Another Young Man Found Dead in Oakland youth authority cell

• 24-year-old's death is fourth inmate fatality in facility this year

An Oakland man was found dead in his California Youth Authority cell this holiday weekend, the embattled agency's fourth inmate death of 2004. CYA staffers found Dyron Mandell Brewer, 24, unresponsive shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday in his cell at the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, one of four CYA facilities clustered just outside Stockton. CYA spokeswoman Nancy Lungren said emergency services and law enforcement personnel were called but couldn't revive Brewer. No foul play was immediately apparent, but the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department and coroner's office are investigating. Books Not Bars, a CYA-reform project of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in San Francisco, issued a news release Monday. "It's outrageous that so many young people entrusted to the state's care are dying," said director Lenore Anderson. "We believe this keeps happening because this system is built on a foundation of fear and violence. "Everyone knows about CYA's disturbing code of silence," she added. "Parents and advocates are going to be looking at this case closely to make sure there's no cover-up." Deon Whitfield, 17, of Los Angeles and Durrell Feaster, 18, of Stockton were found dead Jan. 19 in their cell at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione; they had hanged themselves with bed sheets. Another ward died later that month after swallowing toxic chemicals. [more ]

Virginia Beach Wants Blacks to Forget Beat Downs 15 years ago

Fifteen years ago, on Labor Day weekend 1989 , Virginia Beach experienced the worst disturbance in its history : the infamous Greekfest riots that left part of the resort strip a looted mess and prompted a massive, two-day police crackdown. The rioting happened during a gathering of thousands of black college fraternity and sorority members. Afterward, many black visitors vowed never to return -- a legacy that has lasted for years. Today, Beach leaders are reaching out to some of those same black groups, trying to book them into the new $200 million convention center, set to open this spring. The city recently hired Al Hutchinson , who is black, as the director of convention sales, and a black assistant . One black sorority already has agreed to be one of the convention center's first guests. That took some doing. [more ]

Brutal Beating by Police Partially Caught on Tape

• 21 year old Sayyid Qadri Beat Down by Evanston Cops
  

A video shows Evanston police officers leading a handcuffed man -- arrested on a traffic violation -- into a police bathroom stall unharmed. But when he's brought back out, the silent color footage shows blood dripping from above his eye and collecting on his shirt. The man, Sayyid Qadri, 21, of Rogers Park claims in a federal civil lawsuit filed Thursday that officers shoved his head into a wall and beat him up behind that stall -- a spot out of video surveillance reach. The video later shows officers shoving Qadri into the wall, and one puts his hands around Qadri's neck.  Qadri was pulled over by police on March 10  allegedly for making an illegal right turn on a red light. After discovering Qadri's driver's license had expired a few weeks earlier police handcuffed him and drove him to police headquarters.  "At no time did Qadri resist arrest for these alleged minor infractions," Loevy said in his written statement. Qadri's attorney says that officers made up a story that Qadri attacked a police officer and damaged a pipe in the bathroom. Qadri's attorney says the criminal charges filed against him in the alleged incident were dropped after this tape was released as evidence in the case. [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• Foul Images of beating [more ] and [more ]
  
• see video [here ]

Boy's family sues Calumet City police

• Calumet City--which is 52% African American--has a 90% White police force.
  

The family of a 15-year-old boy allegedly beaten by a Calumet City police officer filed a lawsuit against the officer and the city in federal court Thursday. Don Pennington Jr., who was charged with two counts of aggravated battery against a police officer Aug. 26 after he was detained for jaywalking, alleged he was beaten at the police station by Officer Louis Picicco while approximately five unknown officers stood by. The suit, which names Picicco, the unknown officers and the city as defendants, seeks unspecified damages for excessive force and assault and battery. Vicki Pennington, Don Pennington's mother, said she finds it hard to believe any information that comes from the Police Department and expects the entire incident to be swept under the rug. "How is the Police Department going to investigate itself?" she said. Protesters Wednesday night tied the alleged beating to a lack of minority officers in the department. About 52 percent of Calumet City's population is black, while about 10 percent of the department's officers are black, O'Meara said. [more ] and [more ] and [more ] Pictuted above: Blood all over Don Pennington after Police beating.  scroll down for more

Palo Alto Police will stand trial for Beating Down Unarmed 60 Yr. old Black Man

Two Palo Alto officers, accused of assaulting a Black man last summer, will stand trial, the Mercury News reported on Friday. Michael Kan and Craig Lee will reportedly face charges of assault under color of authority, and could face three years in prison. The trial will reportedly start on Sept. 13. The Mercury News also reported that Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Diane Northway denied a defense request to reduce the felony assault charges to misdemeanors. During a preliminary hearing in June, 60-year-old Albert Hopkins testified that Kan and Lee beat pulled him from his parked car, near El Camino Real, and beat him "like two sharks going at some blood in the water." They also pepper-sprayed him, and he suffered a shattered knee. Hopkins refused to hand over his driver's license during the incident, and was accused of being belligerent and admitted cursing. The incident prompted outcry from local Blacks that the Palo Alto police acts discriminatorily. After an internal investigation and a brief leave, both officers were back in the force, albeit in non-patrol jobs. Hopkins was never charged with any crime in connection with the incident. In March, he agreed to a $250,000 settlement from the city. [more ]

Minneapolis officers put on leave as handcuff video studied

Two Minneapolis police officers were placed on paid administrative leave Thursday after a video surfaced this week showing them involved in an altercation with a handcuffed man, police said. The two officers are Sgt. Carroll Holley, who has been on the force since 1973, and officer John Laluzerne, who has been on it since 1999.The video shows a group of Minneapolis officers standing around a handcuffed man lying on the ground. One officer appears to kick the man in the head before officers put him in a squad car. The video shows the man kicking out the car and an officer closing the door on his leg. The incident occurred in the Warehouse District in the summer of 2003. [more ]

NAACP holds rally in Ferriday for Black Man Killed by Police

NAACP representatives encouraged the people of Ferriday and the family of Ron Lollis to continue the fight Thursday night. Close to 200 gathered at Greater Saint Reed Baptist Church to hear state NAACP leaders talk about the killing of Lollis on Aug. 23 on Doty Road. Lollis was walking on Doty Road when a Concordia Parish Sheriff's deputy stopped him in response to a complaint earlier in the night. Sheriff Randy Maxwell has said Lollis pulled a gun on the deputy. The matter is under investigation by the state police and the district attorney's office. "This is not over by a long shot," Ferriday NAACP President Justin Conner said. "We will not be quiet. This community has been shaken but we have not fallen." Most gathered at the church Thursday think the shooting was a racial incident. The deputy is white and Lollis was black. [more ]

Tribal cop involved in fatal shooting of teen is also target of another lawsuit

Killed 17-year-old on reservation
A tribal police officer being investigated for shooting a teenager to death is also the target of a separate probe into a civil rights violation. Norman Boney Junior, 17, also known as "Manny," was shot twice in July by Walker River Paiute Indian Reservation tribal police officer Walter Valline in the Las Vegas town of Schurz. He died at the scene. A later examination showed Boney was hit in the neck and the right side. Valline is being sued for violating the rights of a motorist during a traffic stop in Crescent Valley in August 2003, according to the Lahontan Valley News. The suit alleges Valline assumed the motorist had been drinking and illegally searched his vehicle. The motorist was let go a short time later. Valline was working for the Eureka County Sheriff's Office at the time. [more ] and [more ]

Critic' of McKinney Police charged with threatening officer

• Community Beleives  Police are Arresting Leaders who Ctiticize Cops

McKinney police charged a 48-year-old woman with threatening an officer Wednesday, the second east side resident arrested on the charge within a week. Evelyn Smith, who neighbors describe as a vocal critic of police tactics in the community, faces criminal retaliation charges brought after officers arrested the woman for trespassing. The incident occurred about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday as police responded to loitering violations at the Manor House apartment complex in the 700 block of Bumpas Street, officials said. Officers arrested Smith for criminal trespass as she stood outside of the apartment's gate videotaping their activity. Apartment management had forbidden her from entering the complex, and she had received a prior warning to stay off the property, police said. On the way to jail, Smith told the officer "that the streets were going to take care of him. That she was going to make sure that he got got," Capt. Randy Roland said.  Manor House Apartments is a site of mounting racial tension between police and many black residents, who say the arrest are meant to quiet opposition to police harassment. [more and [more ]

Federal Agents Round Up and Arrest Poor Disabled Blacks in LA

Dessie Robinson, a 55-year-old welfare recipient who suffers from a heart ailment, diabetes and ulcers, had just finished showering in her room at a downtown homeless shelter early one morning in July when she heard a loud knock at the door. Throwing on some clothes, she opened the door and was confronted by half a dozen armed federal agents who proceeded to arrest her on a misdemeanor charge of cheating the government out of $746.10, the monthly payment she receives under the federal program to aid the blind, disabled or elderly poor. Robinson was among 21 people arrested at gunpoint that week during a sweep targeting individuals who said they hadn't received their monthly Supplemental Security Income checks, but who allegedly cashed the original and the duplicate checks, according to prosecutors. Most of those taken into custody were physically or mentally disabled and frightened out of their wits as they were handcuffed and hauled off to court, according to lawyers from the federal public defender's office.

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