Shooting of Elderly Black Man Draws Parallels to Trayvon Martin Case

Medical alert device records police shooting and Racial Slur prior to Police Murder of Ex-Marine 

When White Plains Police responded to Kenneth Chamberlain's apartment last November, the 68-year-old former marine's medical alert device recorded the entire hour-long fatal stand-off.

 Now, an attorney for the family says a transcript of that recording identifies White Plains Police Officer Steven Hart as the one who shouted out a racial slur before Chamberlain was shot and killed by another officer.

"He's tapping on the window, tap tap tap, 'Mr. Chamberlain we need to talk N-word'. The N-word flat out," said Randolph McLaughlin, of the Newman Ferrara Law Firm. [MORE] 

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Parents of Unarmed Black College Student killed by Pasadena police sue city

[From LA Times] and [HERE] The parents of an unarmed college student fatally shot by two Pasadena police officers filed a wrongful-death and civil-rights lawsuit against the city Tuesday, alleging the officers never saw anything resembling a gun, never yelled any commands before opening fire and handcuffed the dying man.

Kendrec McDade, 19, was shot March 24 shortly after 11 p.m. when police Officers Mathew Griffin and Jeff Newlen pursued him on a dark street after a 911 caller alleged the young man and a 17-year-old stole a backpack from his car at gunpoint. The caller later admitted lying to police about the pair having guns.

"Neither officers nor witnesses saw anything in Kendrec McDade's hands, no bulges in his closely fitted sweater, no bulges at his waistband and no shiny objects," Harper wrote. "Neither officer yelled any commands to identify themselves that evening and they did not have lights and sirens."

The lawsuit alleges McDade was still alive after being shot multiple times and, according to witnesses, tried to speak with an officer and then was left on the street for a prolonged time period without treatment.

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$120 million claim filed against LAPD for killing unarmed 19-year-old Latino Man

From [HERE] As friends and relatives arrived for the 1 p.m. funeral service, journalists gathered in front of Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. Jeffrey Galen spoke on the family’s behalf.

The attorney has filed a $120 million claim against the city of Los Angeles — a million, he says, for every bullet he alleges the LAPD fired at 19-year-old Abdul Arian on April 11.

"Once they started shooting at this man, it was like the wild, wild West," said Galen. "It was something that was undignified and something that we as a society cannot tolerate."

Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, offered condolences to the Arian family in a statement. But he added that when someone ignores lawful commands from an officer, it often sets regrettable events into motion.

Six days ago, Arian led LAPD officers on a high-speed chase through the San Fernando Valley. Arian reportedly called 911 during the chase and told the dispatcher he had a gun.

The pursuit ended on the 101 Freeway in Woodland Hills when Arian ran from the police — and, they say, took an aggressive shooting stance. Officers at the scene opened fire and killed him.

The LAPD confirmed later that Arian was unarmed.

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Jury Awards Black Man $6 Million For 2007 LA Sheriff’s Beating

LOS ANGELES (CBS) —  A Los Angeles federal jury awarded $6 million in damages to a Compton school bus driver who claimed he was racially profiled and severely beaten by sheriff deputies after a traffic stop, attorneys said Friday.

Following a three-day civil rights trial, the jury Thursday found Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sgt. Pablo Partida and Deputy Robert Martinez liable for excessive force and malicious prosecution against 33-year-old Deon Dirks.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the award is “excessive” and the department will likely appeal. The case stems from a traffic stop on Wilmington Avenue in Compton the morning of Nov. 4, 2007.

Dirks contends he was ordered out of his car, pepper-sprayed, punched in the face, arrested and finally charged with assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, according to plaintiff’s attorney Glen Jonas. Dirks also spent five days in jail - as a result he lost his job.  “We believe our deputies’ use of force was appropriate,” Whitmore said.

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After Man’s Death, Scrutiny for a Police Chase - Witnesses say NYPD ran Black Man Over

Two women who said they saw the accident recounted that the car was moving when it turned directly into Mr. Robinson and hit him.

Deputy Inspector George Fitzgibbon, the commander of the 69th Precinct, which covers Canarsie, said the officers had brought the car to a stop to block Mr. Robinson’s path to the door.

“Whether he tried to hurdle it, or just slammed into the car, and fell back, that’s what he did,” Inspector Fitzgibbon said at a community meeting on Tuesday night.

One of the women who challenged that account, Zina Callahan, 38, said she watched the chase from her second-floor apartment above the walkway to the building after hearing the screech of a car and a police loudspeaker blaring: “Stop running! Stop running!”

“He made a turn to come into the walkway, and the cop sped up and he hit him,” Ms. Callahan said. “He went up a little in the air. He came down. He rolled over twice.”

Franchette Mowbray, 26, said she watched the episode from her eighth-floor apartment. “They hit him,” she said. “He flew up and he came down. They backed the car up, and they told him to get up. People were yelling out their windows screaming at the cops, ‘We saw what you did.’ ”

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Death on the Border: Shocking Video Shows Mexican Immigrant Beaten and Tased by Border Patrol Agents

From [Democracy Now] A new PBS documentary exposes the tasing and beating death of a Mexican immigrant by U.S. border agents in California and has renewed scrutiny of what critics call a culture of impunity. In May 2010, 32-year-old Anastasio Hernández-Rojas was caught trying to enter the United States from Mexico near San Diego. He had previously lived in the United States for 25 years and was the father of five U.S.-born children. But instead of deportation, Hernández-Rojas’s detention ended in his death. A number of border officers were seen beating him, before one tasered him at least five times. He died shortly afterward. The agents say they confronted Hernández-Rojas because he became hostile and resisted arrest. But previously undisclosed videos recorded by eyewitnesses on their cell phones show a different story. "All eyewitnesses that we spoke to basically tell the same story of a man hogtied and handcuffed behind his back, not resisting, being beaten repeatedly by batons, by kicks, by punches, by the use of a taser, for almost 30 minutes until he died," says reporter John Carlos Frey, whose exposé aired in a national television special last Friday night as part of a joint investigation by the PBS broadcast, "Need to Know," and the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.

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Judge approves partial settlement for $75,000 in Miles case - Unarmed Black Man Assaulted by Pittsburgh Police

[HERE] U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster today approved a partial settlement of the Jordan Miles lawsuit alleging excessive force by police.

Mr. Miles agreed to drop the city of Pittsburgh from his lawsuit in exchange for $75,000. Pittsburgh City Council approved the deal last month.

The partial settlement clears the way for a July civil-rights trial that will focus entirely on the actions of the three officers accused of beating Mr. Miles on a Homewood street in January 2010.

Mr. Miles has accused city Officers Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak of beating him "to a pulp" and later fabricating evidence against him.

The officers said they confronted Mr. Miles because he appeared to be "sneaking around" a house in the 7900 block of Tioga Street, with a heavy object in his coat that they thought was a concealed weapon. When he was approached by the officers he ran away, but the officers soon caught up with him and beat him into submission by delivering violent blows that left his face swollen and distorted. Police also used a stun gun and pulled out a chunk of his hair. He is  5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed.

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Now out of jail, George Zimmerman may have Fled State: Commission Rejects Resignation of Racist Police Chief

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman, who slipped out of jail on $150,000 bail in the early morning darkness, went back into hiding Monday and likely fled to another state to avoid threats as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Later Monday, the Sanford City Commission rejected by a 3-2 vote the resignation of Police Chief Bill Lee, who was roundly criticized for not initially charging Zimmerman and had stepped down temporarily in March he said to let emotions cool.

Even though authorities can pinpoint Zimmerman's location with a GPS ankle bracelet, that he must wear round the clock, the public may not see him again for some time. Zimmerman has waived his appearance at his upcoming arraignment next month, so he can stay underground if he wants.

"He's doing well, he's very glad to be out, trying to get settled in, still worried about his safety, but, you know, talking to his family and feeling much better than being in" jail, Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, said Monday night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.

O'Mara declined to say if Zimmerman was in Florida, only saying his client will travel to several locations for his safety. O'Mara did not immediately return phone calls Monday by The Associated Press.

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