Arizona Sheriff Arrests 6 Year Old Girl - Claims she is Undocumented Immigrant

From [HERE] Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona Sheriff from Maricaopa County, arrested a 6-year-old undocumented immigrant on Friday. The move came the same day President Obama announced a new policy halting deportations for young undocumented immigrants. The Arizona Republic has the story:

The girl was with 15 other people believed to be in the country illegally who were traveling to the Midwest and northeast United States, said Chris Hegstrom, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

“She’s been turned over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to try to determine where she’s from. She told us she’s from El Salvador. That’s what she told us,” he said. The arrest took place Friday night at an undisclosed location in northern Maricopa County…

The sheriff said his deputies arresting child suspected of being an illegal immigrant the same day Obama implemented the policy is a coincidence. But if more illegal children enter the country after hearing about the new policy, Arpaio said it may not be by happenstance.

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20 Years after Not Guilty Verdict Rodney King Found Dead

The nine-minute and twenty second videotape turned what would otherwise have been a violent, but soon forgotten, encounter between Los Angeles police and Rodney King into one of the most widely watched and discussed incidents of its kind. [VIDEO HERE] [full version HERE] and [HERE] Rodney King, the black man who came to symbolize racial tensions in the United States after his 1991 beating by police led to riots in Los Angeles a year later, was found dead in a swimming pool on Sunday in Rialto, California, police said. He was 47. "Preliminary indications are that this is a drowning with no signs of foul play," Rialto police said in a statement.

King was discovered by his fiancée, Rialto police Captain Randy De Anda said. The San Bernardino County Coroner's office will conduct an autopsy, authorities said. King's death was reported to police Sunday morning in Rialto, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Police pulled his body from the swimming pool but were unable to resuscitate him, De Anda said.

King became known around the world after he and some friends were stopped by Los Angeles police on March 3, 1991, after a high-speed chase. King was beaten by baton-wielding white police officers while a bystander videotaped them. The video prompted a national debate on police brutality and race relations. When the officers were cleared of brutality charges a year later, riots broke out in Los Angeles, resulting in 53 deaths and an estimated $1 billion in damage. During the riots, King made a famous televised appeal for calm, saying: "Can we all get along?"

Two of the officers were later convicted on federal charges of violating King's civil rights and were sentenced to prison. A jury ordered the city of Los Angeles to pay King, who was unemployed at the time of the beating, $3.8 million in damages. [MORE] 

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Several Thousand March Silently to Protest NYPD Racist Stop and Frisk Policy

From [HERE] In a slow, somber procession, several thousand demonstrators conducted a silent march on Sunday down Fifth Avenue to protest the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policies, which the organizers say single out minorities and create an atmosphere of martial law for the city’s black and Latino residents.

Two and a half hours after it began, the peaceful, disciplined march ended in mild disarray. As many marchers dispersed, police officers at 77th Street and Fifth Avenue began pushing a crowd that defied orders to leave the intersection, shoving some to the ground and forcing the protesters to a sidewalk, where they were corralled behind metal barricades. After protesters pushed back, the officers used an orange net to clear the sidewalk, and appeared to arrest at least three people.

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NYPD Officer who Bragged he 'Fried Another N-----' Admits he Falsely Arrested Black man 'to teach respect'

From [HERE] and [HERE] THE RACIST NYPD cop who boasted that he had “fried another n-----” now admits in a letter written to the judge that he falsely arrested the black man to teach him "a lesson."

Michael Daragjati, who is white,  plead guilty on Jan. 24 to a misdemeanor count of deprivation of civil rights in connection with the case. Daragjati is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for violating the civil rights of Kenrick Gray after he was stopped and frisked in Staten Island. He admitted that he arrested a Black man in Stapleton for no reason at all, knowing the man would have to spend the night in jail. On the day after the arrest, Daragjati told a female friend in an intercepted phone call that he had "fried another n-----," said court documents. 

Gray was falsely charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct. As Gray was being processed at the 120th Precinct station in St. George, Daragjati allegedly told him he could have gone home that night, but Daragjati didn't like being disrespected. Gray was held in custody for about 36 hours before being arraigned on April 17 of last year in Stapleton Criminal Court. 

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Protesters call for Garfield (NJ) Chief's Firing: Claim Foul Play in Fatal Police Shooting of Malik Williams

Most of the demonstrators were members of U.R.G.E.N.T Garfield, an activist group formed in the wake of Williams' death that has since focused on a host of issues within the city, from the concern over chromium contamination near residential homes to the lawsuit against the police chief.

According to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Williams surrendered to Garfield police on December 10, 2011 in connection with a domestic assault warrant issued the day before involving his girlfriend. Two hours later, as they were processing the complaints, Williams ran out a rear door and police eventually traced him to a residential garage in which he had barricaded himself, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. When officers opened the door, they found that he had “armed himself with tools,” the statement said. One Garfield officer and one Bergen County police officer fired at Williams, striking him numerous times, it said.

Garfield attorney Victor Urbaez said “there is more to this story than a young man turning himself in and then running from the authorities,” Urbaez said. “We feel there’s foul play here. We have questions that need to be answered.”

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NYPD Officer who Killed Black Woman in Brooklyn the Subject of Six Civil Rights Suits

From [HERE] The New York City police detective who fatally shot a Brooklyn Black woman has been adefendant in six federal civil-rights lawsuits, most of them accusations of illegal searches and arrests, according to court records. The city has settled four of the lawsuits involving Detective Phillip Atkins, who shot and killed 23-year-old Shantel Davis on Thursday during what police described as a chaotic struggle in a moving car. The shooting was under investigation Friday, and Detective Atkins isn't accused of wrongdoing.

A witness said the shooting followed a high-speed car chase between plain clothes cops and the shooting victim. The witness, 30-year-old Hans Mencor, saw an unmarked police car chasing the victim's vehicle, a grey Toyota. When the victim crashed at East 38th Street and Church Avenue, plain clothes cops approached the vehicle and tried to get the woman to come out of the car. She refused, Mencor said.

"After that, it was like, boom!" said Mencor, referring to the sound of a gun firing. "They shot her inside the car." A woman who works at the laundromat Miss Bubbles, right near the scene, said she had a perfect view of the shooting from the shop. "She fell on her face, blood was just gushing out of her," said Collette, who would only give her first name. "She got out of the car, fell to her knees, and just fell down."

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Ramarley Graham's Parents Worried Officer will Walk: Unarmed Black Teen Killed by NYPD

From [HERE] INSIDE THE HOME where their 18-year-old unarmed son was killed by a cop, Ramarley Graham’s parents said Thursday they are “disappointed” by the criminal charges in the case and worried that no one will go to jail. Officer Richard Haste, who is free on $50,000 bail after his arraignment this week, deserved a tougher rap than manslaughter — and his bosses should have been arrested, too, the parents said.

“We’re not happy with the charges,” Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, 38, told the Daily News in the three-story home on E. 229th St. in the Bronx. “We’re very disappointed. It should have been a murder charge.” Although Haste fired the fatal bullet after cornering the teen in the bathroom of the second-floor apartment, the family said the shooting wasn’t a solo operation. “There were many officers involved, but none of them were charged, including supervisors who should have known better,” Malcolm said.

The slain youth’s father, Franclot Graham, said he’s concerned it took four months for Bronx prosecutors to obtain an indictment — and the family is keenly aware that cops have been acquitted in other high-profile shootings, like the Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo cases.

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Prosecutor Wants to Simulate Explosion in court: Detroit Police Officer Faces Manslaughter Charge in Fatal Shooting of 7 yr. old Black Girl

Trial date set for October 22, 2012

From [HERE] The judge and attorneys involved in the manslaughter case against a Detroit tactical officer over the shooting death of a 7-year-old girl in a police raid will experience the effects of a concussive grenade firsthand. On Friday Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran requested that jurors experience being in a room when a flash-bang grenade is detonated.

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway of the Third Circuit Court agreed to a trial run involving her and the attorneys before she decides if jurors should be subjected to the stunning effects of the blast.  "It would give the jury perspective because of the nature of the effect," Moran said. "It will show the jury exactly what happened inside that house." Officer Joseph Weekley is set to stand trial on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the shooting death of 7-year-old Black girl, Aiyana Jones. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Police raided an eastside flat on Lillibridge on May 16 looking for a murder suspect. During the raid, a flash-bang grenade was detonated while Weekley, the first officer in, was already inside the home. Jones was shot once in the head. The special response team was being recorded by crews from the cable reality show "First 48."

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Vallejo Settles with Asian War Veteran for $4 Million: After Unlawful Entry into home, Police Beating Caused Paralysis

From [HERE] and [HERE] Lawyers for a Vallejo man announced Thursday that their client has agreed to a $4.1 million settlement with the city to end a federal civil rights lawsuit in which he claimed two officers severely injured him after entering his apartment without a warrant in 2007.

Lawyers for Macario Dagdagan, 62, say two Vallejo police officers investigating an alleged assault in June 2007 went into Dagdagan's apartment without a warrant, shocked him with a stun gun and put him into a chokehold that ruptured his spine and led to paralysis. A Vietnam War veteran who worked his whole life before the incident, Mr. Dagdagan is now permanently disabled and expects to have increasingly more expensive healthcare costs in the coming years as a result of the severe injuries he incurred.

They awoke Mr. Dagdagan, who was asleep in his bed, to ask him about a citizen complaint. Mr. Dagdagan then told the officers to leave, but they arrested him, fired a Taser at him twice and handcuffed him. The police officers then engaged in illegal and violent use of force that dislodged Mr. Dagdagan's vertebrae and ruptured his disk, causing immediate paralysis and permanent damage to his spinal cord.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Sacramento, alleged that the officers violated his 4th Amendment Constitutional rights by entering his home without a court-approved warrant. Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that under the facts alleged in the lawsuit, the officers should have obtained a warrant because there was no emergency situation. [MORE] 

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Court rules that police cannot stop audio-video recording of officers on duty

From [HERE] The ACLU announced plans to launch an audio-video taping project, targeting Cook County (greater Chicago area) Illinois police officers performing their duties. Illinois is a two-party consent state, meaning that all parties to a conversation must consent to audio recording. Thus, unless the officers consented, audio-video recording would constitute an illegal wiretap. The ACLU launched a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Cook County prosecuting attorney, asking the court to block enforcement of the wiretap law in such circumstances. A federal district judge ruled against the ACLU on legal standing grounds prior to trial. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed, ordering that the ACLU was entitled to a preliminary injunction and a full trial. The appellate court held that the statute unconstitutionally restricts free speech. By suggesting that there is a First Amendment right to video record police officers in the course of their duties, the Seventh Circuit joins a small number of courts around the nation that have ruled in favor of citizens suing police after officers interrupted video (or audio-video) recording.1

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