Tag: police shootings

State retaliates against private investigator for criticizing police shooting

A state has retaliated against a private investigator for criticizing a police shooting that left two people dead by denying him a license, and now he’s taking his protest to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Institute for Justice explained it is Joshua Gray, of Massachusetts, whose comments about a fatal police action drew the reaction from state officials in the Maine Department of Public Safety, who admitted the rejected his application for a license because of his criticism of the department’s employees.

“When the government retaliates against people because of their speech, it violates the First Amendment. That’s true whether the government is imposing a fine, withholding a parade permit, or denying an occupational license,” explained IJ Senior Attorney Paul Sherman.

The IJ explained, “Gray’s problems with the department began after he criticized the conduct of Maine police in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Kadhar Bailey and 18-year-old Amber Fagre in February of 2017. Believing that the shooting could have been avoided had it not been for police recklessness, Gray expressed his criticisms on his Facebook page. But when Gray later applied for a license as a professional investigator in Maine, the Department denied Gray’s application on the ground that his online criticism contained factual errors, and therefore he lacked the ‘good moral character’ required for licensure.”

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Disturbing Video Shows Cop Walk Up to Family, Shoot Their Happy Puppy as it Wagged His Tail

An utterly disturbing and outright infuriating video was released this week as part of a family’s lawsuit against the now-infamous Loveland police department. In the video, we see the cowardice of officer Matthew Grashorn on display as he shoots a 14-month old puppy in the face and body as it happily walked up to greet him.

The family is now suing after their complaints to the department fell on deaf ears and they were essentially ignored for over two years. The shooting took place on June 29, 2019 and the family has been seeking justice for their mixed boxer puppy “Herkimer” ever since.

On that fateful day, Wendy Love and Jay Hamm were running their firewood delivery company when they pulled over in a vacant parking lot to repair a box they use for the firewood. The owner of the building saw them on security cameras and thought they may be trying to use his dumpster, so he called 911 to have cops investigate.

When police asked the building owner if the family was near or had been near the dumpster, the business owner said, “no,” according to the lawsuit. No crimes had been committed yet the officer responded as if he had arrived to a hostage situation.

“It was an ambush, and Grashorn knew it. He didn’t care,” the suit says. “He suspected that they were poor and wanted to surprise them, to see if they were up to anything he might be able to get an arrest for.”

As Grashorn walked up to the family, he never announced himself but Herkimer, who, according to the suit is a happy dog who had never bitten anyone, trotted up to greet the officer. Unfortunately, however, Grashorn is a coward and instead of petting the dog, Grashorn shot it.

As Wendy approaches the officer crying in horror, Grashorn refuses to let her near her dog to help him.

During this, Hamm yelled at Grashorn, asking him why he had shot a “clearly friendly dog,” according to the suit. Grashorn responded that he had “no way of knowing” whether Herkimer was friendly, that he “wasn’t in the business to get bit” and he had no interest in “waiting to find out” if the dog was friendly.

In other words, he’s a coward who shoots first and asks questions later.

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Siege at Ruby Ridge: The Forgotten History of the ATF Shootout That Started a Militia Movement

The Siege at Ruby Ridge is often considered a pivotal date in American history. The shootout between Randy Weaver and his family and federal agents on August 21, 1992, is one that kicked off the Constitutional Militia Movement and left America with a deep distrust of its leadership – in particular then-President George H.W. Bush and eventual President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno.

The short version is this: Randy Weaver and his wife Vicki moved with their four kids to the Idaho Panhandle, near the Canadian border, to escape what they thought was an increasingly corrupt world. The Weavers held racial separatist beliefs, but were not involved in any violent activity or rhetoric. They were peaceful Christians who simply wanted to be left alone.

Specifically for his beliefs, Randy Weaver was targeted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in an entrapping “sting” operation designed to gain his cooperation as a snitch. When he refused to become a federal informant, he was charged with illegally selling firearms. Due to a miscommunication about his court date, the Marshal Service was brought in, who laid siege to his house and shot and killed his wife and 14-year-old son.

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The shot that was NOT heard ‘round the World

More than seven months have passed since an unarmed protester named Ashli Babbitt was shot dead inside the US Capitol while attempting to climb through an opening in a glass door.

Seven months after her death, her killer – a police officer who apparently shot her without warning, and certainly without having made any effort to stop her short of putting a fatal bullet through her chest – has never been publicly identified, let alone charged or disciplined.

During those same seven months – during which every self-respecting liberal demanded a criminal penalty for the policeman who killed George Floyd – Ashli Babbitt, the victim of an equally questionable police killing, has been the target of an orgy of media character assassination.

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Cop Opens Door to Porta-Potty Immediately Kills Unarmed Man with His Hands Up

Harrowing video has been released this week showing the execution of an unarmed man, sitting down inside of a portable toilet. Daverion Deauntre Kinard was gunned down by Fontana officer Johnny Tutiavake on Feb 13 — the day before his 29th birthday.

Illustrating the serious nature of the shooting is the fact that before the family even filed a lawsuit, the city offered up a million dollar payment for Kinard’s death. But after seeing the body camera footage and knowing that Kinard spent his last moments alive putting his hands up and surrendering to the police before he was executed, $1 million doesn’t even come close to the damages his family should seek.

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Cop Ruled Justified Despite Video of Him Shooting Innocent Child While Killing Suspect

Rylan Wilder was a 15-year-old boy who made history in 2019 by becoming the youngest person to have ever played at the music festival Riot Fest in Chicago’s Douglas Park. He is the lead guitarist and vocalist for his band, Monarchy Over Monday. Unfortunately, however, Wilder may never be able to play music again after he was shot twice by police as they pursued and killed a robbery suspect, Christopher Willis.

Now, nearly two years after the shooting, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office has announced that the officer who started wildly firing into the occupied music school, Des Plaines Police Officer James Armstrong, will not face charges, and Wilder’s bullet holes were ruled “justified.”

“I don’t want to say they ruined my life, but they took away a huge part of it that I loved and they just don’t say anything,” Wilder told WGN. His family pointed out that police never even offered so much as an apology for shooting him.

“Will I ever be able to play guitar again?” was Wilder’s first question after coming out of surgery. According to his doctors, the answer to that question is unknown as he has undergone 14 surgeries since that day on his arm and abdomen. He has yet to regain control of his arm. Wilder told reporters that police are acting as if they never shot him.

Two years later and the government has still refused to take responsibility for the incident.

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New Ashli Babbitt Docs Show Fingerprints Sent To D.C. Govt Official, Email Returned With Chinese Characters.

Documentation just obtained by Judicial Watch confirm that a request to cremate Ashli Babbitt’s body was submitted by the Chief Medical Examiner only two days after having obtained custody of the body, and further reveal that Babbitt’s fingerprints, emailed to an alleged government worker on January 6, caused the return of Microsoft “undeliverable” messages in Chinese characters.

The 1160 pages of documentation contain numerous revelations about the actions of government officials following the homicide shooting of unarmed Air Force veteran Babbitt by an unidentified law enforcement officer at the Capitol on January 6. The documents come from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in Washington, D.C., and prove that OCME submitted a request to obtain permission to cremate Ashli Babbitt just two days after having custody of the body, an application labeled “completed successfully” on January 8. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz, based on the “high profile nature” of Babbitt’s case, further requested the creation of a limited access, secure electronic file for the records concerning Babbitt.

As early as January 6 itself, an OCME official was emailing Babbitt’s fingerprints, which were forwarded to someone with the result that “undeliverable” messages apparently in Chinese characters were returned.

The unarmed Babbitt had been attempting to climb into the Capitol through a “broken interior window. . .outside the Speaker’s Lobby off the House Floor” at the time of the shooting. According to videos from the same time, several law enforcement officers are reportedly able to be seen standing amidst the same crowd of protestors in which Babbitt was.

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Cop Charged After Mistaking Innocent Dad for Criminal, Entering His Backyard and Executing Him

As frequent readers of the Free Thought Project understand, police officers mistake innocent individuals for criminals all the time. Often times, their fear gets the best of them and these folks who have committed no crime and harmed no one, are beaten or arrested only to be exonerated down the road. One man in Idaho Falls, however, will not have a chance to be exonerated because the police who mistook him for a suspect — executed him.

On February 8, 2021, Elias Aurelio Cerdas, a 26-year-old officer who graduated from training less than a year before the shooting, entered the backyard of Joseph “Joe” Johnson, a father of four, mistook him for a criminal, and executed him.

For nearly six month, Cerdas remained on paid vacation without charges but all that changed this week and he has been indicted for manslaughter.

According to East Idaho News, Cerdas was not arrested after being charged but issued a summons for his arraignment at the Bonneville County Courthouse on Aug. 23.

According to police, shortly after midnight early that morning, a Bonneville County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to make a traffic stop at which point the vehicle came to a stop and the driver of the vehicle fled into a residential neighborhood. The deputy involved in the pursuit told fellow officers they were looking for a man in a black shirt.

During the search, police identified the man and found that he had multiple warrants for his arrest including Felony Battery on an Officer, and two Failure to Appear Warrants with original charges of Resisting/Obstructing Arrest, and Providing False Information to Law Enforcement.

Police claim the suspect, Tanner Shoesmith, 22, had a history of violent altercations with law enforcement which appears to be a cover for the way they acted when they found and then killed Johnson.

According to police, the passenger in the vehicle that was originally pulled over never fled and stayed behind to talk to police. Police claim this passenger had received a message from the suspect, who — while on the run from the cops — took the time to message the passenger and send him his GPS coordinates.

According to police, these GPS coordinates — sent by the suspect who was running from cops, to the passenger he knew was still with the cops — showed him in the backyard of a residence on the corner of Tendoy Drive and Syringa Drive — Johnson’s backyard.

Police then surrounded this house and killed the father of four in his backyard after claiming he had on a black t-shirt and was holding a gun.

“Sometimes everyone does what they think is right and tragedies happen,” the chief said at the time.

After killing the innocent man, a brief investigation revealed that he was not the suspect and, in fact, lived in the home and had committed no crime. Moments later, down the road, a deputy reported seeing a man running and the suspect was located in the back yard of a house, hiding in a shed. The suspect, who police claim has a history of violent interactions with police, was taken into custody without incident.

Since that day, police have failed to release any more information in regard to the shooting.

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