Pregnant Black Woman Tasered by Evergreen Police at her Wedding Reception

A suburban bride and her father accuse Evergreen Park police officers of assaulting them with stun guns at a wedding reception. The bride was two months pregnant when she was tasered in the stomach.  The Evergreen Park police say its officers used the stun gun after Clarence Phelps and his daughter, Romona Madison, became disorderly and resisted arrest. Clarence Phelps and Romona Madison said they did nothing to deserve the taser gun attack and are now suing the police department. According to a federal lawsuit filed against Evergreen Park police, the party was winding down in Phelps' backyard when a female police officer was called to the scene, responding to a noise complaint. "She asked that the music be turned off. The music was turned off. She did not leave the home," said Elliot Richardson, plaintiff's attorney. Richardson says what followed was a discussion between Phelps and the police officer. She called for back-up, and when other officers arrived, Phelps says he was tasered with a taser gun. "Ms. Madison called out for the officer to stop. They followed her into the house where she was arrested and tasered in the stomach -- despite advising the 'tasering' officer that she was pregnant."  Madison, who is two months pregnant, said she feared her pregnancy was in jeopardy after the stun gun. The lawsuit says Madison requested to be taken to the hospital, but police refused.  [more ] and [more ] and [more

3 Mount Olive Police Officers Arrested

• Officers Accused Of Stealing From Hispanic Motorists

Three Mount Olive police officers accused of stealing from Hispanic motorists during traffic stops were arrested Tuesday. Sgt. Joshua Ehnert and patrolmen Freddy Southerland and David Johnson are each charged with conspiracy to commit larceny. Investigators say the three men would pull Latino men over, demand their wallets and then take their money. Juvenico Peralta, president of the state's Mexican-American Association, said many Latinos were victims of a shakedown, but they were afraid to report it.. The officers were all suspended earlier this month.  The arrests stem from an undercover bust in which investigators say they took a wallet from an SBI agent. The three officers were suspended without pay shortly after the undercover bust. The Mount Olive police chief said all three men have officially resigned within the last week. All three are now free on bond.[more ] and [more ]

Charges Dropped Against Man who Recorded Police Arresting Black Men

Martell Miller was happy to hear the news that he no longer faces serious felony eavesdropping charges for recording the actions of local police at work. Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Dobson,  asked Presiding Judge Tom Difanis early Friday afternoon to dismiss them, which he did. Miller is one of the founding members of a citizens' group called Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults -- VEYA -- which had been tape-recording, with a video camera, stops of young black men by local police for a few months. Miller's colleague and another founding member of VEYA, Patrick Thompson, 35, helped Miller in the production of a 40-minute documentary that was a compilation of some of their recordings. That was also seized as part of the police investigation into the eavesdropping complaints, but was shown at the Champaign Public Library and Boardman's Art Theatre earlier this month. The charges against Miller were two counts of a Class 1 felony alleging on Aug. 7 he tape-recorded conversations between two University of Illinois police officers and a man they had stopped in Champaign and he had also recorded a conversation between two Champaign officers and a man they stopped in Champaign.  [more ]

Racist DNA Sweeps of Black Men in Baton Rouge and Omaha Challenged

Over the last three years, police have used this investigative technique to look for a serial murderer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a serial rapist in Omaha, Nebraska. According to local news reports, the dragnet in Baton Rouge ensnared more than 1,000 people over the course of ten months, netted no viable suspects, and gave way to a lawsuit accusing the police of violating the Fourth Amendment rights of those sampled without written consent. The lawsuit is also asking that police destroy or return the DNA samples of those exonerated of any wrongdoing.  In June, Omaha police launched a DNA dragnet after the fourth in a series of what they believe are related rapes dating back to September 2002. Based on witness descriptions of the rapist, police asked more than 30 black employees at the Omaha Public Power District to give DNA samples. Once again, the dragnet produced no suspects, rattled many of the targeted employees, and has those who refused to give samples but were forced under warrant to give one anyway asking a judge to unseal the applications used to obtain warrants for their DNA samples. [more ]

Scandals mounting for police in Newark

A Newark police officer's courtroom admission last week that he and five colleagues shook down drug dealers for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for almost two years has left community activists and police brass concerned about the department's image and ability to do its job. But as troubling as the allegations Tyrone Dudley made in Superior Court in Trenton on Thursday may be, the case is only one of several legal headaches the Newark Police Department is experiencing. In addition to the case involving Dudley: The state Division of Criminal Justice is investigating whether one or more Newark police officers is connected to the fatal shooting of a Nutley man near a club on Bloomfield Avenue two years ago. The division also is checking whether a female officer may have protected a drug dealer who was her boyfriend. On Friday, a federal judge in Newark castigated the department's handling of a reputed drug dealer in jail on narcotics charges and set the man free, saying his constitutional rights were severely abused when he was arrested in 2002.  [more ]

Calls for Restrictions on Taser Gun Use

As local law enforcement agencies follow a national trend in arming officers with Taser stun guns, civil rights groups are expressing alarm that some departments allow the liberal use of the weapons instead of limiting their use to situations where a life is in danger. Warning that more than 70 suspects nationwide have died after being shocked by Tasers in the past five years -- including 10 in August alone -- the American Civil Liberties Union urged San Francisco police commissioners last week to restrict their use to confrontations where "there is an imminent threat to human life."  Critics and medical experts question the thoroughness of safety research sponsored by the stun gun manufacturer and say more independent studies are needed to resolve concerns that Tasers pose a risk to suspects who are agitated mental patients, intoxicated or have pre-existing heart ailments. [more ]

DC Metro Police Accost Pregnant Black Woman Over Loud Cell Phone Call

Sakinah Aaron was walking into the bus area at the Wheaton Metro station several weeks ago, talking loudly on her Motorola cell phone. A little too loudly for Officer George Saoutis of the Metro Transit Police. The police officer told Aaron, who is five months pregnant, to lower her voice. She told the officer he had no right to tell her how to speak into her cell phone. Their verbal dispute quickly escalated, and Saoutis grabbed Aaron by the arm and pushed her to the ground. He handcuffed the 23-year-old woman, called for backup and took her to a cell where she was held for three hours before being released to her aunt. She was charged with two misdemeanors: "disorderly manner that disturbed the public peace" and resisting arrest. [more ]

Arbitrator judges no Police Brutality in Morse case

• Recommends that the policeman be given back pay and a cleared record.

An impartial arbitrator has found that former Inglewood police officer Jeremy Morse did not use excessive force in the videotaped arrest of a teenager and recommended that the city compensate Morse with full back pay since his termination two years ago. Arbitrator Donald A. Anderson of Rolling Hills Estates heard evidence over three days in May and June from both the Inglewood Police Officers Association, representing Morse, and the city of Inglewood in Morse's disciplinary action appeal. Without proper investigation and in violation of Morse's rights, Anderson found, the city and Police Chief Ronald Banks fired Morse on the grounds that his actions were excessive and outside the scope of his training and department policy. Anderson recommended that Morse should not be reinstated, but rather reimbursed for lost wages, less any income he received in the interim, including unemployment compensation.

• Morse (Pictured above) was terminated shortly after the July 6, 2002, incident at a gas station where Morse and officer Bijan Darvish aided sheriff's deputies in a skirmish that began when they questioned Jackson's father about an expired license tag. Jackson, who was a special education student ignored a deputy's warnings to stay back. Jackson was taken to the ground as officers tried to handcuff him. A videotape, taken by an amateur videographer, shows Morse lifting the 16-year-old off the ground by the back of his collar and waistband. The city contends Morse then used excessive force and "slammed" the unresisting teen down on the back of a patrol car.  Morse is also seen punching Jackson in the face, but claims Jackson grabbed his groin and ignored his orders to "Let go." [more ]

Marchers allege brutality in Black man's death

• Marietta Police continue probe as racial tension builds

Kevin Robinson was one of about 50 people who marched through downtown Marietta Saturday to protest the death of his best friend. Robinson's friend, Paul Johnson, 19, died Tuesday evening in a police holding cell after getting into a fight with several Marietta police officers at Glenbrooke Apartments. Johnson's funeral was Saturday. The march was organized by New Order, a civil rights group based in Cobb that has taken on the county's racial issues. The protesters believe Johnson, who was black, was a victim of police brutality. "That really broke my heart to see what happened," said Robinson, also 19. "They're finding ways to kill us." The group of family, friends and supporters walked about four blocks from the Cobb County Library in downtown Marietta to the police station. They didn't have a permit for the march, but Marietta police cars stopped traffic for them as they walked in the street shouting "We want justice! It's always just us!" [more ]

Trial Against Louisville Police Officer who Killed Michael Newby Continues

Partner testifies in Mattingly trial.
Louisville Metro Police Detective Matthew Thomerson testified yesterday that he thought "very seriously" about shooting at Michael Newby after the teenager broke free from a struggle with another officer on Jan. 3 and began to run. Thomerson said that as Newby maneuvered between vehicles, away from him and his partner, former Detective McKenzie Mattingly, he repeatedly looked back, and at one point faced them "I could see his face," Thomerson told a Jefferson Circuit Court jury yesterday during the sixth day of Mattingly's trial on charges of murder and wanton endangerment in the fatal shooting of Newby, 19. "Once he turned and faced both of us," Thomerson said, Mattingly fired "within seconds." Asked by prosecutors why he did not shoot at Newby, Thomerson testified that he considered it, but "at no point did I see a weapon or see him make an aggressive movement other than when he was down on the ground and probably already been shot." Thomerson added, however, that he could only see Newby from his chest up and could not see his hands. [more ]

• Prosecution Rests In Murder Trial; Mattingly To Testify [more ]