Mother of Black College Student Shot to Death by Pasadena Police Drops 3 from Suit

From [HERE] The mother of a teen shot to death by police in March has dropped three Pasadena police officials from her civil-rights lawsuit against the city.

Kendrec McDade, 19, was killed by two officers who were responding to reports of an armed robbery March 24. Officers Mathew Griffin and Jeff Newlen chased McDade into a dark street in Northwest Pasadena and shot him when his hand was at his waistband, believing he was armed, police said. Investigators later discovered he was not armed and the 911 caller had lied about seeing weapons in order to get a quicker police response.

An autopsy report says he was alive and handcuffed after being struck by a total of seven bullets at close range. At least one bullet was in his back.  The federal lawsuit also alleges McDade was left on the street for a prolonged period of time without receiving first aid. 

McDade also does not fit the profile of the kind of person who would normally commit armed robbery. He has no gang ties or prior arrests, was a star football player in high school, and was a student at Citrus College at the time of his death. [MORE] 

The complaint filed on behalf of McDade’s mother, Anya Slaughter, dismisses Police Chief Phillip Sanchez, Lt. Phlunte Riddle and Det. Keith Gomez.

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$5 Million Wrongful-death lawsuit filed against LA County Sheriff's: Officer Guns Down Latino Man from behind & Stands Over him Shooting in Video

From [HERE] The family of a Latino man shot dead by an L.A. County sheriff's deputy has filed a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit against the department. The family says surveillance video shows that Jonathan Cuevas posed no threat during the 2010 incident. Video shows a squad car pulling up next to three men walking along the street. A deputy flashes a light at them. As he exited the car Cuevas, 20, started running and the deputy shot at him.

"He fires six shots running towards Jonathan, and the seventh shot he stands over Jonathan and shoots him right through the torso, as a coup de grace kill shot," said James Segall-Gutierrez, an attorney for the Cuevas family. Police claim he was unarmed but according to Cuevas' attorney there were no fingerprints on the alleged weapon. The attorney also says the police have given inconsistent descriptions of the gun. 

"Was he armed? Yes. Is the whole story being told now? No. Let's not forget who has already investigated this: Internal Affairs, Office of Independent Review monitoring that. Homicide Bureau. The District Attorney," said Sheriff's Spokesman Steve Whitmore.

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Family Believes Wichita Police Murdered Unarmed Son in Dollar Store Robbery: Fast Moving Video Shows Black Man Shot 15 times by Police

From [HERE] Mother of man killed by Wichita police in Dollar General robbery speaks out Doris Johnson first saw the store videos of her son getting shot to death 17 days ago. She sees it replay in her dreams every night, the bullets hitting him as he staggers out the store in a shower of shattered door glass.

Police released the videos Aug. 28, hoping to show that they had no choice in shooting DeJuan Colbert as he robbed a Dollar General store in south Wichita on Oct. 30. They say the videos, and the still-photo screen grabs they released with it, show that Colbert rushed three police officers at the store’s front doors holding a knife. Prosecutors on Aug. 28 announced, based in part on the videos, that the officers were justified in shooting Colbert 15 times.

Johnson sees it all differently. She said it took her 17 days to feel strongly enough about it to make a public statement on Thursday. She said the video shows cold-blooded murder. She said she does not see a knife, and that the video clearly shows her son trying to run away, rather than hurt anyone.

The store videos show an officer entering the store, gun drawn. It then shows Colbert running toward the officer at the door with an object in his hands. In the video the object looks like a bag of money - not a knife. Officer claims that he did not follow commands but he begins shooting while he is making the command. The officer fires when Colbert is only about a foot away, and other officers behind the first one open fire, too. Colbert staggers at the door entrance, and collapses as glass shatters in both doors and cascades down onto the pavement where Colbert falls.

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Unresisting Black man Beaten by Louisville Metro Police after he asked them to "slow down" - Alleges Officers Perjured Reports & Made Bogus Arrest

From [HERE] A Louisville man says he was beaten by at least two Metro Police officers earlier this month.  Andre' Mulligan has filed a complaint with the Professional Standards Unit of LMPD.

He says he simply told an officer to slow down, and that led to the violent confrontation:  "So when the officer was speeding through, I was kind of right here and I said, 'Slow down.' Officer stopped and backed up and said, 'What did you say?'" Mulligan says that's when things got violent.  He says it happened outside a downtown Louisville nightclub on Labor Day weekend.  Mulligan says the officers roughed him up and then put him inside a police car, where the beating continued.

He says it didn't stop until he pretended to pass out. "I kind of...literally kept praying because like when I was in the back of that car and he was trying to kill me, I literally thought that was my last day."

"And I was like, sir what are you doing...I'm not resisting or anything...he said you're resisting and all of a sudden he said boom! Slammed me dead on the ground." "He said you're under arrest for public intoxication and I'm like well okay, I haven't had anything to drink and I put my hands behind my back." Mulligan admits once inside the inside the police cruiser he called the officer a name...and says that's when the beating continued.

"And when I did that, he opened the door back up and jumped in and just started stealing me. Boom, boom, boom, boom." Mulligan was eventually arrested and taken to Metro Corrections. He says the mug shot shows his head was bruised and swollen from the attack.

"I kind of...literally kept praying because like when I was in the back of that car and he was trying to kill me.  I literally thought that was my last day." [small part of video on short TV report]

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Bracing for Lawsuit Incompetent Jonesboro Police Release Audio in Magical Death of Chavis Carter: Still No Proof he Pulled the Trigger

From [HERE] Jonesboro Police released a report and additional audio interviews from Chavis Carter's girlfriend and a woman who was on scene at the traffic stop the night Carter died in the back of a Jonesboro patrol car. Investigators have ruled 21-year-old Chavis Carter's July 28 death a suicide. The documents released Thursday don't shed much new light on how Carter wound up in the back of a patrol car while armed with a pistol.

Nothing revealed thus far proves who pulled the trigger. The medical examiners did not test for gunshot residue on Carter’s hands to determine if he had actually fired the .380-caliber handgun police say was used in the slaying. The police have not released any ballistics or other reports that might shed further light on the case one way or the other. That said, even if this was a suicide, the Jonesboro police involved are still, at bare minimum, guilty of being incompetent and responsible for the death:

“If it did happen [the way police said Carter's death occurred,] the police still have entire responsibility for it because when they take someone into custody, they’re responsible for his health and welfare,” Baden said. “If he dies in their custody they’re responsible. At the least, we’re talking about very sloppy police work — not finding a gun that he could have used to shoot one of the officers — and it’s indicative of poor training of the officers.”

As to what should have happened after the shooting, Baden said police should have thoroughly examined the police car for gunshot residue.

“They should examine whether there is blood and gunshot residue on the roof of the car, the back seat etc., because blood spatters and smoke and residue would land on the roof, the back of the seat and on [Carter's] hands,” Baden said, adding that such an examination “would permit reconstruction of how the hands were positioned at the time of discharge” of the firearm. [MORE] 

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Advocates appeal to stop enforcement of Racist Arizona law Violating 4th Amendement Rights of Non-Whites

From [JURIST] A coalition of rights groups in Arizona filed an emergency motion on Thursday asking a court to block a controversial provision of Arizona's immigration law [SB 1070, PDF] until an appeal can be heard on the issue. The contested provision requires law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of persons they stop or arrest if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the US illegally. A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona last week declined to issue an injunction against the provision , in light of the US Supreme Court ruling in Arizona v. United States [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] which upheld the provision. Among the rights groups involved in the suit are the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF).

Section 2(B) gives police too much discretion when stopping or detaining persons while “checking” their citizenship status. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and AACJ argued in their brief that Sec. 2(B) cannot be implemented without racially profiling Latinos in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. (That is, police stops and detentions of persons based on physical characteristics orpersons who look Latino to the police are reasonable in Arizona -  any stop and detention of a non-white person). Even lawful detentions and arrests become unconstitutional when the detention becomes prolonged or unreasonable. If officers rely on profiling characteristics such as a person’s ethnicity in determining whether a person should be detained for an immigration check, Sec. 2(B) becomes an unconstitutional “stop-and-identify” law repugnant to all citizens. [MORE] 

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No Charges for Saginaw Cops who Shot Black Man 46 Times: White Prosecutor Upholds Decisions of White Police Officers, White Media Silently Agrees

White Supremacy or Justice? Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael D. Thomas holds the knife Milton Hall had in his hand to make a point during a press conference yesterday. "The officers' lives were dangered," he said. "Especially the officer with the dog, and the dog." [MORE] From [HERE] and [HERE] Police officers who unleashed a hail of gunfire that killed a homeless Black man with a knife in his hand will not face criminal charges, prosecutors said Wednesday. A joint probe by the Michigan Attorney General's Office and Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office found the officers reacted properly, it was announced Wednesday.

Saginaw County Prosecutor Mike Thomas (in photo) told reporters that investigators had reviewed police reports, several pieces of evidence -- including audio recordings of phone calls made to police -- and interviewed several witnesses at the scene. "Criminal charges aren't warranted," said Thomas, noting that the officers had not acted with criminal intent on July 1 when they opened fire on Milton Hall. The 10-week investigation was necessary because "the Saginaw Police Department was not going to investigate itself," he said. Hall's family said that he had a history of mental illness.

Hill had been had been arguing with officers in a parking lot next to a restaurant when he was shot in broad daylight, in full view of passing motorists. Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael Thomas said that the squad of police confronting him opened fire "because apparently, at this point in time, he was threatening to assault police with a knife."

However, in the video Hall does not make any sudden or threatening movement toward police. He appears to stagger around lethargically. The officers had been equipped with stun guns, though they "aren't 100% effective," Thomas added. Police also had a police dog on a leash in front of Hall so they had other opitions at their disposal -- but apparently chose to use their guns instead. After the shooting begins he makes no threatening movements towards officers - but the officers continue to shoot, like a video game. He was murdered by cops with a reported 46 shots in a five-second hail of bullets. [MORE] 

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Baltimore Pays $500,000 to Elderly Black Man Falsely Arrested & Savagely Beaten in City Jail

From [HERE] and [MORE] and [MORE] An elderly Black man who was beaten in jail after being arrested on false charges by city police was awarded $500,000 to settle a pending lawsuit.  The plaintiff, Aubrey Knox lost a kidney after the brutal beating. Baltimore's spending panel agreed on Wednesday to pay $500,000 to Mr. Knox and his wife Lena Knox after police arrested them on dubious charges of kidnapping their own grandson — and the grandfather was severely beaten in the city's Central Booking and Intake Facility. The Knox's charged that they were not only subjected to a police search of their house, but intrusive interrogations, threats and false imprisonment.

Aubrey Knox, 60, and Lena Knox, 58, of Northwest Baltimore, sued four police officers over the 2007 arrests, claiming they were illegally arrested and that Aubrey Knox was not protected from other inmates while in custody of jail officials. In a memo to the Board of Estimates this week, Deputy City Solicitor David E. Ralph wrote that Aubrey Knox suffered "serious" injuries, and that the city's law department had concerns about "whether there were sufficient facts" for the arrest in the first place.

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Jordan Miles Asks Court for new trial after White Jury Sided with White Pittsburgh Police Officers who Brutally Beat Unarmed Black Man

From [HERE] Jordan Miles, whose accusations that police beat and falsely arrested him resulted in a mistrial in August, petitioned the court late Tuesday for another trial. Mr. Miles' attorney, J. Kerrington Lewis, asked U.S. District Chief Judge Gary Lancaster for "a trial date as soon as practicable." On August 8, 2012 an eight-member federal jury decided in favor of three white Pittsburgh police officers in the Miles case. The jury was composed of 7 whites and one black man. [MORE]

Mr. Miles, a college student, claimed undercover officers had no legal basis to approach him. Officers chased him when he ran and when they caught up with him they 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. The officers put him in handcuffs, and repeatedly shoved his face into the snow, causing a piece of wood to impale his gums. He is 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed. No weapons were found. He suffers from permanent brain damage. [MORE] 

The officers told a jury that they saw Mr. Miles acting suspiciously between two houses and that when they questioned him he ran. They mistakenly thought he had a gun and arrested him using only the force necessary, the officers said. Police said the Mountain Dew bottle looked like a gun. 

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Appeals Court Rejects NYPD Officer's Bid to Overturn Murder Conviction: White Cop Killed Black Man Defending Himself in Parking Dispute

In photo white people upset Black Man defended himself against 3 psychopathic white men who attacked him over parking. From [HERE] A federal appeals court has rejected an ex-New York City police officer's request to overturn his murder conviction in the 1996 shooting of a Black man during a parking spot dispute outside his father's deli. Richard DiGuglielmo was convicted of shooting Charles Campbell in suburban Dobbs Ferry. He was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison. He argued his conviction should be overturned because two witnesses changed their original statements.

But the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that even given new evidence, it could not reasonably be found that Campbell was about to use deadly physical force when he was shot. DiGuglielmo has maintained he shot Campbell because he felt his father was in imminent danger. His attorney said he would continue to fight the case.

The incident happened on Oct. 3, 1996 in front of a delicatessen owned by Richard DiGuglielmo in a Westchester suburb of New York. Campbell, a 37-year-old Black man, pulled into a parking space reserved for deli customers but didn't go inside.  The owner of the deli, his son (DiGuglielmo) and another white man pasted a sticker on Campbell's window. When Campbell asked them to remove the sticker, they attacked him and began beating him. "When Campbell finally broke free, he picked up a bat to defend himself against the three men. The younger DiGuglielmo -- an off-duty New York City police officer -- shot Charles three times, twice in the heart, killing him."

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