Tag: police state

He Caught a Burglar in the Act. But When Police Came, He Says They Tased Him Instead of the Intruder.

Damien Smith says he came home one night in October 2021 to find an intruder burglarizing his house. When the police arrived, they tased him instead of the intruder. Smith, who is black, has now filed a lawsuit against the officers, claiming that they racially profiled him and violated his civil rights.

The officers “racially profiled Mr. Smith, and acted pursuant to LAPD policies and practices that allow and encourage officers to over-react to black people, whom they wrongly assume to be criminals,” the 24-page suit argues.

Smith is an actor and filmmaker known for his appearances in The Purge and Snowfall. Smith had even been working on a documentary about police brutality when he had his own police encounter on October 13, 2021. According to the suit, when he entered his house around 12:30 a.m., he caught an intruder in the process of burglarizing his home. The intruder remained in the apartment while Smith called 911.

LAPD officers arrived around 1:30 a.m. and entered through the back door of Smith’s apartment. According to the lawsuit, police “unholstered their taser guns, pointed them toward Mr. Smith, and screamed at Mr. Smith: ‘Get on the ground!'” Smith protested saying, “I live here, I called 911!” LAPD officers subsequently tased Smith, striking him in the chest and back. According to a Los Angeles Times interview with Smith, when police tased him, the intruder used the opportunity to escape.

Several LAPD officers then handcuffed Smith and walked him out to a patrol car. Outside, a small crowd of Smith’s neighbors had gathered, and several told the officers that they “had arrested the wrong person” and that Smith “lived there.” Still, the officers placed Smith in the patrol car and closed the door.

“The physical pain, emotional distress and embarrassment that Mr. Smith endured at the hands of Defendant Doe Officer Guillen and other Defendant Doe LAPD officers remains to this day,” the complaint states. “This incident and injury occurred only because Defendant Doe Officer Guillen and other individual and Doe defendant LAPD officers…failed to carefully and thoroughly investigate the facts leading to Mr. Smith’s 911 call.”

The lawsuit alleges that the officers’ actions violated Smith’s First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment rights and asks for damages to cover medical expenses and attorney’s fees, as well as special damages for the emotional suffering the ordeal inflicted on Smith.

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“Once You Start Censoring, You’re On Your Way To Dystopia And Totalitarianism”, RFK Jr. Wrecks House Committee

In a hearing marred by contentious interruptions and attempts by House Democrats to remove him as a witness, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CHD chairman on leave from Children’s Health Defense (CHD) testified before a U.S. House hearing organized by Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The subcommittee, operating within the House Judiciary Committee, said today’s hearing was intended to “examine the federal government’s role in censoring Americans,” “Big Tech’s collusion with out-of-control government agencies to silence speech” and the ongoing Missouri v. Biden lawsuit alleging government censorship.

Other witnesses who testified today included D. John Sauer, special assistant attorney general for Louisiana, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the Missouri v. Biden case, Breitbart journalist Emma-Jo Morris, who in 2020 first revealed the now-infamous “Hunter Biden laptop story,” and Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Government censorship and alleged First Amendment violations on the part of the federal government featured prominently in today’s hearing. “We need to be able to talk,” Kennedy told the committee. “And, the First Amendment was not written for easy speech. It was written for the speech that nobody likes you for.”

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Dozens of Armed IRS Agents In Tactical Gear Raid Florida Business

Dozens of armed IRS agents recently raided a Florida business, with witnesses telling a local news outlet that they were stunned by the show of force by the tax agency.

At least 25 to 30 IRS agents in tactical gear executed a search warrant at a business in Stuart, Florida, last week, according to Fox 29.

“It was like a scene from a movie,” an unnamed witness told the outlet. “They had the big gear, tactical gear because they probably didn’t know what they were walking into.”

An IRS spokesperson confirmed to The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the agents were from the IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) unit, a division whose agents investigate crimes like fraud and tax evasion.

The agents, who are authorized to carry guns as their work can be dangerous, were at the location on “official business,” the spokesperson added.

The unnamed witness told Fox 29 that it appeared that the agents were removing evidence from the business in bags and boxes.

While details remain scant on the raid, the show of force by IRS agents was noteworthy as it recalled Republican criticism of a funding boost to the agency amid concerns that it would be used to hire more tax enforcers who would target ordinary Americans.

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New York Republicans want to ban cannabis use in public

Republicans in the state Legislature are calling for a ban on smoking and consuming cannabis in public places in New York as the legal marketplace is taking hold. 

The measure, backed by state Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Michael Novakhov, would allow local governments to put local laws in place to ban the public consuming of marijuana. 

“State residents, including children, are now regularly assailed with the pungent odor of marijuana on public sidewalks, in parking lots and other public spaces,” Borrello said. “Many New Yorkers don’t want to be exposed to either the effects of marijuana smoke or its smell and don’t want their children subjected to it.”

New York first legalized cannabis in 2021, though the marketplace for legal retail sales has been slow to build. Lawmakers who supported legalization have framed it around the need to reverse the enforcement of previously harsh marijuana laws that were previously in place. 

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year moved to address the sale of cannabis without a license through civil fines and the potential closure of businesses. 

Regulators are also trying to encourage further legal cannabis sales, including allowing sales at public events.

Republicans want fines of up to $125 for consuming marijuana in a public space. The Clean Air Act, as well as local bans on smoking, already place limits on marijuana smoking in public. 

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Former Detroit police commissioner admitted to paying $10 for sexual favors, officers said

Former Detroit Police Commissioner Bryan Ferguson admitted to officers that he had paid a prostitute $10 in exchange for sexual favors in Detroit on July 12, according to a citation obtained by the Detroit Free Press.

“Yes, I gave her $10 dollars for it,” the citation says Ferguson told undercover narcotics officers from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office that caught him parked in his car in Detroit that morning engaging in a sex act with the prostitute.

“I’m sorry, I know I was wrong.”

That’s not what Ferguson said to the public. He previously denied the allegations, characterized them as a “big misunderstanding,” and said the woman was unknown to him and that she had attempted to enter his vehicle.

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Hundreds of state troopers may have falsified thousands of traffic tickets, audit finds

Connecticut state police troopers may have falsified thousands of traffic tickets.

WFSB reports a recent audit found nearly 26,000 fake tickets.

According to an internal investigation, troopers falsified tickets for their own personal benefit as those who appear productive are often eligible for federally funded overtime.

And lawmakers are now demanding answers.

Governor Ned Lamont said those who intentionally wrote bogus tickets should be let go, including management.

The audit also reportedly found that troopers not only falsified thousands of tickets but more than 32,000 were inaccurate.

“Those people should go, and I think their management should take a look at themselves as well,” Lamont said.

Ken Barone with the Public Policy Institute at the University of Connecticut pushed for the audit.

According to Barone, this has raised concerns about skewing racial profiling data.

“The records that should have been likely reported to the system were not,” Barone said.

Officials said it’s possible hundreds of state troopers were involved in falsifying tickets.

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Japan To Deploy Pre-Crime Style “Behavior Detection” Technology

The Japan National Police Agency has decided to adopt AI-enhanced pre-crime surveillance cameras to bolster the security measures surrounding VIPs.

This step comes in response to the commemoration of the shocking assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the rising threats posed by what the government called “lone offenders.”

The use of AI in law enforcement is becoming commonplace globally. A 2019 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace revealed that 52 out of the 176 nations surveyed were incorporating AI tools into their policing strategies, Nikkei Asia reported.

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Lawmakers Slip Censorship Provisions Into Pentagon Spending Bill

The biennial Pentagon budget reauthorization usually presents ample opportunities for wasteful spending, as lawmakers slip provisions into routine legislation that compels the government to purchase unnecessary and overpriced military equipment.

But this year, lawmakers have also quietly pushed changes to the National Defense Authorization Act that aim to silence military personnel and purge the internet of certain information.

One particularly alarming provision comes from Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, which prohibits the Department of Defense from engaging with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a civil rights group advocating for the separation of church and state.

MRFF represents service members of all religions and denominations, helping them report instances of inappropriate proselytizing and the presence of religious symbols in official military affairs. The organization has previously succeeded in having crusader imagery removed from a Marine squadron and a Bible taken down from display at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming.

“It is unprecedented in American history that Congress has ever tried to basically extinguish or assassinate a civil rights organization,” said Mikey Weinstein, an attorney, and former Air Force officer who founded the group in 2005.

Under this provision, not only is Defense Department staff prohibited from communicating with MRFF or Weinstein, but the military is also barred from taking any action in response to “any claim, objection, or protest made by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation without the authority of the Secretary of Defense.”

In an interview, Weinstein raised concerns about the impact on a current case involving a Jewish cadet or midshipman at a major military academy, questioning where they would turn for assistance. He emphasized that filing a grievance or simply contacting MRFF by phone could potentially result in a court-martial.

Weinstein believes that Turner holds a grudge against MRFF ever since the organization petitioned for the removal of a Bible from Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which is located in Turner’s Ohio district. The amendment was added to the NDAA without any debate and received unanimous consent from the committee, indicating support from House Democrats as well.

The bill passed the House last Friday and now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers aim to exploit this must-pass legislation to advance another broad restriction on speech.

Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, are preparing to introduce an amendment to the NDAA that would grant lawmakers extraordinary powers to censor a wide range of information on the internet.

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