National Police Misconduct – Daily Recap 04-28-10

Just found this from a twitter link, shocking how much police misconduct and brutality goes on in supposedly democratic and civilised countries. Makes you realise that a uniform does not and should not equal automatic confidence or respect.

www.injusticeeverywhere.com

By Packratt, on April 29th, 2010

Sorry, no extra opening commentary today… let’s just get straight to the 28 police misconduct reports that were tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed on Wednesday, April 28, 2010:

• The Minnesota Metro Gang Task Force was the subject of a $70,000 settlement quietly made to a man who claimed that the gang officers took $4,500 from him that he proved was paid to him for work he did and never returned it. The man did happen to be an illegal immigrant who is now facing deportation, but the stop did not appear to have any basis in law.

• Three Morehouse Parish Louisiana deputies have resigned during an on-going investigation into allegations that they stole from motorists during separate traffic stops.

• Two Lebanon Tennessee police officers are under investigation after one of them opened fire on a suspect and killed him after he mistakenly thought the suspect shot at his partner who had slipped and accidentally fired his gun. The suspect, who had just crashed after a car chase, was apparently unarmed. In a strange twist to this case, the man who was killed happened to be the nephew of an innocent man who was accidentally shot during a wrong door raid by the same department in 2000. The family won a $400k settlement in that case.

• Eight Houston Texas gang unit cops have been suspended while under investigation on allegations that they used excessive force on a suspect after a police chase. The incident is rumored to have been captured on video, though nobody has admitted that they’ve seen it yet.

• A Culver City California police officer has been accused by a witness of fatally shooting a robbery suspect while his hands were in the air after he surrendered. The Los Angeles County sheriff’s department, who are investigating the shooting, have denied the claims and insist the shooting was justified. The witness happens to be a defense attorney who was about 2 car lengths away from the incident when it occurred.

• A Sandy Utah police officer may be facing criminal charges on allegations that he wrote several fake tickets and had fraudulently claimed 56 hours of overtime that he didn’t work.

• An Escambia County Florida deputy has a warrant out for his arrest on allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in his patrol car while he was on duty. Apparently he offered the woman a ride home and, when he got to her father’s driveway, raped her and threatened that he could arrest her on public intoxication charges. Apparently DNA evidence gathered was a match and he sent a text message to his supervisor apologizing for screwing up.

• A Lake County Florida deputy is on unpaid leave after she was arrested on domestic violence charges for allegedly beating up her boyfriend… who also happens to be a deputy. While she apparently claimed that he was the aggressor, he was the only one who had visible injuries from the altercation.

• A Baltimore County Maryland detective has won a $225,000 judgment after suing his department for violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when they tested him for fitness for duty because he had a seizure… 10 years ago. Apparently the test was ordered after the officer testified in a civil suit by another officer concerning his epilepsy and it was argued that the test was done in retaliation for that.

• The Seattle Washington police department has been sued by a computer security expert on allegations that they intentionally withheld video evidence of his 2008 false arrested on obstruction charges. His suit also alleges an ongoing conspiracy to fraudulently conceal video evidence. You might recall he was on the feed already, but only now was a lawsuit mentioned, which changes the status from allegation to lawsuit.

• The Lake County Colorado deputy who recently resigned for tasering 30 high school students at a job fair has been charged with multiple counts of child abuse including 11 counts of child abuse with injuries. This one is an update to another recent report as well.

• The Henderson County Tennessee sheriff has been sued by two of his deputies who claim that they were demoted in retaliation for reporting him for assaulting a detainee in the jail. The sheriff is currently under investigation by the FBI over the allegations.

• A Cobb County Georgia police officer and a woman has been charged with obstruction and making false statements during an investigation into the drowning death of a fellow cop. Apparently he and the woman told investigators that the officer just fell off the boat when he was apparently knocked off when the boat ran into a marker.

• An Anaheim California police officer was sentenced to a 6-10 month jail sentence, 6 of those months to be spent in drug treatment after he plead guilty to three different driving while under the influence of drugs charges. In one of those cases he ran over a fence in a person’s yard and he hit several parked cars in a seperate accident.

• A Baytown Texas police officer was sentenced to probation after he was found guilty by a jury of official oppression for bashing a man’s head off a curb as described by his fellow officers who testified against him.

• The now-former Vergennes Vermont police chief was sentenced to 6 months in prison after he plead guilty to multiple drug-related charges that were brought about after a drug-related car accident.

• A Laredo Texas police officer was arrested after being indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking and weapons charges.

• A Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina police officer was sentenced to probation after he plead guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge for causing a fatal car accident while he was on duty.

• A Montgomery Alabama police officer was arrested on theft charges on allegations that he stole money from four different Hispanic motorists during traffic stops.

• A Mesa Arizona police officer is under investigation on allegations taht he kicked a man’s cell phone into his face while he was texting during a police raid on his house party. He wasn’t arrested or charged during the raid.

• A New Orleans Louisiana police officer has plead guilty in the post-Katrina Danziger Bridge shooting and cover up case. He plead guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice for his role in the cover-up and is the fourth of the so-called “Danziger-7″ to plead guilty so far.

• A Chatham New Jersey police officer has been demoted for leaving loaded gun in his backpack on a public sidewalk overnight after he got so drunk that police were called to investigate. A nearby resident found the backpack in the morning and reported it to the police.

• A Fort Lauderdale Florida police officer has been accused of falsely arresting a man because he asked for the officer’s badge number when he was trying to call in to complain about his rudeness. The incident, which appears to be a classic case of “contempt of cop” was caught on video.

• A Dumfries Virginia police captain was suspended on allegations that were left unspecified thanks to that state’s Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights that keeps such information about misconduct by public officials away from the public that they are supposed to serve.

• A Davie Florida police officer has been declared a fugitive after he failed to appear for his trial on domestic battery charges. He was absent yesterday when he was acquitted of allegations that he held a gun to his fiance’s head in a seperate incident.

• A Fort Worth Texas police officer was arrested after an investigation was launched after police received complaints that the officer was smoking pot in his patrol car. Investigators set up a drug arrest where he took the drugs and put them in his personal car instead of logging the evidence.

• A South Bend Indiana police officer was suspended for 30 days for intentionally hitting a suspect fleeing on foot with his police cruiser in violation of policy. The incident was captured on the officer’s dashcam.

• Finally, a Polk County North Carolina deputy has resigned as part of a deal that drops the conviction against him that he was in the process of appealing for tasering a handcuffed woman.

That’s it for today, stay safe out there!

View the original article at Injustice Everywhere