Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The US police misconduct thread

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    The US police misconduct thread

    Really, it seems easier at this point to have one big omnibus thread to cover all examples of police brutality and misconduct from the USA.

    Here's one that was new to me, but the story came out in February: a New Jersey man was accused of running from the police and resisting arrest, but the police's own dashcams showed that he had his hands up, and was beaten by officers. Prosecutors weren't originally given these tapes:

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/dash-cam-video-clears-nj-man-violent-traffic/story?id=22660928

    And not as serious as that: officer at a traffic stop hounds a driver to confess that he smokes marijuana after seeing his frisbee golf bag in his car:
    http://digg.com/video/cop-does-everything-he-can-to-trick-driver-into-saying-he-has-weed?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=email

    #2
    The US police misconduct thread

    Kid knocked out.

    Another brutal video of police violence surfaced on Wednesday, this time from New York City. The incident took place over the summer, when 17-year-old Marcel Hamer was walking down the street in Brooklyn. According to lawyers for the family, which is suing the officer, Hamer was walking home from school around 3:30 p.m. smoking a cigarette when he was confronted by a plainclothes police officer.

    The video, taken by a friend of Hamer, begins with the young man lying on the curb underneath the rear bumper of a parked car. The police officer, who apparently suspected the cigarette contained marijuana, stands over Hamer as he pleads, “Mister, it was just a cigarette, sir.” The cop then appears to knock Hamer unconscious and handcuffs him.
    Stop and frisk becomes stop and rob.

    The video of the encounter, on Sept. 16 at around 12:20 a.m., shows a police officer steering Mr. Joye against a chain-link fence to pat him down. “Look,” Mr. Joye says. “Look, you see this? Look.” The police officer reaches into Mr. Joye’s pocket, removes what appears to be a folded stack of bills and steps back.

    “Give me my money,” Mr. Joye says in the video. The police officer then sprays something at him.

    Mr. Joye said the officer took more than $1,000 in cash and deployed pepper spray.

    Comment


      #3
      The US police misconduct thread

      LAPD shot and killed a man on Hollywood Blvd, right near the biggest tourist trap (the Hollywood and Highland mall) in the city:

      https://twitter.com/jordanwhiteLA/status/541064857341026304

      That tweet says he was unarmed, I've also seen comments that the man had a knife.

      Comment


        #4
        The US police misconduct thread

        Even though they've poshed it up a bit, there's a lot of very hinky people up on Hollywood Boulevard.

        Comment


          #5
          The US police misconduct thread

          It turns out to have been a street performer and the pocketknife was a prop.

          But you don't have to tell me about some of the people in Hollywood. My wife would go into work and find all sorts of unpleasant things left by people in front of her building on Vine and Santa Monica.

          Comment


            #6
            The US police misconduct thread

            South African comedian Trevor Noah issued a few barbed comments on The Daily Show in the week. Very funny he was, too.

            Comment


              #7
              The US police misconduct thread

              Chicago PD operates a black site:

              The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

              The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.

              Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:

              Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
              Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
              Shackling for prolonged periods.
              Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility.
              Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15.
              At least one man was found unresponsive in a Homan Square “interview room” and later pronounced dead.

              Comment


                #8
                The US police misconduct thread

                As horrifying as it is, it's entirely of a piece both with the Chicago PD's history of brutality and lawlessness and the militarisation of police in general. I wonder how many Chicago cops were MPs in Iraq/Afghanistan?

                Comment


                  #9
                  The US police misconduct thread

                  And the links between Chicago and Guantanamo.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    The US police misconduct thread

                    It's just a matter of time before the U.S. gets its rule-by-military-junta period, isn't it?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      The US police misconduct thread

                      ursus arctos wrote:
                      Stop and frisk becomes stop and rob.

                      The video of the encounter, on Sept. 16 at around 12:20 a.m., shows a police officer steering Mr. Joye against a chain-link fence to pat him down. “Look,” Mr. Joye says. “Look, you see this? Look.” The police officer reaches into Mr. Joye’s pocket, removes what appears to be a folded stack of bills and steps back.

                      “Give me my money,” Mr. Joye says in the video. The police officer then sprays something at him.

                      Mr. Joye said the officer took more than $1,000 in cash and deployed pepper spray.
                      Christ, that sounds like something off The Shield.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        The US police misconduct thread

                        It's just a matter of time before the U.S. gets its rule-by-military-junta period, isn't it?
                        Generalissimo Giuliani "likes" this comment.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          The US police misconduct thread

                          Looks like LAPD just executed a homeless guy in broad daylight.

                          There were like half a dozen cops and the guy seemed like he was in the process of being subdued. No doubt the cops will say that he reached for their guns and they were in fear of their lives and will get off. Plus ca change.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The US police misconduct thread

                            Why don't just go the whole hog and mow down suspects in an identity parade line-up, firing-squad style, on the pretense that it's okay because the guilty guy had to be in there somewhere?

                            Does every potential police flashpoint requires that someone becomes target practice?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              The US police misconduct thread

                              Louisiana cops caught lying by mobile phone footage as they attempt to fit up an innocent man.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                The US police misconduct thread

                                Philadelphia cops beat up a guy for riding a motor scooter. At least in this case they were charged, but only because the victim's girlfriend tracked down video that showed what really happened.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  The US police misconduct thread

                                  I learned about cesar's story from Waterford whispers News. It's where I go for all my news now.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    The US police misconduct thread

                                    I really hope Docta Rossi gets some good material for his next hippity-hop show from The Waterford News.

                                    FTP

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      The US police misconduct thread

                                      Not technically police, but Jesus. And in this supposedly positive outcome for justice they don't even get jail time.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        The US police misconduct thread

                                        The prosecution was the first time any New York State corrections officers had been criminally charged with a nonsexual assault of an inmate, officials said.
                                        Which gives me a lot of comfort that this is the first time NY State corrections officers have done anything of the sort.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          The US police misconduct thread

                                          This is prisons rather than police, but it's all part of the same apparatus of doom, hey.

                                          Prisoners forced to fight each other for guards' amusement

                                          While I was looking for this item, I found this from 1998.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            The US police misconduct thread

                                            Fresno PD deputy chief busted by the Feds for drug dealing.

                                            What kind of moron makes a 6 figure salary with benefits and a pension and throws it away by selling marijuana and heroin?

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              The US police misconduct thread

                                              Here we go again!

                                              http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33044412

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                The US police misconduct thread

                                                Pools as a flashpoint in US race relations

                                                The decisions of other communities were rarely so transparent, but the trend was unmistakable. Before 1950, Americans went swimming as often as they went to the movies, but they did so in public pools. There were relatively few club pools, and private pools were markers of extraordinary wealth. Over the next half-century, though, the number of private in-ground pools increased from roughly 2,500 to more than four million. The declining cost of pool construction, improved technology, and suburbanization all played important roles. But then, so did desegregation.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  The US police misconduct thread

                                                  The officer in the McKinney incident has resigned.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X