischer predicts will occur next week.

“Obviously I called for all the case to be unsealed so all the facts can be known on this,” said the mayor, who also termed the allegations “appalling.” “So to me it’s all about transparency and accountability. So I’m looking at all kind of options here.”

Unsealing the lawsuit, in this case, comes with mitigating circumstances — particularly given the age of the victim at the time of the alleged rapes.

“Yates said he doesn’t oppose unsealing the lawsuit as long as anything that identifies the victim is blacked out,” WAVE3 reports. “But Yates also said unsealing the lawsuit is not a simple process because all parties need to agree to it being unsealed, including LMPD Major Curtis Flaherty, who is being accused of failing to prevent the abuse from happening.”

With heightened attention given to the multi-pronged Youth Explorer investigation, the mayor faltered a bit when asked whether he retained confidence in the police chief, saying, “what is important is to get to the truth, and I think he agrees with that” — but ultimately backed Conrad.

David James, James Peden, and nine other council members had called for an outside agency to take up the investigation. James contended the probe must expand far beyond law enforcement, particularly as former police commanders now populate Fischer’s administration.

“It’s important we not just limit it to the police department, but knowing who knew what when, and wherever that goes is important,” James asserted, according to the Courier-Journal.

Pleased Fischer had turned to the FBI for assistance, Peden nonetheless expressed ambivalence toward Harvey’s involvement — and questioned the cost of bringing on board a former U.S. Attorney.

“I’ve been doing this long enough to know if you hire someone to do studies or investigate, they come up with results you wanted them to find in the first place,” the councilman remarked. “I think that’s a waste of money.”

According to the Courier-Journal, both James and Peden discussed the Youth Explorer program with Chief Conrad weeks before the filing of the lawsuit, and — based on information from within the police department — further allegations are likely.

In the meantime, one former officer accused of raping a minor boy walks completely free of punishment — as if rescinding the uniform, badge, and gun of the State absolves an individual of responsibility for any abhorrent behavior occurring on the taxpayer’s dime.

Worse, the second cop remains a paid and active employee — again, thanks to the taxpayers — though, granted, whatever the desk work, it likely won’t put him in direct contact with children.

The FBI has not yet given a statement in answer to the mayor’s request.

With the unsealing of the lawsuit anticipated as early as next week, this explosive case appears poised to bring the Louisville Metro Police under a piercing microscope. Peden noted,

“If anything, [Mayor Fischer] finally realizes this has now extended beyond the boundaries of just a bad police officer.”

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-child-rape-fbi/

[Skeletor]

If this type of security theater can happen to a former police chief, what about the "plain" US citizens?

Fmr Police Chief Gets a Dose of the Police State as He’s Detained at Airport ‘Because of His Name’

New York, NY — (RT) A retired police chief who served in US law enforcement for nearly 30 years says he was detained at JFK airport because his name, Hassan Aden, had reportedly been used as an alias by a person on “some watch list.”

After a joyful weekend celebrating his mother’s 80th birthday in Paris, Aden “happily” boarded his return flight to the US on March 13, a country he has been a citizen of for more than four decades.

When it was his turn to speak to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, Aden says he was asked if he was traveling alone.

“I knew this was a sign of trouble, I answered ‘yes,’ then he said, ‘Let’s take a walk,’” he wrote on Facebook.

That walk led Aden to what he described as a “re-purposed storage facility with three desks.” Signs were posted throughout the room, warning people to stay seated and informing them that using mobile phones was “strictly prohibited.”

Aden says he attempted to explain that he was a retired police chief, but the immigration officer said that he had “no control” and couldn’t release him, despite his long career in law enforcement.

A second officer provided a bit more information, explaining to Aden that his name “was used as an alias by someone on some watch list.” The 52-year-old was told that his information had been sent to another agency to “de-conflict and clear me so I could gain passage into the United States… my own country!!!”

While Aden waited, he noticed that he was being held longer than anyone else, despite having been a US citizen for 42 years. While the citizens of other countries spent five minutes in the room, Aden says he was stuck there for 1.5 hours.

Despite being trapped with no means of communicating with his wife or family, he was told by the original CBP officer that he was not being detained.

“But I’m not free to leave – how is that not a detention?” he replied.

“My movements were restricted to a chair and they had my passport… and he had the audacity to tell me I was not being detained,” the retired police chief said.

As he waited, Aden said he recalled the “numerous trips abroad” when he had had “no problems” upon returning and was greeted by CBP officers with a “welcome home.”

    Thanks for the support I’ve received since detailing my CBP detention.I’m fortunate to be able to give this problem a voice and a platform.

    — Hassan Aden (@chiefaden) March 20, 2017

He was eventually cleared and made his connecting flight to Washington DC “by minutes.”

Aden wrote that, despite being cleared, he now feels “vulnerable and unsure of the future of a country that was once great and that I proudly called my own.”

“This experience makes me question if this is indeed home. My freedoms were restricted, and I cannot be sure it won’t happen again, and that it won’t happen to my family, my children, the next time we travel abroad. This country now feels cold, unwelcoming, and in the beginning stages of a country that is isolating itself from the rest of the world – and its own people – in an unprecedented fashion. High levels of hate and injustice have been felt in vulnerable communities for decades – it is now hitting the rest of America,” he wrote.

Hassan, who worked in law enforcement for 30 years, grew up in France and Italy. He spent 26 years serving on the police force in Alexandria, Virginia, and most recently served as the chief of police in Greenville, North Carolina. The father of two now runs a law enforcement-focused consulting business.

His detention came just two weeks after President Trump rolled out a new travel ban, which has since been blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii. The executive order would bar the citizens of six countries from entering the United States. Trump has described it as a “watered down” version of the first ban, which sparked protests around the globe when the restrictions were chaotically implemented in airports across the US.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-chief-detained-airport-name/

[Skeletor]

Once again, the citizens footing the bill for the violent criminals. When will these goons be held personally accountable, pay out of their pocket, have their assets confiscated and thrown in prison?

Cop’s Violent Power Trip Costs Taxpayers $1.3 Million

A South Carolina state trooper’s conduct has led to a $1.3 million judgment awarded to a couple who accused the officer of excessive force during what originated as a simple traffic stop nearly four years ago.

The incident, which occurred in October 2012, began when Trooper James Enzor pulled over Catherine and Jerome Newkirk while they were driving on Interstate 95 in South Carolina. According to CBS North Carolina, “the complaint says the two were driving through a construction zone as part of a line of cars all traveling the same speed when the couple noticed they were being followed by a South Carolina Highway Patrol car with its blue lights on.”

During the stop, Enzo reportedly informed Catherine Newkirk that she was driving 77 mph in a 55 mph construction zone. While Enzor offered to issue her a ticket for driving 64 mph, Newkirk disagreed with receiving a ticket at all and maintained she had not been exceeding the speed limit.

Court documents stated that Newkirk told Enzor that she believed “there is a bit of discrimination going on here.” According to WIS-TV, once Newkirk suggested to Enzor that the traffic stop was based on discrimination, she said, “he snatched the ticket back and he told me to step out of the vehicle and I did.”

Video of the altercation is below. While much of the audio is difficult to hear, Enzo is seen and heard on video directing Newkirk to exit her vehicle and proceeding to place her under arrest, becoming increasingly agitated in his physical handling of her. Newkirk is also seen visibly resisting the unlawful arrest at first before allowing herself to be transported.

The Newkirks were both ultimately arrested and spent a day in prison following the arrest. Catherine was imprisoned for resisting arrest and assault, and Jerome was also imprisoned for a charge of “hindering a police officer,” as Enzo claimed that Jerome “did verbally and repeatedly instruct and coerce the driver of the vehicle to disregard any instructions” that he was giving to Catherine.

The Newkirks spent the next few years pursuing their case, first in state court and then in federal court. Enzo filed a request to dismiss the case based on qualified immunity. That request was denied and a jury was eventually able to see video of what transpired on the day of the Newkirk’s arrest.

Joe McCulloch, an attorney representing the Newkirks, noted that this video was “invaluable for the jury to see.”

The jury awarded $325,000 to Jerome Newkirk and $1 million to Catherine Newkirk. The couple is seeking an additional $500,000 in legal fees. They were previously awarded $100,000 in a settlement with the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Enzor has since lost his job; he was fired in an unrelated incident in which he made unspecified comments about a superior.

Just like that, taxpayers are hit for more than a million because of this officer’s inability to remain professional.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/south-carolina-cops-power-trip-costs-taxpayers-1-3-million/

[Skeletor]

The other cops who didn't arrest the violent criminal cop on the spot should be sent to prison.

Minneapolis Cop Charged for Kicking Man in Face and Lying About It

These days it is not uncommon for cops to get arrested for assault.

But Officer Christopher Reiter, 36, of the Minneapolis Police Department took things way too far when he kicked Mohamed Osman while he was already down on the ground.

Osman suffered severe brain injuries, brain bleeding and ended up with fractures in his face, including sinus fractures in his nose.

Because of the injuries, Osman is unable to work.

The on-duty assault occurred in Spring 2016, but Reiter was not arrested until March 15, 2017 after he and fellow officers lied about what had taken place that night – only for a surveillance video to expose their lies.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

In reports they filed after the incident, Domek wrote that as he approached Osman, he ordered him to get on the ground. Domek then wrote that he moved toward Osman “in an effort to push him to the ground to get him in handcuff position. While doing so, I felt resistance from the male, causing me to believe that he was going to attempt to fight as he had just been involved in a violent assault.”

In his report, Reiter said when the other officers ordered Osman out of the vehicle, “I could see [Osman] pushing off the ground.

“I made a split second decision and kicked [Osman] in the face one time with the top flat part of my boot.”

Reiter is charged with third-degree assault, but prosecutors plan to raise the charge to first-degree assault. The Minneapolis Police Department fired Reiter in Janurary 2017.

It all started in May 2016 when officers responded to a domestic violence call involving Osman and his girlfriend. The two were having dinner and an argument ensued about Osman’s wife.

Osman then hit his girlfriend several times and she called police. When police arrived to the couple’s apartment, they were told that Osman was sitting in his vehicle outside.

Officers approached Osman demanding that he get on his hands and knees and he complied.

It was then that Reiter dressed in an all black uniform came over to Osman and kicked him in the face while Osman was already on his hands and knees showing no resistance whatsoever.

But unbeknownst to Reiter, a nearby security camera was recording his every move.

Osman was taken to the hospital and staff determined he was suffering from a displaced nasal bone, nasal septal fractures and a mild traumatic brain injury. He was eventually arrested for the assault on his girlfriend.

When the other officers were questioned about what happened, they even stated that Reiter kicked Osman for no reason.

And it was nothing new for Reiter who kicked another man in the face while he was down in 2014. That case is now the subject of a police brutality lawsuit.

Additionally, in February of 2017 a $25,000 lawsuit was settled that involved Reiter and another officer violently arresting a man in 2015.

Overall, Reiter has been involved in eight excessive force complaints, two remain open.

However, Reiter portrayed himself to be a calm person in his job application with the police department saying:

“I am detailed oriented, do very well with hostile people, stay calm in tense situations.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau had this to say concerning the case:

“I have dealt with this matter internally, and we remain committed to creating a culture of accountability within the MPD. These actions are not consistent with our core values and we take that very seriously. Unfortunately, this incident takes away from the great strides we make daily to build public trust. It also takes attention away from the professional service our officers routinely provide while responding to more than 450,000 calls for service annually.”

Reiter is the second officer this year to be arrested for assault. In January, Officer Efrem Hamilton was arrested for felony second degree assault after he shot at a car full of people during a disturbance.

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/03/21/watch-minneapolis-cop-charged-for-kicking-man-in-face-and-lying-about-it/

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“They Kept Shooting”: Father of 6yo Boy Killed by Cops Speaks Out for First Time

Marksville, LA — It is now day three of the trial for Derrick Stafford, one of two officers charged with the 2015 murder of six-year-old Jeremy Mardis. Jeremy’s father, Chris Few, who was also shot that fateful night, took the stand Tuesday and spoke about the murder of his son for the first time in public.

During his heartbreaking testimony, Few noted that officers Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. immediately started firing — with no warning.
“The only thing I heard was gunshots. Then I heard verbal commands after they were through firing,” Few said. “I stuck my hands out the window. They kept firing.”

After he was shot, Few lost consciousness and didn’t know his son died until he woke up in a hospital six days later — the day of Jeremy’s funeral.
Matthew Derbes, a prosecutor in the case asked Few if he regrets not immediately stopping his car that night.
“Most definitely,” Few said. “Every day.”

However, Few noted that he was merely trying to catch up with the car in front of him, driven by his then girlfriend, so he could give Mardis to her in case he was arrested.
“The whole reason there was even a chase was for his well-being,” he said.
Few said his son remained calm as they drove after his girlfriend. “He always liked going on rides,” Few said of his son who was diagnosed with autism at age two.

According to the Greenhouse and Stafford, the officers decided to conduct a traffic stop because Few had an outstanding warrant. However, the Clerk of Court, the District Attorney’s Office, Marksville Police Department, and City Court noted that they did not have any warrants against him. The officers also claimed Few had a weapon, that was also a lie.

Prior to the shooting, Greenhouse reported that Few had rammed his SUV into the officer’s patrol car. But State Police detective Rodney Owens testified that no physical evidence exists suggesting Few’s vehicle had collided with Greenhouse’s patrol car.

Despite this lack of physical evidence, Stafford’s attorneys are trying to pin the blame for the deadly confrontation on Few.
“Innocent people do not run from the police. Innocent people stop their vehicles, surrender to the police,” defense attorney Jonathan Goins said as he called Few “the author of that child’s fate.”

However, since there was no warrant, no gun, and no subsequent charges, the implication that Few was not innocent, is another falsehood.

Even the other officer, Jason Brouillett, testified that he did not feel Few was a threat that night — which is why he did not fire.

“That car was not being used as a deadly weapon at that time,” District Court Judge William Bennett declared after viewing the body cam footage. “I daresay it was not even close to being used as a deadly weapon at that time.”

The horrifying body cam, released last September shows the disturbing scene that unfolded down that dark Marksville road.

During his testimony, Few kept his composure and even smiled when the prosecutor showed him a photo of little Jeremy celebrating the boy’s first Christmas. The jury, however, was unable to do the same.
KATC reports, jurors saw crime scene photos, and several members of the jury were visibly upset, even crying, when shown pictures of the 6-year-old. Images of Few’s gunshot wounds were also shown.

As the Free Thought Project has previously reported, this entire scenario could’ve been over a relationship. In November 2015, Few’s fiancée came forward about her relationship to one of the murdering cops, Norris Greenhouse, Jr.

According to the Advocate, Megan Dixon, Few’s fiancée at the time, said Few had a previous run-in with Greenhouse. A former high school classmate of Dixon, Greenhouse had started messaging her on Facebook and had come by the house Few and Dixon were sharing at the time.

“I told Chris, and Chris confronted him about it and told him, ‘Next time you come to my house I’m going to hurt you,’” Dixon said.

Sadly, for Jeremy Mardis, who will never see another Christmas or Birthday or throw the ball with his dad, and his family, the outcome of this trial is the only thing his heartbroken parents can hope for.
If convicted, Stafford faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/kept-shooting-father-6yo-boy-killed-cops-speaks-first-time/

[Skeletor]

Disturbing precedent and outrageous decision. Civil liberties eroded every day. Criminals allowed to indiscriminately kill with the approval of big government.

A Federal Court Just Ruled Cops Can Go to Wrong House, Kill Innocent Homeowner and Walk Free

Lake County, FL — A disturbing precedent has just been set in a federal appeals court which ruled in favor of police who knocked on the wrong door at 1:30 am, failed to identify themselves, and then repeatedly shot the innocent homeowner until he died.

The homeowner, 26-year-old Andrew Scott had committed no crime when officers came to his home that night on July 15, 2012. Police were actually in search of a person they witnessed speeding on a motorcycle when they began banging on Scott’s door.

Deputy Richard Sylvester was the officer who saw the speeding motorcycle while on patrol. Sylvester initiated a pursuit but lost sight of it after the motorcycle sped off. For some reason, Sylvester believed the motorcycle driver was armed, might be wanted by another police department, and had been spotted at a nearby apartment complex, according to the police reports.

Sylvester, along with three other deputies, arrived at the apartment complex and began knocking on doors close to where the motorcycle was parked. They started with apartment 114 which was occupied by Scott and his girlfriend Amy Young who were playing video games and had zero connection to the motorcycle, the driver, or any illegal activity at all.

According to a press release from the Rutherford Institute, assuming tactical positions surrounding the door to Apartment 114, the deputies had their guns drawn and ready to shoot. Sylvester, without announcing he was a police officer, then banged loudly and repeatedly on the door, causing a neighbor to open his door. When questioned by a deputy, the neighbor explained that the motorcycle’s owner did not live in Apartment 114. This information was not relayed to Sylvester.

Clearly troubled by someone pounding on his door at 1:30 am Scott grabbed his legally owned pistol and went to open the door. When he opened the door, he was immediately startled by the shadowy figures aiming guns at him and retreated into the apartment. At this point, Sylvester immediately opened fire on the retreating man, firing six shots, three of which struck Scott, killing him.
“Drew and I loved each other and he died protecting me,” said Young.

A lower court ruled in favor of Sylvester and blamed Scott for legally protecting his own home with a pistol against overzealous and apparently trigger-happy cops who failed to identify themselves as such.

Scott’s family appealed the lower court’s ruling only to be shut down again. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in favor of the police, yet again, that Sylvester was protected by “qualified immunity,” reasoning that the use of excessive force did not violate “clearly established law.”

The decision was split, with four judges dissenting with the majority’s ruling. In a strongly worded dissent from the judges, they noted the dangerous nature of this precedent.

First, under no standard was it reasonable for the police to kill Mr. Scott when he answered the knock at the door to his home. He was not suspected of any crime (much less a violent crime) and he was standing inside his own house without threatening them. Second, the police were not engaged in a permissible “knock and talk” when they killed Mr. Scott. Their aggressive tactics crossed far over the line from a consensual visit into a warrantless raid. When it upheld these rulings by the District Court, the panel (and now a majority of this Court) gave a pass to dangerous, unconstitutional police actions in a way that makes it more likely that tragic police shootings will continue to occur.

“Government officials insist that there is nothing unlawful, unreasonable or threatening about the prospect of armed police dressed in SWAT gear knocking on doors in the middle of night and ‘asking’ homeowners to engage in warrantless ‘knock-and-talk’ sessions,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “However, as Andrew Scott learned, there’s always a price to pay for saying no to such heavy-handed requests by police. If the courts continue to sanction such aggressive, excessive, coercive ‘knock-and-shoot’ tactics, it will give police further incentive to terrorize and kill American citizens without fear of repercussion.”

In the land of the free, those who claim they have sworn to protect you, can come to your house and kill you, and face no consequences. This is why police in America kill more citizens than anywhere in the rest of the world. This is why people protest. This is why people are angry.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/federal-court-just-ruled-cops-can-go-wrong-house-kill-innocent-homeowner-walk-free/#hx3GQDxS51wtmt6Q.99

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SWAT Raids Man’s Home over $100 in Pot, Shoot Him 57 Times, Paralyze Him, Then Lie About It

Radley Balko, of the Washington Post, writes a regular column for the newspaper called “The Watch.” Author of Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces,” Balko blogs about criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties. In one of his latest pieces on badge abuses, the author addressed, once again, the near homicide of a low-level Myrtle Beach, South Carolina drug dealer (Julian Betton) at the hands of police. Here’s his summary of the incident:

Julian Betton’s offense was to sell $100 worth of pot to a friend. For that, South Carolina police battered down his door, fired 57 shots at him and hit him nine times, leaving him paralyzed and without the use of several major body organs. The cops then lied about the circumstances of the raid to make it seem as if Betton deserved every bullet. When Betton awoke from a coma, his leg was shackled to the hospital bed. Prosecutors then charged him with several felonies — enough of them to put him in prison for the rest of his life, should he survive his injuries. For those two sales of pot totaling $100, Betton will not only be saddled with paralysis and debilitating injury, he’ll also have a felony record. The cops who broke down his door, filled him with bullets and then lied about what had happened will suffer no punishment at all.

What Balko’s synopsis doesn’t reveal, is that there were a series of cover-ups the police raid team engaged in, and what might seem like a team effort to coordinate their stories in the aftermath of the planned conflict. First, the team did not seek after, nor secure a no-knock raid warrant. Betton’s high-definition security footage reveals the police officers made no such effort to knock on the door, which is required by law, even though their police reports stated they did knock and announce their presence.

Secondly, the footage also reveals the team was not dressed as SWAT team members are typically dressed, used unmarked cars, and moved so swiftly in an effort to breach the door with a battery ram, that Betton’s neighbor actually thought a robbery was taking place. The confusion over the identity of the intruders, their no-knock breach of the front door, and the swiftness at which they moved, may have given Benton cause to arm himself, something for which Balko says he would have been justified.

At any rate, the attempt to coordinate a cover-up appears to have continued, with each officer on the scene turning on their body cameras only after they shot the marijuana dealer 57 times. Betton’s wounds were described by Balko.
He ended up losing his gallbladder and parts of his bowel, colon and rectum. The bullets also damaged his liver, small intestine and pancreas. His lung partially collapsed. His left leg was broken. One of his vertebrae was partially destroyed; two others were fractured. He’ll never walk again or be able to have kids of his own. He’ll also need to use a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.

No one disputes the shooting took place, but because each member of the team turned on their body cameras at the same time, no footage of the actual shooting exists, only the aftermath has been recorded. That may mean the officers later had someone delete the footage, or it may mean they simply forgot to turn on their cameras and only did so after the shooting occurred. The latter is not very likely. After all, why would each member of the team decide to turn on their cameras only after the shooting happened? The answer may also mean they were instructed to do so.

Police say Betton fired at the police raid team as they penetrated his home, which gave them just cause to engage the cannabis dealer with their deadly fire. But ballistics tests later confirmed Betton had not fired his handgun at all, a conclusion which means the police either lied about him firing his sidearm or believing that he had. Balko theorized Betton would have been a fool to have even pointed his small handgun at the direction of the intruders, given the overwhelming firepower with which the team was equipped. He wrote that in taking the evidence against the department’s official position in the shooting — that they lied about knocking, were dressed as criminals would, used unmarked vehicles, and then conveniently turned on their body cameras only after the event took place — the police must be lying about the entire incident.

Betton pleaded guilty this week to possession and distribution of 100 dollars worth of marijuana. And in what could be an indictment on the official police narrative, the prosecutor dropped all gun charges against the now handicapped man. As a result, the low-level weed dealer will likely win his civil suit against the MBPD, causing the taxpayers to saddle the costs associated with the near fatal assassination of a pot dealer. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigated the shooting and, predictably, cleared all the officers involved in the shooting.

As The Free Thought Project has observed on multiple occasions, police often lie when raids go bad, often meaning when the mark doesn’t die. The subsequent investigations almost always occur internally, meaning the police actually investigate themselves and are almost always cleared of any wrongdoing. The resulting lawsuits end up costing the citizenry millions in tax dollars and the cycle of police on citizen violence continues when it could all be prevented.

The raids over an innocuous plant should never occur. Marijuana needs to be legalized throughout the country, police need never to conduct a no-knock raid, and body cameras should run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and all court cases judgements for victims of police brutality be paid for out of police officer pension funds. Only then will there be less police involved shootings.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/100-worth-pot-leaves-man-paralyzed-life-shot-57-times-victim-police-raid/#OGsSJ2TS7iWZIW54.99

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Blue Privilege: Cop Gets Speeding Ticket After Running Over Innocent Man, Killing Him

York County, VA – Blue Privilege is rearing its head again in the case of a homeless man struck and killed when an on-duty cop unnecessarily sped through a 35 mph zone on a rainy night. For a normal citizen, this would likely bring a charge of involuntary manslaughter or vehicular homicide. But for Officer Scott George, it means nothing more than a speeding ticket.

York Daily Record reports that George was doing 13 miles over the speed limit, in dark, rainy conditions that would normally call for reducing one’s speed. He was on a non-emergency call to investigate a retail theft, when he struck 74-year-old Raymond Updegraff, a homeless man known as “Rayme” around the area.

A state police investigation concluded that Officer George’s actions only violated traffic rules – not the safety of pedestrians. George promptly pleaded guilty to speeding and has since returned to duty.

In the 14-page rationalization, District Attorney Thomas Kearney wrote:
“Using the definition of ‘probable cause,’ one must ask the question as to whether it is ‘more likely than not’ that the act of travelling 13 miles per hour over the speed limit on a rainy night was a direct or likely cause of the death. In other words, was the death the predictable, expected, likely result of the speeding? The author (Kearney) concludes in the negative believing the requirement for causation cannot be established beyond a reasonable doubt. Traveling 13 miles per hour at night time, in the rain, is certainly not a prudent course of action. However, neither does it fit the definition of ‘reckless’ or ‘grossly negligent’ conduct beyond a reasonable doubt. While there exists a deviation from the standard of conduct society expects (traveling at or below the speed limit), the deviation is not a gross deviation.”

Had roles been reversed, it’s safe to assume the average person would easily be charged with manslaughter, vehicular homicide or worse for running over a police officer, even off-duty. The “justice” system far too often proves to be arbitrary, with one’s status being the deciding factor in handing down punishment.

Blue privilege is becoming so pervasive that states, with the backing of the Trump administration intent on a “law and order” crusade, are enacting ‘Blue Lives Matter’ laws that make yelling at cops or resisting arrest hate crimes.

When cops kill unarmed homeless people – who are often mentally ill – these deaths are routinely treated as “justifiable.” We have documented numerous cases of cops being let off the hook for attacks on homeless people that would be considered barbaric by any rational standard.

Updegraff’s family said they have not received so much as an apology from Officer George. He declined to be interviewed by investigators if state troopers were going to read Miranda rights, and instead provided a written statement.

In the statement, George said he was “not in any hurry” when he killed Updegraff, and said, “The first and only time I saw the pedestrian was immediately before impact with the corner of my car.”
George’s attorney stated that George “has expressed his deepest sympathy for the loss of Mr. Updegraff’s life. He insisted they could have contested the traffic ticket, but by pleading guilty George is “accepting responsibility and providing legal closure for Mr. Updegraff’s family.”

In a final insult, the attorney wrote, “People generally don’t want to accept responsibility for their own actions in today’s society; he did.”
DA Kearney characterized George’s actions as “slight negligence” and there was no reckless conduct in speeding down a dark road on a rainy night. It will be interesting to see if the same rationale is applied in future cases where the perpetrator is a non-cop.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-kills-homeless-man-ticket/

[Skeletor]

83-year-old Grandpa Forgot to Use His Blinker, So Cops Put Him in the Hospital

Antrim County, MI  — Failing to use a blinker for a u-turn has ended with a stay in the hospital for an 83-year-old business owner in Antrim County. Bar owner, Larry Sevenski found out the hard way that police in America can and will escalate violence when it is entirely unnecessary — even against the elderly.

Last week, Sevenski got a call from customers informing him that state troopers were parked outside of his pub, Larry’s Seven-Ski Inn. So, this business owner of 50 years decided to go talk to the police. He had no idea that this decision would end up with charges and a stay in the hospital.

Sevenski only wanted to ask the police if there was a problem. However, as he drove over to the two police vehicles, he failed to use his turn signal — a move which apparently angered the cops — so they pulled him over.

When Sevenski got out of his vehicle to talk to the police, he was immediately met with force.
“They said I couldn’t talk to them. I was breaking some kind of law, I don’t know. It got crazy, all at once,” says Sevenski.

According to police, Sevenski didn’t comply with their commands fast enough and got out of his vehicle. So, they put him in the hospital.
According to the Michigan State police, the 83-year-old grandpa was a threat to officers.

“The subject then grabbed ahold of the trooper’s wrist and proceeded to make a fist in an assaultive motion. At that point, the trooper initiated his defensive tactics techniques and brought the subject to the ground,” says 1st Lt. Mark Harris, Michigan State Police Gaylord Post.

However, according to Sevenski, he says he just wanted to talk to the troopers.
“They handcuffed me, and they hurt very bad because I have a reversed shoulder and I can’t put my arm behind my body,” explains Sevenski. “Everybody’s worried about me. I’ve been worried about me, too. Just don’t know what I did wrong.”

Naturally, police have justified the violence against the elderly man because he did not immediately curtsey and obey every command given by the officers — who Sevenski only wanted to engage in conversation.

Lt. Harris says, “If he would have complied with the orders of the trooper, got back in the car and not become aggressive and assaultive, he would not have ended up on the ground.”
The 83-year-old man, for allegedly failing to obey every single command given by the officers, was assaulted to the point of needing surgery on his arm and had a broken nose.

According to FOX 32, the Antrim County prosecutor is reviewing a report for charges of assault and resisting and obstructing a police officer.
Sevenski was given a traffic ticket for not using his turn signal.

In the land of the free, 83-year-old grandpas can and will be beaten by police and hospitalized for trying to have a conversation.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/83yo-grandpa-hospital-police/

[Skeletor]

A pervert from "New York's finest", who would've guessed?

NYPD Detective Arrested for Masturbating While Peering into Child’s Window

Members of the Thin Blue Line were forced to arrest one of their own after he was busted masturbating while peering into a child’s window.

New York City Police Detective Robert Francis, 46, was in Rockville Centre police custody charged with public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a child after he was arrested him at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to Pix11.

He has since been released on a desk appearance ticket, which means he did not have to post a bond and was freed from jail with a mere promise to appear in court at a later date to face the charges against him.

Francis’ arrest comes shortly after a rash of reports from several Rockville Center residents reporting a naked man trolling through back yards, knocking on windows then using a flashlight or forehead light to expose himself to children.

Callers reported the man was naked from the waist down. Police have not said whether he is linked to those previous incidents or specified how they determined the detective was the suspect reported.

According to reports, shortly after highlighting his lewd acts, the man described as being 5-foot-10 and weighing about 220 pounds, took off running.

Three incidents were reported in February between 8 and 9 p.m.

Detective Francis was located shortly after the call and arrested just a few blocks away from the scene.

Earlier this month, Charles Gennario, the Rockville Centre Police Commissioner, stated he believes reports of the man are connected.

“This is raising our level  of concern now,” Genneario said on Sunday.

A call from a Rockville Centre homeowner Sunday prompted Francis’ arrest.

The caller told authorities a he could see a man masturbating in his backyard.

NYPD confirmed Francis, who is employed by the 71st precinct in Brooklyn, has been suspended without pay.

Police are now trying to determine if Francis is the suspect callers described in previous reports and are looking into whether they can add more charges to the list of charges he now faces.

Police have not yet made that specific correlation, but are expected to release more details later today.

Rockville Centre is a village in Nassau County about an hour’s drive from New York City.

Anyone witnesses, or those with information regarding public lewdness in the area, are urged to call the Rockville Centre Police Department at 516-766-1500.

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/03/27/nypd-detective-arrested-masturbating-peering-childs-window/

[Skeletor]

As is usual is such cases, the violent gang members faced no charges. But if the "good cop" saw the assault by these criminals why did he not arrest them on the spot (and use appropriate force if they resisted) instead of just testifying against them afterwards? Why did he allow the man to be assaulted and tortured by these violent criminals while he watched?

Good Cop Quits, Crosses Blue Line After Video Shows Fellow Cops Allow K9 to Maul Innocent Man

St. Paul, MN — On the night of June 24, 2016, Frank Baker ‘fit the description’ of a ‘black man’ in the area, so he was attacked by police and their K9. For several minutes, Baker was beaten, tasered, and viciously mauled by their K9. Also at the scene that fateful night was officer Tony Spencer — whose dashcam recorded the violent assault on Baker, who was entirely innocent.

That night, Spencer and his partner responded to a call, which ended up being fake, about a man with dreadlocks wearing a white t-shirt and armed with a gun.
When they arrived on the scene, Spencer and his partner saw Baker and realized he did not look like a suspect.

“There are about 50 people who would have matched that description that night,” Spencer said of Baker. “He is not acting agitated. To me, he does not appear to be engaged in a fight. He did not appear to have run from a fight … so we continue to roll through.”

However, just after they passed Baker, two less experienced and far more violent cops showed up, pulled out their guns, and unleashed a dog.
Because police said Baker was slow to respond when showing his hands, officer Brian Ficcandenti let loose the K9, ‘Falco.’

“I’m thinking he (Ficcadenti) saw something we didn’t see or missed and is now performing a felony-style stop,” Spencer recalled. “As I turn the car and see the dog pulling out this man from the cars, I recognize it’s (Baker). I can clearly see there’s nothing in his hand as he comes between the cars.”

While having his flesh literally torn from his body, Ficcandenti is heard encouraging the dog. “Get him, buddy. Good,” said the officer. “Get him.”

The dashcam then captured the following beat down — after Baker had been mauled. When officer Brett Palkowitsch exited the vehicle, he ran over to the innocent man and began kicking and stomping Baker’s ribs.
Baker’s legs were so severely injured during the attack that he spent weeks in the hospital recovering. He also suffered several broken ribs and collapsed lungs.

According to his attorney Robert Bennett, the dog tore “hunks of flesh” as its teeth bit “down to the bone” of Baker’s legs.

After watching his fellow officers do this to an innocent person, Spencer could no longer stand it and decided to become a good cop. He crossed the thin blue line and testified against the officers who nearly killed an innocent man.

“It was very difficult because it was something I had been programmed throughout my career to never do,” Spencer, 46, told Ruben Rosario from Twin Cities.
“But I decided that the right thing to do was tell Mr. Baker’s story,” he added as he looked away momentarily, tears starting to form in his eyes, explained Rosario. “I owed it to him. How do you explain to that guy what happened to him was justified?”

Spencer, who felt horrible after watching his fellow officers do this to an innocent man, he visited Baker in the hospital.

“He had these big tears in his eyes,” Spencer noticed. “He was still having trouble breathing. And then he tells me: ‘I know there are good cops and there are bad cops. The thing is I know what you guys are up against out there. I know what St. Paul cops deal with. I live in that area. I love my St. Paul cops. The dog thing I almost get because I did not come out as quick as I probably should have. But those kicks he did were bogus.’ ”

Sadly, the officer who released the dog was not fired and remains on the force. As for officer Palkowitsch, who kicked the innocent Baker as he bled out, he will likely be getting his job back. Neither of the cops faced any charges.

“We are the department that brought (cop killer) Guy Harvey Baker to jail alive,” Spencer said. “That’s what the community expects of us. The younger cops don’t understand the legacy of the department. In our darkest hour on our worst day, we brought in that guy alive. And he did not have seven broken ribs and two collapsed lungs, did he? And he killed two of our cops.”

Because of Spencer’s testimony, which was described as the entire department against him and his partner, Baker received the largest settlement for police misconduct in the history of St. Paul. Attorneys for Frank Arnal Baker said Monday that they have a verbal agreement with the city for $2 million for the case. The agreement, they noted, has yet to be signed by all parties, reports the pioneer press.

Officer Spencer is the epitome of a good cop as he was unafraid of pointing out the crimes of his fellow cops against an innocent member of society — whom they ostensibly protect.

However, that good cop is now gone and he will, like he alluded to above, be replaced by “younger cops [who] don’t understand the legacy of the department” who are more prone to destroy first and attempt to justify later.

Below is a video showing the type of legacy the new cops intend to leave for the St. Paul police department — and it is terrifying.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/good-cop-quits-video-shows-fellow-cops-allow-k9-maul-innocent-man-nearly-death/

[Skeletor]

Cops Break into Wrong House, Arrest Innocent Children, Kill Their Dog — Taxpayers Held Liable

Las Vegas, NV — Kenya and Henry Brian Rodriguez were playing video games and watching TV with their two friends Jordhy Leal and David Madueno when all of the sudden cops rushed into their home, held them all at gunpoint, killed the family dog, and unlawfully arrested them and their father. After going to the wrong home, murdering the family dog, and kidnapping and terrorizing innocent children, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department still maintains that they did everything by the book.

Now, because of America’s cruel system of ‘justice,’ the officers responsible were never held accountable and it is the taxpayers who are taking responsibility. On Monday, in spite of saying they did everything by the book, the LVMPD Fiscal Affairs Committee approved a settlement to the family for the abuse.

The incident happened on Oct. 24, 2009, and it has taken nearly 8 years for the family to receive even a drop of justice. According to the lawsuit and the arrest records, the children and family had done nothing wrong when police barged in that fateful day.

Around 4:30 in the afternoon, police received a 911 call from a witness who claimed he saw two white males looking into the windows of homes in his neighborhood. The children and the adults in the home were all Hispanic — not white.

Sgt Jay Roberts and officer Michael Dunn of the LVMPD responded first and were then followed by a slew of their colleagues who swarmed the residence of Jesus Sandoval and Adriana Rodriguez — the parents of the children.

According to the lawsuit, what happened next was nothing short of negligent terrorism:

Roberts looked through an open bedroom window and saw “three young males” who were “younger than 18 to 20,” and were “about 14, 15.” Roberts conceded that the boys—Henry, then 18, who lived at the house, and his two friends, David, then 15, and Jordhy, then 16—“did not match” two of the three metrics that Schouten had given him: the number of suspects or the age of the suspects.

In spite of realizing that these young boys were not the suspects police were looking for, Roberts and his fellow officers escalated the situation anyway. According to the lawsuit:

Roberts pointed his gun at the head of one of the boys through the bedroom window, and gave the boys conflicting commands, telling them “don’t move,” “[l]et me see your hands,” and “turn the music down.” Roberts told Jordhy to turn down the music, which Jordhy tried to do, and then told him, “I told you don’t move, I could shoot you” or “I’ll fucking shoot you.”

According to the lawsuit, all the children did their best to comply with the crazed officer’s conflicting commands but admitted they may not have heard them all as the music was playing and he yelled so many of them.

As Roberts was holding innocent children at gunpoint, his partner Dunn entered the room through a sliding glass door — also with his gun drawn. Both officers admitted in the lawsuit that their commands could have created confusion.

After the situation briefly calmed down, Roberts ordered the children out of the bedroom. At this point, Henry asked police if he could put away the family dog, Hazel — before letting cops into the rest of the home — he was denied.

What happened next is nothing short of terrifying, especially considering these were children, not some hardened criminals. According to the lawsuit:

As the boys exited the bedroom, Hazel slipped in front of Henry and Jordhy, but continued to walk behind David, according to David’s testimony. Dunn shot Hazel in the face, twelve inches from David, and in the direction of Henry and Jordhy. The officers ordered David and Jordhy to the floor, handcuffed them, and brought them outside. Henry was ordered outside, but was not cuffed until later, as he was carrying Hazel, who was bleeding to death. The boys testified that the handcuffing and other treatment by the officers caused them pain.

Not until they had arrested all the children and killed their dog did the officers even ask if the kids had a right to be in the home.
After Henry called his father, Jesus Sandoval, he came rushing home to find his son covered in blood. He was horrified and thought police had shot his son. However, it was Hazel’s blood.

Cops then attacked Sandoval, who’d just had back surgery and was in severe pain, and put him in handcuffs. After they slammed him into the cruiser, Sandoval was detained in the patrol car for 25 to 30 minutes, still “screaming in pain,” before officers responded to his requests for medication, according to the lawsuit.

According to the court records, none of the family members or the boys were cited or charged with any crime, and Dunn testified that the boys committed no crime. The officers eventually “just left.” Dunn admitted that if he or Roberts had asked basic identifying questions, the entire incident would not have happened.

None of the officers involved in the case were held liable for any of the damage they caused. However, the taxpayers will now be robbed of $200,000 — an insultingly low amount for the family — to pay for these incompetent and abusive officers.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-break-wrong-house-arrest-4-innocent-children-kill-family-dog-taxpayers-held-liable/