Jasiri X Drops New Song For Police Brutality Victims – 212

Says Jasiri,

“I never really wanted the role of Hip-Hop artist that speaks when something tragic happens in our community, but I guess it is what it is. I got so many calls, tweets, and texts from folks asking me to say something so here it is. It’s raw and angry because that’s how I feel about more Black death unjustly at the hands of the police. For Michael Brown, Eric Garner, John Crawford, and Ezell Ford, I hope your lives are not in vain, and God brings your families peace. For my community, this won’t stop until we stop it, and the first step is unity. I called this song 212 degrees because that’s the boiling point. The lid is about to blow off this whole masquerade.”

LAPD Shouted 'Shoot Him' Before Killing Unarmed, Mentally Ill Black Man: Witness

LOS ANGELES -- An eyewitness to the killing of Ezell Ford told The Huffington Post on Wednesday that he heard an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department shout "shoot him" before three bullets were unloaded into the unarmed, 25-year-old black man, who was on the ground.

"It is unknown if the suspect has any gang affiliations," the LAPD said in a statement after the killing.

But people in Ford's neighborhood said the young man was not remotely involved in gang activity. Leroy Hill said he was an eyewitness to the shooting Monday night, and confirmed that he heard three shots.

"He wasn't a gang banger at all," Hill said. "I was sitting across the street when it happened. So as he was walking down the street, the police approached him, whatever was said I couldn't hear it, but the cops jumped out of the car and rushed him over here into this corner. They had him in the corner and were beating him, busted him up, for what reason I don't know he didn't do nothing. The next thing I know I hear a 'pow!' while he's on the ground. They got the knee on him. And then I hear another 'pow!' No hesitation. And then I hear another 'pow!' Three times."

At one point while the police had Ford on the ground, but before the shooting took place, Hill said, he heard an officer yell, "Shoot him."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/lapd-suggests-mentally-il_0_n_5675782.html

Police brutality must be punished if we want real justice for Michael Brown

From California to New York, from the streets in Ferguson to those in the south side of Chicago, police brutality continues unabated all across the United States because of brazen impunity – because in this country’s long history of abuse and violence by those obligated to respect and uphold the human rights of our communities, there is still little accountability. There must be change, or else we will ensure that there will be more victims of unnecessary and excessive use of force by police. There must be justice."

*


While there are conflicting reports of what happened between 18-year-old Michael Brown and a police officer last Saturday in Missouri, while Americans watch anxiously as yet another community is ripped apart by the killing of a young black man by police, this much remains uncontested: Brown was unarmed when the as-yet unnamed officer shot and killed him. His death followed closely that of a Staten Island father of six, Eric Garner, who was killed last month when an NYPD police officer placed him in an illegal chokehold.

The FBI and US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division have opened an investigation into Brown’s death parallel to the St Louis County Police Department, even as multiple local law enforcement agencies have turned Ferguson’s nights into something resembling a war zone. The FBI is also actively monitoring the investigation into Garner’s death, and several members of Congress have requested a federal inquiry as tensions remain high in New York.

These are good first steps at monitoring, but they are nowhere near enough to prevent abuses in law enforcement. How do we ensure this never happens again? How do we guarantee that no other mother will hear gunshots a block away, only to run and find her son or daughter laying unarmed at the feet of a police officer? That no father is held down by police until the life is choked out of him?

The US cannot continue to allow those duty-bound to protect its citizens – the FBI, state and local police, anyone – to become that which their community fears most. First, when use of force by the police has resulted in injury or death, a prompt, thorough, independent and truly impartial investigation must be conducted. Additionally, all officers responsible for abuses should be adequately disciplined and, where appropriate, prosecuted. "

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/14/police-brutality-punished-justice-for-michael-brown-ferguson

Lawsuit alleges excessive force by BR police

Lying in a pool of his own blood about two months ago with his two front teeth knocked out, Brett Percle recently recalled, he watched as police officers ransacked his friend’s Baton Rouge home.

The officers, members of the Baton Rouge Police Department’s Special Response Team, were looking for marijuana and anything else that might be pertinent to an investigation into whether drugs were being dealt from the Lila Avenue home off GSRI Avenue between Gardere Lane and Nicholson Drive, according to police documents.

When the police showed up at the home, Percle, 22, was there visiting an old college roommate. He wanted to hang out and play some music at the house."

*About 2:30 p.m. on June 11, Percle and the other four people inside the Lila Avenue home heard a knock on the door. Before anyone had time to react, Percle said, a team of officers wearing black military-style outfits barged in with guns pointed at the occupants and ordered everyone to lie down on the floor.

“They were prepared for war,” Percle said in a recent interview. “Everyone had grenades. Everyone had a machine gun.”

Just inches away from a prone position, Percle felt a blow to the back of his neck, which caused his face to slam into the tile floor. Teeth went flying. Blood started flowing."
"
*Officers ridiculed Percle, he said, calling him a jack-o’-lantern. On several occasions, Percle said, officers walked up to him and asked, “How did you lose your teeth?” One suggested his teeth must have been rotten before the beating, Percle said, while another told him he must have slipped and fallen.

Percle was never arrested or charged with any crime. In fact, he said he’s never been arrested."

Loughlin, Percle’s attorney, said one goal of the suit is to prevent what happened to his client from happening to anyone else.

“I think they were over the line in this case,” Loughlin said of the police’s actions.

The attorney said there is a trend to militarize America’s law enforcement agencies, adding, “there’s got to be a check on it at some point.”

http://theadvocate.com/news/police/9969710-123/suit-alleges-excessive-force-by

Family believes excessive force by Port Arthur police caused man's death

The family of a man who died after being released by police is asking some serious questions.

Dustin Glover's family says he was unconscious when deputies signed his name to a personal recognizance bond releasing him from custody, and he died before his release was approved."

fficers say the woman who flagged police down accused Glover of taking her money. The officers who first located Glover are Patrick Britton and Hebert Otis. They say Glover fought back as they were trying to arrest him and officer Otis was injured in the scuffle.

But attorneys for the family tell a different story, saying the mentally-challenged father of three died from internal injuries he received at the hands of at least three Port Arthur Police Officers. One of those officers in question is the same one arrested on a charge of family violence over the weekend. "

In his report, Officer Otis says he did Tase Glover once in the chest, but it did not have an effect on him. Shortly afterward, officers George Clark and Gerald Bush arrived on scene and Clark Tased Glover five times.

The video shows Otis with a choke hold on Glover, and Bernsen says Otis punched Glover as well. At times, you can hear Glover squealing with pain, and claiming he had not done anything wrong.

After his arrest, Glover was taken to the Port Arthur Police Station, but then to Christus hospital St. Mary hospital. Once he was released from the hospital, he was taken to the Jefferson County Jail. According to jail documents, he vomited and was bleeding, so he was taken to Baptist Hospital in Beaumont where he died two days later. "

Video at link: http://www.12newsnow.com/story/26251863/family-seeks-answers-after-police-release-unconscious-man-who-died-moments-later

The Right to Resist: How Will YOU Fight Police Brutality?

Activist/organizer Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele on the need to challenge the right of police to terrorize our communities"

By now, we have all seen the video of Eric Garner’s murder at the hands of the NYPD. As we are still trying to make sense of his killing, we receive the news of two more murders of unarmed Black men by law enforcement. Twenty-two-year old John Crawford, shot and killed in Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio for holding in his hand a BB gun that was being sold in the store. Unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, gunned down by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri."

*Those who have never had to deal firsthand with the reality of police violence often ask, why not just cooperate? Why resist? Why did he run? A long and recent history tells us any encounter with the police is typically just the beginning of a series of dehumanizing and probably violent experiences. We should not be surprised when victims of police violence “resist” not arrest, but consistent police misconduct. That resisting may come in many forms. For Eric Gardner it was a simple statement - “This stops today.”

* What are a people who experience consistent systemic forms of violence at the hands of law enforcement and are just as consistently denied any justice expected to do? Nearly 49 years ago to this day, Watts, California went up in flames in response to police terror. As America turns it attention to the rage in and around Ferguson, Missouri this week, rest assured that unless this pattern of police killing stops, there are sure to be other cities in line for similar uprisings. If we are concerned about the possibility of similar uprisings, we have a responsibility to make sure the overpolicing, brutality and killings in our communities end. "

How will you resist?"

http://www.ebony.com/news-views/the-right-to-resist-how-will-you-fight-police-brutality-403

Bratton's Broken Windows and the Death of Eric Garner

*While history appears to repeat itself, some things are changing. For one, the practice of regularly filming cops has become an invaluable tool in the communities that are policed the most. Who knows what the story coming out of the Garner death might have been had Garner's death not been recorded by residents or if it had happened somewhere out of view, in an alley or something Whereas with so many incidents of brutality being usually out of the public eye -- with the obvious exception of the infamous Rodney King beating -- the video put the public front row to Garner's death. That's what makes the case so damning -- and unspinnable. Police brutality has a new face: ours. We're seeing brutality victims left and right. These aren't simply pictures dampened by the tears of grieving families anymore. We can hear Garner's words, feel his frustrations and now see his death frame by frame with no doubt left in our minds. "

*This is what people mean when they say brutality is a pattern, a culture. The problems don't only lie with the street cops, they persist even at the oversight level. In the case of Garner, supervisors failed to even mention the chokehold to investigators -- which suggests a culture within the department that covers the ass of its own."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josmar-trujillo/the-changing-face-of-poli_b_5619603.html

Fox News hosts mock and chastise citizens for filming the police

Excessive force cited in lawsuit against Austin police officer

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin police officer is named in a federal lawsuit that claims excessive use of force.

The suit filed in federal court Monday shows Officer Jason Cummins arrived at a domestic dispute call Aug. 11, 2013. While other officers handled the female caller’s complaint, Cummins focused on the next door neighbor Enemencio Roy Alaniz Jr., who was watching the scene from his doorway.

When the man refused the officer’s command to leave his apartment, the suit alleges Cummins kicked in the screen door and fired his Taser striking Alaniz. Police justified the take-down because Alaniz engaged in ‘empty hand defensive resistance,’ according to the lawsuit. He was arrested and taken to the Travis County jail.

A court judge later dropped a charge against Alaniz of failing to obey a lawful order, according to the suit. An Austin Police spokesperson says the department will not discuss pending litigation.

An appendix attached to the lawsuit lists 46 ‘use of force’ incidents dating back to Oct. 2010 said to involve Cummins. They range from using pressure points or a kick to subdue a suspect to deploying a Taser or pepper spray."

* To confirm if the number shown in the suit is accurate and to ask if 40 is an unusual number of use of force incidents for a younger officer, KXAN requested the same list from APD as well as Cummins’ personnel file which would show performance reviews and any commendations. City records show Cummins, 28, joined the city payroll Sept. 14, 2009. This year he earned about $83,000 total, superceding his base salary of nearly $70,000.

The suit goes on to allege Cummins was trained by the Austin Police Department and that “the customs and policies allowed…provided for Officer Cummins’ conduct.”

http://kxan.com/2014/07/22/suit-excessive-force-by-apd-officer-blamed-on-inadequate-training/

Federal monitor ordered for Newark police for civil rights violations

New Jersey's largest police department will be placed under federal oversight for repeatedly violating residents' civil rights, using excessive force and failing to discipline officers for a wide range of misconduct, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The Newark Police Department, a 1,000-member force that patrols one of the most violent cities in the Northeast, will be subject to court-ordered reform, a move that comes after a three-year investigation into rampant misconduct in the agency, according to the Justice Department and court documents.

The federal investigation was launched in 2011, less than a year after a scathing report from the American Civil Liberties Union said the police department was incapable of policing itself."

The investigation found that city police officers had no constitutional basis for 75% of the pedestrian stops they conducted in recent years. It also determined that officers often used excessive force during arrests but underreported the level of force used."

“Our investigation uncovered troubling patterns in stops, arrests and use of force by the police in Newark. With this agreement, we’re taking decisive action to address potential discrimination and end unconstitutional conduct by those who are sworn to serve their fellow citizens,” Atty. Gen. Eric. H. Holder Jr. said in a statement."

*The department received 989 excessive-force complaints against officers from 2000 to 2009, according to records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

Only 21 of those cases, or 2%, resulted in disciplinary action or criminal charges against the officers.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-newark-federal-monitor-20140722-story.html#page=1