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Tag: Police brutality

Law Enforcement Lobby Succeeds In Killing California Transparency Bill

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

A California Senate committee killed a bill to increase transparency in police misconduct investigations, hampering victims’ efforts to obtain justice.

Chauncee Smith, legislative advocate at the ACLU of California, told MintPress News that the state Legislature “caved to the tremendous influence and power of the law enforcement lobby” and “failed to listen to the demands and concerns of everyday Californian people.”

California has some of the most secretive rules in the country when it comes to investigations into police misconduct and excessive use of force. Records are kept sealed, regardless of the outcome, as the ACLU of Northern California explains on its website:

Texas Grand Jury Won’t Indict Cop Who Shot Naked, Unarmed Black Teen

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and MintPress News

On Tuesday, a grand jury declined to indict a police officer who shot a naked, unarmed black teen early this year.

Geoffrey Freeman, an Austin police officer, who is also black, shot David Joseph on the morning of Feb. 8 after police received calls about a neighborhood disturbance. Police say Joseph charged at Freeman as he exited his vehicle.

“In a matter of seconds, Freeman commanded Joseph to stop, then opened fire twice, hitting Joseph in the chest and leg, authorities have said,” the Austin American Statesman reported.

Protests In Salt Lake City After Cop Shoots Black Teen Holding A Broomstick

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Local residents and the family of a shooting victim are demanding the release of police body camera footage that shows the wounding of a black teenager last week.

Abdi Mohamed, a 17-year-old Somali refugee, was shot by police on Saturday while holding a metal broomstick. The following day, family sources told Robert Boyd, a reporter with local news station Fox13, that Mohamed was in a coma at a local hospital after being shot three times.

Det. Greg Wilking, a Salt Lake City Police Department official quoted by Boyd, claimed that Mohamed had gotten involved in a dispute, and that he was shot while “officers intervened into that altercation.”

But Selam Mohammed, who said he was walking with Abdi Mohamed at the time he was shot, told Boyd that Abdi Mohamed had just picked up a broken broomstick when police arrived:

Can Being White Save You From A Fatal Police Shooting?

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Last week, a white man was captured alive after a five-hour shootout with police at a Planned Parenthood clinic that claimed the lives of three and injured nine. Coming just days after the one-year anniversary of Tamir Rice’s death, and amid a number of high-profile police brutality protests, the violent incident has renewed a debate about race and policing in the United States.

On Friday, Robert Lewis Dear barricaded himself inside the health clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he engaged in an ongoing fire-fight with police before being captured alive. Among the victims were a university police officer, a mother of two, and an Iraq War veteran with two children. At least five of the other injured victims were police officers.

Earlier that week, activists took the streets in Cleveland to mark one year since the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy, who was killed by police while playing in a park with a toy gun. It is legal to openly carry firearms in Ohio, yet video footage of the shooting shows police opening fire on the boy within just two seconds of their arrival in the park. Police were slow to provide medical attention to the boy, even detaining his sister when she tried to provide medical aid. He died the next day.

Activists Occupy The Minneapolis Police Department After Shooting Of Jamar Clark

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

After the weekend shooting of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, protesters camped overnight in a local police station, saying that they won’t leave until they receive justice.

Jamar Clark is on life support after the shooting, which took place early Sunday morning at the intersection of James and Plymouth Aves. in North Minneapolis. Numerous eyewitnesses at the scene, some of whom can be seen shouting on in a YouTube video uploaded on Sunday, claim that Clark was handcuffed at the time of the incident, though police deny that this was the case:

Like many other major cities, Minneapolis police have paid out millions in lawsuits over police conduct in recent years. In October, the city settled a lawsuit for $122,000 regarding a 2012 incident in which police allegedly assaulted a black man over a gun he was legally permitted to carry.

‘Autism Is Not A Crime’: Transit Police Beat St. Paul Teen During Arrest

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Marcus Abrams, a 17-year-old autistic teen from St. Paul, who also suffers from seizures, didn’t belong on the tracks at a Metro Transit station, but his family is questioning the violence of his subsequent arrest during which police tackled him to the platform floor.

A photo collage posted to Facebook by Abrams’ sister two days after the incident shows multiple bruises to his face.

Advocates for the autistic and disabled say the incident highlights the need for better police training.