Update: Portland, Oregon (First reported 04-12-13): The city will pay $2.3 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed after a police officer wounded a man when he mistakenly fired lethal rounds at him from a beanbag shotgun. The victim is now permanently disabled and narrowly escaped death only because there was a hospital nearby
The proposed settlement was reached after city attorneys and Monroe’s lawyer met Monday in a mediation session with U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken.
It must still go before the City Council for approval. If accepted, it would mark the city’s largest individual settlement in its history.
“Honestly, I think in the grand scheme of things, it’s not an unfair settlement,” Thane Tienson, Monroe’s lawyer, said Tuesday.
Tienson said the money will help pay for Monroe’s ongoing medical costs and lost wages.
Reister’s gunshots fractured Monroe’s pelvis and punctured his bladder, abdomen and colon. The fourth shot, fired from less than 15 feet away, left a “softball-size hole in his left leg” and severed the sciatic nerve, according to Monroe’s suit.
So it took 4 shots for the cop to realize he was shooting lethal rounds? Oh bullshit! That’s attempted murder.
Local police want to bypass DPS on wiretapping but rarely use labor-intensive tactic
Earlier, Grits complained at length about a bill passed out of the Texas Senate, SB 188, by Sen. Joan Huffman, expanding wiretapping authority and on Monday its House companion HB 530, by Rep. Allen Fletcher, will be heard by the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. The legislation would let the six largest police departments and the Harris County Sheriff engage in wiretapping on their own authority. Under current law, when local prosecutors get wiretap orders they must be implemented by DPS officers. The argument by bill proponents last week, and in prior committee hearings, was that DPS was too overwhelmed to handle wiretapping duties. But here’s a table Grits compiled of the total number of wiretapping requests by local Texas agencies since before the turn of the century.
Wiretap orders issued by
Texas state district judges: 1997-20112011: 2Source
2010: 1
2009: 0
2008: 2
2007: 4
2006: 2
2005: 4
2004: 0
2003: 4
2002: 2
2001: 1
2000: 0
1999: 4
1998: 5
1997: 0
Why do local agencies need this authority when right now they hardly ever use wiretaps? At last week’s House Criminal Jurisprudence meeting there was a telling exchange when the committee heard essentially similar legislation to SB 188 from state Rep. Gene Wu. Committee member Matt Schaefer asked a Houston police detective, who said this bill would let him do more wiretaps, how many times HPD had requested a DPS wiretap last year. He replied that HPD had not requested any because they knew DPS was too “busy.” DPS, however, has never turned down an agency that asked them to perform a wiretap if they’ve got the proper orders from their local judge. The argument seems to be, “If we didn’t have to go through DPS we’d do more of them.” But why? Can they credibly say that without having even tried going through the existing legal mechanisms?
FBI denied permission to spy on hacker through his webcam
A federal magistrate judge has denied a request from the FBI to install sophisticated surveillance software to track someone suspected of attempting to conduct a “sizeable wire transfer from [John Doe’s] local bank [in Texas] to a foreign bank account.”
Back in March 2013, the FBI asked the judge to grant a month-long “Rule 41 search and seizure warrant” of a suspect’s computer “at premises unknown” as a way to find out more about this possible violations of “federal bank fraud, identity theft and computer security laws.”
In an unusually-public order published this week, Judge Stephen Smith slapped down the FBI on the grounds that the warrant request was overbroad and too invasive. In it, he gives a unique insight as to the government’s capabilities for sophisticated digital surveillance on potential targets. According to the judge’s description of the spyware, it sounds very similar to the RAT software that many miscreants use to spy on other Internet users without their knowledge.
» via ars technica
(via beatyourselfup)
A police officer in the suburban Dallas community of Richardson, Texas, shot and killed Emily Krumrei, 32, a woman with outstanding drug arrest warrants as she fled from an attempted traffic stop Monday morning.
According to the Dallas Morning News, citing Richardson police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Perlich, an officer “was attempting to get a violator to pull over in a parking lot” for reasons that are yet unclear, but Krumrei fled in her Lexus. Shortly thereafter, an officer in a squad car saw her and attempted to stop her, but she refused to pull over.
Krumrei turned onto the southbound frontage road to the North Central Expressway. There, Perlich said, “a third officer near the frontage road was working a traffic accident. He stepped out into the road and tried to get her to stop.” But instead, Perlich said, Krumrei accelerated and clipped the officer. “The officer, in fear for his life, fired upon the vehicle,” Perlich said.
The Dallas NBC affiliate had a slightly, but significantly, different chronology of the shooting. According to NBC, the officer “fired at least one shot at the woman before being struck by the car.”
Read more: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/apr/09/police_kill_texas_woman_fleeing
I live about 5 minutes from where this happened.
Judge questions credibility of Dallas police officers
DALLAS — Two Dallas Police Department officers are under criminal investigation.
A judge determined that they repeatedly lied in sworn testimony about a drug arrest they made back in December of 2011.
The officers found drugs, cash, and a gun at inside an apartment at a Red Bird-area complex. They arrested a man by the name of Melvin Williams.
But in a rare ruling, a Dallas judge questioned the credibility of the arresting officers and ordered the money returned.
“I think the judge just found their testimony incredible,” said defense attorney Michael Smith. “It didn’t add up.”
The officers whose named were mentioned in open court, Randolph Dillon and John Llewellyn, claim they were sitting in their squad car when they saw Melvin Williams get into a vehicle. Officer Llewellyn testified in court “that he could see the driver hand Williams something, but couldn’t see exactly what.”
Officers arrested Williams, searched his car, and then his apartment.
“Now after they arrest him, at that point the officers allege that my client then told them there were more drugs in his apartment and a gun,” Snith said, “which of course, doesn’t make sense whatsoever.”
An apartment manager who witnessed the search testified that the drugs were actually found in the bushes outside.
After listening to other witnesses, the judge ruled, “there is doubt as to whether any illicit drugs that were alleged to have been found belonged to Williams, as opposed to having been planted.”
The ruling could call into question other cases also worked by the officers.
The officers’ attorney told News 8 both have excellent reputations, numerous commendations, and have never been accused of untruthfulness.
“If you are a police officer and you are lying to make your cases, you are just as bad as the bad guy,” Smith said.
Three Florida police officers in Collier county beat man who wasn’t resisting. You can hear his screams for pain and him saying he’s not resisting.
Notice they keep yelling “give me your hands”, even though he was compliant. It seems unlikely that he was refusing to give them his hands.
They know that if they dog pile you, they can beat the shit out of you while yelling at you to do something they’re physically forcing you not to do so they can continue to beat the shit out of you, claiming that you were resisting.
Yelling out “give me your hands” while three cops pin you down and prevent you from moving, is just stage performance for the camera.
[classic]
The 22-year veteran of the force pleaded guilty to two counts of false pretenses and two counts of neglect of duty for a time card scandal. Over the past six years the former sergeant and patrol commander of the Williston barracks added hundreds of overtime hours to his time card — hours he never worked. To cover the falsified time sheets, he wrote nearly a thousand fake traffic tickets and made up police calls he claimed he responded to.
Chicago cops start preemptive home raids and arrests (without official warrants) on the eve of NATO Summit
Submitted by ouspensky
Authorities in Chicago are gearing up for a weekend of anti-NATO activity in the Windy City, but it’s already being reported that law enforcement there might be a little too eager to begin arrests. The home of known activists was raided Wednesday.
The National Lawyers Guild confirms that law enforcement agents broke down the door of a 6-unit apartment building in the Chicago, Illinois neighborhood of Bridgeport at around 11:30 pm on Wednesday. Once inside, they entered the apartment of known activists with guns drawn and then cuffed the residents.
For two hours, tenants were shackled and questioned by officers with the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police Department. The Chicago Tribune writes that police reports detailing the incident have been obtained by the newspaper and confirm that nine people were arrested in the raid for allegedly making or possessing Molotov cocktail explosives. Police sources add to the paper early Friday, however, that none of the suspects had been charged.
Attorneys for the accused attest to the innocence of their clients. The reason they cannot prove that they were making Molotov cocktails, they say, is because they weren’t — instead, police saw and seized equipment used for home brewing beer.
“As far as we know, there was no liquid in the bottles,” Kris Hermes, a spokesman for the lawyer’s guild, tells the Tribune on Friday in speaking of the alleged paraphernalia pilfered by law enforcement. Another source with ties to the police tells a Chicago ABC News affiliate that Molotov cocktails were discovered in the raid, but those claims have yet to be verified.
“We have an inquiry that we’re checking into as we speak. So obviously we’ll have more information,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy tells ABC7.
Four of the suspects have been released without charge. As of Friday morning, the remaining five were still detained.
Hermes adds to the Tribune that “there’s absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing,” and that law enforcement officers were simply trying to make the activists “disappear” days before police expect major anti-NATO protests in Chicago.
“We were literally calling all morning and all afternoon to try to contact these people,” Hermes says. “That’s why we used the term ‘disappeared.’ ”
In a separate statement offered to an NBC News station in Chicago, Hermes adds, “The city has so far not indicated the reasons for the raid, what they are charging the protesters with, nor provided any evidence of wrongdoing” and that the NLG was still seeking a copy of the search warrant used in the raid.
“Preemptive raids like this are a hallmark of National Special Security Events,” Sarah Gelsomino of the National Lawyers Guild and the People’s Law Office adds in a press release. “The Chicago police and other law enforcement agencies should be aware that this behavior will not be tolerated and will result in real consequences for the city.”
Gelsomino adds that the search warrant used in the raid was allegedly not produced until four hours after the incident and was missing the signature of a court judge.
Following the Wednesday night raid, around 60 protesters marched the streets of Chicago’s North Side to condemn what they say was an illegal raid.
“I could not be more disgusted, enraged, terrified, by and generally totally disappointed with the city of Chicago,” William Vassilakis, who leases the apartment, tells the station.
DALLAS - News 8 (WFAA) has obtained exclusive video that appears to show a Dallas Police officer may have lied about being assaulted by a driver.
Officer Eric Watts said he spotted a teenager drag racing last April.
So, he followed the driver, without his lights and sirens, going more than 60 miles per hour.
At one point he drove down the wrong side of the road to catch up with the driver and then activated his emergency equipment.
He told supervisors the driver, “smiled and burned off.”
The dash camera video showed officer Watts got out of his car, draw his weapon and attempt to stop the driver.
That is when he said in a police report that the driver, “… drove over my right foot, causing pain and struck me in the midsection along my gun belt with his driver’s side mirror.”
Later on in the tape you hear him joke about it with other officers. “Well he got my foot (chuckles).”
The suspect eventually stopped on his own. Watts arrested him for aggravated assault of a police officer and evading arrest.
When supervisors looked at the tape, it clearly showed Officer Watt’s was not hit because the car appeared to be too far away to have touched the officer.
Internal affairs investigators said Watts lied and he could be fired because of it.
A grand jury is also looking at charges of official oppression.
The suspect was charged with evading arrest, but the aggravated assault charge was dropped.
(via beatyourselfup)
53 Year Old Grandmother Shot By Police, She Was Unarmed and Not A Threat To Anyone
A 53-year-old grandmother said she plans to sue the city of Wichita because a police officer shot her when she claims she was unarmed and not threatening anyone.
“I’m planning on it big time,” Shirley Smith said Thursday. “The police department is lying.”
She said no charges have been filed against her.
“Why would they? I didn’t do anything,” Smith said.
Smith said she was in the hospital for about five weeks, underwent six surgeries to repair internal injuries and lost part of her liver.
No charges were filed on the grandmother. She hasn’t done anything wrong.
St Louis MO police sued after 9 witnesses claim cop shot an unarmed man and continued to shoot him to death while he laid on the ground bleeding then planted a gun to cover it up
ST. LOUIS • The mother of a man fatally shot by an undercover St. Louis police detective in 2010 has sued in federal court here, alleging the officer continued to fire as her son lay on the ground dying, then planted a gun on him to claim the use of deadly force was justified.
Normane Bennett, 23, was shot June 25, 2010, in an alley behind the 3900 block of Sherman Place after he fled from police who tried to arrest him and others for alleged drug activity.
[…]
Wasem’s actions were unanimously cleared by the police board. The department on Thursday declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
A Post-Dispatch review earlier this year found the department cleared all but four of 117 officer-involved shootings over the last five years. The reviews are done with little outside scrutiny, the newspaper found.
[…]
The federal lawsuit claims the police board “turns a blind eye to use of excessive force by its police officers.” It seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
