Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

scum of the earth

point has been made ad nauseum but i still can't get over how disgusting these headlines are

(UK equivalent is "died in police custody" but it rarely even makes headlines when it happens)

The Rayshard Brooks killing has been whitewashed covered up ruled not a crime--by a couple of lawyers tapped by the state, not by a jury.

i'm told there is some absolutely crazy shit going on with the LA sheriff's department rn

like, even more than usual

yes

lmao

BREAKING: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says their legal representation has been fired as the Kuehl, Giggans and Metro search warrants are challenged in court.

The department is now seeking pro bono representation in this matter, according to a statement. https://t.co/F3HvJs54Ew

— Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) September 16, 2022

Pro bono? LOL

Villanueva has lost his mind. This will not end well.

"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says their legal representation has been fired ..."

Rudy Giuliani has let the department know he's available.

Haven't been following this story, but basically the LA Cty Sheriff just conducted (likely unsupported) searches of the homes of the people investigating them?

people = officials

Searches and PC/cell phone confiscation (per Sheila Kuehl).

Is Villanueva a “constitutional sherrif” or just a run of the mill fascist tyrant?

Civilian Oversight

This is arising largely out of the investigation into criminal gangs of deputies operating within the department.

he was elected in 2017ish when LASD rank and file decided they hated the previous sheriff (insufficiently fascist, possibly in the wrong sheriff's gang). villanueva was their guy, but he wafted the scent of "we will not cooperate with ICE" over his public campaign and picked up just enough naive 2017 liberal votes to win. he is of course a fascist, but he's also comically corrupt. it looks very much like he will be voted out in november, but he's doing as much damage as he can in the meantime. and the LASD is still the LASD when he goes. the replacement if he loses will be the former chief of police in long beach, so at least he won't be an actual gang member (?).

the likely replacement, via https://boltsmag.org/unease-in-los-angeles-sheriff-race/

Under Luna’s watch, the Long Beach Police Department targeted gay men in sting operations until as recently as 2016, took pains to conceal and destroy internal communications, and spent tens of millions settling use of force, wrongful death, and civil rights lawsuits. Police Scorecard, a site that compiles and evaluates data from police departments around the country, ranked Long Beach PD the second-worst in the state.

Luna’s campaign emailed a statement defending his record at Long Beach PD and emphasizing that he is “the only major candidate in the race who comes from outside the sheriff’s department.

Non-police gangs might do a better job.

Non-police gangs might do a better job.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux)

they might, but their track record isn't fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qTKsylrpsg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlUjaLSZGwk

Non-police gangs already do a better job of taking care of their communities than actual police, this is not controversial.

For many of these communities the police are little more than an occupying army.

Amber Alert cancelled after cops shoot child they were looking for pic.twitter.com/tjGLOlX5Ud

— Dame Doody Dench (@DrugsNSatan) September 27, 2022

This is fucking insane.
(warning: shows a police shooting)

Earlier this week, a San Antonio cop abruptly confronted a teen eating in a McDonalds parking lot & demanded the teen exit his vehicle.

When the teen asked why, the cop immediately assaulted & then shot him MULTIPLE TIMES. Cop tried to (falsely) claim the teen had struck him 1st pic.twitter.com/ATNKj4fVgi

— Kendall Brown (@kendallybrown) October 7, 2022

When LAPD officer Houston Tipping died back in May the department described it as an accident during a training exercise. Tipping was engaged in a grappling scenario with another officer when he "fell to the floor and suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury," as chief Michel Moore explained at the time. The LA Coroner's Office also ruled it an accident likening his death to one in the boxing ring or on the football field. An internal LAPD inquiry finished this week came to the same conclusion.

roundup of gangsters being gangsters: https://www.welcometohellworld.com/this-is-why-there-are-no-good-apples

That San Antonio cop's body cam footage is straight up attempted homicide.

Yeah, I can't even see what the cop "thought" he saw that made him start shooting.

And shooting at the car in the second set of shots was egregiously wrongheaded even for a cop.

There's a person in the passenger seat too apparently. Everything about it is completely fucked.

All I could see was the kid putting the car into reverse

It had been a perfect day for Caitlyne Gonzales. The Uvalde survivor saw Beto O'Rourke, one of her gun-safety heroes, speak. She took a selfie with him, got free shirts, ate fried chicken after.

Then, on the way home, police lights flashed behind her family's car.
A thread: pic.twitter.com/Q34EErx1y7

— John Woodrow Cox (@JohnWoodrowCox) October 25, 2022

jfc

https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-karl-ashanti-special-federal-arrest

lots to chew on here!

Fantastic story, extremely interesting and thought-provoking

A friend of mine was on a similar trajectory but quit to become a chef. He had very similar stories (of course I can’t really remember the details of them now). He has since gone back into law primarily doing arbitration; he wants to spend time resolving conflicts rather than advancing arguments.

Two women found a missing child in Indianapolis and got the kidnapper arrested while struggling over and over to get the police to give a single fuck.

Oh, wait, never mind that — CNN says two hero cops found the baby in the parking lot of the Papa John's where they'd stopped to eat, after spending all day searching for him! It's a Christmas miracle! And they had no help from civilians at all! Yay cops!

According to this account, a few police officers falsely claimed that a 15-year-old girl wouldn't serve them at a deli - a girl grieving the death of her brother, who was killed by police - trumpeted those false claims on social media and got her fired. https://t.co/eZsZcexLSS

— @ijbailey (@ijbailey) January 11, 2023

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/12/keenan-anderson-police-taser-death-los-angeles/

A cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors died hours after Los Angeles police repeatedly used a Taser on him and restrained him in the middle of the street following a traffic accident, according to body-camera footage released by authorities Wednesday.

The death of Keenan Anderson, a 31-year-old high school teacher and father visiting from Washington, D.C., is among a recent series of separate encounters that ended with men dying after their exchanges with Los Angeles officers. The fatal incidents have rocked the city in recent days, and the community is calling for justice after the police encounters involving Anderson, as well as 45-year-old Takar Smith and 35-year-old Oscar Sanchez, both of whom were fatally shot by officers in the first few days of January.

Video of the Jan. 3 incident in Venice, Calif., shows Anderson being detained by multiple officers as he begs for his life shortly after a traffic collision. Body-cam footage shows an officer appearing to have his elbow on Anderson’s neck as he is detained in the middle of the road.

“They’re trying to George Floyd me!” he exclaimed, according to the video, referring to the Minneapolis man who was murdered by then-police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. “They’re trying to George Floyd me!”

Then an officer is shown using his Taser on Anderson two times, including one stretch that lasted about 30 seconds uninterrupted.

jfc that is harrowing.

Fuck, the Tyre Nichols vid is ugly.

have absolutely no appetite to watch that based on the reporting…so sad

The description alone was enough to greatly upset me. I’m surprised Memphis isn’t in flames right now.

I wonder if their lengthy preamble is having an (intended?) effect of getting more people to NOT watch it?

Being in Tennessee, albeit the other end of the state, the Tyre Nichols case is all over the news obviously. It's terrible, and it's good that the cops involved have all been charged. Of course, one can't help but notice that our white Republican governor and many other white Republican state and local officials have been extraordinarily swift to condemn the beating and the cops. Which would seem like a promising development except for the cops being Black. I'm glad Black cops are held to account, because all cops need to be, but I 100 percent guarantee that we would not have all these strong statements coming if the cops were white.

And to Milo's post a few weeks ago about that other Tennessee case, I've been covering that. Here are a couple stories:

https://compassknox.com/2022/12/20/calling-for-accountability/
https://compassknox.com/2023/01/18/racial-tensions-rise-around-deli-incident/

Xpost otm

Radley Balko's latest newsletter is about how every time there's a police brutality case, a lot of "police rescue baby ducks" stories start popping up on the local news. He links to 30 examples.

The unspoken implication being that first police officers are deliberately planting those poor ducklings into the sewers in the first place

https://www.9news.com/article/news/investigations/littleton-motorcycle-police-shooting-rammed-crash/73-c247ea0c-59ad-432f-a22d-7b2d248e6ebb

On Feb 2, Littleton Police posted a press release saying Stephen Poolson, 41, “was driving a motorcycle and crashed” during a call about a suspicious vehicle. Police said an officer eventually fatally shot Poolson because he “produced a gun.”

there's video at the link, not of the police murdering the victim, but of the earlier part, the "was driving a motorcycle and crashed". you can clearly see the cop swerve and hit the guy on the motorcycle. he was "driving a motorcycle and crashed" in the same way that "a pińata was hanging and then fell down"

https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/fbi-bookstore-spying-in-chicago-eyes-abortion-rights-cop-city-anti-development-activists/

unicornriot.ninja is the only part of that url i can look at without just wanting to melt into ash and even that is a near thing

“This tweet has been deleted” pic.twitter.com/YgUuqcxul3

— People's City Council (@PplsCityCouncil) March 24, 2023

*fewer