Black Man Files $1.5 Million claim for Wrongful Arrest & Bogus Prosecution after complaining about Seattle police

From [HERE] and [HERE] A Black man who claims he was retaliated against and charged with a crime after complaining to Seattle police of rough treatment by officers filed a $1.5 million claim against the city on Wednesday, just hours before the city attorney's office joined in a motion to vacate the conviction it had obtained against him.

Donald Fuller ran into trouble while walking in downtown Seattle on a Friday afternoon three years ago. "I was heading up to Steward Street," he said. "I was on my way to do some work for the homeless."

That's when he says two Seattle police officers called him over and said he could get a ticket. "And I said, 'Ticket? Ticket for what?' And he (the officer) said, 'Jaywalking,'" said Fuller. 

That was the beginning of a nightmare for Fuller and of a series of questionable actions by the Office of Professional Accountability -- the very office charged with protecting citizens from police misconduct. "I think the OPA is a sham," said James Egan, an attorney representing Fuller. "I think the OPA is a shill that actually protects officers."  Three years after Fuller was arrested, charged and convicted of obstruction, Egan has uncovered a web of documents that show Fuller never would have been charged if he had simply never complained.  

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When the Levee Breaks: Saginaw City Council Attempts to Solve Racism/White Supremacy Issue with New Police Equipment

From [HERE] Before a group of 5 white Saginaw police officers shot and killed a homeless Black man staggering around with a knife in his hand on July 1, officers made attempts to retrieve a "bean bag gun" that was later found to be locked in a place no one at the station could access. Instead officers fatally shot Milton Hall with a reported 46 shots in a five-second hail of bullets. [MORE] 

More than four months after that incident, Saginaw City Council (in photo, a group of white folks) at its Monday, Nov. 19, meeting approved the purchase of three such "projectile launcher" weapons, which will be stored inside vehicles driven by the department's supervisors. Assistant City Manager for Public Safety Phil Ludos said the police department was considering such a purchase before the July 1 shooting of Milton Hall. "Clearly the Hall incident was the impetus to get it moving forward," Ludos said.

All council members present voted in favor of the $5,052 expenditure, which will buy the department three 37 mm, multi-role , two-shot over/under projectile launchers from Sage Control Ordnance in Oscoda. Ludos explained that the weapon, essentially a shotgun that fires both gas canisters and "less-lethal" ordnance at lower velocities than bullets. The idea, he said, is to give officers another way to disarm and disable a subject.

Such measures are like using a mop to clean up a levee break. The issue here is not faulty equiptment- it is white supremacy/racism [MORE]; white prosecutors upheld the decision of white police officers to murder a black man in broad daylight - the white media remains quiet and white citizens in Saginaw support the killing. [MORE] and [MORE]. Think about it, how many white people have been killed like Milton Hall by Black officers? How many unarmed white people have been killed by Black officers in the history of law enforcement? None. [MORE] 

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Unnamed Witness says LAPD Officer Shot & Killed Latino Man who had hands behind his head - Fed Probe Requested

From [HERE] The family of an Inglewood man gunned down by L.A. County sheriff's deputies this month is requesting an FBI probe of the shooting and subsequent investigation by the Sheriff's Department.

Jose de la Trinidad, 36, was shot and killed by deputies Nov. 10, just minutes after leaving his niece's quinceanera with his older brother. After police attempted to pull the older brother over for speeding, he sped off. After pleading with his brother to stop, passenger Jose de la Trinidad was let out of the car in the 1900 block of East 122nd Street in Willowbrook, family members said. There the unarmed Latino man was shot and killed by deputies. 

Sheriff's Department officials said the deputies believed Jose de la Trinidad was reaching for his waistband and, fearing he had a weapon, used necessary force.

The slain man's family, however, said that a 19-year-old woman who witnessed the shooting from her bedroom window reported that she saw De la Trinidad with his hands behind his head before shots were fired.

The family's attorney, Luis Carrillo, said the witness heard the older brother's car screech to a stop and then watched Jose de la Trinidad get out of the vehicle.

"When they told him to stop, his hands went up behind his head and he kept them there," the witness told a private investigator working for Carrillo, according to a transcript of interview notes read to The Times.

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$30 Million Civil Trial Underway Against NYPD Cop who Shot Unarmed Black Man in the back after DUI Stop (no prior arrests)

From [HERE] A Metro-North conductor was lying face down on the ground when an off-duty rookie cop in the Bronx shot him in the back. Edward Mitchell, a Black man, 41, says in a $30 million lawsuit that the officer violated his civil rights in 2005 by using excessive force after the two men had a fender-bender on an exit ramp off the Bruckner Expressway.

Jury selection in the trial is set to begin Monday. Mitchell’s lawyer, James Lenihan, said he has forensic evidence and witnesses to prove his African-American client was on the ground when white officer Anthony Adorno fired two shots.

“I remember being shot in the back by a police officer,” Mitchell told the Daily News. “It hit my leg. I fell on the ground. I remember the officer telling me, ‘Don’t move. Don’t move.’ It was very painful.” Mitchell said his most painful memories from that night involve “the ordeal of my family seeing me in a hospital with handcuffs on my wrist and my leg.

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Meriden Police Chief's Son Arraignment today for Police Beating that Led to Cracked Skull of Handcuffed Latino Man

From [HERE] Police Officer Evan Cossette is expected to plead not guilty to police brutality and obstruction of justice charges when he appears today before a federal court magistrate in New Haven, his lawyer said Monday.

Cossette was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on a charge of police brutality following an investigation into a 2010 incident in which he shoved a handcuffed Latino prisoner into a jail cell, cracking the his skull. The criminal investigation of Evan Cossette, the son of Police Chief Jeffry Cossette, started after the videotape of the jail cell incident surfaced and two officers, Brian Sullivan and Donald Huston, complained to city officials that Evan Cossette had received favorable treatment because he is the chief's son.

Cossette was also charged with obstruction of justice for filing a false report of the incident.

The videotape shows Cossette pushing the handcuffed prisoner, Pedro Temich, backward into the jail cell, causing Temich to cut open his head on a concrete bench. The indictment calls it a "firm shove" of the "compliant and handcuffed" Temich, causing him to fall back.

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Incompetence or White Supremacy? Medical Examiner quietly Resigns after Video Shows Milwaukee Police Officers Ignoring Black Man Suffocating to Death

(graphic video, no sound for first minute) White Medical Examiner, White Police Chief, White District Attorney & White Mayor All Uphold the Decisions of White Police Officers to Ignore Dying Black Man in Custody [MORE]   .From [HERE] The assistant medical examiner (a white man) whose ruling was changed in the Derek Williams death resigned - last month with no notice to the public. Williams is the Black man who died in the back of a police squad car in the summer of 2011. During his arrest police officers crushed him - they ended up on top of Williams with him facing down - the officer then put his knee in his back according to the report of Milwaukee police Detective Luke O'Day, who interviewed the officers involved. Williams then suffocated to death while handcuffed, naked from a strip search, in the back of a police car. He repeatedly told officers he couldn't breathe for at least 15 minutes between the time of his arrest and his death. On the video the officers repeatedly ignore him as he suffocated to death.

Williams first complained as he laid facedown, Officer Ticcioni pressing a knee across his back, O'Day's report says. "As soon as he released pressure, Williams began squirming, as if trying to break free, and reached around his right side to his right waistband (while still in handcuffs)," according to the report. Ticcioni worried that Williams was trying to grab a gun and "reapplied pressure with his right knee to prevent any further movement from the suspect," the report says. Officers then searched Williams. No gun was found.

They got him to his feet, and "Williams immediately went limp," the report says. Ticcioni "laid him on the ground on his back and observed that he was breathing hard." [MORE] The officers then literally pulled him to his feet and carried him to the cruiser with his feet dragging on the ground. Once in the cruiser the video begins. [MORE] 

Dr. Christopher Poulos said Williams died of natural causes.

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"You Were Driving 26 mph!" PG County Police Suspend 2 Black Officers (in white-face) over 'Driving While Black' video

Racist Police Department Hurt by Video From [HERE] An anonymous tip to the Prince George's County Police Dept. has led to the suspension of two Black police officers for their participation in a video Police Chief Mark Magaw described as "very inappropriate."

The video, which was posted on the Internet on Nov. 1, contains "crude stereotypes, racial slurs,"  and depicts two officers stopping a car driven by an African American male, Magaw said.

The video shows a traffic stop that appears to take place in Prince George's County. It depicts two African American officers, in uniform, who use crude stereotypes and profanity when interacting with an African American driver who appears to be an actor. "It is supposed to be a spoof but there is nothing funny about it," Magaw said at a Friday evening news conference. "It depicts our officers, our community, in a terrible light and is just unacceptable. This video does not depict this police department."

Magaw said the officers, both from District 5, have been placed on leave. "Both these officers will be held accountable for their actions. They both could be fired. It will go through the administrative proceeding just like any other violation. They are entitled to their rights, but the ultimate outcome could be termination.

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Lawsuit filed against Arlington officer who Body slammed 15 yr old Black Girl on Video - then Scraped her face on pavement

From [HERE] and [HERE] The parents of a Black teenage girl who says she was "body-slammed" by an Arlington police officer during a melee at an end-of-summer party have filed a federal lawsuit against the officer. The lawsuit, filed by Julie and Kirk Perry on Thursday in Fort Worth, says officer Dylan Eckstrom used excessive force when he lifted the then-15-year-old girl a foot off the ground and drove her, back-first, into the pavement.

The incident happened in a parking lot. A cellphone video, which went viral, shows the officer forcing the girl to the ground - by picking her up from behind and 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, the lawsuit says.

The officer outweighs the girl by nearly 100 pounds, according to the lawsuit.

The girl was charged with fighting in public after a melee broke out Aug. 8 at 1010 Collins, an entertainment and events center, when a private party was shut down early.

Eckstrom ticketed the girl, who pleaded not guilty in Arlington Municipal Court in September. A jury trial is tentatively set for July, according to a court official. In other words despite the ugly conduct of the officer, a white prosecutor made a decision to go forward with this silly case. Could a black police officer have done this to a white teenage girl in Texas?

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Graphic Video Shows Drexel University Officer Intentionally Ramming Police Cruiser into Black Man: Pelvis, Leg Shattered

From [HERE] Graphic, disturbing video shows a Drexel University police cruiser ramming Walter Johnson, a Black man, into a wall on Drexel's campus after a pursuit triggered by suspicions that Johnson was a burglary suspect the evening of December 30th, 2011. Johnson's pelvis was shattered. His right leg was shattered as well. The incident began when Johnson was spotted on surveillance cameras trying to enter a couple of locked buildings on the campus. Johnson, who was away from a halfway house without permission, told police he was trying to find a public rest room.

Drexel Police claimed he and his friend were trying to break in to the buildings using screwdrivers.

"I can only tell you what I see in the video. I don't see any screwdrivers," said Johnson's lawyer, Bob Levant.

Levant says Johnson had a cell phone in his left hand and a cigarette in his right hand. He says Johnson fled when confronted by police because he was not authorized to be out on the street. And that in turn led to the incident with the car, which Levant says was not justified. "I can't get in the heads of those officers. But the video suggests that car was intentionally pointed at Mr. Johnson and driven into him," said Levant.

The university is essentially declining comment, citing a pending lawsuit. After reviewing the Drexel surveillance video, Philadelphia's district attorney has dropped the charges Drexel filed against Walter Johnson.

"The question is, can the police behave that way based on what they saw in the video. Perhaps if someone was wielding a deadly weapon and was imminently going to kill someone, you could utilize a police vehicle in the manner seen in that video. Outside of that, which is obviously not what happens here, this is not okay," said Levant.

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Meriden Police Chief's Son Indicted by Feds for Police Beating that Led to Cracked Skull of Handcuffed Latino Man - White Cop Made False Report

Meriden firefighters tend to Pedro Temich in a holding cell at the Meriden Police Department on May 1, 2010. Officer Evan Cossette was given a letter of reprimand for pushing Temich into the holding cell. From [HERE] and [HERE] A Meriden police officer was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on a charge of police brutality following an investigation into a 2010 incident in which he shoved a handcuffed Latino prisoner into a jail cell, cracking the his skull. The criminal investigation of Evan Cossette, the son of Police Chief Jeffry Cossette, started after the videotape of the jail cell incident surfaced and two officers, Brian Sullivan and Donald Huston, complained to city officials that Evan Cossette had received favorable treatment because he is the chief's son.

Cossette was also charged with obstruction of justice for filing a false report of the incident. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in New Haven before U.S. Magistrate Joan G. Margolis. Use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000. The obstruction charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

The videotape shows Cossette pushing the handcuffed prisoner, Pedro Temich, backward into the jail cell, causing Temich to cut open his head on a concrete bench. The indictment calls it a "firm shove" of the "compliant and handcuffed" Temich, causing him to fall back.

The tape shows Evan Cossette entering the cell at least six times and moving the unconscious Temich around, twice propping him up against the bench and another time putting him back on the floor so that the man's handcuffs could be removed. There is blood visible on the floor where Temich fell.

A dispatcher who saw the unconscious Temich in the cell made the first call for medical help. Temich was taken to MidState Medical Center in Meriden and required 12 stitches in the back of his head.

The incident wasn't reported to police administrators until six weeks later. An internal affairs investigation by the then-head of that unit, Sgt. Leonard Caponigro, found that Evan Cossette had used unnecessary force. At an administrative hearing, Deputy Chief Timothy Tupolos overruled that finding and issued a letter of reprimand. Cossette was ordered to take four hours of training on the use of excessive force.

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