Black Man Claims he has been Stopped over 60 times under NYPD Stop & Frisk

From [HERE] Last year, police officers in New York City stopped and frisked people 685,724 times. Eighty-seven percent of those searches involved blacks or Latinos, many of them young men, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The practice of stop-and-frisk has become increasingly controversial, but what is often absent from the debate are the voices of young people affected by such aggressive policing on a daily basis. To better understand the human impact of this practice, we made this film about Tyquan Brehon, a young man who lives in one of the most heavily policed neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

By his count, before his 18th birthday, he had been unjustifiably stopped by the police more than 60 times. On several occasions, merely because he asked why he had been stopped, he was handcuffed, placed in a cell and detained for hours before being released without charges. These experiences were scarring; Mr. Brehon did whatever he could to avoid the police, often feeling as if he were a prisoner in his home.

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Autopsy shows Newburgh (NY) Police shot Unarmed Black Man Eight Times in the Back

From [HERE] The family of a man killed in an officer involved shooting is speaking out about his autopsy report.

Michael Lembhard was shot and killed by police on March 7th after they say he lunged at officers with a knife inside a home on Liberty Street. Two of the four responding officers opened fire.

A spokesman for Lembhard's family, Omari Shakur, says they received a copy of the autopsy on Wednesday. They say it shows he was shot 15 times, eight of those in the back.

The death of Lembhard ignited massive protests in the days after the shooting, and relatives and supporters have continued to speak out against what they believe will be a biased investigation. And the anger only intensified when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo denied requests for a special prosecutor to investigate the shooting of Michael Lembhard. [MORE]  Shakur said the family planned to conduct a news conference at 6 p.m. on Monday evening to release more details of the report.

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NYPD Shooting of Black Woman in Brooklyn Under Investigation

Witnesses described a chaotic scene. "They shot her and pulled her out of the car. Then she started screaming," said Ayanna Blackman, 38, who watched from her apartment on the same corner.

Witnesses said the woman was covered in blood when she was pulled from the car.

Two elected officials from the area, Assemblyman Nick Perry and Councilmember Jumaane Williams, appeared on the scene and called for an investigation into the shooting.

A crowd gathered in the tense hour after the incident, and shouts of "murderers" were directed at police officials on the scene. 

The shooting comes at a time of heightened public scrutiny of the NYPD's tactics, particularly in some of the city's minority communities.

A narcotics-enforcement officer pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges Wednesday in the fatal shooting in February of an unarmed African-American teenager in the Bronx. Officer Richard Haste was the first officer to be charged criminally in an on-duty shooting since three officers were indicted in the 2006 death of Sean Bell.

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8 Months Pregnant Black Woman Tasered by Chicago Police Files Lawsuit

From [HERE] and [MORE] A lawsuit is set to be filed Thursday after Chicago police used a stun gun on a 30-year-old pregnant Black woman who allegedley argued with officers. Police, on patrol in a Walgreens parking lot, used a stun gun on Tiffany Rent on June 5,  at the drugstore at 103rd Street and Michigan Avenue in the Roseland neighborhood.

Rent, along with her two young children and boyfriend, Joseph Hobbs, pulled into the parking lot and parked in a handicapped parking spot. Hobbs went into the store. Rent said she got out of the car to re-seat her 3-year-old when a police officer began writing her a $200 ticket. "He gave me the ticket and I threw the ticket on the ground," Rent said she got back into her car and closed the door. That's when, she said, the officer told her she was under arrest and used a Taser on her through the window. 

“I got scared, and closed the door. I didn’t hit him. I didn’t mean to harm him, or anything. He Tasered me through the window,” she said. She said the officers were aware of her condition because she is visibly pregnant. 

The police report alleges Rent cursed the officer and threw the shredded ticket in his face, then tried to drive off, despite the officer’s warning that she not move. (Do Not Move! Stay in the Handicaped Space-- right. It sounds like she was not under arrest and was within her right to leave - to move out of the parking space -bw)

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Dallas to Pay Lavell Fairbanks $500,000 Settlement: Black Man Brutally Beaten by Police, Denied Care

From [HERE] and [MORE]  The Dallas City Council voted to settle two police brutality cases. Both cases involved police officers accused of beating Black men who were already subdued and defenseless.  One case involves Lavell Fairbanks (see the other below), who in October 2008 called 911. He told police he and his girlfriend were having an argument; he acknowledged he'd been drinking, which is why, he said, he took off running when officers arrived at his doorstep. After he surrendered to officers, witnesses state Police beat Fairbanks repeatedly with a flashlight, resulting in part of his skull being removed. The civil case filed by Fairbanks to recover damages from the city was scheduled to go to trial last week for a second time. An initial trial in January resulted in a hung jury.

A married couple who witnessed the arrest said they saw an officer hitting Mr. Fairbanks on the head repeatedly with a flashlight before and after the man was handcuffed. They say they saw an officer hit him repeatedly while he was motionless- as many as six, eight times. Their account differs from what the officers told investigators. The officers contend they struck Mr. Fairbanks once in self defense. [MORE]

Although Police called a Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance to the scene after Mr. Fairbanks was handcuffed and beaten, paramedics' decided not to transport him to the hospital. Fairbanks was taken to jail via police car about 7 p.m., where he was again evaluated by medical personnel. He was put him in a special holding area with additional supervision and was taken to Parkland after having been found lying comatose in his jail cell about 11:50 p.m., officials said. [MORE]  At the hospital he underwent emergency brain surgery that included removal of part of his skull.

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Dallas to Pay Rodarick Lyles $500,000 Settlement: Police Caught on Video Beating Defenseless Black Man

From [HERE] The city of Dallas will pay Rodarick Lyles $500,000 for injuries he received during a 2011 traffic stop.  The arrest was caught on dash camera video in which Officer Quaitemes Williams is seen kicking and pepper-spraying Lyles, who'd been pulled over by another officer for driving with a suspended license. It shows Officer Williams punching a handcuffed Lyles with his fist and using a flashlight to beat the unarmed man. Williams kicked Lyles in the head and sprayed pepper spray into his face. Police used racial slurs during the assault. The entire video is posted on the Dallas Police Facebook page. 19 minutes and 38 seconds of the traffic stop. Officer Hiram Soler, who'd initially stopped Lyles, was suspended for 10 days for entering inaccurate, false or improper information on a police report.

His attorney says the damage that’s been done is both physical and emotional.  “Long after the bruises, and the rotator cuff, and the knee arthroscopy have healed, you’re still going to remember the guy that stood over you with a badge and made you feel less than human,” says attorney Geoff Henley.

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Lawyers for City Defend Seattle Police: Unarmed Latino Man Stomped by Officers who used Racial Slurs

From [HERE] The city of Seattle and two of its police officers asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss claims that they used excessive, racially motivated force against a man who was detained in a robbery investigation, but the judge made several comments suggesting he's inclined to let the case go to trial.

Lawyers for the city argued that while it was unprofessional for Officer Shandy Cobane to refer to the man's Mexican heritage while threatening to beat him up, it didn't violate the man's constitutional rights. Furthermore, they said, the level of force used - Cobane and another officer, Mary Woollum, stomped on the man as he lay prone in a parking lot - was justifiable under the circumstances.

The request to dismiss the claims brought by Martin Monetti Jr. comes as the Justice Department and the city continue difficult negotiations over changes to the police department. The DOJ last December determined that Seattle police engaged in a "pattern or practice" of using excessive force, often against minorities, and has threatened to sue the city unless it agrees to binding reforms overseen by an independent monitor and a federal judge.

Monetti's case itself was cited in the DOJ's findings: "It is troubling that the use of this racial epithet failed to provoke any of the surrounding officers to react, suggesting a department culture that tolerates this kind of abuse," the department said.

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NYPD Officer Pleads Not Guilty in Killing of Unarmed Black teenager, Released on bond

From [HERE] and [HERE] A New York police officer who shot and killed unarmed Bronx teenager Ramarley Graham in his bathroom has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges.

Richard Haste, the first serving NYPD officer to face criminal charges for a fatal shooting since 2006, turned himself in and was arraigned at a Bronx criminal court on charges of first and second degree manslaughter over the killing of the 18-year-old. Haste, a four-year veteran of the force, was released on $50,000 bail. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted. "Officer Haste's actions were neither reasonable nor justified," said assistant district attorney Donald Levin at Wednesday's hearing.

The shooting took place on 2 February after officers followed Graham to his home on suspicion that he was carrying a gun. When news of the teen's death broke, the police initially said he had disobeyed orders to stop and ran into his home. Surveillance footage later showed the young man calmly entering his building. Moments later officers are seen rushing to the door, attempting to break it down.

Haste pursued Graham into his bathroom on the second floor of the building and shot Graham once in the chest as his 6-year-old brother and elderly grandmother looked on. A small bag of marijuana was allegedly found in the toilet near Graham's body but no weapon was ever recovered.

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Milwaukee Police Chief Defends Handling of Black teen's death (Would a White Woman be Treated like this?)

From [HERE] and [MORE] After a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed in front of his Milwaukee home last month, police forced his grieving mother to sit in a squad car for more than an hour rather than let her hold her dying son or join him at the hospital. Officers also rifled through her home looking for stolen firearms, and arrested another of her sons on a year-old truancy violation.

Prosecutors say the boy, 13-year-old Darius Simmons, was outside his home May 31 when his 75-year-old neighbor confronted him about stolen firearms. When Simmons protested his innocence, John Henry Spooner shot him in the chest as Simmons' mother watched, the criminal complaint said. Spooner pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide on Monday, two days after Simmons was buried. Spooner’s hearings and trial dates will be set at a June 20 scheduling conference. The case drew attention from Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a national organization that wants federal hate-crime charges brought against Spooner. Darius was black and Spooner is white.

The actions might have seemed harsh, Milwaukee police Chief Ed Flynn acknowledged Wednesday, but that's an unfortunate aspect of homicide investigations — the detectives' top priority is to gather facts, and compassion is only a secondary concern.

Simmons' uncle, Leon Larry, said he didn't buy Flynn's explanations. He suspected that police knew they screwed up and were spinning the facts to help cover up their errors. "None of it makes sense. My sister was treated like she was the suspect," he said. "And searching the house, it looked like they were trying to give the suspect a reason for what he did, an excuse for what he did. That's garbage."

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Widow Files Suit: Baltimore County Police Tasered Black Man having Diabetic Seizure

From [HERE] and [HERE] A Baltimore widow is suing police for allegedly beating and Tasing her husband to death when he was on his way home from Bible study. One thing is not in dispute, Carl Johnson was alive before he was Tased by police, but afterwards was not.  Johnson suffered a diabetic reaction and crashed his car in May 2010, Courthouse News Service reported. 

Police who responded to the scene hit Johnson at least five times with their clubs, threw him over the guardrail, applied pressure points to his ears and armpits, and Tased him twice, Johnson's wife Linda Johnson alleges in her lawsuit. Linda Johnson is suing the Maryland State Police and Baltimore County Police, as well as the departments' top commanders and the officers she holds responsible.

The suit describes several officers continuing to struggle with Johnson, including punching him in the face and using "excessive force" but failing to look at the medical alert card in his wallet. Several officers placed Johnson in leg shackles and continued to "forcibly hold Mr. Johnson down to the ground even though the body of Mr. Johnson was no longer moving," the suit says.

According to the suit, a witness said at one point Johnson "was laying on his back with his hands up in the air, shouting, 'help,' numerous times."

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