Wealthy Volunteer Tulsa Deputy Resigns After Questions Remain Regarding Killing Unarmed Man in Custody

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The No. 2 official in the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office resigned Monday after the release of a report that cited him as quashing criticisms of a volunteer deputy who would later fatally shoot a restrained man.


Sheriff Stanley Glanz didn't specify why Undersheriff Tim Albin stepped down but said departmental reorganization was necessary following the April 2 shooting by reserve deputy Robert Bates, who says he mistook his handgun for a stun gun.

                                 

"Given the gravity of the current situation and the need to go a different direction with our leadership and management he agrees with me that it is time for a change," Glanz wrote in a news release.
...
Albin was named in a 2009 internal investigation released Friday that showed deputies had expressed concerns about Bates' performance. Some claimed Albin gave Bates preferential treatment and intimidated those who raised concerns. The former coordinator of the reserve deputy program, Sgt. Randy Chapman, told the investigator that Albin chastised him after he questioned Bates' performance.
The sheriff's office denied the report's existence before it was released. On Friday, an attorney for the sheriff's office said no action was taken as a result of the report, but that the document's existence "demonstrates this office's willingness to investigate and review any allegations of policy violations."
"You need to stop messing with (Bates) because he does a lot of good for the County," Chapman is quoted in the memo saying Albin told him that. Chapman declined to talk about the memo when contacted last week by The Associated Press and also declined Monday after Albin's resignation.
...
44-year-old Eric Harris was shot while on the ground in custody after running from deputies following a sting operation. The 73-year-old Bates has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree manslaughter. Bates is white and Harris was black, but the victim's brother has said he doesn't believe race played a role in the shooting.
http://www.statesville.com/news/us/ap/tulsa-county-undersheriff-resigns-after-memo-fatal-shooting/article_1c93e0c0-2c9b-5d0e-bae6-52d47008cc8d.html

Georgia Sheriff Cites 'Training Exercises' As Reason He Shot, Critically Injured Real Estate Agent

A day after he was charged with reckless conduct in the shooting of a real estate agent, a Georgia sheriff called it a "tragic accident" and vowed to continue his law enforcement duties.

Meanwhile, a Georgia police standards group said it's opening an investigation into the case.

Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill shot Gwenevere McCord, 43, in the model home of a new subdivision near Lawrenceville on Sunday, police said. Hill told a 911 dispatcher he was conducting police training exercises and accidentally shot her, authorities said.

"While focused on the recovery and healing of Gwenevere, I will simultaneously continue with my duties and responsibilities as the Sheriff of Clayton County," Hill said in a written statement Thursday.

Hill also asked for continued prayers for McCord, who was hospitalized in critical condition.

No alcohol or drugs were involved, according to a police report obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Police haven't released Hill's 911 call.

Hill was arrested Wednesday on a charge of reckless conduct — a misdemeanor — and released on bond later Wednesday.

Authorities have said that Hill and McCord, who are friends, were alone in the model home in Gwinnett County, about 50 miles northeast of Hill's office.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter has said he has questions about Hill's statement to the dispatcher that he accidentally shot McCord during training exercises.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/georgia-sheriff-charged-shooting-real-estate-agent-30865944

Miami Beach police detective Philippe Archer has been suspended for a month’s pay after a video showed him punching and kicking a handcuffed model while she was in custody two years ago.
An internal affairs investigation found that Archer, a 19-year veteran of the department, violated the department’s rules on use of force and securing prisoners in custody, according to the internal affairs report. He will serve his suspension without pay on different days spread out through May, June and the beginning of July.
Surveillance footage taken from the parking garage behind Beach police headquarters on June 26, 2013, shows Archer punching the woman, Megan Adamescu, after she walked up to him, with her hands cuffed behind her back, and kicked him in the leg.


Archer then tried to kick her in the head as another officer pulled her away....Archer, who is black, reported that Adamescu started using racial slurs at the detective.


A passerby, Andrew Mossberg, saw this and thought he was witnessing a mugging. He decided to intervene. According to the police investigation, Mossberg called the police and stepped in even after Archer identified himself. Adamescu then hit a distracted Archer, who struck her and Mossberg in the ensuing struggle.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article20213685.html

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article20213685.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article20213685.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article20213685.html#storylink=cpy

LAPD Looking Into Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Homeless Man

Los Angeles police officials will hold a town hall meeting tonight to discuss the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a police officer — caught on video — two days ago.


But the police union leader is angrily asserting that the police chief's verdict may already be in.
Brendon Glenn, 29, was shot outside a Venice bar after police were called about the homeless man and his dog harassing customers. Officers tried to detain Glenn, and a physical altercation ensued, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said.


Last week the city Police Commission signed off on a plan to outfit every LAPD officer with a body camera. The officers involved weren't wearing them yet, but the confrontation was caught on security video.


After watching it, Beck said he was "very concerned" about the shooting.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/lapd-homeless-shooting-town-hall/70936492/

Cops Slam Unarmed Woman On The Pavement, Killing Her In Front of Family

Cleveland police officers recently killed a 37-year-old African American woman who died after police slammed her head on the concrete, just outside of her family’s home.


Her brother explained that Tanisha Anderson was pronounced dead at Cleveland Clinic after the assault by the Ohio cops. The pronouncement came early Thursday about two hours after the police “take down” caused Anderson to bash her head on the concrete outside of her home.


“They killed my sister,” Joell Anderson, Tanisha’s 40-year-old brother said as he fought back tears. “I watched it.”


Officers came to the house after a call from a family member who thought the police could calm the bi-polar Tanisha down, during an argument. Police came, responding to the situation as a “disturbing the peace” call. It seemed that everyone agreed Tanisha should undergo an evaluation at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, police sources told us.

But what happened next is described very differently by police and family members.
http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/11/cops-slam-unarmed-woman-on-the-pavement-killing-her-in-front-of-family/

Grand Jury fails to Indict NY Cop Who Choked Man to Death Over Minor Cigarette Sales

The Killing of Eric Garner - Was It Necessary?


The first thing to note about the police killing of Eric Garner in New York is that – despite what you may have heard – this is not a partisan issue.
Fox News commentator Judge Napolitano says that the Grand Jury should have indicted the NYPD police officer who applied the lethal chokehold for excessive force.


George W. Bush said that the grand jury decision was “hard to understand.”
And the Christian Science Monitor notes:

Many on the political right and left united to condemn the grand jury decision, a rare event in an age of acute polarization.
The cover of the conservative New York Post says: “IT WAS NOT A CRIME,” written in big, bold letters, accompanied by still frames of Pantaleo putting Garner in a chokehold.
Fox News syndicated columnist and contributor Charles Krauthammer called the grand jury’s decision “totally incomprehensible.”
“I think anybody who looks at the video would think this was the wrong judgment,” Krauthammer said.
“It defies reason. It makes no sense,” wrote Sean Davis at the Federalist. “Just going on the plain language of the law, the police officer who killed Garner certainly appears to be guilty of second-degree manslaughter at the very least … All we have to do is watch the video and believe our own eyes.”

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/12/police-killing.html


Eric Garner’s killing and why the police chokehold is so racially charged


Of all the tragic elements in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, perhaps the most notable is how little it offers that is new or unique. Despite bans and decades of controversy, the chokehold is still apparently in use. It’s still lethal. And it’s still as racially charged as ever.
Dozens of chokehold deaths have come across the country — from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to New York — and while most occurred decades ago, the debate over the manuever remains fractious. One camp says versions of the chokehold can be applied safely. The other condemns the practice as one of the riskiest tools in a cop’s arsenal. The conversation began when the practice was routine — and mired in allegations of racial injustice and discrimination.


In 1982, the Criminal Law Bulletin published an investigation that found the Los Angeles Police Department had used chokeholds at least 975 times in 18 months. Between 1975 and 1982, cops killed 15 people with it — 12 of whom were African American. “What’s all the fuss about?” one resident of upscale Laguna Hills wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1978. “There’s one simple and effective way to avoid death-by-chokehold: Just don’t try to escape from the police.”
But it wasn’t so simple for 20-year-old James Thomas Mincey, an African American whose death in 1982 was a significant chapter in the story of chokeholds.


His mother said he was “brutally beaten” by police in an “unprovoked attack.” According to the Los Angeles Times, police said they stopped Mincey for driving with a cracked windshield. Police said he resisted when they tried to switch his handcuffs from front to back. Witnesses said his mother, who was present, begged the police to stop the beating, but without success.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/04/why-the-police-chokehold-is-so-racially-charged/

Cleveland Police Gave No Chance for 12 Yr Old to Drop Toy Gun, Shooting Him to Death Instantly

A rookie Cleveland police officer responding to a 911 call jumped out of a cruiser and within seconds shot and killed a 12-year-old boy wielding what later turned out to be a BB gun, according to surveillance video released by authorities Wednesday.
Video of the fatal Saturday shooting of Tamir Rice, 12, by officer Timothy Loehmann, 26, was made public at the request of Tamir’s family. “It is our belief that this situation could have been avoided and that Tamir should still be here with us. The video shows one thing distinctly: the police officers reacted quickly,” reads a statement from the family, who also called on the community to remain calm.
The video’s release comes after days of protests in Cleveland, centered on Tamir’s death and also responding to the grand jury decision in the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson by a white officer.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/11/26/officials-release-video-names-in-fatal-police-shooting-of-12-year-old-cleveland-boy/