UNDUE FORCE (This is a report by the Baltimore Sun about the police and what they have done.)

[Are_grits_groceries]

UNDUE FORCE
(This is a report by the Baltimore Sun about the police and what they have done.)

The city has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police.

On a cold January afternoon, Jerriel Lyles parked his car in front of the P&J Carry Out on East Monument Street and darted inside to buy some food. After paying for a box of chicken, he noticed a big guy in jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.

“What’s up?” the man said to Lyles. Others, also dressed in jeans and hoodies, blocked the door to the street — making Lyles fear that he would be robbed. Instead, the man identified himself a police officer, frisked Lyles and demanded he sit on the greasy floor. Lyles objected.

“The officer hit me so hard it felt like his radio was in his hand,” Lyles testified about the 2009 incident, after suing Detective David Greene. “The blow was so heavy. My eyes swelled up. Blood was dripping down my nose and out my eyes.
<snip>http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/
Much more in this report.

What would you do?

[newfie11]

1. Cops are out of control

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Even My Favorite Wingnut, who is an ex-State Patrolman,

says exactly that. And of course it's all Obama's fault.

[Katashi_itto]

2. K&R!

[tblue37]

4. KnR. nt

[madokie]

5. Cops are at fault more times than not

This open season on blacks has got to end. Its not only blacks either

[underpants]

6. Thanks for the link

[mopinko]

7. i would probably

light something on fire.

[mountain grammy]

8. Thanks for the link

the print media is taking this on. Matt Taibbi wrote a great book, The Divide.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/books/review/the-divide-by-matt-taibbi.html?_r=0

The story isn't ratings worth for the pretty people on the "news."

[lostnfound]

9. Worth reading. N/t.

[frylock]

10. What would you do?

Fuck shit up.

[PatrynXX]

11. I've said my greeting to cops

never been hit for it. Whats up is a greeting. now if he said yo whats up Nigga I have no idea. btw I say the word not to get banned but in context. it is not meant to offend. if you have people say the term N word or I'm not repeating it. its the same thing. I would say racial epitaph most of the time. I'm adding this disclaimer here basically to say why I just said that on DU. I will say it again as long as people say the phrase the NNNNNN word not the actual word but N like the W word (Wigger. I've been called a Wigger but a very southern Texan for being a somewhat fan of Dominique Dawes in the mid 90's )

Better yet Freeport ILL mid 80's worst bullies in school both white but I had dad basically push that the whole school was after me (10 yrs old) biggest apology heartfelt apology was from a girl called Katrina , rather black . I'll never ever forget it. I've been to work and school and when they hear the phrase N word you might as well be saying something again to Nigga ....

Now whether the above person said whats up >>>> can't say but it usually creates a response on some people.. I wonder why the tv show Any Day Now is not available online let alone dvd best way to get racial tensions out of the way is to get the shit out of the way first.

[malaise]

12. I read this last night

but it could be about any inner city in America

[sabrina 1]

13. I read that report yesterday and my question is, how come it took so long

for people to riot?

And what has the US government done to stop the carnage is another question that needs to be asked?


When over 5,000 Americans have been murdered by Cops, almost double the number on 9/11, shouldn't something have been done by now?

The story about the Grandmother in that report should cause every decent person to rise up against these out of control cops.

[Are_grits_groceries]

14. I have been waiting for an explosion.

This last year has been awful. So many Af-Ams shot and nobody is held accountable.

[CrispyQ]

15. Once every two weeks a citizen is brutalized to the point they win a settlement.

Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson.

more...

They were just kicking. I was kicked about three times in the side, kicked in my forehead. After a while, I couldn’t really tell where I was being assaulted. I just knew my body was hurting.

JONATHAN HUNT
Deposition from Jan. 5, 2012

Hunt settled for $60,000 after alleging an officer broke his leg, collarbone and cracked three ribs.

[JDPriestly]

16. Time for change.

We cannot just continue as we have. We have to make big, big changes in our consciousness.

[gopiscrap]

17. Fucking God Damn Cops

[OldRedneck]

18. $5.7 million is small change

Since 2009, New York City has paid out almost HALF-A-BILLION $$$$ to settle abuse claims against cops -- $428,000,000
http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/10/police-abuse-cases-forced-nyc-to-pay-428000000-in-false-arrest-and-civil-rights-settlements/

Here's a quote from a Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/10/01/u-s-cities-pay-out-millions-to-settle-police-lawsuits/

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this year that the city has payed out nearly half a billion dollars in settlements over the past decade, and spent $84.6 million in fees, settlements, and awards last year. The Chicago Police Department is about three times the size of the Baltimore PD. Chicago the city has about four times as many people as Baltimore. Crunch those numbers as you wish. Bloomberg News reported that in 2011, Los Angeles paid out $54 million, while New York paid out a whopping $735 million, although those figures include negligence and other claims unrelated to police abuse. Oakland Police Beat reported in April that the city had paid out $74 million to settle 417 lawsuits since 1990. That’s a little more than $3 million per year. The Denver Post reported in August that the Mile High City paid $13 million over 10 years. The Dallas Morning News reported in May that the city has forked over $6 million since 2011. And last month, Minneapolis Public Radio put that city’s payout at $21 million since 2003.

Note the Post article puts the NYC figure at $735,000,000!!!

[icymist]

19. It's not just the police, but the entire court system that needs to change.

From the article:

The city’s settlement agreements contain a clause that prohibits injured residents from making any public statement — or talking to the news media — about the incidents. And when settlements are placed on the agenda at public meetings involving the mayor and other top officials, the cases are described using excerpts from police reports, with allegations of brutality routinely omitted. State law also helps to shield the details, by barring city officials from discussing internal disciplinary actions against the officers — even when a court has found them at fault.

Downright disgraceful.

[LittleGirl]

20. that was a tough read

thanks for posting. Those gag orders need to end.

[PatSeg]

21. I was just going to post the same thing

I had to read it with several breaks, it was so overwhelming.

[LittleGirl]

22. yeah, I had to stop too

and walk around. That 82 yr old is my Mother's age and that really upset me. Shame on those cops. Shame.

[PatSeg]

24. That one and the pregnant woman

really got to me. I never get accustomed to these horrible stories and we hear more and more of them every day. I understand that the job can make a person a bit cynical and jaded, but this reeks of pure hatred and cruelty. If they can do this to an 82 year old woman, than no one is safe.

[LittleGirl]

26. It makes them seem like savages

and that is the saddest thing about this. They've lost their humanity. Those officers should be FIRED and never allowed to police again.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

23. .

[savalez]

25. excellent read. Thanks. nt

[uponit7771]

27. OMG... this article is shocking... 6 million in legal fees, 6 million in judgements against the BPD.

...and HUNDREDS of cases on going.

Baltimore better be glad the cities not in ashes right now....

Relative to the terrorism presisted by the BPD ... the people have been patient...

At what point should Americans start calling this type of policing terrorism?!

[loyalsister]

28. How does a person of color not participate in that kind of system?

Non-violent actions resisting segregation were based on denying the institution power by not participating.
Parents have to teach their kids that compliance with denial of full citizenship is necessary for survival.
To so many white people, "nothing to lose" is freedom and a romantic road trip. To people of color it means that winding up in prison or dead is a possibility that must guide the behavior of even model citizens with only good intentions.
I have never felt truly afraid or like I have nothing to lose. I think it's a travesty and it makes me angry, but I do not live with the despair of seeing such darkness in my or my family's future.

One friend told me that she almost feels like she broke a promise when she told her children and grandchildren that they have more opportunities and rights than existed before the civil rights movement. Meanwhile, the media keeps telling us that the promises that came with the constitutional measures have been honored and this is what a post racial US mountaintop looks like. People have been extremely patient, and hopeful that a better view would emerge. They have been tolerant of lies coming from "colorblind" white people and the media. I think what is surprising is that it took this long for people to give up and let their rage loose.

[joshcryer]

29. If this happened to me I'd be dead or in prison.

I would not allow some random stranger to assault me needlessly. By fighting back I would likely have been subdued, but only after a protracted fight. If I survived the encounter I would have fought back. That would've been a resisting arrest charge. Which I would've fought to trial. Since there wouldn't have been a body camera, the jury would've convicted me.

The justice system is fucked.

[Trillo]

30. What would I do?

I'd make sure every cop who has these brutality issues is fired and has their law enforcement credentials revoked, so they can't move to another jurisdiction and be rehired.

The close association of prosecutors to police must be ended or balanced. We either need a "separation of prosecutors and police", one which is similar to the separation of church and state, or we need defense attorneys to have full access to the citizenry, a core of "defenders" which is also on the government payroll whose job it is to act as "advocates for the citizens" (because the prosecutors currently act as advocates for the police).