Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged] (6 Viewers)

[Taurus]

CNN) — A jury found Tacoma police officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins and Timothy Rankine not guilty on all charges Thursday in the death of Manuel “Manny” Ellis, a Black man who died in police custody in 2020.

Burbank and Collins were acquitted of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter while Rankine was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter. All three had pleaded not guilty.

They had faced up to life in prison according to the Washington State Office of the Attorney General.

The officers were accused of unlawfully using deadly force on Ellis, 33, when attempting to arrest him in March 2020, for allegedly “trying to open car doors of occupied vehicles.” Part of the arrest was caught on video by a witness who testified during the trial. Ellis could also be heard crying, “I can’t breathe,” on police dispatch audio…….

According to court documents, Burbank and Collins “tackled and struck Ellis multiple times, applied an LVNR (Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint) on Ellis, and shot him with a taser three times, all without justification.” They also failed to render aid or call for medical help and put him in “hogtie restraints,” according to the documents.

Rankine was accused of holding Ellis in the prone position and applying pressure to his back despite hearing the man say he could not breathe, court documents said.

Defense attorneys had argued Ellis died not from the restraint but from a lethal amount of methamphetamine in his system and his preexisting heart conditions, according to CNN affiliate KOMO…..

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/21/us/manuel-ellis-tacoma-police-trial-verdict?cid=ios_app

With some of these you have to wonder if the prosecution intentionally tanked the case.

 

[Eeyore]

The NYPD Spent $150 Million to Catch Farebeaters Who Cost the MTA $104,000 - Hell Gate

The massive increase coincided with just a two percent decrease in serious crime.

hellgatenyc.com

eKKKanomics

 

[Optimus Prime]

A Washington state law aimed at improving police accountability is under scrutiny after three Tacoma officers were acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath.

The measure approved by voters in 2018 was designed to make it easier to prosecute police accused of wrongfully using deadly force. Initiative 940, referred to as I-940, removed a requirement that prosecutors prove an officer acted with actual malice in order to bring a case – a requirement no other state had – and established that an independent investigation should be conducted after use of force results in death or great bodily harm, among other things.

The nearly three-month trial of the three police officers – Matthew Collins, 40; Christopher Burbank, 38; and Timothy Rankine, 34 – was the first to be held under the five-year-old law. The trial over Ellis’s death in Tacoma, about 30 miles (50km) south of Seattle, ended on Thursday with their acquittal on various murder and manslaughter charges.

The acquittal came a day before a jury in Colorado convicted two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain, another Black man whose case drew national scrutiny.

Matthew Ericksen, a lawyer for the Ellis family, said Washington’s 2018 police accountability law failed in certain regards in a trial that amounted to a test case for the measure, resulting in a verdict that devastated the family.

“One of the big reforms that I-940 was meant to bring was completely independent investigations of in-custody deaths like Mr Ellis,” Ericksen said. “And that just didn’t happen. The law was violated, and in many ways, there really haven’t been any consequences for that.”

The Pierce county sheriff’s office botched the initial investigation into the death by failing to disclose for three months that one of its deputies had been involved in restraining Ellis, despite the state law requiring independent investigations. The Washington state patrol took over, and the state attorney general’s office conducted its review based on evidence gathered by the patrol as well as its own additional investigation before charging the officers.

How effective I-940 can be will come down to how it is enforced, according to Ericksen. While the Ellis case highlighted gaps in the measure, he said it remained one of the “necessary building blocks to hopefully get to some police accountability”.…….

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...tted-tacoma-washington?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[Optimus Prime]

Potentially millions of California drivers have been asked the same simple question by an officer after being pulled over: “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

However, starting in January 2024, officers cannot start the interaction with that question and instead must state the purpose of the traffic stop before asking any other questions. The same goes for any stops conducted on a pedestrian.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2773 in the fall of 2022 and goes into effect on Jan. 1.

According to the text of the law, the only time that officers can skip stating the reason for the stop is if the officer deems it necessary “to protect life or property from imminent threat.”

It was created to reduce “pretextual stops,” in which an officer stops a vehicle or pedestrian for something minor with the intent of searching the driver and vehicle to determine if a larger crime is evident, such as expired paperwork or possession of certain items.

The law was also created to help de-escalate interactions between police and civilians.

The author, Assemblymember Chris Holden, said in a legislative committee hearing that the bill was created to “promote equity and accountability in communities…”.............

MSN

 

[bigdaddysaints]

so more stops will now fit this part?

According to the text of the law, the only time that officers can skip stating the reason for the stop is if the officer deems it necessary “to protect life or property from imminent threat.”

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

so more stops will now fit this part?

‘deems’
That’s such bs

 

[Optimus Prime]

A Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a 27-year-old woman who had called 911 to report that she was under attack by a former boyfriend, police officials and lawyers for the victim’s family said on Thursday. Records show the deputy had killed another person in similar circumstances three years ago.

On 4 December, Niani Finlayson called police and “reported that her boyfriend would not leave her alone and then screaming and sounds of a struggle could be heard”, the LA sheriff’s department (LASD) said in a statement.

When deputies arrived at the apartment in Lancaster, a city in the northern region of LA county, they could hear screaming, LASD said.

Finlayson was inside with her nine-year-old daughter and had been injured by her ex-boyfriend and wanted him removed, her family’s attorneys said. The exact circumstances that led to the fatal shooting are unclear and LASD has so far declined to release body-camera footage.

LASD alleged in a statement that Finlayson had a knife and was threatening her boyfriend, at which point deputy Ty Shelton opened fire.

The family disputed the police account, saying Finlayson was clearly a victim of domestic violence who needed help and posed no threat to the officers. The coroner said she died from “multiple gunshot wounds”.

Finlayson was a mother of two, and her daughter, Xaisha, witnessed the shooting.

“The police lied that my mom was threatening them,” Xaisha said at a press conference on Thursday alongside her grandparents, calling for Shelton to be prosecuted. “She was my best friend. She was always there for me. It’s unbelievable that she’s gone and she’s not coming back. I miss my mom.”

The girl said her two-year-old sister continues to ask where their mother is and she doesn’t know how to respond.…….

Police fatally shoot Black woman who called 911 for domestic violence

Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who killed Niani Finlayson, 27, previously had killed another civilian under similar circumstances

www.theguardian.com

The Los Angeles sheriff’s department (LASD) released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting Niani Finlayson, 27, who had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident.

The footage from the 4 December encounter showed that deputy Ty Shelton shot Finlayson four times within roughly three seconds of entering her home.

The killing in Lancaster, a city in north LA county, sparked national outrage last week, with civil rights activists questioning why deputies failed to de-escalate the conflict and instead used fatal force against a woman who had sought their assistance and was a victim of abuse.

LASD released audio from the 911 call, which captured Finlayson shouting: “He won’t get out of my house … He will not leave me alone … I need the police here right now.” She could be heard screaming and repeatedly telling a man to get off her. The family’s lawyer has said the man was her former boyfriend.

Body-camera footage from two deputies showed that when they arrived outside the apartment, they could hear a woman screaming from inside. When Finlayson opened the door, her 9-year-old daughter was standing next to her and appeared to tell the officers that the man had hurt her – seemingly saying that he had “punched” or “pushed” her, although LASD distorted the daughter’s voice and her comments aren’t clearly discernible.

Finlayson appeared to be holding a kitchen knife and seemed to say the ex-boyfriend had attacked them, saying: “I’m about to stab him because” he had hurt her daughter. A female deputy entered the home first, and Finlayson and her ex moved to the opposite end of the room. Shelton followed inside a moment later and fired four shots at Finlayson almost as soon as he entered.…….

Police killed Niani Finlayson seconds after responding to her 911 call, video shows

Body camera reveals Los Angeles deputy fired at woman who sought help for domestic violence as nine-year-old daughter watched

www.theguardian.com

 

[DaveXA]

The Los Angeles sheriff’s department (LASD) released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting Niani Finlayson, 27, who had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident.

The footage from the 4 December encounter showed that deputy Ty Shelton shot Finlayson four times within roughly three seconds of entering her home.

The killing in Lancaster, a city in north LA county, sparked national outrage last week, with civil rights activists questioning why deputies failed to de-escalate the conflict and instead used fatal force against a woman who had sought their assistance and was a victim of abuse.

LASD released audio from the 911 call, which captured Finlayson shouting: “He won’t get out of my house … He will not leave me alone … I need the police here right now.” She could be heard screaming and repeatedly telling a man to get off her. The family’s lawyer has said the man was her former boyfriend.

Body-camera footage from two deputies showed that when they arrived outside the apartment, they could hear a woman screaming from inside. When Finlayson opened the door, her 9-year-old daughter was standing next to her and appeared to tell the officers that the man had hurt her – seemingly saying that he had “punched” or “pushed” her, although LASD distorted the daughter’s voice and her comments aren’t clearly discernible.

Finlayson appeared to be holding a kitchen knife and seemed to say the ex-boyfriend had attacked them, saying: “I’m about to stab him because” he had hurt her daughter. A female deputy entered the home first, and Finlayson and her ex moved to the opposite end of the room. Shelton followed inside a moment later and fired four shots at Finlayson almost as soon as he entered.…….

Police killed Niani Finlayson seconds after responding to her 911 call, video shows

Body camera reveals Los Angeles deputy fired at woman who sought help for domestic violence as nine-year-old daughter watched

www.theguardian.com

Yet another shoot first, ask questions later incident. How the hell does the police not de-escalate when the two people fighting went to opposite sides of the room? Cop who enters and immediately starts shooting at the woman with the knife who was trying to defend herself and daughter. Ugh. It never ends.

They better charge him with murder, or at the very least, manslaughter. He needs some time in prison. More importantly, he should never be allowed to work as a cop again.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Law enforcement in California handcuffed and detained Black and Indigenous residents during traffic stops at significantly higher rates than white people in 2022, according to data released on Wednesday.

The annual racial profiling report from a state board analyzed 4.5m vehicle and pedestrian stops conducted by 535 law enforcement agencies, the first time departments from across the state contributed data.

The findings suggest there are persistent and severe racial disparities in overall stops and searches; transgender Californians are disproportionately impacted; and youth of color are heavily policed and frequently stopped in schools. Some key findings:

• Black residents were stopped the most, making up 5.4% of the state’s population, but 12.5% of stops.
• Latinos were also disproportionately stopped, making up 32.4% of the population, but 42.9% of stops.
• White and Asian American residents were stopped at lower rates than their proportion of the population.
• Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups, in 22.4% of stops, nearly twice the rate of white people, who were searched in 12.4% of stops. Native Americans were also handcuffed at the highest rate of all groups at 17.8% of stops, compared with less than 10% for white people.
• Black residents were detained on the curb or in a patrol car at the highest rate, at 20.2% of stops, and also ordered to exit their cars more frequently than all other groups, at 7.1% of stops. Black residents were also issued a sole charge of resisting arrest at a rate more than three times the state average, making up 19.2% of those cases.

The data suggests broad bias in police stops of people of color, a trend that has been repeatedly documented in government and advocacy groups’ reports.

Discriminatory policing can come in the form of “pretext stops” when an officer pulls someone over for a minor infraction and then uses the stop to investigate other potential offenses, such as searching for drugs. In 75% of all stops, officers reported that they ultimately took no action. And while white people were less likely to be searched than nearly all other racial groups, they were the most likely to be found with contraband or other evidence of crimes when they were searched.

Police also took actions against trans people significantly more frequently than cisgender people: roughly 50% of all trans people stopped by police were either searched, detained, handcuffed, ordered out of their cars or had other actions taken against them, while that rate was 27.4% for cis men and 19.1% for cis women…….

California police show severe racial bias in stops and searches, data finds

Black residents were stopped the most, while Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

The leader of Britain’s police chiefs’ organisation has become the most senior serving leader to say that policing is institutionally racist, as he called for a fundamental redesign of national policies and practices to eliminate discrimination.

Gavin Stephens, the chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said black people should no longer experience disproportionate use of force, and that too little progress had been made to reform policing, with some leaders slow to accept the size of the challenge.

Stephens – elected by his fellow chief constables to lead their representative body – emphasised it was his personal view that discrimination in policing operated at an “institutional level”.

In an interview with the Guardian, he said: “It’s a leadership responsibility for us to describe to them what it [institutional racism] means and what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that all police officers are racist.

“The way our policies, procedures [and] training have been designed and implemented for many years have not had the voices of black people involved in the design, the implementation, of those practices. And as a consequence of that, we get disproportionate outcomes in places where there shouldn’t be disproportionate outcomes.

“The most helpful discussion for policing to have in the future is how we redesign the policies, the practices, the implementation, of policing to remove that discrimination.”

Stephens’ remarks come as policing continues to wrestle with the issue of whether it should accept it suffers from institutional discrimination, a debate dating back more than 30 years.

His intervention will add to pressure on the heads of England’s biggest forces to adopt the idea – including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley. Rowley refused to accept the terms “institutionally racist” and “institutionally misogynistic” after a damning report last year, with the Met commissioner claiming their meanings were unclear.…….

Head of Britain’s police chiefs says force ‘institutionally racist’

Exclusive: Gavin Stephens becomes most senior serving officer to accept discrimination in policing operates at a ‘fundamental level’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Ex-cop gets 14 months in jail in death of Elijah McClain, whose mom calls him 'bully with a badge'

Among the three Colorado officers charged in McClain’s 2019 death, Randy Roedema was the only one found guilty.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Three police officers have gone on trial north of Paris accused of assaulting a 22-year-old footballer in 2017, in one of the most significant cases of alleged police violence against a black man in France in the past decade.

Théodore Luhaka, who had been talking to friends on his housing estate in Aulnay-sous-Bois at the end of the afternoon of February 2017, was stopped as part of a police identity check. He was teargassed, beaten on the face and body, and left with permanent disabilities and incontinence after an extendable police baton perforated his anus.

The case shocked France and led to several nights of unrest and protests on housing estates. Stars such as the actor Omar Sy came out in support of Luhaka, who was visited in hospital by the then Socialist president, François Hollande.

At the time, Luhaka was a young sports mentor with no criminal record and about to begin a career as a professional footballer in Belgium. He was part of a group of young people talking near a cultural centre on a housing estate who were stopped by police asking to see their identity papers. CCTV footage showed Luhaka was forced to the ground and hit. The beating lasted eight minutes.

Bleeding, he was then taken by the officers to the police station by car. During the journey he said he was racially abused. When he arrived at the police station, another officer called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital and underwent surgery. Luhaka was treated for serious injuries to his anus, which were initially investigated as rape.

The three officers, who are still working for the police in desk jobs, appeared in the criminal court of Seine-Saint-Denis at Bobigny on Tuesday at the start of a two-week trial. Two are accused of aggravated voluntary violence. A third faces charges of voluntary violence leading to permanent injury. He had initially been charged with raping Luhaka, but that charge was later changed to voluntary violence.

Luhaka had to give up his footballing career. He moved to a different neighbourhood, lives with his mother and goes out little. He told Le Parisien: “I died that day.” He and his family have said they want justice and did not want the trial to be seen as “anti-police” or to stoke tensions in the banlieue (suburbs) north of Paris where he grew up, and where they said it was important to maintain calm. Luhaka said another officer had come to his aid at the police station and called an ambulance, staying with him until he went into surgery that night.

Lawyers for the three officers have said they denied voluntary violence and felt their actions were justified. The officer accused of permanently injuring Luhaka’s anus said he had been aiming for his legs.…..

Police officers go on trial over assault of black footballer that shocked France

Three accused of violence against Théodore Luhaka in 2017 that left him with permanent disabilities

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

A California city has agreed to pay $5m to the family of a 20-year-old who was sleeping in his carwhen police approached and shot him 55 times in 2019.

The city of Vallejo, north-east of San Francisco, said in a statement on Wednesday that the city council approved the payout to the relatives of Willie McCoy, an aspiring Bay Area rapper fatally shot by six officers in a case that sparked national outrage. McCoy was in his car at a Taco Bell on 9 February 2019 when the police arrived and quickly fired a barrage of bullets into his vehicle.

Police claimed McCoy had “moved his hands downward” toward a gun, but body-camera footage did not capture that and instead appeared to show that he had been startled awake and moved his hand to scratch his shoulder. The footage also showed that officers had not tried to wake him or announce they were police before pointing firearms at his head. Before McCoy awoke, officers said: “If he reaches for it, you know what to do,” and “I’m going to pull him out and snatch his arse.”


The killing sparked protests in California and significant backlash after a consultant hired by the city concluded that “the 55 rounds fired by six officers in ~3.5 seconds is reasonable based upon my training and experience as a range instructor”.

Prosecutors declined to file charges against the officers.

The case escalated scrutiny of the Vallejo police department, which has an extensive history of brutality and misconduct scandals. From 2010 to 2020, the city had one of the highest rates of police killings in California, and more than a dozen officers have shot multiple civilians on the job without facing consequences.

A 2020 investigation by local news site Open Vallejo revealed that some officers commemorated their shootings by bending the points of their badges each time they killed someone.

One of the officers who shot McCoy had previously killed Ronell Foster, 32, an unarmed man who had been riding his bike without a light. The city paid Foster’s family a $5.7m settlement, the largest in Vallejo’s history.……

California city to pay $5m to family of Willie McCoy, who police shot 55 times

The 2019 killing of the 20-year-old rapper raised scrutiny of Vallejo police department, which has a history of brutality

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

A man who died in the custody of Alabama’s corrections department was reportedly returned to his family without his organs, including his brain.

The news, which broke earlier this week, is the second recent case involving allegations of missing body parts from people in Alabama prisons. The US prison system has been widely criticized for its poor treatment of inmates.

Charles Edward Singleton, 74, who was housed at the state’s Hamilton Aged and Infirmed custody facility, died in November 2021, ABC 33/40 TV in Birmingham reported. Following Singleton’s death, the pathology department at the University of Alabama performed an autopsy on his body, according to a family member who spoke to the news station.

Singleton’s family requested his body be sent to a funeral home in Pell City, about two hours away. However, ABC 33/40 reported the funeral home’s director informed Singleton’s family that “it would be difficult to prepare his body for viewing” due to its “noticeable state of decomposition,” adding that there was “advanced skin slippage”.

Singleton’s family was informed that there were no organs in his body and that his brain had been removed, according to court filings reviewed by ABC 33/40. His family was also informed that organs are usually placed in a bag and put back inside bodies following autopsies.

Singleton’s family requested the University of Alabama return his organs but said they never received them, per the court filings.…..

In another similar case, the family of 43-year-old Brandon Clay Dotson, who was incarcerated and died in prison last November, have been struggling to determine the whereabouts of his heart.

Dotson’s mother and sister spent five days trying to claim his body after his death. When he was finally returned to them, they reported “bruising on the back of [his] neck and excessive swelling across his head”, according to Fox News.

A lawsuit filed by Dotson’s family and reviewed by Fox News said they hired their own pathologist to conduct an autopsy, as they were unsure of how Dotson died and never received a death certificate.

The lawsuit alleges Dotson’s heart was missing from his chest cavity. It added that it is “reasonable for plaintiff to believe that Dotson’s heart was removed for an improper purpose – namely, to be sent to UAB for the purpose of providing UABSOM [University of Alabama Heersink School of Medicine] students with a laboratory specimen to experiment on or study”.…….

Man who died in Alabama prison was reportedly returned to family without organs

Second recent case involving allegations of missing body parts from Alabama prisoners involves man whose brain was removed

www.theguardian.com

 

[Taurus]

A California city has agreed to pay $5m to the family of a 20-year-old who was sleeping in his carwhen police approached and shot him 55 times in 2019.

The city of Vallejo, north-east of San Francisco, said in a statement on Wednesday that the city council approved the payout to the relatives of Willie McCoy, an aspiring Bay Area rapper fatally shot by six officers in a case that sparked national outrage. McCoy was in his car at a Taco Bell on 9 February 2019 when the police arrived and quickly fired a barrage of bullets into his vehicle.

Police claimed McCoy had “moved his hands downward” toward a gun, but body-camera footage did not capture that and instead appeared to show that he had been startled awake and moved his hand to scratch his shoulder. The footage also showed that officers had not tried to wake him or announce they were police before pointing firearms at his head. Before McCoy awoke, officers said: “If he reaches for it, you know what to do,” and “I’m going to pull him out and snatch his arse.”


The killing sparked protests in California and significant backlash after a consultant hired by the city concluded that “the 55 rounds fired by six officers in ~3.5 seconds is reasonable based upon my training and experience as a range instructor”.

Prosecutors declined to file charges against the officers.

The case escalated scrutiny of the Vallejo police department, which has an extensive history of brutality and misconduct scandals. From 2010 to 2020, the city had one of the highest rates of police killings in California, and more than a dozen officers have shot multiple civilians on the job without facing consequences.

A 2020 investigation by local news site Open Vallejo revealed that some officers commemorated their shootings by bending the points of their badges each time they killed someone.

One of the officers who shot McCoy had previously killed Ronell Foster, 32, an unarmed man who had been riding his bike without a light. The city paid Foster’s family a $5.7m settlement, the largest in Vallejo’s history.……

California city to pay $5m to family of Willie McCoy, who police shot 55 times

The 2019 killing of the 20-year-old rapper raised scrutiny of Vallejo police department, which has a history of brutality

www.theguardian.com

a consultant hired by the city concluded that “the 55 rounds fired by six officers in ~3.5 seconds is reasonable based upon my training and experience as a range instructor”.

Of course that's what a range instructor would say. Why on Earth did they hire one for this task? I'm surprised he didn't say "That much lead downrange that quickly is some damn fine shooting. Give those boys a sharpshooter ribbon."