LAPD Settling Abuse Scandal; Payments to alleged Rampart victims will total $70 million

The city was sued more than 200 times, mostly by drug dealers, gang members and other criminals who said they had been framed, shot, beaten or otherwise mistreated by the police. All but eight of the suits have been resolved, according to city lawyers. The expected expenditures in the eight cases are included in the $70 million, said Jennifer Roth Krieger, chief financial and administrative officer in the city attorney's office. Despite the criminal backgrounds of many of the plaintiffs, city lawyers concluded when reviewing the records of the officers involved that more than three-fourths of the cases were too risky to let them proceed to trial. "When you have a problem officer, it's very difficult to go forward," said Chief Deputy City Atty. Terree A. Bowers. "This has got to be a wake-up call for the city. It could have been worse."

Click to read more ...

Police Killing of 74 Year Old Latino Man Stirs race for mayor in Blue Island

For the first time in 20 years, Blue Island Mayor Donald Peloquin is facing two challengers in an election influenced by the controversial death of a Mexican-American immigrant last year. Antonio Manrique, 74, died Oct. 10, four days after he was tackled to the ground by a police officer responding to a call about graffiti. The incident, which is under investigation, outraged and united the Hispanic community, ultimately fueling a desire to have more influence in city government. As a result, the April 5 ballot includes more Hispanic surnames than any other in recent memory. The election also includes several members of CASA, or Citizens in Action Seeking Answers, a grass-roots community group formed in response to Manrique's death. "The incident brought to light the need for more community participation at all levels," said Rene Valenciano, principal of a local elementary school who is running for 5th Ward alderman. "We want more accountability overall."

Click to read more ...

Orange County Deputy Cleared In Taser-Torture Trial of 14 Year Old Black Boy

A jury cleared an Orange County deputy Tuesday accused of civil-rights violations. The deputy admits he zapped a teen with a Taser gun, but he told a judge and jury he had to do it.  The Jackson family left the federal courthouse in Orlando disappointed Tuesday after a jury ruled that a deputy did not torture Wanda Jackson's son with a Taser gun. "Our case was proven that the officer did what he did and they ruled in favor of the officer, which I don't think was fair. Justice was not served today," she said.   Jurors didn't believe that Orange County Deputy Ryan Olsson kicked then-14-year-old Charles Jackson in the mouth, knocking out his tooth or burning him with a Taser gun in August 2003. The deputy was relieved. "I'm glad this was put behind us, yes. I'll go on with my everyday business like I've been doing," he said. That means he'll head back to patrol duty in Pine Hills, the same area where the officer chased Jackson and stunned him with a Taser gun after the teen allegedly brandished a weapon.[more]

Former Black Police Chief says he was victim of Police Brutality

Former Rankin police Chief Darryll Briston said Friday that he was the victim, not the instigator, of a scuffle with a state trooper inside a district judge's office. "This was a blatant attack. ... When he started choking me, I thought I was dead," Briston said. "If this isn't a case of police brutality, I don't know what is." State police said Briston elbowed a trooper who tried to keep him from swallowing potential evidence. Briston, 41, of Penn Hills, is to report to prison in less than two weeks to begin a three-year term for his federal conviction of stealing $5,885 seized during a drug raid at a Rankin house and falsifying receipts to cover it up. He now faces additional state charges, including assault and attempted evidence tampering. The scuffle happened during a hearing Thursday before North Versailles District Judge Robert Barner on charges stemming from accusations that Briston bullied a bar owner into paying $1,334 for allegedly damaging a squad car on Oct. 31, 2003, and kept the money for himself. Briston showed a receipt that he said proved the police car was repaired in November 2003, police said. Believing the receipt is fraudulent, the district attorney's office and state police decided to seize the receipt as evidence, but Briston repeatedly refused to surrender it, police said.

Click to read more ...

Racial bias raised in Palo Alto police brutality trial - Black Man in Car Too Long- Beat Down

A man testifying in the brutality trial of two Palo Alto police officers told a Santa Clara County jury Tuesday that he felt trouble coming when one officer drove past the car he was sitting in and looked directly into his eyes. "I've been black for a long time," said Albert Hopkins, 61, adding that as an African American man he was frequently targeted by police for trivial reasons. "He looks at me, and I look at him, and something in my mind says it's going to be a long night. I'm going to see him again. Something is going to happen." Hopkins is the key prosecution witness in the trial that began last week in a San Jose courtroom. Palo Alto officers Craig Lee, 42, and Michael Kan, 27, are charged with felony police brutality and misdemeanor assault for allegedly beating Hopkins with batons and pepper-spraying him July 13, 2003. If convicted, they face up to three years in jail. The defendants, whose lawyers say they used force to restrain Hopkins because he was uncooperative and threatening, plan to take the stand in their own defense, and are expected to testify in one to two weeks.

Click to read more ...

U.S. judge Rules that Cincinnati Violated Police Reform Agreement

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott issued the order Monday after concluding that city officials violated the city's police-reform agreement several times last year. Her ruling means that any future violations could be punished with fines or jail time. The decision comes almost three years after city and police officials signed the Collaborative Agreement, a landmark deal that promised to reform police policies through a cooperative effort with community leaders and civil rights activists. The two sides feuded several times last year before ending up in court after the city denied court-appointed monitors access to staff meetings and ride-alongs with police. One of the monitors, who are intended to track the progress of reforms, was escorted from police headquarters under orders of Chief Tom Streicher. In her ruling Monday, Dlott said the threat of stiff penalties is the best way to ensure that the city will follow the rules set down in the agreement. "Now there is a stick as well as a carrot," said Scott Greenwood, lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. "This finding is not based on a minor technical violation. This is about a fundamental breakdown - or shutdown - on the city's part." [more]

Attorney's illness prompts new trial date for Minneapolis officer who Beat Down 14 Year Old Black Boy

David Shulman was telling a federal jury about his 14-year-old client who allegedly had been beaten by a police officer when Shulman collapsed. Sgt. Jeffrey Jindra, the Minneapolis officer accused of the beating, jumped from his chair and raced to Shulman's side. He checked Shulman's pulse, loosened his collar and talked to him, Jindra's attorney said Wednesday, describing the scene Tuesday inside the courtroom. "What's your name?" Jindra asked. "What's your date of birth? Are you a diabetic?" Jindra's attorney, Timothy Skarda, said he had talked with Shulman's law partner, who said Shulman had a virus over the weekend but is expected to recover. On Wednesday U.S. District Judge John Tunheim dismissed the jury and set a new trial date . In an order filed late Wednesday, Tunheim cited Shulman's unexpected illness and the impossibility of resuming trial until May 17. Skarda said the discussion never involved what effect Jindra's actions might have on the jury's view of the officer accused of police brutality and racial profiling. Damani Bediako claimed in the suit brought by his mother in June 2003 that Jindra beat him after Bediako was stopped outside a Minneapolis convenience store. According to the lawsuit, when the boy attempted to produce his wallet as ordered, Jindra put him in a chokehold, punched him and slammed him to the ground. Jindra was cleared by the U.S. Justice Department of alleged civil rights violations in that case. [more] Last year the accused officer, Jeffrey Jinda was also accused of sodomozing Stephen Porter with the handle of a bathroom plunger. [more] and [more]

Houston Police used Tasers on Minorities in Nearly 90% of Taser Incidents

Houston police officers used Tasers on minorities in almost 90 percent of the incidents in which they shocked people in recent months, prompting civil rights groups Wednesday to call for tighter controls on the use of the stun guns. Leaders from the ACLU, LULAC and NAACP requested a meeting with Police Chief Harold Hurtt to express concern about officers' use of the 50,000-volt alternative weapons since the police department bought 3,700 of them last year. Officers stunned people with Tasers in 144 incidents between Dec. 3 and March 10, according to the department, shocking blacks or Hispanics in 125 cases, or 87 percent. "It always seems that the minorities are the first to get a taste of something like this," said Sylvia Gonzalez, director of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "We are very concerned." Executive Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland said, however, that the racial breakdown on Taser use mirrors statistics of other police interaction with minorities. "The Taser itself is not a racial device," he said. "Officers' decision to deploy the Taser is based on the suspects' behavior and the officers' training." In police shootings throughout the county, however, about 70 percent of people shot from 1999 through August 2004 were minorities, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.

Click to read more ...

LAPD Violates Key Decree In Racial Profling Says ACLU

The city of Los Angeles may drop a key aspect of a racial profiling study of its police officers, which doesn't sit well with the American Civil Liberties Union. The proposed change would violate one of the key terms of the consent decree the city reached with the federal government after the Rampart corruption scandal. The proposal would cut out a key question from the study - whether Los Angeles police officers generally pull over minority drivers more than white drivers. A-C-L-U attorney Ricardo Garcia says the phenomenon known as driving while black or brown is a key issue that should be examined. But a national research firm analysis of racial data collected by Los Angeles Police Department officers determined there was no way to reliably gauge the racial breakdown of motorists. Researchers say the issue is complicated by the fact that many officers don't know the race of the people they pull over until they step up to the car window. [more]

SCLC to look at Taser concerns

Citing the deaths of two men stunned with Taser-type devices in the past 18 months, a coalition of activist groups will hold a community meeting Sunday to discuss the safety of the stun guns. "We're calling for a moratorium on the use of the Taser gun because the jury's still out," the Rev. Fred D. Taylor of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said at a Wednesday news conference. The SCLC and other organizations want law enforcement agencies to stop using the electric weapons, which deliver an incapacitating 50,000-volt shock, until an independent study of their safety can be conducted. Two men in custody died after Tasers were used on them by Gwinnett County sheriff's deputies. Amnesty International, which will participate in Sunday's forum, persistently has criticized the Taser. The human rights organization is expected to release a report Friday detailing the number of Taser-related deaths it has tallied since 2001. The SCLC, an Atlanta-based organization co-founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Taser-type stun guns have been linked to 86 deaths nationwide since 1999. Taser International, the leading manufacturer of stun guns, maintains that its product has not directly caused any deaths. An estimated 7,000 agencies worldwide use Tasers.

Click to read more ...