Police State - Official Thread

[Soul Crusher]

Horrible.

The FBI Raided This Innocent Woman's House. Will She Ever Get Justice?

On an early morning in 2017, Curtrina Martin inadvertently attended a pyrotechnic exhibit she compares to the Fourth of July. Except it was October, and it was inside her home in Georgia.

The source was considerably less joyful. The FBI detonated a flash grenade in the house and ripped the door from its hinges in a raid to arrest a man, Joseph Riley, accused of gang activity, who lived in a different house approximately one block over.

The agents would not realize their mistake until after they made their way into Martin's bedroom, where they found her and her then-fiancé, Hilliard Toi Cliatt, hiding in the closet, which the couple had retreated to when they were jolted awake by the commotion. An officer on the SWAT team dragged Cliatt out and handcuffed him, while another officer screamed and pointed his gun at Martin, who had reportedly fallen on a rack amid the chaos.

"I don't know if there is a proper word that I can use" to describe her fear that night, Martin tells me. She says she initially had no idea it was law enforcement that had broken into her home. Her 7-year-old son was in a different room she couldn't get to.

The leader of the SWAT raid, Lawrence Guerra, who was then a special agent with the FBI, noticed that Cliatt did not match the physical description of Riley, while Michael Lemoine, another FBI special agent, saw a piece of mail with a different address than the target. Guerra ultimately ended the raid.

Almost 7 years have gone by, and Martin and Cliatt are still trying to find recourse for what happened that night. A federal lawsuit they filed continues to wind its way through the judiciary, although the courts have thus far immunized the government from having to pay any damages.

The most recent decision came in April of this year, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that Guerra—who, according to his LinkedIn, retired from the FBI in 2022—did not violate the Constitution when he led the SWAT team to the wrong house. In the court's view, Guerra had taken reasonable steps to prepare for the raid, despite that they didn't pay off. Martin's home and the target home "share several conspicuous features," the judges wrote in a per curiam opinion, such as both being "beige in color" and having "a large tree in the front." It was also dark outside, rendering it "difficult to ascertain the house numbers on the mailboxes," they wrote.

"Therefore, the decisions that Guerra made—albeit mistaken—in the rapidly-changing and dangerous situation of executing a high-risk warrant at night," the court ruled, "constitute the kind of reasonable mistakes that the Fourth Amendment contemplates." He received immunity.

Martin and Cliatt also sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which allows victims of abuse to bring certain state torts against the federal government. There are a few wide-ranging exceptions to that, too, however. Such claims are doomed if the government's misconduct arose from a duty that "involves discretion." Since "the FBI did not have stringent policies or procedures in place that dictate how agents are to prepare for warrant executions," Guerra had discretion, the 11th Circuit said, and is thus protected. Next came the Supremacy Clause, the rule that bars state tort claims if "a federal official's acts 'have some nexus with furthering federal policy and can reasonably be characterized as complying with the full range of federal law,'" as the court recently reiterated in Kordash v. United States (2022). The 11th Circuit said that stipulation foreclosed Martin and Cliatt's remaining claims.

More recently, Amy Hadley's home was left a shell of what it was after police detonated dozens of tear gas grenades in the house, threw flash grenades through the front door, shattered windows, punched holes in the walls, destroyed the security cameras, and more. An officer's faulty investigation led them there. The government said that it's her problem to shoulder alone. (Her lawsuit is ongoing.)

https://reason.com/2024/08/08/the-fbi-raided-this-innocent-womans-house-will-she-ever-get-justice/

[Soul Crusher]

i=PheXdwmFw4L6hSq8

[Skeletor]

Trespassing, breaking and entering, theft, tampering with evidence.

They could have just asked but they know they are above and outside the law. Yet they could not go up on a mildly sloped roof.


Secret Service allegedly trespassed at hair salon to use bathroom

The U.S. Secret Service broke into the Four One Three Salon on Saturday during Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Employees of the agency used the bathroom at Alicia Powers' salon, ate her mints, and left without tidying up the bathroom or locking up her salon, The Berkshire Eagle reported.

But the trespassing did not stop there.

"Somebody dressed in all black" told multiple individuals to come in and use the salon's bathroom, Powers reported hearing in communications from EMS workers.

"I'm the kind of person that would have set up coffee and doughnuts for them had they asked me for permission," remarked Powers after the intrusion.

An agency employee reportedly "taped over a security camera on the back porch" before breaking in and they failed to clean up after themselves.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/secret-service-allegedly-trespassed-hair-salon-use-bathroom

[Soul Crusher]

[Skeletor]

Start holding the cops personally liable, lock them up in prison, make them pay out of their pockets, raid the police pension funds and union coffers.


5 Years of Chicago Police Misconduct Cost Taxpayers Almost $400 Million

Over the past five years, Chicago taxpayers have forked over nearly $400 million to resolve lawsuits stemming from officer misconduct, according to a new analysis of city data. While around 1,300 police officers were named in the lawsuits, just 200 were responsible for more than 40 percent of the total cost.

This week, Chicago PBS station WTTW released the results of an extensive analysis of Chicago police misconduct lawsuits. The investigation, which covered payouts from 2019 to 2023, found that city taxpayers footed the bill for $384.2 million in settlements, damages, lawyer fees, and other payouts. Repeat offenders—200 of them—were named in lawsuits that made up $164.3 million of the cost. In total, the city paid to resolve 539 lawsuits over the period studied.

WTTW's analysis also found that a single officer, Sgt. Jerald Williams, was responsible for a staggering $1.4 million in lawsuit payouts, including $850,000 awarded to a victim whom Williams "slammed…to the pavement" after being stopped for drinking in 2019.

The city should have known that Williams was a liability. According to WTTW, he's had 22 misconduct complaints filed against him throughout his career. Police department officials had recommended his suspension several times for using unnecessary force.

Despite the serious—and expensive—misconduct allegation against Williams, he was promoted and given a raise just a year after the suit that named him was resolved, according to WTTW.

WTTW's report noted that, in 2017, the Department of Justice released the results of an investigation that found reasonable cause to believe the Chicago Police Department "engages in a pattern or practice of using force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution." The department even recommended that the city "review settlements and judgments on a broader scale to spot for trends, identify officers most frequently sued, and determine ways to reduce both the cost of the cases and the underlying officer misconduct."

This latest analysis of city data indicates that Chicago officials didn't heed this warning.

https://reason.com/2024/08/12/5-years-of-chicago-police-misconduct-cost-taxpayers-almost-400-million/

[Skeletor]

Until asset forfeiture is treated like the racket it is and those who participate in the crime are imprisoned for decades, it will keep expanding.

Family Jewelry Business Fights Back to End Predatory Civil Forfeitures at Indianapolis FedEx Hub

Indiana’s state motto is “The Crossroads of America,” and for years police have exploited one of the nation’s biggest shipping centers to profit from that status. Indianapolis is home to the second-largest FedEx Express hub, where 99,000 packages from all over the country can be processed in a single hour. There, law enforcement officials pluck packages from conveyor belts, run them past K-9s, and, if a dog alerts and the officers find cash, the county prosecutor’s office begins civil-forfeiture proceedings in Indiana state court to keep the money.

The prosecutor’s office does not tell the owners what crime was allegedly committed to justify forfeiture or what facts support its allegations that the cash is linked to a crime. To make matters worse, the parcels and their owners usually have no connection to Indiana other than the happenstance that FedEx routed the parcel through its Indianapolis hub.

Henry and Minh Cheng fell victim to this profiteering scheme in early 2024. The husband and wife own a small wholesale jewelry business in California. They’ve been running their business for three decades. They made a bulk sale of jewelry merchandise to one of their retail-jeweler customers, in Virginia, who eventually paid for the order by placing cash in a parcel and mailing it through FedEx to Henry and Minh in California.

The parcel was seized by an Indianapolis police officer at the FedEx hub, and the prosecutor in Indianapolis began forfeiture proceedings to keep the cash. But the prosecutor’s office has not identified (and cannot identify) an Indiana crime that serves as the basis for forfeiture.

Now, Henry and Minh are teaming up with the Institute for Justice to get their money back and to end Indiana’s profiteering. Americans should never have to prove their innocence to keep their property. Yet, civil forfeiture turns justice on its head, making cops into robbers rather than crime fighters.

https://ij.org/case/indiana-parcel-forfeiture/

[falco]

Happened in North Korea the UK.

[Skeletor]

It turns out that the same FBI that raided Mar-a-Lago for alleged mishandling of classified information is systematically mishandling secret and classified material. Will we see raids, arrests and charges here?


DOJ IG Finds FBI Systematically Mishandled Classified Info

Talk about irony: The FBI, which was willing to use deadly force over Donald Trump allegedly mishandling classified documents, has been systematically mishandling similar information for years, according to bombshell findings released Thursday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

The DOJ-IG said it discovered the FBI’s mishandling of classified information while auditing a contract related to how the bureau destroys electronics containing “sensitive-but-unclassified” information, as well as classified national security information.

According to Horowitz’s audit, the FBI labels computers that handle such information when it sends them to a facility to be destroyed. However, it does not label internal hard drives extracted from those computers. The FBI also doesn’t properly track thumb drives and disk drives containing information of varying classification levels, according to Horowitz.

Compounding the security risk is the fact that those unmarked internal hard drives, thumb drives and disk drives often end up in a physically unsecured warehouse.

Horowitz said that when his staff visited an FBI “Media Destruction Team” facility last October, they found “non-accountable” hard drives and other electronic storage devices sitting in an open pallet-sized box. Horowitz said he’s not disclosing details about the facility since it’s not secured.

“A [property-turn-in] staff member told us that the pallet for the loose media was unsecured for extended periods, sometimes spanning days or even weeks because PTI would wrap the pallets and move them to the Facility shelves only when the box reached full capacity,” the Inspector General said.

During the same visit last October, Horowitz said his staff also found a container from January 2022 that identified its contents as “non-accountable.”

“Notably, the container’s shrink wrapping was torn, and boxes inside were visibly open and contained hard drives marked Secret,” he said.

Horowitz added that after his team spotted the box, the FBI’s Asset Management Unit “promptly secured” it with additional shrink wrap. However, the FBI’s PTI supervisor and contractor told Horowitz that they would not be aware if someone was to take hard drives from the pallets because these assets are not counted or otherwise tracked.

https://headlineusa.com/scoop-doj-ig-finds-fbi-systematically-mishandling-classified-info/

https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/24-093.pdf

[Skeletor]

Not surprising that Axon (makers of Tazer and the "excited delirium" BS) is marketing this dystopian shit.


What Can Go Wrong When Police Use AI to Write Reports?

Axon—the makers of widely-used police body cameras and tasers (and that also keeps trying to arm drones)—has a new product: AI that will write police reports for officers. Draft One is a generative large language model machine learning system that reportedly takes audio from body-worn cameras and converts it into a narrative police report that police can then edit and submit after an incident. Axon bills this product as the ultimate time-saver for police departments hoping to get officers out from behind their desks. But this technology could present new issues for those who encounter police, and especially those marginalized communities already subject to a disproportionate share of police interactions in the United States.

Responsibility and the Codification of (Intended or Otherwise) Inaccuracies

We’ve seen it before. Grainy and shaky police body-worn camera video in which an arresting officer shouts, “Stop resisting!” This phrase can lead to greater use of force by officers or come with enhanced criminal charges.  Sometimes, these shouts may be justified. But as we’ve seen time and again, the narrative of someone resisting arrest may be a misrepresentation. Integrating AI into narratives of police encounters might make an already complicated system even more ripe for abuse.

The public should be skeptical of a language algorithm's ability to accurately process and distinguish between the wide range of languages, dialects, vernacular, idioms and slang people use. As we've learned from watching content moderation develop online, software may have a passable ability to capture words, but it often struggles with content and meaning. In an often tense setting such as a traffic stop, AI mistaking a metaphorical statement for a literal claim could fundamentally change how a police report is interpreted.

Moreover, as with all so-called artificial intelligence taking over consequential tasks and decision-making, the technology has the power to obscure human agency. Police officers who deliberately speak with mistruths or exaggerations to shape the narrative available in body camera footage now have even more of a veneer of plausible deniability with AI-generated police reports. If police were to be caught in a lie concerning what’s in the report, an officer might be able to say that they did not lie: the AI simply mistranscribed what was happening in the chaotic video.

It’s also unclear how this technology will work in action. If the officer says aloud in a body camera video, “the suspect has a gun” how would that translate into the software’s narrative final product? Would it interpret that by saying “I [the officer] saw the suspect produce a weapon” or “The suspect was armed”? Or would it just report what the officer said: “I [the officer] said aloud that the suspect has a gun”? Interpretation matters, and the differences between them could have catastrophic consequences for defendants in court.

Review, Transparency, and Audits

The issue of review, auditing, and transparency raises a number of questions. Although Draft One allows officers to edit reports, how will it ensure that officers are adequately reviewing for accuracy rather than rubber-stamping the AI-generated version? After all, police have been known to arrest people based on the results of a match by face recognition technology without any followup investigation—contrary to vendors’ insistence that such results should be used as an investigative lead and not a positive identification.

Moreover, if the AI-generated report is incorrect, can we trust police will contradict that version of events if it's in their interest to maintain inaccuracies? On the flip side, might AI report writing go the way of AI-enhanced body cameras? In other words, if the report consistently produces a narrative from audio that police do not like, will they edit it, scrap it, or discontinue using the software altogether?

And what of external reviewers’ ability to access these reports? Given police departments’ overly intense secrecy, combined with a frequent failure to comply with public records laws, how can the public, or any external agency, be able to independently verify or audit these AI-assisted reports? And how will external reviewers know which portions of the report are generated by AI vs. a human?

Police reports, skewed and biased as they often are, codify the police department’s memory. They reveal not necessarily what happened during a specific incident, but what police imagined to have happened, in good faith or not. Policing, with its legal power to kill, detain, or ultimately deny people’s freedom, is too powerful an institution to outsource its memory-making to technologies in a way that makes officers immune to critique, transparency, or accountability.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/05/what-can-go-wrong-when-police-use-ai-write-reports

[Skeletor]

"To serve and protect"...


‘Negligent’ Miami Beach cop ignores deadly hit-and-run steps away from department’s HQ

A now-former Miami Beach police officer blatantly ignored a deadly hit-and-run in front of his department’s headquarters earlier this year, according to newly released surveillance footage of the incident and local cops.

Esmat Ahmed Ibrahim Khedr, 63, was seen riding her electric bicycle toward an intersection steps away from the Miami Beach Police Headquarters before she was struck by a blue Ford Bronco, video obtained by Local 10 showed.

The driver takes off as bystanders rush to Khedr’s aid moments later. Miami Beach police officer Edward Cavalie was near the scene and was informed by witnesses of the hit-and-run, but refused to take action.

Cavalie “directed the civilians who reported the collision to enter the police station and file the report themselves” before he drove away from the scene, Miami Beach police Chief Wayne Jones said in a statement to Local 10.

A witness then went inside the headquarters, informed other officers of the incident outside, and rushed over to find Khedr unconscious and not breathing.

The 63-year-old victim was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Police later identified Dania Beach resident Demarcus Cortez Harrington, 43, as the driver of the blue Ford Bronco. According to Local 10, his acquaintance told police that when they stopped a short while later, he asked him if he had “run anyone over” and pleaded with Harrington to return to the scene.

The two allegedly almost came to blows, with Harrington telling his acquaintance he’s “not going back to jail” before ditching the Bronco in a nearby alleyway, the outlet reported.

https://nypost.com/2024/09/05/us-news/former-miami-beach-police-officer-edward-cavalie-ignoring-deadly-hit-and-run-steps-away-from-departments-hq/

[Skeletor]

Detroit Police Arrest Mother, Traumatize Autistic Son, And Impound Car Based Off Bad Automated License Plate Reader Data

Acting on information drawn from its multi-million-dollar network of license plate readers, Detroit police handcuffed Isoke Robinson, put her 2-year-old son, who has autism, in the back of a police cruiser, and seized and impounded her only car for more than three weeks.
 
But witnesses to the Sept. 3, 2023, drive-by shooting police were investigating never gave officers even a partial license plate number.
 
And the man later convicted in the nonfatal shooting has no known connection to Robinson or her 2013 Dodge Charger. Robinson, who had to borrow someone's truck to keep her job as an assembly line worker at Stellantis and has sued the city in federal court, was never charged with a crime or even identified as a suspect.

https://autospies.com/news/index.aspx?submissionid=122795

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2024/09/16/detroit-police-license-plate-readers-isoke-robinson-car-shooting/75189126007/

[Agnostic007]

Nothing about the Miami Football player? Im impressed

[AbrahamG]

Tulsi needs to replace her concealer with spackle from Home Depot.

[Skeletor]

Listen to this angry effeminate dirtbag making threats:

Remember this angry effeminate dirtbag making threats?

Turns out that he didn't "wait for all the facts to come out", as cops often say.

Once again, another crime was committed based on lies and fabrications that the "law enforcement professionals" didn't bother to check. It only crossed their mind to do so after 2 people were murdered in their home. Just claiming "it was a mistake" will not bring these people back and their killing could have been avoided but apparently the lives of non cops are of little importance to these scumbags. Will this killer and his gang be held accountable for the killing of these 2 people?

'You lie, you die' | HPD undercover cop lied about drug buy that led to deadly raid, Chief Acevedo says

In a bombshell development, the undercover cop who led a drug raid that ended with a deadly shootout last month is now the target of a criminal investigation.

The narcotics officer lied in the search warrant affidavit about a drug buy that never happened, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo confirmed Friday.

"That’s totally unacceptable. I’ve told my police department that if you lie, you die," Acevedo said. "When you lie on an affidavit, that's not sloppy police work, that's a crime."

The case agent obtained a search warrant to conduct the no-knock raid on Jan. 28 after he swore a confidential informant bought heroin at the home the night before. He said the informant told him he saw a 9mm handgun and a large amount of heroin in the house.

Turns out, there never was a drug buy at the house or an informant who saw a large amount of heroin and weapons.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/you-lie-you-die-hpd-undercover-cop-lied-about-drug-buy-that-led-to-deadly-raid-chief-acevedo-says/285-54ca0bb4-ba03-4e9d-ab6e-7d40bab2b356

Remember this case? The one where the police "chief" and the "back the blue" crowd called this gang of murderers "heroes"? There were no riots, no looting, no stupid social media hashtags. The names of Dennis Tuttle and his wife Rhogena Nicholas are unknown to almost everyone, while scumbag George Floyd is known even outside the US and we had destructive and violent riots for months.

The murderer:


The innocent victims, murdered inside their home:



Now, after more than 5 years, one of these "heroes" has been convicted of murder. Yet, Texas brags about executing the most inmates but when it comes to cops they seem to somehow evade the death penalty. This piece of shit is directly responsible for the murder of 2 innocent people, a Navy veteran and his wife and now faces up to life in prison.

And this is just one cop that happened to get caught. How many others like him who have gotten away with (literally) murder?


HPD officer Gerald Goines found guilty of murder in Harding Street raid trial

A jury found former HPD officer Gerald Goines guilty of felony murder for his role in the 2019 Harding Street raid that killed a couple.

On Wednesday, jurors were convinced Goines lied to obtain a no-knock warrant, leading to the botched drug raid at 7815 Harding Street that ended with the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas and four officers injured in 2019.

https://abc13.com/post/harding-street-raid-trial-day-2-deliberations-continue-former-hpd-officer-gerald-goines-murder-case/15353774/

[Skeletor]

Once again the "finest" and "brightest" in action...

They determine that high energy consumption means a medical facility is actually a front for illegal cannabis growing so they raid the place...

They detained a single female employee.

They found no cannabis plant.

But still, as they wander around the facility (because they can just go anywhere and look around if they feel like it) they chose not to obey the signs prohibiting any metal objects and entered the room with the MRI machine. Clearly these signs and rules are for plebs and cops are different and don't have to follow rules.
Due to the MRI machine's strong magnets, the idiot cop's rifle flew across the room and stuck to the MRI machine. Apparently the machine's magnetic field did not follow the cop's commands and resisted, refusing to give the cop's rifle back.

Then a cop decided to push a sealed release button, which evacuated thousands of liters of helium gas and destroyed the expensive MRI machine.

Then the cops left.

No biggie. Why should they care? They won't pay out of their own pockets, nor will they end up in prison. That's for plebs, not cops.

While this might seem like a funny tale with goofy cops, it showcases their incompetence, refusal to follow any rules and belief that they somehow know better than everyone else. And of course this medical facility suffered huge damages.




LAPD raid goes from bad to farce after gun allegedly sucked onto MRI machine

An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department found out the hard way that you can’t take metal near an MRI machine after their rifle flew out of their hands and became attached to the machine during a pot raid gone bad, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week.

The incident’s details were described in a lawsuit filed by the owners of a Los Angeles medical imaging center, who allege that their business was wrongly targeted by LAPD during a raid in October 2023 The lawsuit was first reported on by Law360.com.

The owners of NoHo Diagnostic Center are suing the LAPD, the city of Los Angeles and multiple police officers, alleging they violated the business owners’ constitutional rights and demanding an unspecified amount in damages. Officers allegedly raided the diagnostic center, located in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles, thinking it was a front for an illegal cannabis cultivation facility, pointing to higher-than-usual energy use and the “distinct odor” of cannabis plants, according to the lawsuit.

Officers raided the facility on Oct. 18, 2023, and detained the lone female employee while they searched the business, the lawsuit said. However, they didn’t find a single cannabis plant and only saw a typical medical facility with rooms used for conducting x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and MRIs, the owners said.

At one point, an officer walked into an MRI room, past a sign warning that metal was prohibited inside, with his rifle “dangling… in his right hand, with an unsecured strap,” the lawsuit said. The MRI machine’s magnetic force then allegedly sucked his rifle across the room, pinning it against the machine. MRI machines are tube-shaped scanners that use incredibly strong magnetic fields to create images of the brain, bones, joints and other internal organs.

An officer then allegedly pulled a sealed emergency release button that shut the MRI machine down, deactivating it, evaporating thousands of liters of helium gas and damaging the machine in the process. The officer then grabbed his rifle and left the room, leaving behind a magazine filled with bullets on the office floor, according to the lawsuit.

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/lapd-cannabis-mri-raid-19789448.php

[Skeletor]

A key witness that helped convict the cop for murder has been shot dead...

Botham Jean's neighbor, a key witness in Amber Guyger trial, shot to death in Dallas

A key witness in Amber Guyger's murder trial was shot and killed Friday evening at an apartment complex near Dallas' Medical District, authorities said. Joshua Brown, a neighbor of Botham Jean's and Guyger at the South Side Flats apartments, was slain about 10:30 p.m. in the 4600 block of Cedar Springs Road. Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding out of the parking lot.

Brown, 28, lived across the hall from Jean and testified about the night he was killed. Dallas County prosecutor Jason Hermus, the lead prosecutor in the Guyger case, said Saturday that Brown stood up at a time when others won't say what they know.


https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/10/05/man-fatally-shot-apartment-complex-near-dallas-medical-district-suspect-loose/

The killer is eligible for parole on what would have been her victim's 33rd birthday. She was initially sentenced to just 10 years for the murder and has only served 5.





Dallas police officer Amber Guyger now eligible for parole six years after murder

The former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean in his apartment six years ago is eligible for parole Sunday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Amber Guyger, who shot and killed Jean in September 2018, attracted national attention and sparked protests around the city.

Guyger will be up for parole on what would have been Botham's 33rd birthday.

She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019. She appealed the conviction but lost her appeal two years ago.

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/former-dallas-police-officer/

[Skeletor]

Supreme Court Revives Retaliatory Arrest Case in Major First Amendment Victory

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Institute for Justice’s (IJ) petition for certiorari in Murphy v. Schmitt, vacated the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision, and remanded the case back to the lower court for reconsideration in light of IJ’s recent win in Gonzalez v. Trevino. The Eighth Circuit had ruled against Mason Murphy in his lawsuit alleging retaliation for the exercise of his First Amendment rights.

“This decision is a huge step forward, not just for Mason Murphy, but for all Americans who have been retaliated against by government officials for their speech,” said Marie Miller, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, which filed the petition on Mason’s behalf. “Our work is building lasting precedent, making it easier for people to hold officials accountable when their rights are violated. We will continue fighting until all Americans are protected against government retaliation.”

Mason Murphy’s ordeal began on May 15, 2021, when he was arrested by a police officer in Sunrise Beach, Missouri, for walking on the wrong side of a rural road. While this is technically a crime, police never, or almost never, arrest someone for such a trivial offense. The arrest followed a 9 minute argument in which Mason questioned the officer’s reasons for detaining him and declined to provide his name, all while remaining calm and compliant. Despite this, Officer Michael Schmitt arrested him, and Mason was held in jail for two hours while officers struggled to come up with any legitimate crime to justify the arrest. Mason was never charged, and the sheriff later admitted Mason’s treatment in jail was “unacceptable,” telling the local paper:

"It was wrong. I was furious. We strive so hard and all it takes is one person, one person not following policies and procedures, one person threatening to do something like this to make all of us look bad. Just like any profession, there are good cops and there are bad cops. I can’t make any excuses for the type of behavior seen in the video. It was unacceptable and I apologize to the victim and to the people of Camden County."


“The Supreme Court’s decision to revive Mason’s case demonstrates the far-reaching impact of Gonzalez v. Trevino,” said Anya Bidwell, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice. “This victory will reverberate across the country, giving more Americans the chance to fight back when they are arrested in retaliation for exercising their rights. The Court has made it clear that such conduct will not go unchecked.”

The Institute for Justice has been at the forefront of litigating First Amendment retaliation cases across the country, setting powerful precedents that defend free speech and hold government officials accountable. With this latest Supreme Court action, IJ continues to lead the charge in protecting Americans from retaliatory arrests and ensuring that the First Amendment remains a strong and enduring shield for all.

https://ij.org/press-release/supreme-court-revives-retaliatory-arrest-case-in-major-first-amendment-victory/

[Coach is Back!]

I’ve been sounding the alarm for years falling of deaf ears….

They’re preparing for a Trump landslide

[Skeletor]

Many cop-worshippers and "back the blue" idiots jerk off to these shows.

But once again the taxpayers have to foot the bill instead of the "sheriff" and the cops involved.



‘Live PD’ Arrest Leads to $2.5 Million Payout for Civil Rights Violations

A Texas county agreed on Tuesday to pay $2.5 million to settle allegations that a SWAT team arrest was staged for the benefit of the A&E reality show “Live PD.”

Gary Watsky argued in court that deputies did not have a warrant in May 2019 when they broke down his front and back doors, deployed a “flash-bang” grenade, and swarmed his house. Watsky was held at gunpoint, according to his lawsuit, searched, and brought outside, where he saw a TV cameraman and was informed that the search was being filmed for “Live PD.”

The deputies were there to arrest Watsky’s son, Asher, who had appeared in court earlier that day on another charge. The suit alleged that Asher Watsky could easily have been taken into custody peacefully at the courthouse, but that the deputies chose to stage a dramatic and violent raid because it made for better television.

The Commissioners Court of Williamson County approved the $2.5 million settlement on a 4-1 vote on Tuesday, without public discussion. The settlement was first reported by KVUE, the Austin-based ABC affiliate.

The incident, which was initially uncovered by KVUE, was one of a series of abuses stemming from the county sheriff’s relationship with “Live PD.” In March 2019, Javier Ambler died after a pursuit, when deputies repeatedly hit him with a Taser as he told them he could not breathe and had a heart condition. Two deputies were charged with manslaughter, but were acquitted at trial.

The sheriff, Robert Chody, was also indicted for allegedly covering up the incident by arranging for the “Live PD” footage to be destroyed. The county agreed to pay $5 million to Ambler’s family, the largest settlement in county history, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/live-pd-settlement-williamson-county-1236181419/

[Skeletor]

It is outrageous that this happened, let alone that the mayor, the cop who arrested the woman and all involved in her prosecution are not already rotting in a damp prison cell. As usual there is no personal accountability and punishment for these crimes.

This is a reminder to the fools who think that somehow cops will defend their 1st Amendment or 2nd Amendment rights against the government. These goons care little for your rights and will do what the government tells them and if caught they were just "following orders".



Judge Throws Out Charges Against Arizona Mom Arrested for Criticizing Officials at a City Council Meeting

A judge on Wednesday threw out a criminal charge against an Arizona mother who was arrested at a city council meeting for criticizing a public official, calling her arrest "objectively outrageous."

Maricopa County Judge Gerald Williams dismissed with prejudice the trespassing charge against Rebekah Massie. On August 20, the mayor of Surprise, Arizona, ordered a police officer to arrest Massie during the public comment section of a city council meeting after Massie criticized a proposed pay raise for the city attorney. The mayor claimed she was violating a rule prohibiting complaints against city officials during public comment, and when she refused to stop speaking, he had her forcibly removed and arrested.

"No branch of any federal, state, or local government in this country should ever attempt to control the content of political speech," Williams wrote in his dismissal order. "In this case, the government did so in a manner that was objectively outrageous."

Following her arrest, Massie promptly filed a First Amendment lawsuit, with representation from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), arguing the city council's speech policies were unconstitutional and that city officials illegally retaliated against her, violating her First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment rights.

However, the threat of criminal prosecution hung over her head.

"For more than two months I've been living with the threat of punishment and jail time—being taken away from my kids, even—for doing nothing more than criticizing the government," Massie said in a FIRE press release. "Free speech still matters in America, and I can't tell you what a relief it is to have people on my side standing up for our rights with me."

Massie is a community activist and founder of a nonprofit, The Grand Failure, where she advocates for increased transparency and infrastructure improvements in the city.

https://reason.com/2024/10/25/judge-throws-out-charges-against-arizona-mom-arrested-for-criticizing-officials-at-a-city-council-meeting/

[Skeletor]

A van suddenly stops outside a home and armed goons come storming out and violently kidnap a frail 66 year old woman. Did it happen in Iran? Russia? Ukraine? Albania? Mexico?  Nope, it happened in the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave" and that pesky 4th Amendment.

Once again the "brave heroes" violently arrest and kidnap an innocent 66 year old woman. Another proud "back the blue" moment.

Of course don't expect the armed goons to be violently arrested and thrown in prison or even pay a cent out of their pocket.



Shocking video shows Ariz. grandma falsely arrested by US Marshals at gunpoint: ‘I felt like I was being kidnapped’

Shocking footage shows US Marshals aggressively arresting an Arizona woman who they thought skipped out on probation 25 years ago — but they got the wrong person and instead pulled their guns on a grandmother who had never heard of the suspect.

“I truly felt like I was being kidnapped,” 66-year-old Penny McCarthy told ABC 15 after the outlet obtained bodycam footage from the arrest.

“I am so disappointed in my government. It’s not funny.”

McCarthy was going about her day at home outside Phoenix on March 5, when a van full of people claiming to be US Marshals pulled up and pointed heavy rifles in her face, telling her she was under arrest.

Astonished, McCarthy asked them to verify that they had the right person — pleading with them to just “tell me who I am” — but the officers refused, and instead yelled at her to give herself up.

“Turn away. Turn around. Turn away. We’ll discuss it later. Turn away. You’re gonna get hit,” the officers roared at her.

“Can you prove you’re the police?” McCarthy asked — but the officers refused to even show any identification or warrant until she allowed herself to be cuffed, the footage showed.

“You see that we’re the police,” officers instead replied.

“How can I see that?” she responded.

“If you turn around again, you’re gonna get tased,” an officer warned.

Eventually, McCarthy allowed the officers to detain her, and they insisted she was a 70-year-old Oklahoma woman named Carole Anne Rozak, who skipped out on her probation in 1999 after being jailed for a series of non-violent crimes.

Even though McCarthy denied being Rozak — and said she could prove it — the US Marshals did not allow her to and instead took her into custody.

“They did nothing but treat me like crap and lie to me,” McCarthy told ABC 15.

She was thrown in federal prison for a night, but was sprung the next day after prosecutors presented little evidence beyond “Facebook posts” that a probation office in Oklahoma thought indicated she was really Rozak living under an alias.

Her case was dismissed shortly after she was released from prison.

US Marshals in Oklahoma later said a fingerprinting “glitch” matched McCarthy to Rozak, and a month after the arrest confirmed that McCarthy was not their suspect.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/29/us-news/ariz-grandma-falsely-arrested-by-us-marshals-at-gunpoint-video/

[illuminati]

A van suddenly stops outside a home and armed goons come storming out and violently kidnap a frail 66 year old woman. Did it happen in Iran? Russia? Ukraine? Albania? Mexico?  Nope, it happened in the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave" and that pesky 4th Amendment.

Once again the "brave heroes" violently arrest and kidnap an innocent 66 year old woman. Another proud "back the blue" moment.

Of course don't expect the armed goons to be violently arrested and thrown in prison or even pay a cent out of their pocket.



Shocking video shows Ariz. grandma falsely arrested by US Marshals at gunpoint: ‘I felt like I was being kidnapped’

Shocking footage shows US Marshals aggressively arresting an Arizona woman who they thought skipped out on probation 25 years ago — but they got the wrong person and instead pulled their guns on a grandmother who had never heard of the suspect.

“I truly felt like I was being kidnapped,” 66-year-old Penny McCarthy told ABC 15 after the outlet obtained bodycam footage from the arrest.

“I am so disappointed in my government. It’s not funny.”

McCarthy was going about her day at home outside Phoenix on March 5, when a van full of people claiming to be US Marshals pulled up and pointed heavy rifles in her face, telling her she was under arrest.

Astonished, McCarthy asked them to verify that they had the right person — pleading with them to just “tell me who I am” — but the officers refused, and instead yelled at her to give herself up.

“Turn away. Turn around. Turn away. We’ll discuss it later. Turn away. You’re gonna get hit,” the officers roared at her.

“Can you prove you’re the police?” McCarthy asked — but the officers refused to even show any identification or warrant until she allowed herself to be cuffed, the footage showed.

“You see that we’re the police,” officers instead replied.

“How can I see that?” she responded.

“If you turn around again, you’re gonna get tased,” an officer warned.

Eventually, McCarthy allowed the officers to detain her, and they insisted she was a 70-year-old Oklahoma woman named Carole Anne Rozak, who skipped out on her probation in 1999 after being jailed for a series of non-violent crimes.

Even though McCarthy denied being Rozak — and said she could prove it — the US Marshals did not allow her to and instead took her into custody.

“They did nothing but treat me like crap and lie to me,” McCarthy told ABC 15.

She was thrown in federal prison for a night, but was sprung the next day after prosecutors presented little evidence beyond “Facebook posts” that a probation office in Oklahoma thought indicated she was really Rozak living under an alias.

Her case was dismissed shortly after she was released from prison.

US Marshals in Oklahoma later said a fingerprinting “glitch” matched McCarthy to Rozak, and a month after the arrest confirmed that McCarthy was not their suspect.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/29/us-news/ariz-grandma-falsely-arrested-by-us-marshals-at-gunpoint-video/

FFS Bunch of Bully boy thugs - like a 66yr old woman was going to be a threat to them.
Fucking idiotic gang of Pussy Khvnts.

The whole lot of them should be sacked & kept away from policing. 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[Skeletor]

60% of the citizens voted against this ridiculous measure.


Missouri Voters Reject Court Fee Hike for Police Pensions

On Tuesday, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected Amendment 6, which would have changed the state constitution to allow court fees to pay for law enforcement salaries and retirement benefits. The proposed language read: "In order to ensure that all Missourians have access to the courts of justice as guaranteed by this Constitution, the administration of justice shall include the levying of costs and fees to support salaries and benefits for sheriffs, former sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, former prosecuting attorneys, circuit attorneys, and former circuit attorneys."

In effect, the amendment would have reinstated a $3 court fee to fund the Missouri Sheriffs' Retirement System. In 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down this fee in Fowler v. Missouri Sheriffs' Retirement System, finding it unconstitutional under Article I, Section 14, of the Missouri Constitution. This provision ensures open access to justice for all and guarantees the administration of justice without "sale, denial or delay." The Missouri Supreme Court's 1986 decision in Harrison v. Monroe County previously established that Article I, Section 14, provides protections to ensure that Missourians can access the courts without paying unreasonable charges.

Rather than identify an alternative way to fund the Sheriffs' Retirement System, Missouri lawmakers sought an easy solution by referring Amendment 6 to the November ballot. By defining the administration of justice to include the levying of court fees and costs to fund salaries and benefits for law enforcement officials, Amendment 6 would have nullified the Court's decision in Fowler.

The failure of Amendment 6 is a win for liberty. The amendment would have restored a set of perverse incentives that tie pension contributions to the volume of arrests, prosecutions, and other aspects of the criminal justice system.

https://reason.com/2024/11/06/missouri-voters-reject-court-fee-hike-for-police-pensions/

[Skeletor]

Hit-and-run, not filing a report, falsifying records and a few other things result in just 21 months in prison if you are a cop.


Capitol Police officer sentenced to 21 months after Georgetown chase, crash

A former U.S. Capitol Police officer was sentenced to 21 months in prison Monday for violating an individual’s civil rights as he was involved in an unauthorized high-speed chase that resulted in a crash, authorities say.

Officer Thomas Smith was supposed to be checking on the homes of members of Congress in the Georgetown area at about 11:30 p.m. June 20, 2020, when he started pursuing two motorcycles, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Smith “closely” followed the motorcyclists at a “high rate of speed” before he swerved his marked patrol car into one of the motorcyclists, sending that driver flying into the air. Smith left the injured driver unconscious on the concrete, switched out his car, failed to file a report and falsified police records to cover up his actions, prosecutors said.

Smith pleaded guilty last October to deprivation of rights under color of law.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/ex-capitol-police-officer-sentenced-to-21-months-after-georgetown-chase-crash/3758018/

[Skeletor]

The killer is eligible for parole on what would have been her victim's 33rd birthday. She was initially sentenced to just 10 years for the murder and has only served 5.





Dallas police officer Amber Guyger now eligible for parole six years after murder

The former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean in his apartment six years ago is eligible for parole Sunday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Amber Guyger, who shot and killed Jean in September 2018, attracted national attention and sparked protests around the city.

Guyger will be up for parole on what would have been Botham's 33rd birthday.

She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019. She appealed the conviction but lost her appeal two years ago.

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/former-dallas-police-officer/

Jury awards $98 million to family of Dallas man shot in his home by police officer

A jury ordered former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger to pay $98 million after it found that she used excessive force in the fatal shooting of Botham Jean in his home 6 years ago.

The civil verdict and penalty for Guyger, 36, came 5 years after she was convicted of murder in the 2018 killing of Jean and sentenced to a decade in prison.

Guyger did not attend the three-day trial, nor did she have a lawyer present, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. The attorney who represented her in her criminal trial told the station that she didn’t have the money to hire one.

The jury found that Guyger acted with "malice, willfulness, or callous and reckless indifference" to Jean's safety and rights and awarded his family $60 million in punitive damages, a verdict form shows.

The jury awarded an additional $38 million in compensatory damages for mental anguish, loss of earnings and other claims, the document shows.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amber-guyger-botham-jean-excessive-force-rcna181064