Black Man Says Baden Police Beat Him for No Reason

Cleo Harrison's face is swollen and his left eye is still filled with blood. Harrison tells KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin his injuries are the result of a beating he took from Baden police -- even though he says he did nothing wrong. "They put me in a chokehold and I was gasping for air and while I was down on the ground, they was hitting me with uppercuts and they sprayed mace in my mouth." -- Cleo Harrison, Says police beat him According to Harrison, police started following him Friday night as he drove to his mother-in-law's house to see his daughter. Though Harrison has no criminal history and no past troubles with police, he says officers searched his car and then his in-laws' house, claiming it was a drug den. A Baden police report actually confirms part of the story. An officer writes: "I noticed a suspicious vehicle." The officer began following it -- even though as KDKA discovered, there were no violations on Harrison's car. The report says the officer then followed Harrison into the house because it "has been a known drug house." Our own investigation, however, shows no reported troubles at the house. Harrison says he was nothing but cooperative -- that he let police search his house and his mother-in-law let them search her house; but even though, they found nothing, he says, officers insisted that he go with them to the police station. When he refused, Harrison says things got ugly. "They came in behind me and they just started beating me -- beating me all in my face -- and just beating me and choking me till I fell to the ground and they put cuffs on me --and took me outside." -- Cleo Harrison, Says police beat him His mother-in-law says she watched it all happen. "They beat him up so bad, then they dragged him out of there. I seen his eye was like that -- blood running from his face. It was just terrible." -- Cathy Sue Dobbins, Mother-in-Law But according to the police report, Harrison refused to co-operate and resisted arrest. The report goes on to say "the defendant began to fight with officers.. He was subdued with necessary force." [more]

Palo Alto officers accused in beating plead no contest

Two Palo Alto police officers accused in the 2003 beating of a 59-year-old black man pleaded no contest to a minor charge of unlawful fighting today as prosecutors decided against retrying the pair on felony brutality charges after the first prosecution ended with a mistrial in April. Allowing officers Craig Lee, 42, and Michael Kan, 27, to plead no contest -- which legally has the same impact as a guilty plea -- to the infraction for public fighting is likely to draw the ire of police critics because they'll only pay a $250 fine, face no jail time and are expected to return to police work. But Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Peter Two Palo Alto police officers accused in the 2003 beating of a 59-year-old black man pleaded no contest to a minor charge of unlawful fighting today as prosecutors decided against retrying the pair on felony brutality charges after the first prosecution ended with a mistrial in April. Waite added that officials also were influenced by the difficulty of winning convictions against police, citing the two mistrials that Alameda County prosecutors faced in trying the Oakland police officers knowns as "the Riders" who had been accused of assaulting or framing drug suspects. Waite said the plea deal and the vigorous prosecution send a strong message that police misconduct would not be tolerated. He noted that the Palo Alto Police Department has plans to install video cameras in police cars and has begun retraining all officers to avoid similar clashes in the future. "I think that justice was served," Waite said after the morning hearing in a San Jose courtroom before Judge Andrea Bryan. "We did our best to hold the police accountable and get a fair result for the community." Lee and Kan, who are both Asian-American, are accused of clubbing and pepper-spraying 59-year-old Albert Hopkins on the night of July 13, 2003, after they encountered him sitting in his parked car. Officers had received two reports of suspicious behavior by a man in a parked car, one by a caller and another by a female motorist. [more]

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Reviews Itself: says Shooting of Unarmed Black Man in the Back is OK

• Shooting warrants inquiry, SCLC says [more]

A report from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office stated that a SWAT team deputy was justified in shooting to death 19-year-old Jarrell Walker. But the report added that the agency's use of force policy needs to be reviewed to ensure "it is consistent with agency values." The revisions should include a statement that deadly force be used as a last resort, according to the report from the Sheriff's Office shooting review board. Also, the agency's training of deputies and SWAT team members in the use of deadly force need to be reviewed to make sure they are consistent with the written policies, the report stated. On April 12, Christopher Taylor was the first SWAT team member to burst into Jarrell Walker's house in St. Petersburg to execute a narcotics search warrant. Taylor said Walker, who was lying on the floor next to a couch, refused to show his hands. Taylor fired two shots that struck Walker in the back. Walker died at the hospital. No gun was found under the couch near Walker, but a gun was found in another couch in an adjacent room. It is unclear what Walker was searching for under the couch. His family and community leaders have called for further investigation into the shooting. They have wondered why an unarmed man was shot in the back from only two to three feet away by an experienced SWAT team member. [more]