Black Man Beat Down by Marietta Police Dies in Custody -Community Outraged

Three Marietta police officers were placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday after a drug arrest suspect died while in police custody. The man's family claimed that officers fatally beat their son. Officials at Kennestone Hospital declared 19-year-old Black man,  Paul Johnson dead Tuesday night after receiving him from police custody.  The incident began when  officers confronted Johnson and three other suspects who were allegedly dealing drugs in front of the Glenbrooke Apartments.  Johnson got into an altercation with two of the officers, police said.  One man arrested, Simon Riley said that police officers continued to beat Johnson after he was on the ground. One officer had Johnson in a choke hold after he was in handcuffs. Witnesses said that someone took pictures during the altercation, but that police destroyed the camera. Marietta police officials denied those claims. Members of Paul Johnson's famly said they want to know why he wasn't immediately hospitalized.  Emergency medical workers checked Johnson at the apartments and declared him to be OK after his arrest, said Brian Marshall, a police spokesman. About 45 minutes later, paramedics were called to police headquarters after a watch commander noticed that Johnson appeared to be ill while in a holding cell, Marshall said. "The police put him into the cell and he collapsed. He was complaining that something was hurting him. He complained to the police that his throat was hurting him and he couldn't breathe," said Dawn Jackson, Johnson's mother.[more ] and  [more ]

Since 1997 at least 10 Black or Latino Men Killed by Louisville Police

  
   

Over the past 7 Years at least 10 Black and Latino Men have been Killed by Louisville Police. No Officers have been Convicted: The Officer who killed Michael Newby could be the first. 

1. Robert Whitlow. Officers not indicted. 3/13/1997 [more ]
   
2. Adrian Reynolds. Officers found not guilty. 1/7/1998. [more ] and  [more ]
   
3. Fidencio Campos-Cruz.  Officers not indicted. 1/13/1998 [more ]
4. Desmond Rudolph. Officers not indicted. 1/15/1999 [more ] and more
5. Rodney Abernathy. Officers not indicted. 1/25/2000 [more ]
6. Clifford Lewis. Officers not indicted. 1/9/2001 [more ]
7. Antwan D. Bryant. Not presented to grand jury. 2/6/2001 [more]
8. James Edward Taylor. Officers not indicted. 12/5/2002 [more ]
9. Marshall Marbly. Prosecutors still reviewing the case. 8/22/2002. [more ]
10. Michael Newby. Case is currently underway. 1/3/2004 [more ]

• Pictured above: From left to right - James Edwards Taylor,  Desmond Rudolph, Michael Newby, Roney Abernathy, Clifford Lewis, Marshall Marbly, Antwan Bryant and Adrian Reynolds. (Fidencio Campos-Cruz and Robert Whitlow are not pictured). 
• In civil trials Rodney Abernathy, Desmond Rudolph, and Adrian Reynolds have received settments or jury awards [more ] The James Edwards Taylor civil trial against two Louisville officers is discussed below .
  
• For more information see this chart created by the Subversive Southerner [here ] and Stolen Lives.org  [here ]

Michael Newby Trial Continues: Black Teen Interrupted Louisville Police Sting

A black teen fatally shot by a white narcotics detective, sparking weeks of protests, wasn't the dealer the officer had arranged to meet for an undercover drug buy, witnesses said Friday at the officer's murder trial. On Jan. 3, officers were waiting near a liquor store for a dealer whom narcotics Detective McKenzie Mattingly had contacted by phone that night. While Mattingly sat in an undercover vehicle, he was approached by Michael Newby, 19, and two other men who wanted to sell him crack, witnesses said.  Minutes later, Newby was shot three times in the back; he died at a hospital the next morning.  Mattingly's attorneys have argued Newby made a gesture that signaled he was reaching for a weapon. Prosecutors, however, said Mattingly never mentioned Newby had a gun, and officers didn't know Newby was armed until after he was shot. Kyle Willet, a detective who worked undercover with Mattingly, said his partner was "pale-faced, somewhat distraught and wide-eyed" after the shooting. The detective put his hands on top of his head and said "Oh my God," Mitch Gibson testified. The trial is expected to last another week. [more ]

• Mattingly Supporters Say Protestors Have Tainted Jury Pool [more ]

One of Two Louisville Officers dropped from suit in Death of James E. Taylor

  
Handcuffed Black Man shot 11 Times by Cops
 A Jefferson circuit judge has removed Officer Bryan Luckett from a civil lawsuit filed by the estate of handcuffed Black man, James Edwards Taylor, 50, who was fatally shot 11 times by a police detective in 2002. Luckett was the partner of Detective Michael O'Neil the night that O'Neil shot James Edward Taylor in Taylor's apartment. At the time of the shooting, police said the two detectives entered the apartment building where Taylor lived, then heard a woman screaming for help and saying that a man had a knife. Without first frisking Taylor the officers handcuffed Taylor with his arms behind his back. Officers told investigators that despite being handcuffed behind his back Taylor had somehow taken a knife into his hands, worked his hands around to his hip, and was able to make ''slicing motions'' as he lunged at and threatened the officers. Officer O'Neil said that he feared for his life because Taylor was lunging at him with a box-cutter knife.  The officers then explained that they were "backed into a corner" by Taylor as he lunged at them and they had no choice but to shoot him. An expert said the shooting may have been avoided if the detectives had carried some form of intermediate force, such as a collapsible baton or pepper spray. Plain-clothes officers were not required to carry them at the time. On Dec. 5, 2003 a Jefferson County grand jury declined to indict the officers in the killing of Taylor and the officers were absolved of criminal wrongdoing. Taylor's suit against Officer O'Neil is pending. [more ] and [more ]

• Detective shot man handcuffed behind back [more ] and [more ] and  [more ]

Internal reports Clear Cinci Police in Brutal Beating Death of Nathaniel Jones

Six Cincinnati police officers involved in the November death of an obese, intoxicated man in a White Castle parking lot did nothing wrong and should be exonerated, according to two police department reports. The officers' actions in the death of Nathaniel Jones were consistent with department training, policy and procedures, and with applicable laws, according to the internal investigation of the incident. Chief Tom Streicher signed off on it Wednesday. He also wrote a second report to City Manager Valerie Lemmie in response to last month's recommendations by the independent Citizen Complaint Authority. The conclusions in the police reports differ dramatically from those drawn by the authority. The independent review board recommended that Lemmie "severely discipline" three of the officers for using excessive force. Lemmie has not decided on discipline, if any, and said she will first consider all reports and recommendations. Streicher's report says the authority should review police policy and federal law so its analyses are based on the U.S. Constitution, "rather than the subjective opinions of untrained evaluators." [more ]

• See Video of beating [more]
• FBI Probes Death of Natheniel Jones [more]

Death of arrestee ruled a homicide - Chicago Police Beat Handcuffed Black Man

911 Tapes Coroborate family's claims
A Black man at the center of a wrongful-death lawsuit choked to death while in police custody, according to a medical examiner's autopsy report completed last week. Christopher Hicks, 39, who died May 26 after allegedly resisting arrest for passing between moving CTA rail cars, died of asphyxia due to restraint in a homicide, Dr. Clare Cunliffe, deputy Cook County medical examiner, determined in a Sept. 16 report. Cunliffe concluded Hicks suffered internal injuries, including hemorrhaging, to his neck, the report stated. The report will become evidence in the federal lawsuit filed in June against the city and four Chicago police officers by Hicks' brother, Billie Ray Lewis. The suit contends that police officers beat Hicks while another officer placed him in a chokehold. Lewis seeks more than $3 million in damages from the city, the suit stated. "They chased him," said Dan Alexander, who is representing Lewis. "Two officers handcuffed him, and another had him in a chokehold." Alexander said he has received recordings of calls to the city's 911 emergency center reporting that two white men were beating an African-American man. "Both of the cops were white," Alexander said, while Hicks was African American. According to the tapes, one caller told a 911 dispatcher that she saw "a man holding a man down with his arms behind his back." A few minutes later, another caller told a dispatcher, "Two guys have a guy on the floor in a chokehold ... two male whites on a male black." [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

Houston Deputy cleared in Fatal Shooting of Latino Man

Grand jury declines to indict officer, who faces a federal suit from victim's family
A Harris County grand jury voted Wednesday not to indict a sheriff's deputy who shot and killed a man suspected of stealing construction materials. Zachary Long, 36, was working a second job as a security guard at a construction site on Feb. 1 when he killed 31-year-old Rodolfo Gonzalez Garcia. The death is the subject of a federal lawsuit in which Garcia's family alleges that the deputy acted improperly. Long said he tried to arrest Garcia on suspicion that he was stealing roofing shingles at the Atascocita Meadows housing development in Humble.  Randall Kallinen, the Garcia family's attorney, said the self-defense claim does not make sense because Garcia was shot in the side. He said there also was no evidence of a bullet hole in the windshield to indicate the van was moving toward Long. Garcia was one of at least 22 people wounded or killed in vehicles by Harris County sheriff's deputies in the past five years. The Harris County medical examiner's office has refused to release Garcia's autopsy report, citing the pending investigation. Autopsy reports usually are made public. A death certificate shows that Garcia died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, but it does not specify whether the entry wounds were in the front, side or back.

• A lawsuit challenges deputies who shoot fleeing drivers [more ]

Autopsy matches probe results in Police Shooting of Maurice Clark

An autopsy report confirms that a 30- year-old man who was killed by police April 24 was shot once each in the chest and abdomen, as police investigators have maintained. Maurice Clark was shot and killed after fleeing from police officers. Police say he fired a stolen .357 Magnum revolver while trying to get away, prompting Officer Keith Gomez to open fire. The shooting touched off several weeks of protests, as community members charged it was representative of police brutality allegedly committed by the Pasadena Police Department's gang unit. The autopsy report, released by the Los Angeles County coroner's office on Wednesday, also confirms there was no gunshot residue on Clark's hands. Police said the autopsy report confirms their version of events.  The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is conducting a standard investigation of the shooting, which should be available in about a month, Hiltz said. The family has not yet filed a claim against the city. Pictured above: Crystal Clark of Los Angeles, who was Maurice Clark sister, cries and hugs her father Dexter Clark of Pasadena who son Maurice Clark was shot and killed by the Pasadena Police Dept. [more ]

• Autopsy awaited in Black man's death after Fight with Police [more ]

Larry "Nicky" Hills' family Brings Lawsuit Against Nashville Police

Cops used Unnecessary Force Killing Black Man
About 40 friends and family members of a man who died in police custody in Nashville, Ark., gathered Wednesday morning on the steps of the state Capitol, trying to bring attention to a civil lawsuit alleging police brutality in the September 2003 incident. The lawsuit, filed on Sept. 13 in federal court in Texarkana-exactly a year after the incident-contends that Larry "Nicky" Hill died as a result of excessive force by Nashville and Howard County officers after Hill was stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving. "Larry Hill was a victim of excessive force and deliberate indifference," said A.C. Dumas, spokesman for Hill's family.  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. The family is asking the court to grant a permanent injunction enjoining the police in Nashville and Howard County from using excessive force. [more ]

• NAACP calls for murder charges against police officers [more ]

Six years later, Minneapolis Police settle brutality case with Andre Madison

Incident a rallying point against police abuse
"It is bittersweet," said Andre Madison, commenting on the recent settlement of his police brutality lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis.  Madison was the victim of a police shooting in 1996 stemming from a botched police raid on a North Minneapolis apartment. The suit charged that police violated Madison's civil rights by beating him and using racist insults after they shot him during the raid. In settling the case, the City admits no wrongdoing. Madison and the City settled the federal lawsuit for $15,000-plus, to include attorney's fees and costs. On November 8, 1996, Minneapolis police officers from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and Housing police carried out a raid based on evidence from an informant claimed Madison had purchased $5 worth of marijuana on the premises. During the course of the operation, police fired over 400 rounds of ammunition into the apartment building, shooting Officer Mark Lanasa in the process. Officers fired as they entered the apartment, hitting Madison two times -- once in the neck and in the arm. Madison's injuries were extensive.  Madison was subsequently convicted on charges of second degree assault against the police who shot him. His case garnered wide local attention and national exposure, and was at the center of a community protest campaign to win justice for him.[more ] and [more ]

• Madison fights to clear name. Madison has consistently maintained his innocence and said that he will continue to fight to clear himself. "Clearly, this civil case is significant, because it shows that there was no evidence that Andre fired a shotgun at the officers involved in the incident. The evidence shows that Officer Lanasa was hit by a bullet fired from another police officer," said Goins, commenting on the fact that much of the initial media coverage focused on the incorrect assumption that it was Madison who shot Officer Lanasa. "The concern I have is that if the prosecution knew this information, they should have informed Andre's lawyers," said Goins. "The prosecution has an obligation to disclose information which could be used to prove the defendant's innocence."