Robert Ramirez Death Ruled a Homicide: Witnesses say Oxnard Police Surrounded & Beat Overdosed, Handcuffed Latino Man

From [HERE] The death of a Latino man who was restrained by Oxnard Police officers five months ago was ruled a homicide last week by the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office.

On June 23, Robert Ramirez, 26, died in police custody while reportedly overdosing on methamphetamine. His family has said police beat him before he died.

Coroner's officials found Ramirez died of asphyxia from active prone restraint. Toxicology reports showed he had an "extremely high level" of methamphetamine in his blood and a much higher level in his stomach. Officials also found Ramirez suffered cardiac complications of restraint-related stress.

According to a coroner's news release provided to The Star on Monday, police responded to a 911 call from Ramirez's friend, who thought Ramirez was overdosing. Police tried to get Ramirez to cooperate with them, and a decision was made to handcuff Ramirez so they could force him to receive medical attention.

A struggle between officers and Ramirez "became a situation of prone restraint during a struggle with application of compression force, handcuffs and leg restraints that eventuated in loss of consciousness and a cardiopulmonary arrest that was not able to be revised medically," the news release said.

Click to read more ...

Fed Court says White Cincinnati Police Officers Acted Reasonably when they Beat & Suffocated Black Man to Death - on video

From [HERE] A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Cincinnati police in a fatal struggle that gained national attention and helped push the city to buy Tasers for police to subdue unruly (Black & Brown) suspects.

Six white police officers in the 2003 incident acted reasonably and therefore are immune from being sued, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled. In a decision released Thursday, a day before the ninth anniversary of the death of Nathaniel Jones, the appeals court said a videotape of the fatal encounter outside a North Avondale White Castle restaurant showed the 348-pound man behaving “aggressively” with police as he grabbed one officer’s neck and another one’s baton.

Jones, 41, died Nov. 30 shortly after a confrontation with police in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. Video from restaurant surveillance cameras and a police cruiser showed that Jones knocked over one officer before others jabbed or struck him more than 24 times with nightsticks. The officers pile on top of him as he screams for air. The 350-pound Jones stopped breathing shortly after he was handcuffed.

But the court said, “Under the rapidly evolving circumstances of that morning, an objectively reasonable officer could not have discerned whether Jones resisted (arrest) in an attempt to breathe or in defiance of commands.” 

Click to read more ...

Arlington Police Investigate themselves: White Officer who body slammed Black Girl (15) & Scraped face on pavement acted reasonably

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

From [HERE] The Arlington Police Department determined Wednesday that force used by an Arlington officer to subdue a teen in August was consistent with the department's training and policies.

The administrative review was initiated after a cell phone video posted to YouTube went viral on Aug. 9.  The incident happened in a parking lot. The video shows the officer forcing the girl to the ground - by picking her up a foot of the ground from behind and violently bodyslamming her down on her back. The officer then scrapes her face on the pavement and pepper sprays her face at close range - which caused pain in her open wounds, her parent's lawsuit says.

The officer outweighs the girl by nearly 100 pounds. [MORE] 

Police had to break up several fights that flared outside of the facility following a teen party. The 15-year-old girl was one of five arrested and ticketed that night for fighting in public. She plead not guilty to the charge in Arlington Municipal court in September. 

Click to read more ...

White Prosecutor Declines to File Charges Against White St. Paul Police Officers on Video Kicking Unarmed Black Man

From [HERE] Two white St. Paul police officers will not be charged with felony assault after an arrest captured on video shows one of them kicking a Black man, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem, a white man, said there was "insufficient proof" the officers used unreasonable force. A video of the August arrest posted by a citizen on YouTube shows Officer Jesse Zilge kicking Eric Hightower as Hightower lay on the ground. Zilge was then able to handcuff Hightower, Ostrem said in a news release. 

The five-minute video starts (in broad daylight) with the beating already in progress, it shows a man, identified in a police report as Eric R. Hightower, 30, lying on his stomach on the sidewalk as an officer stands over him. Hightower yells that he didn't do anything and asks him why the officer has assaulted him. The officer is under no durress and almost appears casual in the scene -  he appears to be in no present danger. At one point, Hightower starts to cough and the officer kicks him in his face or his neck. Several people, including children, who gathered at the scene yelled at the officer. [MORE]

The officer handcuffs the man and with the help of another officer, gets him up and appears to slam his head on the hood of a squad car. An army of other officers then arrive. The voice of the person recording the video says, "He done sprayed him, maced him, tased him."Apparently, the white prosecutor gave little weight to the black witnesses accounts - whatever white police outlaws say is true so why even bother having a trial -bw. 

Click to read more ...

Lawsuit claims Seattle Police Chief Concealed Video showing Officers Assaulting Handcuffed Black Man - Now partially Blind

Video is [HERE] and Post arrest video of racist police is [HERE] From [HERE] Lawyers for a Black man who said Seattle police used excessive force during his arrest are filing a lawsuit against Seattle Police Chief John Diaz, who is accused of concealing police dashboard camera video showing an alleged attack by officers.

Attorney James Egan said Leo Etherly was punched in the eye and choked as he was held down by Seattle police officers on the hood of a Seattle police car Oct. 6. Egan said Etherly was punched in the eye a second time, causing permanent partial blindness in his left eye.

The lawyer said the incident was clearly captured by in-car video from the police car on which Etherly was held down. Two other cameras captured images of the incident or its aftermath. "They socked that man in his nose and his eye," said a woman who recorded the scene after the incident. A camera inside a nearby liquor store showed Leo Etherly in handcuffs.  Etherly said two Seattle police officers held him down while another "strangled" and "punched" him in the face. 

"I was motionless as he was still punching me, and he said something to the effect of, 'You f-ing idiot' as he was punching me," Etherly said.

But it's the video you are not able to see that led to a lawsuit filed Monday. Etherly's attorney, James Egan, claims he received a copy of the SPD dash-cam video as part of discovery when Etherly was facing criminal charges. Those charges were eventually dismissed.

Click to read more ...

'I sure did knee you in the face. You Got in on Tape?' Hurst (TX) Police Officers accused of Excessive Force in arresting Latino Teen, 17

From [HERE] A North Texas mother is accusing a Hurst police officer of using excessive force while arresting her 17-year-old son Andrew Rodriguez. A video of the incident shot by Rodriguez's friend has gone viral. 

Rodriguez was questioned along with two others at Bellaire Park because police thought they looked suspicious, CBS DFW reports. The officer on scene got the names of the three teenagers and discovered Rodriguez had an open warrant. Rodriguez's mother, Kelly Pope, said the warrant was from a ticket her son had received four years ago for trespassing on school property after hours.

Police Chief Steve Moore says Rodriguez started to walk away and ignore the officer and that is when he attempted to take Rodriguez into custody. Rodriguez's friend, Jordan Rojas, who recorded the incident on his phone, told CBS DFW that when Rodriguez learned he was being arrested, he began to call his mother.

"The officer asked him to get off the phone and he continued to call his mom because he was already on it and that's when the officer tackled him," Rojas said. "That's when I started recording."

In the video the officer is seen subduing Rodriguez, who is arguing with the officer, saying he can't breathe - the officer was telling him that he could breathe. Seconds later, a second officer runs in as a backup and allegedly knees Rodriguez while he was subdued. Upon his arrival that officer announces "Move and Die!" After the arrest Rodriguez says to the officers, "you kneed me in the face." The officer responds, "I sure did. Did you get that on tape."

Click to read more ...

Fayetteville Police Claim Unarmed Black Man Slipped & Fell - Causing Bruises all over his body, Paralysis and Stroke - Refuse to Release Video

From [HERE] A Fayetteville family claims the city's police department is to blame for their brother's life-threatening injuries. Police say 55-year-old Gregory Lee-Bey, a Black man, tripped and fell, but the family says excessive force landed him in the hospital. Lee's injuries are so severe that he was recently airlifted to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. He is now on life support after suffering a stroke.

Donald Lee says he is speaking out for his brother because he can't do it himself. "He can't respond, he can't move his right side. His right side is paralyzed. He has bruises and contusions all over his body," Lee said. "They had to remove part of his skull because his brain had swollen."

The family alleges the officer beat Lee-Bey during an arrest at a bar on Bragg Boulevard nearly two weeks ago.

Police responded to an active alarm at the bar. According to police, before Lee-Bey was arrested, he tried to runaway and tripped and fell, hitting his head. Police admit some sort of force was used during the arrest, and it is now the focus of an internal investigation. Still, the family says much more happened than a simple trip and fall. "It's not even plausible or even feasible anyone would have fallen unless they fell from the Eiffel Tower and may have suffered that kind of injury," Lee said.

Click to read more ...

War on Drugs is a War on Non-White People: Black DEA Agent Says he was Told Not to Enforce Drug Laws in White Areas

From [ColorLines] Meet Matthew Fogg, a former U.S. Marshal whose exploits led him to be nicknamed “Batman.” When he noticed that all of his team’s drug raids were in black areas, he suggested doing the same in the suburbs.

Last month, white billionare Sir Richard Branson described the war on drugs as follows, “the fundamental difference in America, is that it is a war against black people in America. It's black people ... 85 percent of people who go to prison for drug use in America are black people. They don't take more drugs, but it's a racist law against black people in America,” he said. [MORE] 

Unmanned Drone Police Cars will be in use by 2025 in Ca, Tx and Wash

From [HERE] Law enforcement agencies across the US are lining up to be among the first to use drones to serve and protect, but unmanned vehicles are likely to replace the traditional cop cruiser in just a few short years.

In places like California, Texas and Washington State, police officers in recent weeks have intensified their demands for surveillance drones, a necessary addition they say to their arsenal of tools to help thwart crime. The Federal Aviation Administration has yet to finalize plans to put drones in US airspace, but by the end of the decade as many as 30,000 UAVs are expected to be soaring through the sky.

By 2025, those drones are predicted to take the place of the police patrol car as unmanned vehicles operated by cops are being considered a likely inclusion on our roads of tomorrow.

Leading up to this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, carmakers were asked to put together prototypes showing what they envision highway patrol vehicles to look like in the year 2025. The entries, from big manufacturers like BWM and Honda, are largely based on the still primitive drone technology that is used in military and surveillance missions overseas.

Click to read more ...

Racism is Expensive: Jury Finds LA County Sheriff's Deputies Negligent - $9 Million Awarded to Family of Latino Man Shot @ 61 Times in "Contagious Fire" by Cops

On Tuesday, more than three years later after police gunned down Alfredo Montalvo, 29, a Compton jury awarded Annette Montalvo and their two children nearly $9 million in a wrongful-death civil case.

The April 2009 incident began when deputies thought they saw Alfredo Montalvo driving drunk on his way out of a parking lot. Deputies began trailing Montalvo in an unmarked sheriff's car, said John C. Taylor, the family's attorney.

Montalvo eventually crashed into two parked cars, his vehicle wedged between them. To handle the DUI stop more than a dozen (12) deputies who were called for backup surrounded his car, the attorney said, but Montalvo went in reverse at least once and struck the unmarked sheriff's car.

Deputies fired 61 shots, Taylor said, in what he described as "contagious fire."

"There's a real problem with the sheriff in terms of using deadly force when it's not called for," Taylor said. Montalvo, he said, was unarmed, and an autopsy later determined he was not drunk.

Click to read more ...