Ohio Troopers Disciplined for Klan Photo - Still Keep Jobs

A highway patrolman who was photographed in a handmade Ku Klux Klan costume while on duty the day before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has been suspended without pay, authorities said.

A fellow trooper who transmitted the cell-phone photo of white-masked lawman has been demoted.

Craig Franklin, a 12-year veteran of the Ohio Highway Patrol, is pictured in the Jan. 20 photo with a white cone on his head, white paper mask and a white cloth covering his shoulders, according to a highway patrol report.

Franklin is otherwise in trooper uniform. A handgun holster, a radio normally issued by the patrol and other police equipment can be seen in the photo, the report said.

Franklin and Trooper Eric Wlodarsky told an investigator that the picture was taken as a joke and was modeled on a television skit by comedian Dave Chappelle.

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Judge rejects bid to stop lawsuit over Black Teen's Death: West Haven Officers Turned Police Dog on Tyson

A federal judge says three West Haven police officers should stand trial in a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a teenager who was struck and killed by a pickup truck on Interstate 95 while running from police.

The family of Gary "Chris" Tyson is accusing West Haven police of using excessive force, because officers unleashed a police dog that tracked and bit Tyson in September 2002 after he was involved in a fight. The dog repeatedly bit Chris Tyson before he bolted into rush-hour traffic.  Tyson was fleeing from the officer and the dog when he was hit by the truck. He was 18 years old. Black community leaders protested the death and blamed the white officers for causing the black youth's death.

U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny (CHAT-nee) has rejected West Haven's request for summary judgment, a move that clears the way for the case to go before a jury. The teen's father Charles Tyson said, "I always felt that the police was lying." "Their story didn't make sense to us. We needed answers, and we weren't getting any." West Haven officials say they are reviewing the ruling and haven't decided yet whether to appeal. [MORE] and [MORE]

Puerto Rico Officer Convicted of Murder of Unarmed Man

A Puerto Rican police officer who killed an unarmed man in a shooting captured on videotape [HERE] was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder.

Javier Pagan Cruz, a 14-year police veteran, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the Aug. 11 shooting, which was widely broadcast on the Internet and local television. Sentencing was scheduled for April 15, judicial spokeswoman Valerie Mercado said.

The shooting occurred in the eastern coastal town of Humacao after the victim, Miguel Caceres Cruz, insulted an officer as police responded to a traffic jam.

During a scuffle that followed, Pagan's weapon went off and struck him in the leg. The video then shows Pagan wrestling Caceres to the floor and shooting him at least three times _ once in the head.

Two officers who witnessed the shooting have been charged as alleged accomplices and their cases are pending.

Pagan previously was accused of using excessive force in 2004. But the complaint was dropped after authorities decided he used appropriate means to subdue a motorcyclist resisting arrest. He also was suspended from the force for 60 days in 1999 because of domestic abuse. [MORE]

Mayor Bloomberg Worried Blacks May Riot Over Bell Verdict: NYPD Shot Unarmed Black Man 50 Times

With a verdict on the horizon in the Sean Bell trial — one that has the potential of sparking outrage throughout the city — Mayor Bloomberg yesterday met with leaders of the black community in Queens to discuss the need for leadership in the aftermath of the decision.

If Judge Arthur Cooperman acquits the three officers charged in the shooting of Bell, an unarmed man who was killed in barrage of 50 bullets, civil unrest could resemble that following the 2000 acquittal of four white police officers in the shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed black man fatally shot in the Bronx. Then, about 100 people were arrested for participating in various protests on charges that included reckless endangerment and inciting a riot.

Some of the leaders who met with Mr. Bloomberg yesterday at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jamaica were adamant that only a guilty verdict for the detectives, Gescard Isnora, Michael Oliver, and Marc Cooper, would demonstrate justice, but they downplayed the plausibility of any violence.

"If there is no justice, then we absolutely will be calling for a peaceful, law abiding, responsible, but militant demonstration," a City Council member who represents parts of Queens, James Sanders, said after meeting with the mayor.

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Trial Date is Set For Wrongful Death Suit of Latino Man Tasered to Death by Lubbock Police

 
A May 5th trial date is set for a federal wrongful death suit filed against the city and an LPD officer.

The family of Juan Nunez III is seeking unspecified damages for his death triggered by a tasing fired by officer Matt Doherty.

The medical examiner ruled two factors caused Nunez death: The amount of alcohol Nunez injested combined with a substantial blow to the head suffered when he fell.

The report notes the tasing was a contributor factor because it caused Nunez to fall.

Among the issues to be decided at trial, whether tasing Nunez four times within 40 seconds constitutes and excessive use of force. [MORE]

Officer Doherty claims he acted reasonably and according to his training.

The city denies liability asserting its police training and policy exceeds state standards for use of the weapon.

Final Defense Witnesses Testify in Sean Bell Case

Testimony concluded in the Sean Bell case with the last of the six defense witnesses taking the stand on Tuesday, the 26th day of the trial, and both sides preparing to deliver closing arguments next week, lawyers said.

The defense did not formally rest its case. But it is expected to so on Thursday after making various motions before Justice Arthur J. Cooperman, who is hearing the case without a jury. After closing arguments, the judge will consider verdicts in the charges against the three defendants, Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper. Detectives Isnora and Oliver face charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter, assault and misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. Detective Cooper, whose shots hit no one, faces just the charges of reckless endangerment.

The detectives did not testify, indicating that their lawyers were satisfied with the versions of the shooting that the men gave under oath in grand jury testimony last year, accounts that were read aloud by prosecutors during the trial. By putting the detectives on the witness stand, the defense would have given prosecutors the chance to trip them up on cross-examination, an opportunity that prosecutors did not have in reading back the old testimony.

The defense case lasted three days. Its star witness was its first, Officer Michael Carey, who fired 3 of 50 shots in the shooting on Nov. 25, 2006, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, that killed Mr. Bell and wounded two of his friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.

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U.S. judge bars Mother's 2nd suit over Son’s death: Unarmed Howard University Student Killed by PG County Police

• Pr. George's Jurors Award $3.7 Million [MORE]

The mother of a man killed by Prince George’s County police in Virginia cannot recover any money in her Maryland survival action against the county, a federal judge has decided.

In a published opinion, U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. wrote that Mabel S. Jones, as personal representative of her son’s estate, cannot pursue a survival action in Maryland because the son’s father and the son’s fiancée, on behalf of their daughter, have already recovered under Virginia’s wrongful death statute.

“If this incident had taken place in Maryland, then Maryland law would apply, and Plaintiff would be afforded two recoveries,” Williams wrote. “However, as this case is governed by Virginia law, and, as Defendants argue, since there has been a recovery, Plaintiff is barred from any recovery as there can be only one recovery for damages under the law of Virginia for the same injury.”

Mabel Jones has already filed a notice of appeal with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“It was our hope that this was the end of this lengthy road, but unfortunately, that is not the case,” said Jay Creech, who represents the county. “Dr. [Mabel] Jones has pushed the federal suit along even though the sole beneficiary has recovered.”

Prince Carmen Jones Jr. was fatally shot by police in 2000 after two undercover Prince George’s County officers followed his car from Washington, D.C. to Prince George’s County, back to Washington and into Virginia, mistakenly believing him to be a suspect who had stolen a police officer’s weapon. Jones apparently realized he was being followed and started striking Cpl. Carlton Jones’ SUV with his car in an effort to get away. Carlton Jones shot Prince Carmen Jones 16 times.

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PA Troopers Found Liable for Killing 12 Year Old Black Boy Want New Trial

Calling a $28 million jury award "shocking" and "the product of passion and prejudice," the attorney for two state police troopers asked that a federal judge set aside the verdict and order a new trial.

Attorney Andrew Fletcher, who represented Cpl. Juan Curry and Trooper Samuel Nassan in the civil suit brought by the father of Michael Ellerbe, argued that attorney Geoffrey Fieger disregarded rules throughout the trial. Fletcher also argued that U.S. District Court Judge Joy Flowers Conti improperly stopped him from admitting evidence that would have let jurors see a clearer picture of what happened when Ellerbe was shot and killed on Dec. 24, 2002.

Last month, a panel of federal jurors awarded Ellerbe's father, Michael Hickenbottom over $28 million in damages in his son's death. The panel found that both Curry and Nassan intentionally shot at Ellerbe, and used excessive force.

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Wisconsin DOJ to Investigate Milwaukee Police Beating of Hmong Man

AP The state Department of Justice has agreed to look into the case of a Milwaukee man who claims a police officer used excessive force on him, the Milwaukee County district attorney said Monday.

Koua Moua, a 40-year-old machinist, claims Kelly Parker used excessive force and beat him on the street in February. But Milwaukee police Chief Edward Flynn has backed the officer, saying Parker feared for his life and the community's safety and had to use force.

Moua has been charged with resisting an officer and driving while intoxicated.

District Attorney John Chisholm said last week that community concern prompted him to look at the case. But on Monday, he asked the state Department of Justice to investigate because his office has already charged Moua. The police department also is conducting an internal investigation.

State Department of Justice spokesman Kevin St. John said the department would evaluate the matter but couldn't comment on the specifics of the case or offer a timeline.

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Court says Nathaniel Jones' Family can pursue claim against Cincinnati Police: Black Man Beaten, Suffocated & Refused Medical Treatment

The federal appeals court said Friday that a lawsuit by relatives of a 350-pound man who died during a fight with Cincinnati police after his arrest in November 2003 could go forward.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by city officials who sought to have some of the 16 defendants, mostly police officers, dismissed from the suit. The court ruled that they are not entitled to the qualified immunity that generally applies to police officers in the line of duty.

City officials ruled in 2004 that police acted within department policy in using nightsticks to subdue Nathaniel Jones, 41, who died after scuffling with officers in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.

The Hamilton County prosecutor already had concluded that the officers had been within their right to defend themselves and committed no crimes.

The county coroner said Jones died of suffocation but noted that an enlarged heart, obesity and drug use contributed to his death. An autopsy showed he had intoxicating levels of cocaine, PCP and alcohol in his blood.

Friday's ruling affirmed a federal District Court ruling in favor of Jones' family, which alleged that officers used excessive force in subduing Jones and then failed to obtain medical treatment for him. Many activists denounced the police beating as an example of police brutality and racismIt said the District Court was correct in refusing to dismiss the city's claim. [MORE]

• Pictured above: On November 30, 2003 several Cincinnati Police Officers  beat Nathaniel Jones to death. Most of the beating was captured on Police videotape [SEE ]. Mysteriously, however the beginning of the tape is missing. Police maintain that Jones was fighting back against the Cops. But sticking your hand out seems to be a reasonable reaction to being hit with batons  by several people. [more]