No trial date yet for Racist Springfield Cop in Criminal Case for Videotaped Flashlight Beating of Unarmed Black Man

Officer Asher drove away from the court in a white sedan with a broad smile, a cigar in his mouth and giving thumbs-ups to a half-dozen protesters who stood outside the building holding signs that read: "Asher is guilty" and "Stop police brutality

From [HERE] CHICOPEE - Dogged by a clutch of civil rights protesters, retired Springfield police officer Jeffrey Asher appeared in court on Friday, though a judge declined to set a trial date.

Asher was charged in connection with the alleged 2009 beating of a motorist during a traffic stop. Asher was caught on amateur videotape [HERE] stomping and beating Melvin Jones III with a police flashlight on the hood of a car during an arrest on Rifle Street. Jones was beaten unconscious, sustained broken facial bones, nose, teeth, and was at least partially blinded in one eye. Jones claims that he was struck at least 15 times with the flashlight. Officers also allegedly called him nigger during the assault. He was pulled over by police for having a faulty muffler. [MORE] 

Jones and his lawyers contend Jones was unconscious for most of the alleged beating, while Asher and his lawyer have argued he used necessary force to subdue Jones, who made a grab for an officer's gun during a struggle. A witness told the FBI he saw Jones slump to the ground after the first couple of blows. [MORE] and [MORE] 

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Black Teen Disfigured for life by Oakland Police Awarded $550,000 in Settlement

The story agreed upon by both sides is that L.S. was leaving a liquor store with an unidentified person when Officer Alan Leal and his partner say they saw him stuffing what they thought were drugs into his mouth. When the officers approached, L.S. ran on foot, throwing into the street a gun he had been carrying.

As the teen ran through a nearby backyard, he and Leal crossed paths and Leal confronted him. Police said at the time of the shooting that Leal ordered the boy to stop several times and then, when the boy reached for his waistband, Leal thought he was grabbing a second gun and fired on him.

However, Pointer said the boy had turned to run when he was shot in the back of the neck. Further, Pointer said, not only did toxicology reports prove he had consumed no drugs -- and was probably just eating a snack from the store -- but no weapons or drugs were found on his body at all after he was shot.

"Essentially, it was a kill shot," Pointer said. "He nearly lost his life. In the course of trying to keep him alive, doctors had to have his sternum, his chest bone, taken out of his chest.

"Now you have a guy, the rest of his life he cannot participate in any type of contact sports. He can't pick up heavy things, things you and I would take for granted. I'm lugging around a heavy briefcase today. He can't do that."

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Feds won't prosecute Miles case: No Justice for Unarmed Black Man Assaulted by Pittsburgh Police

Police Chief Nate Harper: "There is no question that Mr. Jordan Miles sustained physical injuries, but there is no evidence to show it was the result of wrongful conduct by the officers."

Jordan Miles, 18, a former student at the city's Creative and Performing Arts high school, said he was brutally attacked by three undercover white police officers on a cold night in January as he walked between his mother's and grandmother's houses in Homewood.

The officers said they confronted Mr. Miles because he appeared to be "sneaking around" a house in the 7900 block of Tioga Street, with a heavy object in his coat that they thought was a concealed weapon. When he was approached by the officers he ran away, but the officers soon caught up with him and beat him into submission by delivering violent blows that left his face swollen and distorted. Police also used a stun gun and pulled out a chunk of his hair. He is  5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed.

They charged him with a string of frivilous crimes that a district judge later dismissed.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office, the Civil Rights Division and the FBI, working together, conducted an exhaustive review of the incident, which included interviews of more than 40 witnesses, some on multiple occasions, visits to the scene and careful review of all police reports, medical records, photographs, laboratory reports, cell phone records and other documentation related to the incident," the Justice Department wrote in a statement. "After a lengthy, independent, and thorough review consuming hundreds of hours of agent and prosecutor time, federal officials determined that the evidence was insufficient to prove a federal civil rights violation, beyond a reasonable doubt, against any of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers."

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Unarmed Black College Student Brutally Beaten by Racist Denver officers awarded $795,000

From [HERE] and  [HERE] DENVER - A Black man left bloodied by Denver police officers two years ago after a routine traffic stop was given a $795,000 settlement by the City Council on Monday. It is among the largest payouts in city history to resolve a police-brutality case.

Alexander Landau sued the city in federal court, saying three police officers tried to cover up a Jan. 19, 2009, beating that left Landau scarred and suffering "persisting neurological damage." The officers hit Landau with their fists, flashlights and a radio, and called him nigger, according to the suit. Two of the three officers in the suit were recently fired for lying on reports concerning other violent incidents.

The council unanimously approved the payout. The department's Internal Affairs Bureau originally reviewed the case but refused to begin a formal investigation.The city has reopened an internal-affairs investigation into the case.  Landau's suit includes graphic photos of the bloodied and beaten then-19-year-old college student. [HERE]  

Vidal said "chances were good we would lose this case in court."

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Seattle to pay $1.5M to family of Native American Man Gunned Down by Police

From [HERE] SEATTLE (AP) – The city of Seattle said April 29 it is paying $1.5 million to the family of a homeless woodcarver who was shot by a police officer last summer, a killing that helped prompt a top-to-bottom federal review of the city's police department.

Officer Ian Birk shot John T. Williams last August after the Native American woodcarver crossed the street in front of Birk's patrol car while holding a piece of wood and a small knife. Birk later maintained Williams had threatened him, but the department's firearms review board ruled the shooting unjustified, and Birk resigned.

Birk said he shot Williams after he refused to obey his commands to put down a knife. But dash cam footage of the incident showed Birk gave Williams just seven seconds to react before opening fire. During an inquest into Williams' death, Birk claimed Williams lunged at him with the knife. But a photo taken at the scene showed Williams' carving knife was in the closed position.

Along with other incidents of force used against minorities, Williams' killing prompted the Justice Department to announce last month that it would launch a formal civil rights investigation of the police department, to determine whether Seattle police have a “pattern or practice” of violating civil rights or discriminatory policing, and if so, what they should do to improve.

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New Orleans Police officer fired for role in Katrina burned body case - Did Nothing after Watching Officers Murder Black Man

From [HERE] and [MORE] The New Orleans Police Department has fired a lieutenant who was a government witness in the case against other current or former officers charged in a deadly shooting after Hurricane Katrina.

Glover was fatally shot by an NOPD officer days after Hurricane Katrina. Officer Gregory McRae then set fire to the car containing Glover's body, incinerating the remains on the batture of the Mississippi River levee in Algiers. After he was granted immunity, Lt. Joseph Meisch testified that he saw Officer McRae, laughing after he burned the body of 31-year-old Henry Glover. Meisch didn't report it to a superior, file a report, notify anyone or otherwise show any human concern for what he had witnessed. 

A jury convicted a former officer, David Warren, of shooting Glover less than a week after the 2005 storm. McRae was convicted of burning his body, while former Lt. Travis McCabe was found guilty of writing a false report on the shooting.

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Family of Mentally ill Black Man Suffocated and Restrained by SF Deputies gets $350,000 Settlement

In the jail on the night of Sept. 7, 2009, in response to Downes’ loud complaints about the televisions being turned off in the unit, several deputies began transferring him to an administrative segregation cell. The Sheriff’s Department said Downes had become verbally disruptive and resisted the move.

Geri Green, the attorney for Downes’ family, alleged in the lawsuit that Downes had been complaining he could not breathe as deputies used forceful restraint procedures that involved placing their weight on his back and neck. Downes stood 6 feet tall and weighed more than 300 pounds.

A short time after being placed face-down in the safety cell, Downes was found to have stopped breathing.

"Mr. Downes, while handcuffed and shackled, died as a result of being asphyxiated by Sheriff’s deputies employing excessive force as well as illegal and unconstitutional restraint procedures," the lawsuit alleged.

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Witness says Unarmed Black Man was Shot in the Back by Orangeburg County Deputy

From [HERE] and [MORE] A Tuesday autopsy confirmed that a Eutawville man killed in what's been described as an officer-involved shooting died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Bernard Bailey, 54, was shot twice in the chest and once in the shoulder, according to Orangeburg County Coroner Samuetta Marshall. Residents said that Bailey came to the town hall to pay a water bill and to inquire about a traffic ticket that his daughter had gotten. They say after that, the deadly shots rang out.

An eyewitness claims to have seen the reverse lights on Bailey’s Chevrolet truck come on. The witnesses said when the officer reached the truck, a struggle ensued at the driver’s side door. Apparently, Bailey got out of the car and a confrontation ensued. All indications are that Bailey was unarmed.  

“For you to walk out of your place and follow a man and shot him in the back three times like a dog, like he don’t belong to nobody, and then you outside drinking coffee like you didn’t do anything wrong? Something is wrong with you,” Hamilton said.

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ACLU: Puerto Rico has pattern of police brutality

From [HERE] A celebrity-enhanced ACLU delegation criticised Puerto Rico's government on Tuesday for using police to keep the island's main university system open during a strike over a new fee, with members saying they found clear evidence in which officers abused students during the protests.

The delegation, which included Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez and former major league baseball player Carlos Delgado, said the initial findings of a fact-finding mission found a pattern of excessive police force over the past 18 months involving students, union leaders and journalists.

Their final report, which will be presented to the US Justice Department, is expected by September.

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Passenger says Danroy Henry was Shot for No Reason: Black College Student Killed by Mt. Pleasant Police

From [HERE] Mt. Pleasant Police Officer Hess fired at Mr. Henry’s car as he drove away from a disturbance that spilled out of a bar in Thornwood after Pace’s homecoming game. Officer Hess was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a grand jury. 

Sometime after 1 a.m., a police officer from the nearby village of Pleasantville noticed an unruly crowd in the parking lot outside of Finnegan’s Grill and requested help from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, according to a statement released by the Mount Pleasant police. As officers arrived and tried to subdue the crowd, one of the officers approached Mr. Henry's car that was parked in the fire lane. 

At a press conference today, Mr. Cox's father said that 'a police officer had asked Henry to move his car. As he drove away a police officer jumped in front of the car with his weapon drawn and pointed at the car and then started shooting into the car. Then the officer jumped onto the car and fired more shots through the windshield.' 

"When you think about it this is America. That kind of thing shouldn't happen here. And to handcuff DJ, after he's been shot. And to lay him on the ground face down without giving him any medical treatment. And to be left there like some while wounded animal. On the side of the road. Without medical attention. That just shouldn't happen. That shouldn't happen. I was shocked DJ was shocked. His last words to Brandon were -they shot me they shot me they shot."

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