Tag: police brutality

Man found dead nearly 6 hours after running from Fuquay-Varina police officer

Melvis Harris and her family are desperate for answers to her son’s death. She doesn’t understand how Bryan Harris, who she calls BJ, ended up dead.

“They wouldn’t let us come in here and see my child. My baby boy,” she said Thursday evening inside her Fuquay – Varina home

The 36-year-old father of three died six hours after an interaction with Fuquay-Varina Police. It all started shortly before midnight, on Wednesday. Officers said they attempted a traffic stop after Harris who was seen leaving a Citgo Gas Station pulled in front of a truck nearly causing an accident.

Police said Harris didn’t stop for officers until he made it to his parent’s home on Fayetteville Street, less than a mile away. His father Terry Harris said he was outside when Harris showed up. “He got out and he ran and police pulled up and run behind and he went and called for the canine,” Harris recalled.

Police said Harris jumped from an embankment behind his parents’ home. Officers called in Holly Springs K-9 to help search. The police chief, Brandon Medina said after an hour and a half they called off the search.”BJ laid out there he told me that he laid out there in the woods all night long to five o’clock this morning,” continued Terry Harris.

That’s when his parents said their son showed up on their doorsteps. An hour later he wasn’t breathing. “He just kept saying I’m hurting, I’m hurting. The time he took a sip of that cold water. He went out here, hit the floor and his eyes rolled back. And she started hollering and then crying. And she said Terry he ain’t breathing.”

The family said something happened to their son once he made it over the embankment and they believe officers were behind it. They walked us to the bottom of that embankment directly behind the house pointing out what they believe to be blood stains.

“It looked like they’ve been fighting and so my concern, my question would be did they beat my son and leave him for dead,” asked Terry Harris.

But the Fuquay-Varina Police Chief Brandon Medina who watched the body camera video denies those allegations.

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Police Officer Sparks Outrage, Investigation After Shooting Family’s Dog

The owners of a “lovable” 3-year-old dog named Dixie, who was fatally shot by a local police officer, opened up to Newsweek about the confusion and heartbreak their family is facing following the pet’s death.

The officer said he had no choice but to shoot the dog to “stop the threat” as he feared for his safety in the July 2 incident.

Tammie Kerns, 52, of Lorain, Ohio, and her 25-year-old daughter Mellenie told Newsweek in an interview over Facebook Messenger that their dog Dixie was “lovable, playful, sneaky, and mischievous” golden Labrador mix. The Kernses said they had to watch their beloved pet bleed to death on the sidewalk in front of their home on Sunday after Dixie was shot multiple times by a Lorain Police Department (LPD) officer.

Just a few months ago, a CBS poll showed that “large bipartisan majorities believe at least some policing changes are necessary”, including 61 percent of Democrats, 47 percent of independents, and 29 percent of Republicans, who all say that it should be a “high priority.” It’s a trend shown in polls by ABC News and Pew Research as well, dating back to 2020.

Tammie said Dixie and three other dogs rushed out the door when she was leaving the house that afternoon. As she was wrangling the pups with her daughter, a police officer pulled up in front of her house in the Northeast Ohio suburb.

Lorain police Lieutenant Jacob Morris told Newsweek in an email that the department’s office of professional standards is currently investigating the shooting.

At roughly 1 p.m. on July 2, LPD Officer Elliot Palmer was on patrol when he saw several large dogs roaming “at large” near a home on the corner of Eighth Street and Oberlin Avenue, according to the incident report provided to Newsweek by Morris.

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In Less than 48 Hours, 2 Cops in the Same Department Arrested for Sex Crimes

A disturbing pattern of sexual misconduct has come to light within the Placer County Sheriff’s Department, further reinforcing the already tainted image of America’s security force. A deputy was arrested on suspicion of forcible rape and sodomy of an intoxicated person, marking the second arrest for a sex crime in the department within a mere 48 hours.

This alarming pattern is not isolated to Placer County. According to the National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, sexual misconduct ranks as the second highest of all citizen complaints nationwide against police officers, at 9.3%. Shockingly, the study also found that the rate of sexual misconduct among officers was significantly higher than the rate among the general public.

The frequency of such incidents paints a deeply troubling picture of police behavior. It underscores the crucial need for greater accountability and transparency within these institutions that wield immense power over the citizenry.

Yet, despite these alarming incidents, the Placer County Sheriff’s Department seems dismissive of conducting a larger department-wide investigation. This nonchalant response to such grave misconduct is reflective of the systemic issues within law enforcement bodies, where such allegations often go unpunished or uninvestigated.

Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo reiterated in a statement, “We have no tolerance for law enforcement misconduct on or off duty.” However, these are not isolated incidents within the law enforcement community. They are part of a broader and more deeply ingrained issue, further highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive reforms.

The data and these recent incidents serve as a reminder of the scale of the problem within law enforcement. It underlines the need for a significant overhaul of the system to ensure those who are tasked with serving and protecting the community are held to the highest standards. Until then, trust in law enforcement will continue to erode.

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Cop Who Avoided Jail After Killing 6-Month-Old Baby, Arrested Again… For Biting a Toddler

Former Fairfield County Police Department officer Jason Michael Colley, who escaped jail time for the 2017 death of his infant daughter due to a lenient plea deal, has once again been charged with child abuse. After finally coming to terms with the fact that this man is a threat to children, a Maryland judge recently denied bail on these new charges.

As The Free Thought Project initially reported in 2018, Colley was indicted on charges of first-degree child abuse resulting in death, first-degree child abuse causing severe physical injury, and first-degree assault following the death of his 6-month-old daughter, Harper Colley. Authorities were alerted to the infant’s injuries on September 17, 2017, and she tragically succumbed several weeks later due to “abusive head trauma.”

Frederick County’s State’s Attorney Charles Smith explained that “Abusive head trauma can detail slamming a baby down on the ground, slamming a baby on maybe a table or against a wall, something along those lines.” Smith highlighted that in Harper’s case, there was “severe brain bleeding…with that, taken together with his conflicting statements, we felt we had proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Despite maintaining his innocence, Colley conceded to the state’s evidence and entered an Alford plea. Consequently, he was handed a reduced 50-year sentence, with all but eight years suspended. In August 2022, Frederick County Circuit Judge Julia A. Martz-Fisher permitted Colley to serve his time on private house arrest, plus five years of supervised release — a deal fit for an Epstein.

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Cops Use Phony Diagnoses To Explain Away Stun Gun Deaths

A small change in wording by medical examiners could have a big impact on how deaths in police custody are reported. In March, the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) said “excited delirium” should not be cited as a cause of death.

“Instead,” the organization said, “NAME endorses that the underlying cause, natural or unnatural (to include trauma), for the delirious state be determined (if possible) and used for death certification.” While that guidance is not legally binding, it further undermines the concept of excited delirium, which proponents describe as a state of wild agitation or distress, often resulting from illicit drug use, that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. NAME now joins the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association in not recognizing excited delirium as a cause of death.

The controversial term was popularized in the 1980s by a Miami forensic pathologist who was study sudden deaths of cocaine users, most of them in police custody. Nearly all “excited delirium” victims die after being tased or physically restrained by police. Since 2000, a 2017 Reuters investigation found, excited delirium had been linked to at least 276 deaths following the use of a stun gun, which suggested that electrocution, not excitement or agitation, was largely responsible.

The diagnosis has been used in other scenarios to clear police or other state actors. In 2019, three Aurora, Colorado, police officers accosted 23-year-old Elijah McClain as he was walking home from a convenience store and violently restrained him. McClain died after two paramedics diagnosed him with excited delirium and forcibly injected him with an overdose of ketamine, a powerful sedative. From January 2019 through September 2020, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office found, Aurora paramedics injected people with ketamine 22 times in response to what they perceived as excited delirium.

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Justice Department Finds ‘Deeply Disturbing’ and Illegal Policing in Minneapolis

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced today that a Justice Department investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) engaged in “deeply disturbing” and illegal policing that violated the constitutional rights of residents.

A report by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division concluded that the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) used unreasonable and excessive force, discriminated against black and Native American residents, and retaliated against reporters and citizens who recorded the police, violating their First Amendment rights.

The investigation was launched in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, and Garland said it uncovered the systemic problems that led to Floyd’s murder.

“George Floyd’s death had an irrevocable impact on his family, on the Minneapolis community, on our country, and on the world,” Garland said in a press conference. “The patterns and practices of conduct the Justice Department observed during our investigation are deeply disturbing. They erode the community’s trust in law enforcement. And they made what happened to George Floyd possible.”

The City of Minneapolis cooperated with the Justice Department, and the report notes that it has already taken several steps to reform its practices. City officials and the Justice Department have reached a tentative agreement to enter into a court-enforced settlement, known as a “consent decree,” to fix remaining issues.

Still, the report offers withering criticism of MPD’s use-of-force practices, finding that officers unreasonably and gratuitously used bodily force, Tasers, pepper spray, and firearms, including on minors and suspects who were compliant or handcuffed.

In one instance, an MPD officer tased a man who was filming him while a DOJ investigator was riding along in the squad car. The report also notes a 2017 incident where an officer fatally shot a woman who approached his squad car and “spooked” him. The woman had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in a nearby alley.

The report found MPD also routinely violated the First Amendment rights of people who criticized, protested, or recorded them, including credentialed media.

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Taxpayers Shell Out $45 Million After Man Paralyzed As Cops Slam Brakes in Police Van, Sending Him Flying

On June 19, 2022, Randy Cox was arrested for an alleged gun charge. Moments later, he would be paralyzed from the waist down — his treatment reminiscent of Freddie Gray, who was killed by police during a similar ride.

This week, the City of New Haven announced that the taxpayers of Connecticut will pay $45 million to settle a lawsuit with Cox.

News 8 reports that they spoke with the sister of Richard “Randy” Cox, who remains focused on getting Cox the care he needs. The money from the settlement will undoubtedly help.

“If a situation like this happens again, hopefully, others won’t stand around and watch,” LaToya Boomer said, quoting her brother.

“He appreciates the mayor and the police chief for keeping their word and holding everyone accountable,” Boomer said.

The accountability Boomer is referring to happened last November when the officers involved were charged.

In November, five New Haven police officers were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons — all misdemeanors. The officers were given a $25,000 bond. The officers involved are Officer Oscar Diaz, Sgt. Betsy Segui, Officer Ronald Pressley, Officer Jocelyn Lavandier, and Officer Luis Rivera.

Two of the officers involved were fired, while two others will learn their fate at a Board of Police Commissioners meeting later this month. A fifth officer retired following the incident.

“We need to be transparent and accountable. Period,” said New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson. “You cannot treat people the way that Mr. Cox was treated.”

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Texas police shoot dog after autocorrect sends them to wrong address

The Waco Police Department says it is “saddened” after its officers shot and killed a family pet when its officers responded to the wrong address.

On June 3, officers were called to respond to a burglary in progress. According to police, the 9-1-1 caller said that someone had kicked their door in and in the background the dispatcher could hear a male’s voice saying, “I’m not trying to hurt you.”

The call then disconnected.

Dispatchers entered the address into the system for the 3200 block of N. 20th Street A. The police department says the dispatch system autocorrected the address to the 3200 block of N. 20th Street, without the A, which is a different street nearby.

Police responded to the address “in good faith,” according to Waco PD.

When officers arrived they saw the back door was open, as the 9-1-1 caller had indicated.

As officers entered the apartment and announced their presence multiple dogs came running at the officers.

Waco Police say one of the dogs lunged at an officer twice and that one of the officers fired at the dog, hitting him.

The dog, Finn, was taken to an emergency medical clinic where he died.

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Why prosecutors in WA are recharging a man police nearly beat to death

Moses Lake police nearly beat Joseph Zamora to death. Then he was charged with and convicted of assaulting an officer. He served a full prison term. Then Grant County prosecutors asked for the case to be dismissed. Then the state Supreme Court threw out Zamora’s convictions, because the prosecutor used racial bias during the trial.

It’s been more than six years since the beating that left Zamora in a medically induced coma in the ICU for a month, but Grant County prosecutors are reprosecuting him for the same alleged crimes. Even though Zamora already served a full prison sentence. Even though the same prosecutors previously asked to have the case dismissed.

The lingering question: Why? Why recharge a man when even if he is convicted, he wouldn’t serve any more time? Why recharge a man when the prosecutor previously wrote, “it is no longer in the interests of justice for the State to pursue this case?”

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Innocent Homeowner Calls 911 to Report Burglary, Cops Show Up and Execute Him

In an appalling incident that shatters the illusion of safety ostensibly provided by America’s mandatory security force, a man in Mantua, found himself fatally shot by the very people he called for help. Charles Sharp III, 49, dialed 911 in the early morning of Sept. 14, 2021, to report a couple of intruders lurking in his backyard. The emergency response he anticipated took a deadly turn when one of the officers arriving at the scene shot him dead — within seconds. This disturbing sequence of events serves as a potent reminder of the inherent risk involved in reaching out to law enforcement agencies, even in moments of dire need.

Mantua Township Police Officer Salvatore Oldrati, who fired the fatal shots, now faces a manslaughter charge. A state grand jury handed the indictment on Tuesday, which was publicized the following night. If found guilty, Oldrati could face up to 10 years behind bars. But for Sharp’s family, this potential sentencing offers little consolation for their unexpected loss.

Sharp had reported seeing two burglars in his yard, one of whom appeared to be armed. Two officers, Officer Oldrati and Cpl. Robert Layton arrived on the scene in separate vehicles. Sharp, still on the line with the 911 dispatcher, was in his front yard when the officers pulled up.

Officer Oldrati arrived shortly after Layton. As he stepped out of his vehicle, Layton shouted, “He’s got a handgun on him, right there,” according to a statement from the attorney general’s office. Oldrati reacted by opening fire on Sharp, hitting him multiple times. Despite being rushed to the hospital, Sharp succumbed to his injuries.

While a replica .45-caliber firearm was recovered near Sharp, Layton did not discharge his service weapon. Moreover, investigators found that Oldrati did not issue any verbal warning or command before filling the innocent man with taxpayer-funded lead.

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