Ashburn Police make arrests in mini riot in front of club.

On Wednesday , Ashburn Police arrested several people they say were involved in a mob fight that injured a half dozen officers. Witnesses say officers incited the violence but police say that's simply not true. Police have made  four arrests in what they describe as a brawl   with an angry mob. A mob  that threw bricks and glass bottles. It happened last week in front of the Traffic Light club in Ashburn, when law enforcement officials responded to reports of a fight. When it was over, six officers were injured. One was taken to the hospital. "We had car video cameras going and we were able to take those tapes and identify the suspects. At that point that was a crucial piece of evidence that allowed us to get warrants on these individuals," says Police Chief Ben Sumner. But while police worked to identify suspects, some citizens were busy pointing fingers. Witnesses blame officers for starting violence. But Chief Sumner says the video tapes say otherwise. [more ]

US border guard indicted for beating down Chinese businesswoman.

A US border guard was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for allegedly beating up a Chinese businesswoman, in a case that was taken up at the highest diplomatic level between Beijing and Washington. Robert Rhodes, who was charged with violating the civil rights of 37-year-old Zhao Yan near Niagara Falls in July, could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars if convicted. US Attorney Marty Littlefield said Rhodes would be arraigned in court at a date to be announced. According to the indictment, Rhodes struck and hit Zhao with his knee and then "forcibly drove her head into contact with the pavement." Zhao, from Tianjin city, had complained that she told the officers who stopped her that she had legal documents, including a passport and business visa, but they beat her anyway. Zhao is suing the United States for $5 million [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

Missing LAPD Beating Tape?

Missing Tape?
Last month reporter Betty Pleasant from the Los Angeles Wave Newspapers revealed that the video tape of the LAPD beating of Stanley Miller had been edited by KABC-TV. She claims that the police beating continued on tape for an additional 8 minutes after the edited TV version is cut off. Pleasant explained:

• 'after Mr. Miller is on the ground, subdued, kicked and hit 11 times by Officer Hatfield, most of the swarming cops get off him. But the prone, handcuffed man is inexplicably jumped on again, like a loose football, by seven of the eight officers present, and kicked again by another one. At this point, Mr. Reiff can be heard on the tape yelling, "This guy must be resisting, they're slapping the crap out of him!"
• Then, the cop that kicked him the second time hauls a visibly dazed Mr. Miller up from the ground, kicks his legs apart and pats him down, obviously looking for weapons. The officer completes the pat-down and retrieves nothing. The cop came away from the pat-down empty-handed. 
• In the meantime, Sgt. Angela McGee is standing behind and to the left of Mr. Miller and the kicking cop, busily counting and pocketing some dollar bills. She is preoccupied with the money in her hands and is not looking at what is happening with Mr. Miller nor at what the other officers are doing. If she had looked up, she would have seen her officers celebrating their capture with back pats, handshakes and high-fives. Reporter Reiff saw it and commented incredulously, "They're all high-fiving each other!" 
• At this point, a bald-headed sheriff's deputy walks into the picture and exchanges words with Sgt. McGee and another officer, while the kicking cop takes a wobbly Mr. Miller by his right arm and begins leading him back down the grassy strip to the patrol car. 
• During his lengthy walk to the car, a second officer takes Mr. Miller by his left shoulder and joins the kicking cop in propelling him down the grassy strip.'
  

The article has been published at least four more times since she originally wrote it. However, apparently no one besides KABC-TV, Pleasant and the people she has shown it to have seen the tape. She stated the Wave has "exclusive possession of the tape". At the end of her article, a Rev. Jarvis Johnson says "Now that we've seen the truth, what are we going to do about it?" Well for starters , how about letting others see what you've seen. Tell the world! The tape does no good on a shelf.

• The original "edited" KABC-TV version can be seen [here]
  
• The original article can be found [here]

FBI Probes Death of Nathaniel Jones

• Beaten to Death by Cincinnati Police
  

The FBI said Tuesday it is investigating whether any civil rights violations occurred in the death of a black man who was repeatedly struck by police with metal batons. The FBI will report the findings from its preliminary inquiry to the Department of Justice's civil rights division, which will decide whether a full investigation is justified, said Michael Brooks, a spokesman for the FBI's Cincinnati office. He refused to give further details. The Cincinnati chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for a federal investigation months ago, alleging that police used excessive force Nov. 30 on Nathaniel Jones, 41, of Cincinnati. Video from restaurant surveillance cameras and a police cruiser showed that Jones knocked over one officer before others jabbed or struck him more than two dozen times with nightsticks. The 350-pound Jones stopped breathing shortly after he was handcuffed. Last week, a police watchdog agency concluded that officers used excessive force, saying they could have backed off and allowed Jones time to comply with their commands. The city manager will decide whether the officers should be disciplined. [more]

• A big question in the Jones death involves a 97-second gap near the beginning of the tape. Before the gap, the police can be seen talking to Jones; afterward, he charges at them. Many black community leaders contend those missing seconds might have shown that police provoked the attack. [more]
• On Monday Court TV released what they call an "unedited version" of the video. However, this tape is simply longer than what had been previously been shown. The begining portion of the tape is still missing. See the tape here [more]

Former New York Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Death of Kenneth Banks

A former New York police officer has pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges related to the 1998 death of a Black man  he hit in the head with a walkie-talkie, prosecutors said yesterday. The former officer, Craig Yokemick, 36, entered the plea to two felony charges Friday in United States District Court in Manhattan. Mr. Yokemick admitted violating the civil rights of the suspect, Kenneth Banks, when he hurled a  police radio at him as Mr. Banks tried to escape on a bicycle. Mr. Banks later died of trauma to the head. Sentencing was set for Nov. 12. Mr. Yokemick could get up to 10 years in prison on each charge. A Manhattan grand jury cleared Mr. Yokemick in 1999 of using excessive force, and the city reportedly paid Mr. Banks' family $750,000 in a civil settlement. Mr. Yokemick also was  convicted last year of violating the civil rights of a Westchester County teacher in 2002 when he punched him and threw him to the ground in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. [more] and [more]

• Police say that on October 29, 1998 cops observed Banks in a drug transaction and when officers tried to arrest him he fled. Witnesses say that Officer Craig Yokemick came within a few feet of Banks as he tried to get away on a bicycle and threw his two-pound walkie-talkie at the suspect. Banks fell from the bike. He died at Metropolitan Hospital Center on November 10. Twelve days later, the medical examiner ruled that the thrown radio had killed Banks.
  
• A witness said that after Walker was knocked down and it was clear he was knocked out, "the police began dragging brother Banks, unconscious, to the van," claims Stewart. "They literally dragged the brother to the van and threw him in as though he was a dead deer who had been hit crossing the street," adds Stewart, who provided the investigators with names of other witnesses. "They just dropped him in there. I don't know whether they really knew that he was never going to regain consciousness." [more]

Former New York Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Death of Kenneth Walker

A former New York police officer has pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges related to the 1998 death of a Black man  he hit in the head with a walkie-talkie, prosecutors said yesterday. The former officer, Craig Yokemick, 36, entered the plea to two felony charges Friday in United States District Court in Manhattan. Mr. Yokemick admitted violating the civil rights of the suspect, Kenneth Banks, when he hurled a  police radio at him as Mr. Banks tried to escape on a bicycle. Mr. Banks later died of trauma to the head. Sentencing was set for Nov. 12. Mr. Yokemick could get up to 10 years in prison on each charge. A Manhattan grand jury cleared Mr. Yokemick in 1999 of using excessive force, and the city reportedly paid Mr. Banks' family $750,000 in a civil settlement. Mr. Yokemick also was  convicted last year of violating the civil rights of a Westchester County teacher in 2002 when he punched him and threw him to the ground in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. [more] and [more]

• Police say that on October 29, 1998 cops observed Banks in a drug transaction and when officers tried to arrest him he fled. Witnesses say that Officer Craig Yokemick came within a few feet of Banks as he tried to get away on a bicycle and threw his two-pound walkie-talkie at the suspect. Banks fell from the bike. He died at Metropolitan Hospital Center on November 10. Twelve days later, the medical examiner ruled that the thrown radio had killed Banks.
  
• A witness said that after Walker was knocked down and it was clear he was knocked out, "the police began dragging brother Banks, unconscious, to the van," claims Stewart. "They literally dragged the brother to the van and threw him in as though he was a dead deer who had been hit crossing the street," adds Stewart, who provided the investigators with names of other witnesses. "They just dropped him in there. I don't know whether they really knew that he was never going to regain consciousness." [more]

Federal suit filed against Bellevue police

• Unarmed Latino Man reaching for Wallet Shot Dead by Police

The mother and the estate of a Guatemalan immigrant shot and killed by a Bellevue police officer in August 2001 have filed a federal lawsuit against Bellevue Police Chief Jim Montgomery and Michael Hetle, the officer involved. Hetle is no longer is with the Bellevue police. The suit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges Montgomery failed to adequately train or discipline Hetle despite what the suit said was Hetle's history of excessive force. It seeks unspecified damages for the shooting of 24-year-old Nelson Martinez Mendez. The killing triggered anger and frustration in the Latino community over police treatment. Martinez was unarmed when he was shot in the parking lot of an East Bellevue condominium. Hetle, responding to a domestic-violence complaint, had been warned Martinez might have a knife. He shot Martinez twice after the man reached for what turned out to be a wallet. An inquest jury determined Hetle had reason to fear for his life when he shot Martinez, and county prosecutors ruled the killing a justified homicide. [more]

Drugs blamed in man's death - Cory Crawford Died in Police Custody

For the past two Saturdays protesters have lined the sidewalks at the Blytheville Police Department in protest of police brutality. Part of their concern, as stated on one of their protest signs, is what happened to Cory Crawford. Crawford, 26, of Blytheville, died in the early morning hours of July 23, shortly after being taken into police custody at the Pear Tree Inn in Blytheville, according to Blytheville Police Chief Royce Carpenter. Autopsy reports from the medical examiner's office in Little Rock indicate Crawford's death was due to excited delirium and acute cocaine intoxication with an extremely high level of cocaine being present in his system. "The report from the medical examiner specifically noted that Crawford had numerous superficial wounds consistent with glass and that no cervical (neck) fracture, no blunt force trauma, no evidence of strangulation and no head injuries were detected," Carpenter said. Carpenter also said that prior to the arrival of police at Pear Tree Inn, Crawford repeatedly rammed his head into a glass door before eventually breaking the glass. [more]

Folsom prison guard convicted of false report, cleared of assault

A former New Folsom prison lieutenant was acquitted Monday of assaulting an inmate despite testimony from five fellow guards, but he was convicted of filing a false report. The case involving Stephen Luke Scarsella renews the debate over what whistle-blowers and a federal court-appointed monitor say is a pervasive "code of silence" within the state's prison system, and over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration's attempts to clean up what critics say is an often abusive system. Five guards, including a sergeant, testified that Scarsella, a 49-year-old former lieutenant, dragged inmate Mel Edward by his leg chains partly down a stairway, then punched the defenseless inmate twice in the face. Edward was being forcibly removed from his cell at California State Prison, Sacramento, commonly known as New Folsom, on June 8, 2002. The guards said they were subsequently derided as "rats" by fellow officers, and ostracized for speaking out. Scarsella was fired after the incident. [more]

Inmate Says Guards Beat Him Again - Brings Lawsuit

Orange County jail officials have shown an indifference to violence against inmates by deputies, who call themselves "psycho crew" and "the untouchables," according to an inmate who is suing a second time alleging that he was beaten. Daniel Louis Parra, 36, who is awaiting trial for murder, states that in both incidents he was pulled out of a food line, taken down a stairwell out of the view of video cameras and beaten. Both incidents were investigated by jail officials, who found no evidence of wrongdoing by jail personnel, said Jon Fleishman, a sheriff's spokesman. Parra was treated for injuries to his neck, head, face, eyes and arms after the alleged attacks, his attorney said. [more]