Louisville Activists Call for Congressional Probe Into Race Relations

Civil rights activists, outraged by a white police detective's acquittal in a black teenager's death, have asked congressional black leaders to look into race relations. The activists also threatened demonstrations that would fill jail cells with protesters if the police officer, McKenzie Mattingly, successfully appeals his firing by the city's police chief. "Louisville is a mud hole in the South when it comes to race relations," the Rev. Louis Coleman said Thursday. The city remained calm after Mattingly was cleared Wednesday night of murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide charges by a Jefferson County Circuit Court jury consisting of 10 whites and two blacks. Mattingly, 31, shot 19-year-old Michael Newby three times in the back on Jan. 3 when an undercover drug bust went awry. Newby was the seventh black man killed by Louisville police since 1998. Mattingly was the first officer to be criminally charged in any of the shootings.

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Louisville Cop who Killed Michael Newby will Go Free - Not Guilty

•  Prosecutors Bail Out -  Told the jury during closing arguments that Mattingly was NOT guilty of murder

A former Louisville police detective was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a teenage drug suspect that stoked racial tensions in the city. The former detective, McKenzie Mattingly, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. The jurors returned the partial verdict after more than eight hours of deliberations; the judge declared a mistrial on a separate charge of wanton endangerment after the jury was unable to reach agreement on that count. The jury was composd of 9 whites and 3 Blacks. Mattingly was charged with shooting 19-year-old Michael Newby three times in the back Jan. 3 during an undercover drug buy. The trial had been closely watched in Louisville's Black community. Outside the courthouse, as he got into his vehicle, Newby's stepfather, Jerry Bouggess, said: "There are murderers out here." [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• Prosecutors, in an eleventh-hour turnaround, told jurors during closing arguments that they should not find Mattingly guilty of murder but convict him of a lesser charge. "I do not think that is what he is guilty of," said Scott Davis, an assistant prosecutor. Prosecutors eventually must decide whether to retry McKenzie Mattingly on the wanton endangerment charge. Attorneys will meet Monday with Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman to discuss what may happen next in the case
• A $5 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed in federal court by Michael Newby's family is pending against Mattingly and the Louisville metro government.
• Officials could not track down some witnesses to the shooting. Jefferson County prosecutors rested their murder case against former police Detective McKenzie Mattingly yesterday without calling two eyewitnesses and the man who was with 19-year-old Michael Newby when Mattingly shot him. When Newby was killed Jan. 3, Donitra Mullins and her brother, Alonzo Mullins, told police they saw the shooting unfold. But when prosecutors tried to subpoena the Mullinses, they could not find them, said Steve Tedder, spokesman for the Commonwealth's Attorney's office. In a statement given to police after the shooting, Donitra Mullins, 23, described seeing a white man and a black man struggling. "Then it looked like the black guy was getting ready to run or whatever, and then that's when I seen the gunshot coming out, the gun the white man had in his hand," Donitra Mullins told police the morning of the shooting. Mullins said Newby had his back to Mattingly. [more ]
• Over the past 7 Years at least 10 Black or Latino Men have been Killed by Louisville Police. No Officers have been Convicted [more]

Justice Department clears Police Officers in Larry "Nicky" Hill's Death

• NAACP Faults Bush and Ashcroft "Low Esteem for Civil Rights"
  

The U.S. Justice Department has cleared law officers in Nashville, Ark., of criminal wrongdoing in the death of a man in police custody. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division reviewed the case and concluded no criminal prosecution was warranted. Specifically, the letter states Howard County Deputy Gary B. Cogburn and Nashville Police Officer Steve Dallas were cleared of any alleged civil rights violations after the September 2003 arrest of Larry "Nicky" Hill Jr., 27, of Nashville. The Hill family filed a civil rights complaint against  the department for  use of excessive force. Speaking on behalf of Hill's family, Arlington C. Dumas, president of the Flint, Mich., NAACP Branch, expressed his dismay at the Department of Justice's findings. "It is a sad day in the history for civil rights that the U.S. Department of Justice would come to that conclusion," Dumas said. For him, it was no surprise, though. "You have a Department of Justice leader, (U.S. Attorney General John) Ashcroft, who was appointed by Mr. Bush that has a low esteem for civil rights," Dumas said. [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• According to reports, Hill fled from Dallas during the course of a routine field sobriety test. He was apprehended by Dallas and again resisted arrest by struggling and fleeing into a wooded area, reports state. Dallas sprayed Hill with pepper spray after he was apprehended a second time and cuffed Hill.   The lawsuit contends that while trying to arrest Hill, Cogburn "unnecessarily and with unnecessary force" struck Hill in the right side of the head with his right fist. It was that injury, as well as officers' subsequent "refusal to obtain medical care" for Hill, that caused Hill's death, according to the suit. The results of an independent autopsy concluded that the ``manner of Hill's death should be ruled as homicide'' because his death occurred as a result of a violent struggle with police officers. [more ] and [more ]

Calumet City mayor accuses Black Teen of blocking inquiry

Calumet City's mayor on Tuesday accused a 15-year-old of obstructing the city's investigation into the teen's allegations of police brutality. Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush said in a news release that Don Pennington Jr. has "refused to agree to answer questions regarding what occured the afternoon of his arrest." Pennington accuses the police of beating him severely without provocation after a jaywalking arrest. Police, in turn, have charged Pennington with attacking police officers. Pennington's lawyers call the mayor's comments "absurd." "It's absurd for Calumet City to expect Mr. Pennington to agree to be interviewed by the same state's attorney's office that is prosecuting him for allegedly assaulting the police officers who have beaten him," Elliot Richardson said.City officials have refused to comment on what they believe happened that day, but have charged Pennington with aggravated battery to a police officer. Police union president Kevin Glaser said officers were injured by Pennington, who was "an out-of-control youth.  [more ]

• Black Teen Beaten by Police: Stopped for Jaywalking [more ]

Group says Calumet City law unfairly targets black youths

A group of protesters marched on City Hall again this week, this time asking for officials to repeal the city's jaywalking ordinance. The protest on Thursday was led by Voices of Morality, a group that aims to "right the wrongs of systematic injustice," said Leslie Brown, the group's spokesman. "We want it stopped," Brown said. "We're saying the old system's flawed and it needs to be stopped." The group demanded a public hearing on the jaywalking ordinance. The city ordinance mirrors a state statute, but prosecutes at the municipal level. Minors who are cited for violating the ordinance are taken to the police station and their parents are called. Brown said the city ordinance unfairly detains black children. "They're the only ones who seem to be targeted," Brown said. Police Chief Pat O'Meara said he does not know if the department keeps records on the racial make up of minors who have been arrested. [more ]

Pregnant Black Woman Tasered by Evergreen Police at her Wedding Reception

A suburban bride and her father accuse Evergreen Park police officers of assaulting them with stun guns at a wedding reception. The bride was two months pregnant when she was tasered in the stomach.  The Evergreen Park police say its officers used the stun gun after Clarence Phelps and his daughter, Romona Madison, became disorderly and resisted arrest. Clarence Phelps and Romona Madison said they did nothing to deserve the taser gun attack and are now suing the police department. According to a federal lawsuit filed against Evergreen Park police, the party was winding down in Phelps' backyard when a female police officer was called to the scene, responding to a noise complaint. "She asked that the music be turned off. The music was turned off. She did not leave the home," said Elliot Richardson, plaintiff's attorney. Richardson says what followed was a discussion between Phelps and the police officer. She called for back-up, and when other officers arrived, Phelps says he was tasered with a taser gun. "Ms. Madison called out for the officer to stop. They followed her into the house where she was arrested and tasered in the stomach -- despite advising the 'tasering' officer that she was pregnant."  Madison, who is two months pregnant, said she feared her pregnancy was in jeopardy after the stun gun. The lawsuit says Madison requested to be taken to the hospital, but police refused.  [more ] and [more ] and [more

3 Mount Olive Police Officers Arrested

• Officers Accused Of Stealing From Hispanic Motorists

Three Mount Olive police officers accused of stealing from Hispanic motorists during traffic stops were arrested Tuesday. Sgt. Joshua Ehnert and patrolmen Freddy Southerland and David Johnson are each charged with conspiracy to commit larceny. Investigators say the three men would pull Latino men over, demand their wallets and then take their money. Juvenico Peralta, president of the state's Mexican-American Association, said many Latinos were victims of a shakedown, but they were afraid to report it.. The officers were all suspended earlier this month.  The arrests stem from an undercover bust in which investigators say they took a wallet from an SBI agent. The three officers were suspended without pay shortly after the undercover bust. The Mount Olive police chief said all three men have officially resigned within the last week. All three are now free on bond.[more ] and [more ]

Charges Dropped Against Man who Recorded Police Arresting Black Men

Martell Miller was happy to hear the news that he no longer faces serious felony eavesdropping charges for recording the actions of local police at work. Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Dobson,  asked Presiding Judge Tom Difanis early Friday afternoon to dismiss them, which he did. Miller is one of the founding members of a citizens' group called Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults -- VEYA -- which had been tape-recording, with a video camera, stops of young black men by local police for a few months. Miller's colleague and another founding member of VEYA, Patrick Thompson, 35, helped Miller in the production of a 40-minute documentary that was a compilation of some of their recordings. That was also seized as part of the police investigation into the eavesdropping complaints, but was shown at the Champaign Public Library and Boardman's Art Theatre earlier this month. The charges against Miller were two counts of a Class 1 felony alleging on Aug. 7 he tape-recorded conversations between two University of Illinois police officers and a man they had stopped in Champaign and he had also recorded a conversation between two Champaign officers and a man they stopped in Champaign.  [more ]

Racist DNA Sweeps of Black Men in Baton Rouge and Omaha Challenged

Over the last three years, police have used this investigative technique to look for a serial murderer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a serial rapist in Omaha, Nebraska. According to local news reports, the dragnet in Baton Rouge ensnared more than 1,000 people over the course of ten months, netted no viable suspects, and gave way to a lawsuit accusing the police of violating the Fourth Amendment rights of those sampled without written consent. The lawsuit is also asking that police destroy or return the DNA samples of those exonerated of any wrongdoing.  In June, Omaha police launched a DNA dragnet after the fourth in a series of what they believe are related rapes dating back to September 2002. Based on witness descriptions of the rapist, police asked more than 30 black employees at the Omaha Public Power District to give DNA samples. Once again, the dragnet produced no suspects, rattled many of the targeted employees, and has those who refused to give samples but were forced under warrant to give one anyway asking a judge to unseal the applications used to obtain warrants for their DNA samples. [more ]

Scandals mounting for police in Newark

A Newark police officer's courtroom admission last week that he and five colleagues shook down drug dealers for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for almost two years has left community activists and police brass concerned about the department's image and ability to do its job. But as troubling as the allegations Tyrone Dudley made in Superior Court in Trenton on Thursday may be, the case is only one of several legal headaches the Newark Police Department is experiencing. In addition to the case involving Dudley: The state Division of Criminal Justice is investigating whether one or more Newark police officers is connected to the fatal shooting of a Nutley man near a club on Bloomfield Avenue two years ago. The division also is checking whether a female officer may have protected a drug dealer who was her boyfriend. On Friday, a federal judge in Newark castigated the department's handling of a reputed drug dealer in jail on narcotics charges and set the man free, saying his constitutional rights were severely abused when he was arrested in 2002.  [more ]