Police State - Official Thread

[Slapper]

Did you guys hear of the new police tactic of telling people that it is illegal to record them or their activities?

[Las Vegas]

Did you guys hear of the new police tactic of telling people that it is illegal to record them or their activities?

Yeah, I noticed someone posted a tutorial (in this thread) on how to deal with it.  It begins by holding the camera at waist level to draw as little notice as possible, and to have the recording continuously fed to online storage in case anything goes wrong during the process.  It can all be accomplished for free.

[Skeletor]

Did you guys hear of the new police tactic of telling people that it is illegal to record them or their activities?

The cops often make up their own laws, lie or charge people with non-existing "crimes" that they make up on the spot to justify the "arrest" and assert their "authority". It seems like they are trying to threaten, extort, intimidate and terrorize citizens and/or any witnesses to crimes committed by cops. However, there is the ruling in Glik v. Cunniffe by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals:

"In line with these principles, we have previously recognized that the videotaping of public officials is an exercise of First Amendment liberties."

"Our recognition that the First Amendment protects the filming of government officials in public spaces accords with the decisions of numerous circuit and district courts. See, e.g.,
Smith v. City of Cumming, 212 F.3d 1332, 1333 (11th Cir. 2000) ("The First Amendment protects the right to gather information about what public officials do on public property, and specifically, a right to record matters of public interest.")"

"In our society, police officers are expected to endure significant burdens caused by citizens' exercise of their First Amendment rights. See City of Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451, 461 (1987) ("[T]he First Amendment protects a significant amount of verbal criticism and challenge directed at police officers.").

Indeed, "[t]he freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state." Id. at 462-63. The same restraint demanded of law enforcement officers in the face of "provocative and challenging" speech, id. at 461 (quoting Terminiello v. Chicago, -14-337 U.S. 1, 4 (1949)), must be expected when they are merely the subject of videotaping that memorializes, without impairing, their work in public spaces."

[Las Vegas]

The cops often make up their own laws, lie or charge people with non-existing "crimes" that they make up on the spot to justify the "arrest" and assert their "authority". It seems like they are trying to threaten, extort, intimidate and terrorize citizens and/or any witnesses to crimes committed by cops. However, there is the ruling in Glik v. Cunniffe by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals:

"In line with these principles, we have previously recognized that the videotaping of public officials is an exercise of First Amendment liberties."

"Our recognition that the First Amendment protects the filming of government officials in public spaces accords with the decisions of numerous circuit and district courts. See, e.g.,
Smith v. City of Cumming, 212 F.3d 1332, 1333 (11th Cir. 2000) ("The First Amendment protects the right to gather information about what public officials do on public property, and specifically, a right to record matters of public interest.")"

"In our society, police officers are expected to endure significant burdens caused by citizens' exercise of their First Amendment rights. See City of Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451, 461 (1987) ("[T]he First Amendment protects a significant amount of verbal criticism and challenge directed at police officers.").

Indeed, "[t]he freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state." Id. at 462-63. The same restraint demanded of law enforcement officers in the face of "provocative and challenging" speech, id. at 461 (quoting Terminiello v. Chicago, -14-337 U.S. 1, 4 (1949)), must be expected when they are merely the subject of videotaping that memorializes, without impairing, their work in public spaces."

Yes, person should be current and prepared to explain to officer in simplest terms (to get it out of the way as quickly as possible) and go from there.  If the officer wants to hang him/herself then there's nothing you can do except remain polite.

[Skeletor]

Gang of Thieves: DEA Stole $3.2 Billion in Cash From Innocent People in Only a Decade

A bombshell report from the Inspector General (IG) at the Department of Justice has exposed the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for the colossal thieves they are. According to the report, DEA seized more than $4 billion in cash from people since 2007, but $3.2 billion of the seizures were never connected to any criminal charges. That figure does not even include the seizure of cars and electronics.

This thievery is possible through the insidious practice of civil asset forfeiture (CAF), where law enforcement can seize cash and property on the mere suspicion of being involved in criminal activity. Originally developed in the 1980s to go after organized crime, CAF has mushroomed into a source of revenue for cops across the country – from local to state to federal – in what’s become known as Policing for Profit.

When an innocent person’s cash is stolen by DEA, that person must petition to get it back, meaning the burden of proof (and the burden of time and expense) is on the unlucky victim who never did anything wrong in the first place. In fact, “forfeiture proceedings start from the presumption of guilt.”

It’s a clever scheme, and DEA knows it. The IG found that petitions were filed in only 20 percent of DEA cash seizures. As Reason Magazine points out, the IG report highlights just how arbitrary these seizures can be.

“We found that different task force officers made different decisions in similar situations when deciding whether to seize all of the cash discovered,” the Inspector General wrote. “These differences demonstrate how seizure decisions can appear arbitrary, which should be a concern for the Department, both because of potentially improper conduct and because even the appearance of arbitrary decision-making in asset seizure can fuel public perception that law enforcement is not using this authority legitimately, thereby undermining public confidence in law enforcement.”

The case of a man traveling at an airport with $27,000 is a prime example of how DEA can just take the cash on a whim, without even bothering to pretend it has to do with criminal activity.

“When a task force officer explained that the U.S. currency in the bag was going to be seized pending further investigation, the passenger asked whether he could keep some of the currency to travel home. The passenger asserted that all of the currency in the bag was his, and the task force officers allowed him to retain $1,000. This seizure resulted in an administrative forfeiture of $27,000 to the U.S. government, and the DEA explained to the OIG that, other than the events surrounding the seizure, there was no subsequent investigative activity or additional law enforcement benefit.”

Reason Magainze sums it up perfectly:

“If the DEA task force agents thought that man’s cash was connected to drug activity, why allow him to keep some of it? If they weren’t sure, why take it in the first place? The answer, of course, is there is no logical or legal rationale for this sequence of events.”

Indeed, most of the DEA’s cash seizures don’t relate to any criminal investigation, and 82 percent of the cases reviewed by the IG were settled without any judicial review. The DEA focuses on airports, train stations and bus terminals, relying on travel records and a host of confidential informants to target people they believe will have lots of cash.

DEA gives itself wide latitude to pin you as a suspect for detainment and search. Woe to those “traveling to or from a known source city for drug trafficking, purchasing a ticket within 24 hours of travel, purchasing a ticket for a long flight with an immediate return, purchasing a one-way ticket, and traveling without checked luggage.”

The IG concludes that DEA is posing great risks to civil liberties by continuing the practices highlighted in its report:

‘‘When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not ultimately advance an investigation or prosecution, law enforcement creates the appearance, and risks the reality, that it is more interested in seizing and forfeiting cash than advancing an investigation or prosecution.’’

The IG states that “risks to civil liberties are particularly significant when seizures that do not advance or relate to an investigation are conducted without a court-issued seizure warrant, the presence of illicit narcotics, or subsequent judicial involvement prior to administrative forfeiture.”

The threat to civil liberties posed by CAF is being recognized more and more, as states continue to abolish the practice by requiring a criminal conviction before cash and assets can be seized. But the federal government is a primary reason why CAF still runs rampant, through the euphemistically named Equitable Sharing Fund where the stolen loot (amounting to $28 billion over the last decade) is shared by federal and state drug task forces.

“These findings fundamentally undercut law enforcement’s claim that civil forfeiture is a vital crime-fighting tool. Americans are already outraged at the Justice Department’s aggressive use of civil forfeiture, which has mushroomed into a multibillion dollar program in the last decade. This report only further confirms what we have been saying all along: Forfeiture laws create perverse financial incentives to seize property without judicial oversight and violate due process.

This report is one more illustration that the only solution to resolving these issues is to end the use of civil forfeiture once and for all. – The Institute for Justice“

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/gang-of-thieves-dea-stole-3-2-billion-in-cash-from-innocent-people-over-the-past-decade/

[Slapper]

I bet the mainstream media is going to be all over this!!!!!


NOOOOOOT!

[Skeletor]

The cop should be in prison but the crime boss police chief should also be in prison: he did nothing up until the video was released online and became viral. Why didn't he act on it when it happened but he waited after the video was public?

North Carolina Cop who Lied to Uber Driving Attorney about Recording Laws Demoted in Rank and Pay

The North Carolina cop who became a viral sensation after telling an Uber driver that it was illegal to record him under a new law – only to learn the driver was also a lawyer – was demoted in rank and pay.

Wilmington Police Sergeant Kenneth Becker is now a corporal whose hourly salary was reduced by $1.38, according to the News and Observer.

The 17-year veteran was also assigned to the planning and research division, which appears to be more of an administrative position, meaning he will have less access to the public where he has proven to conduct unlawful searches.

The fact that he did not hesitate to conduct an unlawful search knowing he was being recorded makes us wonder how he treats citizens when he is not aware he is being recorded.

The incident took place on February 26 when Wilmington police pulled over Jesse Bright and his passenger after driving away from a house they had under surveillance.

Police said it was a drug house and believed Bright and his passenger had just purchased drugs. But Bright said his passenger, a dog groomer, was only there to pick up a check, a fact that was confirmed by police when they searched the passenger with his consent.

But Bright, a public defender who was driving for Uber to pay of school loans, did not consent to being searched. He also did not turn off his camera when ordered to do so.

Not only did Becker tell Bright that a new law had just passed forbidding the recording of cops in public without their permission, a New Hanover County sheriff’s deputy also went along with the story, telling Bright the same thing.

That was when Bright informed him he was an attorney who was certain there was no new law in the books forbidding the recording of cops.

So they stopped harassing him about the recording, but then brought police dogs to sniff around his car after he made it clear he was not going to consent to any searches.

The police dog made no indication that there were drugs in the car, but Becker acted as if the dog did, proceeding to search the car for drugs, finding only some over-the-counter melatonin that Bright’s mom had left in the car. The cops then allowed the two men to go.

Bright was upset about what had taken place, so he reached out to the department and to Becker himself for an apology, but never received one.

So he posted the video online where it quickly went viral, which is when the department decided to take action.

Below is the video of the incident as well as a video interview we conducted with Bright through Skype.

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/03/31/north-carolina-cop-who-lied-to-uber-driving-attorney-about-recording-laws-demoted-in-rank-and-pay/

[Slapper]

That's the thing, I know some cops and they're cool people to deal with on a personal level.

I have a feeling they turn into a-holes when wearing the badge because the police chiefs are the ones inciting all this criminal behavior.

Case and point: All the towns around the interstates, parkways and highways that run out NYC through little hick towns whose only source of income is ticketing the heck out of unsuspecting drivers.

There's a monetary incentive for cops to escalate every little encounter. It's paramount to the survival of their own system. Without people driving 15 miles over the speed limit, without the "suspicious" car, without the little whiff of marijuana/alcohol, their own jobs would be at risk.

Hence we have what we have. They rather pay hundreds of millions in out-of-court settlements than discipline their cops.

This will all come to a stop when people start assaulting the cops's family, the cop himself or even the police station. Not that I want it to happen, mind you, but if this is allowed to continue, it WILL happen.

[Primemuscle]

Portland police don't have the best reputation. Wonder why. Fish has filed a civil suit. The incident is being investigated. The officers are still working.

[illuminati]

That's the thing, I know some cops and they're cool people to deal with on a personal level.

I have a feeling they turn into a-holes when wearing the badge because the police chiefs are the ones inciting all this criminal behavior.

Case and point: All the towns around the interstates, parkways and highways that run out NYC through little hick towns whose only source of income is ticketing the heck out of unsuspecting drivers.

There's a monetary incentive for cops to escalate every little encounter. It's paramount to the survival of their own system. Without people driving 15 miles over the speed limit, without the "suspicious" car, without the little whiff of marijuana/alcohol, their own jobs would be at risk.

Hence we have what we have. They rather pay hundreds of millions in out-of-court settlements than discipline their cops.

This will all come to a stop when people start assaulting the cops's family, the cop himself or even the police station. Not that I want it to happen, mind you, but if this is allowed to continue, it WILL happen.

"This will all come to a stop when people start assaulting the cops's family, the cop himself or even the police station. Not that I want it to happen, mind you, but if this is allowed to continue, it WILL happen."

It's definitely getting closer to going that way.
Maybe it's part of the master plan from the TPTB.


Here in the U.K. When the last riots occurred just a few years back - some police stations were attacked -
The situation very nearly got out of control - and a whole new raft of laws brought in soon after to stop people being able to communicate via phones / messages / internet/ etc.
I can't remember how many thousands were involved across several towns & cities - it was likely less than 1/10th of a percent of total uk population & the police / media / government Shit Themselves as they Very Nearly lost control - Had it involved 1% of population. - Who's knows what would've transpired & where or what life would be like today.

[Skeletor]

That's the thing, I know some cops and they're cool people to deal with on a personal level.

I have a feeling they turn into a-holes when wearing the badge because the police chiefs are the ones inciting all this criminal behavior.

Case and point: All the towns around the interstates, parkways and highways that run out NYC through little hick towns whose only source of income is ticketing the heck out of unsuspecting drivers.

There's a monetary incentive for cops to escalate every little encounter. It's paramount to the survival of their own system. Without people driving 15 miles over the speed limit, without the "suspicious" car, without the little whiff of marijuana/alcohol, their own jobs would be at risk.

Hence we have what we have. They rather pay hundreds of millions in out-of-court settlements than discipline their cops.

This will all come to a stop when people start assaulting the cops's family, the cop himself or even the police station. Not that I want it to happen, mind you, but if this is allowed to continue, it WILL happen.

Until cops must obey all the laws without exceptions, are held personally accountable for their crimes and any settlement comes out of their pockets, nothing will change. As it is now, the usual process is (if their crime gains some publicity): paid vacation, they investigate themselves and clear themselves of any wrongdoing, case gets settled using taxpayer money, so no real consequences for these criminals, sometimes they even get a promotion. In very serious cases, they usually quit before getting fired so they can work at a different department (gypsy cops).

[Skeletor]

Cops Call in Backup for Veteran Paying Ticket in Pennies

Manchester, NH — Stories about citizens paying their taxes with pennies aren’t new. But how Billy Spaulding of Manchester paid his parking ticket with pennies might be a first, since he was packing a sidearm while doing so.

As The Free Thought Project has stated before, “police need you to break traffic laws” because writing tickets and receiving funds from doing so is a considerable revenue generator for police departments. It’s how police states maintain their control over the citizenry.

Manchester police didn’t take kindly to Spaulding’s form of payment, and according to reports, called in a SWAT officer to deal with him. At first, the police told Spaulding he should take his form of payment to the bank to get bills instead of pennies.

“You don’t have a bank account?” one officer asked.

Spaulding responded by saying he didn’t. Whether it’s true or not simply doesn’t matter. Spaulding had every right to pay his extortion fees in pennies. According to U.S. Law Code 31.5103, “United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.”

Spaulding had a friend record the scene. Although the recording does not start and stop at the beginning and the end of the encounter, it does show police intercepting Spaulding, asking him to find some other form of payment, and then telling his friend he has to stop recording because he didn’t announce he was going to do so.

Refusing to allow the two citizens to record themselves paying a parking fee, is considered a violation of one’s First Amendment rights, so long as it does not interfere with the official duties of the officers. Spaulding may have recourse to file a lawsuit for both issues; refusing to receive his form of payment which resulted in his occurring additional expenditures, and his friend being forced to stop recording.

Recently, an activist by the name of Phillip Turner won a judgment in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals who ruled he does (and so does every citizen) have a right to film police.

Entering a court house or a police station while being armed is also not illegal in New Hampshire. Spaulding knew that as well, but he reportedly had to take his grievance to the Sheriff’s department before he was allowed to go back to the court house and pay his parking ticket in pennies.

Spaulding may have, however, missed an opportunity to have his ticket nullified. Upon having presented his form of payment, and having witnessed his payment refused, he could have asked a judge to dismiss his $75 ticket. The judge would likely have done so, being fully aware that the Coinage Act of 1965 allows all forms of U.S. currency to be used for payment.

After leaving the sheriff’s office, Spaulding once again presented his $75 worth of pennies as payment for his ticket at the county courthouse. The clerk, having been notified by the sheriff to receive the former Marine’s payment, didn’t seem all too pleased to be doing so. Nonetheless, Spaulding passed through the glass window separating the two individuals, a grand total of 7,500 pennies and a $5 bill just in case he or the clerk miscounted.

Below is the video of this epic encounter.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/former-marine-asked-leave-courthouse-didnt-like-form-payment/

[Skeletor]

Mom Horrified After Finding Police Drone Watching Her Children — In Their Backyard

Hurst, TX — For decades, in dystopian fictions, readers and watchers alike are very familiar with the idea of state-run drones spying on the entrapped population. Luckily, however, the scenes of drones chasing down or spying on those who dare dissent against authority have been restricted to fantasy — until now.

When Texas resident Bobbie Sanchez walked out in her backyard last week, the last thing she thought she’d see was a drone — hovering — watching her kids.

“Mommy there’s a drone over our roof,” said her children.

According to Sanchez, the drone hovered there long enough for her to take multiple photos and to call the police for help.

However, when Sanchez called the Hurst police department to inform them a drone was spying on her children, the Hurst police department said it was them.

“They’re watching my children play in the backyard,” said Sanchez. “I called the Hurst Police Department and was pretty surprised to hear that it was them.”

According to NBC DFW, Hurst police and fire started using drones earlier this year. They said the day they were over Sanchez’s yard was a training exercise.

The department claimed that the day they were over Sanchez’s yard, they were conducting ‘a training exercise.’

Training, in the land of the free, now involves police officers stripping citizens of their privacy and creepily watching their kids.

Dystopian, indeed.

After being caught spying on children, the department now promises that they will tighten down on when and where the drones will be deployed.

“We will not be doing any type of training exercises over houses and things like that,” said Hurst Police Assistant Chief Steve Niekamp.

According to Niekamp, the department’s drones will now only launch of crime scenes, accident scenes, to find a suspect, an active shooter, or a missing person. The fire department may also use them to strategize on fighting fires.

“We’re working for our citizens, if they have concerns then we definitely need to address it,” said Niekamp in an obvious understatement.

When Sanchez’ neighbors got news of the drone they were outraged, naturally.

“It might be legal but it’s still creepy to think that police can be saying that they’re training or looking for a criminal and still be looking at you in your backyard,” said neighbor Casey Byrnes.

Others told NBC DFW that they feel betrayed and that their trust in police is damaged.

In a truly liberty-loving tone, Sanchez stated, “I am not a person who will give up privacy for safety.”

The use of drones in policing is a slippery slope. While fears of active shooters and missing children will be used to justify them, if history is any indicator, these drones will ultimately be used to further deteriorate what little semblance of privacy left in America.

Also, guns.

As the Free Thought Project reported last week, Connecticut may be the first state in the country to allow police officers to put deadly weapons on drones. Some states have discussed equipping drones with tasers but this is the first proposal to arm them with deadly weapons. What could possibly go wrong?

The good news is, in a recent ruling, a Kentucky man has prevailed in a lawsuit he faced over shooting down a drone that entered his property.

William Meredith became known as the “drone slayer” in 2015, after he used a shotgun to dismantle a drone operated by David Boggs, that he says was flying over his property in front of himself and his daughter. Meredith initially faced felony charges of endangerment and criminal mischief for shooting down the drone. The criminal charges were dismissed by Judge Rebecca Ward in Bullitt County District Court, citing recollections from witnesses who said that the drone was flying under the tree line. Ward also said that Meredith was within his rights to shoot down the drone.

According to Meredith, that drone, like the police drone in Hurst — was also watching his children.

However, we shouldn’t rely on this case to hold up against the blue privilege associated with shooting down ‘official police property’ — even if it is watching your kids in your own backyard.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-drone-hovering-watching-kids/

[Skeletor]

Remember this case? If you don't, the man you see below lying on the ground with his hands up is the caretaker for the person next to him, an autistic man holding a toy truck. As you can tell, the cop "feared for his life" and shot the caretaker who was lying down with his hands up pleading not to shoot him. This deranged criminal has been enjoying 8 months of paid leave (so far) while his fellow "officers" are still "investigating".



North Miami Police Chief Reveals Coverup and Lies in Last Year’s Controversial Shooting of Unarmed Caretaker

The award-winning Florida cop who made international headlines last year after shooting an unarmed caretaker who had his arms in the air, then claiming he had feared for his life after confusing a toy truck for a loaded gun, was informed by another cop seconds before the shooting that the object was not a gun, but a toy.

But North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda fired anyway, not even striking the autistic man with the truck that he had confused for a gun, but his caretaker who had already told officers it was not a gun; the man they later claimed they were trying to protect from the toy-wielding autistic man they believed had a gun.

However, not only did caretaker Charles Kinsey tell the cops it was not a gun before the shooting, but a North Miami police sergeant who viewed the object through binoculars also confirmed it was a toy truck, telling the other officers to hold their fire.

And the officers did hold their fire, except for Aledda, who seconds earlier, had told fellow officers he had a clear shot on the subject, so apparently was not going to let that moment pass, even if had received a direct order not to shoot.

What else can we expect from a cop who was hired by North Miami police in 2012, despite several warning signs that he could become a problem cop because he possesses a “lack of tolerance” and was also described as being “judgmental; argumentative; critical; challenging; rigid; stubborn”?

Fortunately, Kinsey survived the shooting, and is now suing.

The stunning but not surprising revelations surfaced this week after the Miami New Times obtained an audio recording of North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugene being interviewed by Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators ten days after the July 18, 2016 shooting. The recording is posted below.

Chief Eugene, who had been on the job only six days when the shooting took place, described an ensuing coverup between police and North Miami city officials to protect Aledda, who has no business carrying a badge and a gun.

However, that interview was not enough for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to file charges against Aledda, who has been on paid administrative leave for more than eight months now (although they insist they are still investigating).

And that is not surprising considering Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has never filed charges against any cop for on-duty shootings since taking office in 1993. And there have been many.

Her latest questionable decision was made last month when she declined to charge four prison guards who forced a mentally ill inmate into a hot shower for two hours, leaving him to die a slow, excruciating and scalding death, prompting renewed criticism from the New Times, who referred to her as a “disgrace” in a scathing article last month.

So even though prosecutors are promising they will be arriving at a decision any day now, we can predict that they will not file charges against Aledda, who was deemed a potential problem cop when applying for the North Miami Police Department in 2012.

He not only had a shoplifting conviction on his record when applying, he was determined to have a “lack of tolerance” and was also described as being  “judgmental; argumentative; critical; challenging; rigid; stubborn.”

Just the kind of person who would shoot an unarmed man laying on his back with his hands in the air after being told by a commanding officer not to open fire.

According to the Miami  New Times:

After the shooting, union officials justified Aledda’s actions by saying he thought the autistic man with Kinsey had a gun, not a toy truck. But Eugene’s interview with FDLE contradicts that claim. (This past Tuesday, the North Miami Police public information officer declined to comment on behalf of the city manager, Spring.)

“I heard the shooter, Officer Aledda, make a statement to the nature of ‘Be advised, I have clear shot [of] subject,'” Eugene said, describing the audio of the police radio just before the shooting. “Later on, a sergeant… got on the air and said, ‘I have a visual; it is a toy. Is it a toy? QRX.’ That means ‘Stand by; don’t do anything.’ Then there is a conversation back and forth. The next transmission was by [another officer saying] ‘Shot fired!'”

Eugene’s description comes in an hourlong interview that centers on the bizarre aftermath of the case. He doesn’t pull punches about the state of the department. Eugene, a veteran City of Miami cop who had been sworn in as chief only six days before the Kinsey shooting, says training was lax and infighting rampant.

“The scene was a mess, to be honest with you,” he tells investigators of the Kinsey shooting. “People were walking all over the place. Thank God [Kinsey] did not die. I realized I have a problem with the training of my staff. We’re talking about some 15- or 16-year veterans, but in North Miami, a 15- or 16-year veteran may have less experience than a two-year cop in Miami.”

Fights in the department were so bad, Eugene said, that he worried his cops wouldn’t even be willing to protect one another, much less the community.

“I’m afraid one of them will get shot, for God’s sake, and someone will call for backup and they’ll say, ‘I’m not going,’ just to tell you how much the animosity is,” he said.

The chief is also saying there is another video, apparently confiscated by police, that has not been made public.

In a previous cell-phone clip that was provided to the press, Kinsey was seen on tape lying on his back, repeatedly telling police that Rios was only holding a toy. Rios sat cross-legged next to him. While the video did not show the moment Aledda shot Kinsey, the video does show the cops handcuffing an injured Kinsey as he laid on the ground.

In his FDLE interview, the chief said the second, unseen video was clear enough to show one cop, a rookie, resting with his finger off the trigger of his weapon. That cop was not the officer who shot Kinsey.

“It’s was video taken pulled back from the second floor of an apartment,” Eugene said. “Because you could clearly see the officer leaning in the engine area, and the rookie officer, I was telling you, the black male, it was so clear you could see his finger outside trigger, behind a bush. You can see the black male [Kinsey] on his back with both hands in the air.”

The news raises further questions about the controversial Kinsey shooting, which became a flashpoint in the anti-police-brutality movement sweeping the nation. Who took the clip? And why or how did the video not make its way to the press in the eight months since Kinsey was shot?

The answer to those questions are obvious. The video was never released because it would contradict their narrative that the autistic man, Armando Rios Soto, appeared threatening and menacing, the way he waved his toy truck around to fool officers thinking it was a loaded gun.

Instead, the video shows a rookie cop with his finger off the trigger, having made the determination that Kinsey was not carrying a gun.

But as police are known to do, they quickly spun the story to make themselves look like the victim as we described last year.

“The movement of the white individual looked like he was getting ready to discharge a firearm into Mr. Kinsey,” said Miami-Dade police union boss John Rivera in a press conference today, attended by WSVN.

And the officer discharged trying to strike and stop the white male and unfortunately, he missed.”

Rivera went on to slam the media for reporting on this story.

“Be responsible in your reporting,” Rivera said in the press conference.

But is it too much to ask cops to be responsible in their policing?

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/04/05/north-miami-police-chief-reveals-coverup-and-lies-in-last-years-controversial-shooting-of-unarmed-caretaker/

[illuminati]

Remember this case? If you don't, the man you see below lying on the ground with his hands up is the caretaker for the person next to him, an autistic man holding a toy truck. As you can tell, the cop "feared for his life" and shot the caretaker who was lying down with his hands up pleading not to shoot him. This deranged criminal has been enjoying 8 months of paid leave (so far) while his fellow "officers" are still "investigating".



North Miami Police Chief Reveals Coverup and Lies in Last Year’s Controversial Shooting of Unarmed Caretaker

The award-winning Florida cop who made international headlines last year after shooting an unarmed caretaker who had his arms in the air, then claiming he had feared for his life after confusing a toy truck for a loaded gun, was informed by another cop seconds before the shooting that the object was not a gun, but a toy.

But North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda fired anyway, not even striking the autistic man with the truck that he had confused for a gun, but his caretaker who had already told officers it was not a gun; the man they later claimed they were trying to protect from the toy-wielding autistic man they believed had a gun.

However, not only did caretaker Charles Kinsey tell the cops it was not a gun before the shooting, but a North Miami police sergeant who viewed the object through binoculars also confirmed it was a toy truck, telling the other officers to hold their fire.

And the officers did hold their fire, except for Aledda, who seconds earlier, had told fellow officers he had a clear shot on the subject, so apparently was not going to let that moment pass, even if had received a direct order not to shoot.

What else can we expect from a cop who was hired by North Miami police in 2012, despite several warning signs that he could become a problem cop because he possesses a “lack of tolerance” and was also described as being “judgmental; argumentative; critical; challenging; rigid; stubborn”?

Fortunately, Kinsey survived the shooting, and is now suing.

The stunning but not surprising revelations surfaced this week after the Miami New Times obtained an audio recording of North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugene being interviewed by Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators ten days after the July 18, 2016 shooting. The recording is posted below.

Chief Eugene, who had been on the job only six days when the shooting took place, described an ensuing coverup between police and North Miami city officials to protect Aledda, who has no business carrying a badge and a gun
However, that interview was not enough for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to file charges against Aledda, who has been on paid administrative leave for more than eight months now (although they insist they are still investigating).

And that is not surprising considering Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has never filed charges against any cop for on-duty shootings since taking office in 1993. And there have been many.

Her latest questionable decision was made last month when she declined to charge four prison guards who forced a mentally ill inmate into a hot shower for two hours, leaving him to die a slow, excruciating and scalding death, prompting renewed criticism from the New Times, who referred to her as a “disgrace” in a scathing article last month.

So even though prosecutors are promising they will be arriving at a decision any day now, we can predict that they will not file charges against Aledda, who was deemed a potential problem cop when applying for the North Miami Police Department in 2012.

He not only had a shoplifting conviction on his record when applying, he was determined to have a “lack of tolerance” and was also described as being  “judgmental; argumentative; critical; challenging; rigid; stubborn.”

Just the kind of person who would shoot an unarmed man laying on his back with his hands in the air after being told by a commanding officer not to open fire.

According to the Miami  New Times:

After the shooting, union officials justified Aledda’s actions by saying he thought the autistic man with Kinsey had a gun, not a toy truck. But Eugene’s interview with FDLE contradicts that claim. (This past Tuesday, the North Miami Police public information officer declined to comment on behalf of the city manager, Spring.)

“I heard the shooter, Officer Aledda, make a statement to the nature of ‘Be advised, I have clear shot [of] subject,'” Eugene said, describing the audio of the police radio just before the shooting. “Later on, a sergeant… got on the air and said, ‘I have a visual; it is a toy. Is it a toy? QRX.’ That means ‘Stand by; don’t do anything.’ Then there is a conversation back and forth. The next transmission was by [another officer saying] ‘Shot fired!'”

Eugene’s description comes in an hourlong interview that centers on the bizarre aftermath of the case. He doesn’t pull punches about the state of the department. Eugene, a veteran City of Miami cop who had been sworn in as chief only six days before the Kinsey shooting, says training was lax and infighting rampant.

“The scene was a mess, to be honest with you,” he tells investigators of the Kinsey shooting. “People were walking all over the place. Thank God [Kinsey] did not die. I realized I have a problem with the training of my staff. We’re talking about some 15- or 16-year veterans, but in North Miami, a 15- or 16-year veteran may have less experience than a two-year cop in Miami.”

Fights in the department were so bad, Eugene said, that he worried his cops wouldn’t even be willing to protect one another, much less the community.

“I’m afraid one of them will get shot, for God’s sake, and someone will call for backup and they’ll say, ‘I’m not going,’ just to tell you how much the animosity is,” he said.

The chief is also saying there is another video, apparently confiscated by police, that has not been made public.

In a previous cell-phone clip that was provided to the press, Kinsey was seen on tape lying on his back, repeatedly telling police that Rios was only holding a toy. Rios sat cross-legged next to him. While the video did not show the moment Aledda shot Kinsey, the video does show the cops handcuffing an injured Kinsey as he laid on the ground.

In his FDLE interview, the chief said the second, unseen video was clear enough to show one cop, a rookie, resting with his finger off the trigger of his weapon. That cop was not the officer who shot Kinsey.

“It’s was video taken pulled back from the second floor of an apartment,” Eugene said. “Because you could clearly see the officer leaning in the engine area, and the rookie officer, I was telling you, the black male, it was so clear you could see his finger outside trigger, behind a bush. You can see the black male [Kinsey] on his back with both hands in the air.”

The news raises further questions about the controversial Kinsey shooting, which became a flashpoint in the anti-police-brutality movement sweeping the nation. Who took the clip? And why or how did the video not make its way to the press in the eight months since Kinsey was shot?

The answer to those questions are obvious. The video was never released because it would contradict their narrative that the autistic man, Armando Rios Soto, appeared threatening and menacing, the way he waved his toy truck around to fool officers thinking it was a loaded gun.

Instead, the video shows a rookie cop with his finger off the trigger, having made the determination that Kinsey was not carrying a gun.

But as police are known to do, they quickly spun the story to make themselves look like the victim as we described last year.

“The movement of the white individual looked like he was getting ready to discharge a firearm into Mr. Kinsey,” said Miami-Dade police union boss John Rivera in a press conference today, attended by WSVN.

And the officer discharged trying to strike and stop the white male and unfortunately, he missed.”

Rivera went on to slam the media for reporting on this story.

“Be responsible in your reporting,” Rivera said in the press conference.

But is it too much to ask cops to be responsible in their policing?

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/04/05/north-miami-police-chief-reveals-coverup-and-lies-in-last-years-controversial-shooting-of-unarmed-caretaker/
[/quote









Completely outrageous behaviour by that cop & those covering up
As for the state prosecutor She Needs to be accidentally shoot by a cop
See if she prosecutes then. Slag.

Tick Tock - Tick Tock
Time is running out on this Criminal Gang of bully's / liars / thugs.

[Skeletor]

Another case of not just a "bad apple" (the cop trees seem to have a high rate of rotten fruit.. maybe the crop is bad). This is a criminal gang. Read below:

“Sickening & Horrific”: Cop Repeatedly Raped Woman In Front of Her Disabled Child

Bakersfield, CA — After enduring years of sexual assault and abuse — including at least one incident which took place in the presence of her disabled child — a mother of three filed a lawsuit against her former probation officer.

Ben Meiselas, the unnamed woman’s attorney, told Courthouse News the repetitive assaults the victim endured were “sickening and horrific.”

“We filed this lawsuit because [Doe] was brutally sexually assaulted over the course of several years by a now former-parole officer who held a position of trust and control and abused that authority,” Meiselas explained. “It’s clear to us that the parole office was complicit and turned a blind eye to the brutal sexual abuse.”

Courthouse News reports former Kern County probation officer Reyes Soberon Jr. pled no contest to the sexual assaults of the mother, who will not be named in this report to protect the identity of her children, and two other victims, late last year.

Soberon received six months in jail and three years probation “for touching a person intimately against their will for sexual arousal.”

Court documents claim the former officer “brutally” and “methodically” assaulted the woman beginning around April 2012, and didn’t cease until June 2015.

“Soberon would mislead [Doe] into coming into the probation office and would take [Doe] to a corner where he would digitally penetrate her vagina and anus while sticking his tongue down her throat, moaning: ‘I want you to make me cum in my pants,’” the woman’s 10-page complaint states.

“In one horrific instance, Soberon sexually assaulted [Doe] in her home in front of her disabled son suffering from cerebral palsy as he lay helpless, crawling on the ground.”

Soberon, the woman claims, threatened to “put her in jail for the rest of her life” if she rejected his unwanted advances — which caused her to fear for life and those of her three children.

Assaults continued until one day in 2015, when the woman received an unexpected visit from a female probation officer who sought to arrest her for violating orders to perform community service — a violation which should not have occurred, as Soberon had vowed to allow an extension.

Upon confiscating the woman’s phone, however, the officer discovered Soberon’s text messages calling her “sexy mamacita” and “baby doll” — and abruptly left without further comment, according to the complaint.

“Soon afterward,” Courthouse News reports, “Soberon started calling the woman and threatening to kill her. Emboldened despite this escalation, she told the probation department what was going on. But instead of taking her seriously, she claims the department tried to dissuade her from reporting him and let Soberon continue supervising her probation though he was not officially assigned to her.

“Worse yet, the department’s internal affairs officials told the woman she could not hire an attorney, talk to the media or contact the FBI about her report or the assaults, according to the complaint.”

Throughout the duration of her ordeal, the woman says the now-former officer repeatedly invented excuses to be in her presence and continue the sexual assaults. Seemingly left without recourse to stop the ongoing abuse, she says she “lived in constant fear, believing that Soberon was free to continue molesting her.”

It wasn’t until the woman was subpoenaed to appear at Soberon’s criminal case she learned he had been arrested months before in December 2015.

As Meiselas described, simply attempting to bring the woman justice by filing appropriate documentation with the court exposed startling obstacles — in particular, the treatment of sexual assault victims and the rejection of the woman’s status as disabled from the trauma suffered.

According to Courthouse News, Meiselas says his client “first filed a government late claim two months after the deadline. Though she has post-traumatic stress disorder from being raped, the county denied her petition for a late file though the Government Tort Claims Act states the county must permit a filing if the individual suffers a disability or did not file due to excusable neglect.”

“One of the biggest scandals here is that a Kern Superior Court commissioner found that PTSD from rape does not equal a disability,” the attorney asserted. “Lawyers who file late can get a pass, but sexual assault victims get thrown in the gutter? That ruling shocks the conscience.”

Kuge and other officials not only knew about Soberon’s wrongdoing, but tried to cover up the scandal by pressuring her not to tell anyone what was happening, the complaint states.

Courthouse News notes that as of Monday, Kuge was no longer listed as the chief probation officer on the department’s webpage. Officials declined to comment, telling the outlet the woman’s complaint had not yet been reviewed.

Kern County, the Kern County probation department, former officer Reyes Soberon, Jr., and Chief Probation Officer David M. Kuge are all named in the lawsuit.

For this gross violation of her civil rights, the woman seeks general, special, and punitive damages through the lawsuit.

This egregious case shows not only a horrendous violation of trust between law enforcement and the public, but, as described in the suit, an inexcusable attempt to cover up wrongdoing — while re-victimizing a mother of three, and potentially others, in the process.


http://thefreethoughtproject.com/officer-arrested-lawsuit-rape/

[Skeletor]

Once again the roving gang of bandits attacks and tortures innocent people.

Cops Force K9 to Maul 70-Year-Old Man’s Head Over a DOT Sticker

Madison, WI — On the day Klyde J. Gebelein was viciously attacked by police and their K9 unit, he had no criminal record, had not caused harm to anyone, and, as the court records later showed, broke no law. However, that did not stop Marathon County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Deiler from assaulting him and allowing his K9 to maul the head of this innocent 70-year-old man.

Gebelein has since filed a lawsuit against the Marathon County Sheriff’s Deputy for the horrific assault he endured on August 6, 2015 — all of which was captured on police dashcam.

On that fateful day, Deputy Deiler pulled over Mr. Gebelein because his trailer, for hauling his excavator, lacked the proper stickers from the Department of Transportation. Deiler claimed that because Gebelein was using this trailer and excavator to earn income that he was required to pay the DOT — for a sticker. But Gebelein was having nothing of it.

Clearly agitated that Deiler kept pressing him over this extortion fee for a license, Gebelein had enough and left.

If we look at this situation objectively — outside of the statist paradigm — we see a man driving away from an armed robber who detained him and demanded he pay protection money for the right to earn income.

Sadly, however, as the police see it, this man was fleeing an officer, resisting an officer and operating commercial motor vehicle without a license — so they claimed the right to enact violence against Gebelein.

After realizing that the officers weren’t going to stop chasing him, Gebelein finally stopped his vehicle. He then simply got out and walked up to the officers to talk to them like a human being. However, because they are police and perceived Gebelein’a actions as criminal activity, they did no talking — only violence.

The scene that unfolded during the second stop, which was caught on dashcam, is nothing short of horrifying and tyrannical.

Gebelein, who is 70-years-old, posed zero threat to the officers. He was not running, nor was he attempting to flee, nor did he have his hands in his pockets, or anything else that would’ve justified Deiler unleashing his K9, Leo. In fact, his actions were so non-threatening that the Leo did not even know who to attack once he was released.

As the dog wanders aimlessly wondering who the cops are telling him to attack, a deputy then rushes the senior citizen, while yelling at him to “get on the ground!” Only seconds later, after he was already down, Deiler forces the K9 to attack Gebelein. As Leo tears into Gebelein’s thigh, police continue to order him to get his hands behind his back.

As three cops attack an unarmed, non-violent, elderly man, Deiler then has the K9 sink his teeth into Gebelein’s head. The video of police attempting to pull Leo off of this poor man’s head was as gruesome as it was heartbreaking.

Gebelein suffered a traumatic head injury as a result and was hospitalized. He is now permanently disfigured and injured.

Battered and bloody, Gebelein was booked into jail for resisting arrest, fleeing an officer, and failure to obtain the proper licensing for a commercial vehicle — which Gebelein said he doesn’t even have.

Gebelein suffered pain, permanent scarring to his head, medical expenses, and business loss, according to the lawsuit. He is asking the court to determine the amount of damage he should be awarded, according to the Daily Herald.

As the Daily Herald reports, Jerome Tlusty, Gebelein’s attorney for his criminal case and one of the attorneys for his civil case, later argued in court documents both the stop and the search of the vehicle were illegal.

Fortunately for Gebelein, the court agreed with Tlusty and all charges were thrown out. However, none of the officers involved in the assault were held liable for the injuries they caused this innocent man. In fact, Capt. Sean McCarthy said the department followed proper procedure when forcing their K9 to maul a non-threatening senior citizen.

“It’s just an unfortunate situation all around,” he said. “But if they have to be used in that way, they are.”

Now, it will be the Marathon County taxpayers who take responsibility for the stop.

Below is a video that gives a graphic illustration of how the American Dream dies.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hgu88_horrific-video-shows-cops-force-k9-to-maul-compliant-man-s-head-over-a-dot-sticker_news

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/horrific-video-cops-force-k9-maul-compliant-mans-head-dot-sticker/

[Skeletor]

While they're trying to take firearms from law abiding citizens, these "highly trained" dangerous and incompetent buffoons shoot other people and yet they get away with it.

Oklahoma Security Guard Dressed as Cop Shoots Man, Claiming it was “an Accident”

An Oklahoma security guard hired to keep patrons safe at a weekend gun show pulled out a loaded gun, pointed it towards people and fired, striking a former sheriff’s deputy, who was also working security that day.

Brian Pounds, who pulled the trigger, is not a cop, but he is wearing a shirt that says “police” on the back.

He did, however, once serve as a reserve deputy under Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz of “fuck your breath” fame.

And like former reserve deputy Robert Gates who is currently imprisoned for killing a man by shooting him in the back, Pounds claimed it was an accident.

But a surveillance video obtained by the Oklahoma news site, The Frontier, shows it more of an act of stupidity, ignorance and negligence.

Firearms training is obviously not a priority at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office. At least not for its reserve deputies.

But he will not face criminal charges because the victim, former Tulsa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Rick Treadwell, did not want to file charges against him.

The bullet struck Treadwell’s middle finger and remained lodged there, so he probably won’t be flipping anybody off with that hand for a while.

According to The Frontier:

Treadwell, Pounds and Skiatook Police Chief Pat Dean were working security at the Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms show over the weekend, Treadwell said. The show bills itself as the world’s largest gun show, but stresses that loaded firearms are not allowed inside the Expo Square arena where the show is held.

The Frontier acquired surveillance footage of the shooting on Thursday which shows Pounds remove the handgun from a bag, and handle it for a few seconds before pointing it in the direction of Dean and Treadwell before pulling the trigger.

A flash is visible from the handgun’s muzzle, and Treadwell, seated at a nearby table, immediately leaps from his seat and grabs his hand. Treadwell told The Frontier earlier this week that the bullet struck him in the middle finger, where it remains lodged. He said the bullet ricocheted off the wall before striking him.

Pounds then places the handgun on the table and reaches for his walkie-talkie before other personnel arrive.

Pounds, who does not appear to still be a reserve deputy, is an assessor for the Tulsa County Appraiser’s Office.

He is also married to Tulsa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Judy Pounds, who was sued in 2015 by a former jail administrator who claimed she was the subject of harassment at the workplace.

The former reserve deputy was also involved in a 2005 controversial shooting that is still raising concerns among citizens.

Pounds is the wife of Brian Pounds, a former candidate for Tulsa County Commissioner who works for County Assessor Ken Yazel. Pounds was a reserve deputy for Glanz in 2005 when he and Yazel accompanied other deputies to serve a warrant in Okmulgee County.

Yazel ended up shooting the man in the buttocks after he allegedly tried to grab Pounds’ gun. The 2005 shooting is among the issues a citizens group is asking a grand jury to investigate.

Sheriff Glanz resigned in 2015 after he was indicted on corruption charges, including covering up for his buddy, Robert Bates, the reserve deputy who shot an unarmed man in the back.

Like Pounds, Bates also claimed the shooting was accidental, but he ended up sentenced to four years in prison.

Bates shot the suspect in the back while other deputies were holding him down on April 2, 2015.

The suspect, Eric Harris, 44, ended up dying, gasping for air, telling deputies he was losing his breath.

“Fuck your breath,” Tulsa County sheriff’s deputy Joseph Byars responded.

Video: https://vimeo.com/212160186

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/04/06/watch-oklahoma-security-guard-dressed-as-cop-shoots-man-claiming-it-was-an-accident/

[Skeletor]

The "sheriff"... And he is still out there so that he can attack and abuse citizens... Put him in a prison isolation cell and throw away the key.

Sheriff Arrested for Assaulting Innocent 77yo Woman, Using Stingray to Spy on Judge — Still Sheriff

Mississippi County, MO — A Mississippi County, Missouri sheriff has been arrested following an investigation by the State Highway Patrol and the FBI. Attorney General Josh Hawley said the arrest of Corey Hutcheson, who authorities say is guilty of multiple felonies, is the result of two separate investigations.

According to KVFS News, “In the first complaint, Hutcheson faces seven counts of forgery, seven counts of tampering with computer data, and one count of notary misconduct. Hawley said Hutcheson is accused of using his position to illegally ping the cell phone of several members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, former Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore, and Circuit Judge David Dolan.”

But Hutcheson’s crimes were not limited to spying on his colleagues. Apparently, the sheriff also used his position to bully other members of the community as retaliation for involving themselves with other members of his family.

KVFS writes, “In the second complaint, Hutcheson is charged with second-degree assault, first-degree robbery, and false declaration. Hutcheson is accused of handcuffing a 77-year-old woman with enough force that she had a heart attack. Hawley said that the victim was in the hospital for three days. Investigators said Hutcheson arrested the woman because she was in a civil dispute with one of his family members.”

Bully cops, as The Free Thought Project has reported on numerous occasions, often take down senior citizens with the same use of force they would attempt to take down a 20-year-old. Many times the senior citizens are left with broken bones and bruises and treated with an overall lack of respect. It’s conceivable if the elderly woman Hutcheson allegedly manhandled had passed away, he could potentially have been charged with manslaughter or murder as well.

As it stands, the now disgraced sheriff has been charged with: 2nd-degree assault, 1st-degree robbery, forgery, tampering with computer data, notary misconduct, and false declaration. He claimed the elderly woman had kidnapped one of his family members. He used those claims as the basis of his probable cause statement he later used to arrest the woman.

Hutcheson is out on bond, awaiting a trial which prosecutors say will continue. Oddly enough, he remains the sheriff of Mississippi County and will continue to carry said title until such time as the Attorney General makes any changes. In the meanwhile, the coroner briefly served as acting sheriff, until it was determined the Deputy Chief would assume the position.

Abuse of power is not uncommon within some sheriff’s offices across the country. As The Free Thought Project reported in late 2016, a police union president, Dominick Izzo, blew the whistle on his boss, Chief George Filenko of Round Lake Park, Illinois, for allegedly and knowingly helping to send and keep an innocent woman in prison, among many other charges.

After the county coroner made an appearance on 48 Hours, where he emphatically declared Melissa Calusinski’s innocence in the daycare death of a young child, the county arrested Coroner Thomas Rudd on forgery charges. Those charges are bogus, according to many sources close to the case.

It appears from our investigations into the case, anyone who dares to speak out against the authorities in Round Lake Park, Illinois immediately become the target of reprisals. In an April 2nd post, Izzo posted a picture of his former boss in an orange jumpsuit, shackled in chains. In the post, he said his motivations for doing so were, “to support good cops who are overshadowed by corrupt men who abuse their position and dishonor their oath to the pubic!” The Free Thought Project will continue to follow both cases closely and report on any new findings.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/missouri-sheriff-arrested-several-felony-charges/

[Skeletor]

Unbelievable. All those involved should be sent to the electric chair.

Hooded, Handcuffed, ‘Violated’: Cops Force Catheterize 3yo Boy, Man for Drug Urinalysis

Pierre, SD — In all the years the Free Thought Project has been reporting on police misconduct and government corruption, we’ve seen some vile, horrific, and nightmarish acts committed by those sworn to protect. However, a recent case getting exposed by the ACLU of South Dakota may be one of the most insanely cruel and horrifying acts committed by police in the name of the drug war — and they’re doing it to children too.

Forced catheterization.

To find out if a person has traces of an arbitrary substance deemed illegal by the state, cops are torturing adults and children alike.

Dirk Sparks recalls that horrid night that it happened to him. “It was degrading,” Sparks said. “I was angry. I felt like my civil rights were being violated.”

The nightmare began when police responded to an incident, in which Sparks had done nothing wrong, at his home. However, one officer said he saw Sparks being “fidgety,” so police claimed the right to test his urine.

Because Sparks refused to pee in a cup for cops, they arrested him and brought him to the hospital.

“I didn’t actually think they were going to go through with it,” Sparks said of the event which left him in pain for weeks and an emotional toll which is still there today. “Even when we went to the hospital, I thought it was a threat.”

But cops followed through with their threat.

Once in the hospital room, four police officers held Sparks down while they placed a hood over his head. He was then chained to a bed with his pants around his ankles while a nurse at Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre forcefully inserted a pencil-sized tube into Sparks’ urethra to extract his urine involuntarily.

Sparks recalls that through the mesh hood, he could see a fifth officer filming the sadistic torturous practice.

In Sparks’ case, according to the Argus Leader, the doctor who oversaw the procedure, Peter Maningas, is also a reserve officer for the Pierre Police Department and is a member of the department’s SWAT team, according to court records. Maningas could not be reached for comment this week.

Because police had stolen his urine, Sparks pleaded no contest to possession of marijuana and ingestion of a controlled substance and was released from jail on time served with a suspended sentence.

Sparks told the Argus Leader that the pain lasted for weeks and every time he tried to go to the bathroom he was reminded of that torturous event. The kidnapping and forced catheterization were so traumatic for Sparks that he moved away because he now fears the Pierre police.

According to the Argus Leader, the Pierre Police Department would not answer questions, and state court officials said they have no way of tracking how often catheters are used on suspects. After Argus Leader Media reported on the practice last summer, multiple people contacted the news organization to say police had threatened or put them through the practice.

But it’s not just adults these sadistic cops torture either — it’s their children.

Kristen Hunter’s boyfriend was on probation when he failed a routine urinalysis. So, multiple cops showed up at her house, along with a Department of Social Services employee and demanded her and her kids produce urine to see if they too had drugs in their system. Hunter’s children were 3 and 5-years-old at the time.

Police told Hunter that if her kids couldn’t pee on demand that they would be taken from her. Luckily, Hunter and her 5-year-old daughter were able to produce a sample. However, the young boy, who wasn’t potty trained yet, was unable to go.

Police and social workers then held down the child and sexually assaulted him via forced catheterization.

“They just shoved it right up there, and he screamed so bad,” Hunter said.

Because these sadistic cops and social worker were apparently filthy at the time, the poor young toddler contracted a staff infection from the process. “He’s still dealing with a staph infection, and we are still giving him medication,” said Hunter.

“Quite frankly, it’s cruel and barbaric to forcibly catheterize anyone, let alone a 3-year-old child, and this process raises serious constitutional concerns,” said Heather Smith, executive director of the ACLU of South Dakota.

According to the Argus Leader, the ACLU reviewed Hunter’s case and wrote a letter to the Department of Social Services condemning the incident. Smith said the state subjected a vulnerable child to trauma and injury to gather information to charge his parents. Her letter asked the department to stop catheterizing children and provide an explanation why procedure was permitted.

“The process runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unlawful search and seizure where there are other, less intrusive means available to gather the information,” Smith said.

Jason Riis, 34, also of Pierre, was subjected to similar treatment after being arrested for suspicion of a DUI. Riis refused a urinalysis citing lack of probable cause so cops through him in jail.

“They put me in a holding cell for 15 minutes and kept asking me if I wanted to take a voluntary pee test,” Riis said in an interview. “I told them ‘no’ because they didn’t have probable cause.”

The next day, cops came back with a warrant for Riis’ urine. By this time, however, Riis said he was ready to just get it over with and pee in a cup. But cops didn’t care, they told him it was now too late and apparently wanted to torture him to get his urine out.

“One cop held my penis, and a doctor shoved a catheter in me,” Riis said. “It hurt for a week. I couldn’t pee.”

Police found trace amounts of substances deemed illegal by the state and used this as justification for Riis’ torture and charges.

Riis told the Argus Leader that he recalled telling his mother about what happened. They both held each other and cried, he said.

Force catheterizing adults and children is the work of sick tyrants and has no place in the ostensible land of the free. Hitler, the Stasi, and their depraved scientists would be proud.


Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/forced-catheterization-boy-man-violated/#pCCkjoHGmIaHpmwy.99

[Skeletor]

About time. Hopefully he will get many decades in prison.


North Miami Cop Charged with Felony Attempted Manslaughter for Shooting Autistic Man’s Caretaker

Despite the usual twisting of the truth from the Police PR Spin Machine, the North Miami cop who opened fire on an unarmed man with his hands in the air last year was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony attempted manslaughter.

North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda was also charged with a misdemeanor charge of culpable negligence.

Although it should have been an obvious decision to charge the cop, especially since he was told to hold his fire before he fired his gun, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has never charged a cop for an on-duty shooting in the 24 years she’s been running the prosecutor’s office.

But by now, everybody is catching on to her police apologist ways, especially after the Miami New Times called her “a disgrace” last month when she refused to charge four prison guards for scalding a man to death in a hot shower.

Apparently, even she could not claim the toy truck held by the autistic man could be perceived as a gun.

Not after North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugene admitted to investigators that another sergeant on the scene had already confirmed through binoculars that it was a toy, not a gun, ordering the other cops not to fire.

The rest of the cops held their fire, but not Aledda, who was hired in 2012 despite the fact police had determined he possessed a “lack of tolerance” as was described as “judgmental, argumentative, critical, challenging, rigid, stubborn.”

According to the Miami Herald:

A North Miami police officer will face criminal charges for shooting the unarmed caretaker of an autistic man last summer — one of a string of questionable police shootings of black men nationwide that sparked protests.

Officer Jonathan Aledda was arrested and charged Wednesday with a felony count of attempted manslaughter, and a misdemeanor charge of culpable negligence.

The arrest came nine months after Aledda shot and wounded Charles Kinsey, a behavioral therapist who was lying on his back on the ground, his hands up in the air, begging officers not to shoot — a confrontation partly captured on video from a bystander.

The arrest marks the first time prosecutors under Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle have charged an officer for an on-duty shooting.

The Kinsey case, which came amid protests in many cities over controversial police shootings, was being closely watched.

On July 18, 2016, North Miami officers were summoned to the scene by a 911 caller who reported what appeared to be a disturbed man armed with a handgun.

It was actually a silver toy truck. The man was 26-year-old Arnaldo Rios, a severely autistic man who had wandered away from a group home and sat down in the middle of the street. Kinsey was trying to coax him back to the facility when police arrived.

After the July 18, 2016 shooting, Miami-Dade police union boss John Rivera held a press conference where he berated the media for not being responsible in their reporting, accusing them of not reporting the facts.

But his “facts” were nothing but a laughable police narrative that the autistic man was going to shoot the caretaker with the truck that looked like a gun, which is why Aledda – a trained SWAT team member who has won awards– had to shoot the caretaker.

 A video of the incident is posted below. Another video has yet to be made public.

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/04/12/north-miami-cop-charged-felony-attempted-manslaughter-shooting-autistic-mans-caretaker/

[Skeletor]

It seems that someone who needs help and calls 911 or the police can get hurt instead of receiving help.

Wisconsin SWAT Team Attacks 65-Year-old Man with Parkinson’s Disease After he Called for Help

A 65-year-old Wisconsin man with Parkinson’s Disease dialed 911 for a medical emergency Friday, only for a SWAT team to arrive at his home and slam him to the ground,  hospitalizing him for days.

Thomas Smith’s family is outraged, saying their relative is unable to physically speak, so he had to resort to pushing buttons on the telephone to communicate with the dispatcher.

And somehow, the dispatcher understood he was being held hostage by a man with guns and explosives, which is why Oneida County sheriff’s officials say they were only trying to keep the neighborhood safe.

Plus, they added, he was not following directions, so he had to be “de-centralized,” which apparently is the police version of  “re-accommodated,” the term used by United Airlines to describe how they have passengers yanked from their seats and dragged down the aisle to make room for airline employees.

But Smith’s family is not buying it.

According to News Watch 12:

“When a person cannot communicate, and he’s short of breath, you’re going to press every button on the phone to get help,” said Alan.
The dispatch call ended abruptly. So when Smith exited his home, the Oneida County Special Response team detained him.
The family says Smith was treated roughly.
“He did say he was forced down, he was slammed to the ground,” said Alan.
Hook says Smith was not following directions, so Smith was then “decentralized.”
“We acted on the information that we had,” Hook said. “We couldn’t have acted any other way.”
“We needed to keep the community safe as well as our officers safe, and we just did the best we could with the information that we had,” said Hook.
Smith is currently in the hospital receiving the medical care he needed in addition to the care he needed after he was body slammed.

Captain Hook suggests citizens with medical issues make prior arrangements with the sheriff’s office to inform them of their condition in order to prevent deputies from confusing them with armed kidnappers, according to WSAU.

Call the sheriff’s office at (715) 361-5100 or comment on their Facebook page.

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/04/12/wisconsin-swat-team-attacks-65-year-old-man-parkinsons-disease-called-help/

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The cop cock worshippers who scream "support the police" and claim the cops don't just wake up deciding to commit crimes must be waving their "thin blue line" flags high.

Florida Cop/Cub Scout Leader Arrested for Years of Sexually Abusing Young Boy, Almost Driving him to Suicide

A Florida cop, who served as a Cub Scout leader, is on paid administrative leave after he was arrested for capital sexual battery of a child under 12 years old.

Astatula Police Sergeant Timothy Alan Palinski, 43, was arrested Wednesday after a boy reported to a school resource officer he had been abused by Palinski since he was seven.

The most recent molestation occurred on April 6, according to an arrest affidavit.

Palinski took the victim to the bedroom and told him to get lubricant and pornographic materials from his gun safe, which also contained Palinski’s guns.

Palinski molested the boy and forced the victim to touch him.

The victim repeatedly objected and told Palinski he needed to stop the abuse. The boy told Sergeant Palinski he contemplated suicide using one of the guns from the safe.

Sergeant Palanski said he would stop, but continued the abuse.

After revealing the abuse to school officials, the boy shared details with authorities at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, including identifying marks and characteristics on Palinski’s body.

Palinski’s wife confirmed the details were accurate, according to Lake County deputies.

Deputies found pornography and lubricant beneath a false shelf in the gun safe when they executed a search warrant of Palinki’s residence.

“It was really bothering him emotionally and it got to the point where he needed to tell someone and he wanted it to stop,”Lake County Sheriff’s Lieutenant John Herrell said.

The victim, who is between 12 and 16, took a polygraph test. Deputies said he cried and was visibly shaken at times during the interview as he recalled the sexual abuse.

“This victim has proven to be strictly credible, and the detectives have found no reason whatsoever to doubt his testimony,” Lt. Herrell said. “In fact, everything he provided to detectives they were able to somehow verify.”

“It’s shocking and disappointing when you see a law enforcement officer breaking the very laws that they themselves are sworn to up hold.”

Sergeant Palinski served in the Boy Scouts as a Cub master for Pack 254 in Astatula. But the Boy Scouts said once they heard about Palinksi’s arrest, he was removed from any upcoming events.

During their search of his residence detectives found Cub Scout items.

Sheriff deputies said they’re still investigating to determine if Palinski had more than one victim.

“We would be interested in hearing from any parents whose children have spent time alone with him,” Herrell said.

In addition to capital battery of a child charges, Sergeant Palinski is charged with charged with lewd and lascivious battery of a child from 12 years old to under 16.

He is being held without bond at the Lake County Jail.

Astatula Police Chief Walter A. Hoagland said Palinski, who worked at his department for 17 years, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave.

According to his Facebook page, Timothy Palinski previously worked as a Correctional Officer at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/04/14/florida-cop-and-cub-scout-leader-arrested-for-years-of-sexually-abusing-young-boy-almost-driving-him-to-suicide/

[Skeletor]

Tiny yet symbolic semblance of justice. Shame about the deadlocked jury.

Cop Ordered to Pay $415K of Own Money to Family of Unarmed Teen He Killed

Little Rock, AR — An encouraging end to a tragic story comes out of Arkansas this week after a former Little Rock police officer was found liable in the shooting death of 15-year-old boy in 2012. What sets this case apart from the myriad of other civil cases in which police officers are found responsible for killing, beating, and depriving people of their rights, is that this cop was held personally responsible — and will have to pay the victim’s family using his own assets — not the taxpayers.

On August 12, 2012, then-Little Rock Police Officer Josh Hastings, 31, and another officer were investigating a report of car break-ins. The officers attempted to box in a car occupied by the victim, Bobby Moore III, along with two other teens.

Hastings fired 3 rounds into the vehicle of unarmed teens, striking Moore three times, killing him.

As is the norm when police shoot into moving vehicles, Hastings claimed he feared for his life as the 15-year-old boy attempted to run over him.

However, according to court records, the car was in reverse when Hastings fired. The other teens in the car also testified that they were trying to flee and they did not want to run the officer over.

Before the civil case this month, Hasting was tried twice in criminal court — each time on charges of manslaughter — but the juries ended in deadlock both times. After two mistrials, the prosecutors declined to go after Hastings a third time.

Naturally, after the deadlocked juries, the family of Moore was shaken, feeling like they’d never see justice for their lost child. However, last Thursday, all that changed and a heartening precedent was set.

After two days of deliberation, the unanimous verdict was returned at 3:15 pm on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr., filling in for presiding Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, read aloud the verdict that awarded Moore’s mother, Sylvia Perkins, and her family $415,000.

As the Arkansas Democrat reported, Perkins cried so hard at the news of the verdict that she shook.

The court threw out the case against two others involved in the lawsuit, and Perkins was told she could file an appeal that decision.

“There are times when my faith in the judicial system has been weakened,” Austin Porter Jr., co-counsel for Perkins said. “There are times when my faith in the judicial system has been strengthened. This is one of those rare times when justice has prevailed.”

Hastings, who is now a delivery driver, noted that he has no idea how he’ll pay the $415,000. However, it was not money that Perkins was after, it was justice.

The case has never been about money, Perkins said, adding that she just wanted the truth to come out.

“It’s been five years,” she said. “Ain’t nothing going to bring him back.”

As the Free Thought Project has reported extensively, police officers, even when found at fault for their abusive actions, are almost never held personally liable. It is the taxpayers who foot the bill. However, this new trend in accountability seems to be on the rise, and will be massively more effective at curbing police brutality than any system in place right now.

In February, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was told he must decide whether to pay $100,000 in damages, from his own pocket — stemming from a civil lawsuit involving an inmate abuse case — or face liens on his assets.

Baca’s case was the second such case in only a short time, in which cops are being forced to come out of pocket after being found at fault in a lawsuit. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Lin’s case was similar but a bit more extreme than Baca’s, and Hastings, however.

In 2013, Lin spotted 19-year-old Dontrell Stephens in a “high-crime area” — the man’s own low-income neighborhood — riding a bicycle in a manner the deputy found suspicious.

Lin stopped the youth, who dismounted the bike with a cell phone in his hand and slowly approached the officer. Just outside the range of dash cam video, the officer shot Stephens four times — claiming he was in fear for his life — but footage and evidence clearly showed the claim to be baseless.

Three of the bullets remain lodged in Stephens’ body, according to the Sun Sentinel — two in his arm and one in his spine, which left him paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair for mobility.

Stephens won a massive $22.4 million settlement and U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer ruled that Lin should foot at least a portion of the bill. Last month, nearly everything this officer owned was seized to pay back Stephens — including everything from his furniture to his clothing.

Both Lin and Hastings will most assuredly think twice before shooting another unarmed teen.

Imagine, for a moment, the result of all police officers being held personally liable for their actions. In nearly every other profession on the planet, if someone hurts someone else while on the job, they are held liable — personally. Why can’t cops carry personal liability insurance just like doctors?

As instances of police brutality and police killings continue to be exposed, there is no doubt that the US is in dire need of reform. The simple requirement for police to be insured for personal liability is an easy fix — especially to remove repeat offenders from the force.

All too often, when a tragic death such as Tamir Rice occurs, months later we find out that the officer should have never been given a badge and a gun in the first place because of their past. However, insurance companies, who can’t fleece the taxpayers to pay for problem cops, would have to come out of pocket to pay for them and would make sure that these officers are uninsurable.

If the officer becomes uninsurable, the officer becomes unhirable — simple as that.

There are likely many cops out there right now who would be denied insurance coverage by any company, due to their track records. A requirement for personal liability insurance would, quite literally, weed out problem officers — almost overnight.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/personally-liable-shooting-death-court/

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Cops Gun Down Innocent 86yo Navy Vet as He Protected His Wife from Intruders

Saratoga, CA — The widow of an 86-year-old Navy veteran who was gunned down by armed intruders in his own home, has filed a lawsuit against her husband’s killers — the Santa Clara County sheriff’s department.

Eugene Craig was gunned down by police as he attempted to shield his wife from armed intruders who’d just broken into his home. The armed intruders were cops.

On Sept. 12, 2016, according to Harue Craig’s attorneys, prior to the shooting, deputies kicked down two doors before opening fire inside the Craigs’ Saratoga home on Titus Avenue.

As KTVU reports, attorneys said their client stated that both she and her late husband were “very scared” and did not know why their doors were being kicked down.

The elderly couple thought they were victims of a home invasion, so Eugene grabbed his .38 caliber revolver and bravely stood in front of his wife as they listened to the intruders come into their home.

When the intruders opened the bedroom door, they saw the elderly vet standing there with the revolver and one deputy opened fire. Although there were multiple deputies in the home, deputy Doug Ulrich was the only one who felt the need to begin shooting.

Eugene died on the scene.

According to police, they were at the home to conduct a welfare check. The sheriff’s office said that deputies clearly identified themselves, called the home phone, and tapped on windows repeatedly before entering.

in spite of their alleged efforts to identify themselves, the couple still didn’t believe them. After all, they were both entirely innocent and cops coming into their home was a far-fetched idea. Any home invader could simply claim they’re the police to easily gain entry into someone’s home.

The tragic irony of this situation is that police claim they were there to protect the couple, noting that they had gotten word that someone inside the home was in distress. Sadly, this is what happens when militarized police are sent into an innocent couple’s home to check on their wellbeing.

After he killed the innocent elderly Navy veteran, Ulrich was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings in the county.

Naturally, after they killed the innocent man — while ‘protecting’ him — police immediately attempted to justify their actions.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said, “By law, officers are allowed to use deadly force when they or others are faced with imminent danger.”

However, the only ones who created the threat of imminent danger were the police.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, they are still reviewing the incident, noting their office “investigates all fatal law enforcement encounters to determine if the lethal force was legal.”

Welfare checks, as they are known in the United States, are crap shoots that have the potential to explode into violence at any moment. The Free Thought Project has reported on numerous instances in which police have shown up to ‘protect’ someone who may be suicidal or in distress only to end up hurting or killing them.

One such instance is Benjamin Burruss, 58, who narrowly escaped with his life after police targeted him for a welfare check.

As we previously reported, Burruss had not threatened to harm anyone, was not suspected of any criminal activity, and was not mentally ill, when a police tactical team confronted him, surrounded his truck, deployed a “stinger” device behind the rear tires, launched a flash grenade, smashed the side window in order to drag him from the truck, handcuffed and searched him, and transported him to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and mental health hold.

There is also the story of Kayden Clarke, whose video about living with Asperger’s went viral and touched millions. However, when police were conducting a welfare check on him, after reports that he may be suicidal, they barged into his home and killed him.

Nothing will bring back Harue Craig’s beloved husband. However, her lawsuit will serve as yet another reminder of the effect of police violence on situations that require no force at all. When law enforcement’s only tool is a hammer — everything begins to look like a nail.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/innocent-navy-vet-killed-cops-intruders/