Cops behaving badly

[Moliere]

From what I can tell they found weed.

According to court documents, Corley was arrested for possession of marijuana and for resisting arrest; a criminal complaint says Corley pushed a deputy with her hip and kicked her with her foot. KTRK TV reports deputies seized a half-gram of marijuana, but didn't say where it was located.

That doesn't mean it's okay to do the search in a public place, though, so sue away.

OMG, think of the children! Good thing they got half a fucking gram off the streets.



Doing it at the Texaco just made it worse. They shouldn't be doing cavity searches anywhere for weed.

[LawBeefaroni]

Doing it at the Texaco just made it worse. They shouldn't be doing cavity searches anywhere for weed.

This is a War. You don't fight a War with one hand tied behind your back. You want to be safe from pot addled maniacs? We're going to have to break a few eggs. Don't get all soft on us now.

[Pyperkub]

Doing it at the Texaco just made it worse. They shouldn't be doing cavity searches anywhere for weed.

This is a War. You don't fight a War with one hand tied behind your back. You want to be safe from pot addled maniacs? We're going to have to break a few eggs. Don't get all soft on us now.

I guess you fight it with one hand up their ass...

[Moliere]

You want to be safe from pot addled maniacs?

Get the blunt truth on marijuana.

[LawBeefaroni]

You want to be safe from pot addled maniacs?

Get the blunt...

You're...one of them! Guards, GUARDS!!!!!

[Pyperkub]

Write a series of articles about cops behaving badly, get your wife arrested on prostitution charges and cavity searched, and left to hang in the wind for 3 years:

Almost as soon as Ms. Liu was arrested, Mr. Port accused the police of targeting his wife’s business in retaliation for a series of articles he had shepherded into the newspaper that called into question the tactics and practices of an Albany County sheriff’s drug unit.

“I already knew that this unit was investigating my wife,” said Mr. Port, 59, who is also a former adjunct journalism professor at Columbia University. “I knew they were watching her.”

Ms. Cheng, 46, was not at the spa during the raid, nor was she ever charged with any crime, but the implication that she was involved in nefarious activities hovered over Mr. Port’s family, he said.

“This went on for three years, a cloud over a person’s head and a cloud hanging over my wife’s business,” he said, reiterating that he believed the arrest was related to “the work I was doing with the Albany Times Union investigating local police.”

[Isgrimnur]

If you're a rookie officer, perhaps you shouldn't go lone wolf at an incident when you're not the only officer on scene.

A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired Tuesday for making mistakes that the city’s police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger.

Arlington officer Brad Miller, 49, could also face criminal charges once police complete their investigation, Police Chief Will Johnson said.

Called to the scene of a suspected burglary early Friday, Miller pursued 19-year-old Christian Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without telling his supervising officer, Johnson said.

Instead of helping to set up a perimeter around the showroom, Miller confronted Taylor and ordered him to get down on the ground, Johnson said. Taylor did not comply. Instead, he began “actively advancing toward Officer Miller,” Johnson said.

Miller’s field training officer, who had followed Miller into the showroom, drew his own Taser. The training officer heard a single pop of what he thought was Miller’s Taser, but Miller actually had drawn his service weapon and fired it at Taylor, who is believed to have been 7 to 10 feet away from the officer, Johnson said. After Taylor continued to approach, Miller fired his gun three more times.

[Moliere]

He's a 49 year old rookie?

[Isgrimnur]

Guess so. Officer's pic at this link.

Miller joined the police department in September and graduated from the city police academy earlier this year. Police said Miller cannot appeal his firing because he was a probationary employee.

He was undergoing field training and assigned to a more senior officer, though he was a licensed police officer authorized to carry a weapon. Police have previously said that he had never fired his weapon in the line of duty before.

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

A Birmingham, Alabama, police detective who was pistol-whipped unconscious said Friday that he hesitated to use force because he didn't want to be accused of needlessly killing an unarmed man.

"A lot of officers are being too cautious because of what's going on in the media," said the officer, who asked to remain anonymous for the safety of his family. "I hesitated because I didn't want to be in the media like I am right now."

Details of last week's incident in the Birmingham enclave of Roebuck remain sketchy -- such as how did the suspect get the officer's weapon -- but the six-year police veteran said he didn't shoot the man who attacked him during a traffic stop because of the outcry surrounding a spate of police shootings nationally.
...
The incident occurred last Friday when the detective was on his way to interview a robbery witness and saw a car that was carrying at least two people traveling erratically on the interstate, according to police.

"He calls for backup and tells the man to stay in the car, but he didn't," Boackle told CNN in a phone interview. "The last thing the officer remembers is getting sucker-punched in a parking lot. The next thing, he's waking up in a hospital bed with staples in his head."
...
While he was calling for backup, Cunningham allegedly exited the car and became aggressive, approaching the detective and repeatedly questioned why he'd been pulled over, the union chief said. The detective considered using force but thought better of it and continued his call when Cunningham hit him, Boackle said.

Cunningham is accused of then "pistol whipping" the officer with his own service weapon, Boackle said.

The officer suffered multiple lacerations to his head and face but is expected to recover from his injuries, according to Boackle. The University of Alabama-Birmingham treated and released him the same day. He's recovering at home and has not yet returned to duty, Boackle said.

Adding insult to injury: several bystanders, instead of helping, took pictures of the bloodied officer as he was facedown on the concrete and posted the images on social media, where the officer was mocked.
...
Cunningham allegedly fled the scene but was apprehended later Friday, police said. He is charged with attempted murder and is being held without bond. A second man taken into custody with Cunningham has not been charged with a crime, police said.

[GreenGoo]

Being a cop is a tough job.

edit: And look at that, Popehat has an opinion on this.

edit2: I guess this puts it succinctly.

A cop made a bad use of force call. Thank God he lived. But a bad use of force call is not a good argument for less scrutiny of use of force. "I have trouble making decisions because of fear of how I will be treated in the media" does not convey "I'm capable of good judgment about the use of force, so you should trust me more."

Although I'm not fighting for civil rights in the media, so I would put it more empathically, in that I have a lot of sympathy for cops put in a position where they need to make potentially life and death decisions. I am not going to simply look the other way when their use of force becomes blatantly excessive no matter how many examples of things going wrong you present to me.

Good luck and stay safe out there.

[Smoove_B]

Adding insult to injury: several bystanders, instead of helping, took pictures of the bloodied officer as he was facedown on the concrete and posted the images on social media, where the officer was mocked.

That is probably one of the the most f-ed up things I've read in a long time.

[GreenGoo]

Adding insult to injury: several bystanders, instead of helping, took pictures of the bloodied officer as he was facedown on the concrete and posted the images on social media, where the officer was mocked.

That is probably one of the the most f-ed up things I've read in a long time.

Yep, insane. wtf. I don't think I'm capable of that kind of indifference.

[Paingod]

Yep, insane. wtf. I don't think I'm capable of that kind of indifference.

There's a strange effect in play, where people are shifting towards wanting to share and post tragedy instead of putting down their camera phones and helping. It doesn't help that police are constantly getting whipped in the media and a lot of people have become resentful (or are more resentful than they were).

That said, I don't know why the cop is claiming restraint due to media bias. He said he was sucker-punched, meaning unexpected. By the events in the article, it sounds like he was arguing with someone and that someone clocked him without warning. Is he suggesting that his first reaction should have been to shoot someone who was arguing with him, but the media stopped him?

[LawBeefaroni]

Yep, insane. wtf. I don't think I'm capable of that kind of indifference.

There's a strange effect in play, where people are shifting towards wanting to share and post tragedy instead of putting down their camera phones and helping. It doesn't help that police are constantly getting whipped in the media and a lot of people have become resentful (or are more resentful than they were).

That said, I don't know why the cop is claiming restraint due to media bias. He said he was sucker-punched, meaning unexpected. By the events in the article, it sounds like he was arguing with someone and that someone clocked him without warning. Is he suggesting that his first reaction should have been to shoot someone who was arguing with him, but the media stopped him?

All the headlines say he decided not to "shoot" but all the police quotes just mention he hesitated using "force." Drawing your firearm is considered use of force. So is mace, taser, baton, pain compliance, etc. Need more details.

"The nobility and integrity of policing has been challenged," Roper said. "As a profession, we have allowed popular culture to draft a narrative which is contrary to the amazing work that so many officers are doing everyday across this nation."

The shift didn't happen in a vacuum and it's not just police that have "allowed popular culture" to draft that narrative.

[Paingod]

Drawing your firearm is considered use of force. So is mace, taser, baton, pain compliance, etc. Need more details..

Agreed. When I worked corrections, I only once used "force" and that was to take a step back and put my hand on my OC spray while trying to calm an inmate. No one has ever blamed a cop for using "reasonable" force that didn't result in bodily harm to an unarmed person. Drawing your firearm when someone is acting hostile and not responding to commands is reasonable. Shooting them would be unreasonable. I can only imagine something was done procedurally wrong when he let an agitated person get close enough to hit him and wants to blame the media for it.

The shift didn't happen in a vacuum and it's not just police that have "allowed popular culture" to draft that narrative.

Before social media and a connected populace, it was all anecdotal and assumed but largely ignored except for very rare instances that were captured on film. Now that it's constantly published and visible, it's outrageous. Nothing has changed except visibility. I think it's time for visibility to be ubiquitous for police forces and the bad behaviors need to be scaled way back instead of lamenting that the old days were better.

[Zarathud]

"Visible police officers" means turning police officers into roving cameras. Not only is this a bad tradeoff for civil liberties, but there are also significant costs.

Witnesses and informants in bad areas already don't want to cooperate with police off the record. Things will get much worse when everyone refuses to cooperate due to cameras.

[Paingod]

Not only is this a bad tradeoff for civil liberties, but there are also significant costs.

It can't be as bad a trade-off as having police manufacture evidence or attack people without just cause. These are civil servants, and everything they see, hear, and do should be admissible in a court of law. The camera eliminates inaccuracies and could easily prevent innocent people from going to jail by providing first-hand proof of what happened.

As for costs - police equipment is already expensive. A body camera doesn't weigh much against the total cost to outfit and train one officer and is an invaluable tool for both the police and the innocents involved in an incident. One article I found said it might cost $19,000 to outfit 54 police with body cameras, and noted that this same department's armored response vehicle set them back $180,000.

Things will get much worse when everyone refuses to cooperate due to cameras.

I really don't see how. Your name and address go on record when you're interviewed. They record what you say in a log or report. The only thing missing is the visual of your face saying it. That's not a staggering difference. If it does cause problems in this manner, it's not hard to implement a protocol where the officer indicates that he is disabling the visual of the body camera for an interview and turns it back on when it's concluded. You just don't want them to be able to simply switch them off completely at any time with no notice.

[malchior]

I'd bet that the cameras would lead to less *successful* litigation against departments so there is a cost offset potentially. Especially for departments with a legacy of issues (e.g. LAPD).

[Moliere]

E’town couple shaken by false child-abuse calls

[Paingod]

E’town couple shaken by false child-abuse calls

Thankfully, it looks like the police in these instances were well behaved and professional - but the social worker was not. It's disgusting to think that a resentful neighbor, who worked for social services, would use these people's children as pawns in a game to get back at them. That goes beyond mere abuse of authority or poor decision making skills. The more disturbing aspect is that all she does is quit and is slapped with a misdemeanor charge. These people had to constantly fight to keep their kids, miss work, and it all ends with a shrug.

[Paingod]

Follow-up on cops raiding medical marijuana dispensary - The video is good as evidence and the police had no expectation of privacy after smashing store security systems.

[Paingod]

A new one, I think ... Homeless man with crutches and a prosthetic leg taken down and pinned for 30 minutes only to be eventually charged with nothing. 14 officers involved seem to have no idea what he might have done wrong, but just kept up with it anyway.

Apparently he was waving his crutches around and someone felt threatened.

[Moliere]

A new one, I think ... Homeless man with crutches and a prosthetic leg taken down and pinned for 30 minutes only to be eventually charged with nothing. 14 officers involved seem to have no idea what he might have done wrong, but just kept up with it anyway.

Apparently he was waving his crutches around and someone felt threatened.

I felt threatened just hearing about it.

[Moliere]

6 cops respond to a bicycle helmet violation.

[Pyperkub]

This reminds me of the time I was pulled over in Tijuana:

In the videos, Officer Matthew Zagursky tells a driver that if he buys tickets to the fund-raiser he will not tow his vehicle. The officer also uses a homophobic slur while apparently joking with the man at another point.

The TJ cop was much more diplomatic - "How much money do you have on you?" I opened my wallet to show $20 (the rest of our cash was hidden in our socks, as we knew what was coming).

The cop said "Well, the fine is $20 here, or you can go down to the station and it will probably be more"

We paid the $20 and got back over the border as soon as we could.

[Moliere]

Buy my police fundraiser tickets or I take your car.

[Pyperkub]

It can also be found about four posts above yours.

I must be on his Foe list so he doesn't see my posts.

Sorry, I didn't click through the first time I saw it.

Turnabout is fair play, eh?

[Pyperkub]

Oregon Cops request leave from county after (apparently) reporting sheriff for beating a suspect in custody:

Klamath County Commissioners placed seven of the county's 30 sheriff's deputies on paid leave Monday amid a state criminal investigation of Klamath County Sheriff Frank Skrah.

The Oregon Department of Justice confirmed it is investigating the department. Department of Justice spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson declined to elaborate.

Three other sources said the department is investigating Skrah for use of excessive force, including allegations the sheriff punched a handcuffed suspect.

Department of Justice investigators interviewed several deputies in July about several incidents involving Skrah, said Becky Gallagher, a Eugene lawyer hired by the deputies' union to represent them. The deputies went to commissioners Friday asking to be put on leave out of concern of reprisals.

[dbt1949]

I watch Adam 12 a lot. Today I saw an episode where Malloy chased and capture a child molester. He handcuffed him and threw him up against a wall and treated him rather roughly the whole arrest.
For this he gets a police abuse charge against him.
My wife watches Cops all the time and I see cops handling suspects worse than that for making the cops chase a suspect or "resisting arrest" as they call it, as well as many other non violent things.
The times they are a changing.

[Moliere]

Steal $5 worth of stuff from 7-11, then die after 4 months in jail.

Mitchell, who grew up as an altar boy in Louisiana, according to an obituary, had a habit of stealing inexpensive items as a teenager. He had been arrested twice before, in 2010 and 2012, for petty larceny; the latter incident led to a monthlong stay in a state hospital. When he stole from the 7-Eleven, the items he took were worth about $5—for that, he was taken to Portsmouth City Jail for about three weeks, and then transferred to a regional facility.

A judge said he was not competent to stand trial, but the hospital he was supposed to be sent to had no open beds. So he remained in jail, where, his family told the Guardian, he eventually started refusing meals and medications, then died. "Officials from the court, the police department and the jail could not explain why Mitchell was not given the opportunity to be released on bail," Swain reported.

How much time and money did the State spend incarcerating this guy all over a $5 theft?

[stessier]

I watch Adam 12 a lot. Today I saw an episode where Malloy chased and capture a child molester. He handcuffed him and threw him up against a wall and treated him rather roughly the whole arrest.
For this he gets a police abuse charge against him.
My wife watches Cops all the time and I see cops handling suspects worse than that for making the cops chase a suspect or "resisting arrest" as they call it, as well as many other non violent things.
The times they are a changing.

There is a chance that Adam 12 was not an accurate representation of the reality of those times.

[Alefroth]

Can't see both his hands, but it sure looks like his hands were in the air when he was shot.

http://www.ksat.com/news/ksatcom-exclus ... d-shooting

[Paingod]

Can't see both his hands, but it sure looks like his hands were in the air when he was shot.

You can't see both hands, but it seems safe to assume he wouldn't have one hand in the air while brandishing a gun or knife in the other. He wasn't wearing a shirt and did not appear armed at all, unless it was a small knife. Police claim they tried non-lethal methods to subdue him, and when that failed, they shot him. They do claim he was armed. They also say there's a second, closer video that shows the same events. As far as I can tell, a half naked man with his hands in the air was murdered in that video. Wow.

[LawBeefaroni]

Steal $5 worth of stuff from 7-11, then die after 4 months in jail.

Mitchell, who grew up as an altar boy in Louisiana, according to an obituary, had a habit of stealing inexpensive items as a teenager. He had been arrested twice before, in 2010 and 2012, for petty larceny; the latter incident led to a monthlong stay in a state hospital. When he stole from the 7-Eleven, the items he took were worth about $5—for that, he was taken to Portsmouth City Jail for about three weeks, and then transferred to a regional facility.

A judge said he was not competent to stand trial, but the hospital he was supposed to be sent to had no open beds. So he remained in jail, where, his family told the Guardian, he eventually started refusing meals and medications, then died. "Officials from the court, the police department and the jail could not explain why Mitchell was not given the opportunity to be released on bail," Swain reported.

How much time and money did the State spend incarcerating this guy all over a $5 theft?

Death by bureaucracy. Awful.

[Alefroth]

Can't see both his hands, but it sure looks like his hands were in the air when he was shot.

You can't see both hands, but it seems safe to assume he wouldn't have one hand in the air while brandishing a gun or knife in the other. He wasn't wearing a shirt and did not appear armed at all, unless it was a small knife. Police claim they tried non-lethal methods to subdue him, and when that failed, they shot him. They do claim he was armed. They also say there's a second, closer video that shows the same events. As far as I can tell, a half naked man with his hands in the air was murdered in that video. Wow.

Maybe he was using The Force.

[Pyperkub]

San Bernardino Deputies being charged in connection with the incident below:

San Bernardino County prosecutors have charged three deputies with assault by a peace officer in connection with the videotaped beating of a man who led them on a pursuit on horseback in the high desert in April, Dist. Atty. Mike Ramos said Tuesday...

...Prosecutors said they looked at the video frame by frame but also considered other evidence, including belt recordings captured by at least two of the charged deputies.

Ramos indicated that the information relayed by deputies on those recordings, which also was being broadcast to arriving officers, was misleading.

The seven other deputies who were not charged, he said, had the right to presume that the officers already at the scene were acting lawfully.

"The use of force that they showed was reasonable under the circumstances," Ramos said. ..

...A little more than a week after the incident made national headlines, San Bernardino County approved a $650,000 payout to Pusok. The settlement agreement ended any potential claims Pusok could make against the county or the Sheriff's Department stemming from the beating.

*** original post from the SC death thread - quoting here for reference' sake ***

Have y'all seen this? Man steals horse, gets tazed off of horse then gets a tag-team beat down by the cops....all while news helicopters are circling and filming. What is wrong with these guys??

Check out the raw video.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 50951.html

I think that guy is (should be?) very happy he isn't black... recent events do seem to indicate a higher mortality rate...

So, I've read a bit more on this incident:

During the beating, which involved as many as 11 deputies and lasted for about two minutes, Pusok was kicked and kneed about a dozen times and punched about two dozen times, according to the video footage.

The violence ended a case that began about 12:15 p.m. when deputies arrived at a home in unincorporated Apple Valley to serve a search warrant as part of an identity theft investigation, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman.

Pusok was the "prime suspect" in the alleged identity theft, Bachman said, but when deputies arrived at the home, he was in a car.

He fled, spawning a nearly three-hour chase through Apple Valley and Hesperia. He led deputies through narrow trails and rugged terrain in Hesperia, requiring the California Highway Patrol and Sheriff's Department to bring helicopters and motorcycle teams to help track him, Bachman said.

After Pusok dumped his vehicle and ran away on foot, Bachman said, he stole a horse from a group of people at Deep Creek Hot Springs.

He rode the horse into steep territory near the San Bernardino National Forrest. A team of deputies who were lowered into the area via helicopter came upon him about 3 p.m.

Pusok fell from the horse into the scrub and deputies used a Taser on him. The stun gun was ineffective because of Pusok's loose clothing, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Pusok had his hands behind his back as he lay on the ground when two of the deputies began landing blows, including a kick to the groin, according to the video footage.

So. a 3-hour chase involving running through scrub brush after being lowered by helicopter to chase a horse which left multiple deputies hospitalized for injuries and dehydration:

Pusok was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Bachman said. Three deputies were also hospitalized: two for dehydration, and one for injuries sustained when he was kicked by the horse, according to the Sheriff's Department

I'd be inclined to go a bit more lenient on these cops. It wasn't right to beat him up (and I am in no way condoning it), but it is a lot more understandable from a human perspective than the other incidents we've seen recently.

(PS - I've also been binge-watching the first 2 seasons of the Wire while Mrs Kub is visiting family, which could be changing my perspective a bit).

[LawBeefaroni]

$650,000 could go a long way to reimburse some of the costs associated with the manhunt. Also...if he stole a horse from me...oh, the pain and suffering...the emotional trauma...

[Unagi]

I allegedly hope he gets his identity stolen.

[LawBeefaroni]

Can't see both his hands, but it sure looks like his hands were in the air when he was shot.

You can't see both hands, but it seems safe to assume he wouldn't have one hand in the air while brandishing a gun or knife in the other. He wasn't wearing a shirt and did not appear armed at all, unless it was a small knife. Police claim they tried non-lethal methods to subdue him, and when that failed, they shot him. They do claim he was armed. They also say there's a second, closer video that shows the same events. As far as I can tell, a half naked man with his hands in the air was murdered in that video. Wow.

It looked like one of them had a small tactical shield or something. (?)

Just from watching the poor quality video, it looked like an accidental discharge judging by the way the other officer reacted.