Please post all of the completely insane COPWATCH stories here

[charrington]

THE PROBLEM: Rochie Johnson was leaving his job at a social-services agency in North Philadelphia when he heard a shout, "Put your f------ hands up!" Johnson thought he was being robbed in broad daylight. He turned and saw a Philadelphia police officer aiming a gun at him.

"I grew up in a tough neighborhood in South Philly," Johnson said. "But the first time I've ever had a gun pointed at me was by a police officer."

Another officer quickly arrived in a car with lights flashing and stopped just short of his feet, Johnson said. The second officer approached Johnson and lifted his shirt, searching him for a weapon. He found Johnson's cell phone, which he'd mistaken for a pistol from more than a block away.

"The partner lowered his gun, but then proceeded to ask me for my ID," Johnson said. "He went back to the car to run the ID. I'm standing there, frustrated and wanting them to give me a reason for what had transpired. They were like, 'Oh, well, just deal with it.' "

Johnson believes he was stopped and frisked for being black. He wanted to do something about it - and he's not alone. Dozens of West Philadelphians recently marched to 19th Police District HQ at 61st and

Thompson streets to protest the beating and arrest of Askia Sabur. We thought this would be a good time to examine how a citizen can make a complaint about alleged police misconduct.

How it's supposed to work: If you think you've been a victim of police abuse (including racial profiling), the most direct way to get an investigation started is to submit a written complaint to the police Internal Affairs Bureau.

Citizens "can go to any district office and see the operations-room supervisor," said Lt. Frank Vanore, a spokesman for the Police Department. "That supervisor. . . can provide you the form." You can also go directly to Internal Affairs, at 7790 Dungan Road, in the Northeast.

Vanore told us you'll have to provide a description of what happened and contact info and sign your statement. The department will match the date and time of an incident to radio logs to find out what officer was

involved.

Have someone corroborate your story if possible. Vanore stressed that many cases get dropped because there isn't enough evidence to pursue charges.

"The best thing you can do is have documentation and also contact information for witnesses," Vanore said. "If it's he said/she said, and there's no proof, those cases don't go very far."

The investigation can be
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/city_howl/20101006_City_Howl_Help_Desk__How_to_complain_about_alleged_misconduct_by_Philadelphia_police.html

[charrington]

Couple refuses to be polygraphed regarding attempted knife murder of their 9-year-old daughter. Cops focus on family, destroy evidence, start whisper campaign.

"I am a former Michigan State Police Trooper, a former Federal Police Officer, a 2006-2007 trainer of Iraqi Police on the battlefield and a 17 year veteran of the US Army and Army National Guard as a Military Police Soldier.

On April 26th 2009 I was working for the Boyne City Ambulance in Boyne City, MI. I stayed at the Ambulance station that night. At 4:20 AM I got a very shocking dispatch, it was my own home. Someone had broken into our house and slit my 9 year old autistic daughters throat. When I arrived on the scene, with the Ambulance, I was relieved to discover that she was going to make it because the 5 inch wound, caused by a knife, had missed her jugular vein by a couple of millimeters. Another EMT was called in to take my place as my daughter was rushed to the hospital. One of the Police Officers at the scene showed me my daughter's room. There was a beer can beside her bed (we did not have any beer in the house) and a knife from our kitchen was lying on her nightstand. As this Officer continued to talk to me in the hallway, I noticed the odor of intoxicating beverages coming from his breath. After I said something to him about smelling something, he changed the subject.

My spouse and I were questioned separately. It is completely understandable to look at the family in this type of case, if anything, to ensure everyone was safe. My wife was really drug through the coals. A State Police Investigator made several false claims against her. I was being questioned by the Boyne City Police Officer, who had smelled with the odor of intoxicants, and his brother, another State Trooper. My interrogation seemed to be focused more on whether I was going to say anything about the intoxication or not. I tried to tell them that my only concern was finding out who tried to kill my daughter.

The State Police Trooper told me that my wife and I needed to take the Polygraph, to help rule us out as suspects. Right away, I refused to let anyone in our family take the Polygraph. Just as I had been taught by a Professor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, I told the Trooper that the Polygraph is not very accurate. I could not remember the exact percentage of it's true accuracy at the time (63 to 68%), but I again I refused to take the polygraph. Mind you, the Michigan State Police were the ones who framed Lisa Hanson (read Hansen's story here: https://antipolygraph.org/blog/?p=61 )

After my Police interview, I left the station and went to my car to get my driver’s license and returned to the Police station so the Police could make a copy. I saw Boyne City Chief of Police, Officer Gettle, behind the glass and approximately 20 feet away with his back to me, yelling to the other Officers around him that he “bet” that I had committed the crime against my daughter.

The Police continued to hammer us about the polygraph. I told finally them, "No Poly, No waiver (of rights) and no (sworn) statement." I also told them I felt we were being framed because of there drinking on the job.

The Boyne City Police were ordered to refrain from any type of press release by the Prosecutor. The Assistant Police Chief decided to tell the local press that they were sure someone in my family committed this crime and the fact that someone refused the polygraph. The local paper posted the fact someone had refused the polygraph and “investigators are not 100 percent sure the assailant was an intruder.”

     - This unauthorized press release gave the community a false sense of truth, which may have prevented people from coming forward with any possible leads.

     - Several people came forward to us with allegations that the Boyne City Police were telling people in public places that someone in our family had most likely committed the crime against my daughter. We received a lot of discrimination and it affected my college and work. Hopefully, we can get some testimony from some of these witnesses.

- Before this crime had happened, no one in our family had ever even been accused of a crime. We are God fearing, law abiding citizens. My life has been devoted to service to my community and to my country. My wife and I participated fully with the Boyne City Police and the Michigan State Police. The Police had no logical reason to assume someone in our family had committed this crime.

- Our other daughter, a 2 year-old, also had light “knife like” scratches on her neck & chin area that were not there when she went to bed. When we brought this up to the Police and they just laughed about it and refused to collect any photographic evidence. Faith was sleeping in our bed, with my wife in the master bedroom at the time. During the sentencing trial, we heard a Detective tell the Assistant Prosecutor that shoe impressions from the suspect were found in the master bedroom. The perpetrator got away with this potential crime.

- After the Boyne City Police and the State Police crime lab had completed their initial investigation of our house, the Boyne City Police wanted to...."
https://antipolygraph.org/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1286429935

[charrington]

If you’re a regular viewer of the nightly news or even Fox’s ‘Cops’, you may be aware of the extent to which police brutality can impact the day-to-day lives of members of marginalized communities, irrespective of the lack of physical danger they might pose to the police. NewsOne has profiled similar cases of police brutality in recent times, provoking heated debate about the rights of the police and those they seek to protect.

In Australia, a recently released video has caused targeted outrage about the use of Taser guns as an alternative to the hand weaponry with which Australian policemen and women are armed.

The video, released by the West Australian Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), shows two policemen as they stun the inebriated man 8 times. Their coworkers, seen observing the incident, do not react to the unprovoked attack which included an additional 5 taser strikes off camera.

VIDEO
http://newsone.com/world/jmcnamara/police-in-australia-taser-unarmed-black-man-13-times-video/

[Freeski]

corrupt to the core - in so many ways

[lamourlady]

Indeed, Freeski!  So how many other videos have been 'tucked away' to never be seen while these a-holes get away with their crap.  It's a club and they protect each other, bottom line.  Thank God for cell phones and instant digital cameras! 

[Freeski]

BRING BACK FEEDOM!!!

[charrington]

A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online. The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real, whether the young Arab-American was being targeted in a terrorism investigation and what the authorities would do.

It took just 48 hours to find out: The device was real, the student was being secretly tracked and the FBI wanted their expensive device back, the student told Wired.com in an interview Wednesday.

The answer came when half-a-dozen FBI agents and police officers appeared at Yasir Afifi’s apartment complex in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday demanding he return the device.

Afifi, a 20-year-old U.S.-born citizen, cooperated willingly and said he’d done nothing to merit attention from authorities. Comments the agents made during their visit suggested he’d been under FBI surveillance for three to six months.

An FBI spokesman wouldn’t acknowledge that the device belonged to the agency or that agents appeared at Afifi’s house.

“I can’t really tell you much about it, because it’s still an ongoing investigation,” said spokesman Pete Lee, who works in the agency’s San Francisco headquarters.

Afifi, the son of an Islamic-American community leader who died a year ago in Egypt, is one of only a few people known to have found a government-tracking device on their vehicle.

His discovery comes in the wake of a recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying it’s legal for law enforcement to secretly place a tracking device on a suspect’s car without getting a warrant, even if the car is parked in a private driveway.

Brian Alseth from the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state contacted Afifi after seeing pictures of the tracking device posted online and told him the ACLU had been waiting for a case like this to challenge the ruling.

“This is the kind of thing we like to throw...

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/

[Aoss]

That makes me so embarrassed to be an American.

[charrington]

Shocking video has emerged of a police officer slamming a handcuffed woman face first into a concrete wall, leaving her with a deep gash to her chin.

The horrific images were captured on a Dallas Tollway by Trooper Arturo Perez’s dashboard camera as he tried to arrest the female motorist on suspicion of drink-driving.

The grainy pictures clearly show the officer dragging 22-year-old Whitney Fox towards his police car then body-slamming her into a highway’s concrete dividing wall when she tried to pull away from him.

The victim is left bloodied and dazed on the ground as a second officer saunters over to help with the arrest.

The woman, who needed hospital treatment for the chin wound and cuts to her knees, is heard telling Perez: 'Oh my God. That was not necessary' as she tries to regain her composure.

Footage of the late-night incident on a toll road in Dallas last October was leaked to the media, causing a wave of outrage.



VIDEO
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1318602/Dallas-state-trooper-faces-charges-dashboard-camera-shows-brutal-attack-motorist.html?ITO=1490

[charrington]

A police officer arrested Friday in Will County, Illinois, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with a two-state rural shooting rampage that left one man dead, authorities said.

Brian E. Dorian, 37, an officer with the Lynwood Police Department, will probably face other charges, said Will County State's Attorney James W. Glasgow. In addition to the fatality, three people were wounded in the spree, which occurred south of Chicago.

At a news conference Friday, authorities declined to provide a possible motive for the shootings, which occurred Tuesday.

Dorian's first court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

He is being held on a probable cause warrant, and bail was set at $2.5 million, said Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office.

"It's always law enforcement's worst nightmare when someone in the law enforcement community chooses to break the law," Glasgow said. "It's critical that we act no differently in investigating a policeman than we would any lay person. No professional courtesies. No special treatment."

Dorian's father adamantly denied his ....
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/08/indiana.illinois.shooting/index.html?hpt=T1

[charrington]

 Obion Police Officer Tamela Holleman was fired Tuesday for tasing a man while on duty.
 
According to a report given to city leaders, Holleman was outside the Little General Convenient Store in Obion when a group of men started "teasing" her about taking time off.
 
Holleman became so upset she shot one of the men, John Burns, with her service taser. Holleman pulled the two barbs from his neck and chest and told Burns he could "file a report with the Chief."
 
"I was very upset. You would be, too," said Obion Police Chief Royce Akers. He was told about the September 21st incident two days after it happened.
 
Holleman was suspended with pay until the next council ....
http://www.wbbjtv.com/NewsStories/101008ObionPoliceOfficerFired.html

[charrington]

I hadn’t owned a watch in years and when I saw Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan was having a sale I decided to endure the phalanx of perfume purveyors and doodad distributors on their ground floor in the interest of punctuality.

Fifty-three clams lighter, I popped out onto 34th Street and was practically beheaded by an upheld M16 machine gun toted by a Ninja Turtle suit that I assume had a human being somewhere inside. In all fairness, I know nothing about guns so for all I know it was a Kalashnikov or Uzi, but you get my point.

Why are there solders carrying high-powered weapons outside Macy’s—and, as I soon discovered, on many Midtown streets?

New Yorkers who have lived here since 9/11 seem to take the regular presence of soldiers with automatic weapons in public places in stride. Having moved away for some years, it is still shocking to me that this along with random searches of bags in subways—well, not so random if you’re Black or Brown—has become part of regular life under the “war on terror.”

I detest the militarization of Gotham and I don’t believe any of us are safer for it.

First of all, that guy who ...
http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/why-are-there-m16s-outside-macy%E2%80%99s/

[citizenx]

Well, first of all, Sherry, there was this big false-flag event in Manhattan in 2001 in which several thousand people were killed...

This woman hasn't necessarily learned anything, she has simply forgotten her own mythology.

Sad, really.

[charrington]

A husband and wife have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that their constitutional rights were violated by the City of Plattsmouth and six members of its Police Department.

David S. Koven Sr. and Roxanne D. Koven of Plattsmouth are seeking an unspecified amount of money for compensatory and punitive damages resulting from a June 27, 2009, incident.

City Administrator Erv Portis declined to comment on the lawsuit, other than to say the city has “confidence in the actions of the police officers” involved and will provide a vigorous defense.

According to the complaint filed Tuesday, Plattsmouth police illegally searched the couple’s home and arrested David Koven on suspicion of growing marijuana with intent to distribute.

They also placed David Koven in emergency protective custody by “falsely certifying that he was mentally ill and dangerous,” according to the complaint.

The complaint states that a neighbor told police that David Koven was “possibly suicidal” after speaking on the telephone to Roxanne Koven, who was away from home fulfilling her military obligation.

David Koven spent 17 days in the Lasting Hope mental facility in Omaha before being released.

Because Roxanne Koven was in Maryland, the couple’s children, ages 3 and 8, were placed in foster care..
http://www.omaha.com/article/20101007/NEWS97/710079861

[charrington]

The New Orleans police officer who left his K-9 in his patrol vehicle only to find him dying --  the seats clawed to shreds in the animal's frantic attempt to escape --  agreed to pay $11,500 in restitution to the Police Department.


Primo, the 6-year-old Belgian Malinois, made it to a veteranarian's office in Metairie but died after having three seizures.
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Jason Lewis, 33, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal cruelty on Sept. 1 at Criminal District Court. The police dog's death caused an uproar last summer when a watchdog agency released reports and graphic photographs.

Judge Terry Alarcon sentenced Lewis to probation and a suspended six-month jail term. On Friday, the court approved the $11,500 in restitution.

The photos show the shredded police SUV's interior, depicting the frantic last moments of the dog's life reduced to clawing up foam and fabric.

Primo likely died of shock caused by heat stroke, a Louisiana State University necropsy report concluded. The dog's body temperature was 109.8 degrees.

NOPD had found no wrongdoing by Lewis, and argued that the police vehicle came equipped with a cooling device aimed at caring for a dog's body temperature. NOPD also suggested that the dog had another medical problem...


http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/10/officer_must_pay_11500_in_rest.html

[donnay]

Not good.  If this were you or I, we would have been brought up on charges of killing an officer! 

According to the police, a police dog is the officer's partner.  There should be no double-standards!

[charrington]

Five NYC police precincts are testing a new type of taser today after a the department's standard-issue taser failed to subdue a knife-wielding suspect and led to a fatal shooting Sunday morning.

On Sunday, police responded to a 911 call from 24-year-old Emmanuel Paulino. Paulino had told the 911 operator he was "ready to kill some cops," so they, um, dispatched some cops to his home in the Bronx. Police tried to subdue the knife-wielding Paulino with a taser, but he managed to pull one of the weapon's prongs out of his body and wound up being shot down after he continued to approach the officers.

The new taser model -- which NY1 says "can even penetrate two inches of clothing"...
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/10/cops_testing_st.php

[charrington]

A Pc sexually assaulted a woman at a police station after she was arrested for shoplifting, a court has heard.

Northumbria police officer Stephen Mitchell, 42, of Glasgow, denies five counts of rape, six of indecent assault and 15 of misconduct in public office.

The woman, one of 16 complainants, told Newcastle Crown Court that Mitchell warned her not to tell anyone, adding "no-one's going to believe a thief".

She contacted police after he began calling at her home, asking for her.

The alleged incident took place in a report reading room at Pilgrim Street Police Station in July 2006.

The mother-of-four, now aged 56, said she told Mr Mitchell she was unwell and was on cancer medication, but that "he did not seem bothered".

She said that afterwards she was in "total shock".

Asked why she did not report the incident immediately she said: "I thought no-one would believe me.

"I was a shoplifter and he was a police officer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11677172

[charrington]

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- A Fulton County police officer was arrested on suspicion of raping and molesting a 12-year-old in his care.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Erin Coleman tracked down a spokesman for the Fulton County Police Department who said the victim’s mother flagged down a DeKalb County police officer on Covington Highway and said that her daughter had been assaulted. Fulton County police Officer Michael Wilson was later taken into custody.

On Wednesday afternoon, Coleman obtained a police report detailing the incident. Due to the victim’s age and sexual assault claims, many of the details had been omitted. According to the report, there were several alleged incidents that occurred at Wilson's home.

“No department welcomes this type of allegation,” said Capt. Darryl Halbert with Fulton County Police Department.

DeKalb police said Wilson was supposed to come to police headquarters several days ago and give a statement about the incident, but when he didn’t show up, they issued warrants for his arrest, and took him into custody Tuesday.

Wilson is a five-year veteran of t....
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25624711/detail.html

[charrington]

GALLATIN, Tenn. (CN) - A mother says she saw Gallatin police officers sic a police dog on her son while he was handcuffed and then Taser him to death, because they thought he had filed a false police report. The man had called police because he thought his mother was missing.
     The wife and mother of the late Jeffery Woodward say he went into cardiac arrest and died after the needless attack by police officers. The family also Taser International, claiming it misrepresents its products as non-lethal and safe.

     Jeffery Woodward called police on Oct. 27, 2009, "to report a home invasion and that his mother was in danger. Jeffery Woodward was under the impression that someone had kidnapped his mother," according to the complaint in Sumner County Court.

     The complaint continues: "(E)n route to the call, police officers spotted Mr. Woodward walking down the street with a knife. An officer asked Mr. Woodward to surrender the knife and he did so immediately."
     The officers cuffed him and put him in the back of the patrol car and drove to his house, where they found his mother, safe. They accused Woodward of filing a false police report.

The officers took Woodward out of the patrol car, still in handcuffs, and when he became "agitated," they sicced a dog on him.

     "While on the ground with a police canine on top of him, officers subjected him to multiple Taser applications," the complaint states. "Eyewitnesses report that during this time, Mr. Woodward was crying out, 'Help me! Help me!' and that his mother was pleading with officers not to kill her son. ...
     "(T)he gratuitous use of force by....
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/11/05/31633.htm

[charrington]

An Athens-Clarke police officer never ordered a man to drop a knife before he shot and killed him Friday night, according to the man's friend who witnessed the shooting.

"All I heard was three shots - pop, pop, pop - and Sam went down," said John Willie Jennings, who police say the officer was trying to save when he shot Samuel Thomas Cunningham III.

Although Cunningham and Jennings were good friends, they've argued before - mostly while they were drinking - and Friday was the first time they came to blows, Jennings said.

Cunningham was holding a knife at his 55-year-old friend's throat when the officer shot him in Jennings' apartment in Parkview Homes, police said.

"(The officer) never said he was the police or drop the knife - nothing," Jennings said during an interview Monday at his apartment.

"The police officer might have saved my life - I don't know - but if the officer said, 'Drop the knife,' I know that Sam would have dropped that knife," Jennings said.

But police say when Senior Police Officer Lou Pasqualetti responded about 9 p.m. Friday to a disturbance at Jennings' apartment and saw the knife at Jennings' throat, he barked orders through the screen door then shot three times through the screen.

"As Pasqualetti observed blood stains on Mr. Jennings shirt and the knife to his throat area, (he) gave verbal commands to Mr. Cunningham to drop the knife and stop the violence," Athens-Clarke police said in a news release.

"Subsequently, the senior police officer fired shots from his service weapon at Mr. Cunningham to prevent severe bodily injury or the death of Mr. Jennings," according to the release.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are examining the shooting.

"Our agents worked through the night Friday and got a good bit done, but they still have some work to do," said Jim Fullington, special agent in charge of the GBI's Athens field office.

Among other things, agents are re-interviewing witnesses, trying to find others to question and have sent evidence to be tested at the GBI's State Crime Lab, according to Fullington.

Fullington hoped to finish the investigation within three weeks and present the findings to the Western Judicial Circuit district attorney's office. Prosecutors then will decide if any laws were broken.

In the meantime, the Athens-Clarke Police Department is conducting its own internal investigation into the shooting to see if Pasqualetti followed proper procedures.

"Members of ACCPD will perform an extensive and thorough administrative investigation parallel to the GBI's investigation," police Chief Jack Lumpkin said in a news release. "Pending the determination of the facts related to this highly regrettable death, the ACCPD will professionally and transparently address all areas of interests identified."

Pasqualetti is a 9-year Athens-Clarke police veteran and served on the department's Strategic Response Unit.

He shot and killed a dog last year on Hillside Street, police said, when the dog lunged at Pasqualetti with its mouth open as Pasqualetti checked the neighborhood for suspected burglars.

He was injured in 2004 when another dog attacked him during a drug raid on Griffeth Street, police said.

Cunningham, 53, was no stranger to violence, and had a history of arrests from fighting while in possession of a knife.

Police said he had a Colbert address, but Jennings said Cunningham lived on North Finley Street in Athens.

Most recently, Cunningham was arrested for aggravated assault in September 2008, for threatening people with a knife after they caught him selling gameday parking on their front lawn, according to documents.

A jury convicted Cunningham of the lesser charge of disorderly conduct, and this September, a judge gave him one year's probation and ordered him to be treated for substance abuse.

Friday was the second time an Athens-Clarke police officer shot and killed someone in three years.

Two officers stopped a car ....
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/110210/new_729532278.shtml

[charrington]

NOVEMBER 2--The Transportation Security Administration worker who earlier this year was canned for falsely claiming to have discovered cocaine in the luggage of travelers was a bomb appraisal officer who was supposed to be evaluating new screening equipment at the time he was pranking his unsuspecting targets, records show.

TSA documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request provide further details about the January incidents at the Philadelphia International Airport. The name of the bomb appraisal officer has been redacted from the material, though one memo indicates that when the worker was confronted, “He did say humbly that he was completely wrong and he made a mistake.”

The TSA officer was working near a passenger screening checkpoint “collecting data for several new pieces of equipment that are currently being evaluated by Northrop Grumman,” according to a TSA memo. Since individual data collection phases could each take up to ten minutes, the worker apparently decided to fill up the time by pranking travelers: “While the data was being collected,” the bomb appraisal officer “began to engage passengers.”

As one passenger gathered their belongings (which had just emerged from an X-ray machine), the TSA worker displayed a “small vial of white powder” and asked, “Did this come out of your bag?” When the passenger replied, “No,” the officer asked, “Are you sure?” The traveler, according to a TSA memo, said, “Yea, I’m pretty sure,” and began to laugh. “Okay, just wanted to make sure. Have a nice flight,” the officer replied.

The white powder that appeared to be cocaine was actually creatine, a nutritional supplement that was “being utilized for the data collection” being performed by the bomb appraisal officer.

His first prank--details of which have not been previously disclosed--completed, the bomb appraisal officer “returned to the equipment to begin another phase of the data collection.”

However, the TSA worker would later return to a screening lane and approach two young women who were collecting their luggage from a conveyor belt. One of the women has been previously identified as Rebecca Solomon, a 22-year-old University of Michigan student who was en route to Detroit. Solomon’s name has been redacted from the TSA documents.

After first confirming that the items in front of him belonged to the pair, the TSA employee asked the women, “Do you have anything in your bag that you’re not supposed to?” After the passengers answered, “No,” the worker again displayed some purported cocaine. While a TSA memo notes that the white powder was in a vial, Solomon has said that she was shown a plastic baggie filled with powder.

“Did this come out of your bag?” he asked. “The passengers replied, ‘No way. I don’t even know what that is,’” according to a TSA report. The worker “concluded with, ‘I’m just checking. I know it didn’t come out of your bag, it belongs to me. You seem way too nice. Have a good flight.'"

“You almost had me,” one passenger is reported to have responded, according to a TSA memo.

Solomon, crying, eventually approached an airline worker to lodge a complaint about the TSA worker. Referring to “the things that are going on in the world today,” Solomon said she....
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/memos-detail-tsa-officers-cocaine-pranks

[charrington]

Two police officers involved in an early-morning crash that killed a bicyclist were indicted Wednesday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving.

A grand jury certified charges against Officers Derek Folston and Joey Bennett for the July crash that killed Donnell Worsley, according to court records. The men were also each charged with two misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, including driving too fast for conditions.

Folston and Bennett were released on bond Wednesday afternoon, said Amanda Howie, spokeswoman for the commonwealth attorney's office.

Worsley was riding his bicycle near the 1600 block of Brambleton Avenue at 1:30 a.m. July 25 when he was struck by a police vehicle, according to police. Worsley was hospitalized in serious condition, police said, and he died Sept. 24.

Worsley earned a degree in massage therapy and worked at Atlantic Dominion, according to his obituary.

Folston, 34, joined the Norfolk force in September 2007, and Bennett, 25, was hired in June 2008, according to city records. Both are sworn officers in the first patrol division, police said. They....
http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2010/11/two-norfolk-officers-charged-cyclists-death

[charrington]

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will pay $2 million to a Louisiana man who claimed deputies working for the Sheriff's Office shot him in the eye while on assignment to aid New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

The Board of Supervisors approved the payment on a 4-0 vote at a Wednesday meeting; Supervisor Fulton Brock was absent for the vote.

Asked why the supervisors decided to settle the case, spokeswoman Cari Gerchick responded, "It was a business decision made to minimize taxpayer expense."

Gerchick referred questions to county Risk Manager Peter Crowley, who said, "It's just one of those cases where we felt it was in the county's best interest to settle."

The Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sheriff's deputies Aaron Brown and Jason Lier were among the members of the Sheriff's Office that flew to Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

According to a complaint filed in federal court, Naquin was driving on a highway outside New Orleans when he crossed paths with Brown and Lier, who were driving an unmarked SUV.

Naquin's truck and the SUV briefly reached an impasse when one of the highway's lanes narrowed. According to the complaint, as the SUV and truck pulled alongside each other, Naquin saw the SUV's passenger-side window roll down and the barrel of a rifle come out, pointed at him.

Naquin did not see Brown or Lier wearing any clothes indicating they were law enforcement, and in the fallout from the hurricane, Naquin assumed the worst and sped off, according to the complaint. Brown and Lier continued to follow Naquin and activated the emergency lights under the grill of their unmarked SUV.

"Because of his experience and, in particular, his rescue work in New Orleans, Plaintiff knew that ordinary people, with no official status, had been using products such as under-the-grill lights for nefarious purposes," according to the court documents.

The deputies eventually turned off their emergency lights and stopped behind Naquin at an intersection, according to the court documents. According to the complaint, Naquin said he felt threatened and got out of his truck, unarmed, with his palms turned upward and asked Lier and Brown, "What do you (expletive) want?"

The passenger pointed a rifle at Naquin, according to the complaint, and shot the Louisiana resident in the left eye.

With a portion of his eyeball in his palm, Naquin asked the deputies why they had shot him, according to the complaint....
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/11/03/20101103maricopa-county-supervisors-settle-man-shot-in-eye.html

[charrington]

COCOA, Fla. -- A repo man says he ended up arrested for doing his job. He told WFTV Friday, the problem came when he tried to repossess a car from a police officer.

Joe Ortiz said he had repossession papers in hand when he rang the door bell and the officer came out, yelling at him.

When Rockledge police arrived, he was waiting on the street with no other witnesses. Five months later, he was arrested for trespassing.

"Dot my "I-s and cross my T-s on every repossession," Ortiz said.

He says he never had trouble until he tried to pickup a car from the Rockledge home in May from Cocoa police officer, Amy Moon.

"Screaming and yelling, 'Get off my property, you're not getting my car!'" he described.

Both of them called Rockledge police.

By law, if he's on someone's property and is told to leave, he has to leave. In this case, when Rockeledge police arrived, he was on the street on public property.

He says he left right away, she says he didn't. There were no witnesses, he left without the car.

Five months later, Ortiz got pulled over for a traffic violation in St. Cloud. He was arrested on a warrant for trespassing from the May incident and spent 20 hours in the Osceola County jail.

Officer Moon's husband said he didn't know much about the incident and told WFTV, "No way, she doesn't want to talk about it."

Rockledge police told WFTV in a "he said, she said" they file to appease the complainant and leave it up the state attorney to decide if there's enough evidence.

Even they were surprised charges were brought against Ortiz.

"In this case, the particular victim was law enforcement, which may have carried some weight," said Misdemeanor Division Chief Michelle Perlman.

Perlman says the attorney on the case felt there was reason to believe the officer even without other witnesses.

"Do you think the attorney ....
http://www.wftv.com/news/25649933/detail.html

[Dok]

Perlman says the attorney on the case felt there was reason to believe the officer even without other witnesses.

and there's the whole problem.

[charrington]

A Peoria, Illinois, police officer who was videotaped beating and tasing a man after a traffic stop two years ago has been acquitted of his charges.

Officer Andrew Smith was one of three officers who can be seen on a dashboard video tape punching, kicking and using a stun gun on Bryce Scott after the officers pulled him over in May 2008. Smith's legal team argued that the use of force was justified because Scott was resisting arrest and refused to be handcuffed. They also brought up Scott's past as a convicted drug dealer, although the officers did not know those details the night of the beating.

Scott, who has been on unpaid leave since being arrested in March 2009, was found not guilty of misconduct, aggravated battery, mob action and battery. He will be taken off unpaid leave and may be back on the street soon.

Despite requests to drop charges against the other two officers, State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons said the details of their cases will be reviewed.

    These charges....
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/319131/cop_caught_on_tape_beating%2C_tasing_man_--_gets_off/

[charrington]

As a working photographer and lecturer, I fly a lot. The escalating levels of airport security and luggage (read camera gear, not clothing!) restrictions became just another annoying aspect of air travel, a necessary trade-off for rapid access to remote destinations. Kathy and I developed a check-point routine that typically succeeded in getting ourselves and all that photography gear safely through screening and onto the plane, only a little crankier than when we started the day. But this week TSA tightened the screws a little more, and now they've gone too far.

 I have metal in both of my knees, the result of too much tennis in my early years and many years of carrying a heavy backpack of photo equipment over uneven terrain. This means that every time I fly--usually several times a month--I get special attention from TSA at the many airports lacking body scanners, including the one in my city. As Kathy shepherds our stuff along the conveyor belt, I get pulled aside for special, hands-on attention from a TSA agent.


 In the past this meant that I'd be blessed by the magic wand and lightly patted down. Not my favorite massage, but tolerable. Sometimes my photo gear was also gathered up and swabbed with a pad and tested for residue. Kathy would watch, muttering under her breath about the abandonment of civil liberties in exchange for a false sense of security, but still, the interruption was typically brief and courteous.

 Today, TSA crossed some boundaries that changed everything.

 It started with a whole new orientation speech on what the TSA agent was going to do to me. Hell, I had memorized the old spiel and now they were changing it. All my gear was brought into the area to be swabbed and examined, and then the agent started to pat me down. No wand, just the hands...everywhere! Up the legs, into the groin (even a jab into the genitals) down and up both legs. Other travelers stopped to watch, some gasping in surprise.


Kathy protested from outside the enclosure: "Tell him you’re married, and only your wife gets to touch you there.” He laughed, but pushed on. This was getting WAAAAAY too personal. The TSA agent placed his gloves into the magic spectra sniffer. Then they collected me, my photo gear and another TSA agent of higher rank and without explanation escorted me to a private room where they groped me again and swabbed everything again, decided that I'm not a terrorist after all, invited me to file a complaint, and let me go, with nearly an hour lost.

 While I was in the room for “private screening,” Kathy and other travelers watched in embarrassment and horror as a sweet-faced, white-haired, old woman with an artificial hip and a long skirt (she had the calm and grace of a nun) was subjected to the same treatment from a female TSA agent, who warned her loudly in advance that she was going to touch “breasts” and “genitals.” When offered the “private screening” room, the lady hesitated. Everybody knows that when the government wants to take you into a private room at the airport, it’s not going to be good.

So of course the woman chose to be violated and humiliated in public, with witnesses. And, with reference to Carlos Miller’s recent posts on this site about repression of photographers, Kathy hesitated to pull the little SX-1 IS camera out of her briefcase to capture some video of the scene, although our searches have not yet uncovered any clear regulation against photographing TSA personnel and airport security areas. Frankly, once the agents took me away, Kathy became afraid that any action on her part might escalate the events for me or others.

 In the recent past, we’ve published a couple of articles about how to get your gear through security and onto planes in some of the most remote and dangerous areas of the world—and safely back again. Consider this little piece an update about how to manage your equipment—photographic and personal--right here in the good ol’ USA. On the positive side, fellow passengers watching TSA’s treatment of me and the nun-like woman can feel reassured that we were not found to be carrying explosives in the area of our artificial joints.

On the negative side, we all need to be even more careful as we move through airport security not to draw unwelcome notice and delay from TSA personnel through sloppy preparation of our bags or bodies. I can’t even recommend that you clean your camera gear carefully before you travel, eliminating any dust and debris you might have picked up out in the field that might register somehow in the swab test, because the TSA agent told me that those tests are tripping false positives on nothing but clean clothes. Other writers have noted that the new aggressive TSA pat-down policy is meant to be so reprehensible that, when faced with a choice between the full-body back-scatter scanners that render an image of your nude body or a physical pat-down, everyone will choose the scanner as the lesser (or faster) invasion of privacy. I rarely begin my travel in big airports equipped with scanners, and I plan to keep my metal knees, so that’s really not an option for me.

 Remember that recent U.S. president who famously said of terrorists, “They ...
http://www.pixiq.com/article/the-airport-security-grope

[charrington]

A woman who says she was raped by a Marion police officer is told her story to NewsChannel 15. She says she felt pressured to recant the allegation by two Marion police lieutenants who initially investigated the incident.

The 27-year-old woman asked us to identify her as "M." She asked us not to identify her or show her picture.

She said the first time she first met the 23-year-old officer was when he responded to her car accident the morning of September 25th. "He handed me a card and I just seen Marion police on it, and I threw it in my pocketbook."

"M" says the officer showed up at her apartment on McMillan Street an hour and a half later, wanting to discuss the tickets he issued her after the wreck. "He was in uniform and he came in and he started telling me about the tickets." Then "M" says the officer asked her to come into another room, where he raped her and then left. "I'm thinking, how do you call a police officer on a police officer? Who can I call?" she said.

"M" called her boyfriend and he called 9-1-1. Minutes later, she says a female officer showed up at her door, followed by a male officer. She says they advised her to have a rape kit done at the hospital. When she got home, she says the investigators returned, questioned her, and read her her rights. "They didn't make me feel like a victim because they told me, they said I don't look like a rape victim and you don't have a case because rape victims be balled up in a corner or scared to talk."

She says the officers threatened her with prison time, if she didn't recant her allegations and say the incident was consensual. "They kept saying if it's not rape then don't say it's rape. Then I said if I didn't agree to it or I didn't consent to it, what do I call it?"

"M" says she wrote in her statement that she didn't agree to have sex with the officer, but that it wasn't rape. "Made it seem like if I didn't put rape at the end, SLED wasn't going to take me to prison."

The State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is now....
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=536284

[charrington]

On this page they are taking a vote to whether or not to use tasers --

Robert Neill Jr., 61, died after he become unresponsive after police used a Taser on him twice and sprayed him with Mace, state police said.

The incident happened at about 4 a.m. Saturday at Neill's home in the 300 block of Marietta Avenue in Mount Joy.

Several police departments assisted, including Mount Joy Borough police, Susquehanna Regional police and state police from Ephrata.
According to police, Neill said that he had been harassed by his neighbors. When officers arrived, they said Neill was combative and aggressive.

That is when officers used a Taser on him and sprayed with Mace him. Neill died on the way to the hospital.

"Police officers acted appropriately and used the proper amount of force to subdue Mr. Neill," said state police Lt. William White.

The State Police Major....

Slide Show --http://www.wgal.com/slideshow/news/25668732/detail.html
http://www.wgal.com/r/25659485/detail.html

[charrington]

EAST LANSING -- The mother of an East Lansing High School student says police used a Taser on her son during a confrontation Thursday near the school’s cafeteria.

Dionnedra Reid of East Lansing said she believes East Lansing police used excessive force during the situation because her 17-year-old son, a junior, already was being held down on his back by four other East Lansing police officers when another officer Tasered him in the chest twice.

Reid said she did not witness the incident, but said she watched a videotape of it Friday with school officials. On Friday, East Lansing Public Schools Superintendent David Chapin would not confirm that a student was Tasered, but said school officials were investigating “an incident” that occurred near the cafeteria about noon Thursday.

“We were escorting a student of the school, and other students tried to intervene,” Chapin said. “No one was hurt, and no students had weapons. Calm was quickly restored.”
East Lansing police today confirmed they did respond to an incident at the school on Thursday, but would not confirm anyone was Tasered or provide further specifics about the incident.

“He should not have been Tasered,” Reid said. “…(Tasers) should not be used as a tool of intimidation for high school kids.”

She said her son was escorting his girlfriend out of the building because she was upset at being suspended for truancy when the confrontation occurred....

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20101106/NEWS01/311060004/1002/Mother-says-police-Tasered-son-at-East-Lansing-High-School

[charrington]

The abuse of power and use of intimidation tactics to prevent video recording in public places goes on.

Ron Clark, one of two La Crosse Watchdog Bloggers, was arrested, cited, and released on October 26 for merely displaying his videocam and because of "his attitude," according to the La Crosse Tribune, quoting the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse campus police chief, which suggests that possession of "attitude" is illegal in La Crosse.

The incident happened at a local political debate at UW-L that some politically influential people have attempted to declare off limits to anyone with a camera except those whom they approve, such as officially sanctioned local media like WXOW Channel 19, a co-sponsor of the event.

Clark hadn't even been filming the debate but was attempting to record the interaction between police and fellow Watchdog Mike, whose last name has been held by request.

As almost always happens between law enforcement officers and a citizen with a camera, to the point where it's become a stale statist cliché, Clark reports that he was physically assaulted and abused during his arrest.

Mike contacted the Libertarian News Examiner with a recent, and apparently typical, run-in with the rights deniers.

Last week Mike attended a debate between two local candidates and found himself being harassed by members of the League of Women Voters, campus professors and a candidate's campaign worker because he was openly filming the debate participants.

They confronted him, argued with him, demanded that he stop recording, stood in front of him to block his view, and even called him an expletive.

Mike's response was simple in its logic, that he was merely attempting to exercise his first amendment right of Freedom of the Press.

It's not as though he was trespassing on other people's property, Mike insists.

"Keep in mind that UW-La Crosse is a public ....
http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-news-in-national/watchdog-blogger-arrested-for-filming-public

[charrington]

Campaigners in the UK are demanding answers into why no officer has ever been convicted for deaths in police custody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVTLu--gx20

[charrington]

A Coachella Valley man who aimed a laser pointer at a CHP helicopter last year was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison Monday, authorities said.

Nathan Ramon Wells, 19, aimed the laser at the aircraft while it was assisting Cathedral City police investigating a residential burglary in June 2009.

Along with the prison time, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips in Riverside ordered Wells to be placed on supervised released for three years when he completes the sentence.

In September, Wells pleaded guilty to a felony count of interference with an operator of an aircraft. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the California Highway Patrol pilot was flying at 700 feet when the helicopter’s cockpit was suddenly illuminated with a bright green light, causing both CHP officers aboard to look away and change course.

The officers...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/10/man-gets-15-monts-in-federal-prison-for-pointing-laser-at-a-chp-helicopter.html

[charrington]

BROWNSVILLE _ A Cameron County sheriff's deputy was arrested on charges he took bribes to allow cars containing firearms to pass to Mexico as he monitored international bridge lanes for southbound stolen vehicles.

Jesus A. Longoria, a 31-year-old Brownsville resident, was arrested on a federal warrant on Monday.

A complaint unsealed in federal court Tuesday alleges Longoria accepted payments from an undercover federal agent in exchange for allowing vehicles he knew contained guns through his checkpoint. Longoria was part of joint local-federal operation aimed....
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/mexico/valley_sheriffs_deputy_charged_with_gun_smuggling_106545858.html

[charrington]

Police shot and killed a man who had allegedly been involved in a domestic dispute in East Oakland, then fled from officers, authorities said today.

The 37-year-old Oakland man, whose name has not been released, was shot during a confrontation near the corner of Bancroft Avenue and Trask Street at about 9:40 p.m. Monday, police said.

The incident began when officers responded to reports of a domestic dispute at the Clean Scene laundry on the 5800 block of Bancroft. When police arrived, the man fled from the business toward Trask Street, with police in pursuit, said Officer Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman.

Two officers found the man on the 5800 block of Trask and shot and killed him. Police have not explained why the officers opened fire or said whether the man was armed.

The two officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending investigations by police ...

http://m.sfgate.com/sfchron/db_41161/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=UdAWdPiB&detailindex=1&pn=0&ps=3

[charrington]

Two police officers are facing disciplinary action over their conduct after a Newcastle teenager was killed by a speeding patrol car.

Hayley Adamson, 16, died after being hit by the car driven by Pc John Dougal in May 2008. He was later jailed.


Minutes after the fatal crash a dog handler sent to the scene was overheard referring to Hayley as a "scumbag".

Northumbria Police said she and another officer, who behaved inappropriately during Dougal's trial, faced action.

The Northumbria force expressed "shock and horror" at the behaviour of the officers and said an apology had been made to the teenager's family.

Dougal was driving his patrol car at more than 90mph when Hayley was struck in Denton Road, Scotswood, on 19 May 2008.

At his subsequent trial it emerged he was following at night what he wrongly thought was a stolen car at 94mph in a 30mph zone without flashing lights or sirens.

He was convicted of causing the death of the teenager by dangerous driving and jailed for three years.
Northumbria Police has now told the BBC's Inside Out that two other officers face being disciplined after their conduct was investigated.

Dog handler Pc Julie Neve was heard referring to Hayley as a "Scotchy Scumbag" after her death - a reference to the area of Scotswood close to Hayley's home.

The second officer faces action after behaving inappropriately during Dougal's trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

The teenager's family complained that Sgt Lynne McKevitt repeatedly tutted in court whenever Hayley's name was mentioned.

Supt Jo Farrell said: "On a personal and professional level I am shocked and horrified that somebody would respond in that way.

"An internal discipline investigation wa..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11711949

[charrington]

John Solomon thinks the police are messing with him. The police think the same thing about John Solomon.

On two afternoons in a row last week, Solomon, 24, was arrested after hanging out at a North Philadelphia bus stop, and each time, the cops confiscated from him a legally owned gun and a separate license to carry a gun, the licensed security guard said yesterday.

"They locked me up for loitering at a bus stop," said Solomon, who has a special concealed-carry permit for security-training officers and one of the controversial gun permits issued by Florida. "And they took my guns away."

Police think that Solomon was being insolent and used poor judgment, including by showing up armed at the same bus stop at which he was arrested the previous day.

"If he's that defiant, should this guy have a gun?" said Sgt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman. "The most uncommon human trait is common sense. He's not using good, adult judgment."

The first day, cops charged Solomon with a summary citation for failure to disperse when he refused to leave the bus stop at Broad Street and Olney Avenue, a "known drug corner," after being asked to do so four times by police, Evers said.

Solomon said that it's the same bus stop he waits at every day and that he allowed four buses to pass by him because it was about 3 p.m. and he didn't feel like riding a bus full of kids leaving school.

He agrees that he refused to leave when asked repeatedly by two beat cops.

"I was mad. I told them you can't lock me up for waiting for a bus," he said. "I'm allowed to miss a bus or two."

Solomon, of Germantown, an independent contractor who works with the Parapet Group, a security and law-enforcement training company, said he was taken into custody and held for seven hours. He said city police confiscated his gun and his Act 235 license, issued by State Police to security-training officers.

Solomon had received that same gun back one week earlier, after petitioning the courts for months to return it. The gun had been confiscated when he was a passenger during a 2009 car stop, he said, adding that he was never charged in that case.

When cops took his gun and Act 235 permit yesterday, they let him keep the Florida license.

Solomon said he never applied for a Pennsylvania permit, and got the Florida permit because he travels often for security work.

Residents in Pennsylvania can get a license through the mail from Florida - even if they have been denied a license here or if theirs has been revoked - because of a reciprocity agreement between Pennsylvania and a handful of other states. Anti-gun activists and politicians have called for the abolition of the so-called Florida gun loophole.

Solomon was one of nine men in an August Daily News story whose legally owned guns were taken by police while they carried a Florida permit or an Act 235.

The day after his first arrest last week, Solomon returned to the same bus stop and began taking pictures of others who were standing around, as he was instructed to do by an attorney he consulted, he said.

"A bunch of other people was loitering, but they [police] didn't say...
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20101103_Licensed_gun-holder_loses_guns___permits_after_he_and_cops_lock_horns_--_twice.html

[ekimdrachir]

If he wants his guns back, why should he have them at all! He must be crazy, to not be terrified of guns, we better lock him up or he might go nuts!

[feeditup]

He should have the right, Sounds like profiling.