POLICE BRUTALITY CASES: WALTER SCOTT MURDER & MORE

[Duchess]

The cop who murdered Walter Scott has been granted bail & released from jail by a judge who said he was being released because his trial was so far off. Whatta crock of shit. Let's just release all murderers who aren't being tried in a timely fashion.

Story

[HairOfTheDog]

^ I wish Slager would remain behind bars until his trial at the end of October too, Duchess. I was relieved to read that he's at least on house arrest until then.


With the prosecutor, Scarlett Wilson ^, working two major cases simultaneously and the delay to a speedy trial apparently being caused by the State instead of the Defense in Slager's case, sounds like the judge was looking to avoid issues of unconstitutionality when he agreed to the bond he's previously denied. Slager has no previous criminal record and is not deemed a flight risk.

Prosecutor Wilson is also prosecuting Dylann Roof who shot to death 9 people in a black church two months after Slager unloaded his weapon into the back of Walter Scott. Roof's is a death penalty case.

Water Scott's family, their attorney, and the people of North Charlotte have shown such grace throughout. They're not happy Slager is out of jail, but they understand the reason and continue to urge calm, which the community has thus far maintained despite the killings of Walter Scott and the later massacre of peaceful community members attending church services.

As for Slager's defense, looks to me like he will (1) blame the system - the North Charlotte PD policy/quota that requires officers to ticked at least three people a day for minor traffic violations or be punished, and (2) blame the victim.

It appears Walter Scott and former officer Michael Slager had a brief scuffle before Scott slowly ran away and was shot 5 times in the back. Slager's attorney calls it a violent pummeling of Slager by Scott, but Slager did not have injuries to support that claim.

In preliminary hearings, the prosecutor has argued against those defense claims; she has referenced the fact that after shooting Scott to death, Slager (not knowing he was being recorded) walked back to where the two had scuffled, retrieved his taser from the ground, and planted it near Scott's body in order to set up his false narrative. Source: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20...-arguments

[HairOfTheDog]

Florida Police Officer Charged with Manslaughter


Broward Sheriff's Office Deputy Peter Peraza ^, 37, entered a not guilty plea today. He is charged with manslaughter. Peraza shot Jermaine McBean to death as he walked home with an unloaded air rifle, and the PD said there was no reason to believe McBean did not hear their orders to drop the weapon.


But a newly emerged photo that shows headphones in McBean's ears immediately after the 2013 shooting raises questions about the police version of events, including why the white earbuds were later found stuffed in the dead computer expert's pocket.

The witness who took the photo is a nurse who says she pointed out the earbuds to police at the scene, after they rebuffed her offer to provide first aid to the dying man.

Another witness, Michael Russell McCarthy, 58, told NBC News that McBean had the Winchester Model 1000 Air Rifle balanced on his shoulders behind his neck, with his hand over both ends, and was turning around to face police when one officer began shooting.

"He [McBean] couldn't have fired that gun from the position he was in. There was no possible way of firing it and at the same time hitting something," McCarthy said. "I kind of blame myself, because if I hadn't called it might not have happened."

Jermaine McBean died shortly after he was fatally shot by police in Oakland Park, Fla., on July 31, 2013.

"I was highly upset," McBean's mother, Jennifer Young, said of the moment she learned about the photo. "I said, 'They lied to me. What else have they lied about?'" ""He couldn't have fired that gun from the position he was in.""

Stories:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/phot...an-n366386
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-depu...ing-death/

[Duchess]

and the PD said there was no reason to believe McBean did not hear their orders to drop the weapon.


But a newly emerged photo that shows headphones in McBean's ears immediately after the 2013 shooting raises questions about the police version of events, including why the white earbuds were later found stuffed in the dead computer expert's pocket.

Lying bastards! Lie Lie Lie. They lie and then try to cover their ass by lying some more.

[Midwest Spy]

Damn, those Beats headphones CAN get you killed.

Note to self: if cops are approaching turn the tunes down.

[HairOfTheDog]

Damn, those Beats headphones CAN get you killed.

Note to self: if cops are approaching turn the tunes down.

Hi MS.

McBean, a 33-year-old Pace University grad and computer systems engineer, was walking home from the shop where he bought the air gun when he was when suddenly confronted by cops and quickly shot. That's my understanding.

He may have tried to turn down or take out the Beats, or not had time before he was shot. We don't know.

I can understand how the cop didn't see the Beats in his ears. But, the fact that he was definitely wearing them when he was bleeding to death on the ground, as the recently-emerged photo proves, and the cops lied about that and apparently moved them to his pocket is some major bullshit by the police, yet again.

[Midwest Spy]

I agree, HotD, complete bullshit.

I really don't understand how so many are so trigger happy, especially with what's taken place in the last couple of years.

Had someone called the cops on him? Seen his weapon?

Just makes no sense that cops decided to single him out and shoot him dead for no reason.

[HairOfTheDog]

A man called 911 because he saw McBean walking down the street with what looked like a real gun. That's why the cops showed up. The 911 caller is quoted in the snip I posted upthread; he regrets making that call and kinda blames himself for McBean's death (though it's clearly not his fault).

I don't know if Officer Peraza was trigger happy or not, MS. But, it seems very clear that he and others on the force lied and staged a scene to support a false narrative, which of course causes a lot of people to question the integrity of the police officers' account of the shooting incident itself.

[HairOfTheDog]

Update to post #660 -- Chicago

It's disturbing to learn that Quintonio LeGrier had himself called 911 three times asking for help before his father called and said Quintonio was acting strangely and brandishing a bat.

It's disturbing because the 911 operator was dismissive and hung up on Quintonio all three times because Quintonio, who had mental illness, wouldn't give his name. I always thought 911 would send help even when people couldn't or wouldn't give a name.

So, police didn't have a chance to intervene earlier. They responded to dad's 911 call...and ended up shooting to death Quintonio, but also shot to death a neighbor lady "by accident" in the process.

One good thing to report, the case (along with the DOJ investigation) has resulted in more focus on how 911 operators and LEOs in Chicago should be dealing with crisis intervention and mental illness.

Mayor Rob Emanual is under fire for the Laquan McDonald and the Quintonio LeGrier shootings and has announced new training policies and budget for training for 911 and police personnel.

The city also plans to find ways to improve access to mental health services. Emanuel has been criticized for closing six mental health clinics in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods.

Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chic..._ref=crime

[HairOfTheDog]

New Mexico -- Police Supervisor shoots Undercover Cop 8 Times

January of last year, two Albuquerque undercover officers were looking to bust two meth dealers. Everything was going as planned, according to what was outlined in the briefing at the station earlier that morning.

The white undercover female cop was driving and the white undercover male cop was sitting behind her in the vehicle. The two black suspects were in the front and back passenger seats -- standard seating protocol.

Well........the officers' supervisor did not attend the briefing at the station that morning. Later, when he heard his undercover officers give the 'bust' signal over the radio to other undercover cops waiting to close in and arrest the suspects, the supervisor, Lt. Greg Brachle, drove to the scene for some reason.

While other cops were correctly approaching the passenger side of the car and the suspects were surrendering, Brachle opened the back drivers' side door where his officer, Jacob Grant, was sitting with his gun in hand. Brachle yelled, "gun" and shot his officer 8 times. The shooting and aftermath is disturbing; all caught on just-released body cam.



Luckily, Grant survived. But, he's had 13 surgeries already and will require medical attention for the rest of his life.

Brachle, who is clearly distraught after the shooting, resigned from the force after the incident and is getting full benefits despite having shot someone he knew extremely well, someone who looked nothing like the suspects, and someone who was doing everything right and according to plan.

Friday, a settlement with the city was reached. Grant will receive $6.5 million USD and medical care for the rest of his life

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/albu...op-n549461

[Duchess]

I watched that video earlier. The aftermath is difficult to listen to. I think the cop who shot Jacob only saw the gun, not the man behind it.

[HairOfTheDog]

Robert Bates (left) -- the Oklahoma pay-to-play reserve deputy who mistakenly shot his pistol instead of his taser at a subdued suspect last April -- was just found guilty of second degree manslaughter. He faces up to 4 years in prison. Good.

Eric Harris (right) was shot to death when Bates decided he wanted to tase Harris at a drug bust, even though Harris had already surrendered and been subdued by two other officers. Video of the incident is posted upthread, post #143.

The investigation revealed that several officers had complained that Bates was not qualified to be in the field many times before the Harris incident. Bates also had some excessive use-of-force complaints against him and did not have the required training certificates.

The Sheriff who told officers not to complain about his buddy Bates because Bates donated lots of money, was indicted last year.

Bates' lawyer tried to argue that Harris died of drugs and a health condition instead of the gun shot, but the jury didn't buy that bull. It took the jury three hours to find Bates guilty.

http://www.fox23.com/news/jury-finds-rob.../245339744

[HairOfTheDog]

OP Update - Federal Indictment against Slager


Police officer ^ Michael Slager shot unarmed Walter Scott in the back five times last year. He then allegedly planted his taser next to Scott's dead body to create a false narrative that he shot Scott in self defense. Slager is out on $500,000 bond awaiting trial on state charges of murder.

Today, a federal grand jury indicted the former North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer. Slager was charged with deprivation of rights under the color of the law, use of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and obstruction of justice. He faces life in prison if convicted of the federal charges.

Story: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/us/north-c...-shooting/

[SIXFOOTERsez]

I watched that video earlier. The aftermath is difficult to listen to. I think the cop who shot Jacob only saw the gun, not the man behind it.

The shooter in that case is a fool, good thing he quit but he should Never be allowed to be a cop again. He did not attend the briefing, had no idea who the players were and had no business even being there on the active part of the takedown.
Fucking idiot

[HairOfTheDog]

Freddie Gray prosecutions -- 1 hung jury, 1 aquittal

So far, two of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have been tried. Officer Porter faced jury trial earlier this year and the jury hung. He will reportedly be retried in the next couple of months.


Officer Edward Nero waived his right to a jury trial. He instead chose trial by judge and was just acquitted of the four charges against him.

I think the judge got it right and don't think Nero should have been charged in the first place, though many community members and activists disagree strongly with the ruling. Nero didn't chase Gray down. He didn't cuff Gray. He wasn't part of the van staff. He simply responded to the scene for assist when another officer was arresting Gray. If there wasn't probable cause for the arrest, it's on the arresting officer, in my opinion.

Anyway, the other four officers are the ones directly involved in Gray's arrest and/or transport. They're being tried separately in the coming months.

Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/us/bal....html?_r=0

[SIXFOOTERsez]

I don't care what he should have been convicted of, he should have been convicted....Brilliant

[HairOfTheDog]

Update to posts 542 - 549 upthread -- the killing of Corey Jones, Florida. OFFICER INDICTED.



This case has always really bothered me. Corey Jones seemed like a mellow dude and his family has been heartbroken and respectful; struggling to find out how Corey ended up being killed by a police officer in the wee hours of Oct, 18, 2015 (they were not notified until 38 hours later). Corey was a drummer on the way home from a gig when his car broke down.

I was hoping it was a case of both parties mistaking the other for something he was not. Turns out, that's not the case.

(Now former) police officer Nouman Raja floated a completely fictional narrative when he said he pulled up on what he thought was an abandoned car, was surprised by a man who pulled a gun on him, and was forced to shoot.

What really happened is plainclothes/unmarked Raja pulled up on Corey in a strange and wrongful approach (from the wrong direction on the interstate), failed to identify himself as an officer, was told politely three times by Corey that Corey was fine, and then shot Corey six times - even as Corey was trying to run away. Corey was in legal possession of a gun at the time. After shooting Corey, Raja called 911 and lied like a rug about what had just transpired.

Fortunately, the TRUTH was captured on audio tape because Corey's cell phone was still connected to ATT Roadside Assistance when Raja approached and killed Corey.

Raja was indicted by a Grand Jury today. He is charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first degree murder with a firearm. If convicted on all charges, he faces life in prison.

Refs:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post...ed-murder/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-cop-n...g-for-tow/

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Another link but not much more info
Interesting time line details though

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-b...te-at-3-pm

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Looks like the boons will be burning Baltimore again...

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/06/23...ntent=link

Freddie Gray Van Driver Found Not Guilty On All Charges

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Officer Caesar Goodson, who was driving the police van inside which Freddie Gray incurred his fatal neck injury, has been found not guilty of second-degree “depraved heart” murder by Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams.

Goodson, 46, has also been found not guilty on charges of manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.

After the verdict was read, protesters began chanting “Murderer!” over and over again outside the courthouse.


Inside the courtroom, with high security present, “People were quiet … There were a few people shaking their heads, some people who were emotionless,” WJZ’s Mike Hellgren reports.

“The judge said that the evidence simply was not there, that there was no way that Officer Goodson would have known that Freddie Gray was injured until that final stop at the Western district, and that’s when a medic was called. He chided the state for using the term ‘rough ride,’ he said that it’s a highly-charged term, they failed to define it.”

Hellgren says “the prosecution’s theory of the case did not fit the facts that they had presented to the judge and he was clearly troubled by this, and I find it hard to believe that he would convict any of the officers in any of the four remaining trials to come.”

WJZ’s Ron Matz reports that Officer Edward Nero, who was found not guilty of all his charges by the same judge last month, was in the front row and was one of the first people to embrace Officer Goodson after the verdict was read, along with Goodson’s family and other officers.

Matz said Judge Williams spent a lot of time focusing on the state’s “rough ride” theory. He called that the centerpiece of the state’s case and also called that an inflammatory term that’s not to be taken lightly.


COMMUNITY REACTION

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake sent a statement out shortly after the verdict came down.

She urged city residents to “continue to respect the judicial process and the ruling of the court.”

“Everybody in Baltimore that lives in certain neighborhoods know exactly the definition of what a rough ride is…. A lot of them don’t die. But in this case, Freddie Gray is dead, and no one will pay for it,” she says.


Goodson waived his right to a trial by jury. His bench trial began June 9 and final arguments were heard Monday.

Gray, a 25-year-old black man from the Sandtown area of Baltimore, died of his injury on April 19, 2015. A week earlier, Baltimore City police officers put him in the back of Goodson’s van, handcuffed and shackled, but unrestrained by a seat belt.

His death set off more than a week of protests followed by looting, rioting and arson that prompted a citywide curfew.

LEGAL EXPERTS WEIGH IN

“Depraved heart murder is an unusual thing, it’s a kind of murder that a lot of people haven’t heard of,” attorney Adam Ruther of Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP tells WJZ.

“To sum it up, it’s murder without the intent to kill. Normally in order to prove second-degree murder you have to prove the intentional killing of one human being by another. If you don’t have the intent but you have acts that raised to the level of extreme disregard for human life, things like firing a gun into a crowd of people, even though you didn’t intend to kill one specific person, doing that is so reckless it’s so irresponsible that the law says we’re going to hold you accountable as if if you had the specific intent to kill an individual. And so that’s what the state was trying to use in this case. And it’s an unusual application of the law, so it’s not entirely surprising that Judge Williams didn’t agree with the state’s theory of the case of extreme disregard for human life under these circumstances.”


“This was a tragic event and I think the uncertainty about what really happened is what has given rise to these officers being charged,” Warren Brown, a well-known Baltimore defense attorney, tells WJZ. “These cases are being vetted in the court by a very experienced judge … and so everybody is getting their day in court for there to be some scrutiny. The state has [tremendous] resources applied to this, they’ve had time to delve into this and discover what may or may not have happened, and as the judge indicated in his opinion, they came up woefully short in presenting the evidence. What they offered is that this is a tragedy and therefore someone should be held responsible, but that’s just not the way it works.”

“I don’t think it was a huge shock,” University of Baltimore Law Professor David Jaros said. “At the end of the day it’s important for people to recognize this was not a question in the legal sense about whether or not Officer Goodson was unreasonable. The critical question ultimately came down to what was he aware of, did he know the danger that he was placing Mr. Gray in. It is no way an endorsement of Officer Goodson’s actions that he was acquitted today. It doesn’t mean an egregious thing wasn’t done. It doesn’t mean the policies weren’t broken, it doesn’t mean frankly that massive reforms don’t mean to be made. But it just means it was not a crime.”

“Across the country, officers have generally chosen judge trials and there has been criticism for that in concern that judges are sympathetic to the police. I don’t think anybody can say that’s what happened here. If you look at Judge Williams’ history and the way he handled himself in this case, I think frankly he followed the law and followed it closely and this was not an incident where sort of insiders managed the case and took it out of the community’s hand inappropriately,” Jaros added.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Goodson is one of six officers charged in relation to Gray’s death, and the third to be tried. Officer William Porter’s trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial in December, and Officer Edward Nero was found not guilty on all charges in May.

Porter will be retried in September.

Three other officers — Officer Garrett Miller, Lt. Brian Rice and Sgt. Alicia White — have not yet been tried.

[HairOfTheDog]

There were no riots after the Porter jury hung or when Nero was acquitted by a judge.

So, I hope the people of Baltimore continue to respect, or at least accept, the criminal justice process.

The prosecutor filed charges based on evidence gathered during the investigation. The officers were suspended or put on administrative duty with pay pending the outcome of the trials.

The jury and judges ruled that the evidence against the tried defendants was not sufficient to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. They had their days in court and made their cases.

I suspect that officers working suspect transport duty in Baltimore are no longer neglecting policies related to securing passengers and when to call for medical assist. If 'rough rides' were being given, those have hopefully been nixed as well.

Three down, three (or four) to go...