Statists hate this meme…
Tag: police shootings
Inside One of America’s Deadliest Police Departments
At just 22 years old, Sean Monterrosa was shot and killed with a silenced assault rifle, fired from the back of an unmarked police car. That made him the 33rd person killed by the Vallejo, California, police department since 2000.
When police responded to reports of a looting at a local Walgreens in June 2020, Monterrosa was still in the parking lot. He got down on his knees and put his arms above his head, as unmarked police vehicles approached him.
But one of the officers on the scene, Det. Jarrett Tonn, says he mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s waistband for a gun. He fired five rounds from the back seat of the vehicle he was in, one of which hit Monterrosa in the back of his head.
“It looked like combat footage from Afghanistan,” said John Coyle, an attorney representing the Monterrosa family, referring to body camera footage of the incident.
The Vallejo Police Department, which serves a city of about 125,000 in northern California, has killed more people per arrest than 97% of departments, according to the city’s Police Scorecard, which compares the department to those that serve a similar population size. And at its peak, the Vallejo PD’s rate of officer-involved shootings that resulted in deaths was about 38 times the national rate, according to an analysis from local news site KQED. The frequent killings have caused members of the community to lose faith in the department and even question whether they want to call the cops at all.
Family Receives $8 Million After Innocent Dad Executed On Video as He Begged for His Life
As TFTP has reported extensively, Daniel Shaver was the unarmed victim of an officer-involved murder whereby a guest at the hotel called 911 to report seeing a man with a gun. It turns out the gun was no gun at all. However, when a coward Mesa cop “perceived” Daniel Shaver with a gun, this gave him justification for murdering the unarmed father of two.
This execution of an unarmed innocent father was captured on video and despite all the facts of the situation, no one was ever held accountable — until now. This week, the taxpayers of Mesa, Arizona were informed that they would be paying out $8 million to Shaver’s family — Laney Sweet and their two children — not the cop who killed him.
A statement was released by the legal team of Sweet and Shaver’s children after the settlement was reached and it is damning (emphasis ours):
“Daniel Shaver lived, and will be remembered, as a wonderful, compassionate husband and father. His spirit endowed and embedded light and love to those around him throughout his much-too-short life. While on this earth he provided security, prosperity and stability to his wife and children. He brought a pragmatic, caring perspective to every problem he approached, and had a good-willed nature and charm.
His beloved widow and children miss him every hour of every day. They will never forget Daniel’s loving legacy, nor take for granted the cherished memories of the beautiful time they spent with him. No words can do justice to a life unjustly cut short, and no amount of money can undo the transgressions that cruelly removed Daniel from his family’s lives forever.
While this settlement helps Daniel’s widow and children with the financial stability to move forward, it does not erase the cruelty of his killing, or the malicious campaign by the Mesa Police Department—orchestrated and implemented by their attorneys for over 6 years of needless, malevolent scorched-earth litigation. This settlement does nothing to cure the blatant lack of accountability by all involved since the night of Daniel’s death, which stands as an irredeemable blight on the criminal justice system.
The failure and injustice of Daniel Shaver’s killing and the resulting sham criminal trial, which made a mockery of the notion of Justice predictably ended in no conviction and to this day casts an ugly shadow over this settlement. As this chapter closes, we call upon the Department of Justice to swiftly proceed with its ongoing investigation and announce the federal criminal charges of officers involved, and bring justice where the state of Arizona has failed.”
As we reported at the time, when Brailsford and his partner arrived, they began a standoff with Shaver for no reason and ordered the innocent father to crawl toward them on the hotel floor. Shaver was begging for his life, crying, crawling on his belly, then on his hands and knees. He was eventually shot to death by Brailsford when Shaver reached back to pull up his shorts which were falling down from the crawling.
As Shaver pulled up his shorts, Brailsford perceived that Shaver was reaching for a non-existent gun thereby justifying the brutal execution of an innocent father.
Mesa PD fired Brailsford — not for murdering Shaver — but upon learning the inside of his AR15’s dust cover had the words “You’re F**ked” engraved, a violation of police department policy.
Subsequently, Brailsford was charged with Shaver’s murder but a jury of his peers found him “not guilty” and acquitted him of all charges. Even with undeniable footage, the Mesa cop killed an unarmed man who was begging for his life, the citizens on Brailsford’s jury were seemingly conditioned to give the officer a pass because he perceived there was a gun. In 2019, Brailsford was rehired before immediately retiring and received a pension of $31,000 a year for life!
Since Brailsford is still in his 20’s, if he lives to be 65 he will have been paid over 1 million dollars for killing Shaver, an action which supposedly now has caused Brailsford to be disabled according to the terms of his retirement — thus the angry sentiment in the statement above.
Cop Pulls Gun at High School, ‘Accidentally’ Shoots an Innocent Kid and is NOT Arrested or Even Fired
Imagine for a moment that you were carrying a pistol in a public space, and all of the sudden, you accidentally squeeze off a round. Now, imagine if this place was a school.
There are two possible scenarios that would take place; the first one is that police return fire and you are killed. The second, less lethal result would be your inevitable arrest and charges of public endangerment, unlawful discharge, illegal use of a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorism, or a myriad of other infractions associated with sending a deadly projectile hurling through a space occupied by innocent children. You would immediately be facing fines, jail time, probation, and firearms restrictions.
However, if you are a government agent who’s trusted with carrying a deadly weapon into places others cannot, you needn’t worry about any of those repercussions. The scenario below just so happens to prove it.
Vermillion County Deputy Tim DisPennett, identified as a 19-year veteran of the department, was giving instruction to vocational students at South Vermillion High School when he pulled his gun and “accidentally” shot a student.
The class was geared at teaching students how to be police officers, and participants in the drill were acting out a scenario with a “bad guy,” according to WTHI.
Hopefully, none of the students being taught by Deputy DisPennett were paying attention to his instruction — as his methods are clearly flawed.
“This morning at South Vermillion High School, there was an isolated incident in one of our vocational classrooms. The incident was an accidental discharge of a firearm by a law enforcement officer during a drill. One student was injured without life-threatening injuries and has been taken to the hospital. Only SVHS is currently on lockdown, due to the abundance of emergency personnel in the building,” read a statement sent out to parents after the shooting.
Luckily the student who was shot was not severely injured and will be okay. As for the deputy, he has not been arrested, nor fired, and has only been placed on paid leave. Detectives with the department are now investigating the shooting.
Aside from the above-the-law treatment of this officer, the excuse for the weapon accidentally discharging is nothing short of asinine.
Guns do not fire themselves.
Cop Gets Wrist Slap for Shooting Surrendering Unarmed Man in the Head, Executing Him
In December 2017, community members began searching for answers after an unarmed man was shot and killed by a police officer in an unmarked car who claimed that he opened fire because he had his hand in his pocket. But their victim, 25-year-old Dennis Plowden Jr. was unarmed and was not a threat when cops opened fire on him just six seconds after they stopped the vehicle.
For years, Plowden’s family sought justice and this month, they found out that justice will not come. Disgraced officer Eric Ruch Jr. — who put a bullet in Plowden’s head that night — was sentenced to just 11 months in jail.
Ruch, 34, was charged in 2020 and convicted in September 2022 of voluntary manslaughter and a weapons charge. The voluntary manslaughter charge alone was supposed to come with a 20-year sentence. However, Ruch, according to the court, “demonstrated good behavior” since he murdered Plowden, so he will not have to spend years in prison for his crimes.
“Nothing he is going to do in prison is going to make him a better person,” Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott said.
Good Samaritan Killed by Violent Cop While Rendering Aid to Shooting Victim
Kenneth Vineyard, 48, is the type of man who would run up to a complete stranger who lay bleeding on the ground and do anything he could to help him. In fact, that is exactly what he did on Sunday when a shooting unfolded in a Walmart parking lot. Unfortunately for Vineyard, however, this would be his last act of kindness thanks to Pennsylvania’s finest — who killed him for it.
Vineyard’s family is now demanding justice after an officer with the Center Township Police Department walked up to Vineyard as he helped a complete stranger and killed him.
“This appears to be another instance of senseless police violence,” said attorney Joel Sansone, according to KDKA.
According to police, Vineyard was at the Monaca Walmart with his fiancé on Sunday afternoon when gunfire erupted in the parking lot. Vineyard was not involved in the shooting. Police said Rashaun Smith, 20, was shot in the abdomen by Yeshua Bratcher, 23, and Vineyard simply ran up to Smith and began rendering aid.
“As the victim of that shooting lay bleeding, a Good Samaritan named Kenneth Vineyard rushed to the victim to render aid,” said Sansone.
Vineyard stopped Smith’s bleeding until paramedics arrived. When paramedics began helping Smith, Vineyard backed away and let them work. That’s when a man in plainclothes — who was a Center Township police officer — approached Vineyard and began barking orders.
Vineyard told the officer that he had just helped the shooting victim and was trying to make his way back to his fiancé. The officer couldn’t have cared less, however, and violently attacked Vineyard, according to Sansone. The officer reportedly shoved Vineyard to the pavement so hard that it killed him.
“The unidentified man insisted Mr. Vineyard step away and violently pushed Mr. Vineyard to the ground where he struck his head on the pavement,” Sansone said.
According to Sansone, Vineyard’s fiancé began chest compressions immediately while the first responders on the scene jumped in to help as well but he had no pulse. Vineyard was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Sansone says he has video of the officer shoving Vineyard as well as witness statements that corroborate his claims. “We want the name of the individual who caused this death and we intend to sue him and possibly others,” said Sansone.
“This officer should be immediately suspended pending the outcome of this investigation if the facts are as I’ve been told. He should be arrested and charged with manslaughter at the very least,” he added.
Although state police claim to be investigating the attack, the officer involved has yet to even be interviewed. Yeshua Bratcher, however, has been found, arrested, and charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and a firearms violation.
Police Snipers Respond to Call for Help, Kill Man from Outside His Home as He Sat Alone in His Bedroom
As frequent readers of the Free Thought Project understand, calling police for help with a family member suffering from a mental illness, can be a dangerous decision. All too often, officers, who are trained to kill, show up to calls in which people need help, not bullets. Unfortunately, as was the case with Desman LaDuke, 22, he received the latter.
LaDuke’s family is now demanding justice and answers after police showed up last month during a call for help and executed LaDuke from outside the home as he sat alone in his bedroom.
According to Kentucky State Police, Nicholasville police received a call from LaDuke’s family notifying them that LaDuke was suicidal and needed help. A SWAT team and a crisis negotiation team responded to the scene but it appears SWAT was in control.
Police claim that after a two-hour-long standoff, they “confronted an armed individual” which resulted in the loss of life. According to the family, however, no such confrontation ever happened and a police sniper shot LaDuke in the chest from outside his home as he sat alone in his room, posing a threat to no one.
The family is now speaking out and telling the media that the original police claims are false.
“There has been very limited information released regarding the circumstances of Saturday. Much of what has been said is false. And the police have done nothing to correct it. Desman was alone in his home and inside his bedroom when he was shot, through the bedroom window, by a police officer positioned outside the home. Any suggestion that officers made entry into Desman’s home, were threatened [sic] inside the home by Desman, and shot Desman from inside the home, are false,” a letter from the family states.
According to the letter, LaDuke was struggling “with the desire to live” on October 22, and the family called the police to help him but police instead responded by ”sending the SWAT/ERT unit.”
When the family asked to go inside to talk to LaDuke during the standoff, police refused to allow them in, escalating to deadly force instead.
America’s Death Squads: When Police Become Judge, Jury and Executioner
“You know, when police start becoming their own executioners, where’s it gonna end? Pretty soon, you’ll start executing people for jaywalking, and executing people for traffic violations. Then you end up executing your neighbor ‘cause his dog pisses on your lawn.”—“Dirty Harry” Callahan, Magnum Force
When I say that warrior cops—hyped up on their own authority and the power of the badge—have not made America any safer or freer, I am not disrespecting any of the fine, decent, lawful police officers who take seriously their oath of office to serve and protect their fellow citizens, uphold the Constitution, and maintain the peace.
My concern rests with the cops who feel empowered to act as judge, jury and executioner.
These death squads believe they can kill, shoot, taser, abuse and steal from American citizens in the so-called name of law and order.
Just recently, in fact, a rookie cop opened fire on the occupants of a parked car in a McDonald’s parking lot on a Sunday night in San Antonio, Texas.
The driver, 17-year-old Erik Cantu and his girlfriend, were eating burgers inside the car when the police officer—suspecting the car might have been one that fled an attempted traffic stop the night before—abruptly opened the driver side door, ordered the teenager to get out, and when he did not comply, shot ten times at the car, hitting Cantu multiple times.
Mind you, this wasn’t a life-or-death situation.
It was two teenagers eating burgers in a parking lot, and a cop fresh out of the police academy taking justice into his own hands.
This wasn’t an isolated incident, either.
In Hugo, Oklahoma, plain clothes police officers opened fire on a pickup truck parked in front of a food bank, heedless of the damage such a hail of bullets—26 shots were fired—could have on those in the vicinity. Three of the four children inside the parked vehicle were shot: a 4-year-old girl was shot in the head and ended up with a bullet in the brain; a 5-year-old boy received a skull fracture; and a 1-year-old girl had deep cuts on her face from gunfire or shattered window glass. The reason for the use of such excessive force? Police were searching for a suspect in a weeks-old robbery of a pizza parlor that netted $400.
In Minnesota, a 4-year-old girl watched from the backseat of a car as cops shot and killed her mother’s boyfriend, Philando Castile, a school cafeteria supervisor, during a routine traffic stop merely because Castile disclosed that he had a gun in his possession, for which he had a lawful conceal-and-carry permit. That’s all it took for police to shoot Castile four times as he was reaching for his license and registration.
Innocent Unarmed Man Shakes Cop’s Hand and Seconds Later The Cop Murders Him
The tragic case of Jonathan Price shocked the country in October 2020 after the local hero was gunned down for reportedly helping a woman in need and breaking up a fight. Adding to the tragic nature of his death, before he was shot four times, body camera footage showed that he attempted to shake Officer Shaun Lucas’ hand multiple times.
Days after he killed Price, Lucas was charged with murder and his use of force was deemed “not reasonable” by the Texas Rangers. Despite the case against him, last week Lucas was acquitted on the charges. Now, a week after his acquittal, the footage from that fateful night has been released and it shows a travesty of justice.
“Unfortunately, the result that we saw from that jury simply doesn’t match what we see in the video,” attorney Lee Merritt said. “This video was literally a smoking gun piece of evidence in this case.”Merritt has now asked for the U.S. Department of Justice to review the cases for potential federal charges against Lucas.
According to the affidavit, Lucas was responding to a call of a “possible fight in progress” at a ‘Kwik Chek’ convenience store around 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2020. Texas Ranger Laura Simmons, who prepared Lucas’ arrest affidavit, noted that what happened next gave the department justification for charging the cop with murder.
The affidavit notes that when officer Lucas exited his patrol car, Price did not attempt to flee nor did he pose any threat whatsoever to the officer. Instead, Price greeted the officer. According to the video, Price “came very close to Officer Lucas asking ‘you doing good’ multiple times while extending his hand in a handshake gesture.”
“Stay right there, you understand me?” Lucas replied.
“You do this?” he asked pointing to broken glass on the ground.
Price apologized for the broken glass on the ground and said someone had tried to “wrap me up,” during the altercation in which Price reportedly tried to break up a dispute.
Very quickly, the situation took a turn for the worse.
Child Flees Alleged Kidnapper, Runs Toward Cops, Who Shoot Her to Death
On Monday morning, Anthony John Graziano got into an argument with his estranged wife, Tracy Martinez, 45, and reportedly killed her. After killing the woman, Anthony Graziano allegedly abducted the couple’s 15-year-old daughter, Savannah Graziano, and fled the scene. The next day, Savannah and Graziano would both be killed in a shootout with police.
According to the Graziano’s neighbors, the couple had been going through a divorce and Anthony had moved out a month or two before killing Martinez on Monday. After Graziano killed Martinez and fled with Savannah, an Amber Alert was issued and a manhunt ensued. Fontana Police Department told local news that Savannah was in the vehicle with her father when he murdered her mother.
On Tuesday, Graziano’s vehicle was spotted and a chase unfolded as police exchanged gunfire with Graziano. Throughout the chase, Graziano was “constantly shooting back at the deputies” through the vehicle’s rear window before the truck became disabled somehow and ran off the road.
Graziano and police engaged in a firefight on the side of the road with bullets flying back and forth from police cruisers to Graziano’s truck. As the firefight continued, Savannah was able to get out of the vehicle and run toward police.
As Savannah ran toward police — who later said they had no idea she was a child — police opened fire and killed the girl. San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus held a press conference on Tuesday, saying that Savannah was dressed in a tactical vest and a helmet.
It is possible and indeed likely that her father told her to put this equipment on and run to the police to save her life. Unfortunately, however, this did not work and when officers saw a person in tactical gear, they shot her.
Hellbound and Down 
You must be logged in to post a comment.