Family of Disabled Black War Vet Killed by Las Vegas Police Files $20 Million Suit

From [HERE] The mother of an unarmed and disabled veteran who was shot and killed by Las Vegas police last December has filed a federal lawsuit against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. 43-year-old Stanley Gibson, a veteran of the Gulf War, was killed after a police standoff on Dec. 12, 2011. 

The shooting happened after police were called to the scene of a alleged break-in at the Alondra Condominium Complex in northwest Las Vegas. Police encountered Gibson and pinned his car between two police cars when he did not respond to their commands to exit his vehicle.

His wife has insisted that Gibson, who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, was probably just lost and upset and did not understand the police officers.

The police devised a plan to force Gibson out of his car using a non-lethal beanbag gun and pepper spray. However, after another police officer fired the beanbag round, Officer Jesus Arevalo opened fire shot into the vehicle seven times. Gibson was pronounced dead at the scene.

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No criminal charges for fatal Union City officer Shooting of 19 Yr Old Black Teen

From [HERE] Freda Waiters sobbed uncontrollably late Wednesday night as she learned a Fulton County grand jury would not indict the Union City policeman who shot her teenage son in the back, her attorney said.

“This officer gets to go back to work tomorrow, and Ms. Waiters will never see her son again,” attorney Mawuli Mel Davis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday night.

Ariston Waiters, 19, was shot and killed after an altercation with a policeman on the night of Dec. 14.

The grand jury decided not to criminally charge the officer involved in the shooting, Davis said. Waiters’ family has led several protests, claiming that the shooting was unjust. Their claims are bolstered by a Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office autopsy report that showed Waiters was shot twice in the back.

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Lawsuit: NYC jails tolerate inmate abuse

From [HERE] NEW YORK — Eleven current and ex-New York City inmates have filed a lawsuit charging correction officials have tolerated unprovoked beatings of inmates by guards.

The New York Times says the complaint seeks class-action status to cover almost all of the city's current and future inmates. It was filed last week in Manhattan federal court by the Legal Aid Society and two private law firms.

The lawsuit names as defendants Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro and other officials and officers. It says they've "created and now perpetuate a policy of permitting uniformed staff to use unlawful, excessive force with impunity."

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Milwaukee Police Release Video of Officer Punching Handcuffed Black Woman

From [HERE] and [HERE] MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Milwaukee Police Department has released a squad car video [HERE] that shows an officer punching a handcuffed Black woman restrained in the backseat of a police car. Police say the officer, Richard Schoen, was fired May 1 for violating the department's code of conduct. The incident happened in September.

Police determined that Schoen "punched a prisoner in the face, removed her from the squad by her hair and struck her to the body with his knee, while she was handcuffed in the squad." The victim, Jeanine Tracy, said the incident started last September when she was driving on North 51st Boulevard and she saw police lights in her rearview mirror. Police say Schoen also struck her with his knee while she was on the ground, but that's not on video.

"Never, never have I been more scared than this," Tracy said. "He was, like, 'Do you have any open cases,' I said, 'You can just run the check, you have my license. Then I asked the other officer could he stop talking to my daughter because she's a minor." Tracy said the officer ordered her out of the car.

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Protests after All White Jury Acquits Houston cop of Videotaped beating of Unarmed black teen

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest.

Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by an all white jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago.

Houston is the country's fourth-largest city and among the most diverse, with an African American chief of police. However, the jury in this case was chosen from surrounding conservative Harris County, represented by a white, Republican district attorney who began her career as a Houston police officer.

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NO Justice for Chad Holley: All White Jury Acquits Houston Officer in Videotaped Stomping of Unarmed 15 yr old Black Boy

From [HERE] and [HERE] -- An all-white jury found a white former city police officer not guilty Wednesday in the videotaped beating of 15-year-old African American burglary suspect Chad Holley, eliciting cries of outrage from community members.

The jury had deliberated for less than a day.

“The jury sent a message that the life of a black man don’t mean a damn thing in Houston,” African American community activist Quanell X told the Los Angeles Times. “ I believe that allowing an all-white jury to be impaneled in this case was absolutely wrong and a miscarriage of justice.”

Houston is the country's fourth-largest city and among the most diverse, with an African American chief of police. However, the jury in this case was chosen from surrounding conservative Harris County, represented by a white, Republican district attorney who began her career as a Houston police officer.

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Lawsuit Claims Cincinnati Officer Disarmed Black Teen, Then Shot Him - Captured on Video

From [HERE] CINCINNATI -- The family of a teen fatally shot last summer by police downtown have sued the officers involved in his death. The suit claims Officer Oscar Cyranek was told by another officer that some black teenagers had been seen with guns near the Black Family Reunion at Sawyer Point.

Cyranek saw 16-year-old Davon Mullins with a gun several few blocks away at Fountain Square, wrestled him to the ground and searched the teen, the suit says. According to the suit, Cyranek tossed aside the gun he found on the teen, drew his own service weapon and shot Mullins multiple times in the chest.

Cyranek then retrieved the discarded gun and placed it near to the teen's body before calling for assistance, the suit claims. Attorney Eric Deters is representing the teen's family, who claims that Cincinnati police have refused to produce any findings from their own investigation. Deters said he believes the department is hiding something.

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Feds to decide whether to review fatal shooting of Black Man by New Brunswick police

From [HERE] The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark today said it will review circumstances surrounding the fatal police shooting of a New Brunswick man in September and determine if it will begin a full investigation.

"We will evaluate the facts to determine whether a federal investigation is warranted," said Rebekah Carmichael, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

On Thursday Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan announced that a grand jury decided not to indict New Brunswick police officers Brad Berdel and Daniel Mazan in the September shooting of Barry Deloatch, 46, in an alley on Throop Avenue in New Brunswick.

After the release of the grand jury decision, questions were raised about the investigation of the shooting, noting a judge had refused to impanel a special grand jury, and that the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is located in the same building as New Brunswick police headquarters.

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7 deputies from L.A. County sheriff's gang unit placed on leave

From [HERE] Seven deputies from the Los Angeles County sheriff's gang unit have been placed on leave on suspicion that they belong to a secret clique that celebrates shootings and brands its members with matching tattoos, sources confirmed.

The move is a sign of the intensifying nature of the investigation of the "Jump Out Boys." Suspicion about the group's existence was sparked several weeks ago when a supervisor found a pamphlet describing the group's creed, which promoted aggressive policing and portrayed officer shootings in a positive light.

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Challenge to Racist NYPD Stop & Frisk Approved for Class Action Status

New York Police Stop Every Young Black Man in the City…For Safety [MORE]

From [HERE] A lawsuit alleging racial bias in the New York Police Department’s so-called stop-and-frisk tactics will proceed under class-action status, clearing the way for thousands of potential plaintiffs to join the legal challenge.

The decision by Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan federal court also criticized the city’s “cavalier attitude” in response to claims police have conducted illegal searches.

Her ruling could dramatically expand a 2008 lawsuit filed by four individuals who claimed their constitutional rights had been trampled by the city’s effort to combat crime through stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking those suspected of street crimes.

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