Doubts raised in New Orleans Police killing of Black College Student

• Cops Claim they thought Jernard Thomas had a gun. But Witnesses Say Police Saw & Acknowledged that the Gun fell to the ground during the chase.
  

A large pool of blood stained the grass in front of a back-yard woodpile where Jenard "Nordy" Thomas was fatally shot by two New Orleans police officers Thursday night. The officers, Scott Rodrigue and Joseph Waguespack Jr., fired seven or eight shots after Thomas, according to police, stuck a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol in Rodrigue's ribs. Thomas' father, however, is adamant that the plain clothes officers shot an unarmed man. Jerry Thomas said the gun his son had been carrying in his waistband fell to the ground before he bolted into the yard of a home on Piety Street. "I saw the whole thing and my reaction is this: murder," said Thomas, who had followed his son and the officers into the yard. "They knew he didn't have a gun because he dropped it in front of the house. Some other cops brought it to the back and said, "Here's the gun." Another witness also said he saw the gun on the ground near the front of the house. "He did not have a gun when they shot him," Omar Taylor said. Earlier that night, Jenard Thomas, 25, and Taylor, who lives on the same block, went to a nearby salon to have their hair braided.  The officers approached because Thomas acted suspiciously, Defillo said. "When the officers made eye contact, he clutched his waist with both hands," Defillo said. "At the same time, he took off running, which was probable cause under the law to go after him." At the shooting scene, a small bit of evidence -- apparently overlooked during the initial investigation -- seemed to raise additional questions. Several streaks of blood are visible on the side of a rickety wooden doghouse in the front half the yard, about 30 feet from the woodpile. If the blood was from Jenard Thomas, it would cast doubt on the police account that the entire confrontation unfolded in a back corner of the yard where Thomas allegedly pulled the gun. A high school graduate who attended Southern University at New Orleans, Thomas was a devoted father who supported his three children by working at a T-shirt shop when he wasn't in classes, family members said. [more] and [more]

NY Troopers Fatally Shoot at Black Man 27 Times - NO Medical Attention for 6 Hours

Law enforcement officials are investigating a fatal shooting in Yonkers early Saturday in which city police officers and state troopers fired dozens of shots at a Bronx man who had led them on a three-mile car chase. The internal affairs divisions of the Yonkers and state police are looking into the shooting, officials said yesterday, as is the Westchester County district attorney's office. The chase began just south of Exit 1 of the New York State Thruway when troopers tried to pull over the man, David T. Horn, 37, for speeding, the police said. He refused to stop, and exited the Thruway onto McLean Avenue. Mr. Horn, chased by the two troopers along with three Yonkers police officers, sped through several city streets into an alleyway, where the officers got out of their cars to try to arrest him, Yonkers police officials said. Mr. Horn repeatedly backed up and drove toward the officers, officials said, but the car did not hit them. The five officers then fired 27 shots, according to evidence at the scene, the Yonkers police said. Mr. Horn then drove forward for about 100 yards before crashing into a utility pole. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The dead man's family expressed anger that his body was still in the vehicle more than six hours after the crash and that he received no medical treatment for more than an hour because of live utility wires that had fallen on the SUV as a result of the crash. "He might have still been alive," his sister, Patricia Horn, said last night. "Regardless of what happened, no one deserves to be left in the car for seven hours."Officials said the investigation would determine how many bullets had struck Mr. Horn.  [more] and [more] and [more]

• Incidents worry residents [more]
  

Racist Española Police Beat Down Latino Teen

Three officers with the Española Police Department called 17-year-old Juan Campos a mojado— the Spanish term for "wetback"— during a March 17 beating in his home that left him bleeding from his nose and ears, and hospitalized with blood in his urine and his lungs, his attorney, Thomas Clark, said. "These guys beat my client to a pulp," Clark said in court Tuesday before showing photos of his client's injuries to Santa Fe District Judge Michael Vigil. Clark referred to the police officers' actions as use of "deadly force" with "batons, mace, boots and fists."Juan Campos, who apparently challenged the three officers to fight him and then went at them with fists raised.  Assistant district attorney Chris Conlee said that Campos has an "extensive criminal history" in juvenile court, with "over 15 referrals" to the District Attorney's Office. "Nobody -- no matter what their criminal history -- deserves to be treated this way by the police," Clark said. Based on an allegation that officers used excessive force, state police are looking into the incident, said Sgt. Miguel Aguilar, an investigator. According to police when he saw the officers, Campos took off his jacket, put up his fists and challenged them to a fight. He then came toward the officers aggressively, and one of them sprayed him with pepper spray. The officers then tried to handcuff Campos, but he was uncooperative, and it took several minutes for police to get the cuffs on the teenager.  The doctor who examined Campos noted he was lethargic and had slurred speech, swollen eyes, bruises on his face and head, a fractured rib, bruises on the right side of his abdomen and lacerations on both wrists, Clark said, again quoting the St. Vincent report. The cut on Campos' left wrist was described as "significant," he said. Clark said the wrist lacerations indicate to him either the handcuffs were too tight or Campos was beaten after the cuffs were put on him. [more] and [more]

NYC Police Officer who Killed Timothy Stansbury Gets Union Job

Richard Neri, the Brooklyn cop who shot and killed 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury on the roof of a Bed-Stuy apartment building last winter, has been elected to a police union office. In his paid position as a Patrolmen's Benevolent Association delegate in Brooklyn North, Neri will be the new go-to guy for officers in his precinct. Among other duties for the powerful PBA, Neri will be first on the scene in the event a cop, for example, shoots someone and thinks he might need advice. Just one year ago, Neri was on the receiving end of such PBA help. On January 24, 2004, Stansbury was trying to take a shortcut across a roof to get more CDs for a friend's birthday party. He got as far as a door that opens out to the roof when, in the stairwell, he was shot once in the chest by Neri. The African American teen, a McDonald's employee who was working on his high school diploma, was unarmed and had never been in trouble with police. Neri later said he pulled the trigger unintentionally. A Brooklyn grand jury later cleared Neri of any criminal liability. Stansbury's family has filed a civil suit against Neri, who has remained benched, sans gun and badge, pending an internal review of the shooting. He's still on non-enforcement "modified duty" until the NYPD's Firearms Review Board figures out whether to discipline him. How could a cop still under investigation for a deadly shooting—one who can't even carry a badge—be elected to union office? What's obvious to City Councilman Charles Barron, the unofficial spokesman for Stansbury's parents, is the symbolism of Neri's union post. "The Police Brutality Association—that's what I call them. That decision was absurd and unconscionable. They have in effect rewarded him for killing an innocent youth." [more]

• Preventing Another Stansbury [more]
• Teenager's Killing by Officer Was Not Justified, Police Say [more]
  
•  IS THE NYPD'S THIN BLUE LINE PROTECTING A LIAR?  [more]
• Family Of Teen Slain By Police Calls For Arrest Of Officer [more]
• Teens’ documentary about shooting goes to Sundance Festival [more]
• Pictured above:  Timothy Stansbury Sr. with a photo of his son, Timothy Jr., and daughter, Timeterss. [more]
  

Broward Deputy who Shot Mexican Immigrant is Fired

Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne agreed Thursday to pay for 60 more days of care for a Mexican immigrant accidentally shot in the head by a deputy who thought he was a burglary suspect. The deputy involved in the shooting, Louis Perry, said the Broward Sheriff's Office fired him Thursday in an unrelated matter. BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal, reached late Thursday, could not confirm Perry's termination. ''To me, the firing appears to be related to the shooting,'' said Barbara Duffy, Perry's union attorney. ``The internal investigation was flawed from the beginning and I can't imagine it being upheld when we go to arbitration.'' The shooting occurred about 6:40 p.m. Nov. 3 after deputies responded to a call of a burglary at the Whispering Isles complex on West Sample Road in Pompano Beach. Deputies Perry, 38, and Richard Mosca, 37, saw two men, Germán Goméz, and his cousin, Javier Domínguez, 21, who had arrived in Pompano Beach three days before the shooting. Perry and Mosca, with guns drawn, tried to talk to the pair, who were walking in the parking lot. Goméz and Domínguez, undocumented workers from Chiapas, Mexico, did not speak English. The deputies spoke no Spanish. When Perry attempted to restrain Goméz, his gun accidentally discharged, he told investigators. The bullet tore into Goméz's head. [more]

City councilors say District Attorney is Holding Out on Information in case of Black Man Gunned Down by Boston Police

A group of city councilors have accused Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley and United States Attorney Michael Sullivan of ``colluding'' to deny investigative records to the family of a man gunned down by police in Roxbury last year. The District Attorney's Office ruled 40-year-old Bert Bowen's June 27, 2004, fatal shooting justified, finding that he pointed a loaded .40-caliber handgun at an officer. Bowen was found with the gun in his hand, officials said. In a letter seeking help from Attorney General Tom Reilly, city councilors Chuck Turner, Charles Yancey and Felix Arroyo and activist Sadiki Kambon accused Conley and Sullivan of conspiring to conceal reports from Bowen's family. "We feel the Attorney General has a responsiblity after almost 10 months after the death . . . to get the file so that the Bowen family can proceed with their own investigation,'' Turner said. "They have suspicions that it was a wrongful death but without the file they don't have the information to make their own determination,'' Turner said. Conley's spokesman David Procopio said Bowen family attorney Earl Howard has received ``a significant amount of investigative material'' and called claims of secrecy "recklessly disingenuous.'' "If there are additional documents he is looking for, we will provide them but he has received the bulk of the material,'' Procopio said. [more]

Police say Drug overdose led to death of Black Man in Custody

A man who died while in police custody last Monday night suffered an apparent drug overdose, police said. Officials said a large bag of narcotics was found in the suspect's throat and a smaller bag was found in his stomach. The family of Shannon Brown, 33, believes he was a victim of excessive force by police. "I need to know how my son left this earth. And I need to know the officers that took him out of this earth," said Clara Brown, Brown's mother. Police arrested Brown around 9 p.m. on the city's North Side while answering a call of three people trespassing at a North Side building, 927 W. Wilson Avenue. Brown reportedly opened the door of the building to plainclothes police officers. Witnesses said the officers went after Brown instead of the trespassers. "They didn't understand that he wasn't the one," said one witness, who did not want to be identified. Officials said the officers wanted to talk to Brown in the building lobby-- but that when he reached into his pants pockets, they sprayed him with pepper spray. They then arrested Brown for aggravated battery and resisting arrest. "He was handcuffed like this, and his hand and his head was brought to the floor like this. He was like that with his leg right here. He kept telling them he couldn't breathe," said Zalee Petties, witness. Brown was taken to Town Hill District Police Station where he began convulsing. Brown was taken to nearby Thorek Hospital where he was pronounced dead just before midnight. Brown's family is worried about a police cover-up in the case. [more]

• But Police say Brown Swallowed a "balloon filled with drugs". An autopsy this morning found in the man's stomach "a balloon with suspect drugs and other packets that were beginning to dissolve," said police spokesman Pat Camden. Officers received a call of trespassing about 9 p.m. Monday on the 900 block of West Wilson Avenue on the city's North Side. They found Shannon Brown loitering and drinking in the foyer of an Uptown apartment building, police said. Brown allegedly ran. Police gave pursuit and used pepper spray to subdue him. As they were taking Brown into custody, officers reported, they saw him remove something from his waist pocket and place it in his mouth. [more]
  
  

Alabama Black Caucus Wants Ex Trooper Prosecuted in the 1965 Killing of Jimmy Lee Jackson

Members of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus voted Tuesday to ask federal, state and local officials to prosecute a former state trooper, James Bonard Fowler of Geneva, for the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson 40 years ago. Jackson, a 26-year-old black man, was shot in Marion on Feb. 18, 1965, after law officers forcefully stopped a crowd from marching at night from a church to the Perry County Jail, where a civil rights worker was held. Fowler, 71, said in a phone interview that Jackson grabbed his pistol and the weapon fired as they were fighting over it. ''Jimmy Lee Jackson was not murdered,'' Fowler said. ''It was just an accident. It happened during a melee, during a riot, during a civil disturbance.'' But state Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, an attorney who said he was in Marion just hours after the shooting, said many witnesses at the time said Jackson was trying to defend his grandfather and mother from attacks by law officers and that he was shot ''without provocation.'' Fowler said he never was asked to testify before a grand jury about the shooting. Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said that's why public officials should investigate Fowler and the shooting now. Originally published in the Birmingham News (Alabama) March 30, 2005 Copyright 2005 The Birmingham News

• Pictured above: Jackson died eight days after he was shot. Newton said he remembers civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at Jackson's funeral. Sanders said anger over Jackson's shooting sparked the ''Bloody Sunday'' march of March 7, 1965, when State Troopers beat civil rights marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma

Judge dismisses Suit of Black Man Killed by Dover Police

Family of man who died in custody had filed $50 million suit in 2001
A federal wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a Dover man who died in police custody has been thrown out by a judge in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit was filed in May 2001 by the family of Reginald Hannah. Hannah's death was later attributed to a lethal amount of cocaine in his blood and cardiac arrest, but the police use of pepper spray and "nonlethal blunt force" were called contributing factors. The incident sparked racial tensions in Dover and prompted reforms in the way citizen complaints about police are handled. A Delaware Attorney General's Office investigation cleared the officers involved of any wrongdoing, though the Dover police officers refused to speak with state investigators. At one time, the law firm of the late attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. was involved in the $50 million lawsuit, but the firm withdrew in late 2001. The family has been proceeding with the lawsuit without attorneys and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson wrote that the Hannah family failed to show there was a substantial violation of Reginald Hannah's rights by the police - either racial discrimination or excessive force. [more]

Brutality lawsuits put off, for now - Blue Island looks to settle a dozen cases under way

Twelve police-brutality lawsuits against Blue Island have been shelved in federal court while settlement talks are held. Court proceedings will resume if no agreements are reached by mid-May. "None of the cases have been settled," city attorney Cary Horvath said. "The courts encourage parties to try and come to a settlement outside the courts." Chicago lawyer Blake Horwitz, who filed the 12 complaints between October and December, said continuing the multiple cases in different courtrooms could become expensive and time-consuming for both sides. "The plaintiffs and the city recognize that the cases may be able to be resolved outside of the court process," Horwitz said. "To ensure that people's rights are recognized and money is saved, the parties have stipulated to have the cases put in a holding pattern." Horwitz has until May to return to court with his cases. Each case not reinstated by the deadline is deemed closed. Horwitz filed the lawsuits after the death of Antonio Manrique, a 74-year-old Hispanic man who was tackled by Blue Island detectives on Oct. 6 in an incident police have called a case of mistaken identity. Manrique died four days later. The detectives involved have been restricted to desk duty while the Illinois State Police investigates the incident. Manrique's family has sued the city in Cook County Circuit Court. Mayor Donald Peloquin said the out-of-court negotiations were positive steps because the city would have to raise taxes in the event of any large judgments. [more]

• Pictured above: Antonio Manrique, 74 Year Old Latino Man Beaten to death by Blue Island Police. Died after this Oct. 6, 2004 incident [more]