Community Wants Independent Probe of Austin Police Fatal Shooting of Black Man

June 6, 2007

Leaders of east Austin's African-American community call for an independent investigation into the police shooting of Kevin Brown.

The East Austin Social Action Coalition calls for an independent autopsy on Kevin Brown's body and for an independent investigation of the events leading up to the shots that killed Brown Sunday morning.

The Reverend Sterling Lands also says Police Sergeant Michael Olsen should have been, to use his term, "released" from all duties pending that independent investigation. He calls the shooting an "act of apparent unprovoked violence against an Austin citizen."

"Killing Blacks and Browns in Austin, Travis County, Texas will not be tolerated or accepted as standard APD operating procedure," Lands says.

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Arzu's Family meets with Bronx DA - Still Looking for Answers in NYPD Killing of Unarmed Black Man

The family of an unarmed man who was shot and killed by an off-duty NYPD officer met with the Bronx district attorney today.

Authorities say 41-year-old Fermin Arzu was shot after crashing his vehicle into a row of cars in the Bronx last month.

Police say officer Raphael Lora fired five shots when Arzu tried to leave the scene. His family is wants the officer to be indicted.

Despite autopsy tests showing Arzu's blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit, his fiance doesn't believe he was drunk the night police allege he tried to leave the scene of an accident.

The family met for over an hour an half with Bronx DA Robert Johnson, saying they are satisfied his office will investigate the fatal shooting thoroughly.

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Another Black Man Shot & Killed by Austin Police: APD says Kevin Brown had a Gun

• Officer Had been Sued for Assaulting Another Black Man in 2002 [HERE] 

AUSTIN Police shot and killed Kevin Brown, 25, during a pursuit Sunday. The shooting sparked upset and distrust in the East Austin community where it happened. The Travis County medical examiner's report says the victim of Sunday's officer shooting was shot several times. Officials said that the preliminary cause of Kevin Brown's death is homicide. The shooting happened just after 4 a.m. Sunday at the Elm Ridge Apartments on East 12th street. Investigators say Brown ran from officers after a confrontation at nearby Chester's Lounge. Officers chased him to the apartment complex where the shooting happened. The officer who fired the fatal shots, Sgt. Michael Olsen, has been an Austin police officer for 12 years. He's on restricted duty pending the investigation. That's customary when an officer fires his gun while on duty. Austin Police confirmed this afternoon that detectives did recover a gun at the scene of the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Kevin Brown by an Austin Police Officer on Sunday. Brown had fled from officers when they approached him outside of Chester’s Lounge on East 12th Street. An officer on patrol in the area had been told that Brown had a weapon.  “We are processing the weapon, the handgun, that we actually found located at the site,” Assistant Police Chief David Carter said Monday afternoon. “We continue to find witnesses and locate witnesses.”  Austin Community Access TV video shows Brown running from police as two officers try and approach him outside Chester's Club, near 12th Street.  Brown tore through the chain link fence on the backside of Chester’s. Police officers followed him. “Nowadays it's scary, especially in East Austin” George Jett said. “Being a black man, it is scary. I have to watch my back and watch what I do.”  The department is already under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. [MORE] and [MORE] and [MORE]

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Latino War Veteran Testifies deputy shot him despite explanations

An unarmed Air Force airman who was shot by a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy after a high-speed chase in 2006 testified today that he repeatedly tried to reassure the deputy that he meant no harm and was following the officer's commands when he was shot three times at close range.

 "I tell him . . . my friend did something stupid . . . we're on your side," said Elio Carrion, 23, who was a passenger in a speeding Corvette driven by a friend who had been drinking.

 Carrion testified that in the seconds before he was shot -- an incident caught on videotape by residents living across the street from where the Corvette crashed -- he told the officer he was in the "[expletive] military" and that the officer had "better believe" him.

 "The officer says, 'OK, get up, get up,' " said Carrion, who had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq when the incident occurred. Carrion had gotten out of the car after the crash and was sprawled on the ground.

 He told jurors that he confirmed the officer's command by telling him that he was going to get up off the ground next to the Corvette. "As I get up, he shoots me."

 Prosecutors charged Ivory John Webb Jr., who has since left the Sheriff's Department, with attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm. He could face more than 18 years in prison.

Dist. Atty. Michael Ramos said last year that he and other prosecutors had listened to the tape several times and that all of them heard Webb order Carrion to get up twice before shooting him.

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Mass Arrest of 32 Brookllyn Youths Lead to Protests

Thirty-two young people, including several high school students, who were arrested last month as they headed from the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn to a friend’s wake in Coney Island are organizing to demand that the police treat minority residents – themselves included – with respect.

They say the police targeted them unfairly on May 21, held them for 13 hours without food or water, then booked them on trumped-up charges. Most of them were held for almost 36 hours before being released or posting bail. They missed their friend’s wake. Now they’re seeking some way to mourn with dignity, instead of from inside a jail cell.

The youths, with the backing of Bushwick community group Make the Road by Walking, started leafleting on Thursday outside the 83rd Precinct in Bushwick, calling for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to respond to the incident. Oona Chatterjee, co-director of Make the Road by Walking, said the group would hand out fliers in front of the police station every weekday afternoon until the city responds. But Chatterjee said the leafleting is just the beginning. She said those who were arrested and their families and supporters are organized and committed to fighting for respectful law enforcement in their community.

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NO INDICTMENT. Eyewitness says Houston Police Shot Handcuffed Black Man in the Back: Cop Goes Free

The Pearland woman who told reporters that a Houston police officer shot a man after he was handcuffed did not waver from that account when she testified before a grand jury, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Friday.

However, he said, Yolanda Perry's testimony "was refuted or contradicted by a number of other people."

A grand jury decided not to indict officer L.D. Smith in the Jan. 8 death of 23-year-old Robert McIntosh. Smith shot McIntosh during a violent struggle after a traffic stop in the 8700 block of Cullen near Knoxville.

Perry, who is married to Greater Lighthouse Baptist Church minister George Perry, has declined interview requests since she testified before the grand jury last winter.

A lawyer for McIntosh's family said Perry's account of the shooting is a major factor in a wrongful-death lawsuit they plan to file against the city.

"Mrs. Perry, she's been pretty staunch about the whole deal and what she saw," said Derek Merman, the McIntosh family's lawyer.

Seeking justice

The family, he said, was devastated to hear that Smith would not face criminal charges.

"They are disappointed justice was miscarried, so they are going to try to bring the responsible parties to justice through the civil court system," he said.

Perry has said she saw Smith handcuff McIntosh before shooting him in a ditch.

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Savannah Police Officer Charged with Murder of Black Man

 A police officer has been arrested on accusations he unjustly shot and killed an unarmed man during a foot chase.

Officer Antonio Taharka, 33, was arrested Thursday and charged with murder in the death of Anthony Smashum, who died Wednesday after being shot twice.

"A member of the community is dead, and a member of the police family has been charged with a crime," Police Chief Michael Berkow said. "There are no winners here."

It began around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when Taharka spotted Smashum, who was wanted for violating probation, and tried to arrest him.

But Smashum, 41, fled. Taharka caught up with him and a struggle began. During the struggle, Smashum lost his shirt and shoes.

But Smashum was able to get away and ran again, cutting through a house and hopping a fence, police said.

Taharka ordered Smashum to stop, but he didn't, police said. That is when Taharka drew his weapon and fired a shot, hitting the man in the leg. But the bullet did not stop Smashum and he continued to climb over a fence.

Taharka fired again, police said. The second shot hit Smashum in the back and he collapsed behind a house.

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Department of Justice to Probe Brutality Against Blacks & Latinos by Austin Police

The City of Austin has been notified by the U.S. Department of Justice of its plans to review the policies, procedures and practices of the Austin Police Department. The DOJ review could begin as early as the next 30 to 60 days. The primary focus will be APD’s use of force.

City Manager Toby Hammett Futrell said the City of Austin and the Austin Police Department will cooperate fully throughout the course of the review.

On June 19, 2004, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project, filed a 16-page complaint with the Department of Justice against APD and the City of Austin alleging that Austin’s African American and Hispanic residents disproportionately met with excessive force and abuse of search powers through consent searches. The NAACP complaint came on the heels of a use of force newspaper series and a succession of critical police incidents that raised community concerns about race relations.

In February 2005, the NAACP supplemented its DOJ complaint with information concerning the use of racially charged language by 10 police officers and employees during a fire at the Midtown Live Nightclub in Northeast Austin. This highly charged incident attracted national attention.

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Police Did Not Knock or Identify Themselves. Austin Police Bust in House Shoot Latino Man

(CBS 42 [HERE])  AUSTIN The wife of a man shot by an Austin police officer responding to a domestic violence call says her husband is a victim, not a criminal.

Just after midnight on March 21, an ex-boyfriend of Rosemary Lozano called 911 claiming the woman was in danger. He called police again a few minutes later and said her husband, David Lozano, had guns and was possibly high on marijuana.

When the police officer responded to the home in North Austin, he parked his patrol car about two houses away. Without waiting for backup to arrive, he knocked once on the front door. He never identified himself as an officer.

According to the arrest warrant, the officer said he heard the distinct sound of a slide being sent forward on a gun. The officer stated he drew his weapon and moved off the porch and took cover behind the porch pillar. He said in the warrant the front door opened and the Lozano fired a shot at him. The officer said he returned fire, firing one shot.

Private investigator Les Johnson, who is investigating the case for Lozano’s attorney, says the evidence tells a different story. He says bullet holes by the door shows the officer fired at least two shots.

Johnson says the pillar the officer claims to have taken cover behind is nothing more than a four-inch wooden post. He says there was total darkness.

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MORE LIES UNCOVERED: Deputy who Shot Latino War Vet Gave Wrong Location 3 Times

SAN BERNARDINO - The former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy on trial for shooting an unarmed man at the end of a high-speed car chase repeatedly gave his colleagues wrong information about his whereabouts, making it difficult for backup officers to find and assist him, according to a recording of police-radio traffic played in court Thursday morning.

On the recording, Webb is heard giving dispatchers at least three wrong locations as he held Carrion at gunpoint.

"Ivory, you have to give us a better (location)," a colleague called out to him over the radio.

Webb is on trial in San Bernardino Superior Court charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm in connection with the shooting of Carrion on Jan. 29, 2006.

Webb, 46, shot Carrion at the end of a dangerous, high-speed car chase in Chino.

Carrion was a passenger in the car, which was driven by his friend, Luis Fernando Escobedo. The chase ended when Escobedo lost control and crashed into a wall at Francis Street and Benson Avenue.

A nearby resident videotaped the shooting. Prosecutors said the tape shows Webb shooting Carrion as Carrion complied with the deputy's orders to surrender.

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