The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[jimmy olsen]

I have to agree with Valmy there, the wording is poor.

[sbr]

Probably worded poorly due to lack of sleep from nightmares about dogs.

[garbon]

Actually, I think that'd be fear of corrupt govt officials.

[jimmy olsen]

Good news

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1125196/sneed-exclusive-officer-shot-laquan-mcdonald-charged-tuesday

Officer who shot Laquan McDonald to be charged with murder

Written By Michael Sneed Posted: 11/23/2015, 03:07pm

Officer Jason Van Dyke on Tuesday, Sneed has learned. | File photo 


Sneed has learned a criminal probe launched by Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez into the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald is expected to result in first-degree murder charges Tuesday against 37-year-old Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke.

∞The shocker: If a first-degree murder charge is placed against Officer Van Dyke, it will be the first time in Chicago history an "on duty" police officer was charged with such a crime.



Any decision to file charges Tuesday against Officer Van Dyke comes in the wake of a Cook County judge's ruling last week ordering the release of an incendiary video showing a white police officer shooting McDonald, an African-American teen, whose body was riddled with 16 bullets.

On Saturday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson: told the press he was hoping for a "police shakeup from top to bottom" after the release of the dashboard cam video; expressed anger Officer Van Dyke was still getting paid "while McDonald is perishing in his grave"; and called for Alvarez to step down for "failing" to charge him.



Although Alvarez would make no comment, Sneed hears she huddled with staff over the weekend preparing to weigh in on the Laquan McDonald case in advance of the release of the controversial video showing Officer Van Dyke, who is white, shooting the African-American teen on Oct. 20, 2014.

Sneed is told the potentially inflammatory video, which was ordered released by Wednesday in a ruling last week by Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama, is scheduled to be released after the criminal charges are filed — and by the judge's deadline.

In addition to Alvarez, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy had come under intense criticism for permitting Officer Van Dyke, who had been stripped of police authority, to continue to be assigned to paid desk duty ... and for keeping the video from the public eye until the "appropriate" time pending a result of an investigation.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is back at work after a whirlwind business trip to China, reversed course after Judge Franklin Valderrama's decision Friday and said he would not seek to have the ruling overturned.

Release of the video also prompted Alvarez to move quickly before the video was released hoping to quell any violent reaction by the public to a growing national furor over reports of unfair, premeditated treatment of black teens by white police officers.

Sneed also hears Alvarez's operatives have also been reaching out to ministers, community leaders and other members of the faith-based community asking them to spread a message encouraging peaceful protests when the video is released by the city of Chicago on Wednesday.

The charges brought by Alvarez pre-empt the result of a joint investigation her office had been conducting along with the Chicago branch of the FBI.

Ironically, before a wrongful death lawsuit was even filed by McDonald's family, the Chicago City Council unanimously voted to approve a $5 million settlement with them.

∞Backstory: On Oct. 20, 2014, the incident resulting in McDonald's death began when a report to 911 claimed a knife wielding man, McDonald, who was acting erratically — had threatened the complainant — and was attempting to break into vehicles in an Archer Heights trucking yard.

Two police officers, responding to the incident, ordered McDonald to drop the 4-inch folding knife, which he subsequently used to puncture a tire on one of the squad cars. McDonald, a ward of the state whose mother was in the process of seeking custody of him, reportedly ignored the warning.

While jogging away from the officers — and still wielding a knife, McDonald's erratic behavior resulted in other police officers arriving at the scene — as well as a request for a taser.

Subsequently, a squad car equipped with a dashboard camera also arrived. The video from that dashboard camera purportedly shows Van Dyke's marked SUV police vehicle pulling in front of the teen, who then veered into traffic.

At some point Van Dyke exited his car with his gun drawn and opened fire on McDonald, pumping 16 bullets into his body. An autopsy report purportedly showed McDonald had PCP in his system when killed. Several other officers on the scene did not open fire.

A troubled teen, McDonald had no adult criminal record, but he had reportedly been arrested on juvenile complaints.

Attorney Daniel Q. Herbert who is representing officer Van Dyke, has insisted his clients actions were justified and within the police department guidelines. He could not be reached immediately for comment Monday.

On Friday, Herbert told reporters that his client fired because "he believed in his heart of hearts that he was in fear for his life, that he was concerned abut the lives of [other] police officers."

According to Independent Police Review Authority records, since 2006 Van Dyke has received a total of 17 citizen complaints, including three complaints within a four-year span involving excessive force-related allegations. He was also accused for making racial remarks.

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like you've got a really elite force working for you, Valmy.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Trooper-Fired-Allegedly-Propositioned-Driver-for-Sex-359631091.html

A Texas trooper has been fired after being accused of stopping a driver for speeding and offering her $300 to have sex with him.

The Texas Department of Public Safety on Tuesday announced the dismissal of Christopher Champion just hours after his arrest and release.

The 31-year-old Champion was arrested Monday night in San Antonio on charges of misdemeanor soliciting prostitution and official oppression.

Online Bexar County jail records don't list bond or an attorney to speak for Champion, who joined DPS in 2008 and was stationed in San Antonio.

Investigators say Champion on Sept. 17 stopped a woman on Interstate 35, allegedly tried to solicit sex and then used her cellphone to text himself, to get her contact information.

She left without getting a ticket but contacted Texas Rangers.

[Tonitrus]

For balance, some positive police violence. 

http://bcove.me/1fi6ufzt

Very dramatic video though...practically some GTAV shit going down. (note: while the perp was killed by the police, and that is shown, there isn't any blood/guts in the video...nor is the perp actually seen at all).

[Admiral Yi]

You know what the perp perped Tonto?

[Tonitrus]

You know what the perp perped Tonto?

Here is the story:

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/spd-releases-new-details-on-fatal-shooting-of-carjacker/

Exec summary: Previously convicted felon...coffee shop employees reported a man with a gun, police attempted to apprehend, man flees...in doing so, commits three carjackings, with one more attempted in between...also fires on pursing police while on the run.

[jimmy olsen]

Good for people in custody, but not so good for Rahm.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-philip-coleman-judge-ruling-met-20151214-story.html

Judge: Using Taser, dragging Coleman from lockup amounts to 'brute force'


By Todd Lighty and Steve Mills•Contact Reporters
Chicago Tribune

December 14, 2015, 4:05 PM

A federal judge ruled Monday that a Chicago police employee used "brute force" when he dragged a handcuffed suspect out of his cell and down a police station hallway in a 2012 encounter that was captured on video and stirred protests last week over police brutality.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly also found that the employee's supervisor failed to stop the abuse of Philip Coleman and that no evidence existed that police gave Coleman the chance to leave his lockup cell on his own after he was repeatedly shocked with a Taser.

Kennelly, who is presiding over the Coleman family's civil rights lawsuit against the city, the police department and others, wrote in his ruling that it will be up to a jury to determine monetary damages against Keith Kirkland, a civilian detention aide, and Sgt. Tommy Walker, who is now retired.

"Kirkland chose to use brute force when it was no longer necessary," Kennelly wrote in a strongly worded opinion. "Sgt. Walker conceded during his deposition that the officers could have stood Mr. Coleman up and told him to walk ... It is undisputed that Sgt. Walker could have ordered Kirkland not to drag, or to stop dragging, Mr. Coleman and that he chose not to do so."


Coleman, 38, died at a hospital after a fatal reaction to an antipsychotic drug. An autopsy, though, showed that he had suffered severe trauma, including more than 50 cuts and bruises on his body from the top of his head to his lower legs.

As City Hall last week released the video showing the confrontation with Coleman, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Coleman's treatment was unacceptable. The Independent Police Review Authority, the civilian agency that investigates police use of force, also announced it was reopening its investigation into the matter, despite earlier having cleared Kirkland and Walker of any wrongdoing.

Ed Fox, the lawyer for the Coleman family, said Kennelly's ruling shows that police oversight in Chicago is broken and needs to be overhauled.

"(The ruling) is important because the question of excessive force in connection with dragging Philip Coleman is no longer for a jury's determination as this piece of the case has been now determined," Fox said. "It is also a judicial recognition, before trial, that excessive force was indisputably used. It is also important because the supervisor on the scene ... is also liable since he just stood by and let it happen, if not facilitated it happening.

"By inference, at trial, we will also contend that another supervisor on the scene, as well as the remaining officers who were in the cell where Philip was tased and choked, should also be liable for dragging Philip," he said.

Shannon Breymaier, a City Hall spokeswoman, said the city appreciates the urgency of the case.

"Everyone in Chicago deserves answers on what happened in this incident," Breymaier said in a statement. "That's why one of Sharon Fairley's first orders of business as the new chief administrator at IPRA last week was to reopen the disciplinary investigation into this incident and the mayor joins all Chicagoans in eagerly awaiting their findings."

In addition to Walker and Kirkland, Fox has sued five supervisors and seven officers for their conduct involving Coleman. Fox said a jury will have to decide the liability of the others.

Coleman, a University of Chicago political science graduate, was taken into custody Dec. 12, 2012. He had gone to his parents' Far South Side home to speak with his mother, Lena, when he suffered a mental breakdown, shouting at her, throwing furniture and punching her in the face, Coleman's family has said. Lena Coleman called police and told officers on the scene that she did not want to press charges. A police report said Philip Coleman spit bloody saliva on two officers and, as a result, he was charged with aggravated battery.

The police video of the next morning shows six officers at the Calumet Police District lockup entering Coleman's cell to take him to bond court. Coleman, who had been asleep, stood, then was tased before officers wrestled him to the floor and handcuffed him. He was shocked three times. Police have said they shocked Coleman because he was uncooperative. The video shows Kirkland dragging Coleman out of his cell and down the hall by his handcuffs, according to Kennelly's opinion.

"Mr. Coleman is motionless while being dragged," Kennelly wrote. "His legs are shackled together at the ankles and are not moving."

Kennelly dismissed the city's contention that Kirkland reacted to an evolving situation and made a "decision on the fly."

"Whatever the propriety of the use of a Taser and the ensuing efforts to subdue Mr. Coleman, once the officers had his hands and legs shackled, he was under control and on the floor," Kennelly wrote. "Given those circumstances, there is no viable claim, and no reasonable jury could find, that Officer Kirkland had to make a split-second decision on what to do next."

Coleman was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where police reports state he again became combative. Coleman was stunned 13 times with a Taser and struck with a baton.

[jimmy olsen]

Should drunk drivers be shot in the neck? California says yes.

Click to watch the video.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/12/14/california_officer_shoots_suspected_drunk_driver_in_dashcam_video.html

[Syt]

As my U.S. family members would say: if people would stop breaking the law, and followed police instructions, and treated police officers with the respect their position deserves, nobody would get hurt.

[garbon]

More aptly describe as be prepared to denigrate yourself and expect/accept the police to treat you in a manner that you would never allow from anyone else and you stand a chance of coming out unscathed.

[DGuller]

No need to denigrate yourself, just act subservient and promptly follow every order.

[Habbaku]

Should drunk drivers be shot in the neck? California says yes.

But only if it's an accident!

[Valmy]

No need to denigrate yourself, just act subservient and promptly follow every order.

Well that may be normal to some of us, but others may find that denigrating.

Yep. Do nothing to even make a cop think he has been provoked. You never know what kind of jerk you are going to get. I have had a couple cops come at me all redass and belligerent just for regular traffic stops and shit.