The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[PRC]

Meanwhile in Canada...

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/canadian-cops-photographed-meditating-in-a-temple-194046599.html

Canadian cops photographed meditating in a temple

Shai Williamson
The Daily Buzz
April 14, 2016



A photo of a group of Canadian police officers meditating before the start of their day has gone viral.

Peel Regional Officers took some time to practice the art of mindfulness meditation in a class led by deputy abbot Bhante Saranapala at West End Buddhist Temple and Meditation Centre in Mississauga, reports the Huffington Post.

"They were very nice and they liked it and think it should be a part of their daily practice," he said.

The picture was also posted to Reddit, where it has since been 'upvoted' almost 5,000 times. Most of the comments surrounding the photo are of people poking fun at their 'Canadian-ness.'

"I bet they say 'Eh' instead of 'Om,'" one user writes.

But even though it has sparked some jokes in good fun, Saranapala told the Huffington Post that he was happy to see them come out to the temple.

"I think generally people have negative impressions about the police officers, and seeing some police officers trying to do mindfulness meditation, being at the front row of a Buddhist temple, they think it's very positive."

Well, there's not much else to say to that other then "namest-eh."

[Valmy]

What about temple-state separation Canada?

[derspiess]

Lol Doughnut Yoga.

[11B4V]

Meanwhile in Canada...

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/canadian-cops-photographed-meditating-in-a-temple-194046599.html

Canadian cops photographed meditating in a temple

Shai Williamson
The Daily Buzz
April 14, 2016



A photo of a group of Canadian police officers meditating before the start of their day has gone viral.

Peel Regional Officers took some time to practice the art of mindfulness meditation in a class led by deputy abbot Bhante Saranapala at West End Buddhist Temple and Meditation Centre in Mississauga, reports the Huffington Post.

"They were very nice and they liked it and think it should be a part of their daily practice," he said.

The picture was also posted to Reddit, where it has since been 'upvoted' almost 5,000 times. Most of the comments surrounding the photo are of people poking fun at their 'Canadian-ness.'

"I bet they say 'Eh' instead of 'Om,'" one user writes.

But even though it has sparked some jokes in good fun, Saranapala told the Huffington Post that he was happy to see them come out to the temple.

"I think generally people have negative impressions about the police officers, and seeing some police officers trying to do mindfulness meditation, being at the front row of a Buddhist temple, they think it's very positive."

Well, there's not much else to say to that other then "namest-eh."

Oh for Fuck's sake.

[Admiral Yi]

At least lose the vests guys.

[CountDeMoney]

Good grief.

[dps]

Fucking crazy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/19/murfreesboro_tennessee_police_arrest_elementary_school_students_for_watching.html

The arrests took place at Hobgood Elementary School, located about 40 miles outside of Nashville in Murfreesboro, Tenn., because the students allegedly had not intervened to break up an off-campus fight that took place nearly a month prior.


The students were then taken from school to a juvenile center and “charged with the misdemeanor of being criminally responsible for the conduct of others,” according to the Murfreesboro Post.

Forget the age of the people arrested.  Since when has it been criminal for private citizens to not break up a fight they witness, and since when have bystanders been responsible for the criminal conduct of others that they happened to witness?

While the police were overzealous to an ridiculous degree here, seems like the real problem is that Tennessee has some real stupid criminal laws on the books.

[Admiral Yi]

Forget the age of the people arrested.  Since when has it been criminal for private citizens to not break up a fight they witness, and since when have bystanders been responsible for the criminal conduct of others that they happened to witness?

While the police were overzealous to an ridiculous degree here, seems like the real problem is that Tennessee has some real stupid criminal laws on the books.

I could see some degree of culpability if it were a beat down instead of a fair fight.

[jimmy olsen]

Fucking crazy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/19/murfreesboro_tennessee_police_arrest_elementary_school_students_for_watching.html

The arrests took place at Hobgood Elementary School, located about 40 miles outside of Nashville in Murfreesboro, Tenn., because the students allegedly had not intervened to break up an off-campus fight that took place nearly a month prior.


The students were then taken from school to a juvenile center and "charged with the misdemeanor of being criminally responsible for the conduct of others," according to the Murfreesboro Post.

Forget the age of the people arrested.  Since when has it been criminal for private citizens to not break up a fight they witness, and since when have bystanders been responsible for the criminal conduct of others that they happened to witness?

While the police were overzealous to an ridiculous degree here, seems like the real problem is that Tennessee has some real stupid criminal laws on the books.

Don't a lot of schools these days punish kids for any involvement in fights at all due to zero tolerance. If they had broken it up and the school found out, they could have been suspended.

[dps]

Fucking crazy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/19/murfreesboro_tennessee_police_arrest_elementary_school_students_for_watching.html

The arrests took place at Hobgood Elementary School, located about 40 miles outside of Nashville in Murfreesboro, Tenn., because the students allegedly had not intervened to break up an off-campus fight that took place nearly a month prior.


The students were then taken from school to a juvenile center and “charged with the misdemeanor of being criminally responsible for the conduct of others,” according to the Murfreesboro Post.

Forget the age of the people arrested.  Since when has it been criminal for private citizens to not break up a fight they witness, and since when have bystanders been responsible for the criminal conduct of others that they happened to witness?

While the police were overzealous to an ridiculous degree here, seems like the real problem is that Tennessee has some real stupid criminal laws on the books.

Don't a lot of schools these days punish kids for any involvement in fights at all due to zero tolerance. If they had broken it up and the school found out, they could have been suspended.

It wasn't on the school grounds, and apparently not during school hours.

[jimmy olsen]

Fucking crazy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/19/murfreesboro_tennessee_police_arrest_elementary_school_students_for_watching.html

The arrests took place at Hobgood Elementary School, located about 40 miles outside of Nashville in Murfreesboro, Tenn., because the students allegedly had not intervened to break up an off-campus fight that took place nearly a month prior.


The students were then taken from school to a juvenile center and "charged with the misdemeanor of being criminally responsible for the conduct of others," according to the Murfreesboro Post.

Forget the age of the people arrested.  Since when has it been criminal for private citizens to not break up a fight they witness, and since when have bystanders been responsible for the criminal conduct of others that they happened to witness?

While the police were overzealous to an ridiculous degree here, seems like the real problem is that Tennessee has some real stupid criminal laws on the books.

Don't a lot of schools these days punish kids for any involvement in fights at all due to zero tolerance. If they had broken it up and the school found out, they could have been suspended.

It wasn't on the school grounds, and apparently not during school hours.

Some schools punish kids even then

[11B4V]

Fucking crazy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/19/murfreesboro_tennessee_police_arrest_elementary_school_students_for_watching.html

The arrests took place at Hobgood Elementary School, located about 40 miles outside of Nashville in Murfreesboro, Tenn., because the students allegedly had not intervened to break up an off-campus fight that took place nearly a month prior.


The students were then taken from school to a juvenile center and "charged with the misdemeanor of being criminally responsible for the conduct of others," according to the Murfreesboro Post.

Forget the age of the people arrested.  Since when has it been criminal for private citizens to not break up a fight they witness, and since when have bystanders been responsible for the criminal conduct of others that they happened to witness?

While the police were overzealous to an ridiculous degree here, seems like the real problem is that Tennessee has some real stupid criminal laws on the books.

Don't a lot of schools these days punish kids for any involvement in fights at all due to zero tolerance. If they had broken it up and the school found out, they could have been suspended.

Yes the manufacture of wussy's

[jimmy olsen]

So, those cops who beat up that NY postal working didn't do it on a whim after all. They were just petty and vindictive as fuck. "How dare you gave directions to some random guy who turned out to be a murderer!"

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/nyregion/2-new-york-detectives-indicted-in-beating-of-mail-carrier.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

2 New York Detectives Indicted in Beating of Mail Carrier

By ASHLEY SOUTHALL
APRIL 20, 2016

Two New York City police detectives have been charged with beating a uniformed Postal Service employee in Queens in October, according to an indictment released on Wednesday. The mail carrier has said that the police have harassed him since 2014, when he gave street directions to a stranger who then killed two police officers.

The indictment was handed up by a grand jury that watched surveillance video of the stop and heard a 911 call that appears to contradict the detectives' account and shows them kicking, beating and dragging the mail carrier, Karim Baker, 26, who recently testified about his ordeal, his lawyer and law enforcement officials said.

The detectives — Angelo J. Pampena, 31, and Robert A. Carbone, 29 — were charged with felony and misdemeanor assault in an indictment announced on Wednesday by the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, and the police commissioner, William J. Bratton. Detective Pampena, a nine-year veteran, was also charged with perjury, offering a false instrument and official misconduct. Detective Carbone has been with the department for eight years.

The detectives pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and were released, the district attorney's office said. Their next court appearance was set for June 27, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said. If convicted, both men face up to seven years in prison.

The Police Department said the detectives, who were assigned to the Patrol Boro Queens North Gang Unit, had been suspended without pay. Stephen P. Davis, the Police Department's chief spokesman, declined to discuss the investigation, but he said the detectives would be automatically fired if they are convicted of a felony.

James Moschella, Detective Pampena's lawyer, said he believed the video showed the officers had acted with reasonable force. "It's completely reasonable under the circumstances of Mr. Baker's resistance to the officers' lawful inquiry," he said.

However, Mr. Baker's lawyer, Eric Subin, said the stop was part of a campaign of harassment by the Police Department that started when Mr. Baker told Ismaaiyl Brinsley how to get to the Marcy Houses on Dec. 20, 2014. Mr. Brinsley then ambushed Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos before killing himself.

After Mr. Baker was questioned by the police, he was stopped approximately 20 times over 10 months, Mr. Subin said.

Mr. Baker initiated a lawsuit in November naming the city, the Police Department and the individual officers. The city was recently served with a summons and complaint and has 30 days to answer, Mr. Subin said.

"He said that he still felt as terrified as the night I met him," Mr. Subin said Mr. Baker told him after learning of the detectives' indictment. "But he didn't feel quite as defenseless."

Mr. Brown and Mr. Subin said the detectives approached Mr. Baker as he left work on Oct. 21, 2015, in Corona, Queens. Mr. Subin said the encounter was captured on surveillance video from a building across the street, and had been paired with audio from a 911 call from Mr. Baker's cellphone that recorded what occurred.

Mr. Subin said the officers had asked to see his client's identification and when he asked why he was being stopped, the officers told him he was parked too close to a fire hydrant. Mr. Baker then called 911 to ask for help, but he dropped the phone when the officers began pummeling him, Mr. Subin said.

The district attorney said Mr. Baker was seated in his car when the detectives punched and kicked him multiple times in the face and body and dragged him from the vehicle. Mr. Baker sustained spinal fractures and a knee injury and has not been able to return to work, Mr. Subin said.

Detective Pampena, in the complaint filed against Mr. Baker, claimed that Mr. Baker had been stopped for parking too close to the hydrant, Mr. Brown said. But the video showed that Mr. Baker's car was parked more than 15 feet from the hydrant, Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Baker had been charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and criminal possession of a controlled substance before the video came to light, Mr. Subin said. The case was dismissed, Mr. Brown said.

The indictment was announced as the Police Department is investigating officers' conduct in the March 17 arrest of an on-duty uniformed mail carrier in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

[jimmy olsen]

They did what was best for them, but I'm a stubborn SOB, I would not have settled without an admission of wrong doing.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/25/cleveland-tamir-rice-family-lawsuit-settlement

Cleveland agrees to pay Tamir Rice family $6m over police shooting

City settled case with family, averting federal civil rights lawsuit following 12-year-old's death in November 2014 shooting


Jon Swaine and Oliver Laughland in New York, and Afi Scruggs in Cleveland

Monday 25 April 2016 22.43 BST  Last modified on Monday 25 April 2016 23.54 BST 

The city of Cleveland, Ohio, has agreed to pay $6m to the family of Tamir Rice to settle a lawsuit over the 12-year-old's fatal shooting by a police officer.

The payment will avert a federal civil rights case brought against city authorities by Tamir's relatives over the death of "a young boy with his entire life ahead of him, full of potential and promise", their attorneys said on Monday.

"Although historic in financial terms, no amount of money can adequately compensate for the loss of a life," said a statement issued by the firm of Jonathan Abady, Earl Ward and Zoe Salzman, their lead counsel. "Nothing will bring Tamir back. His unnecessary and premature death leaves a gaping hole for those who knew and loved him that can never be filled."

The details of the settlement were contained in a filing by judge Solomon Oliver to federal court in Cleveland on Monday morning. The city will pay Tamir's family $3m this year and $3m next year. Tamir's estate will receive $5.5m, while his mother, Samaria Rice, and his sister, Tajai Rice, will receive $250,000 each directly.

"There is no admission of wrongdoing," the court filing states.

Tamir was shot dead by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann, who opened fire less than two seconds after arriving at a park where the 12-year-old was playing with a toy gun in November 2014. A 911 caller had reported that he appeared to be wielding a weapon and noted it was "probably fake", but this caveat was not relayed to the officers by dispatchers.

In December, a grand jury declined to indict officer Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback, on criminal charges, following a lengthy investigation process that was sharply criticised by the Rice family and campaigners.

Tamir's death followed the high-profile police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City, sparking a new civil rights movement that calls for drastic reforms of US policing.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty, who oversaw the process, argued that Tamir's death was caused by a "perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day", but there was no evidence of criminal misconduct by police.

McGinty, who recommended to the grand jurors that no charges be brought, was defeated by a primary election challenger earlier this year and is likely to be out of a job by the end of the year.

On Monday, McGinty declined to comment on the payout.

The settlement from Cleveland is the latest in a series reached in recent months with relatives of African Americans killed during encounters with police officers. New York authorities settled with Garner's family for $5.9m in July last year.

A settlement of $6.5m was agreed between the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, and the family of Walter Scott, who was shot dead while running away following a traffic stop there in April last year. And a payment of $6.4m will be given by Baltimore, Maryland, to the family of Freddie Gray, who died from a broken neck sustained in the back of a police van, also in April last year.


The attorneys for Tamir's family said on Monday morning that while "there is no such thing as closure or justice" in such a case, they hoped the settlement would "stimulate a movement for genuine change in our society and our nation's policing".


"Regrettably, Tamir's death is not an isolated event," they said. "The problem of police violence, especially in communities of color, is a crisis plaguing our nation."

City council member Jeff Johnson said he was not surprised by the size of the settlement, but he wondered how cash-strapped Cleveland would pay the bill.

"I don't recall seeing [the settlement] in our latest budget," Johnson said. "It will come out of our general fund and it will impact city services."

He added: "I am not surprised that the city had to pay that large amount because of the failings of its employees," noting that Loehmann had been deemed unfit for duty at a previous police department and the dispatchers' failure to relay to officers that Tamir's toy gun was probably fake.

He added that the settlement would not change the minds of many residents, especially African Americans, about the city's culpability.

"We're wrong, we're definitely at fault and we needed to pay a price for that," Johnson said.

Cleveland's mayor Frank Jackson said the city's financial woes will not hinder its ability to pay $6m to the family of a 12-year-old whom police killed two years ago.

"It's an obligation we have; whenever you have an obligation, you must pay that," Jackson said at a press conference on Monday.

Jackson also said the payout wouldn't impact a disciplinary investigation against Loehmann and Garmback. The mayor also wouldn't say how the negotiators arrived at the payout, which must be approved by a probate court.

Echoing the comments of the Rice family's attorney, mayor Jackson said, however, the money would not compensate for the tragedy of Tamir Rice's death.

"A 12-year-old died. Regardless of fault or facts or anything, that shouldn't have happened."

Later on Monday the city's main police union risked reinflaming the situation by suggesting that Tamir's family put part of their payout towards stopping children from causing trouble with guns.

"We can only hope the Rice family and their attorneys will use a portion of this settlement to help educate the youth of Cleveland in the dangers associated with the mishandling of both real and facsimile firearms," Stephen Loomis, the president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said in a statement.

Budget projections show Cleveland ending the 2016 fiscal year with a small surplus of $722,000. In February, the city's mayor, Frank Jackson, proposed an income tax increase to keep the city from slipping into the red in 2017. He blamed declining property taxes and the state's cuts to its cities. Among the city's expenses are $11m associated with an agreement between Cleveland and the federal Department of Justice over police use of force.

"It's sad, in a sense," said Johnson. "No only was Tamir Rice unnecessarily killed by a city worker, but the taxpayers of the city have to pay for that failure of judgment by the dispatcher and the two officers."

[CountDeMoney]

They did what was best for them, but I'm a stubborn SOB, I would not have settled without an admission of wrong doing.

We'll remember that when the Cleveland PD shoots you.  At least I will.