Florida ex-officer indicted for excessive force, four others plead guilty
Source: Reuters
A former Florida sheriff's deputy has been indicted by a federal grand jury for using excessive force during a 2014 arrest where five white law enforcement officers were involved in the beating of a black man, U.S. Justice officials said on Wednesday.
Former Marion County sheriff's deputy Jesse Terrell, 33, was indicted late on Tuesday on a charge of depriving the man of his civil rights. The other officers previously pleaded guilty to that offense, court records show.
The officers have all either resigned or been terminated from the sheriff's department in central Florida, said a spokeswoman for the agency, who confirmed the victim was black. Court records did not identify him by name.
-snip-
Four deputies, including Terrell, struck the man during the August 2014 incident, prosecutors said in court records, and it was captured on videotape. The fifth officer watched and did not try to stop them.
World | Wed Jan 27, 2016 2:17pm EST
TAMPA, FLA. | BY LETITIA STEIN
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bobsal u1553115
2
Wed 27 Jan, 2016 06:52 pm
Officials in Ferguson, Mo., agree to train officers on avoiding use of force
Source: Washington Post
The city of Ferguson, Mo., has tentatively agreed to improve its policing policies and train its officers to de-escalate confrontations and avoid the use of force except where necessary, according to a proposed consent decree reached by Ferguson officials and the Justice Department.
The 131-page agreement lays out a plan by city officials to establish long-term programs that promote interactions between the police and youth, revise the city’s municipal code so it does not harm “Ferguson’s most vulnerable residents” and ensure that officers are provided the training, supervision and support they need to police effectively but also “lawfully and ethically.”
The city would also require bias-awareness training of all court staff and police personnel, including supervisors and unsworn officers, according to the plan.
The Justice Department opened a broad civil rights investigation into Ferguson in September 2014 after the fatal shooting a month before of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, by a white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson. A grand jury that fall decided not to indict Wilson, and last year, the Justice Department announced it would not pursue federal civil rights charges against Wilson because officials said there was no evidence to disprove Wilson’s belief that he feared for his safety.
Widow of Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz indicted
Source: CNN
(CNN) - The widow of an Illinois police lieutenant who tried to portray his suicide as murder was indicted Wednesday on six counts accusing her of participating in her husband's stealing of charitable funds, authorities said.
Melodie Gliniewicz, 51, is the wife of Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, who killed himself last year. Officials said her husband staged his suicide to appear he was killed in the line of duty while pursuing three suspects. The case prompted a massive manhunt for weeks until authorities unraveled the ruse.
Melodie Gliniewicz was charged with money laundering and paying personal expenses with funds from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post that was headed by her late husband since 1987, authorities said.
She held "a fiduciary role as an adult adviser" with the group, which encouraged youngsters to explore careers in law enforcement and the military.
By Michael Martinez, CNN
Updated 0005 GMT (0805 HKT) January 28, 2016
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bobsal u1553115
3
Fri 29 Jan, 2016 08:43 pm
Putting Police and Public Housing on Trial: Inside the Case of NYPD Officer Peter Liang
How did one of New York’s finest come to kill Akai Gurley?
By Alana Samoles / AlterNet
January 27, 2016
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Photo Credit: Stockimo/Shutterstock
“I’m going to be fired,” said Peter Liang, a New York City police officer of just over 18 months, after shooting a single bullet into the unlit stairwell of the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn, New York.
The bullet ricocheted off a wall and struck Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old resident of the housing complex, in the chest. He stumbled down two flights of stairs and collapsed on the fifth-floor landing. He lay there bleeding for four minutes, while Liang and his partner argued over whether to report the incident, they claim unaware that a few stories below, a man was dying.
That was in November 2014.
Since then, a grand jury has indicted Liang on six charges: second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of official misconduct. His trial began this week.
Statistically, it’s not surprising that Liang killed Gurley. The victim was unarmed and black, characteristics of the group most killed by police officers, according to The Counted, an ongoing investigation by the Guardian to record people killed by police in the U.S. What is shocking is that Liang was indicted on any crime at all. According to MappingPoliceViolence.org, police killed 102 unarmed black people last year, and only nine of the cases resulted in a charge.
Looking through these cases, one can find multiple people killed for having toy guns or cellphones, a handful of mentally disabled people police described as “non-compliant,” and numerous traffic stops where officers dispensed fatal bullets.
Just a few months before Gurley’s death, New Yorkers watched a video of a trio of police officers putting Staten Island resident Eric Garner in a chokehold, suffocating him to death while he cried, “I can’t breathe.”
Bu the Liang case is different.
Liang and his partner were in the East New York Pink Housing complex conducting “vertical patrols," a longstanding police tactic that falls somewhere under the broken-windows theory, which targets low-income populations and public housing using the notion that, according to the Columbia Review, “perceptions of disorder call for intense responses to seemingly insignificant offenses.”
These patrols have been the subject of controversy. Tina Luongo of New York’s Legal Aid Society filed a class-action complaint against New York City and its Housing Authority in 2010, “challenging their unlawful policy of routinely subjecting residents and their visitors to stops and arrests purportedly to enforce trespass laws.” According to the New York Times, police later “adopted new guidelines for vertical patrols intended to soften interactions between officers and tenants,” but the Wall Street Journal reported in 2014 that the number of arrests for trespassing rose 8.8 percent.
Of the patrols, Police Commissioner Bratton said in a press conference, “The reason we are there is because the people in those developments want us there.”
But residents posting on an Internet message board claim they want something else.
“The Pink Houses, in my opinion, is one of the worst managed housing projects to live in…when I moved in I received an entry door key and have not used it once,” one member said, “The reason you don’t need a key is because all the entry door locks are broken and kept widely open for violators and trespassers.” This sentiment is repeated throughout the 16-page-long forum.
The irony of extensive police patrols in public housing that lacks basic door locks is not lost on Councilmember Ritchie Torres, who said, “our priorities are in the wrong place.”
As for the police officers, John Jay College professor Joseph Pollini, a former NYPD detective, said, “It’s not an open view situation…it’s constant twists and turns in the stairwell. Someone could be waiting for an officer to come around that corner.”
Liang, no doubt aware of the vertical patrol’s reputations, nervously entered the negligently dark stairwell of the Pink Houses. At the same time, Gurley entered from one floor below, because the elevator in his building was broken, again. According to all reports, neither knew of the other’s presence until Liang, juggling a flashlight, his gun and the staircase door, accidentally fired his weapon.
(Today the stairwell is bright, thanks to a new bulb installed hours after Gurley’s death—and months after the superintendent of the development asked the NYCHA to replace the light.)
When selecting the jury, Liang’s lawyer asked the jurors if they felt the charges were “heavy-handed.” Members of the Asian-American community feel they are — drawing parallels to the Garner case, where protocol was also broken (the officer in Staten Island used a chokehold illegally), and the white police officer, who targeted the victim and heard his screams for help, walked free. There has been no debate concerning charges against the Housing Authority.
Regardless, Liang, like the officers before him, was confronted with a situation he believed dangerous and in a hasty move, pulled out his gun. There is no argument whether the shooting was an accident. It was. But it is important to consider whether it was the broken light, the officer’s inexperience or the fear of the enduring, illusory and fatal black specter lurking around a corner, that turned Peter Liang into a killer.
Alana Samoles is the deputy communications director for a NYC Democratic primary congressional campaign. A recent journalism graduate from the New School University, she has also written for Noise Creative Agency and MillenniumMagazine.com.
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bobsal u1553115
4
Sun 31 Jan, 2016 07:24 am
Cops Caught on Camera in Cowardly Gang-Style Beating of an Unarmed Man Lying Face Down
Watch the video and then ask yourself why so many people, both innocent and guilty, so often run from police.
By Matt Agorist / The Free Thought Project
January 30, 2016
Marion County, FL — In August of 2014, multiple deputies with the Marion County Sheriff’s office conducted a drug bust. During the bust, Derrick Price ran from deputies Jesse Terrell, Trevor Fitzgerald, James Amideo, Cody Hoppel and Adam Crawford. However, once he realized he could not outrun the pickup truck, he quickly stopped, put his hands up, and laid face down on the ground — completely surrendering.
Upon reaching the unarmed, nonviolent, completely compliant, and prostrate man, the deputies proceeded to unleash a furious beating composed of kicks to the head, knees to the body, and countless blows from fists.
Price was left severely beaten and bloodied in the parking lot after the assault. The deputies would go on to lie and claim that Price was combative and resisting. Luckily for Price, however, the entire gang beating was captured on video.
The court documents describe the beating:
The court documents read as follows, where Cody Hoppel, Adam Crawford, and Jesse Terrell are respectively referred to in court documents as deputies 1, 2, and 3.
“The video footage depicts the unnecessary and unreasonable use of force by three deputies who beat, kicked, and kneed a fully compliant Price while Amidei and Fitzgerald failed to intervene to protect the arrestee, despite having the opportunity to do so. Deputy 2 kneeled down at the right side of Price’s head and shoulder, Deputy 3 positioned himself immediately above Price’s head, Deputy 1 took a position at Price’s left side, and Fitzgerald straddled the back of Price’s legs as Deputy Amidei hovered above the deputies directly behind Deputy 1. At no time did Price resist the deputies or pose a threat in any fashion. After Deputy 2 initially grabbed Price’s left arm from Price’s right side, pinning Price’s right arm to the ground, Deputies 1, 2, and 3 began beating Price as [he] lay on the ground.”
The video was released this week by the state attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit and immediately after its release, Marion County Sheriff Chris Blair held a news conference.
“The abusive and unprofessional actions they displayed shocked me to my core, and there was absolutely no hesitation for me to immediately inform the Florida Department of Law Enforcement of their actions, to immediately suspend those former deputies without pay and, ultimately, to request their resignation and/or termination,” said Blair.
Since the incident in August of 2014, deputies Fitzgerald, Amideo, Hoppel, and Crawford all pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violations. However, despite the assault occurring over 18 months ago, not one of these officers has been sentenced.
This week, a grand jury indicted Jesse Terrell who, for some odd reason, is maintaining his innocence. From what the video shows, not one officer on the scene is innocent. Even the fifth officer, who chose not to take out his pent-up aggression on a man whose only ‘crime’ was to do with his own body what he wanted, is guilty. He is an officer of the law, and he did not attempt to stop the crime of assault on a nonviolent man.
According to Reuters, Terrell’s attorney expected that his case would go to trial, saying that his situation differed from the guilty officers.
“Jesse is not guilty. He is not guilty of anything,” said attorney Charles Holloman. He declined to elaborate on why Terrell’s behavior differed from that of the other officers.
Watch the video below, and then ask yourself why so many people, both innocent and guilty, so often run from police. Derrick Price was a threat to no one. He wasn’t ‘armed,’ ‘reaching for his waistband,’ ‘charging at the officers,’ ‘making threatening movements,’ ‘resisting,’ or any of the other bogus excuses used by police when doling out brutal beat downs.
Perhaps the most chilling aspect of this Rodney King-style beating of Derrick Price is the fact that had the cameras not caught these officers in their brutal display, the world would all still believe they are heroes. What’s more, even in spite of this video, there is most likely a large sect of society who still believe they are.
Cop Kills Unarmed Man at His Place of Work Over Unpaid Traffic Fines, Then Gets Huge Promotion
Law enforcement authorities asserted the fatal shooting was “justified under the facts and the law.”
By Claire Bernish / The Free Thought Project
February 3, 2016
After killing Nicholas Thomas on March 24, 2015, under questionable circumstances at the Goodyear store where he was on the job, Smyrna Police Sgt. Kenneth Owens was cleared of any wrongdoing — and is now being promoted to Lieutenant.
Photo Credit: c/o The Free Thought Project
Smyrna, GA — After killing Nicholas Thomas on March 24, 2015, under questionable circumstances at the Goodyear store where he was on the job, Smyrna Police Sgt. Kenneth Owens was cleared of any wrongdoing — and is now being promoted to Lieutenant.
“In a release sent to 11Alive News on Tuesday, the Smyrna Police Department confirmed that Owens is being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant effective Monday, February 15, 2016,” the local NBC affiliate reported; and according to that statement, “Sgt. Owens is eligible and qualified for this position as prescribed by departmental policy.”
Considering the questions still surrounding Thomas’ death, his family — as well as many others in the community and elsewhere — would likely beg to differ.
Thomas was working at the Atlanta Goodyear Service Center, when Owens and several other officers came to serve a warrant for an alleged probation violation by the young father — reportedly over traffic violations. Startled by those officers appearance at his workplace, Thomas reportedly jumped into a customer’s Maserati to flee.
“The suspect drove his car toward officers, putting officers in fear for their lives, at which time the officers fired into the vehicle, shooting the suspect,” said Smyrna Police Sgt. Ed Cason the following day, as 11Alive reported at the time.
However, questions arose when the Cobb County Medical Examiner found the bullet had entered Thomas in his upper right back — hardly the location or entry point one would expect if an officer fired into a vehicle because he thought it would run him over.
Look at the car. Look at where the bullets hit. But the officers feared for their lives. #NicholasThomas pic.twitter.com/hyAadR0FqI
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 25, 2015
“Of all the officers there, only one felt his life was threatened,” said Thomas’ family lawyer Mawuli Davis, as The Free Thought Project previously reported. “Unless a car can travel sideways, I don’t know how you can be in fear for your life.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Cobb County Police Department both asserted the fatal shooting was “justified under the facts and the law.”
That fear of an imminent threat to an officer’s life — the justification for and cause of subsequent no-fault finding in this incident — appear to have been based on Owens’ hypothetical assessment of what Thomas was planning to do.
As Thomas careened around the store’s parking lot, looking for a way out since officers had blocked the only vehicle entry and exit point, Owens and other police jumped out of the way — but he claimed he feared an approaching officer might be struck by the vehicle if Thomas rounded the corner of the store quickly, so he decided to open fire.
Despite these lingering questions surrounding the killing of Thomas, as well as a seemingly loose interpretation of Georgia law, Sgt. Owens will soon be promoted to Lt. Owens — apparently indicating a continuing of the trend of impunity under any circumstances for police in the United States.
And why not? Cops ‘fearing for their lives’ and then killing fleeing motorists seems to be the norm in Police State USA.
Seneca Police Lt. Mark Tiller made the same assertion when he shot and killed 19-year-old Zachary Hammond over thepossession of a small amount of marijuana. Officer Ray Tensing was caught on video killing Sam Dubose in a similar fashion. In September, cellphone footage was releasedshowing police murdering 33-year-old John Barry, a mentally ill man who attempted to flee from police during a breakdown.
One of the most disgusting examples of cops claiming to fear for their lives as cars drive off is the case of Officers Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse, Jr., who, in November, opened fire on a car occupied by 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis, killing him and severely injuring his father.
The idiot attacked police officers with a car and got himself killed so why the hell should not one of the cops get promoted?
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cicerone imposter
1
Wed 3 Feb, 2016 06:55 pm
@bobsal u1553115,
I think this sentence speaks volumes.
Quote:
“Of all the officers there, only one felt his life was threatened,” said Thomas’ family lawyer Mawuli Davis, as The Free Thought Project previously reported. “Unless a car can travel sideways, I don’t know how you can be in fear for your life.”
Lord the man over a minor matter jumped into a customer car and drove wildly around the parking lot creating fear of death to at least one police officer and ended up dead as a result.
He surely did not show any caring to either the cops or his fellow employees or customers or the customers properties for that matter.
How many lives of others would he had cheerfully placed at risk it he had gotten onto the highways?
Sorry but I am not feeling any tears in my eyes over this fool.
No not an eyewitness just read the article with the assumption that the facts are mostly correct.
Now as far as I am concern I would not care one way or another what this fool skin color happen to had been nor do I see any reason to think that the cops was acting base on his skin color.
You however seems to focus on skin colors and disregard the risks the man was willing to placed everyone else by his behaviors including black families if he had won free to the highways.
Perhaps whites as a group are somewhat less likely to run and or resisted being arrested .
Next if you are in control of a car you are not unarmed.
In any case, I for some strange reason can not see myself jumping into someone else car to try to get away from cops and by so doing placing others at risk.
Shoot to kill an unarmed person is illegal whether it's a white or black.
Do you know why more blacks resist being arrested? It's because they're likely to spend more time in jail for the same crimes.
First no one in control of a car is unarmed, next whenever a cop and a citizen get into a fight there is at least one firearm.
As far as the figured of the percent by race of people who are either killed by cops or resistant arrest I had not seen any links by you for example giving those figures.
So I had been willing to go along with your unsupported claims so now that you wish to challenge me how about you giving some hard numbers
