$5 Million Settlement Paid by Government in Florida Boot Camp Death of 14 Year Old Black Boy

Beaten & Suffocated to Death Hours After Arriving at Facility
Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law Wednesday a $4.8 million payment to the parents of Martin Lee Anderson, the Black boy who died after being manhandled by Panhandle boot camp guards more than a year ago.

The settlement ends a saga that included a disputed autopsy, an exhumation of Anderson's body and a second autopsy; a videotape of seven guards beating Anderson as a nurse stood by without intervening; and pending manslaughter charges against the same guards and nurse Anderson's parents, Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, sought $40 million in damages from the state but dropped their lawsuit in exchange for $5 million from the state and nearly $2.5 million from the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which ran the boot camp where Anderson was kneed and punched repeatedly on his first day.

The state has paid Anderson's parents $200,000, the most allowed by law without legislative approval. The legislation (SB 2968) that Crist signed pays the remaining $4.8 million.

A somber Crist apologized to Jones and Anderson at the signing.

"I can't imagine anything more tragic than what happened," Crist said. "No dollar amount can bring Martin back. We all realize that. But the only way that we can attempt as a society to try to make this family whole is to compensate them the very best we can. While we here today cannot right this wrong, we can show the passion of conscience through the actions and the act that we do today."

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NY State Senator Diaz Tells NYPD: Stop Killing Black & Brown People

Leader Criticizes NYPD Over Deadly Shooting Of Unarmed Black Man
State Senator Ruben Diaz called on the NYPD Thursday to examine its use of force in non-white communities.

Diaz read off the names of unarmed black and Hispanic men killed by police in New York City. He was flanked by the family of Fermin Arzu, the unarmed man who was shot and killed by an off-duty officer last Friday night.

"Police keep killing black and Hispanic unarmed people,” said Diaz. “They don't do that in other communities. They don't do that in white areas, so what's happening. It is not the salary, because they both are getting the salary. What is going on? Is it the training?"

There will be a rally before the victim of the police shooting is laid to rest on Saturday.

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New York City to Pay $2 Million after NYPD Shooting of Unarmed Black Teen

 
Cop Still on Active Duty  - Weak Prosecutors Never Sought Criminal Charges 
The final chapter in the Timothy Stansbury Jr. case ended Wednesday when the city agreed to pay his family $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed after the unarmed Brooklyn teen was shot and killed by a cop patrolling a housing project, those involved in the case said.

 While the settlement gave Stansbury's family a sense of closure, "there's a certain kind of emptiness there," said a friend who asked not to be named. "It's like they're mourning all over again, because nothing is going to bring him back."

 Stansbury, 19, and never in trouble with the law, was fatally shot by Officer Richard Neri in a rooftop stairwell inside the Louis Armstrong Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, on Jan. 24, 2004.

 Stansbury, who lived in the Armstrong Houses, and two friends were heading to a party and planned to get there by crossing from the roof of one building to another.

 Neri, patrolling the roof with his partner, shot Stansbury as the cops were opening the rooftop door to get into the building.

 The next day, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said "there appears to be no justification" for the shooting, a characterization that infuriated the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, whose delegates took a symbolic "no confidence" vote and demanded Kelly's ouster.

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Judge: Videotape, Grievance Complaints are Public Records in Brutal Beating Death of Black Man by Mississippi Jailers

A judge has ruled that a videotaped inmate beating and inmate abuse complaints are public records, but he can't order county and state departments to turn them over to the Sun Herald.

The videotaped assault of Jessie Lee Williams Jr. at the Harrison County jail and the grievance records have been seized by the federal government. A protective order from a federal magistrate judge restricts access to the records to parties involved in a trial set for Aug. 6 for four ex-corrections officers.

Attorneys for Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said they're willing to eventually give the newspaper copies of the records but only with permission from federal authorities.

Chancery Judge Jim Persons issued his rulings today while hearing arguments in the Sun Herald's public records lawsuit. However, Persons said judicial officials handling the related federal criminal case are the proper authority to determine whether allowing the newspaper access to the records would violate the defendants' right to a fair trial. [MORE]

Atlanta Police replace entire narcotics unit after Police Killing of Elderly Black Woman in Drug Raid

Atlanta's police chief has announced sweeping changes to his department, including the replacement of the entire narcotics unit.

The unit came under heavy criticism last fall after the shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during a drug raid. Officers burst into her home unannounced, with a no-knock warrant based on false information. Two of the officers involved have pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges, while a third is still facing prosecution.

Police Chief Richard Pennington says training standards for the narcotics unit will be rewritten to adopt federal drug agency practices. He says 14 investigators will be added this month, and he hopes to have a new staff of 30 by the end of the year.

In all, Pennington announced more than 140 personnel changes, including major changes in the department's leadership. [MORE]

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Honduran Diplomat Assails NYC Police in Shooting of Unarmed Black Man

FAMILY DEMANDS COP'S ARREST
Appearing at a sidewalk memorial for an unarmed driver shot dead by an off-duty officer in the Bronx, the senior Honduran diplomat in New York criticized the police yesterday, saying, “We are not going to let this go by unnoticed.”

“The police cannot shoot crazily or indiscriminately,” said Javier Hernández, the consul general, who said he had been living in New York for 19 years. “Before, there was courtesy, now there is intimidation, and I think it should be the other way around,” Mr. Hernández said. Like the driver, Fermin Arzu, many residents of the Longwood neighborhood, where the shooting occurred, are Honduran immigrants.

The Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau continued its investigation yesterday into the death of Mr. Arzu, 41, on Friday night. The Bronx district attorney’s office was also reviewing the case.

 Mr. Arzu was shot by Officer Raphael Lora, 37, who had confronted Mr. Arzu after he crashed his minivan into another car near Officer Lora’s home near midnight.

“The consul general can be assured there will be a complete investigation,” said the chief police spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “It is already under way.”

The shooting comes during a difficult period for the police. Weeks of public protest were touched off on Nov. 25, when five officers shot 50 bullets into a car in Queens, killing its driver, Sean Bell, and wounding two of his friends. Two officers were indicted on manslaughter charges and one was charged with reckless endangerment.

 Relatives of Mr. Arzu, a building porter and musician, described him yesterday as a responsible, hard-working man who had never tangled with the police, and who was under the emotional stress of caring for his fiancée, a cancer patient.

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Cop said he Lied about Shooting Black Man: Chicago Officer now says use of gun in '03 case was unjustified

A Chicago police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Black man at an elevated train station in 2003 acknowledged late last year that the shooting was unjustified, contradicting the opinion of department officials, according to sworn testimony he gave in a lawsuit related to the shooting.

Officer Alvin Weems said that after he viewed video images of the March 2003 incident, during which he fatally shot Michael Pleasance at the CTA Red Line's 95th Street station, he realized that the altercation did not happen as he and department officials originally claimed, according to the deposition taken by the lawyer for the dead man's family.

In the December 2006 deposition, Weems also admitted that he did not fear for his life at the time he shot Pleasance, who was involved in a gang-related fistfight at the station.

Despite telling Office of Professional Standards investigators immediately after the shooting that he feared Pleasance would kill him, Weems said in the deposition that he feared only that he might suffer "injury but not serious."

"When I made those statements to OPS, I was doing the best of my recollection," Weems said. "And I was trying to do it as truthful as I can, but I guess I made some mistakes."

In a follow-up question, lawyer Craig Mannarino asked whether Weems believed the shooting was justified, given that he was not in fear of his life or even serious injury.

"It wasn't justified," Weems replied.

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ACLU to ask court for report on fatal shooting of Latino Man by Central Falls Police

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island arm of the American Civil Liberties Union will be in Superior Court tomorrow to ask a judge to expedite a hearing for its lawsuit seeking a police report that details what happened the night of April 8 when Central Falls Police shot and killed Selvin Garrido Morales.

 Central Falls Police Chief Joseph Moran has refused to give up information regarding the shooting pending the finding of a grand jury. He says that under the Access to Public Records Act, he is exempted from providing the information.

The hearing may be moot because the grand jury is expected to be finished tomorrow or Thursday. Moran has said that once the jury is finished, he will make public what happened that night.

Still, the ACLU will go ahead with the hearing because the matter is too important and is setting a dangerous precedent, said Executive Director Steven Brown.

“One of the major concerns we have is what the [Central Falls] Police Department has done in this case. The city’s argument has much broader ramifications than just incidents of police shootings. If they are serious about their argument any crime committed that might warrant referral to grand jury means the arrest report is secret. That means any serious crime. The public may be kept in the dark for weeks to months. We strongly believe that is directly contrary both to the spirit and the letter of the Open Records Law.”

 Two police officers shot and killed Morales in his third-floor apartment when he came at them with a knife, they said.

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Trial is briefly postponed in San Bernadino Deputy Manslaughter Case- Latino Soldier on Leave from Iraq Gunned Down

The trial of former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy Ivory John Webb Jr., who is accused of shooting an unarmed airman at a traffic stop last year, was postponed Monday after the wife of one of Webb's lawyers went into labor.

 San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith rescheduled opening arguments for May 29. The trial is expected to last one month.

 The judge apologized to jurors for the delay: "He called this morning to advise us his wife just went into labor this morning, and he felt obligated to be at the hospital with his wife — something I couldn't really quarrel with."

 Webb was charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm last year after an amateur cameraman videotaped him shooting Elio Carrion, an Air Force police officer home on leave after a tour in Iraq, during a traffic stop.

 Carrion was the passenger in a Corvette driven by his friend Luis Escobedo on Jan. 29. Escobedo, who is serving six months in jail after being convicted of evading a peace officer and driving under the influence, led Webb and another sheriff's deputy on a chase in Montclair and Chino at speeds that Webb said topped 100 mph.

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Unarmed Black Man Shot & Killed by NYC Police - Fearful Police Blast Suspect in Car

It happened late last night near Hewitt place and Longwood Avenue in the Longwood section of the Bronx. An off-duty officer witnesses hit-and-run, and decides he is going to chase down the suspect but in the end the suspect ends up dead with a bullet in his back. The police department, at least at this hour, is saying very little about what happened here. The scene appears to be another shooting of unarmed man by an NYPD officer. This time an off-duty traffic officer whom police say confronted the driver of this car shortly after he had fled the scene of another accident around 11:30 p.m. Friday night in the Longwood section of the South Bronx. In this statement released to Eyewitness Witness News, police say, "witnesses told investigators that the officer was at the driver's door of the vehicle, with the door open when the vehicle lurched forward. The officer discharged his weapon, striking the driver one time." That one shot according to the medical examiner struck Fermin Arzu of the Bronx in the back piercing his heart and lung and killing him. An eyewitness says he heard several shot fired. "We parked and turned off the car and that's when we heard the gunshots," said witness Geraldo Reyes. It was like six or seven gunshots." "It seemed to me that if several shots were fired, the officer intentionally fired whatever his reasons were," said police practices expert Edward Mamet. This latest incident will further rub raw emotions frayed by last November's shooting of Sean Bell and the injuring of his two friends on his wedding day when police fired 50 shots after an officer says he was struck by Bell's car. The question left to the courts to decide was the shooting justified. Less than six months later, that question is now being raised again. Closing in on nearly 24 hours after the shooting, police are saying very little about it. It's not likely that any weapon was found since police would be quick to report that. The hit-and-run suspect dead with a bullet wound in the back and a family and community again asking for an explanation. [MORE]