c4ss:

At least five LAPD officers are under investigation in the death of a woman who suffocated while being taken into custody, police officials confirmed Thursday.

The altercation in front of her apartment was captured by a patrol car’s video camera.

LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green confirmed that one officer, while trying to get Alesia Thomas into the back of a patrol car, told her something along the lines of “get your fat *ss in the car.”

The female officer then threatened to kick Thomas in the genitals if she did not comply, Green confirmed, and the officer followed through on her threat. …

anarcho-queer:

Surveillance Footage Proves Sheriff Deputy Hit Black Teen On Head With Gun

Fox 5 has obtained surveillance video of a February 3rd incident involving a Prince George’s County police officer that seems to dispute his story about why his gun discharged.

A Cottage City 19-year-old spent nearly 4 months in jail after Corporal Donald Taylor claimed Ryan Dorm assaulted him and the gun went off as Taylor struggled with him. The surveillance video is from a business on Perry Street near Rhode Island Avenue in the Brentwood area. Attorney Jimmy Bell, who represents Dorm, says the video shows Taylor out-and-out “lied” when he wrote up a report supporting assault charges against his client.

The incident started when Dorm and a friend say they went to the “Lowest Price” gas station convenience store late that night to buy snacks. Dorm says his friend was wearing a ski mask because it was cold, but two police officers thought he looked suspicious and were going to rob the store. Ryan says he wanted to avoid any trouble, so he left. But he says Taylor and a second officer followed him. The video shows Dorm being approached from behind, then smacked in the head with a gun. The video shows the flash from the gun as Dorm was being struck.

Taylor has been indicted and faces a trial in November. Bell has filed a $10 million dollar civil lawsuit in the case.

From PressTV

anarchyagogo:

County officials are looking into an almost 70% spike in fatal officer-involved shootings in Los Angeles County but said it’s too early to tell what, if anything, drove the jump.

Fifty-four people were fatally shot by police in 2011, according to autopsy reports analyzed by The Times, an increase all the more notable because it occurred at a time when the number of homicides in the area fell to historic lows.

With 612 people killed in the county last year, nearly 1 in every 10 such deaths occurred at the hands of law enforcement officers.

This piece is from The Guardian on June 6.

sounds-revoution:

New York police patrol Wall Street. What has your experience been with the NYPD? Photograph: Henny Ray Abrams/Reuters

When a New York police officer karate chopped Thomas Raffaele in the throat as the 69-year-old watched the arrest of a man in Queens, he probably did not think too much about it.

Certainly his fellow officers did not seem bothered. As revealed in the New York Times, Raffaele immediately sought to complain about being randomly assaulted by a man sworn to protect citizens, not abuse them. But the sergeant at the scene basically ignored him and Rafaelle went to hospital to check out his injuries. 

Unfortunately for the New York police department, Raffaele was not your average bystander. He is a judge on the New York state supreme court. Not surprisingly, the NYPD is now taking the assault on him a bit more seriously and has begun an internal investigation.

Read More

TW: police beating

From the Huffington Post:

In the graphic video shown below, Marcus Warryton is hit repeatedly in the head by an officer’s baton, at least once while he’s on the ground, according to thePhiladelphia Daily News.

Three of the officers involved in the June 4 incident have already been put back on duty. The officer who used the baton is still confined to desk duty, pending the outcome of an investigation by the department’s internal affairs division, the paper reported.

…

Defense attorney Michael Coard told the Tribune that the officers’ actions were unjustified.

“Did they cross the line? No, as far as I’m concerned they obliterated the line,” Coard said. “There was a time when the police had enough fear of the law that they would take you to a back alley with no witnesses to tune you up. Now, even with video cameras and witnesses, even helicopters overhead, they don’t give a damn because they know the system protects them.”