Sikh Trucker Accuses Oregon Police of Racial Misconduct

Sikh organizations across the country have rallied to support a Yuba City truck driver who says he suffered extensive injuries at the hands of Oregon State Police after being pulled over for no apparent cause. Gurpal Singh Gill, 41, of Yuba City, Calif., was driving north near Milepost 106 when police received a complaint that he had poured an unknown liquid onto the road, according to the Oregon State Police. While following Gill, a trooper noticed that instead of a rear license plate, Gill's 2000 Peterbilt had the license plate number scribbled on the back of the truck, said OSP Sgt. Mark Walkup. During the traffic stop, the trooper reportedly saw a weapon of some kind under Gill's shirt, so he detained him at gunpoint and removed him from the vehicle. While handcuffing him, the trooper reported that Gill appeared to go for the knife under his shirt, so he was physically restrained and arrested, according to an OSP report. Gill believes that racial profiling was to blame for the traffic stop. Gill is a member of the Sikh faith, and his knife -- called a kirpan -- was only worn for ceremonial purposes, the newspaper reported. He told an Appeal-Democrat reporter that he'd been roughed up during his arrest, and that he had never reached for his knife. [more ] and [more ]

Wilimington Police Sued in Death of Mentally Ill Black Man - Shot 9 Times

 
The parents of a Bear man who was fatally shot after stealing a police cruiser last year filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against Wilmington police, alleging officers used excessive force against their son.The city of Wilmington and the state Attorney General's Office cleared the three officers involved of any wrongdoing in separate investigations, and they have since returned to duty. The officers have not been identified. Charles Brittingham, state NAACP president, accompanied Smith's family to U.S. District Court in Wilmington. Attorneys for the Smiths said the police department will be served with the lawsuit today. [more ]

• Pictured above: Harry Smith Jr. and his son, far right.

• The incident began after Harry Smith Jr. drove his son to the hospital - his second visit in a week - for psychiatric treatment. While he was waiting to be seen by the doctor, Mr. Smith obtained a surgical scalpel and began to puncture himself with it. He left the emergency room of the hospital and commandeered a police cruiser. The police cruiser had been left attended with the motor operating. Afterwards the Wilmington Police Dept pursued Mr. Smith. As the officers were in pursuit they were shooting at him as they gave chase through the inner city residential neighborhood. When Mr. Smith was in a staged roadblock approximately ½ mile from the initial encounter, he stopped the police cruiser. However, witnesses claim that even though Mr. Smith stopped the cruiser the police kept shooting at him without giving him a chance to surrender. There were some 37 casings found at the scene. Mr. Smith didn't have a chance to give himself up after he stopped the police cruiser he commandeered. Mr. Smith was pronounced dead at the scene from nine fatal shots to the back of the head. [more ]

Clarksville Police apologize for raid

Clarksville Police Chief Mark Smith said he will offer two Old Trenton Road residents a written apology for officers mistakenly raiding their home Friday night. According to Smith, the police tactical team received information that a drug dealer lived at 343B Old Trenton Road, but they ended up going to the house next door that only had the letter "B" on the outside -- which turned out to be 341B. The residents of 341B, Teresa Guiler and James Elliott, who are both in their 50s, were sitting in their home watching television when the masked men stormed into the house. Guiler, whose arm was in a sling from a previous injury, told police that they had the wrong man as they pointed a gun at her and Elliott, who is deaf and had recently received a liver transplant, she said. Guiler went to seek medical help after the raid and Elliott will be going to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville today to be seen by his doctors. Smith said that although he feels terrible about the raid, he insists the officers never used excessive force. But because Elliott resisted, officers had to control him by "bringing him down," he said. Guiler and Elliott's attorney, Tommy Meeks, said what the police did is unacceptable. "What justification can you give to kick a 54-year-old man who's down on the ground," Meeks said about Elliott, who is a Vietnam veteran. "All he saw was men in masks with rifles. He was terrified. Then to get knocked down and stomped. They picked him up like a suitcase. [more ]

LAPD Agrees to New Flashlight Policy in response to Stanley Miller Beating

• NO Officers have been Disciplined in Brutal Miller Beating

The Los Angeles Police Department agreed Tuesday to develop a policy for how and when officers can use flashlights to defend themselves, nearly three months after an officer was captured on videotape using a 2-pound metal flashlight to beat a car-theft suspect. In response to the Stanley Miller beating, LAPD Chief William Bratton said last month the LAPD would design a small-sized flashlight that would essentially eliminate the possibility that it could be used as a weapon. Many officers carry metal flashlights similar to the one used in the Miller beating. At a meeting of the city's Police Commission, members said the LAPD had no clear guidelines for the use of flashlights when officers struggle with suspects. The department said it would review the issue. "We're exploring the options for the flashlight," Bratton said after the hearing. "We're going to a smaller flashlight, that's clear. ...There will be policies appropriate to that flashlight as to how it can be used, when it can be used, for what purposes." [more

Amnesty Int'l: Racial profiling is undermining national security

Authorities' targeting of people because of their racial background or religious affiliation is a deep-rooted problem in the United States, with nearly 32 million people reporting they've been racially profiled, a human rights group said Monday. The report by Amnesty International USA also said at least 87 million people -- one in three -- in the United States are at high risk of being victimized because they belong to a racial, ethnic or religious group whose members are commonly targeted by police for unlawful stops and searches. Racial profiling is a growing problem as the government has expanded its war on terror, the report said. Police, immigration and airport security procedures are the areas where the problem has gotten worse since the September 11, 2001, attacks, it said. Citizens and visitors of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, and others who appear to be from these areas or members of the Muslim and Sikh faiths, have become more frequent subjects of racial profiling over the last three years, the study said. Such racial profiling is a distraction to law enforcement and therefore, undermines national security efforts, the report said. As police primarily focus on Arab, Muslim and South Asian males, it said, they are more likely to overlook terrorists who are white. [more ] and [more ]

• Pictured above: WHICH ONE?: Former Police chief Charles A. Moose illustrates racial profiling by showing how Martin Luther King Jr. would have been vastly more likely to be stopped in traffic than Charles Manson [more]

Calumet City Police Officer accused in beating Black Teenager put on leave

A police officer accused of beating a Calumet City teen has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an independent investigation, Mayor Michelle Qualkinbush said Friday. "He's been put on administrative leave today after consultation with the Office of Professional Standards director," Qualkinbush said. "The investigation remains open, and no determinations have been reached." The office has been assisting the Cook County state's attorney's office in the investigation of an Aug. 26 incident in which Don Pennington Jr., 15, a sophomore at Thornton Fractional North High School, charges he was beaten. Pictures showed Pennington with a swollen eye and cuts to his head and neck that he said he received after the officer punched him in the face unprovoked as he waited in the station for a jaywalking citation. Davis could not be reached for comment Friday, but he has charged that race may have motivated the officer, who is white, to beat Pennington, who is African-American. "You don't have any of the white residents of Calumet City complaining of police officers abusing their children," Davis said before he led a demonstration in front of City Hall on Thursday night. [more ] and [more

NAACP Calls for Probe in Death of Rashaad Randle - Police Ran him Over

At a community meeting Thursday night, the state's chapter of the NAACP called for York County's District Attorney's Office to offer a thorough and public investigation of the police chase that ended with the death of a York teen two weeks ago. Pennsylvania NAACP President, Burrell A. Brown, an attorney in Clairton, told a group of about 25 residents and law enforcement officers that there needs to be an objective examination of what went on in the early morning hours Aug. 27 when State Police Trooper Sean Taylor tried stopping Rashaad Randle for speeding while patrolling the area of South Pine and Maple streets in York. The entire pursuit was caught on videotape, but state police won't release the video. That day, Taylor activated his lights to make the stop and Randle slowed to almost a complete stop and then accelerated repeatedly, state police has said. After a six-minute pursuit, Randle, 17, stopped suddenly and got out of the car he was driving. Taylor, who had been chasing him, hit and killed Randle. [more ] and [more ]

Police Accused of Doing Nothing While Black Woman had Fatal Seizure

Howard County defendants plan to fight lawsuit
Officials in Howard County say in legal documents that they do not know if a woman in the shared county/city jail suffered a seizure. But they are going to fight the federal lawsuit that alleges they ignored calls for help for the late LaTeca Jordan, of Nashville, Ark., after officers allegedly accused her of "faking" a seizure. Howard County, the City of Nashville, Ark., and officers Clint Tedford and Ty Basiliere want the lawsuit thrown out. Jordan died in a Texarkana hospital on Aug. 18, 2002, after she lapsed into a coma. Her daughter, Teca Williams, filed the lawsuit last month. Williams alleges she watched as her mother was near death on the floor of the jail. She sued in federal district court in Texarkana, Ark., for alleged violations of civil rights. Jordan was African-American in a community that has for the past year been mired in racial tensions because of the deaths of African-Americans in police or sheriff's custody.  Officials do agree that tests show that Jordan did ingest cocaine, which her daughter says prompted the seizure. But officials in the South Arkansas county say they called for help in time. [more ]

Calumet City residents protest beating of Black Teenager by Police

Angry Calumet City residents demonstrated outside City Hall Thursday and inside City Council chambers to protest police inaction in the face of allegations that an officer beat a 15-year-old student detained for jaywalking. Chanting "no justice, no peace, no racist police," the crowd called for the officer to be relieved of his duties and for officers who watched the alleged beating of Don Pennington Jr. to be reprimanded. After a number of demonstrators were allowed to speak for about an hour, the hundreds of protesters moved outside where they formed human chains, blocking traffic.  The altercation with police started when Pennington was stopped by an off-duty police officer for allegedly jaywalking across 154th Avenue in front of Thornton High School after school, the boy said. He was rapping his fingers on a wall at the police station as he waited for a citation when a detective wearing badge number 0069 told him to stop and then punched him in the face, Pennington has said. [more ]

Black Minister Searched and Tasered by Police

The Rev. Gregg Wilson admitted that he did not cooperate with officers last week, but he said the incident should never have happened. The incident began with Kansas City police searching for a black man wearing a light shirt and dark pants. "I didn't cooperate because there was no explanation given to search me," Wilson said. Wilson was about to take some kids to a ballgame when police officers pulled up. "At the time, when I greeted him, I said, 'Hi, what's going on?' At that time, the officer just started trying to pat me down," Wilson said. Weinbaum reported that officers were responding to a report of a weapon in the area and from there it all fell apart. "I yanked away from him. The other officer came and said, 'Put your hands on the car.' I crossed my arms," Wilson said. That is when the Taser gun came out and that is when Wilson said he ran. "I am partly responsible. I accept my responsibility for running and everything. I am partly responsible," Wilson said. But he claims the responsibility ultimately lay with the officers for immediately laying hands on him without an explanation. "I work in the community. I try to help these kids stay out of trouble, and you walk up and approach me, not knowing who I am and you treat me like I'm already a hardened criminal?" Wilson said. [more ]