Lawsuit: Officers Abuse Police Brutality Activist and his spouse

A former Bernalillo County sheriff's sergeant is the target of a lawsuit that seeks damages for the "tortuous" damages it says she wreaked on the family of a police watchdog activist. The lawsuit, filed this week in state District Court, names Natalie Jasler as the sergeant who falsely arrested Gilbert Elizondo at his South Valley home, striking and handcuffing him and violently mistreating his wife, Margaret Nieto. Jasler allegedly slapped and kicked them and kneed him in the groin several times while he was handcuffed and other deputies held him. In an interview last month, Elizondo said he continues to suffer physical pain in his back, shoulders and head and has difficulty sleeping at night. Elizondo was then arrested on a charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer. Jasler accused him of slamming her into a wall and injuring her shoulder. The charges were dropped moments before Elizondo was to go to trial last month because of last-minute "discovery issues" involving police reports. [more

Board suggests penalty for Oakland Cop

An Oakland police officer should receive a four-day suspension for hitting a man and breaking his jaw in three places, according to the Citizens Police Review Board. After a four-hour hearing Thursday night, the board voted to sustain 26-year-old Donte Hooker's allegation that Officer Anthony Caldwell punched him after chasing him up two flights of stairs in an East Oakland apartment complex. Although Caldwell said Hooker ran from him, Hooker said he did not realize Caldwell was chasing him. Hooker said he had both hands up and was surrendering when Caldwell struck him. [more ]

Mexico protests US border agents' pepper weapons

Mexican opposition legislators are up in arms over the US Border Patrol's use of weapons firing plastic bullets filled with pepper powder against Mexican migrants as they cross the border illegally. Although the nonlethal weapons have been used sporadically for at least two years, the issue was thrust into the spotlight with a recent video shown on Mexican television of agents in battle dress firing paint ball game-style rifles loaded with florescent plastic pepper pellets at targets. "We will not permit these kinds of acts that violate human rights," Sadot Sanchez, who heads the Senate's human rights commission and is a member of PRI, the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, said Wednesday. Last week, Zacatecas state Governor Ricardo Monreal fired off a telegram to President George Bush, describing the use of the weapon as "xenophobic and racist" and "reminiscent of the Kristallnacht [purges] in Nazi Germany."
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Felony Charges Filed Against Man Seen In Taped LA Police Beating.

• Stanley Miller Charged With Evading Officers, Auto Theft

Prosecutors on Friday filed charges of auto theft and evading an officer against a man who was struck repeatedly with a flashlight during a videotaped arrest after an auto pursuit and foot chase. Stanley Howard Miller, 36, has been imprisoned on a parole violation since the June 23 arrest and his arraignment on the new charges will await a hearing on the parole matter, the district attorney's office said. The complaint asks for bail to be set at $150,000. If convicted, Miller could be sentenced to five years and eight months in prison. Miller, convicted twice previously for car theft and burglary, led police on a half-hour auto chase after they spotted him running a stop sign in a car that was reported stolen, authorities said. News helicopters videotaped the chase, which ended with Miller jumping out of the car and running along a flood control channel and then appearing to surrender to an officer who forced him to the ground. Miller was then swarmed by other officers, including Officer John J. Hatfield was seen striking him 11 times with a metal flashlight. [more ]

• Reporter Betty Pleasant (LA Wave) maintains that the beating was longer and even more viscious than what is shown on the tape. She claims to have an unedited version that continues for an additional 8 minutes. [more ]

Autospsy Awaited in death of Black Man Beat Down by Pasadena Police

The autopsy of a man who lapsed into a coma and eventually died after an altercation with the police will determine whether a criminal investigation is launched into the actions of officers involved in the incident, according to authorities. LaMont Robinson, 30, of Pasadena died July 10. He had been comatose at Huntington Hospital since the April 10 altercation with police. The Pasadena Police Department launched an administrative review of the use of force immediately after the incident but Deputy Chief Wayne Hiltz said no conclusions have been reached. The District Attorney's Office and the FBI also are investigating the Robinson incident.

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Birmingham Suit settled in 2000 police shooting death of Black Man.

A wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the November 2000 police shooting death of Larry Reddick has been settled for $100,000, federal court records show. U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor issued an order Aug. 2 officially dismissing the suit filed on behalf of Reddick's estate. The suit claimed Montgomery wrongfully used unnecessary deadly force while attempting to arrest Reddick for public intoxication. Montgomery shot Reddick following a traffic stop and later struggle in front of a Woodlawn apartment. State and federal officials ruled the shooting justified. Montgomery, who sustained injuries requiring stitches, told investigators that Reddick took his nightstick, striking him on the head and came after him again with the nightstick when Montgomery fired shots. But McFerrin said Reddick's family and plaintiff witnesses said Reddick was unarmed, with his hands raised by his side, did not take the nightstick from the officer or strike with anything other than his fists. [more ]

San Jose police involved in another fatal shooting.

San Jose police shot to death a suspected shoplifter Thursday after he allegedly flashed a knife, the fourth fatal officer-involved shooting in the city this year. Police unsuccessfully tried to subdue the man with Taser stun guns before firing at him. The man was declared dead at the scene. The man's name was not released but local media outlets identified him as 21-year-old Johnny Nakao, the son of a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy. Police officers were called at 9:35 a.m. to come to a Radio Shack store after employees reported a man stole a portable CD player and camcorder battery and threw merchandise at the workers. The man was in the store when police arrived, but fled after an officer shot him with a stun gun. Officers chased the man into the street. He then turned toward them with a knife and approached the officers, police said. After another unsuccessful stun gun shot, two other officers shot and killed the man. [more ]

Ca. -Report Says Jailers Had a Role in Inmate's Death.

Jailers' use of excessive force contributed to the death of inmate Mondez Denmon, according to a report by the San Joaquin County coroner. The incident in which officers crowded into Denmon's cell to restrain the violent prisoner "dissolved into a chaotic situation," said Baxter Dunn. Denmon had been arrested in September. Officers were trying to take him to the maximum-security unit when he started resisting. Eventually 10 officers crowded into his cell, with one of them stomping on Denmon's back. He later died of traumatic asphyxiation. [more ]

Denver Mayor wants cop monitor.

Mayor John Hickenlooper on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping plan for civilian oversight of Denver police affairs, highlighted by adding an independent monitor to critique police investigations and discipline. The mayor also proposes to create a Citizen Oversight Board of volunteers to evaluate the monitor's work and suggest policy changes. The plan includes more teeth - such as allowing the monitor to conduct his or her own investigations in certain circumstances - than contemplated in Hickenlooper's earlier proposals. [more ]

Jury to get police brutality case today against Black Teenagers

The federal civil rights lawsuit against five white policemen and the city of St. Joseph by three black plaintiffs got smaller this week when a federal judge dismissed a claim against one policeman and dismissed other claims. The case was expected to go to the jury today. No longer a part of the suit is policeman Chris Mendus. Mendus and fellow officers Mark Boelcke, Lenny Rothrock, Richard Pulliam and Dale Easton were named in the suit, which is being heard in federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan. It was filed on behalf of three former St. Joseph teenagers, Devin Mitchell, Cody Mitchell and Preston Culpepper. They allege that the five policemen violated their 14th Amendment rights of equal protection under the law by practicing selective prosecution, false arrest and imprisonment. [more ]