Lawsuit Filed in Beating Case: Black Man Hogtied, Tortured and Killed by Mississippi Jail Officials

March 27, 2006

$150 million in actual and punitive damages. That's what  a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court is asking for the family of Jesse Lee Williams, Jr. The wrongful death suit alleges a torturous death of Williams at the hands of two Harrison County jailers. It names Ryan Teel, the son of former Judge Wes Teel, as the main jailer involved. The suit also names Deputy Regina Rhodes as an accomplice and says a third jailer, Deputy Morgan Thompson, who was in the booking room of the jail, did nothing to stop the February 4th beating that caused William's death. Harrison County's coroner ruled the death was a homicide, but so far, no arrests have been made. The suit also names a dozen other defendants including Harrison County, its Sheriff George Payne and two nurses who were said to be in the room. The lawsuit also alleges 54 other counts of abuse in the Harrison County Jail, and claims Ryan Teel was involved in 11 of them. [more]

• Pictured above: This picture is a depiction made of the booking room on the night of February 4, 2006, based upon witness statements, in which Jessie Lee Williams, Jr. was hog-tied, shackled (hands to feet), sack on head, blood dripping from the beating, and carried like a human suitcase -soon to be slammed/dropped on his face -two times. [more]

• Text of the lawsuit [more]
• Petition to oust sheriff offered [more] and [more]
  
• Sheriff Payne Puts His Booking Area Online [more]
  

Mississippi Jail Officials Remain Silent about the Death of Jesse Lee Williams

Secrecy in the case of a fatal beating at the Harrison County jail damages the public's trust because it doesn't hold public officials accountable, according to advocates of the public's right to know.

The numerous agencies investigating the death of Jessie Lee Williams Jr., beaten in the booking room on Feb. 4, are in open agreement on one aspect: when called for a comment, they have no comment, aren't available to comment or don't return a phone call for comment.

Their lips are sealed in the case, ruled a homicide by the Harrison County coroner. The suspected assailants and accessories are corrections officers, according to witnesses interviewed by the Sun Herald and attorneys for the Williams estate.

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Milwaukee Police Officers to Stand Trial in Brutal Beating of Unarmed Black Man

Black residents were incensed when four months went by before charges were filed against white police officers accused of punching, kicking and choking a biracial man outside a house party. The 2004 incident intensified racial tensions in this city that is 37 percent black and has some of the nation's most segregated neighborhoods. With the trial of three officers accused of the beating set to start Monday, some say the animosity has eased. And the defendants and nine other officers have been fired. However, the black community still will watch the outcome closely. In October 2004, Frank Jude Jr., two white women and a black friend went to a party at the home of police officer Andrew Spengler in a mostly white, working-class neighborhood on the city's south side. The four left, but prosecutors say a group of off-duty officers followed them out to the street and some of the officers beat Jude severely while using a racial slur. [more]

• 'If Frank Jude could be beaten half to death, so can you.' [more]
  
• Original Reports Stated Jude was Sodomized with a Knife by Milwaukee Police [more]
• The trial is being streamed live on Court TV  Extra. [more]
  

Officer Involved in Vicious Beating of Black Man Won't get his Job Back 
The first supervisor on the scene of the Frank Jude Jr. beating either failed "miserably" to control the situation or has been "scapegoated" because the Milwaukee Police Department's chain of command failed him, according to testimony in a hearing Wednesday. Corstan Court, a sergeant who was demoted by Chief Nannette Hegerty, is fighting to get his stripes back in a hearing before the Fire and Police Commission. He was one of 13 members punished for the Oct. 24, 2004, incident. Court is the only on-duty officer appealing his discipline. Jude and another man went to the off-duty police officer party with two women. They left quickly and were accused of stealing a badge. No badge has been found. Jude was kicked and punched in the head, body and groin repeatedly, had a pen stuck in both ears and knife put to his head, according to Jude and witnesses.  Hegerty testified that Court failed to perform the basic duties of a police supervisor. She said he left the scene without telling others, did not separate the off-duty officers suspected in the beating, didn't call an ambulance for Jude, didn't request enough help, didn't arrest anyone and let witnesses leave the scene. [more]

• 13 Milwaukee officers face possible discipline in Brutal Beating of Black Man [more] 

Milwaukee Cop who Shot Black Man to Death will not Face Criminal Charges

 
The US attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin wanted to criminally charge a Milwaukee police officer in the fatal shooting of a motorist but was overruled by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to documents obtained by a newspaper. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Tuesday that correspondence between Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson and the attorney for the motorist's family said federal prosecutors met with Justin Fields' mother and her attorney last August and told them that they planned to charge officer Craig Nawotka in Fields death. But Johnson wrote to the family's attorney, Mark Thomsen, last week and informed him that the prosecution could not proceed, the newspaper said.  U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said there is just one federal statute that would apply to a fatal police shooting. That law makes it a crime for someone acting under the color of law to willfully deprive someone of his or her constitutional rights. "We don't have manslaughter or reckless homicide or any lesser offense,'' he said. In sworn depositions, two officers said race might have played a role in Fields' death. Further, the Milwaukee police sergeant who investigated the shooting said his findings - that Nawotka's actions constituted excessive force and that Fields "did not have to die" - were ignored by his superiors in the department's internal affairs division.[more] and [more]

• Remembering JP [more]

Florida Boot Camp Death: 14 Year Old Black Boy Suffocated & Beaten to Death- 2nd Autopsy Done

 
New autopsy rules out natural causes in death
The Hillsborough County medical examiner has ruled out sickle cell trait and other natural causes in the death of a teenager beaten at a North Florida boot camp, a spokeswoman for State Attorney Mark Ober said Tuesday. Dr. Vernard Adams headed a team of five pathologists Monday during a 12-hour, second autopsy of Martin Lee Anderson. Bay County Medical Examiner Charles F. Siebert Jr. ruled in February that the 14-year-old died not from the beating but from internal bleeding caused by sickle cell trait, a rare medical complication. Siebert observed Monday's autopsy in Tampa.Martin's parents disputed Siebert's report from the beginning.  "I'm just glad that the truth finally came out," said the teen's mother, Gina Jones, who called for the arrest of those involved in the beating, which was captured on a security camera videotape. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Ober at the request of the Panama City prosecutor. The teen's body was exhumed Friday and transported to Tampa as part of Ober's investigation. " Ober has said that it will take months to complete his investigation, but Baden already has drawn his own conclusion. "My opinion is, he died because of what you see in the videotape," said Baden, calling the youth "almost a rag doll" as guards beat him. "Even if correction officers do the wrong thing, it's very difficult to get past a grand jury, or any jury, when somebody does bad things while on duty." Martin Anderson's mother has said her son complained of breathing problems while running laps at the boot camp right before guards beat him.[more] and [more] and  [more]

• New Documents Show FL Boot Camp Had A History Of Abuse [more]

 
HATER of Blacks Gov. Jeb Bush does not believe a shutdown of boot camps is necessary
The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner is performing one of the new autopsies and the family is hiring noted pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to handle the other. They're hoping for different results. "The medical community around the world has said the sickle cell trait alone will not kill you," attorney Benjamin Crump said. "It could be a factor, but it certainly wouldn't kill you. It wouldn't explain the internal bleeding or any of those things." The family is calling for a complete shutdown of every boot camp in the state, however, Governor Jeb Bush calls that excessive. "I think it is inappropriate to govern at the margins to create an entire policy based on a tragic event," Bush said. "I think it is more than appropriate to review procedures that dictate or that govern how these facilities are run." The Hillsborough County state attorney is handling the beating investigation because the local prosecutor recused himself. [more]

• A House committee recommends ending funding for the camps and switching to a less confrontational program. [more] 

Boot camp beating leaves jarring image

Some things just get to you, straight to the heart, and this is one of them:

The videotape of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, knees buckling, falling to the ground, gasping for breath.Martin Lee Anderson, dying.

Anderson died after running laps and collapsing at a sheriff's boot camp near Panama City. The boy apparently complained of shortness of breath, but camp instructors egged him on, roughly insisting he continue.

A boot camp videotape later obtained by attorney Benjamin Crump shows the horrible treatment of Martin Lee Anderson.

"They started doing all these illegal maneuvers," said Crump, the attorney for the boy's parents. "Knee in the back. Pressure points behind his ears. Takedowns, which look like body slams to me."

Crump said it went on for 40 minutes. Anderson died the next day at the hospital.

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Deputy to Face Criminal Charge in Deadly Shooting of Unarmed Latino Man- Back from Iraq

• Deputy Changed Story [more]  

A sheriff's deputy videotaped shooting an unarmed Iraq war veteran after a high-speed chase will be charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter, authorities said Tuesday. The case against Deputy Ivory J. Webb, 45, includes the special allegations of infliction of great bodily injury and use of a firearm, San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos told a news conference. It was the first time the county's prosecutors filed charges against a lawman for an on-duty shooting. Sheriff Gary Penrod said Webb, a 10-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department, will remain on paid administrative leave as the investigation of the shooting of Air Force Senior Airman Elio Carrion, 21, continues. Webb's arraignment was set for Wednesday. If convicted, he could face up to 18 years in prison. On Jan. 29, Carrion, an Air Force security officer just back from Iraq, was a passenger in a Corvette that was involved in a high-speed nighttime chase before crashing into a wall in Chino, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles. A grainy videotape shot by a resident shows Carrion on the ground just outside the car's passenger door and Webb standing nearby, pointing at gun at him. A voice appears to order Carrion to rise. When the airman appears to begin to comply, the deputy shoots him three times. Carrion suffered gunshot wounds to the chest, shoulder and left thigh and was hospitalized for several days. Authorities found no weapons on Carrion or the driver, Luis Escobedo. The FBI has opened an inquiry into possible civil rights violations.  [more] and [more] and [more]

No Reason for Deadly Force: Lawsuit Filed in San Antonio Police Shooting of Unarmed Latino Man

 

The girlfriend of a man who was shot and killed by an officer two weeks ago disputes a police claim that her boyfriend was standing over her and punching her before the officer opened fire. In the version told by Samantha Rivera, her boyfriend, John Cervantes, was standing about 6 feet away from her, motionless and with his hands in plain view, when the officer popped into their bedroom and shot without warning. "We heard somebody yell something and we both just froze and looked at the door," Rivera said in an interview at their East Side home. "He wasn't hitting me. He was just standing there, frozen. As soon as we saw (the officer's) head pop up, he just shot." Rivera's story, told for the first time since the March 2 shooting, directly contradicts several key points in the city's official account of what happened that night. Most notably, she said Cervantes, 26, who was by all accounts unarmed at the time, never lunged at the officer, as police have said. In the police description of the moments just before the shooting, Officer Reynaldo Montes said Cervantes was bending over Rivera and appeared to be stabbing her as she lay on the floor of their dimly lit bedroom. According to police, Montes ordered Cervantes to stop before he turned on the officer with his hand raised. Montes thought he was about to be stabbed and fired a single shot from the hip. Cervantes was the fourth person to die in law enforcement shootings that spanned six days and has spurred questions about training and tactics at the San Antonio Police Department. The conflicting accounts of how Cervantes died likely will be at the heart of a lawsuit expected to be filed against the city on his family's behalf. [more] and [more]

Appeal heard in Childs shooting: Denver Police Officer may be Punished for Killing 14 Year Old Disabled Black Boy

 
A Denver police discipline case that has already set reforms in motion took another step toward its conclusion Thursday night. The Civil Service Commission heard oral arguments in the city's appeal of a hearing officer's sharp reduction in punishment meted out to officer James Turney by Safety Manager Al LaCabe in the shooting death of a disabled teenager in July 2003. The shooting of Paul Childs, 15, has already resulted in LaCabe setting up a 30-member committee to develop a new disciplinary system for Denver police. Police Chief Gerry Whitman had recommended a 20-day suspension for Turney, who shot and killed the knife-wielding Childs. But LaCabe imposed a 10-month suspension, finding that Turney used poor tactics and could have defused the situation by closing the front door while Childs was standing just inside the doorway to the home. The hearing officer, retired state appeals Judge Paul Criswell, reduced the suspension to five days and added a fine of one day's pay, all for unrelated improper use of a cellphone the day before the shooting. Criswell ruled "that no reasonable Denver police officer with officer Turney's training and background would have thought of this tactic (closing the door)." He also said the officer had no "prior notice" that tactical error could result in discipline. [more] and [more]

Cincinnati to Pay Owensby Family $6.5 Million: Unarmed Black Man Beaten to Death & Refused Medical Treatment

• Still No Cops Punished

The city of Cincinnati agreed Friday to a $6.5 million settlement with the family of Roger Owensby Jr., the Cincinnati man who died in police custody nearly six years ago. The settlement – believed to be the largest of its kind in Cincinnati history – resolves one of the best-known and most contentious civil rights claims against the city’s police department. Owensby’s death on Nov. 7, 2000, energized community activists who had complained for years about the treatment of African-Americans by Cincinnati police officers. Tensions erupted five months later, in April 2001, when a police shooting of an unarmed black suspect sparked days of unrest and rioting. Mayor Mark Mallory said he hoped the settlement Friday would help improve police-community relations and would allow Owensby’s family and the rest of the city to begin moving forward. Owensby’s family could not be reached late Friday. But the family’s lawyer, Paul Martins, said one of the motivations for the settlement was resolving the case without creating more trouble in the community. Owensby, 29, died in police custody shortly after his arrest outside a convenience store. Police had questioned him in the parking lot of the store and he initially cooperated with the officers. Police say Owensby attempted to run and was tackled by several officers. He was struck several times, forced to the ground and placed in handcuffs. One of the officers involved in Owensby’s arrest, Patrick Caton, was fired for failure of good behavior but won his arbitration case and could get his job back. Another, Robert Blaine Jorg, quit the police force. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether any of the officers should face criminal charges under federal civil rights laws. more

• Roger Owensby, Jr.'s Father Talks About Settlement [more]