Black Man with White Woman Attacked by Police Dog in Mountain View, CA

A man bitten badly by a Mountain View police dog early Saturday said he plans to sue the city for racial profiling and police brutality. Patrick Terry, 25, of Jacksonville, Fla., received internal and external stitches to repair the tears on the back of his left thigh after he was stopped by an undercover officer while arguing with his girlfriend. For now, he said, he can't climb the cell phone towers he helps build for a living, and the hospital bills are piling up because he doesn't have insurance. Terry and his girlfriend, Sarah Hill, have contacted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and local civil rights attorneys about the incident. Terry said the officer wouldn't have stopped him if he were not a 6-foot-7 black man walking with a petite white woman. ``And they wouldn't have put the dog on me neither,'' he said. Police have said the German shepherd, named Tino, attacked Terry without being ordered to, perhaps because he thought officers were in danger. The dog has been taken off active duty. Coincidentally, Mountain View Police Chief Steve Vermeer denied that a new report on racial profiling was accurate- arguing that the Cenusus Bureau's data did not properly count Blacks.  [more ]

Three Mt. Olive Police Officers Accused Of Targeting Hispanic Motorists

Three Mount Olive police officers are off the job after being accused of stealing money from citizens. Mt. Olive OfficersSgt. Josh Ehnert, Patrolman David Johnson and Sr. Patrolman Freddie Southerland have been suspended from the Mount Olive Police  The three officers -- Sgt. Josh Ehnert, Patrolman David Johnson and senior Patrolman Freddie Southerland -- are at the center of a criminal investigation. According to search warrants, the officers are accused of targeting Hispanic men at traffic stops and taking money out of their wallets. According to a search warrant, an undercover agent with the State Bureau of Investigation posing as a Hispanic driver was pulled over by Ehnert. The warrant says the officer took more that $300 from the agent. [more ]

Man shot by VA Beach police files suit for $30 million

A man shot by police officers in January after they mistook him for a rape suspect has sued the city for $30 million . The lawsuit, filed Friday on behalf of Jonathan W. Walker , names police officers Paul A. Terhune and Matthew L. Greenlee as defendants. It stems from an incident that occurred about 4 a.m. on Jan. 31 , near Birdneck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard  The lawsuit claims Walker was riding his bicycle near the intersection and into an adjacent neighborhood when the officers accosted him "in an effort to subdue him." During the scuffle, the lawsuit claims, Terhune shot Walker in the head. After the officers brought Walker to the ground, the lawsuit claims, Greenlee struck Walker "multiple times" in his head with his nightstick. [more ]

Officer's hearing delayed in Paul Childs case -Disabled Child Blown Away by Cops

Officer James Turney's hearing to appeal his 10-month suspension was postponed Wednesday so city attorneys can have more time to prepare their case. The hearing, which was to begin later this month, was pushed back to Oct. 19 - a move that drew objections from his attorneys, Doug Jewell and Jeff Clayton. In April, Manager of Safety Al LaCabe suspended Turney without pay for 10 months in the fatal shooting of Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled teen. On July 5, 2003, Turney responded to Childs' home after a report that the teen was threatening his mother with a kitchen knife. Following the announcement of Turney's suspension, Jewell said his client would appeal the suspension on the grounds that it was excessive and unjustified. During Wednesday's meeting about the case, Assistant City Attorney Karla Pierce requested a continuance, citing more than 5,000 documents and 40 videotapes she needed to review. [more ]

• According to Paul Childs' mother, Helen Childs, she had been joking around with the teen, when he came out of the kitchen clutching a knife. A family friend in the house called Denver police saying Childs was "threatening his mother". Helen said she was not concerned when police arrived around 1:00 p.m., so she went out to greet them and to explain what had been going on. She said her son, described as having developmental disabilities, learning disabilities and epilepsy, had a good relationship with police who had brought him home several times when he had wandered off. This time, however, police pulled Helen away when they saw the teenager standing in the doorway clutching the knife in front of his face. Officers ordered Childs to drop the knife. When he didn't follow the order, they opened fire. Helen Childs said "I told them, 'He's a special-needs child. Just talk to him and get the knife away."'  [more ] and  [more ]

Police Spray Chemical Agent in Black Teenager's Face

A Donora man has asked a state agency to investigate claims that a local police officer acted inappropriately during an incident involving three black teenagers on Aug. 16. Quinn Law, of 647 Fifth Street, said he has petitioned the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to find out why Brett Massafra has not been suspended from duty for allegedly spraying a chemical agent in the face of a 17-year-old teen who was leaving a store at Fifth and Allen streets. According to Law, he and his daughter witnessed the incident in which two 16-year-old teens were waiting outside the store for their friend when they were asked by police to leave. He said the third teen appeared to have been cooperating with police, but was sprayed with a chemical agent outside the store and had to be treated at the scene by a medic. [more

Man shot by police wakes from coma, faces charges

Having woke from a coma, a Charlottesville man shot by police during a struggle last month was served with outstanding warrants and placed in the custody of the local jail while still hospitalized.Kerry Von Reese Cook, 31, was critically injured during the Aug. 21 fight with police in an apartment at Friendship Court. As of late Wednesday, his condition had improved to fair at the University of Virginia Medical Center. The city's police chief, Timothy J. Longo, has said a woman called authorities that night and reported that Kerry Cook had entered her apartment uninvited and started cursing and damaging property. Two city officers entered the unit, found Cook, and a violent fight ensued, according to Longo and witnesses who watched the struggle through the apartment's open door. Longo has said the officers used "escalating levels of force" but declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation. Ultimately, Longo said, Officer William Sclafani shot Cook once in the abdomen with a .45-caliber bullet. [more ]

Texas- McKinney Police and Black Community Tensions Escalating

A police officer and a member of the New Black Panther Party stood about ten feet apart inside the McKinney Police Department Wednesday, videotaping each other in a moment telling of growing racial tension in an east side neighborhood. About 15 McKinney residents and members of the Dallas Chapter of the NBPP gathered at the department headquarters yesterday afternoon, demanding to speak to the police chief about law enforcement tactics at the Manor House apartment complex and about recent arrests of black community members. Derick Brown, chairman of the NBPP refused a one-on-one meeting with Asst. Police Chief Rex Redden, saying he wouldn't speak to police alone.  Former head of the NAACP of Dallas, Lee Alcorn said it appears the McKinney Police Department is "out of control," and urged council to get a handle on a situation that could escalate if the civil rights of citizens are not protected. [more ]

Family Granted New Trial in NYC Police Killing of Troubled Hasidic Jewish Man

A federal judge dealt a stinging setback to the city and the police yesterday by overturning a jury verdict that had cleared the city of liability in the 1999 police shooting of an emotionally disturbed man who was clutching a hammer. The decision granted the family of the man who was killed, Gidone Busch, a new trial seeking damages for the shooting.Judge Johnson, a longtime federal judge who was once a New York police officer himself, said that the jury's verdict was against the weight of the evidence, and that "permitting the verdict to stand would result in a miscarriage of justice.'' Judge Johnson presided at the monthlong trial in Brooklyn federal court last year. Mr. Busch, a 31-year-old Hasidic man  was shot 12 times by a group of officers who encircled him on a Borough Park sidewalk. The shooting, in a neighborhood that includes many Hasidic residents, brought allegations that the killing did not draw the same outrage as the questionable police shootings of young black men like Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant who was shot at 41 times in the Bronx in February 1999. [more ]

Examiner says Taser did not cause death - Black Man Hog Tied and Shocked 5 Time

• "Are we supposed to believe that a healthy 31-year-old Black man who was athletic, who did not drink or do drugs, who had no history of heart problems, somehow died of a heart attack?"

Five shocks to the chest with a Taser gun did not cause the death of a man injured in a scuffle with sheriff's deputies, a medical examiner's report concluded Wednesday. Frederick Jerome Williams, 31, a Liberian native who lived in Lawrenceville, died of brain damage from a heart attack after the altercation in May, according to the final autopsy report in the case. But investigators at the Gwinnett County medical examiner's office were not able to determine what caused Williams' heart attack, according to the report. "The cause of death is brain damage -- lack of oxygen and/or blood to the brain -- due to a heart attack of uncertain etiology [unknown reasons]," said Forensic Investigator Ted Bailey. "There is no evidence the Taser directly caused or contributed to his death." Williams was the second Gwinnett inmate in eight months to die after being shocked with a stun gun in a scuffle with deputies. Members of Williams' family were disappointed by the autopsy report, said Melvin Johnson, the family's attorney."Four children ages 1 to 9 are left without a daddy and all they can say is they don't know how he died," said Johnson.  Johnson said it is hard to believe Williams' death "had nothing to do with him being hog-tied and shocked five times with a Taser and placed in a restraint chair." Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway said  "I've looked into the Taser as deeply as I can and I don't think it can cause death." [more ]

• TalkLeft: Why Did This Man Die in Police Custody? [more ]
• Lawsuit against gunmaker and Police filed in taser case [more ]
• Taser industry's claims that the stun guns are not lethal were unsupported by records [more ]

Nathaniel Jones' Family Sues Cincinnati for Police Beating Death

The family of a black man who died during a videotaped fight with police last year sued Cincinnati, city officials, police and firefighters on Friday, accusing them of violating the man's civil rights. The lawsuit alleges that Nathaniel Jones, 41, was unnecessarily struck with metal batons, suffered respiratory failure while officers lay or sat on him and wasn't immediately given resuscitation. Bessie Jones, the victim's grandmother, filed the lawsuit seeking unspecified money damages, funeral and burial expenses and a court order to prevent Cincinnati from repeating the alleged constitutional violations. In August, a police watchdog agency concluded that officers used excessive force. The Citizen Complaint Authority sent its conclusions to the city manager, who will decide whether the officers should be disciplined. The FBI has said it is investigating whether there were civil rights violations in Jones' death. [more ]