Hinds County (Miss.) Sheriffs Beat Black Man Unconscious after he Turned himself in

From [HERE] and [HERE] Four more Hinds County Detention Center jailers are suspended without pay, bringing to 13 the number disciplined over misconduct with inmates at the Raymond jail.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Jeffery Scott on Monday confirmed the suspensions are related to the beating of Charles Johnson, an accused killer and carjacker, who turned himself in to the Sheriff's Department on Feb. 16.

The sheriff said photos 16 WAPT News brought to his attention are the key pieces of evidence behind a mass firing at the Hinds County Detention Center. WAPT received graphic photos from Johnson's family and brought them to the Hinds County Sheriff's Department.

Johnson's family said he told them that he was beaten until he was unconscious. "Having a badge doesn't give you the right to beat and abuse these men no matter what they have done," a Johnson family member, who didn't want to be identified, said. At his family's request, Johnson has been moved from the Detention Center in Raymond and is now being held at the jail in downtown Jackson.

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Video Captures West Point Police Beating 17 Yr Old Black Girl - Stopped for Playing Music Too Loud

From [HERE] WEST POINT, Ga. -- Two police officers are under investigation after dashcam video caught them using excessive force on a teenager.

It all began on East Ninth Street in West Point last month after 17-year-old Ciara Flemister began recording the arrest of her cousin. Police were arresting him after complaints of loud music. The officer's dashcam video shows Flemister walking close to where officers had detained her cousin.

The video shows Flemister screaming, "Don't touch me, don't touch me. Get off me," as two officers wrestle her onto a patrol car. You then see an officer raise his elbow and then slam it onto the teen's head.

Seconds later, the video shows a second officer grabbing Flemister's hair and yanking her head down as she screams in pain. Flemister told Channel 2's Tom Jones that she doesn't remember much of the force.

"I just remember my face being slammed down into the car," she said. West Point's Police Chief J.K. Cato called the force by both officers excessive. "At that point, she was restrained and that blow was not called for," Cato said.

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Black Man Alleges he was Beaten and Denied Medical Treatment by Kent County Sheriffs after Drunk Stop

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - An Allen Park man, represented by Geoffrey Fieger, is suing the Kent County Sheriff's Department and a specific deputy for allegedly beating the man after he was arrested for drunken driving. 

A lawsuit filed in federal court lays out the claim that Jesse Bowlson, 33 at the time, was arrested early May 30, 2010 on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated at I-96 and Alden Nash Road.

He was taken to the Kent County jail where, the lawsuit contends, he was "pepper sprayed, kicked, choked, and beaten" by jail guards. Bowlson was taken to Spectrum Health downtown and diagnosed with a "collapsed lung, four broken ribs, and multiple abrasions and contusions."

Bowlson posted bond and was released from jail June 1, 2010. He pleaded guilty in October of that year and was sentenced to 15 days of jail and two years of probation.

The suit specifically names Deputy Matthew Batchelder, and alleges the department "used unreasonable and excessive force," that deputies conspired to keep Bowlson from getting medical care, and "knowingly falsely and publicly state that the (sheriff deputies) were in a dangerous situation and/or were justified in beating Jesse Bowlson."

The department also is accused in the lawsuit of "employing a police code of silence" in its conspiracy effort.

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Supremes Decide Whether to Hear Florence case: Black Man stripped searched twice in seven days by NJ Jail after traffic arrest made in error

From [HERE] A man was kept in jail and stripped searched twice in a week for a minor traffic fine he had already paid. Albert Florence, 34, was hauled out of his car by a highway patrol man who was given false information by a police computer that there was an outstanding warrant against him.

He had been stopped several times before for the cleared fine, and even carried a letter absolving him of the offence. Despite this, he spent a week in two county jails where he was subjected to the humiliating strips searches before being cleared by a judge.

Speaking to the New York Times, Mr Florence spoke of how he was told to 'Turn around,' while he stood naked before several guards and prisoners, before being told: 'Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks.' He added: 'I consider myself a man’s man. 'I am six-three. Big guy. It was humiliating. It made me feel less than a man. It made me feel not better than an animal.'

There was no reason to believe he might be smuggling drugs or a weapon into jail. 

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Heavy NYPD Presence in Schools Treats Students Like Criminals - Latino Community Concerned about 'Over Policing'

From [HERE] NEW YORK — Leaders in the Latino community and victims of racial violence testified today in New York about police brutality and the “school-to-prison pipeline,” one day after the Census Bureau reported that one in six people in the United States is Hispanic.

Access to education has systemic barriers that are disproportionate to Latino and other minority communities, Larry Schwartzel, a staff attorney at the Racial Justice Program of the American Civil Liberties Union, told the American Bar Association Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. “It is impossible to not observe the very obvious disparity,” he said.

“The force which polices the public school system is the fifth largest in the country, surpassing the forces of major cities of Boston and Washington, D.C.,” he said. “The increased presence of the NYPD and use of aggressive street policing tactics within schools has created the feeling of treating students as criminals for typical student behavior.” Security for the New York public schools is a division of the New York Police Department.

Schwartzel said that practices such as using force on students for issues like writing their names on their desks, or patrolling school halls as if they were city streets, are among the barriers to education. He also cited problems such as over-categorizing students as learning disabled, and zero-tolerance policies within schools.

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Puerto Rico Police Officers Acquitted of Accessory to Murder Charges in 2007 videotaped shooting of Unarmed man

From [HERE] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A jury in Puerto Rico has acquitted two police officers of being accessories to murder for not stopping a colleague from shooting to death an unarmed man in an incident that was captured on a widely broadcast video.

Officers Carlos Sustache Sustache and Zulma Diaz de Leon were at the scene when a third officer shot and killed Miguel Caceres Cruz during an August 2007 struggle. Prosecutors said the two could have prevented the slaying, an argument the jury rejected in a verdict late Friday.

Defense lawyers said the officers had no time to prevent the shooting and were stunned by their colleague’s actions.

Evelyn Ramirez, the widow of the slain man, told reporters outside court she was shocked by the verdict.

“I’m never going to forgive them” she told the newspaper El Nuevo Dia. “They are police, trained to save and protect people’s lives.”

In an earlier trial, the officer who fired the shots, Officer Javier Pagan Cruz, was convicted of murder and a weapons charge and sentenced to 109 years in prison.

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Latino Man Files Suit Against Feds for False Arrest and Prosecution

From [HERE] and [HERE] CHICAGO (STMW) - A federal lawsuit was filed Friday by a Chicago man claiming that federal agents used excessive force when he was falsely arrested and mistaken for a Colorado man.

Jose Quiroz claims that he was at home April 19, 2009 with his wife and four-year-old son when federal agent Robert Hall and other unknown officers from the FBI and ATF came to his door with guns drawn, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

The agents searched and did not find any narcotics in the home and were looking for a man nicknamed “Chu” who had tattoos on his back, according to the suit.  The agents had recordings of telephone conversations from an out-of-state location implicating “Chu,” who lived in Colorado, in illegal activities, the suit said.

The suit claims that Quiroz never used the nickname “Chu,” doesn’t not have tattoos on his back, and never lived or visited Colorado.  He has lived in and worked as construction worker employed by the city of Chicago for nine years.  Quiroz was working at the time the recorded telephone calls occurred and it was not Quiroz’s voice on the telephone recordings, according to the suit. He claims that although the Bureau knew he was innocent, they stood by as he was indicted and prosecuted for more than 18 months in a major drug case that he had nothing to do with.

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Inaccurate Breathalyzers Cast Doubt on 1,147 DUI Cases in Philadelphia

Thousands of citizens are convicted every day of driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08% — based entirely upon the readings of these machines.  In a "trial by machine", the results of these devices legally establish a rebuttable presumption of guilt and are considered proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  See Whatever Happened to the Presumption of Innocence? and Trial by Machine. 

Philadelphia, PA.  March 25 — A day after Philadelphia police announced that miscalibrated breathalyzers had compromised 1,147 drunken-driving cases, District Attorney Seth Williams  declared he would conduct a wholesale review of all DUI cases during the 15 months in question.

Philadelphia police file 8,000 to 10,000 drunken-driving cases each year, so the review announced Thursday by Williams’ office will involve a staggering amount of work that will take months to complete. 

Deputy District Attorney Edward McCann, chief of the Criminal Division, decided to launch the review, said Williams’ spokeswoman, Tasha Jamerson. Assistant District Attorney Lynn Nichols will lead a team of prosecutors and staff that will examine the cases from September 2009 to November 2010.

Besides the cost of reviewing thousands of DUI prosecutions and likely retrying some, the police and city could face civil lawsuits by people wrongly convicted – some of whom may have lost their driver’s license, their job, or their freedom.

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Family of slain man African College Student files $10 million lawsuit against Montgomery County (MD) Police

From [HERE] The family of a man shot and killed last month by a county police officer outside the City Place Mall in Silver Spring filed a $10 million wrongful death claim Friday against the Montgomery County Police Department.

Private Civil Rights Attorney Brian K. McDaniel filed the lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court on behalf of the family of Emmanuel O. Okutuga, a 26-year-old Bowie State University student who was shot and killed Feb. 19 by Officer Christopher Jordan outside the City Place Mall in downtown Silver Spring.

Police said the shooting occurred at 5:15 p.m., when Jordan arrived at the City Place Mall after reports that Okutuga had assaulted a mall security guard inside the mall. Jordan confronted Okutuga outside the mall, where Okutuga was wielding an ice pick, according to police, who said Jordan shot Okutuga twice after Okutuga repeatedly refused to drop the ice pick.

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Family Sues Dekalb County (GA) Police for Excessive Force - Black Man Tasered Repeatedly for not Getting into Ambulance

From [HERE] DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- The parents of a Norcross man who died after police shocked him with Tasers have filed a wrongful death suit against DeKalb County police.

“It doesn’t make sense. It’s just what they did is wrong. It’s plain wrong,” said Anne Davis. Davis choked back tears as she spoke with Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan about the sudden death of her son, Audrecas Davis, on May 9, 2010. He suffered a seizure at a DeKalb County motel.

Police had answered a call from paramedics about an unruly patient. Officers shocked the 29-year-old man six times. The police report said two officers used their 50,000-volt weapons when Davis resisted being handcuffed to a stretcher, became combative and flailed his arms.

“My son was not a threat to them at all. There was no crime involved. He was sick, he truly needed medical attention,” said Davis. The patient’s sister questions if the repeated shocks were necessary.

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