Charlottesville Officer cleared in shooting and Beating of Black Man

• Special grand jury notes concerns over racial aspects of Police Attack on Kerry V. Cook
  

A special grand jury has exonerated a white police officer who seriously wounded a black man last summer in an incident that left some residents concerned about the use of excessive force. The special grand jury met 19 times and took sworn testimony from 38 people about the Aug. 21, 2004, incident in which Kerry V. Cook was shot once in the stomach by city police officer William Sclafani after Cook resisted arrest. Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire yesterday released the special grand jury's 12-page findings -- an unusual move -- at the request of the grand jury members. In its unsigned report, the grand jury said it has "serious concerns about the impact of the incident on the community, especially the Friendship Court community" where the incident occurred. The grand jury also noted that it was composed of diverse members of the community, in part to "dispel any obvious concerns about racial or gender bias." Friendship Court is one of the largest housing projects in the city. The grand jury said Cook's arrest was "lawful," that there was "no evidence of a cover-up" and found probable cause to indict Cook. Cook was indicted on two counts of assault and battery on police officers, one count of escape by force and one count of resisting arrest. According to the grand jury report, the incident unfolded after police were called to an apartment at Friendship Court about a domestic disturbance involving Cook and a woman who lived there. Sclafani and another officer, Jeremy Carper, found Cook in a closet. A "violent struggle" ensued in which Cook made it to the front door to call for help from a group of onlookers -- which at one point numbered about 100 people. Cook was pulled back into the apartment by the two officers who used a flashlight, pepper spray and a police baton in their attempts to subdue Cook. [more]

New Richmond Police Chief Asks Justice Department to Investigate use of deadly force by Officers

• 7 People Killed by Richmond Police Since 2001
  

Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe has asked the U.S. Justice Department to review every case involving the use of deadly force by city police officers during the past five years. Monroe said he has asked the special litigation division to review the incidents to determine whether the police department's current training policies and its investigation of deadly force incidents are consistent with "acceptable practices and standards" in law enforcement. Seven people have been killed by city police using deadly force since 2001. "Part of this is to help assure the public that the department is not attempting to hide or protect any case involving a police officer," the chief said. "We only want to ensure that we have the utmost integrity and professionalism in our use-of-force policies and investigations." After five fatal police shootings between June 2001 and July 2002, former Police Chief André Parker promised a use-of-force study shortly after he took over in November 2002. Bids were solicited and received. But a year later, word came out that the study had been put on hold indefinitely upon the advice of the city attorney. Late last year, City Council appropriated some $35,000 of its budget surplus for another private use-of-force study. Monroe said in a recent interview that the federal government was better suited to the task and could do it for free. [more]


Family of Unarmed Black Man Shot to Death on his Front Porch by Richmond Police Brings Civil Suit
The request to the Justice Department also comes at a time when the department is under intense scrutiny for its performance in at least one lethal-shooting incident involving a Richmond police officer. The city, the police department, and several current and former members of the department are being sued in federal court by the family of Verlon Johnson, an unarmed suspect who was shot to death on his front porch by Detective David Melvin on May 17, 2002. Melvin was tried three times in the shooting. After two mistrials, he was acquitted by a Circuit Court judge in February 2004. Johnson's family filed suit in federal court in August. The civil trial is scheduled for July 7. Last week, an expert in police training hired by the plaintiff was deposed in the case. Charles J. Key Sr. -- a retired commanding officer of the firearms training unit of the Baltimore police department and former SWAT team supervisor -- also prepared a highly critical report of the Richmond department that was entered into evidence. "It is my opinion that the training of Richmond Police Officers in use of force and related areas is not consistent with accepted police standards and practices," concluded Key, who investigated 28 police shooting incidents. "Further, the training program is inadequate to the degree that it constitutes a deliberate disregard for the safety and well-being of the citizens of Richmond." [more] and [more]

• Jury Finds Melvin Not Guilty, Defenders Issue Statement [more]
• Richmond Police sued in the fatal shooting of Verlon Johnson [more]
  

Broward Cuts Off Medical Funds For Latino Man Mistakenly Shot In Head by Police

A Mexican immigrant shot in the head in November by a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy was discharged Tuesday from an assisted living center where he had been recovering. German Gomez, 22, left the Williamsburg Landing center in Wilton Manors around 10:30 a.m. in a wheelchair. Gomez was discharged after the Sheriff's Office stopped paying for his care. Gomez will continue his recovery at the Whispering Isles apartments, where Deputy Lewis Perry shot him on Nov. 3. He'll be sharing a second-story, two-bedroom apartment with up to 10 other men. There are no elevators and Gomez had to be carried up the stairs. "Perhaps he will sleep on the floor," said his attorney, David Kubiliun, "We just don't know." The Sheriff's Office had been covering Gomez's medical expenses since he was released from North Broward Medical Center on Dec. 14. Gomez needs a helmet to support the left side of his head, where the bullet struck. He's able to walk with assistance and speak for brief periods. The shooting, which Kubiliun said was unjustified, is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office, the State Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice. According to a March 8 memo to Kubiliun, Gomez's doctors recommended that he continue physical, occupational and speech therapy for another one to two months. That's not available to Gomez in the apartment, Kubiliun said. Gomez's brothers, also Mexican immigrants, will give him the medicine he left the center with, which should last about three days, Kubiliun said. The brothers say they have no money to buy more medicine. They and Kubiliun want Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne to keep paying for Gomez's care in the assisted living center, which according to Kubiliun runs some $10,000 a month. According to the Mexican Consulate and Kubiliun -- who has notified the sheriff he intends to sue -- arrangements had been made with the Sheriff's Office to cover Gomez's medical expenses. [more] and [more]

Three NJ Troopers Being Sued Over Traffic Stop Beating of Black Man

• Incident Caught On Tape

Three New Jersey troopers are being sued for the way they handled a routine traffic stop. That stop turned into a violent altercation. Now the motorist is suing but the cops say, the case has no merit at all and they have the police tape to prove it. Aundrey Green’s car was pulled over in southern New Jersey’s Cumberland County in April of 2002. Troopers say he was going 105 miles an hour, then lied about his name, and didn’t have a valid license. So, Green was cuffed and put in the back of a police cruiser. There was now two cop cars on the scene along with four state troopers. That is when he had a heated exchange with an officer in the car with him. Green told the cop he had to urinate. Cop: “I don’t have a bathroom in this car you have to wait. Do not go to the bathroom in the back of my car. Do not do it!” Green: “I’m telling you. I cannot hold it no more.” Cop: “So just hold it.” Soon after, the officer exits the vehicle, comes around to the passenger side door and indicates Green took his handcuffs off (HUH? -BW). The officer then demands that Green get out of the car. Cop: “Get out of the car!” Green: “Get out of the car! For what?” Cop: “Cause I told you to.” Green: “But I ain’t do nothing” The tape appears to show troopers punching and kicking but it is unclear if the blows ever hit Green. Officers also appear to use pepper spray. In any case, Green’s lawyer says the officers were way out of line. “Even if Mr. Green was wrong in failing to get out of the vehicle, it does not justify the subsequent beating,” says Vincent Sanzone, Green’s lawyer. Toopers say Green initiated the fighting and broke an officers’ nose. Green, 32, was hospitalized for cuts to his head and body. [more]

• SEE the tape [here]
• Feds failed to view tape of traffic stop [more]

NYC Police Caught on Video in Altercation with Black Teen

NYC Police were involved in an altercation with a 17 year old Black teen on Monday night in Times Square after the man tossed a flier into the face of a police officer. Part of the altercation was caught on video tape. Now the Manhattan district attorney’s office is looking into the video and the two men arrested in the incident were in court on Tuesday. The confrontation lasts no more than 40 seconds. Police sources say it began when Matthew Ogbu resisted arrest. At least four officers run at Ogbu. One of them, a sergeant pulls out a nightstick and swings twice. At the same time, Ogbu’s cousin, Obi Daniel Jr. jumps in allegedly punching a police officer. The sergeant stays on the first suspect dealing at least three more blows. On Tuesday afternoon, Ogbu was limping as he appeared in court. His mother says the 17-year-old had to go to the hospital for an injury when his leg was hit by a nightstick in this melee. At the height of which a sergeant is seen hitting him at least four times before a third man enters the fray to grab the sergeant's arm. A third man runs to intercept the sergeant. Now it was two on one. The police officer that was punched was sent to the hospital. Eventually all three men were arrested. “If I hit my child like this I would be arrested. They would consider it child abuse,” says Obi Daniel Sr, Daniel’s father. Now CBS2 News has learned the sergeant who pulled his nightstick was also involved in another high profile incident just months ago also caught on video during the Republican National Convention. The first video shown was of then Detective William Sample being pummeled by a protestor while hunting for the man responsible. [more]

• See the video [here]
  

Grand Jury to Probe Killing of Bassim Chmait by US Customs Agents

The Orange County Grand Jury will begin hearing testimony today on the shooting death of a 20-year-old man last month by an off-duty federal officer during a confrontation at a noisy party, Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said. Sheriff's officials said U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Douglas Bates killed Bassim Chmait with a single shot to the head during an altercation Feb. 5 at a Mission Viejo apartment complex. Authorities said Bates, who lives in the complex, got into a fight with Chmait, of Laguna Hills, and four to six of Chmait's companions as they arrived at the party about 1:30 a.m. The initial report of the incident by the Sheriff's Department said Bates came out of his apartment because he heard a disturbance and that his duty weapon discharged, perhaps accidentally. The victim's brother, Omar Chmait, challenged the official version. Omar Chmait was not present, but he has said that witnesses, who were friends of the victim, contended that Bates had provoked the fight. Law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said several witnesses gave contradictory accounts of the shooting. On Thursday, Rackauckas said the grand jury would sort through the testimony and decide whether to indict Bates.

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$10 Million Suit filed in 2003 Pinellas County Jail death of Latino Man

The family of a Pasco man, Larry Germonprez, who died two years ago today in the Pinellas County Jail, filed a $10-million lawsuit this week alleging that corrections deputies killed him. Although State Attorney Bernie McCabe cleared the deputies of any criminal wrongdoing in May 2003, the sheriff's internal affairs investigation remains unfinished - 22 months later. The delay angers Germonprez's family. "It tells me that they are definitely guilty and they are trying to hold this off as long as they can in hopes that it will go away," said Jennifer Pugh, 38, Germonprez's ex-wife and mother to two of his children. "That's not going to happen. We don't want his death to be for nothing." Germonprez of Zephyrhills died shortly after a struggle with deputies as they tried to move him from one cell to another. An autopsy found Germonprez had 17 rib fractures, which would be consistent with the deputies compressing him on a bed. Germonprez was arrested and booked into the jail in March 2003, after he left the scene of an accident involving his vehicle. Then, in what appears to be an unprecedented decision, the Sheriff's Office requested a review of Germonprez's autopsy. Sheriff Jim Coats said he knew of no other such request. He would not detail why the autopsy was re-examined. Then-Sheriff Everett Rice told a reporter Thursday he could not remember what specifically prompted the decision. "If I remember right, it wasn't a normal case. It wasn't a case that was easily resolved." Rice was elected to the state House of Representatives in November. [more]

• For More Police Brutality News 3/22/05 skip to [here] and scroll down
  

Black Man Wrongly Arrested at Funeral by Broward Police Files suit

A Navy veteran who was handcuffed and detained at his grandmother's funeral last month in a case of mistaken identity filed a lawsuit Wednesday, accusing Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne and two detectives of violating his civil rights. "On a sacred day in a sacred place, these officers abused their authority, and they took away from my family and I what should have been a treasured moment," plaintiff Donovan Lightbourn II told reporters shortly before filing the suit at Fort Lauderdale's federal courthouse. Lightbourn, 20, of Orlando, said he had never been in trouble with the law. But at Fort Lauderdale's Forest Lawn Cemetery on Feb. 19, he said, a Sheriff's Office helicopter hovered over the gravesite. Deputies rushed him, held him at gunpoint, and slapped handcuffs on him. They pushed him against a car, Lightbourn said, injuring the tendons in his shoulder. They falsely accused him of being Kareem Lightbourne, the 26-year-old suspect in a murder and kidnapping in Lauderhill two years earlier. He said he tried to explain he was in the Navy when the murder took place. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages on 14 counts, including civil rights violations, false arrest, battery, use of excessive force and defamation. [more]

City of Syracuse, Police, and Movie Theater to Face Trial in Beat Down of 13 Year Old Black Girl

The City of Syracuse, individual police officers, the Hoyts Movie Theater and its former manager will be put on trial. The parties are accused of beating and falsely arresting a 13-year-old African-American girl back in 2000. Tuesday, a federal court judge ruled 13-year-old Brianne George could proceed to trial with her claims. The girl — now 17 — says Detectives James Quatrone and Robert Teater wrongly accused her of stealing a bag of candy in September 2000 at a Hoyts movie theater at the Carousel Center mall in Syracuse. While she was in line at the theater waiting to buy candy, she was approached by the manager and the officers who grabbed her from behind, slammed her into a video game machine, hogtied her and dragged her into an elevator. She says they also used racial slurs against her. [more] and [more]

Palo Alto police beating of 59 Year Old Unarmed Black Man goes to court

Albert Hopkins' violent, late-night encounter with two Palo Alto police officers in the summer of 2003 took only a few moments. But the beating he took sent shock waves through the community that continue to reverberate. Brutality. Racism. Police incompetence. The incident has raised concern about all those issues, adding fuel to an already heated debate over how police in Palo Alto treat minorities. Starting this week, Santa Clara County jurors will begin to decide for themselves whether what happened that night was a case of two officers dealing responsibly with someone who was out of control, or two officers beating and pepper-spraying a 59-year-old black man for no good reason. Officers Michael Kan, 27, and Craig Lee, 42, have been charged with felony assault under color of authority. If convicted, they could face up to three years in prison.

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