Phoenix police held man on hot asphalt for nearly 6 minutes before he died, video shows
Surveillance, body-worn camera footage and photos were released Tuesday afternoon regarding the death of a man in Phoenix police custody on Aug. 4, showing he was held on the hot asphalt for nearly six minutes and sustained what appear to be burns before dying.
Minutes after three Phoenix police officers restrained 28-year-old Ramon Timothy Lopez on the searing blacktop, he was found unresponsive in the back of a police vehicle.
In a summer of growing public concern over police shootings and police violence, Lopez's death has drawn public scrutiny. Numerous people on social media have posted wondering why he was held on pavement on such a hot day, including attorney Ben Crump, who leads the George Floyd family's legal team and who tweeted about Lopez's death.
Since 2017, there have been 39 in-custody deaths in the county, not including Lopez, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office website.
I dunno. Seems to be some sort of trend developing here.
I dunno. Seems to be some sort of trend developing here.
The same trend Obama started by demonizing the police. Reporting every mistake and genuine brutality at a new level of divisiveness never seen in journalism. Cops are people, people are flawed. People that exaggerate those flaws are certainly just as bad.
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bobsal u1553115
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Sat 22 Aug, 2020 02:23 pm
Police Mocked Black Man’s Muslim Faith As They Killed Him, New Footage Shows
“Allah? He’s not going to help you right now,” an officer told Muhammad Muhaymin Jr. as he was being pinned down with a knee on his neck.
By Rowaida Abdelaziz
Newly revealed body camera footage released on Wednesday captured the final moments of Muhammad Muhaymin Jr., a Black Muslim man, before he was killed by Phoenix police in 2017.
The graphic nine-minute video shows 43-year-old Muhaymin pinned down by several Phoenix police officers, with at least one officer placing his knee on Muhaymin’s back and neck. Although the transcript was previously reported, this is the first time the public is seeing raw footage of an officer mocking Muhaymin’s faith.
Muhaymin’s death, which is eerily similar to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, took place in January 2017, but is now being revisited in the wake anti-racism protests and national outrage over the targeting of Black people by law enforcement. Advocates and Muhaymin’s family said that three years after his murder, they are still waiting for justice.
To date, none of the officers involved in Muhaymin’s death ― identified as Oswald Grenier, Jason Hobel, Ronaldo Canilao, David Head, Susan Heimbigner, Kevin McGowan, James Clark, Dennis Leroux, Ryan Nielsen and supervisor Steven Wong ― have been arrested or charged. All of the officers are still employed by the Phoenix Police Department.
Throughout the horrifying video, Muhaymin can be heard crying out in pain as several officers pin him down and cuff him. Halfway through the video, Muhaymin is heard saying “I can’t breathe” multiple times.
“Please, Allah,” Muhaymin says as the police officers cuff him.
“Allah? He’s not going to help you right now,” one of the officers responds as he holds Muhaymin down. “Just relax.”
“Please help me,” Muhaymin says several times again.
In previous videos, Muhaymin can be seen vomiting before his body goes limp.
“I don’t feel a pulse,” an officer can be heard saying off-camera.
“Oh, he’s dead,” said another before he turns his camera off.
The medical examiner’s office later ruled Muhaymin’s death a homicide by cardiac arrest, aggravated by “coronary artery disease, psychiatric disease, acute methamphetamine intoxication, and physical exertion during law enforcement subdual.” The family’s expert witness, a forensic pathologist, disagreed, concluding that “asphyxiation due to compression of his trunk and body” — not underlying conditions or drug use — was the cause of death.
After publication of this story, the Phoenix Police Department responded to HuffPost’s request for comment, offering its interpretation of the officer’s “Allah” statement. The department claimed that officers “did not mock or target Mr. Muhaymin based on his religion, race, or any other factor.” The spokesperson claimed the officer’s words were, “Allah? We’re trying to help you right now dude so relax.”
In the videos, officers are also heard calling Muhaymin a “************” and a “dumbass.”
Also after publication, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office told HuffPost that the investigation into Muhaymin’s death ended after “a determination was made at that time to not file criminal charges against the officers.”
“The murder was violent and brutal and disturbing and the circumstances surrounding how police killed Muhammad Muhaymin Jr. are abhorrent,” said Scott Simpson, public advocacy director at Muslim Advocates. “They profiled him because of his race, they disregarded his disability, they mocked his Muslim faith and they treated him as subhuman because of his income, and it’s just inexcusable.”
On Jan. 4, 2017, Muhaymin attempted to enter a public restroom with his service dog at local community service center, but was denied because of his dog. In the video previously released by police, Muhaymin is seen explaining to the employee and later police that he couldn’t leave behind his service dog, Chiquita.
Muhaymin, who suffered from mental illness, heavily relied on Chiquita. His family told local reporters that he was rarely seen without her and that Chiquita helped alleviate some of his mental illness symptoms. According to a lawsuit his family filed against the officers and the city, Muhaymin had post-traumatic stress disorder, acute claustrophobia and schizophrenia.
The employee proceeded to call the police as Muhaymin used the restroom. Upon their arrival, police discovered that Muhaymin had a warrant for missing a court date on a charge of misdemeanor possession of a marijuana pipe, a charge he received after being stopped for jaywalking in 2016.
“The way that [the officers] spoke to him, the way that they treated him, they dehumanized him. And then afterward the narratives that they put out dehumanized him and put out the perception that he was just a homeless guy with mental health issues,” she told HuffPost.
“But he was so much more than that. [The police] made an assumption about who this person is based on his appearance as a Black male and his name Muhammad Muhaymin Jr. But this is who he is. I want to paint that true picture of who he is, not based on the assumptions.”
The video starts as Jacob Blake rounds the front of a silver SUV on Sunday, with two Kenosha, Wis., police officers following close behind, their guns drawn. When Blake opens the door and steps inside, the officers suddenly fire repeatedly toward his back — at least seven times.
Blake is now in serious condition, the officers have been placed on leave, and the city of Kenosha declared an emergency curfew after destructive protests rocked the city into early Monday morning. It’s the latest case of police violence caught on camera in a summer overwhelmed by escalating rounds of protests following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) called for greater police accountability as the video spread rapidly through social media.
“While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country,” Evers said in a statement. “We stand with all those who have and continue to demand justice, equity, and accountability for Black lives in our country.”
I have said all along that although we must offer our empathy, equally important is our action. In the coming days, we will demand just that of elected officials in our state who have failed to recognize the racism in our state and our country for far too long.
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) August 24, 2020
The shooting happened after 5 p.m., when officers responded to a domestic incident, police said. Witnesses told the Kenosha News that Blake was trying to break up a fight and that police first attempted to taser him.
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The video shows neighbors congregated outside as two police officers with their guns drawn followed Blake as he approached the car. As Blake opened the driver’s side door, on officer can be seen tugging at Blake’s white tank top before multiple shots ring out from the police.
Kenosha News reported that Blake was shot in front of his children. Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney, posted on Twitter that Blake’s three sons were inside the car.
Police have not commented on what led to the shooting. Blake was taken by helicopter to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, police said. Early Monday morning, TMJ4 reported that Blake’s brother said he is out of surgery and in intensive care.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice will investigate the shooting, police said.
As footage of Blake’s shooting spread on social media, a crowd gathered at the intersection where he was shot. Tensions quickly rose as more police officers arrived wearing riot gear and several police cars were damaged. A video shows one police officer being hit with a brick and collapsing to the ground.
The group eventually moved away from the intersection. A live stream of a march through Kenosha showed hundreds eventually congregating and chanting outside the Kenosha County Public Safety Building after 10 p.m.
Shortly afterward, the city declared a state of emergency and instituted a curfew until 7 a.m. Monday. A public safety alert suggested that 24-hour businesses close “due to numerous arm robberies and shots fired calls.”
Hostage situations and rappelling out of helicopters: How police recruitment ads glamorize the role
Police soon arrived with riot gear and armed with rubber bullets, and eventually sprayed tear gas at the crowd. Some protesters targeted garbage trucks that had been parked to block traffic, shattering the truck’s windows and setting them ablaze.
After midnight, the crowds moved toward the courthouse and someone set a fire outside the building, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Police put out the fire and launched more tear gas. Another live stream recorded people breaking into a nearby government building and shattering the glass doors and windows from the inside.
Just past 1 a.m., police requested that protesters leave the area, the Journal Sentinel reported, before shooting more tear gas. About 20 minutes later, police formed a riot line and moved people out of the park.
After 2 a.m., someone set fire to a car outside a dealership. By 2:40 a.m. black smoke billowed toward the sky as car after car burst into flames. An hour later, the fire continued to spread, threatening to burn a church behind the dealership.
Video of Blake’s shooting ignited widespread outrage and inspired a smaller protest in Madison. Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and Democratic presidential candidate, questioned whether the police had considered “nonlethal methods.”
“Why didn’t officers physically restrain him? Or use their tasers? Or disable the vehicle?,” Castro added.
“Our lives have so little value that ofcrs are using fatal gunshots as a shortcut to talking, negotiation, disabling vehicles,” Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, tweeted. “It’s shorter; the ofcr doesn’t have to get physically involved; and the result is guaranteed.”
Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter and the chief executive of the King Center, said on Twitter she was dismayed to see another video of a Black person being “brutalized and/or gunned down by police.”
“Anybody who doesn’t believe we are beyond a state of emergency is choosing to lack empathy and awareness,” King said.
We shouldn’t have to see one more video of a Black human being brutalized and/or gunned down by police in a clear case of excessive or unwarranted force.
Anybody who doesn’t believe we are beyond a state of emergency is choosing to lack empathy and awareness.
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) August 24, 2020
Real Music saw through the White Supremacist rape victim too... it isn't that hard. The story of her alleged rape included her coming to the realization that "All lives matter".
If Real Music can see though a White Supremacist fake rape narrative, you should too.
