Category Archives: US policing

Five Louisiana officers charged in death of Black motorist Ronald Greene

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Authorities initially blamed deadly 2019 on a car crash before body-camera video showed white officers beating Greene

Five Louisiana law enforcement officers have been charged with crimes ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance in the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, a death authorities initially blamed on a car crash before long suppressed body-camera video showed white officers beating, stunning and dragging the Black motorist as he wailed: “I’m scared!”

These were the first criminal charges of any kind to emerge from Greene’s bloody death on a roadside in rural north-east Louisiana, a case that got little attention until an Associated Press investigation exposed a cover-up and prompted scrutiny of top Louisiana state police figures, a sweeping US justice department review of the agency and a legislative inquiry looking at what Governor John Bel Edwards knew and when he knew it.

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Former police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back sentenced to prison

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J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and will serve a three and a half year term

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to three and a half years in prison.

J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, a charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time.

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Sexual assault scandal sparks calls for review of US police department

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Activists urge a federal investigation of the Kansas City police department after a detective allegedly preyed on Black women

It is a scandal that has shocked many beyond the borders of Kansas City, where a senior white policeman allegedly carried out a reign of terror in which he brutally abused and sexually assaulted vulnerable Black women.

An appalling set of allegations against former Kansas City, Kansas police department detective Roger Golubski has lifted the lid on a scheme where he is alleged to have protected local drug dealers in the midwestern city, who then allowed him to rape women forced to work as prostitutes.

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San Francisco approves police proposal to use potentially deadly robots

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Decision comes after heated debate as police oversight groups warn over further militarization of law enforcement

Police in San Francisco will be allowed to deploy potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations. The controversial policy was approved after weeks of scrutiny and a heated debate among the city’s board of supervisors during their meeting on Tuesday.

Police oversight groups, the ACLU and San Francisco’s public defender had urged the 11-member body to reject the police’s use of equipment proposal. Opponents of the policy said it would lead to further militarization of a police force already too aggressive with underserved communities. They said the parameters under which use would be allowed were too vague. Supporters argued that having these robots as an option in dangerous situations was necessary given what they see as an ever-increasing risk of a high-profile shooting hitting the city.

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Two Colorado sheriff’s deputies indicted after roadside death of Christian Glass

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Law enforcement killed Glass, 22, after he called 911 amid what his mother called a mental health crisis

A grand jury has indicted two Colorado sheriff’s deputies in the death of a 22-year-old man who was shot after calling 911 for roadside assistance while experiencing what his mother described as a mental health crisis, according to online court records.

The indictments of the former Clear Creek county sheriff’s deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould were returned on Wednesday, five months after law enforcement killed Christian Glass. The case has become a flashpoint amid a national outcry for police reforms focused on crisis intervention and de-escalation.

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San Francisco police propose using robots capable of ‘deadly force’

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City’s board of supervisors to consider proposal involving remote-controlled devices

The San Francisco police department has proposed that it be allowed to use robots with “deadly force” while responding to incidents, according to a policy draft.

The document outlines how the department proposes to use its collection of robots, which number 17 in total although 12 are not operational.

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Louisiana police release footage of officer fatally shooting Black motorist

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High-profile lawyer who represented family of George Floyd calls Derrick J Kittling’s death ‘unwarranted’ as he takes on case

Footage of a deadly traffic stop in central Louisiana between a Black motorist and white officer, which spiraled into a 30-second struggle on the ground before the officer fired his weapon, has been released by state police.

Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney representing the family of Derrick J Kittling – the 45-year-old motorist fatally shot in the head – called the death “unwarranted” and “completely preventable”. In addition, Crump demanded that the officer involved, Rapides parish sheriff’s office deputy, Rodney Anderson, be fired and accused him of profiling Kittling. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave while Louisiana state police investigate.

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New York City mayor’s longtime friend now holds high-paid NYPD job

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Lisa White, who earns $241,000 a year, is one of a number of Eric Adams’s friends, family and former colleagues hired to top roles

A career 911 dispatcher and longtime friend of New York City mayor Eric Adams who rented a room to Adams in her apartment in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights for four years now has one of the highest-paid jobs in city government, records show.

In May, the NYPD appointed Lisa White as its deputy commissioner for employee relations, at a salary of more than $241,000 a year – a nearly fivefold boost over her prior salary there and almost as much as the police commissioner makes.

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Florida police arrest legally blind man whose cane they mistook for a gun

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Two deputies face suspension without pay after stopping James Hodges, 61, in Lake City last month

Two Florida deputies faced suspension without pay after arresting a 61-year-old legally blind man who was carrying a cane they mistook for a gun.

Jayme Gohde and her supervisor, Randy Harrison, were also reprimanded. Harrison will be denied raises or promotions for two years and both will be required to take remedial training about civil rights.

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California sheriff’s office stops Black drivers five times more often than white people, data shows

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A new report says sheriffs’ patrols spend more time conducting racially biased stops than they do responding to calls for help

Black drivers in California’s capital are nearly five times more likely than white motorists to get pulled over by sheriffs for traffic violations, according to a new report on racial profiling across the state.

Records from the county sheriff’s departments of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside show that Black Californians were disproportionately stopped across those regions in 2019, especially for minor infractions.

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Criminal charges dropped against man left with paralysis in US police custody

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Randy Cox was arrested by Connecticut law enforcement and en route a detention center when he was knocked against a van wall

A man who was left partially paralyzed while in police custody has had all criminal charges against him dropped.

On 19 June, 36-year-old Randy Cox of New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested on charges of illegal handgun possession. Cox was put into a police transport van without any seatbelts and was en route to a detention center when the officer behind the wheel, Oscar Diaz, suddenly braked. Video footage released by Cox’s family and published by CNN shows a handcuffed Cox sliding across the bench and hitting the van’s wall with his head.

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Fired Texas police officer charged over shooting of teen in fast-food parking lot

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James Brennand, 25, charged with aggravated assault after shooting of Erik Cantu, 17, at McDonald’s in San Antonio

A now-former San Antonio police officer was charged on Tuesday with two counts of aggravated assault by a peace officer for shooting and gravely wounding a teen eating a hamburger in his car in a McDonald’s parking lot. The teen had begun driving away when the officer opened fire.

James Brennand, 25, was charged in the 2 October shooting of Erik Cantu, 17, according to a police statement. He turned himself in to police on Tuesday night and remained in custody, said the police chief, William McManus.

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Mississippi police shoot Black teenager in the head outside store

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Jaheim McMillan, 15, was taken off life support after Gulfport police shot him in the head on Thursday at the Family Dollar shop

A Black teenager in Mississippi was taken off life support days after Gulfport police shot him in the head outside a discount store, and his relatives are questioning officers’ actions.

Jaheim McMillan, 15, was shot on Thursday. The Harrison county coroner, Brian Switzer, confirmed to the Sun Herald that the Gulfport High School freshman died on Saturday after he was taken off life support at USA University Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, Switzer said.

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Texas police fires officer who shot a teen sitting in his car in a fast food parking lot

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James Brennand confronted the 17 year old who was in a car that had evaded him a day earlier and began shooting when the car drove off

A Texas police force has fired an officer who shot and wounded a teenager sitting in his car eating a hamburger.

The San Antonio police department fired James Brennand after he shot Erik Cantu, 17, on 2 October in a fast-food restaurant parking lot, the agency’s training commander, Alyssa Campos, said in a video statement released Wednesday.

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Family of Black man who died after police held him down wins $12m payout

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Daniel Prude died from ‘complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint’ in Rochester, New York, in March 2020

City officials agreed to pay $12m to the children of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died when police who encountered him running naked through the snowy streets of Rochester, New York, put him in a hood and held him down until he stopped breathing.

A federal judge approved the settlement in a court document filed on Thursday. The Rochester mayor, Malik D Evans, said in a statement the agreement was “the best decision” for the city.

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Capitol attack officer Fanone hits out at ‘weasel’ McCarthy in startling interview

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Michael Fanone makes candid and profane remarks about Republicans in Rolling Stone interview as he promotes memoir

In an extraordinarily candid and profane interview with Rolling Stone, Michael Fanone – the former Washington police officer who was seriously hurt at the US Capitol during the January 6 attack – called the Republican House leader, potentially the next speaker, a “fucking weasel bitch”.

Fanone said past Republican giants would be unimpressed with Kevin McCarthy.

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California investigates teen’s death in shootout between police and her father

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Savannah Graziano’s death reviewed under measure requiring investigations of police shootings of unarmed people

The California department of justice is reviewing the death of a southern California teenager in a shootout with law enforcement this week under a state law requiring the agency to investigate police shootings involving the death of unarmed civilians.

Savannah Graziano, 15, was killed on Tuesday amid a lengthy shootout between police and her father on a stretch of southern California highway.

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California sheriff’s department deems 47 deputies ‘not suited’ for duty

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Roughly 10% of the force had their guns and arrest powers stripped after an internal audit of psychological exams

A northern California sheriff’s department stripped 47 deputies – 10% of the force – of their guns and arrest powers because they failed psychological exams, it was reported Monday.

It was “horrible″ to have to relieve the deputies of their duties, said Lt Ray Kelly, spokesperson for the Alameda county sheriff’s office, to KTVU-TV.

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Former Minneapolis officer sentenced to three years in George Floyd’s murder

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Thomas Lane is already serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights

A former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd was sentenced on Wednesday to three years.

Thomas Lane is already serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. In the state case, prosecutors and Lane’s attorneys agreed to a recommended sentence of three years, to be served at the same time, in a federal prison.

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US civil rights groups file complaint against ‘death by incarceration’ to UN

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The filing urges UN special rapporteurs to declare life sentences, including without parole, a violation of incarcerated people’s rights

The moment Terrell Carter learned the death sentence he received decades ago would end, he was filled with extreme happiness and intense sorrow.

Carter had spent 30 years of his life in prison without parole for second-degree murder he committed in Pennsylvania, one of six states in the US where there is no possibility of parole when sentenced to life. In July, after Governor Tom Wolf commuted his sentence, Carter, now 53, regained his freedom after a nearly three-year process petitioning with the state board of pardons. Still, he said he felt “survivor’s guilt”.

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