Judge Allows Wrongful Death Suit to Proceed in Police Shooting of Larry Jenkins

A federal judge has ruled that a wrongful-death suit against a Milwaukee police officer should go forward. U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller ruled this week that a jury should be allowed to decide whether officer Jon Bartlett used excessive force when he shot and killed Larry Jenkins. Bartlett shot Jenkins, who was not armed, seven times on Sept. 19, 2002. Jenkins, who was a passenger in a car stopped for traffic violations, ran away from police and got into another car. Police said he then tried to run over the officer. Jenkins' family argues that the car was barely moving and that Jenkins, 31, was not in control of it. Assistant City Attorney Susan E. Lappen had asked Stadtmueller to throw out the suit. Stadtmueller agreed with some of Lappen's arguments and dismissed a claim that former police Chief Arthur Jones failed to properly supervise and train Bartlett. However, Stadtmueller said genuine issues of fact remain for a jury to decide. [more ] and more

Jurors rule police officers used justified force in fatal shooting of Sonnier

 A Fayette County coroner's jury ruled that police were justified in using deadly force against a man who allegedly ran down one officer and tried to run down two others. Kermith Sonnier Jr., 37, of Brownsville, died May 5 from one of four shots fired by either Redstone Township police Captain H. Dennis Field or Brownsville officer Autumn Fike, authorities said. The bullet was too deformed for ballistics to conclusively link it to a specific gun, according to testimony at Thursday's coroner's inquest. But Field has told investigators he fired three .45-caliber shots - two as Sonnier's truck passed by, and one into its tire after it stopped so the truck couldn't travel in reverse. Fike fired one from her .40 caliber weapon. The bullet that killed Sonnier was a .45 caliber slug, testimony showed. Neither officer testified at the inquest. Sonnier was chased by Fike when he sped away from an officer who tried to talk to him while he was parked in an area known for drug activity. Sonnier drove into some woods at one point and turned his truck around and ran down Fike, authorities said. Field then fired his gun. The victim's father, Kermith Sonnier Sr., said he still believes his son was murdered and questioned bruises and other injuries found on his son. A coroner determined those injuries weren't from a police beating, but likely occurred as much as 24 hours before Sonnier died.[more ] and [more ]

• Victim's family critical of inquest proceedings [more ]

Pittsburgh DA Dragging his feet in Police Slaying of Black Man

Relatives of Hill District resident Bernard Rogers, who was shot by a Pittsburgh Housing Authority police officer in 2002, yesterday reiterated their frustration with District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. because he has not decided whether to press charges in the case. Until Zappala decides whether to prosecute officer Tonyea Curry, the Rogers family said federal investigators won't consider doing so. And until the potential criminal case is resolved, the family can't pursue a civil complaint, members of the Rogers family said yesterday.The FBI began a federal civil rights investigation into Rogers' death on Dec. 19, 2003. Rogers, 26, was confronted by Curry and two other housing authority officers on Nov. 15, 2002 inside the Bedford Dwellings housing complex. Rogers and Curry scuffled before at least three shots were fired, according to Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht. Wecht found that Rogers was shot in the chest by one bullet. Police said the shooting occurred during a struggle in the living room. Witnesses have said Rogers was shot by another officer as he ran down the complex's stairwell.

Yuba City Sikh trucker cleared - Fake Terrorist Hysteria is Silenced

The Douglas County, Ore., District Attorney's office won't pursue a weapons charge against a Yuba City Sikh truck driver stopped along Interstate 5 on Sept. 1, according to an attorney familiar with the case. Amardeep Singh, an attorney with the Sikh Coalition who represented Gurpal Singh Gill, said efforts to educate the court and the district attorney's office about Sikhism paid off. "It was really a combined effort," said Singh, who pointed out that the Sikh Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice helped resolve the case with the district attorney's office. Gill was cited last month by an officer along Interstate 5 near Roseburg, Ore., for carrying a concealed weapon for the religious knife he wore at his side. The officer confiscated the knife, called a Kirpan, a religious symbol for Sikhs that protected by the constitution. [more

Jackson Police Photographing Black Residents

Blacks Stopped, Questioned and Photographed
Jackson native Donald Wilkes recalls being stopped four years ago by an officer who questioned why he was walking through the Lambuth neighborhood after 1 a.m. ''A police officer stopped to ask me could he help me,'' said Wilkes, 53. ''I told him 'no' and kept walking. When he stopped me, he asked me what I was doing, then said he was going to take my picture.'' After a 10-minute discussion with the officer, Wilkes said he would not allow the officer to take a photo of him. ''I think when he realized that I knew my rights, he finally backed off,'' Wilkes said. Although they haven't been charged with a crime, some local residents are stopped, questioned and even photographed by Jackson Police Department officers. That information is kept on file. The practice is called a field interview and law enforcement officials are standing by it, despite some local concerns about racial profiling and statistics that show that three out of every four such photos taken in recent months were of black citizens, most black males. According to statistics provided by JPD, a total of 369 photos were taken from June to September of this year alone. Of those, 281 (76 percent) of the people photographed were black, while 88 (24 percent) were white. Out of 17 crime categories, the highest number of photographs were taken for reasons of ''suspicious circumstances.'' Of the 118 photos taken, 75 percent were of blacks. In burglary investigations, 92 percent of the 62 photos were of blacks. [more ]

Louisville Activists Call for Congressional Probe Into Race Relations

Civil rights activists, outraged by a white police detective's acquittal in a black teenager's death, have asked congressional black leaders to look into race relations. The activists also threatened demonstrations that would fill jail cells with protesters if the police officer, McKenzie Mattingly, successfully appeals his firing by the city's police chief. "Louisville is a mud hole in the South when it comes to race relations," the Rev. Louis Coleman said Thursday. The city remained calm after Mattingly was cleared Wednesday night of murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide charges by a Jefferson County Circuit Court jury consisting of 10 whites and two blacks. Mattingly, 31, shot 19-year-old Michael Newby three times in the back on Jan. 3 when an undercover drug bust went awry. Newby was the seventh black man killed by Louisville police since 1998. Mattingly was the first officer to be criminally charged in any of the shootings.

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Louisville Cop who Killed Michael Newby will Go Free - Not Guilty

•  Prosecutors Bail Out -  Told the jury during closing arguments that Mattingly was NOT guilty of murder

A former Louisville police detective was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a teenage drug suspect that stoked racial tensions in the city. The former detective, McKenzie Mattingly, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. The jurors returned the partial verdict after more than eight hours of deliberations; the judge declared a mistrial on a separate charge of wanton endangerment after the jury was unable to reach agreement on that count. The jury was composd of 9 whites and 3 Blacks. Mattingly was charged with shooting 19-year-old Michael Newby three times in the back Jan. 3 during an undercover drug buy. The trial had been closely watched in Louisville's Black community. Outside the courthouse, as he got into his vehicle, Newby's stepfather, Jerry Bouggess, said: "There are murderers out here." [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• Prosecutors, in an eleventh-hour turnaround, told jurors during closing arguments that they should not find Mattingly guilty of murder but convict him of a lesser charge. "I do not think that is what he is guilty of," said Scott Davis, an assistant prosecutor. Prosecutors eventually must decide whether to retry McKenzie Mattingly on the wanton endangerment charge. Attorneys will meet Monday with Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman to discuss what may happen next in the case
• A $5 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed in federal court by Michael Newby's family is pending against Mattingly and the Louisville metro government.
• Officials could not track down some witnesses to the shooting. Jefferson County prosecutors rested their murder case against former police Detective McKenzie Mattingly yesterday without calling two eyewitnesses and the man who was with 19-year-old Michael Newby when Mattingly shot him. When Newby was killed Jan. 3, Donitra Mullins and her brother, Alonzo Mullins, told police they saw the shooting unfold. But when prosecutors tried to subpoena the Mullinses, they could not find them, said Steve Tedder, spokesman for the Commonwealth's Attorney's office. In a statement given to police after the shooting, Donitra Mullins, 23, described seeing a white man and a black man struggling. "Then it looked like the black guy was getting ready to run or whatever, and then that's when I seen the gunshot coming out, the gun the white man had in his hand," Donitra Mullins told police the morning of the shooting. Mullins said Newby had his back to Mattingly. [more ]
• Over the past 7 Years at least 10 Black or Latino Men have been Killed by Louisville Police. No Officers have been Convicted [more]

Justice Department clears Police Officers in Larry "Nicky" Hill's Death

• NAACP Faults Bush and Ashcroft "Low Esteem for Civil Rights"
  

The U.S. Justice Department has cleared law officers in Nashville, Ark., of criminal wrongdoing in the death of a man in police custody. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division reviewed the case and concluded no criminal prosecution was warranted. Specifically, the letter states Howard County Deputy Gary B. Cogburn and Nashville Police Officer Steve Dallas were cleared of any alleged civil rights violations after the September 2003 arrest of Larry "Nicky" Hill Jr., 27, of Nashville. The Hill family filed a civil rights complaint against  the department for  use of excessive force. Speaking on behalf of Hill's family, Arlington C. Dumas, president of the Flint, Mich., NAACP Branch, expressed his dismay at the Department of Justice's findings. "It is a sad day in the history for civil rights that the U.S. Department of Justice would come to that conclusion," Dumas said. For him, it was no surprise, though. "You have a Department of Justice leader, (U.S. Attorney General John) Ashcroft, who was appointed by Mr. Bush that has a low esteem for civil rights," Dumas said. [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• According to reports, Hill fled from Dallas during the course of a routine field sobriety test. He was apprehended by Dallas and again resisted arrest by struggling and fleeing into a wooded area, reports state. Dallas sprayed Hill with pepper spray after he was apprehended a second time and cuffed Hill.   The lawsuit contends that while trying to arrest Hill, Cogburn "unnecessarily and with unnecessary force" struck Hill in the right side of the head with his right fist. It was that injury, as well as officers' subsequent "refusal to obtain medical care" for Hill, that caused Hill's death, according to the suit. The results of an independent autopsy concluded that the ``manner of Hill's death should be ruled as homicide'' because his death occurred as a result of a violent struggle with police officers. [more ] and [more ]

Calumet City mayor accuses Black Teen of blocking inquiry

Calumet City's mayor on Tuesday accused a 15-year-old of obstructing the city's investigation into the teen's allegations of police brutality. Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush said in a news release that Don Pennington Jr. has "refused to agree to answer questions regarding what occured the afternoon of his arrest." Pennington accuses the police of beating him severely without provocation after a jaywalking arrest. Police, in turn, have charged Pennington with attacking police officers. Pennington's lawyers call the mayor's comments "absurd." "It's absurd for Calumet City to expect Mr. Pennington to agree to be interviewed by the same state's attorney's office that is prosecuting him for allegedly assaulting the police officers who have beaten him," Elliot Richardson said.City officials have refused to comment on what they believe happened that day, but have charged Pennington with aggravated battery to a police officer. Police union president Kevin Glaser said officers were injured by Pennington, who was "an out-of-control youth.  [more ]

• Black Teen Beaten by Police: Stopped for Jaywalking [more ]

Group says Calumet City law unfairly targets black youths

A group of protesters marched on City Hall again this week, this time asking for officials to repeal the city's jaywalking ordinance. The protest on Thursday was led by Voices of Morality, a group that aims to "right the wrongs of systematic injustice," said Leslie Brown, the group's spokesman. "We want it stopped," Brown said. "We're saying the old system's flawed and it needs to be stopped." The group demanded a public hearing on the jaywalking ordinance. The city ordinance mirrors a state statute, but prosecutes at the municipal level. Minors who are cited for violating the ordinance are taken to the police station and their parents are called. Brown said the city ordinance unfairly detains black children. "They're the only ones who seem to be targeted," Brown said. Police Chief Pat O'Meara said he does not know if the department keeps records on the racial make up of minors who have been arrested. [more ]