Tag: police accountability

Cops sued for zip tying and arresting 6-year-old girl

The family of a 6-year-old Florida girl who made headlines after she was arrested and had her wrists zip-tied in 2019 has filed a lawsuit, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Video of the incident showed Kaia Rolle sobbing while she was placed in zip ties after hitting and kicking staffers at Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy Charter School.

Her grandmother says the now-10-year-old still has trauma from the incident.

“This is a lifelong mission of recovery for Kaia,” Meralyn Kirkland said. “This should not happen.”

The family is suing over the child’s “cruel, senseless and terrorizing arrest,” which they say was done to “instill fear and humiliation” in her, as well as excessive force, false arrest and malicious prosecution. It’s seeking $50,000 in damages.

In addition to damages, the family is demanding that the minimum arrest age be raised to 14.

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Probe launched after video shows Ohio cops threaten to arrest 11-year-old grooming victim

Two police officer in Ohio are under scrutiny after a viral video of them responding to a call about a minor being groomed shows them blaming the child, The New York Post reported.

The video shows two Columbus police officers on a porch talking to the father of an 11-year-old girl — six hours after he called them to report that a man had coerced his daughter to send pictures of herself.

The female officer can be heard telling the father that his daughter “could probably get charged with child porn.”

“Who? She can? She’s 11 years old,” he responds.

“She’s creating it, right?” the officer says.

“She’s 11 years old,” the father says in disbelief.

“Doesn’t matter. She’s still making porn,” the female officer replies.

“No. She’s being manipulated by a grown adult on the internet,” the father counters.

“Is she taking pictures, though?” she asks.

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He told on ‘badge bending’ and was fired. Now, former Vallejo cop will get nearly $1 million

A former police captain who alleges in a lawsuit that he was fired for whistleblowing on his colleagues and exposing corruption within the Vallejo Police Department will receive nearly $1 million in a settlement with the city.

John Whitney and his attorney, Jayme Walker, agreed to the settlement last week, in which the city will be required to pay Whitney $900,000 as well as all costs, liens and attorney fees.

“I feel vindicated by the settlement agreement because of the amount,” Whitney told The Times in an interview Monday. “You don’t settle for nearly $1 million if you did everything correct.”

Whitney alleges in a lawsuit filed against the city and his former employers in 2020 that he was fired after he told Vallejo City Manager Greg Nyhoff, Mayor Bob Sampayan and then-City Atty. Claudia Quintana that members of the Police Department were bending the corners of their badges to commemorate every time an officer killed a civilian.

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Three Met Police officers who strip-searched 15-year-old schoolgirl wrongly accused of possessing cannabis could be sacked as watchdog announces misconduct hearing over scandal

Three Metropolitan Police officers could be fired after allegations of gross misconduct by carrying out a strip search on a 15-year-old schoolgirl wrongly accused of cannabis possession.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Thursday that the officers will face a misconduct hearing, and a fourth lesser misconduct meeting, over the treatment of Child Q.

The girl was strip-searched while on her period with no appropriate adult present, at a school in Hackney, east London in December 2020, after being accused of carrying drugs.

No drugs were found in her bags or outer clothing, and she was then strip-searched by two female officers with two male officers standing outside. Again no drugs were found.

Met bosses have been told by the IOPC that they should consider writing formal letters of apology to Child Q and her mother.

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Police Tore Up His Protest Sign. Now They Owe Him $50,000

Last year, Delaware police prevented 54-year-old Jonathan Guessford from holding a sign warning drivers about a speed trap and wrongfully cited him for “improper hand signal” after he flipped off the officers who seized and tore up his sign. Police have now agreed to pay Guessford $50,000 as part of a settlement reached in a lawsuit alleging that police violated his civil rights.

Following several run-ins with the police, Guessford decided to “stage protests whenever he saw police officers stopping unsuspected vehicles using a radar gun,” according to legal documents. On March 11, 2022, his protest consisted of standing by the side of the road, holding a homemade sign reading, “Radar Ahead!” Guessford was soon confronted by several Delaware State Police officers, who took his sign and tore it up.

As Guessford drove away after the encounter, he flipped off the officers, leading them to eventually cite him for “improper hand signal” under a statute governing hand signals for nonmotorized vehicles like bicycles. However, body camera footage showed that officers knew that the citation was incongruous and would likely be dropped.

“Yeah, you can’t do that. That’ll get dropped,” Officer Christopher Popp said during a phone call to another officer, who replied, referring to a third officer, “I told him that’s going to get thrown out….Eventually, [Guessford is] going to do something really stupid, and then we are going to be able to really lock him up.”

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Fired Philadelphia cop Mark Dial is charged with murder for shooting Eddie Irizarry dead FIVE SECONDS after pulling him over for ‘driving erratically’ – as police release horrific bodycam footage

Former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial has been charged with murder for killing a 27-year-old driver last month after surveillance footage showed him shooting him through his car window.

Mark Dial fatally shot motorist Eddie Irizarry through his car window in North Philadelphia on August 14 – just five seconds after he got out of his patrol car. 

Police have now also released bodycam footage of the incident, previously seen through surveillance video from a nearby home collected by the alleged victim’s family. 

Dial, who was fired a week later, has now been charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangering and official oppression, the DA announced. 

He turned himself in to the police South Detectives division on Friday, with his lawyer claiming Dial believed he was in danger when he fired.

Bodycam footage shows Dial and his partner pull up next to Irizarry’s parked car before Dial exits his cruiser and begins shouting and the alleged victim. Seconds later he starts firing at Irizarry inside his car. 

Dial’s partner is then heard saying, ‘Mark, hold on. Mark, stop,’ before instructing him to move the police cruiser. 

The cops then pull Irizarry’s body out of his car and load him into the backseat of a cruiser, with Dial then driving to a hospital.  

District Attorney Larry Krasner said the footage is ‘hard to watch, and Irizarry’s family chose to watch it. 

‘There is always some level of trauma, especially for family members associated with watching something that is extremely violent… Regardless of the warnings, they wanted to see it, which we all understand, and we saw it.’

Police originally claimed Irizarry was ‘driving erratically’ before getting out of his car with a knife and lunging at officers. 

But Shaka Johnson, the lawyer representing Irizarry’s family, released surveillance footage from a nearby home to counter the police narrative at a press conference on August 23.

In the surveillance video, taken almost opposite the scene, Dial is heard yelling ‘I will f***ing shoot you,’ at Irizarry before opening fire at near point blank range through the driver’s side window.

He is then seen firing again through the windshield as he ran backward and circled around the car.

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Fleeing Bronx drug suspect dies when cop knocks him off scooter with cooler; sergeant suspended by NYPD

A scooter-riding suspect fleeing a Bronx buy-and-bust drug sting was killed when an NYPD sergeant smacked him with a cooler grabbed from a local family’s outing, sending the victim tumbling to his death, an eyewitness and police sources said Thursday.

NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran, an NYPD Bronx narcotics veteran who joined the force in 2010, was suspended without pay just hours after the lethal encounter, police said.

An eyewitness, a 25-year local resident, was with relatives when the clash began on Aqueduct Ave. near W. 190th St. about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Kingsbridge Heights.

The 30-year-old suspect, Eric Duprey, “was on the bike, moving north when the cops started chasing him,” said the 42-year-old witness, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Then he took a U-turn and was riding on the sidewalk… The cop then took my cooler, which was filled with soda cans, water bottles, and hit him.”

The victim’s wife Orlyanis Velez said police were providing her with no details of the deadly encounter.

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Kansas Highway Patrol to pay $500,000 after passenger killed in police chase in Topeka

The Kansas Highway Patrol will pay a half million dollars to the family of a woman who died in a 2021 police chase in Topeka. The settlement was approved Wednesday by the State Finance Council. According to the lawsuit, Trooper Justin Dobler was patrolling on March 6, 2021, when he allegedly saw a car with a cracked windshield. It looked similar to a white Ford Crown Victoria that was on a list of stolen vehicles. He attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the driver did not stop and a chase began. About 45 seconds into the pursuit, the lawsuit said Dobler identified the car as a Mercury Grand Marquis. Dobler provided dispatch information including the license plate number and was told a couple minutes later that the vehicle was not stolen. The vehicle allegedly was speeding up to 55 mph in a 35 mph zone. He twice attempted a “tactical vehicle intervention” to disable the car. The third attempt was successful and the car spun out and struck a utility pole. Passenger Anita Benz, 45, was killed. Her daughter filed a federal lawsuit in March. The lawsuit said the highway patrol found Dobler had violated the agency’s chase policy.

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FBI Arrests 10 Officers In ‘Wide Ranging’ Federal Corruption Case

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has filed charges against 10 present and former police officers from the California cities of Antioch and Pittsburg Thursday in a major federal corruption case.

“Today is a dark day in our city’s history, as people trusted to uphold the law, allegedly breached that trust and were arrested by the FBI,” Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a statement.

The charges range from cheating on training courses to serious violations of civil rights, Mercury News reported. The focus of the allegations is mainly on Antioch Police Department (APD), which has reportedly faced complaints about excessive force and a scandal involving racist text messages.

Three officers, two currently serving and one former, are accused of committing civil rights violations, per Mercury News. The charges alleged they planned violence against specific people, kept “trophies” of their actions and lied in official reports to cover up their deeds.

Text messages exchanged between the officers reportedly reveal conversations discussing violent plans and sharing pictures of the people they targeted. In one instance, officers discussed a plan for violence, Mercury News noted.

APD Officer Devon Wenger wrote, “We need to get into something tonight bro!! Lets go 3 nights in a row dog bite.”

Later that day, APD Officer Morteza Amiri texted Wenger pictures of an injured person they allegedly pulled out of a car and threw to the ground, Mercury News reported. 

Federal officials also charged Wenger and former APD Officer Daniel Harris with possession of and conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, according to Mercury News. Authorities charged former APD Officer Timothy Manly Williams with obstruction for allegedly interfering with an ongoing homicide and attempted murder investigation. 

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The family of a pregnant Colorado woman fatally shot by police sues the officers

The family of a pregnant Colorado woman fatally shot by an Arvada police officer after she was mistaken for a shoplifter said in a lawsuit that the killing was “patently unreasonable.”

The family of Destinee Thompson, 27, of Denver, is seeking unspecified damages in the suit filed against four officers and a sergeant Tuesday, two years after Thompson was killed as she tried to drive away from officers who had surrounded her car.

She was leaving an Arvada motel on Aug. 17, 2021, when several officers approached her, saying they were looking for a Latina who had brandished a knife as she was stealing a cart full of merchandise from a Target store, according to the suit, filed in District Court in Denver County.

The actual suspect, who also had stolen items from the store two days previously, had a chest tattoo, she was wearing a white tank top, and she allegedly had gone to the motel, the suit says.

Thompson, who was wearing a white tank top but did not have a chest tattoo, was leaving the motel to eat lunch as officers arrived, the document says.

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