Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged] (7 Viewers)

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On a Thursday morning in October 2020, less than five months after George Floyd was held on his stomach by Minneapolis police officers until he died, Shayne Sutherland called 911 from a convenience store in Stockton, California, and asked for a taxi.

When the operator told Sutherland he’d dialed 911, he said someone was trying to rob him.

Stockton police officers Ronald Zalunardo and John Afanasiev arrived at the store about 15 minutes later. In the meantime, a store employee had called 911, saying Sutherland was threatening him with a wine bottle.

In body camera footage that captured the officers’ response, Sutherland seems fidgety and his speech is difficult to understand at times, but he doesn’t appear violent and he isn’t armed. He cooperates with police, addressing Zalunardo as “sir” and sitting against a wall outside the store as instructed.

The officers question Sutherland. When he tells them he can’t remember why he’s under court supervision, Afanasiev says, “the drugs probably have something to do with it”.

“How long you been using meth,” Zalunardo asks. Sutherland stutters and says he’s been using cocaine.

Sutherland briefly stands, then sits when ordered to do so. A minute later he stands up again. This time, the officers tackle him to the ground and hold him belly down – a position known as prone restraint. Thirty seconds later, his hands are cuffed behind his back.

That could have been the end of the encounter. Experts say prone restraint can be a safe, effective way to subdue someone and get them into handcuffs – so long as they’re quickly placed in a “recovery position” on their side or in a seated position to allow them to breathe more easily.

But Zalunardo and Afanasiev didn’t do that. The body camera footage shows them holding Sutherland belly-down for more than eight minutes. For nearly half that time, Afanasiev lays across Sutherland’s back. Sutherland panics, alternating between moaning and screaming for help as Zalunardo, who uses his baton and body weight to help keep Sutherland’s shoulder down, repeatedly tells him, “Relax!”

“Please let me breathe,” Sutherland begs, his voice barely decipherable. In between shrieks and gasps he calls out “Mom!” He begs for help. “Please let me live.”

Before the officers notice that he’s turning colors and losing consciousness, Sutherland, his mouth bloody from being slammed and scraped against the ground, sputters: “I’m forking dead.”

Another five-and-half minutes pass before officers roll Sutherland onto his side and begin to render aid.

Sutherland was declared dead 47 minutes later at a hospital……..


www.theguardian.com

Revealed: at least 22 Californians have died while being held face down by police since 2016

Police have long known the dangers of holding people in prone restraint. So why do so many keep dying?
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
DaveXA said:
You'd think so, but justice seems to treat them with kid gloves far too often.
Click to expand...
In Louisiana now we hold juveniles to higher standard than law enforcement! Juvenile's records will be available to the public and that is to include unsubstantiated accusations. Meanwhile all accusations, substantiated or not, against LE remains secret.
 
DJ1BigTymer said:
In Louisiana now we hold juveniles to higher standard than law enforcement! Juvenile's records will be available to the public and that is to include unsubstantiated accusations. Meanwhile all accusations, substantiated or not, against LE remains secret.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Really should be the other way around.
 
I'm glad I never had a daughter, because I wouldn't want her to live in a number of states.....it's blatantly obvious that a number of states really don't give a hoot about woman's rights, and it's downright dangerous for women to live in them....
 
Cops involved get away scot free
=========================
A former Colorado paramedic has been sentenced to five years in prison in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain after he was stopped by Aurora police.

Peter Cichuniec was one of two paramedics convicted of criminally negligent homicide for their roles in the 23-year-old’s death, which sparked years of protests and changes in the law. A jury also found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree assault. The outcome marks an extremely rare instance of a paramedic being found criminally liable and facing a prison sentence for a death in police custody.

Cichuniec was facing a sentence of five to 16 years for the assault charge. The judge on Friday also issued a one-year sentence for the homicide count for him to serve at the same time.


Colorado prosecutors filed charges against Cichuniec, paramedic Jeremy Cooper and three police officers, with cases that dragged on for years. Cichuniec and Cooper were responsible for injecting McClain with a dangerous dose of ketamine, a powerful sedative, as officers held him down.

“Should there have been a better medical assessment of Elijah McClain prior to the administration of ketamine? The answer is simply yes,” the judge, Mark Warner, said before issuing his sentence. He added: “The court does not find [Cichuniec] is an ongoing risk to the public.”

On 24 August 2019, McClain, a massage therapist, was walking home from the store listening to music on his headphones when a passing driver called 911 to report a “sketchy” person who “might be a good person or a bad person”. The caller noted he did not see any weapons and did not believe anyone was in danger.……

A review of the case solicited by the Aurora city council found that McClain had committed no crime and police had no legal basis to stop him or to use force against him.

Sheneen McClain, who sat through three lengthy trials, told the court Friday that the paramedics were “accomplices to my son’s murder” and should have cared for her son as a patient and tried to help him.

“They want to blame their inhuman actions on their inhuman training, but reality is that they could have done something simply by just saying, ‘Stop hurting my patient.’ Instead, they chose to make the situation worse for my son and implicated themselves ... They felt no need to stop the brutality that was happening to my son as he pleaded for his life.”

She said she had repeatedly watched body-camera footage to try to understand why the paramedics “did not save him”. “Elijah was unconscious for an extended amount of time when he was held down and injected with ketamine, which made sure he did not wake up.”…….

www.theguardian.com

‘They felt no need to stop the brutality’: Colorado paramedic gets five-year prison term for killing Elijah McClain

Peter Cichuniec one of two paramedics convicted of criminally negligent homicide for role in 23-year-old’s death after police stop
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Apolice officer in Oklahoma switched off his body-worn camera before sexually assaulting a woman, after he had pulled her boyfriend over for speeding.

Now a former Savanna officer, Jeffrey Scott Smith, is facing up to 40 years in prison for the assault in the first case prosecuted under tougher laws on violence against women.

Smith, 35, was on his first solo shift for Savanna PD on 2 November 2022 when he carried out the traffic stop.

The victim, known in court as K.H., and her boyfriend, known as J.G., were both in the vehicle. Smith realised that the boyfriend’s licence had expired and asked them to both get out of the car and switch who was driving.

After issuing a speeding ticket, the officer then started asking personal questions, including how long had the couple been together.

He then turned his body-worn camera off.

Smith then asked K.H. what she did for work and she told him, reluctantly, that she was a dancer at a gentlemen’s club. The officer then searched the vehicle and found a promotional, pre-rolled marijuana cigarette.

At this point, Mr Smith could have issued the woman a ticket or arrested her. Instead, he walked to his vehicle and turned off the dashboard camera as well.

Then once inside the patrol car, Smith sexually assaulted K.H.

“It’s impossible to comprehend why the defendant felt entitled to treat an innocent woman this way,” Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office said in a press release. “Instead of ensuring a safe environment for the victim, Smith abused his authority for his own sick gratification.

“When an officer violates the rights of any citizen, they put the public’s trust in law enforcement at risk. The FBI will not stand for this egregious behaviour.”

After a federal jury returned a guilty verdict on Wednesday, Smith faces up to 40 years in prison on the sexual assault/civil rights count, as well as 20 years on each of the obstruction of justice counts: one for deactivating his body-worn camera, and one for deactivating his dashboard camera.............

www.the-independent.com

Police officer sexually assaulted woman during traffic stop on his first solo shift

Jeffrey Scott Smith turned his body-worn and dash cameras off before getting the victim in his patrol car
www.the-independent.com www.the-independent.com
 
Optimus Prime said:
Apolice officer in Oklahoma switched off his body-worn camera before sexually assaulting a woman, after he had pulled her boyfriend over for speeding.

Now a former Savanna officer, Jeffrey Scott Smith, is facing up to 40 years in prison for the assault in the first case prosecuted under tougher laws on violence against women.

Smith, 35, was on his first solo shift for Savanna PD on 2 November 2022 when he carried out the traffic stop.

The victim, known in court as K.H., and her boyfriend, known as J.G., were both in the vehicle. Smith realised that the boyfriend’s licence had expired and asked them to both get out of the car and switch who was driving.

After issuing a speeding ticket, the officer then started asking personal questions, including how long had the couple been together.

He then turned his body-worn camera off.

Smith then asked K.H. what she did for work and she told him, reluctantly, that she was a dancer at a gentlemen’s club. The officer then searched the vehicle and found a promotional, pre-rolled marijuana cigarette.

At this point, Mr Smith could have issued the woman a ticket or arrested her. Instead, he walked to his vehicle and turned off the dashboard camera as well.

Then once inside the patrol car, Smith sexually assaulted K.H.

“It’s impossible to comprehend why the defendant felt entitled to treat an innocent woman this way,” Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office said in a press release. “Instead of ensuring a safe environment for the victim, Smith abused his authority for his own sick gratification.

“When an officer violates the rights of any citizen, they put the public’s trust in law enforcement at risk. The FBI will not stand for this egregious behaviour.”

After a federal jury returned a guilty verdict on Wednesday, Smith faces up to 40 years in prison on the sexual assault/civil rights count, as well as 20 years on each of the obstruction of justice counts: one for deactivating his body-worn camera, and one for deactivating his dashboard camera.............

www.the-independent.com

Police officer sexually assaulted woman during traffic stop on his first solo shift

Jeffrey Scott Smith turned his body-worn and dash cameras off before getting the victim in his patrol car
www.the-independent.com www.the-independent.com
Click to expand...
Too bad she didn't shoot him.
 

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