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Thread: Bad Cops. BAD! BAD!

  1. #1901
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    https://fox40.com/news/california-co...ice-shootings/

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Senate voted Sunday to require the state’s top prosecutor to investigate all police shootings that kill an unarmed civilian, advancing one of the highest profile reforms introduced this year in response to the killing of George Floyd.

    The Senate OK’d the bill despite opposition from Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has called a previous version of the bill “untenable and unreasonable” because it would cost his office up to $80 million a year. But the legislation easily got enough votes to pass the Senate with bipartisan support and will soon head toward a final vote in the state Assembly.

    “I can assure you if white Americans were being killed at the same rate as African Americans and Latinos are being killed, not only in this state but across this country, you would be calling for the disbandment of police departments all across this state,” said Sen. Steven Bradford, a Democrat from Gardena. “Because it is black and brown people, people that you have never ever truly valued their lives in this country, it’s like, ‘Oh, they must have deserved it.’”

    Becerra opposed an earlier version of the bill, which would have given local law enforcement agencies discretion to ask for an investigation. Becerra’s office has said it is still reviewing the latest amendments.

    Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento, has tried for years to get the bill passed but has been unable to overcome objections from the Attorney General’s Office. This year, Floyd’s killing in police custody has prompted a worldwide movement that has also pushed reforms to the forefront in state Legislatures.

    That momentum also led the Senate on Sunday to approve legislation that would ban police officers from using choke holds and carotid holds. A choke hold applies pressure to a person’s windpipe while a carotid hold applies pressure to a person’s carotid artery, which slows the flow of blood to the brain.

    Most law enforcement agencies in California have already banned choke holds after state and federal courts have found departments that use them are liable for damages in cases of death or serious injury. But the carotid hold is more common.

    Floyd died after a police officer put his knee on Floyd’s neck. It wasn’t a carotid hold, but the incident — which was filmed and quickly spread on social media — prompted police departments to rethink their use of dangerous neck holds. Police departments in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego banned the use of carotid holds.

    Newsom also ordered the Commission on Police Officer Standards to stop teaching officers how to use the hold.

    Some Republicans have declined to support similar bills and many of them abstained from voting on Sunday. Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Republican from Red Bluff, voted against the bill requiring independent investigations of police shootings, calling it “another overreaction.”

    “This is really headed towards open season on law enforcement professionals who sacrifice their lives every day for us,” Nielsen said.

    Sen. Holly Mitchell, a Democrat from Los Angeles, scoffed at those comments, calling the legislation an “appropriate level of accountability.”

    “How, pray tell, is that disrespecting and not honoring law enforcement?” Mitchell said.

    The bill also faces objections from police reform groups that say it doesn’t go far enough to create an independent investigator. They believe the attorney general’s office is too tied to law enforcement.

    The legislation sets up an odd battle between Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature and the state’s top law enforcement officer, also a progressive Democrat.

    “If he wanted to, he could prioritize independent investigations for police deadly force,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty of Sacramento. “He could join five other states, embrace this common sense reform and be on the right side of history.”

    Becerra has said his office has often intervened to investigate killings by police, including the 2018 fatal shooting of vandalism suspect Stephon Clark in Sacramento. His office currently is investigating allegations police in Vallejo in the San Francisco Bay Area acted improperly when they killed Sean Monterrosa while responding to a looting call during recent protests, then destroyed key evidence.

    Clark was found with only a cellphone; Monterrosa with only a hammer.

    McCarty’s bill would make those investigations mandatory by a department that already lacks sufficient resources, Becerra said in a letter of opposition even before the bill was amended.

    “We are not equipped or resourced to take on this work on a routine basis,” Becerra said. “Our small team of investigators and prosecutors have not a fraction of the capacity possessed by our local partners.”

  2. #1902
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    https://fox5sandiego.com/news/califo...-problem-cops/

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Police unions and other law enforcement organizations went into overdrive to thwart a measure that would have added California to the majority of states that can end the careers of officers with troubled histories.

    It failed as lawmakers scrambled to wrap up their work, and while the nation’s most populous state still has no way to permanently remove problematic officers, a number of other police reforms passed.

    With lobbyists and lawmakers mostly isolated by the coronavirus pandemic, it became a battle of phone calls, colorful graphics and Instagram posts from law enforcement organizations to counter celebrity tweets pushing lawmakers to rein in police brutality after the death of George Floyd last May in Minneapolis and the shooting of Jacob Blake last week in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

    “We ended up, for lack of a better term, playing a game of whack-a-mole,” Tom Saggau, a spokesman for police unions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, said of law enforcement efforts to counter support for what he called a deeply flawed proposal.

    Even intervention from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wasn’t enough to rescue the measure that died without a vote before the legislative session ended early Tuesday. It failed hours after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Dijon Kizzee after the Black man dropped a a bundle that included a gun.

    The legislation would have created a way to permanently strip badges from officers who commit serious misconduct. Law enforcement groups successfully argued that the proposed system would be biased and lack basic due process protections.

    Proposals to reveal more police misconduct records, require officers to intervene if they witness excessive use of force, and limit their use of rubber bullets and tear gas against peaceful protesters also died without final votes.

    Lawmakers, however, sent Newsom measures to ban choke holds and other neck restraints, require the state attorney general to investigate fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians, and increase oversight of county sheriffs, among other changes.

    “To ignore the thousands of voices calling for meaningful police reform is insulting,” Democratic Sen. Steven Bradford, who is Black, said after his legislation on removing officers failed. “Today, Californians were once again let down by those who were meant to represent them.”

    Five states have no way of decertifying police officers who commit misconduct — California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

    Removing California from that list was a top priority of the California Legislative Black Caucus and had support from hundreds of entertainers, including Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Robert De Niro. Kim Kardashian West caused a stir with a late tweet backing the measure Monday.

    Law enforcement organizations and unions insist they also want a way to permanently remove troubled officers so they can’t simply move from one department to another.

    The California Police Chiefs Association and a separate coalition of eight Black police chiefs in June called for stripping officers’ training certifications following due process proceedings if they break the law or have a history of egregious misconduct.

    s a top priority of the California Legislative Black Caucus and had support from hundreds of entertainers, including Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Robert De Niro. Kim Kardashian West caused a stir with a late tweet backing the measure Monday.

    Law enforcement organizations and unions insist they also want a way to permanently remove troubled officers so they can’t simply move from one department to another.

    The California Police Chiefs Association and a separate coalition of eight Black police chiefs in June called for stripping officers’ training certifications following due process proceedings if they break the law or have a history of egregious misconduct.

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    The Los Angeles Police Protective League and San Francisco Police Officers Association, which together represent 12,000 officers, on Tuesday reiterated their willingness to negotiate “a fair, reasonable and workable decertification process.”

    Their main complaint with Bradford’s bill was the makeup of a proposed nine-member disciplinary panel to consider if officers’ conduct is enough to end their careers. Six of the nine members would be required to have backgrounds opposing police misconduct, while the remaining three would represent law enforcement.

    The opponents said that would make the board inherently biased against officers, while Bradford said the mix was needed to restore community trust in police and the disciplinary process.

    Law enforcement organizations offered alternative wording, and Newsom’s office weighed in with proposed amendments that Saggau, the police union spokesman, said “would have made it more palatable, more reasonable.”

    Bradford rejected those but accepted 40 other changes by Saggau’s count.

    “Rejecting some compromise language from the governor, but accepting 40 amendments that drove a wedge further with law enforcement, we think that’s what derailed the measure,” he said.

    Bradford declined an interview request Tuesday, but Saggau and Brian Marvel, president of the rank-and-file Peace Officers Research Association of California, said Bradford hurt his bill’s chances by refusing to talk with law enforcement officials.

    “When you’re changing a profession, and you don’t talk to the people it’s actually affecting, I think good leaders stand up and say that’s probably not a fair process,” Marvel said.

    The lobbying was so intense that Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon set up a special voicemail on his office phone to field comments.

    “l think there were a lot of concerns, even with some of our allies,” said Rendon, who supported the legislation.

    He said lawmakers have bucked the police lobby in the past, but the measure also ran into opposition from organized labor.

    Bradford said he intends to try again next year, and Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins said more work is to be done on several of the policing measures that failed this year.

    “Clearly some colleagues felt like there needed to be more conversation, more discussion,” she said, adding that “I think it is our job to make sure we keep the momentum and the conversation happening.”

  3. #1903
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    https://ktla.com/news/local-news/o-c...recently-died/

    An Orange County sheriff’s deputy suspected of breaking into the Yorba Linda home of a man who died in July is now on paid leave after being arrested, officials said Thursday.

    Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Hortz appears in a booking photo released by the agency on Sept. 10, 2020. He was arrested that day on suspicion of burglarizing a Yorba Linda home.
    Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Hortz appears in a booking photo released by the agency on Sept. 10, 2020. He was arrested that day on suspicion of burglarizing a Yorba Linda home.
    Surveillance footage captured Deputy Steve Hortz breaking into the home on at least three occasions and leaving with stolen possessions such as weapon safes, ceiling fans and cases of unknown items, according to the O.C. Sheriff’s Department. He was booked into Santa Ana Jail on suspicion of burglary.

    He is currently on paid administrative leave, said Carrie Braun, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department.

    However, she said, the agency is “looking into the possibility” of getting him on unpaid leave.

    Hortz responded to a call for service at the home on July 20, 2020 regarding the death of a man in his 70s, who apparently died from natural causes, officials said.

    On Wednesday, an attorney representing the family estate of the man contacted the Sheriff’s Department about items reported missing from the home, officials said. He gave the department footage showing the deputy breaking in.

    “Yesterday was when the surveillance video was brought to our attention,” Braun said.

    Braun said the department was investigating the alleged thefts after they were first reported about a week earlier. But the allegations were linked to Deputy Hortz for the first time on Wednesday, she said.

    Hortz, a 12-year veteran of the department, first returned to the residence on July 27, a week after he responded to a call for service about the resident’s death, sheriff’s officials said.

    “While in uniform, he broke into the unoccupied residence through the rear and left a short time later,” Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

    Officials said it’s not clear if Hortz stole items from the home during that incident.

    However, during the early morning hours of Aug. 10 and Aug. 16, he allegedly returned to the home wearing civilian clothes and walked away with several stolen items, according to sheriff’s officials.

    The department will investigate prior calls handled by Hortz to determine whether similar incidents occurred in the past, officials said.

    “I will do everything we can to make sure he does not return to a uniform in this organization or anywhere else for that matter,” O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes said during a news conference Thursday.

    Barnes said he expects Hortz will be charged and convicted “based on the evidence we have against him.”

    And if he is convicted, Barnes said, “he does not deserve to work in this profession anymore.”

    “He’s embarrassed this profession, he’s embarrassed this organization, and he’s embarrassed the almost 4,000 members who do good work everyday,” Barnes said.

    On Wednesday, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced a felony charge against another O.C. sheriff’s deputy suspected of stealing.

    Deputy Angelina Cortez allegedly took a bank card from a theft suspect back in November 2018 and gave it to her son, who then used it, prosecutors said.

  4. #1904
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    https://www.kcra.com/article/sac-cou...tody/34149450#

    Update A Sacramento County Police officer Shauna Bishop has been convicted of having Sex with a minor.

    SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. ?
    A Sacramento County sheriff?s deputy was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to having sex with a minor, according to the district attorney?s office.

    Shauna Bishop, former Sacramento County deputy, was sentenced to six months in custody and five years formal probation. She must also register as a sex offender, the Sacramento County DA?s office said.

    Bishop pleaded guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old boy, police said. The child?s parent filed a report with police in Folsom, where the family lives.

    Authorities said the crime did not take place while Bishop was on duty, nor did it have any involvement with her law enforcement position.

    Bishop was with the Sacramento County Sheriff?s Office for five years and most recently patrolled the northern area of the county.

  5. #1905
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnLanders View Post
    https://www.kcra.com/article/sac-cou...tody/34149450#

    Update A Sacramento County Police officer Shauna Bishop has been convicted of having Sex with a minor.
    Only six months. Its crazy how different shit is, a teacher in Arizona got busted fucking a teen and she got 20 years.

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    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    I don't understand how anyone can think this is worth the risk.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

  7. #1907
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    Quote Originally Posted by S281Saleen160 View Post
    Only six months. Its crazy how different shit is, a teacher in Arizona got busted fucking a teen and she got 20 years.
    Somehow shooting unarmed mentally disabled people who are not white gives some cops no charges at all in some states though.

  8. #1908
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnLanders View Post
    Somehow shooting unarmed mentally disabled people who are not white gives some cops no charges at all in some states though.
    What you really meant to say was "in all states".

  9. #1909
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    https://abc7news.com/sjpd-officer-ch...-team/6679595/

    SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A mother of three describes the fear she felt and the injuries she suffered, at the hands of a San Jose police officer, who now faces a criminal charge of excessive force.

    "I just knew I was in a situation I couldn't control, that I had no control over," the victim told told ABC7 News.

    She gave her first interview to the I-Team's Dan Noyes, and the officer's attorney tells us what the defense will be.

    RELATED: SJ police release bodycam video from George Floyd protests

    Guadalupe Marin's contact with Officer Matt Rodriguez began the week before this incident. She had purchased a black Infinity from the website "Offer-up", but the car had a history and Rodriguez was part of the Violent Crime Enforcement Team that pulled her over.

    She told the I-Team, "They said that the vehicle had evaded the police officers. So there was a felony warrant for the vehicle. So they wanted to impound it. They knew that I wasn't the driver. But they wanted the vehicle."

    Fast forward to July 22. Guadalupe's sister picked her up in a BMW she just bought from a mechanic, but the passenger side door didn't work, so she slid over to let Guadalupe drive to McDonald's.

    Marcella Marin-Ramos said, "I told her, 'Do you want to drive or do you want to climb through the window?' So, it'd just be easier for her to get in the car than have to go around."

    Guadalupe drove to the restaurant at North 27th Street and East Santa Clara with her sister -- her niece and nephew in the back. Within seconds of arriving, Officer Rodriguez and his partner rushed at the car, guns drawn.

    "Ordered me to get out of the car and get on my knees, so I did," Marin said.

    And that's when this video shot by a Door Dash driver picks up. Rodriguez, an 11-year veteran of the San Jose PD, orders Guadalupe to crawl towards him. She tells me she didn't understand because he was already so close. Then, Rodriguez kicked her, leaving a bruise on her stomach.

    Dan Noyes: "How long between the time he said, 'I'm going to kick you,' and when he actually kicked you?"

    Guadalupe Marin: "Like simultaneously, like at the same time almost."

    Dan Noyes: "At the same time. So, there wasn't a warning for you to actually comply before he kicked you."

    Guadalupe Marin: "No."

    The video shows Officer Rodriguez cuffing Guadalupe. Then, he picks her up by the wrist, forcing her arms back, and drags her, scraping her bare skin on the pavement.

    Dan Noyes: "Were you afraid?"

    Guadalupe Marin: "I was afraid, I can hear my niece and my nephew screaming, I can hear my sister screaming, I didn't know what's going on? Like, I just know that I was in a situation - then, that's it. I wasn't in a situation that I can control or had no control over."

    Guadalupe tells us, Officer Rodriguez kept insisting the car was stolen.

    "And so he kept saying 'is this another Offer-Up story? This is your car,' and he kept insisting the car was mine. And that was not my car. I just barely got in that car for the first time."

    During the arrest, her seven-year-old nephew telephoned another aunt; you can hear him on a voicemail pleading with officers, "They really bought the car. They really bought the car."

    Police later confirmed the car was not stolen. In a statement, the DA's Office says the BMW was wanted for evading police earlier that day with a male driver, and prosecutors charged Officer Rodriguez with misdemeanor Penal Code 149, which is assault under color of authority.

    His attorney, Mike Rains, tells us, Rodriguez thought Guadalupe wasn't responding quickly enough and that she may have been reaching for a weapon in the waistband of her shorts.

    Mike Rains, Rodriguez' Attorney: "She reaches down toward her waistband. And that caused him a great deal of concern."

    Dan Noyes: "Does that justify the kick in your mind?"

    Mike Rains, Rodriguez' Attorney: "Yeah, I think it does. ... He wasn't trying to hurt her. But he was trying to give her a distraction that would keep her from reaching for something."

    Rains points out that Rodriguez knows how dangerous traffic stops can be. The officer battled for a felon's handgun in November; it ended with his partner killing the suspect.

    RELATED: San Jose police tighten rules around use of rubber bullets amid protest backlash

    Mike Rains said, "Force is never pretty and that kind of thing is never pretty. Even if it's lawful, it looks awful. And that's true here."

    Guadalupe Marin has filed a claim against the city and Officer Rodriguez, saying she suffered "severe emotional and mental distress, fear, terror, nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, humiliation, embarrassment, and loss of sense of security, dignity and pride."

    Her attorney, Sarah Marinho, told the I-Team, "It's a classic case of excessive force. If the arrest was proper to begin with, if the detention was proper, this force was still excessive."

    But, the charge is drawing criticism from San Jose Police Officers Association President Paul Kelly. He sent the I-Team this statement:

    "Jeff Rosen is a career politician willing to do whatever it takes to jump-start his campaign to become California's attorney general. He's a political chameleon, instead of changing colors he changes positions every time he wets his finger and hoists it up in the air to see which way the political winds of the day are blowing. Today, the winds say he needs to prosecute a cop and so that is what he is doing, it's pathetic.

    It's shameful that Jeff Rosen is stepping on the back of a police officer to climb the political ladder to the Attorney General's office. He used to be a prosecutor guided by justice and the law, now he's guided by poll numbers and political ambition."

    San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia wrote, "These types of investigations are deeply disappointing but are necessary. Every day hundreds of San Jose Officers patrol our city and encounter similarly challenging circumstances and navigate them appropriately. We completed a thorough investigation and sent our findings to the district attorney for review where a filing decision was made."

    Officer Rodriguez was allowed to self-surrender to authorities. You can read the entire police report here:

  10. #1910
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    https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-new...-and-searched/

    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (NewsNation Now) — Video released by the Beverly Hills Police Department Friday shows an officer pat down, frisk and search a Versace shoe designer who says he was racially profiled as a Black man.

    The footage shows an officer tell Versace’s Vice President of Sneakers and Men’s Footwear Salehe Bembury that he jaywalked across the street early Thursday evening. The luxury shoe designer admits he did and says he’s been using the GPS on his phone to get around. The officer asks him for his identification. Then the officer says he wants to search Bembury.

    Bembury, who can repeatedly be heard saying he’s “nervous” and “uncomfortable,” apparently allows the search. The officer asks more than once if Bembury has any weapons on him — even after Bembury tells him he does not. He later pats down Bembury with his arms held behind his back.

    Bembury posted a clip to his Instagram page Thursday showing a few seconds of the encounter, with the following caption: “BEVERLY HILLS WHILE BLACK. I’M OK, MY SPIRIT IS NOT.” In the clip, he says he’s being “searched for shopping at the store I work for and just being Black,” while holding up the black Versace shopping bag he was carrying when he was stopped.

    Donatella Versace showed support for the designer in an Instagram post Friday. She said she is “appalled” by the actions of police.

    “I am appalled this happened to Salehe Bembury today,” Versace wrote alongside the clip originally posted by Bembury. “He has been a consultant at Versace for a long time and the behavior he experienced is totally unacceptable. He was stopped on the street solely for the color of his skin.”

    Following the designer’s comments, the Beverly Hills Police Department released body camera footage of the encounter with Bembury.

    The footage starts with the officers pulling up to Bembury as he stands on a sidewalk. According to police, officers detained Bembury at the intersection of Camden Drive and Wilshire Boulevard.

    The officers get out of the police car and walk toward him. Then the audio begins playing.

    “We were over here and we saw you walk across the red hand over here. So we just want to make sure — what’s going? How come you did that? You didn’t want to wait for the light?” the officer asks Bembury.

    “What did I do again? I’m a little…,” Bembury replies, saying something inaudible.

    The officer responds “Rodeo,” gesturing toward a nearby street and apparently referring to Rodeo Drive, where Versace and dozens of other designer stores are located.

    “Oh, I jaywalked, I guess,” Bembury replies.

    “Right, right, right,” the officer says, explaining he and the other officer saw him walk across the street and decided to follow him in their vehicle. Then he asks: “How come you did that, man?”

    “I jaywalked. I don’t know what else to say. I don’t know what to say,” Bembury responds.

    “OK, well just cuz the area you did it — you see there’s a like a bus, and stuff like that,” the officer says. “Do you have any ID on you by chance, man?”

    Bembury begins feeling around his pockets, apparently trying to find his ID.

    “Without reaching into your pockets, you don’t have any weapons or anything, right?” the officer says while Bembury is gesturing toward his pockets.

    Bembury then raises up both his hands and responds: “I don’t. I’m like super nervous because I’m just going to my car. Want to take my phone or something like that?”

    “No, you can hold onto it,” the officer tells him.

    “So what do you want me to do right now?” Bembury asks.

    “I just wanted to see if you have any ID. But, without reaching into your pockets…” the officer replies.

    “I do have an ID,” Bembury tells him.

    “Awesome. Do you have any weapons or anything on you? Do you mind if I just check to make sure?” the officer says, asking him the same question again.

    “You can do whatever you need to do, man. I’m just nervous. Can I put my phone down at least?” Bembury says.

    “Absolutely, yeah, yeah. No worries, man. What’s your name?”

    “Salehe.”

    “OK, I’m Officer… (the officer’s name is not audible) Nice to meet you, bro. I’m just going to check to make sure you don’t have any weapons, if you don’t mind, OK?” the officer tells him. Then he instructs him to turn around.

    “Face that way real quick. Put your hands behind your back, palms together like you’re praying,” the officer tells him. Bembury places both arms behind his back.

    “Awesome, thank you,” the officer says. “All the way — like you’re praying. Spread your feet.”

    “Cool, man,” the officer tells Bembury as he begins running his hands over parts of his body.

    “Don’t want to mess up those shoes, those are pretty nice,” the officer says as his hand appears to run downward toward Bembury’s groin area.

    “You said I can search you, right?” the officer says.

    “You do whatever,” Bembury replies before muttering: “This is embarrassing, to be frank.”

    “Well, what we like to do, like when we stop someone, is just to make sure you don’t have any weapons or anything,” the officer tells him, now feeling down the knee area of Bembury’s pants.

    “The pat-down feels a little excessive,” the footwear designer tells the officer.

    The officer continues to reach into one of Bembury’s pockets.

    “What’s unfortunate is I literally designed the shoes that are in this bag, and I’m being f—ing, like, searched for it,” Bembury says.

    “Really? You did?” another officer in the background asks.

    “Yeah, I do…” Bembury responds before the officer doing the questioning quickly cuts him off.

    “That’s why I’m not…that’s why, like I said, man, you’re not in handcuffs or anything,” the officer says. “I’m just talking to you right now, OK?”

    “I’m just walking down the street, and it’s a little ridiculous,” Bembury tells him.

    “Well, look, I told you though why, right?” the officer replies, gesturing toward the street where the alleged jaywalking occurred.

    “I understand but the pat-down feels excessive. So what else can I do for you?” Bembury says.

    “No, no just relax man,” the officer replies.

    “Can I turn around?” Bembury asks.

    “Absolutely, yeah, yeah. It was just to make sure you don’t have any weapons,” the officer tells him.

    Then, Bembury asks the officer if he can pick up his phone, which was placed on the ground earlier.

    “Leave it down for now,” the officer says. Then the officer asks if he can take Bembury’s ID out of his wallet — apparently reviewing the designer’s ID for the first time since detaining him.

    “You mind if I pull it out? How do you say your first name, sir?”

    “Salehe,” Bembury responds.

    The first officer asks the other officer there to run Bembury’s ID and tells him to “make sure everything checks out OK.”

    “Can I take my phone please now? It’s like clearly a phone. Is that at least OK?” Bembury says.

    “No, so. Yeah, yeah, sorry,” the officer replies. “If that makes you feel more comfortable, absolutely. Take a look at it.”

    “I have to record this because I just don’t feel comfortable,” Bembury tells him.

    “Well, just because, right now, you are being detained, just because we’re talking to you, um, we don’t know — not saying you would do this — people have called and they have friends come. And then it becomes an officer safety issue,” the officer says.

    “I’m literally just going to record right now — that’s all I’m doing. You see this recording?,” Bembury says, showing the officer his phone screen. “And that’s all I’m doing because I feel — you hear it in my voice? I’m uncomfortable. I’m nervous. You understand the climate that we’re in?”

    “No, I understand. Is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable?” the officer asks.

    “Not really dude, not really. Like your boys are pulling up. I’m uncomfortable. I’m not making any like fast movements but this is uncomfortable for me.”

    “Are we?” another officer asks.

    “No, but this is uncomfortable for me. I just want to get to my car so I’m just going to hit record for you,” he tells the officer.

    “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you wanna do, sir. But like I said, you understand why we stopped you, correct? And you admitted to jaywalking?” the officer says.

    While recording on his phone, Bembury says while facing the screen: “I’m getting f—ing searched for shopping at the store I work for,” he says while raising a shopping bag, “and just being black.”

    “See, now what you’re doing is making it completely different to what we just talked about. You’re making a completely different narrative,” the officer says.

    “So you checked my ID. What’s going on? Do I have anything on my record?” Bembury asks while another officer hands the ID to the officer still questioning Bembury.

    The other officer tells him “You’re good to go.” Both officers agree Bembury is free to go, and he turns off the recording on his phone.

    But then, the officer doing the questioning continues speaking.

    “Yeah, man. But listen, so you can’t jaywalk, correct?”

    “Understood. Yeah, yeah,” Bembury responds. “Can I have my stuff back, please?”

    The officer hands him something and then tells him: “But see how you just switched that complete narrative?”

    Bembury shakes his head and replies: “Nah, nah, nah. I know how you guys saw it. Am I good to go?” he asks again, now turning toward the other officer. They both assure him he can leave.

    “Alright, you guys have a good day,” Bembury tells them as he walks away.

    “Next time, don’t change the narrative like that, though,” the officer says just as the video ends.

    NewsNation affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.

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    https://fox4kc.com/news/kc-police-re...-was-arrested/

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City police are sharing new surveillance video from the area where they took a pregnant woman into custody earlier this week.

    Social media video of the arrest, which many argue shows an officer putting his knee into the woman’s back as he takes her into custody on the ground, has prompted calls for justice in the community.

    Police said they released the 30-minute video to show why they were called to the gas station where the arrest occurred. But the woman’s arrest isn’t actually captured in the new footage. It happens outside the camera’s view.

    See the footage in the video player above.

    Police said the incident began just before 11 p.m. Sept. 30 outside the business near 35th Street and Prospect Avenue.
    BACKGROUND: Video shows Kansas City police detaining pregnant woman, sparking calls for justice

    KCPD Capt. Dave Jackson said officers were dispatched to the area after a security officer at the gas station called 911 for help. There were 10-20 people fighting on the property, and the owner wanted everyone to leave, Jackson said.

    The video police released doesn’t show people brawling, but they are getting in each other’s faces, arguing and, at times, shoving. At one point, you can see a man in a blue shirt lift the pregnant woman off her feet and hold her onto the hood of a car. There is no audio in the video.

    After about 15 minutes, Kansas City police show up. Police try to get everyone to leave, but one man, identified as Troy Robertson, keeps coming back to the property.

    Then as police move to arrest Robertson, for trespassing, police said the pregnant woman tried to block officers. They labeled the action in the video as “hindering arrest.”

    The actual moment where the woman was taken to the ground and arrested are not shown in the video as they were out of the camera’s frame.

    But video of the woman’s arrest was briefly captured in a video that’s been shared widely on social media.

    Jackson said the officer tried to take the woman into custody while standing, but she resisted, according to police, so the officer moved her to the ground.

    In the video, you can see the pregnant woman lying on her stomach briefly before being turned to her side. Jackson said after that, the officer moved the woman to a seated position.

    But what many are outraged over is the officer’s knee.

    Some who have viewed the video believe the officer’s knee was pressed against the woman’s back while she laid face-down on the ground. Jackson, however, said the officer said and the video shows his weight was on his foot.

    “The officer who arrested the woman said he took care not to apply pressure with his legs,” Jackson said Thursday.

    Medics took the woman to the hospital where she was evaluated and released. Jackson could not say if she was injured.

    Attorney Stacy Shaw, who said she is representing the woman, said the woman was nine months pregnant.

    “Why was it necessary to handcuff and to put a knee on a pregnant woman’s back when she is nine months pregnant?” Shaw said. “What sort of monster would do that?”

    Jackson said it’s too early to tell if any of the officers involved did anything wrong, but KCPD will continue to investigate, looking at more video potentially available. If someone makes an official complaint, that will bring on another level of investigation.

  12. #1912
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    https://abcnews.go.com/US/black-man-...ry?id=73542371

    A Black man who was led by mounted police down a Texas street while bound with a rope last year is suing the city and its police department for $1 million, court documents show.

    In August 2019, Donald Neely was arrested on criminal trespass charges in Galveston, just outside of Houston. Images and video of his arrest, during which two white police officers led him down the street handcuffed with a rope tied to their horses, sparked outrage.

    A petition filed this week in Galveston County's district court called the officers' conduct "extreme and outrageous" and claimed that it caused Neely injury, emotional distress and mental anguish.

    "Neely suffered from handcuff abrasions, suffered from the heat, and suffered from embarrassment, humiliation and fear as he was led by rope and mounted officers down the city street," the lawsuit claims.

    The lawsuit charges that the arresting officers should have realized that Neely "being led with a rope and by mounted officers down a city street as though he was a slave, would find this contact offensive."

    The lawsuit is also alleging malicious prosecution over Neely's criminal trespass charge, which was ultimately dismissed in court.

    MORE: No criminal investigation for Texas police who led a black man by a rope through streets
    A Galveston spokesperson told ABC News the city does not comment on pending litigation.

    A status conference is currently scheduled for Jan. 7, 2021. Neely is demanding a trial by jury, court records show.
    Galveston Police Chief Vernon L. Hale III issued an apology in the aftermath of the arrest on behalf of the department, saying the officers "showed poor judgment." The department said at the time it would cease the use of mounted horses to transport a person under arrest.

    A subsequent investigation by the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety determined the arrest didn't warrant a criminal investigation.

    MORE: Newly released footage shows police on horseback walking a handcuffed man by rope
    Following that investigation, the department released body camera footage of the incident. In it, the officers can be heard acknowledging the optics of the scene.

    "This is going to look so bad. I'm glad you're not embarrassed, Mr. Neely," one of the officers is heard saying.

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    https://ktla.com/news/local-news/lap...al-harassment/

    A Los Angeles police officer who served as a bodyguard for Mayor Eric Garcetti for seven years has sued the city, alleging that he was sexually harassed repeatedly by one of the mayor?s top advisors and that Garcetti witnessed some of the inappropriate behavior but did not stop it.

    LAPD Officer Matthew Garza, who worked on the mayor?s security detail, alleged that longtime Garcetti consultant Rick Jacobs made crude sexual comments and touched him inappropriately over several years. The harassment took place on trips Garcetti took to Arizona, New Hampshire and elsewhere, the suit alleges.

    In an emailed statement, Jacobs said, ?This lawsuit is a work of pure fiction, and is out of left field. Officer Garza and I worked together for many years without incident. I will vigorously defend myself, my character and my reputation.?

    Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar said, ?the mayor has zero tolerance for sexual harassment and unequivocally did not witness the behavior that Officer Garza alleges.?

    Garza, a sworn LAPD officer since 1997, began working on Garcetti?s security detail in October 2013, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges sex/gender harassment and the existence of a hostile work environment in violation of the California Fair Housing and Employment Act.

    The harassment began around 2014 and continued until October 2019, except for a period beginning in mid-2016 when Jacobs was absent for unknown reasons, the lawsuit alleges.

    Garza alleged that Jacobs would extend his hand for a purported handshake, but then pull Garza towards him to give a ?long, tight hug,? while simultaneously saying, ?I love me my strong LAPD officers? or some other ?inappropriate comment,? according to the suit.

    Jacobs also repeatedly talked about his young gay lover, his lover?s penis and having ?rough sex? with his gay partners, according to the lawsuit.

    The lawsuit also alleges that ?Garcetti was present on approximately half of the occasions when Jacobs behaved in this way, and witnessed Jacobs? conduct, but he took no action to correct Jacobs? obviously harassing behavior.?

    ?On some occasions, the mayor would laugh at Jacobs? crude comments,? the lawsuit said.

    Garza?s lawsuit says he traveled with the mayor?s team to Phoenix in March 2016 for a fundraiser. At one point, Garza entered a hotel bar where he spotted Jacobs, who motioned for Garza to come over and ?sit on his lap,? according to the lawsuit.

    In May 2018, Garza accompanied Jacobs and Garcetti to New Hampshire so the mayor could give a college commencement address, and as Garza was driving the group, Jacobs on several occasions massaged Garza?s shoulders from the backseat. Garcetti sat next to Jacobs, but didn?t stop the unwanted advances, the lawsuit alleged.

    And on an October 2018 trip to Mississippi, the group stopped at a gas station. Jacobs pointed to some Magnum brand condoms and asked Garza if he wears Magnum large condoms, according to the lawsuit.

    The lawsuit also alleges that on ?over a dozen occasions, both while Jacobs was employed by the city and after he left city employment, staffers in Mayor Garcetti?s office apologized to [Garza] for Jacobs? harassing conduct.?

    ?Nevertheless, the mayor?s office never took any action to stop Jacobs? harassment of [Garza],? the lawsuit states.

    Garza refused to return to the mayor?s security detail last month because of Jacobs? behavior, the lawsuit says. He lost wages and other benefits because he was no longer working the higher-paying assignment, his suit claims.

    Jacobs raised millions of dollars in support of Garcetti?s 2013 mayoral campaign and was later given a top post in the mayor?s office before stepping down in 2016. He works on several Garcetti-backed initiatives, including the Mayor?s Fund for Los Angeles, a nonprofit.

    The head of a Los Angeles County business organization accused Jacobs last year of threatening her group if its members opposed a tax measure supported by the mayor. Jacobs denied making the threat.

    For his part, Garcetti has sought to position himself as a leader in combating sexual harassment at City Hall. Amid the national #MeToo movement in 2017, Garcetti ordered new reporting protocols, unveiled a city website for employees to lodge allegations and hosted a panel at the mayor?s official residence on sexual harassment and assault.

    When asked at the time if his office had dealt with harassment allegations by employees, Garcetti indicated he didn?t know of any incidents.
    Not a good look man

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    https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/0...uding-robbery/

    HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Hawaii Island police officer has been arrested for an incident in Kailua-Kona on Sunday, officials said.

    According to authorities, 38-year-old Adrian Ruiz has been charged with robbery, terroristic threatening and trespassing.

    Police said Ruiz and three other men threatened a family on Holoholo Street around 10 p.m. over an alleged theft.

    One of the men reportedly had a baseball bat.

    Ruiz was arrested, along with a second man, 42-year-old Rafael Garcia. The two other suspects are still on the loose.

    According to police officials, Ruiz works at the Department of Motor Vehicles and worked as a patrol officer in 2015.

    Bail has been set at $12,250 for Ruiz and $61,000 for Garcia. Both men have posted bail.


    The department has opened an internal investigation.

    Anyone with further information is asked to call (808) 935-3311.

    This story will be updated.

    Copyright 2020 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

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    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...pital/2458918/

    A former Alexandria, Virginia, police officer who trained other officers on how to deal with mentally ill subjects was found guilty of assaulting a man he took to the hospital for care.

    Former Officer Jonathan Griffin was a neighbor of the man he’s accused of assaulting. They lived on the same floor at an Old Town high rise for senior citizens and people with disabilities.

    Griffin was there as part of a community policing program.

    Griffin testified James Lenzen was known to have mental health problems.

    He said on Jan. 27 when he approached Lenzen, the man took a fighting stance and moved toward him.

    Griffin handcuffed him and took him to Inova Alexandria Hospital under an emergency custody order.

    Video played in court shows Griffin walking the handcuffed man to the emergency room check-in desk when Lenzen suddenly hits the floor after the officer kicks his legs out from under him.

    “Because he was getting more and more aggravated and trying to resist my control of him,” Griffin testified. “I thought he might be trying to harm others in the ER, himself or me.”

    Griffin said a doctor was walking toward them when he made the decision to take the 53-year-old to the ground.

    Lenzen suffered a broken knee and his face was bruised and bloodied.

    Prosecutors challenged the use of force. Griffin testified Lenzen did not threaten him or physically try to harm him that day. He said he couldn’t recall if Lenzen said he wanted to harm someone else.

    The judge ruled there was no evidence he was defending himself or needed to be fearful others would be hurt. She gave him a suspended sentence so there will be no jail time. An appeal is likely.

    The victim was not present in court. He was arrested in July and charged with assaulting an emergency room nurse.

  16. #1916
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    Victor Dale Jr shot by Oregon City, OH Police officers

    https://www.13abc.com/2020/10/29/no-...t-injured-one/

    OREGON, Ohio (WTVG) - The Lucas County Grand Jury has chosen not to bring criminal charges against two Oregon Police officers who fired on a man during a domestic disturbance call in June. The officers will face a disciplinary hearing from the police department for firearms violations.

    The man they shot, Victor Dale Jr., was hospitalized following the incident but has since recovered.

    On the evening of June 13, officers Logan Nitkiewicz and Joel Turner responded to a call for a domestic dispute at the Kingston Court Apartments in the 3100 block of Navarre Ave. During the incident, the officers were forced to separate Dale and his girlfriend, after which Dale returned to his vehicle and attempted to leave.

    Turner positioned himself in front of the car. Dale pulled forward, striking Turner. Turner and Nitkiewicz then opened fire on the vehicle, firing 21 shots over a five-second period. According to Oregon Chief Mike Navarre, Dale was struck twice, in the neck and shoulder. Dale was taken to an area hospital and spent time in the Intensive Care Unit. Turner suffered minor injuries, including a possible broken wrist. The entire incident was captured on the officers' body cameras, which were released during the investigation.

    Following the incident, the Firearms Review Board and the Lucas County Grand Jury opened hearings. Those results were released this week.

    According to Chief Navarre, the Firearms Review Board determined that the initial few shots from both officers were justified, however, the remaining shots were not. Both officers have been formally charged with firearms violations and will face a disciplinary hearing from the police department.

    The officers have been on paid administrative leave since the incident.

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    https://ktla.com/news/local-news/lap...hip-in-orange/

    An LAPD officer was arrested on suspicion of stealing a vehicle from a used car dealership in Orange, officials said Tuesday.

    LAPD Officer Matthew Calleros appears in a booking photo released by the Orange Police Department on Nov. 10, 2020.
    LAPD Officer Matthew Calleros appears in a booking photo released by the Orange Police Department on Nov. 10, 2020.
    Authorities arrested Matthew Calleros, a 45-year-old officer with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollenbeck Division, in the city of L.A. Monday evening on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a stolen vehicle.

    He was booked into the Orange County Jail and released just before 3 a.m. Tuesday, inmate records show.

    The Orange Police Department said it received a report of a stolen vehicle from a dealership in the 1100 block of W. Chapman Avenue on Oct. 25, 2019. Detectives later identified Calleros as a suspect.

    LAPD said it has suspended Calleros’ peace officer powers pending the investigation by the city of Orange and its own personnel probe. He has been “assigned home,” according to LAPD.

    Orange police said they’re working with LAPD and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office on the case.

    Authorities in Orange asked anyone with information about the case to call detectives at 714-744-7444.

  18. #1918
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    https://abc7news.com/da-santa-clara-...icted/8203628/

    SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office formally announced Monday morning indictments against the county's undersheriff and Apple's security chief as part of its ongoing investigation into a concealed weapons permit scheme.

    DA Jeff Rosen announced the charges against Undersheriff Rick Sung and Thomas Moyer, the head of Global Security at Apple.

    "It's a very sad day when law enforcement officers commit a crime," said Rosen. "When those who are sworn to uphold the law, violate the law, it tarnishes the badge, the reputations, and the effectiveness of all law enforcement agencies."

    According to Rosen, Sung held back issuing concealed weapons permits to Apple's security team, until Moyer agreed to donate $70,000 worth of iPads to the sheriff's office.

    Moyer's attorney is maintaining his client's innocence.

    "Tom Moyer has nothing to do with any improprieties in the sheriff's department," said defense attorney Ed Swanson. "He knows nothing about a bribery scheme, because he wasn't asked to make a bribe and he didn't offer one."
    Rosen says the iPad donation was pulled back once the DA's office issued search warrants into the case.

    A total of seven indictments have now been issued in the alleged scheme, where some of the money went to Sheriff Laurie Smith's 2018 reelection campaign.

    RELATED: Santa Clara County sheriff's captain among 4 indicted on felony bribery and conspiracy charges

    Smith hasn't been charged.

    Former undersheriff John Hirokawa says the sheriff should consider stepping down to preserve the integrity of the department.

    "If she has nothing to do with it, then she should be doing something about it," he said. "They need to feel as though they're free to speak up and point out things, and for me, in the last several years, those things were being discouraged because you had to be loyal to the sheriff."

    Criminal defense attorney and former Santa Clara County public defender Jaime Leanos says the district attorney's office is taking a methodical approach.

    "This is generally how the indictment process works," said Leanos. "You go after the low-level players, then you go after the mid-level players, and then ultimately, your target is the highest-level person who you can criminally charge."

    The District Attorney's office would not specify if the sheriff would be charged, but said the investigation was far from over.

    "There's more witnesses for us to interview in the case and there's certainly more evidence for us to uncover and we'll see where that evidence takes us," said Rosen.

    The Santa Clara Sheriff's Office issued a statement regarding Monday's indictments saying, "As law enforcement officers, we are held to the highest moral and ethical standards. This is a difficult time for our organization, however our goal remains to provide the highest level of public safety to the residents of Santa Clara County."



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    https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.ph...tness-alleges/

    By Segun James

    The probe into the abuse of Nigerians by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police continued Tuesday as a witness alleged that his cousin was brutalised, abused and tortured until he developed brain cancer.

    According to businessman Chukwu Vincent, his cousin, Basil Ejiagwa, who is now dead, suffered loss of memory and eventually developed a brain tumour after he was tortured by SARS operatives in May 2014.



    Vincent told the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel that after struggling with failing health for six years following the torture by policemen, Ejiagwa died in his village in Imo State, where he was relocated to from Lagos as his health continued to deteriorate and he became a shadow of his old self.

    He said his cousin was picked up by policemen in the Igando area of Lagos and taken to the Igando Police Station where he was detained for five days and tortured.

    Vincent told the panel that policemen at Igando Police Station broke his cousin’s two legs with a “brick iron hammer”.

    Led in evidence by his lawyer, T.O. Gazali, Vincent told the panel that his cousin was arrested in May 2014 while coming back from Alaba International Market, Lagos, where he worked.

    He said Ejiegwa was later transferred to SARS office in Ikeja, where he was further tortured, leading to the fracture of his skull.

    Vincent said when Ejiagwa was eventually released on May 31, 2014, his head had been broken with the butt of a gun.

    “Thereafter, he couldn’t walk anymore; he could not even remember certain things again,” Vincent said.

    Vincent said Ejiagwa was rushed to one El-Shadai Hospital in Igando but he was rejected and referred to the Lagos State General Hospital at Igando.

    “He could walk and do certain things,” after the torturing and fracturing of the man’s head.

    Vincent said the victim later sued SARS and the Federal High Court in Lagos entered judgment in his favour and ordered the police to pay him N40m damages, however, since the judgment was delivered on April 16, 2019, the police had refused to honour it.

    “This thing happened in 2014 and he could not do anything, he could not go anywhere. It took five years to get the judgment.

    “On behalf of the family of Bassil, I am appealing to this panel to help us enforce the judgment against the police. The judgment was delivered since April 16, 2019 and up till now, we have not heard anything from the police,” Vincent said.

    The panel admitted as exhibits hospital documents, including a bill of N1m and a doctor’s report; as well as the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

    Counsel for the police, Joseph Ebosereme, sought an adjournment to cross-examine the witness.

    The panel adjourned till December 4, 2020.

  20. #1920
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    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55202000

    A sheriff's department in the US state of Alabama has come under fire over a Facebook photo showing a Christmas tree adorned with mugshots of suspects.

    It called the decorations "thugshots" in a Facebook post on Thursday that drew thousands of negative comments.

    Local civil liberties groups have described the post as "despicable".

    A sheriff spokeswoman for Mobile County Sheriff's Department defended the image, saying it represented criminals who were repeat offenders.

    In a Facebook post sharing the image, the department said: "We have decorated our Tree with THUGSHOTS to show how many Thugs we have taken off the streets of Mobile this year! We could not have done it without our faithful followers!"

    The post, which has since been removed, drew 7,900 comments, according to the Associated Press news agency. While some of the reaction was positive, many people responded saying the decorations were demeaning and cruel, the agency reports.

    Bernard Simelton, president of Alabama's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, criticised the "despicable behaviour" of the police department, Al.com news website reported.

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama (ACLU) has condemned the tree, calling it "divisive and cruel".

    The civil rights organisation's director, JaTaune Bosby, said most of those arrested had struggled with mental health problems and drug abuse.

    "They need the community's assistance and care, not open scorn from leaders."
    A spokeswoman for the sheriff's department told AI.com the image had been photoshopped, and was not on display in the police building.

    Lori Myles, quoted by AI.com, said the tree was "a good thing", showing "they have taken these career criminals off the streets".

    The same spokeswoman told CBS News she had taken down the post after receiving death threats.

    It's not the first time the sheriff's department has got into hot water over its social media posts. In December last year, the chief of Mobile police department was forced to apologise for an "insensitive" Facebook post in which two officers held up a "homeless quilt" made up of signs used for begging.

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    https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/ne...can-look-at-2/

    FRESNO, California (KGPE) – A former Fresno Police officer was arrested at the department’s headquarters Wednesday – and now facing charges for allegedly possessing child pornography.

    The Fresno Police Department said Jeffrey Logue had been an officer there for 17 years and was assigned to the homeless task force when he was arrested for alleged possession of child pornography.

    “We’re not going to talk specifically about quantities of images, but it was something that was very clearly an image of a child in an inappropriate nature,” Lt. Brandon Pursell the commander of the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children task force or ICAC.

    He said they’d been investigating Logue for a few weeks after receiving a cyber tip. They served a search warrant for his home, vehicles and electronics Wednesday and took him into custody at police headquarters.

    “We had very good cooperation from the Fresno Police Department from the onset and I do want to thank them for the amount of help that they’ve given us on this. They helped bring him in so that we could safely arrest him and so that we could safely interview him,” Pursell said.

    The police department also released a statement on the arrest, detailing that Chief Andrew Hall is shocked and outraged by the actions of Jeffrey Logue.

    “He shares in his disappointment with all the men and women of the Fresno Police Department. Chief Hall would like to thank the investigators assigned to the ICAC task force for their dedication and the important work they do protecting our children.”

    Pursell said the number of cyber tips they’ve received this year is more than double last year.

    “One of the scary parts about this is there’s no set profile. We will deal with men of all races, men of all ages, men of all sexual preferences. There’s really no set person you can look at. It’s really something that’s a behavior,” he said.

    Logue’s bail was set at $20,000. Jail records show he is no longer in custody.

    Pursell encourages any instances of children being abused and illegal sexual material being shared online to be reported to the Sheriff’s Office. Investigators can be reached at (559) 600-3111 or cyber tips can also be submitted online.

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    https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/12...ng-wrong-raid/

    CHICAGO (CBS) — For the first time, police body camera video reveals what an innocent woman said happened to her nearly two years ago: police officers wrongly entered her home with guns drawn and handcuffed her naked as she watched in horror.

    Last year, Anjanette Young filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the video to show the public what happened to her that day. CBS 2 also filed a request for the video. But the Chicago Police Department denied the requests.

    Young recently obtained the footage after a court forced CPD to turn it over as part of her lawsuit against police.

    “I feel like they didn’t want us to have this video because they knew how bad it was,” Young said. “They knew they had done something wrong. They knew that the way they treated me was not right.”

    Hours before the TV version of this report broadcast, the city’s lawyers attempted to stop CBS 2 from airing the video by filing an emergency motion in federal court.

    If you believe police have wrongly entered your home, tell us about it here.

    The video reveals on Feb. 21, 2019, nine body cameras rolled as a group of male officers entered her home at 7 p.m. Not long before, the licensed social worker finished her shift at the hospital and had undressed in her bedroom.

    That’s when she said she heard a loud, pounding noise.

    Outside, officers repeatedly struck her door with a battering ram. From various angles, the video captured the moments they broke down the door and burst through her home.

    “It was so traumatic to hear the thing that was hitting the door,” Young said, as she watched the video. “And it happened so fast, I didn’t have time to put on clothes.”

    As they rushed inside with guns drawn, officers yelled, “Police search warrant,” and “Hands up, hands up, hands up.” Seconds later, Young could be seen in the living room, shocked and completely naked, with her hands up.

    “There were big guns,” Young remembered. “Guns with lights and scopes on them. And they were yelling at me, you know, put your hands up, put your hands up.”

    Young looked terrified and confused as she watched officers search the home. An officer put her hands behind her back and handcuffed her as she stood naked.

    “What is going on?” Young yelled in the video. “There’s nobody else here, I live alone. I mean, what is going on here? You’ve got the wrong house. I live alone.”

    “It’s one of those moments where I felt I could have died that night,” she said. “Like if I would have made one wrong move, it felt like they would have shot me. I truly believe they would have shot me.”

    And like so many other wrong raids CBS 2 uncovered, the one on Young’s home could have been avoided.

    Using body camera video and police and court records, CBS 2 pieced together – moment by moment – not only how Young was treated during the raid, but also how police failed to check the bad tip that led them there.

    Young recently agreed to an interview to discuss the body camera video after she first spoke to CBS 2 last year. CBS 2 blurred portions of the video in which Young was unclothed.

    With her hands bound behind her back, the video shows an officer wrapped a short coat around her shoulders. But the coat only covered her shoulders and upper back – leaving her front completely exposed as she stood against the wall. Officers stood around her home – in the kitchen, the living room and the hallways – while she remained naked.

    “It felt like forever to me,” she said. “It felt like forever.”

    About two minutes after police entered the home, an officer found a blanket and wrapped it around Young as she sobbed and repeatedly asked officers who they were looking for.

    “They just threw something over me, and my hands are behind me and I’m handcuffed,” Young said in an interview. “So there’s no way for me to secure the blanket around me.”

    The blanket continued to slide open and expose her body. One video clip shows an officer stood in front of Young but made no attempt to cover her. Another officer walked over and held the blanket closed.

    Young continued to beg police for answers.

    “Tell me what’s going on,” she cried in the video.

    “You’ve got the wrong house, you’ve got the wrong house, you’ve got the wrong house,” Young repeated.

    “There’s no one else who lives in this apartment?” the sergeant asked.

    “No, no one else lives here,” Young said.

    Young told police at least 43 times they were in the wrong home. She repeatedly asked them to allow her to get dressed and told them she believed they had bad information.

    “Oh my God, this cannot be right,” Young said during the raid. “How is this legal?”

    Police did have bad information, CBS 2 Investigators uncovered, and they failed to do basic checks to confirm whether they had the correct address before getting the search warrant approved.

    According to CPD’s complaint for search warrant, one day before the raid, a confidential informant told the affiant – or lead officer on the raid – that he recently saw a 23-year-old man who was a known felon with gun and ammunition.

    The document said the officer found a photo of the suspect in a police database and showed it to the informant, who confirmed it was him. The officer then drove the informant to the address where the informant claimed the suspect lived.

    Despite no evidence in the complaint that police made efforts to independently verify the informant’s tip, such as conducting any surveillance or additional checks as required by policy, the search warrant was approved by an assistant state’s attorney and a judge.

    But CBS 2 quickly found, through police and court records, the informant gave police the wrong address. The 23-year-old suspect police were looking for actually lived in the unit next door to Young at the time of the raid and had no connection to her.

    CBS 2 also found police could have easily tracked the suspect’s location and where he really lived because at the time of the raid, he was wearing an electronic monitoring device.

    “That piece of paper [search warrant] gives them the right to, you know, that says you can do X, Y, Z based on what’s on that paper,” Young said. “So if you get it wrong, you are taking 100 percent control of someone else’s life and treating them in a bad way.”

    The body camera video also raises questions about the approval of the warrant. In one clip, officers in a squad car reviewed their notes and can be heard talking. CPD wouldn’t comment when CBS 2 asked what the conversation meant.

    “It wasn’t initially approved or some crap,” one officer said.

    “What does that mean?” the second officer asked.

    “I have no idea,” the first officer said. “I mean, they told him it was approved, then I guess that person messed up on their end.”

    Citing an ongoing investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), CPD also wouldn’t comment when CBS 2 asked about the raid or why officers acted solely on an informant’s tip.

    But the video shows Young made multiple attempts to ask CPD some of those same questions.

    “Who are you looking for?” Young asked.

    “I’ve been living here for four years and nobody lives here but me,” she yelled.

    “I’m telling you this is wrong,” Young continued. “I have nothing to do with whoever this person is you are looking for.”

    This is not the first time police failed to do basic checks that would have contradicted bad information given by an informant. Last year, CBS 2 interviewed the Blassingame family who were wrongly raided by police in 2015. Jalonda Blassingame’s young sons said officers pointed guns at them, leaving them traumatized, like dozens of other children CBS 2 interviewed as part of its two-year investigative series.

    “I felt scared for my life,” said her son Jaden, who was 10 at the time of the raid.

    CBS 2 quickly found the suspect police were looking for had no connection to the Blassingames and had been in prison at the time of the raid for years.

    That trauma experienced by innocent children and families as a result of wrong CPD raids was the subject of CBS 2’s half-hour documentary, “[un]warranted.” It also examines how Black and Latino families are disproportionately affected.

    “They are adding trauma to people’s lives that will be with them the rest of their lives,” Young said. “Children have to grow up with that for the rest of their lives. The system is broken.”

    Many of the families interviewed, including Young, filed lawsuits against police. Keenan Saulter, Young’s attorney, said he believes wrong raids are violating families’ constitutional rights.

    “If this had been a young woman in Lincoln Park by herself in her home naked, a young white woman — let’s just be frank – if the reaction would have been the same? I don’t think it would have been,” Saulter said. “I think [officers] would have saw that woman, rightfully so, as someone who was vulnerable, someone who deserved protection, someone who deserved to have their dignity maintained. They viewed Ms. Young as less than human.”

  23. #1923
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    https://www.wfaa.com/mobile/article/...f-c5921bc348ce

    . A North Texas man is suing two officers in the Keller Police Department following his arrest in August. Keller PD demoted Sergeant Blake Shimanek for his role in the incident.

    The arrest occurred Aug. 15 when 22-year-old Dillon Puente was pulled over for making a wide right turn. Puente was on his way to his grandmother’s house when he was stopped in the Riverdance neighborhood.

    Bodycam video shows Shimanek ask Dillon to get out of the car before he places him in handcuffs. In a police report obtained by WFAA, Shimanek said he detained Dillon because he was worried about his safety.

    “He was ticketed and taken to jail for a wide right turn,” said Dillon’s dad Marco Puente in an interview with WFAA.

    Marco Puente was following Dillon to his grandma’s house, and he pulled up his vehicle after he saw his son was pulled over by police.

    Bodycam video shows Shimanek threaten Marco Puente with arrest if he continued to remain in the roadway with his truck.

    After obeying the order to move his vehicle, Marco started recording his son’s arrest on his cellphone, while he was waiting on the sidewalk across the street from the scene.

    “The officer didn’t like me being there recording anything,” Marco told WFAA.

    Bodycam video shows Shimanek ordering Officer Ankit Tomer to arrest Marco too.

    “Put your phone down,” Tomer said, while his body-worn camera recorded. “Put your hands behind your head.”

    “This guy is arresting me for just standing here,” Marco said in video captured by the body-worn camera.

    “They tried to take me down and pepper spray me, and it was a fiasco,” Marco told WFAA.

    Dillon Puente ultimately paid a ticket for his wide turn.

    But a new lawsuit filed against the two officers said Keller PD leadership called the use of force and arrest of Marco Puente “inappropriate." The lawsuit says two days after the incident, the police chief met with Marco to apologize for the officers’ conduct “and to reiterate that Officers Shimanek and Tomer were in the wrong, not Mr. Puente.”

    When contacted, Keller police were quick to provide WFAA documents into their investigation of this incident, but said they cannot publicly comment due to the ongoing lawsuit.

    Scott Palmer is Marco's attorney. He said the lawsuit is about accountability.

    “Marco is not a criminal. This is a man, a concerned father, and if this can happen to him, it can happen to anyone,” Palmer said. “These officers knew better. I believe they were trained better, but why did they not execute better? I don’t know.”

    Police records show Shimanek has had previous problems as a Keller officer. In 2016, an Internal Affairs review found that he entered a home without a search warrant and without approval from the homeowner.

    In 2018, Shimanek's discipline file shows that he was reprimanded after he made a comment in reference to "women not carrying guns because they would not be able to protect the children during a school shooting."

    Now, in this 2020 incident, another Internal Affairs review has found misconduct. This time, it is has led to Shimanek's demotion from his rank as a sergeant to officer.

    Keller police said Officer Tomer, also named in the lawsuit, was not punished as he arrived later and was working under the orders of his then sergeant.

    “It’s disturbing to know that these are the people we are entrusting with providing safety in the community and they are abusing that power,” James Roberts, an attorney in Palmer’s law firm, told WFAA. “I know that they knew better. I know that they knew what they were doing was wrong, yet they still did it.”

    Now three months later, the Puente family remains troubled by the August incident.

    “Who gets pulled out of a car and cuffed for a wide right turn?” Marco said. “Nobody. Nobody.”


    https://www.change.org/p/keller-poli...dmMmE0MA%3D%3D

  24. #1924
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    https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/bo...icker-in-2005/

    EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – President Trump has pardoned two former U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an unarmed alleged “drug mule” trying to flee back into Mexico.

    Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were serving reduced sentences for their role in the 2005 shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on Feb. 17, 2005 near El Paso.

    The agents claimed that Aldrete brandished a gun at them while resisting arrest; the suspect later said he was unarmed and trying to surrender when Compean beat him with a shotgun, CNN reported.

    The suspect tried to escape to Mexico when Ramos shot him. Ramos and Compean were convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, lying about the incident and violating Aldrete’s Fourth Amendment rights. Ramos received an 11-year prison sentence and Compean a 12-year term for the charges. President George W. Bush later reduced the sentences, CNN reported.

    Aldrete was arrested in 2007 on charges of smuggling 750 pounds of marijuana into the United States but was offered immunity in exchange for his testimony against the agents, CNN reported.

    The White House on Wednesday released a statement saying Trump pardoned the former agents based on the support of 100 members of Congress. The statement highlighted how Ramos and Compean were active in their communities and in church.

    “Both men served as Border Patrol agents and put themselves in harm’s way to help secure our southern border with Mexico,” the White House statement said. “They stopped an illegal alien trafficking 700 pounds of marijuana. When the illegal alien, who was thought to be armed, resisted arrest, Mr. Ramos shot the suspect, who fled back across the border.”

    In all, Trump pardoned 15 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of another five.

    Others who receive pardons include four Blackwater private contractors convicted in 2014 of 14 unauthorized killings in Baghdad; former congressman Duncan Hunter; and former campaign aide George Papadopoulus.

    Hunter, a Republican, was scheduled to begin an 11-month sentence for conspiring to misuse campaign funds on Jan. 4 at the Federal Correctional Institution La Tuna, which is just outside El Paso.

  25. #1925
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    California police department is investigating after a video of one of its officers pinning down and punching a K-9 in the head is going viral.

    Roberto Palamino, a Vacaville resident, shared the disturbing video on Facebook on Monday, December 28. He explained in the caption he was returning to his work warehouse, located next to the Vacaville fire station, when he heard “a dog crying.”

    What happened next inspired him to begin recording, he said, writing:

    When I looked, the officer was punching the dog over and over and got shocked about it, only thing I could think was recording, I as soon as I did at the end of the video you can see he looks towards me, and I hide behind the door of my warehouse, as I kept picking, he was looking towards my doors, so I’m sure he saw me, he stopped beating the dog when he saw me and went behind those trailers in the video were I could see their legs only, I finish loading my truck and as I left I saw him getting to his K-9 unit and put some stuff on the trunk and I left, it was all weird and I’m sorry if I fear for my life and didn’t confronted him….

    VideoVideo related to watch: video shows california cop punching k-9 in the head during training2020-12-30T15:16:59-05:00

    The video has since amassed over 500 comments and more than 300 shares, sparking a wave of criticism and questioning online.

    The man in the video has been identified as a Vacaville police officer, NBC Bay Area reported. Vacaville Police Captain Matt Lydon told the station that the department is now investigating the incident.

    If abuse is determined, the officer could face forfeiting the dog, the station said.

    Here’s what you need to know:

    Palamino Said the Video Does Not Capture the Worst of the Encounter, According to Local Media
    Vacaville cop caught trying to kill a police dog in training ������ #grindfacetv pic.twitter.com/akewaaZMEv

    — IG: @Grind.Face.TV (@GrindFaceTV) December 30, 2020

    According to NBC Bay Area, Palamino expressed that the video does not show the worst of the encounter.

    “The dog was crying like somebody was running him over or something like that,” he told the station. “It was bad crying.”

    He added that he saw the man punch the dog at “least 10” times before he began recording, NBC Bay Area said.

    The video shows the officer pinning down the animal and appearing to hit it in the head multiple times.

    “I think he should have a better life, that’s all,” Palamino said of the dog, according to NBC Bay Area. “I was concerned about the dog.”

    The Vacaville Police Department Says There Might Be More to the Story
    Lydon told NBC Bay Area that it is still too early to denounce the encounter as animal abuse.

    “There is times during K-9 training, as I understand, that the dog can be struck,” the captain said to the station.

    Lydon said officers at times need to sit on their dogs in order to regain control if the animal attempted to bite or lunge at them, NBC Bay Area continued.

    “This requires immediate action in the training of the canine and to create that and establish the dominance over that dog to let the dog know that the handler is in charge,” Lydon said.

    According to NBC Bay Area, the police department is working with a third party specializing in in K-9 training to determine whether any abuse occurred.

    Lydon added that he would like to reach out to Palamino and discuss what he witnessed, NBC Bay Area reported.
    https://heavy.com/news/video-vacavil...-punching-k-9/

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