My confidence in virtue signaling social justice warriors hits new lows every time they make a big fuss when the police kill a criminal at the scene of his most recent crime. Many times these criminals have guns. They always resist arrest.

 

Lawsuit: Mentally ill man froze to death in Alabama jail
A lawsuit alleges a mentally ill man froze to death at an Alabama jail, arriving at a hospital emergency room with a body temperature of 72 degrees

ByKIM CHANDLER Associated Press
February 17, 2023, 3:50 PM



3:27

On Location: February 24, 2023

Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A mentally ill man froze to death at an Alabama jail, according to a lawsuit filed by the man's family who say he was kept naked in a concrete cell and believe he was also placed in a freezer or other frigid environment.

Anthony Don Mitchell, 33, arrived at a hospital emergency room with a body temperature of 72 degrees (22 degrees Celsius), and was pronounced dead hours later, according to the lawsuit. He was brought to the hospital on Jan. 26 from the Walker County Jail, where he'd been incarcerated for two weeks.

An emergency room doctor, who tried unsuccessfully to revive Mitchell, wrote, “I do believe hypothermia was the ultimate cause of his death,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday by Mitchell's mother in federal court.

Mitchell, who had a history of drug addiction, was arrested Jan. 12 after a cousin asked authorities to do a welfare check on him because he was rambling about portals to heaven and hell in his home and appeared to be suffering a mental breakdown. Jail video shows Mitchell was kept naked in a concrete-floored isolation cell, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit speculates that Mitchell was also placed in the jail kitchen’s “walk-in freezer or similar frigid environment and left there for hours” because his body temperature was so low.

“It is clear that Tony’s death was wrongful, the result of horrific, malicious abuse and mountains of deliberate indifference,” Jon C. Goldfarb, a lawyer representing the family, wrote in the lawsuit. “Numerous corrections officers and medical staff wandered over to his open cell door to spectate and be entertained by his condition.”

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The lawsuit also accuses the sheriff’s office of a cover-up. The sheriff’s office issued a statement after the death saying Mitchell “was alert and conscious when he left the facility." Jail security footage provided to The Associated Press by lawyers for Mitchell’s mother shows officers carrying Mitchell’s limp body to a transport car, then putting him on the ground before placing him in the car.

The suit names Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith and jail officers as defendants.

Lawyers representing the Walker County Sheriff's Office said it could not comment before the conclusion of a requested investigation. The sheriff's office, following routine procedures, contacted the State Bureau of Investigation after Mitchell's death to ask for the investigation, according to a statement from Jackson, Fikes & Brakefield.

“The WCSO offers and extends its condolences to the family of Mr. Mitchell and asks for your support and patience for the men and women of the WCSO,” the firm wrote in the statement.

A photo of of Mitchell being arrested was posted by the sheriff’s office on its Facebook page, adding that Mitchell “brandished a handgun, and fired at least one shot at deputies” before running into the woods.


The photo shows Mitchell’s face is painted black. According to the lawsuit, officers told a family member that Mitchell said he spray painted his own face black in preparation to enter the portal to hell. An officer told family members they planned “to detox him and then ‘we’ll see how much of his brain is left,’ or words to that effect,” according to the suit.

According to the lawsuit, a doctor wrote in emergency room notes that Mitchell was “unresponsive apneic and pulseless and cold to the touch” when he arrived.

“I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72° F 22° centigrade while someone is incarcerated in jail. The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. It is possible he had a underlying medical condition resulting in hypothermia. I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment,” the lawsuit quotes the doctor as writing.

Cameron Mixon, a spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, said the office is aware of the matter and it's “being investigated by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” He said the office will ensure that any appropriate action is taken after the investigation is complete.

The allegations of death by hypothermia come as the state prison system also faces a lawsuit over the death of a mentally ill man who “baked to death” in an overheated prison cell. Thomas Lee Rutledge died of hyperthermia on Dec. 7, 2020, at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer. Rutledge had an internal temperature of 109 degrees when he was found unresponsive in the mental health cell, according to the suit filed by his sister. It names prison staff, wardens and contractors as defendants.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/lawsuit-mentally-ill-man-froze-death-alabama-jail-97300494

 

Cops' botched arrest of stroke victim who died in their custody shown in new camera footage

Brad Reed
February 27, 2023



Man's hands in police handcuffs (Shutterstock)


The Knoxville Police Department has now released footage showing its officers' interactions with a 60-year-old stroke victim who died while in their custody.

Local news station 13 ABC reports that Knoxville police arrested local resident Lisa Edwards earlier this month after she refused to leave the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, where she had spent the night after being admitted after complaining of abdominal pains.

Edwards said she did not want to leave the hospital because she still wasn't feeling well, but the medical facility discharged her anyway and called the police when she would not vacate the premises.

"The officers called in a patrol car, which they loaded Edwards into," reports 13 ABC News. "On the way to a detention center, the officer in the patrol car responded to a reckless driver. While he was stopped, he noticed that Edwards had become unresponsive, and an ambulance took her back to Fort Sanders. From there, Edwards was placed on life support before she died."

IN OTHER NEWS: Trump has a money problem in New York: 'More people see him, the worse he looks'

Body camera footage released by police shows Edwards regularly warning officers of her dire medical condition shortly before her death.

Among other things, Edwards repeatedly asked to be sat upright in the patrol car, and she complained that she was having trouble breathing and at one point even declared, “They are going to kill me."

An investigation by the local District Attorney's Office determined that Edwards died from a stroke she suffered while in custody.

The four officers involved in Edwards' arrest are on administrative leave pending an investigation into their conduct, although the DA has already ruled out holding them criminally accountable.

Watch the video below or at this link.

https://www.rawstory.com/knoxville-police-body-camera/

 

Suspect Barricades Inside Home in Southern Illinois After Allegedly Shooting Police Officer – NBC Chicago
ILLINOIS NEWS
Suspect Barricades Inside Home in Southern Illinois After Allegedly Shooting Police Officer
A spokesperson with the Illinois State Police said a second person was found dead in the area, but didn't provide additional information.
By KSDK and NBC Chicago Staff • Published February 26, 2023 • Updated on February 26, 2023 at 9:25 pm




A suspect believed to have shot a police officer Sunday barricaded themselves inside a southern Illinois home, leading to a standoff with law enforcement, according to authorities.

Officials with the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department told KSDK, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, officers were responding to a residential area in the village of Dupo, where the suspect was believed to be barricaded inside a home. Dupo is a community of around 10,000 residents about 10 miles south of downtown St. Louis.

Citing a police source, KSDK reported the sheriff's department was called to a report of a disturbance at a home earlier Sunday. Before deputies could arrive on scene, a Dupo police officer showed up. The officer was then shot and seriously injured, according to authorities.

A spokesperson with the Illinois State Police said a second person was found dead in the area, but didn't provide additional information.

Numerous first responders were visible in the area, including heavily armed officers and emergency medical personnel.

Residents were asked to avoid the area as law enforcement remained on scene Sunday night.

 

Very unfortunately if the DOJ and citizens for that matter were able to take a look they would find patterns of this coast to coast in police departments large and small. And I have now had an opportunity to see the difference first hand. In the country where I grew up for decades law enforcement functions of two basic observations before they make a traffic stop, make an arrest, or get violent. The first is is the person a Native American. And if so they stop them. And it doesn't matter. Native Americans who taught and/or worked at the community college were constantly being stopped coming to work or going home even though they were4 professionals who did not drink and didn't even really commit a traffic violation, One of them got stopped and the officer said his probable cause was the professor was driving too cautiously which raised his suspicion. Use of force against Native Americans is just common place and not too long ago an officer shot and killed a Native American at a Walmart. The officer claimed he had a knife and lunged at him and he feared for his life. Witnesses, however said the guy was passed out sitting against the building and did have a knife in his hand. The officer pulled his gun and then when the officer told him to stand up when he started to stand up following his orders the officer shot him five times from a distance of about 15 feet. The county attorney called the shooting justified but there's one way to easily find out who is telling the truth. Release the body cam footage which of course they refuse to to and don't legally have to. The other decision an officer has to make before they make a traffic stop is does this person look affluent enough to hire a lawyer and cause me trouble. And if they do they don't stop or arrest them and if they don't they do.

But we have since moved to a city and not just a city but a college town and the difference in policing is night and day. For one we don't see a cop everywhere we look like we did back home. And when we do see them in action they are polite helpful and forgiving. No hassle at all.


The Courier Journal
'Disrespect for the people': Merrick Garland issues scathing report into LMPD practices

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers the Department of Justice findings on the Investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Metro Government, at Louisville Metro Hall on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. WIth Garland is Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general.
186
Andrew Wolfson, Phillip M. Bailey and Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal
Wed, March 8, 2023 at 10:56 AM MST




The U.S. Department of Justice released scathing findings from its "pattern-or-practice” investigation into Louisville Metro Police on Wednesday.

The department, for years, "has practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, especially against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference from Metro Hall on Wednesday morning. "LMPD cites people for minor offenses, like wide turns and broken taillights, while serious crimes like sexual assault and homicide go unsolved.

"Some officers demonstrate disrespect for the people they are sworn to protect."

The 90-page report found the department:

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• Uses excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers
  
  
• Conducts searches based on invalid warrants.
  
  
• Unlawfully executes warrants without knocking and announcing.
  
  
• Unlawfully stops, searches, detains and arrests people during traffic and pedestrian stops.
  
  
• Violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech critical of policing.
  
  
• Discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities while responding to crises.
  

Garland said the Justice Department, Louisville Metro Government and Metro Police have agreed in principle to negotiate a consent decree.

The Justice Department has proposed 36 remedial measures LMPD can take.

The probe began after Breonna Taylor’s death and accusations of unconstitutional behavior and discrimination.

Garland announced in April 2021 that police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis would face federal investigations. Both cities saw mass protests in 2020 as news of the police killings of two Black residents – Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis − reverberated around the world.

While Garland said the Minneapolis probe was prompted by Floyd’s May 2020 death in which an officer kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes, he did not indicate then whether Louisville's investigation was prompted by the shooting of Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician who was killed during a March 2020 narcotics raid at her apartment that turned up no drugs or money.

DOJ indictments in Breonna Taylor case:Experts predict who has the edge, the feds or the charged officers

The FBI also has been investigating Taylor’s killing separately. The DOJ also has charged several Louisville officers in separate cases since 2020, including four former LMPD personnel in early August on charges either of lying on the warrant obtained to search Taylor’s home, obstructing investigators or — in the case of ex-Detective Brett Hankison — firing bullets that entered a neighboring apartment.

Various local officials, including former Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and former LMPD Chief Erika Shields, who took over as leader of the department in January 2021 but resigned at the start of 2023 as new Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg took office, had said they welcomed the DOJ probe as part of the city’s push to improve its police department and relationships with residents. (Greenberg picked Deputy Chief Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel to serve as his interim LMPD chief as he takes office and searches for a permanent chief.)

In early September, Fischer and Shields both said the city has "not waited" in implementing various reforms.

DOJ police department investigations:Are Department of Justice investigations a path to police reform or 'a war on cops'?

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, previously tweeted that “I can’t wait for the world to see Louisville Police Department for what it really is,” in response to the DOJ’s announced investigation.

No officers were directly indicted and prosecuted by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office for Taylor’s death, though several were later fired or submitted resignations. Hankison was charged at the state level in 2020 with wanton endangerment for firing bullets that went into an apartment neighboring Taylor's that was occupied by three people, and a jury acquitted him in March.

What happened to Breonna Taylor?
Breonna Taylor died after several LMPD officers forced their way into her southwest Louisville apartment with a battering ram around 12:40 a.m. March 13, 2020, with a search warrant to look for drugs and cash as part of a larger narcotics investigation connected to her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.

Breonna Taylor fact check:Separating the rumors from the facts

Taylor’s boyfriend at the time of her death, Kenneth Walker, fired a single shot from his legally owned handgun at the door as officers busted it down, telling investigators later that he feared intruders, not police, were breaking in. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly was hit by Walker’s shot and fired six rounds in response. Detective Myles Cosgrove fired 16 shots, and Hankison fired 10 shots.

Six of those bullets struck Taylor, with Cosgrove firing the fatal shot, the FBI concluded.

What has happened since Breonna Taylor's death?
The case led cities and states to pass laws banning or limiting no-knock search warrants, and it resulted in various changes and reforms, some still pending, at LMPD following a $12 million settlement the city reached with the Taylor family.

In November, the city also settled with Walker for $2 million after he sued Louisville and several of the officers who were part of the 2020 raid.

LMPD and Metro Government leaders said the city has made changes and reforms since 2020, including fixes in response to a review of the police department from Chicago-based consulting firm Hillard Heintze.

The 2021 report from Hillard Heintze made 102 recommendations to turn around a department it found had failed to establish mutual trust and provide equitable treatment across Louisville's neighborhoods.

A dashboard on LMPD's website most recently showed that 37% of the Hillard Heintze recommendations had been "implemented" and 47% were "in process," with others still under review.

Breonna Taylor shootingA 2-year timeline shows how her death has changed us

City officials estimated in 2021 that reforms at LMPD prompted by the DOJ investigation could cost Louisville up to $10 million annually, and the city directed some federal American Rescue Plan funds to that area. The changes have already included a new Accountability and Improvement Bureau at LMPD and launch of an early warning system for officers after years of delays.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/disrespect-people-merrick-garland-issues-174300455.html

 

Louisville PD Released A Dog On A 14-Year-Old And Allowed Attack To Go On For Half A Minute, Says DOJ Report

443
Tomas Kassahun
Tue, March 14, 2023 at 7:19 AM MDT




The Louisville Metro Police Department is under scrutiny after the United States Justice Department published a report which reveals the agency’s repeated use of excessive force and other violations. As part of its two-year investigation, the DOJ concluded that Louisville officers most recently released a police dog on a 14-year-old child, causing the boy to be hospitalized.

The post Louisville PD Released A Dog On A 14-Year-Old And Allowed Attack To Go On For Half A Minute, Says DOJ Report appeared first on Blavity.

According to the DOJ’s 86-page report, the incident involving the 14-year-old boy was one of two similar violations Louisville officers committed on Wednesday. An officer spotted the teen lying on the ground and allowed the dog to attack and gnaw “the child’s arm,” the report states.


“The officer was leading his dog to search for a person suspected of a home invasion. After searching for several minutes, the officer saw the teenager lying on the ground, face down in the grass,” the DOJ stated. “Immediately after noticing the teen, the officer deployed his dog off-leash — without giving any warning — and ordered the dog to bite the teen at least seven times.”

The report adds that the boy didn’t pose a threat to the public or any police officers, and he didn’t resist detainment. In an audio recording, the teen can be heard yelling “Okay! Okay! Help! Get the dog please!”

Despite the child’s plea, the officer allowed the attack to go on for half a minute, watching the dog as its teeth locked into the teen’s limbs, the investigation added. The boy was taken to the hospital after he sustained injuries on his arm and back, as well as intense trauma.

Louisville police also allowed another person to be attacked by a dog while the person was complying with orders, the DOJ added.

“These bites went on for far longer than was necessary, and given the way that officers spoke to these individuals, we have serious concerns that these uses of force were punitive, reflecting a dangerous lack of self-control by the officers and subjecting these individuals to excruciating uses of force far beyond lawful limits,” officials stated.

The report found several other violations committed by the LMPD, including unjustified neck restraints and unreasonable use of tasers, as well as use of invalid warrants and search warrants executed without knocking and announcing.

Additionally, the investigation concluded that the LMPD unlawfully discriminated against Black people in the police department’s enforcement activities. The department also violated the rights of people who engage in protected speech critical of policing, the report added.

The DOJ launched its investigation in 2021 after police raided the home of Breonna Taylor and killed the 26-year-old woman as she was sleeping, the Courier Journal reported. The investigation aimed to assess “all types of force” used by the city’s law enforcement and to determine if police have a trend of violating the First Amendment rights of residents. Additionally, the DOJ examined the possibility of police conducting unreasonable searches and seizures of properties, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland held a press conference on the same day the report was released, the Atlanta BlackStar reported. Garland, standing with Louisville’s mayor and acting police chief at the news briefing, said law enforcement “has undermined its public safety mission and strained its relationship with the community it is meant to protect and serve.”

“This conduct is unacceptable,” he said. “It is heartbreaking.”

“Now that the DOJ has concluded their investigation and presented their findings, we will continue our efforts in improving public safety in Louisville and making LMPD the premier police department in the country,” the LMPD said in a statement.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/louisville-pd-released-dog-14-131942642.html

 

Must be a slow news day.
Suspect in Custody After Miami-Dade Narcotics Officer Shot in ‘Ambush': Police (msn.com)
Suspect in Custody After Miami-Dade Narcotics Officer Shot in ‘Ambush': Police
Story by Brian Hamacher, Niko Clemmons and NBC 6 • Thursday


A suspect who police said "ambushed" a Miami-Dade Police narcotics officer, shooting him in the back of the head and leaving him hospitalized Wednesday, has been taken into custody following a massive manhunt, officials said.

"Thanks to the tireless efforts of my officers, the coward who ambushed my detective yesterday is in custody," Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez tweeted Thursday morning. "Thank you to all of our local law enforcement partners for their help."

The shooting happened around 4 p.m. Wednesday in a neighborhood near the 500 block of Northwest 42nd Street. Ramirez said the officer was conducting a narcotics investigation and was approaching a suspect he was going to arrest when he was "ambushed" from behind.

The officer was shot in the back of the head but thankfully was only grazed by the bullet, Ramirez said.

The officer was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where a large law enforcement officers showed up to support him.

"Thank goodness he's in good condition, we're all very blessed that he's ok," Ramirez told reporters Wednesday evening. "This could have been totally different."

Ramirez didn't release the identity of the officer, but said he's been with the department for around 18 years. He returned home Wednesday evening after he was released from the hospital.

One suspect had been taken into custody shortly after the shooting, and police had set up a perimeter as they searched for the second suspect into Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Miami Police tweeted that their officers were at the scene and had the area closed off. Officers from several other agencies including Miami Beach Police and Fort Lauderdale Police assisted in the search.

Officials haven't released the identity of the two suspects or said what charges they'll face.

At his news conference Wednesday, Ramirez expressed frustration over several recent attacks on his officers.

"I'm tired of being here at the hospital, four times already for injured officers being shot and attacked, and this has to stop," he said. "And if this continues, we will respond. If you attack an officer, you're attacking the community, you're attacking children."

As Miami-Dade Police surrounded the Buena Vista neighborhood, Adrian Cavallo was coming home from work but quickly found out he couldn't go home.

"It was like an army of cops,” Cavallo said.

Cavallo lives on 46th Street. He came home to an armed truck, police with their guns and K-9s.

"I saw three officers enter from the gate and go to the backyard and they told me to wait,” Cavallo said.

Officers didn't just search outside Cavallo's home. They walked around the entire neighborhood with K-9s, checking backyards and searching inside sheds.

"I was thinking this is something very serious,” Cavallo said.

Cavallo wasn't the only one who couldn't get home. Resident Peter Joseph said the milk he bought for a child at his house sat in his car for hours.

"We just want to get home that's all, since 5 o' clock." Joseph said. "I asked him, 'please let me drop this off, no one can take me home.'"

The search for a shooter left many people on the outside looking in.

"This is crazy,” Cavallo said. “It's not a scary situation for me it's almost normal."

 

Autopsy: 'Cop City' protester had hands raised when killed
R.J. RICO
Mon, March 13, 2023 at 12:11 PM MDT·5 min read




DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — An environmental activist who was fatally shot in a confrontation with Georgia law enforcement in January was sitting cross-legged with their hands in the air at the time, the protester’s family said Monday as they released results of an autopsy they commissioned.

The family of Manuel Paez Terán held a news conference in Decatur to announce the findings and said they are filing an open-records lawsuit seeking to force Atlanta police to release more evidence about the Jan. 18 killing of Paez Terán, who went by the name Tortuguita and used the pronoun they.

The family’s attorneys said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which has been probing the shooting for nearly two months, has prevented Atlanta police from releasing additional evidence to the family. The wooded area where Paez Terán was killed has long been dubbed “Cop City” by opponents who occupied the forest there to protest the 85-acre (34-hectare) tract being developed as a massive police and firefighter training facility.

“Manuel was looking death in the face, hands raised when killed,” civil rights attorney Brian Spears said, citing the autopy’s conclusions. “We do not stand here today telling you that we know what happened. The second autopsy is a snapshot of what happened, but it is not the whole story. What we want is simple: GBI, meet with the family and release the investigative report.”


In a statement, the bureau said it's preventing “inappropriate release of evidence” to preserve the investigation's integrity.

Paez Terán's death and their dedication to opposing the training center has vaulted the “Stop Cop City” movement onto the national and international stage, with leftist activists from across the country holding vigils and prompting some to travel and join the protest movement that began in 2021. A few protests have turned violent, including earlier this month when more than 150 masked activists left a nearby music festival and stormed the proposed site of the training center, setting fire to construction equipment and throwing rocks at retreating law enforcement officers.

Authorities have said officers fired on Paez Terán after the 26-year-old shot and seriously injured a state trooper while officers cleared activists from an Atlanta-area forest where officials plan to build the training center. The investigative bureau says it continues to back its initial assessment of what happened.

Paez Terán had been camping in the forest for months to oppose building “Cop City.” Their family and friends have said the activist practiced non-violence and have accused authorities of state-sanctioned murder.

The investigative bureau has said no body camera or dashcam footage of the shooting exists, and that ballistics evidence shows the injured trooper was shot with a bullet from a gun Paez Terán legally purchased in 2020.

Spears said the family commissioned a second autopsy after the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an initial one. Officials have not released the DeKalb County report, so it's unclear whether it reached a similar conclusion that Paez Terán had their hands raised, the palms facing inward at the time of the shooting.

“Manuel loved the forest,” their grieving mother, Belkis Terán, said. “It gave them peace. They meditiated there. The forest connected them with God. I never thought that Manuel could die in a meditation position.”

The family's autopsy report describes Paez Terán’s body as being torn up, shot at least a dozen times and that “many of the wound tracks within his body converge, coalesce and intersect, rendering the ability to accurately determine each and every individual wound track very limited, if even impossible.”

The report also says it is “impossible to determine" whether the activist was holding a firearm at the time they were shot.

The autopsy was conducted by Dr. Kris Sperry, who was the investigation bureau's longtime chief medical examiner until he abruptly resigned in 2015 after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Sperry “claimed hundreds of work hours at the GBI when he actually was working for clients of his forensic-science consulting firm.”

Atlanta City Council approved building the proposed $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in 2021, saying a state-of-the-art campus would replace substandard offerings and boost police morale, which is beset by hiring and retention struggles in the wake of violent protests against racial injustice that roiled the city after George Floyd’s death in 2020.

In addition to classrooms and administrative buildings, the training center would include a shooting range, a driving course to practice chases and a “burn building” for firefighters to work on putting out fires. A “mock village” featuring a fake home, convenience store and nightclub would also be built for authorities to rehearse raids.

Paez Terán moved from Florida last year to join activists in the woods who were protesting by camping out at the site and building platforms in surrounding trees.

Self-described “forest defenders” say that building the training center would involve cutting down so many trees it would damage the environment. They also oppose investing so much money in a project which they say will be used to practice “urban warfare.”

Since Paez Terán’s death, numerous protests have been held in Atlanta, some of which have turned violent, including when masked activists on Jan. 21 lit a police car on fire and shattered the windows of a downtown skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation and.

On March 5, a group threw flaming bottles and rocks at officers as others torched heavy machinery at the construction site where the training center is expected to be built. Twenty-three people are facing domestic terrorism charges in connection with that attack. Activists maintain that those who were arrested were not violent agitators “but peaceful concert-goers who were nowhere near the demonstration.”



https://www.yahoo.com/news/autopsy-cop-city-protester-had-181136552.html

 

Huh.
Somewhere in this page of copy N paste there's a point.
Wonder what stumbler is on about now?

AH!
Betcha its the headline!
Autopsy: 'Cop City' protester had hands raised when killed

We're gonna ignore the part about a cop being shot with a gun owned by the dead protester, a gun found next to his body, a gun that ballistics already matched to the slug taken out of the cop's body.
And we're gonna ignore that "raised hands" does not mean the dead protester wasn't holding the gun or aiming it at cops when he was shot.

NOSSIR!! WE'RE GONNA BRING UP "RAISED HANDS" CAUSE THAT BRINGS BACK MEMORIES OF ANOTHER DESPICABLE BATTLE CRY "HANDS UP DON'T SHOOT!!"

You just have to keep asking yourself, how low will they go, these despicables, to hate America?

 

Virginia deputies charged with murder after ‘smothering’ combative man at hospital

Evan Rosen, New York Daily News
Wed, March 15, 2023 at 9:33 PM MDT·1 min read


Seven Henrico County, Va., sheriff’s deputies are being charged with murder for an incident that took place at a local hospital on March 6.

The officers had been physically restraining Irvo Otieno while he was admitted to the hospital, NBC News reported.

“He died of asphyxia due to being smothered to death, thanks to having at least seven people, including the defendant, on top of him and holding him down,” Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said during a Wednesday court hearing.

The court hearing was streamed in a video broadcast by NBC affiliate WWBT of Richmond.

The deputies are now being charged with second-degree murder.

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“None of them are known as bullies,” said Cary Bowen, an attorney representing defendant Jermaine Branch, who had been with the police department for 24 years.

Otieno was arrested for allegedly assaulting Henrico police officers at Parham Doctors’ Hospital following a burglary call days earlier.

Mark Krudys, an attorney representing Otieno’s family, said he was treated with unnecessary force.

“The family is truly grief-stricken after learning of the brutal nature of Irvo’s death and his inhumane treatment in the hours preceding his death,” said the lawyer. “The public, and experienced mental-health professionals alike, will be appalled when the facts of this case are fully made known.”



https://news.yahoo.com/virginia-deputies-charged-murder-smothering-033300811.html

 

Guards at an Alabama jail 'intentionally' blew freezing air into a man's cell until he became hypothermic and later died, a lawsuit alleges

289
Rebecca Cohen,Michelle Mark
Fri, March 24, 2023 at 10:10 AM MDT



An Alabama man froze to death in the Walker County Jail after spending two weeks in a holding cell naked, and without a bed.US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama

• 
  Alabama jail guards blew freezing air into the cell of a man who died, a lawsuit alleges.
  
  
• A new lawsuit alleges staffers the jail "caused extremely cold air to blow" into the man's cell.
  
  
• The man, Anthony Mitchell, was also deprived of water for 70 hours, according to the lawsuit.
  

In the nights before inmate Anthony Mitchell's death, guards at an Alabama jail intentionally blew frigid air into the cell of the 33-year-old, who later became hypothermic and died, a new document in a wrongful death lawsuit alleges.

According to an amended complaint, filed Monday by Mitchell's mother and reviewed by Insider, correctional officers "intentionally caused extremely cold air to blow through the roof vents" of Mitchell's cell in the Walker County Jail on the nights of January 25 and January 26.


Mitchell was carried out of his cell on January 26 after being incarcerated for 14 days "under hellish conditions," the lawsuit alleges.

By the time Mitchell was transported to a local hospital, his internal body temperature was 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and staff spent over three hours unsuccessfully trying to resuscitate him, Insider previously reported. He was then pronounced dead.

Insider has reached out to the Walker County Jail for comment.

According to Monday's filing, the outside temperature on the nights he was in his cell was in the "low thirties Fahrenheit," meaning if guards blew outside air into Mitchell's cell, it would have been "frigid," the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit alleges that the cell in which Mitchell was held, BK5, is known among staffers and inmates as "the freezer" because of guards' ability to "subject inmates to frigid temperatures there." The lawsuit alleges this would have been the coldest cell in the jail.

The lawsuit alleges Mitchell was deprived of water for over 70 hours, and couldn't eat because his false teeth were confiscated

A lawsuit alleged that inmate Anthony Mitchell was in obvious medical distress while jail officials were "clowning and laughing."US District Court for the Northern District of Albama
The filing alleges that Mitchell became "severely hypothermic overnight and into the morning hours" after "deputies deliberately exposed Mitchell to a frigid environment."

Mitchell was also deprived of water for 70 hours, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit said BK5 lacks a water source, and therefore inmates can only access water if a member of the jail's staff brings a cup of water, or allows the inmate out of the cell to retrieve their own cup of water.

The lawsuit said footage from the jail's booking room shows that Mitchell received his last cup of water around 4:30 a.m. on January 23, and did not show him receiving any water or leaving the cell until he was carried out on January 26. The lawsuit even said the footage showed Mitchell holding his cup to the window of his cell, apparently asking for water, but not receiving it.

Mitchell was kept in BK5, an isolation cell in the jail's booking area, between January 12 and January 26, the lawsuit said. Mitchell's cell lacked a bed or anything else to sleep on and only had a drain in the floor for a toilet, according to the lawsuit.

Jail staff also took Mitchell's false teeth on January 15, following an incident in which he was shocked with a Taser, leaving him without the ability to chew solid food for more than 10 days, according to the documents.

Monday's filing is an updated account of what Mitchell's mother, Margaret Mitchell, alleges her son experienced in jail. Margaret Mitchell initially brought the lawsuit against the jail and its guards last month.

"The only way for Tony's body temperature to have 'started dropping' to 72 degrees in such a short period of time was for him to have been placed in a restraint chair in the jail kitchen's walk-in freezer or similar frigid environment and left there for hours," the first filing in February said.

Mitchell was being held at the Walker County Jail on an attempted murder charge, after brandishing a handgun and opening fire at deputies on January 12, according to the Walker County Sheriff's Office.

The lawsuit said Mitchell was arrested while in a "psychotic and delusional state" partially caused by drug use. The incident began after one of Mitchell's cousins became concerned about his welfare and called 911.

Read the original article on Insider



https://www.yahoo.com/news/guards-alabama-jail-intentionally-blew-161054453.html

 

Red Flag laws anyone?

Mitchell was being held at the Walker County Jail on an attempted murder charge, after brandishing a handgun and opening fire at deputies on January 12, according to the Walker County Sheriff's Office.

The lawsuit said Mitchell was arrested while in a "psychotic and delusional state" partially caused by drug use. The incident began after one of Mitchell's cousins became concerned about his welfare and called 911.

 

Officers in ‘Cop City’ raid shot pepperball gun into activist’s tent first

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Hilary Beaumont
Sat, March 25, 2023 at 3:00 AM MDT



Photograph: Alex Slitz/AP

A police officer fired rounds from a pepperball gun into Manuel Paez Terán’s closed tent before an exchange of gunfire that resulted in the death of the environmental activist and injury of an officer, according to police incident reports obtained by the Guardian.

Armed police in tactical gear killed the 26-year-old Paez Terán on the morning of 18 January as they swept through an Atlanta forest to clear activists who were camping there to prevent construction on a $90m police and fire department training facility known as “Cop City”.

Related: ‘We deserve to know’: autopsy of ‘Cop City’ activist shot by police incomplete two months on


The death of Paez Terán – the first time an environmental protester has been killed by police in US history – created headlines around the US and the world and further galvanised a protest movement against the huge project amid accusations of heavy-handed police action and some local Georgia politicians eager to depict activists as “terrorists”.

The incident reports reveal that officers were first to discharge a weapon – they fired a pepperball gun into Paez Terán’s tent, which was followed by gunshots they believed were coming from inside the tent, leading officers to fire a barrage of shots blindly into the tent, killing Paez Terán inside. It also reveals that, while they rendered medical assistance to an injured officer, they did not immediately do the same for Paez Terán.

Until now, the police agencies involved in the operation have released few records detailing what happened that day, but have claimed that officers shot Paez Terán in self-defense.

There are nine mentions of the phrase “domestic terrorist” or “domestic terrorists” used by officers in the 20-page police incident report, which Paez Terán’s family said showed the attitude they took towards anyone they encountered in the forest during an operation that resulted in the death of the activist, who went by “Tortuguita” and used they/them pronouns.

The new records sent to the Guardian through a public records request by the Georgia department of public safety reveal the previously unreleased written narratives of the officers involved, including the lead-up to the police clearing of the forest, what happened during the shooting and the immediate aftermath. The officers’ names are redacted.

In a statement to the Guardian responding to the release of the documents, Paez Terán’s family said the reports “reveal that officers were fed a steady supply of hearsay and vague generalities about ‘domestic terrorists’ before entering the forest. It is clear that all law enforcement regarded any person in the forest as guilty of being a domestic terrorist.”

Through their lawyers, the family said: “The officer narratives released today by the department of public safety were drafted weeks or, in some cases, months after the incident. When officers drafted these statements, each had the opportunity to review the publicly available video and the press releases issued by the GBI [Georgia bureau of investigation]. As the GBI has acknowledged, ‘memory and perception are fragile’, and outside factors can influence witness statements.” Brian Spears, a lawyer for the family, said the records show the officers prepared their narratives in February and March, long after the shooting.

“We are withholding judgement on how much stock can be placed in the reports because of the continued refusal on the part of the Georgia bureau of investigation to release their investigation,” Spears said. He added that the bureau interviewed the involved officers right after the shooting, but had not released those interviews, or ballistics reports, and records describing the condition of Terán’s tent.

Lead-up to the shooting
Officers wrote that the bureau had conducted an investigation ahead of the operation, and briefed them before they entered the forest.

According to the written narrative of an officer who held the title of tactical commander on the Swat team, the bureau gave officers an operational order packet that detailed the organizational structure of Defend the Atlanta Forest, that alleged the group had nationwide reach, citing solidarity actions in Portland in late 2022, and had committed crimes that fell under domestic terrorism.

The bureau told them of various weapons the demonstrators might possess and tactics they could use. The Georgia bureau said the protesters were armed with rifles, pistols, improvised explosive devices and molotov cocktails. It said protesters had set “booby traps” in the forest, including trip wires and sharp nails and stakes that officers might step on, that “were designed and employed to seriously injure or kill them”. One officer wrote in his report: “I remember thinking that this group was organized and very dangerous.”

The bureau also said that protesters in the trees might throw feces and urine on officers, and “it was known that some trespassers carried STDs” and this tactic might infect officers with STDs.

The bureau said the strategy that day was “to remove the criminal trespassers from Cop City”, according to the Swat team tactical commander. When they encountered a demonstrator who identified themselves and cooperated, the bureau instructed them to order them to leave, and they would be allowed to leave without arrest.

Swat team encounters Paez Terán
According to body cam footage previously released by the Atlanta police department, the clearing operation began before 9am on 18 January.

There were three search teams of officers deployed into the forest, the incident report says. Team 2 was a Swat team that included bureau agents, officers from Atlanta police department, and rangers from the department of natural resources who had police dogs.

Team 2 planned to enter their “area of operation” from Constitution Road, moving from south to north on the west side of the forested property. The Swat team adopted a line formation to move through the forest.

The officers encountered several demonstrators in tents, but said they were not aggressive.

They then approached a larger encampment. As they approached one tent from behind, one officer said he could see movement inside the tent. The door flap to the tent was closed.

Officers said they identified themselves as police and ordered Paez Terán to exit the tent, but they stayed put. One officer said he told Paez Terán they did not want to cause Paez Terán harm and would guarantee Terán’s safety if they complied.

The officer narratives conflict on exactly what happened before the pepperball gun was deployed.

One officer wrote that officers told Paez Terán they were under arrest for criminal trespass, and Paez Terán told them, “No, I want you to leave.” Then officers told Paez Terán that chemical weapons would be deployed, and Paez Terán asked what they were being arrested for. Officers said Paez Terán was trespassing, then Paez Terán unzipped a small section of the tent door, looked out, and zipped the tent up again. The officer wrote that Paez Terán looked “angry”. When Paez Terán zipped up the tent, the officer said he gave the order to fire the pepperball gun.

Another officer wrote that Paez Terán responded to orders by zipping up the tent completely, indicating that Paez Terán was “resisting orders”. After Paez Terán zipped up the tent, this officer said he requested by radio that he needed a teammate with a pepperball gun “for a suspect refusing to comply”. Then the officer said he told Paez Terán they were under arrest for criminal trespass. The officer said they would deploy chemical agents if Paez Terán did not comply. Then Paez Terán partly unzipped the tent and looked out. Officers repeated that Paez Terán was under arrest and chemical agents would be deployed, and then Paez Terán responded, “No, I want you to leave.” The officer said he told Paez Terán they were not leaving. When Paez Terán did not comply, an officer shot a volley of pepperballs into the tent.

The officer reports agree that after the pepperball gun was fired, the gunfire started. They believed the shots were coming from inside the tent. Officers could hear the rounds “cracking” as they passed.

One officer pulled another out of the way, causing the other to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Another officer wrote that he believed the fallen officer had been shot.

The officers returned fire into the tent, the report says. Officers wrote that they feared Paez Terán was trying to injure or kill them.

Officers said they heard a bang and saw a white cloud of smoke, which they believed to be an explosive device detonated by Paez Terán. They believed Paez Terán “was still an active threat”.

One officer wrote that when they believed they were no longer in danger, they stopped shooting into the tent. Another officer wrote that he heard a voice call “cease fire, cease fire” and then heard a voice from his left side say, “I’m hit, I’m hit.”

Another officer wrote that he heard an officer call out that he was shot. Officers wrote that they believed Paez Terán shot the officer.

Officers and medics immediately provided medical care to the injured officer, but medical care was not immediately provided to Paez Terán, the records state.

The team notified medical personnel and used a ballistic shield and deployed a diversionary device as they opened Paez Terán’s tent, the records show. “Inside, Terán was located suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and was unquestionably deceased from [their] wounds,” an officer wrote.

An independent autopsy released by Paez Terán’s family showed they were shot at least 13 times.

At 9.01am, officers at a different location in the forest heard shots in the distance, according to body cam footage previously released by the Atlanta police department and reviewed by the Guardian. Four shots rang out followed by a flurry of shots. The shooting lasted about 11 seconds. At 9.02am, officers heard on their radios: “Officer down.”

Police body cam footage also shows officers discussing the shooting minutes later, with one officer asking, “Did they shoot their own man?” In response to the video, the bureau said the officer was speculating that the officer was shot by another officer in crossfire. “Speculation is not evidence,” the bureau said. “Our investigation does not support that statement.”

Aftermath of the shooting
According to the report, officers involved in the shooting were escorted out of the woods by a bureau agent, and then met with investigators from the Georgia state patrol’s office of professional standards and investigating agents from the bureau.

Paez Terán’s family said the records “reveal that the Georgia bureau of investigation conceived of, planned, and led the operation that resulted in the death of Manuel Paez Terán. The GBI is investigating its own tragic operation. The family calls upon the GBI to explain what steps it has taken to preserve the integrity of its investigation of its own operation.

“… The family calls on all law enforcement agencies to produce the evidence relied upon to broadly designate those who oppose Cop City as domestic terrorists. The public must be reassured that the designation of domestic terrorist is not being abused as a means of stifling dissent and chilling protected speech.”



https://www.yahoo.com/news/officers-cop-city-raid-shot-090045567.html

 

That stumbler would defend a man who attacked police with deadly force and try to alter the narrative to demonize police only underscores his hate for all things American.
Disgusting.

 

The police are our friends.

The criminals are our enemies.

 

Once two policemen threw me into an ally and beat me up by mistake.

I forgave them.

Mistakes happen.

 

doggo's been forgiving them for fifty years now. lol

 

The reason they did it is because they thought I was someone else. When they looked at my driver's license they left quickly.

 

So, you believe there are times when police brutality is justified? Sort of like mild to moderate torture.