General Police Abuse Thread

[Dominus Atheos]

Dominus Atheos, what are your thoughts on that video? Did you watch the entire video?

Yes, which is why I didn't post it in a dedicated thread, but just because the last half is crazy (and it is), doesn't diminish the value of the first half as documentation.

[TheFeniX]

Even then, getting past the crazy, if you get to 1:07:06 in, you find an officer who thinks it would be funny to plant drugs on a mentally-ill woman TOTALLY as a joke. I'm sure him later finding out he was on surveilance video had NOTHING to do with that. One day suspension for planting drugs on a person. Here's a good question: what. the. fuck. is a cop doing walking around with a bag of drugs? You know what, don't answer that. I'm sure it's as dumb as the officer(s) is scummy. After that, hands up and not resisting, suspect gets attacked by a police dog. S, why not just plant drugs on him? Next in, an undercover informant (probably like one used in the raid on the house where the toddler got maimed) plants crack at a smoke shop to frame the owner because cops literally have nothing better to do. Of course the cops blame the informant, because getting shitty people to do your shitty job doesn't make you a piece of shit.

Anyways, the video gets better and bounces around from just showing police bullshit to going into conspiracy mode. Then again, I can't say I'm cool with cops having military weapons and using them for shit like drug raids at the wrong house.

What can I say, I was bored when out raid fell apart and the wife was working late. Still watching.

Oh man, I posted before getting to 1:14. More dog shootings. Fantastic.

EDIT: I hope the cop at 1:19 who has the dog in a noose, then executes it, gets hit by a truck. Fuck that guy.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Dominus Atheos, what are your thoughts on that video? Did you watch the entire video?

Yes, which is why I didn't post it in a dedicated thread, but just because the last half is crazy (and it is), doesn't diminish the value of the first half as documentation.

No, it doesn't.

I wanted clarification from you because you never struck me as a crazy anti-government extremist.

[RogueIce]

It's Legal To Sing In The Subway, But This Subway Singer Got Arrested Anyway

The New York City transit authority has a rule that expressly allows people to play music beneath the streets.

So why did a cop arrest a busker over the weekend after he refused to stop singing and playing his acoustic guitar on a subway platform?

At the busker’s urging, the officer first read out loud the relevant section of the MTA rulebook, noting that “artistic performances, including the acceptance of donations,” are permitted.

Then he arrested the singer, slamming his guitar into the wall. In a video of the incident captured by a bystander, the musician sings Neil Young’s anti-authoritarian anthem “Ohio” as the officer and several backups handcuff him and drag him away. The crowd on the platform erupts into a chant of “Fuck the police.”

A police spokesperson told HuffPost in an email that the video is "under review,” but didn’t answer questions about the reasons for the arrest. The singer, Andrew Kalleen, 30, told HuffPost the arresting officer charged him with loitering, but only after poring over a law book in the back of the police van.

While state law prohibits people from loitering in the subway “for the purpose of soliciting or engaging in business,” that law seems to contradict the MTA rule, which allows performing for money.

Matthew Christian, a street violinist who co-founded BUSK-NY, a group that advocates for street performers, said the police often charge performers with vague offenses like loitering when they can’t find a more convincing justification for arrest.

“This happens so often,” Christian said. “When police officers don’t precisely know the law, they arrest someone over their own refusal to back down, and once the person is brought to the police station and booked, they can’t find anything else to charge them with, so they go mining.”

The arrest may be the latest example of a broader police crackdown on small-time hustles like panhandling and dancing in subway cars. In March, the police commissioner, Bill Bratton, proudly announced that arrests of subway peddlers and panhandlers had tripled under his watch.

“If you take care of the little things, then you can prevent a lot of the big things,” Bratton said at the time, expressing the conviction at the core of the “broken windows” strategy that he famously embraced during his first stint as New York’s top cop in the '90s.

Critics of the broken windows theory point out that no one has conclusively proves it works, and they argue that a hard-nosed approach to minor offenses only leads to violent encounters, racially biased policing, and wrongful arrests. In July, the strategy came under heightened scrutiny after Eric Garner, a Staten Island grandfather, died at the hands of police. An officer had grabbed him in a banned chokehold while attempting to arrest him for the sale of loose cigarettes.

Kalleen said police have stopped him at least five times for performing in the subway station, and he has filed a complaint against them with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an agency that investigates allegations of police abuse. He plans to sue the department over the latest arrest.

He spent Friday night in a police holding cell, but he doesn’t sound bitter about it. At the precinct, he said, he thanked his arresting officer and another cop for risking their lives to protect people, and told them about something that happened to his family a decade ago in Northern California: A masked intruder entered their home with a shotgun and struggled with his father before the police arrived and took the man away.

After he shared that story, he said, the cops warmed up to him.

“From that point on, we were able to have a real conversation. Both cops agreed that the system is very broken. Their bosses tell them it’s their job to go out and write tickets. It’s a revenue system. We all agreed that we want it to change, but they’re doing what they’re told.”

Kalleen said he later asked his arresting officer if he liked music. “It turns out that he plays guitar too, or he used to. We talked about music that we like, and there were some bands that crossed over: Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin. He’d recently gone to see Robert Plant."

The officer did not tell Kalleen whether he likes Neil Young.

Of course there's video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEBZReXChoA

I didn't see the guitar get smashed at all. Right up until the end of the video it looked very much intact. The officer took it off the guy when he began handcuffing, but I don't think that's terribly wrong.

As far as being arrested goes? I guess it depends.

NY State Laws

This page sucks because apparently subsections 1 and 3 are missing, and subsection 6 gets cut off at "or" for some reason, but it's the official government page so it's what I'm going with. Maybe they amended it and took those parts out and didn't reorganize the rest of the wording, I don't know. Anyway:

A person is guilty of loitering when he:
*snip 2, 4 & 5*
6. Loiters or remains in any transportation facility, unless
specifically authorized to do so, for the purpose of soliciting or
engaging in any business, trade or commercial transactions involving the
sale of merchandise or services, or for the purpose of entertaining
persons by singing, dancing or playing any musical instrument; or
Loitering is a violation.

I guess it depends on how the law is interpreted. Does "specifically authorized" mean each individual requires a permit, or is that MTA rulebook passage enough for anyone? It also doesn't say what kind of violation loitering is (arrest, ticket, stern warning?) just that it is one.

[Terralthra]

Violation is a type of offense defined earlier in NY State law as being below a misdemeanor.

...
3. "Violation" means an offense, other than a "traffic infraction," for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in excess of fifteen days cannot be imposed.

[RogueIce]

Violation is a type of offense defined earlier in NY State law as being below a misdemeanor.

...
3. "Violation" means an offense, other than a "traffic infraction," for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in excess of fifteen days cannot be imposed.

Ah, thanks, didn't see that.

So it appears that even if an arrest is technically permissible (if you can be incarcerated for it, I'd assume you can be taken into custody at the time of the incident) actually doing so would seem to be overly heavy-handed for what the (theoretical - again depending on how "specifically authorized" is interpreted) offense would actually call for.

I'll ask for Kamakazie Sith's view on that. I know you have discretion on lower misdemeanors, and this apparently doesn't even qualify as that; but if you were to pursue the charge for whatever reason, would you typically arrest and take into custody or something else? I guess it would depend on the circumstances, but if you were to arrest what kind of threshold - in your opinion only of course - would theoretically need to be reached in order for you to do so?

[Kamakazie Sith]

It'd probably be done the following order.

1 - Warning
2 - Arrest by citation and removal from property
3 - Arrest and transport to jail

[Dominus Atheos]

But hey, that's not excessive use of force or anything, it's "pain compliance!"

[TheFeniX]

Notice at 1:11 the way they lift him to his feet using his handcuffed arms to do so?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Frank Serpico wrote a piece on Politico about the utter lack of accountability for police. Too long to quote here, but well worth a read.

[Dominus Atheos]

Armored vehicle helps collect civil judgment in small town





When officials in the tiny Town of Stettin in Marathon County went to collect a civil judgment from 75-year-old Roger Hoeppner this month, they sent 24 armed officers.

And an armored military vehicle.

Among other issues, the recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., focused attention on the growing militarization of local law enforcement, particularly the use by even very small police departments of surplus armored military vehicles.

Marathon County sheriff's officials aren't apologizing for their tactics. Sheriff's Capt. Greg Bean said officials expected to have to seize and remove tractors and wooden pallets to pay the judgment — hence the cadre of deputies. He also said what while Hoeppner was never considered dangerous, he was known to be argumentative.

Hoeppner said when he noticed deputies outside his house, he called his attorney, Ryan Lister of Wausau. Lister said he quickly left for Hoeppner's house but was stopped by a roadblock that was kept up until after his client had been taken away in handcuffs. "Rather than provide Mr. Hoeppner or his counsel notice...and attempt to collect without spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on the military-style maneuvers, the town unilaterally decided to enforce its civil judgment" with a show of force, Lister said.

Bean said deputies had to handcuff Hoeppner because he was not following all their instructions, but did eventually agree to pay the $80,000 judgment after a visit to a bank — accompanied by deputies.

Bean also said the armored truck was summoned only after Hoeppner initially refused to come out of his house. Once the truck appeared, so did Hoeppner.

"I've been involved in about five standoff situations where, as soon as the MARV showed up, the person gives up," saving time, money and increasing safety, Bean said.

Madison's police recently made a similar endorsement after officers used one to carry out the safe arrest of a man who had fired at police from a window of his home.

MARV stands for Marathon County Response Vehicle, which his department obtained in 2011. It's the only one in the county and gets used 10 to 20 times a year, Bean said.

"People may not always understand why, but an armored vehicle is almost a necessity now," Bean said.
Long-standing rift

Hoeppner has filed a notice of claim against the town, and is considering a federal civil rights lawsuit, according to a Madison attorney who represents him in another case about Hoeppner's right to speak at town meetings.

"It's a long-running, heavily litigated dispute over his use of his property," said the lawyer, Jeff Scott Olson. "They're trying to collect in a very heavy-handed manner."

Hoeppner owns about 20 acres along Packer Drive, which runs nearly parallel with Highway 29 west of Wausau, where he restores antique tractors and runs a pallet repair business. The latter at times featured giant piles of the wooden pallets visible from Packer Drive.

In 2008, the town sued Hoeppner over claimed violations of ordinances about zoning, signs, rubbish and vehicles. About a year later, the two sides settled; Hoeppner was supposed to clean up his property, and the town was supposed to open discussions about its zoning.

The town felt Hoeppner had not complied, and it brought a motion for contempt and enforcement. In September 2010, a judge ordered Hoeppner to remove certain items from his land.

The following May, the judge found Hoeppner had still not complied and authorized the town to seize assets. In the summer of 2011, the town hauled away several tractors, pallets, equipment and other items and auctioned them off for "pennies on the dollar," according to Lister.

But the dispute wasn't over. In April 2013, the judge entered a final judgment that imposed a $500-a-day fine against Hoeppner for not adhering to the original May 2011 order, and granting the town's legal fees.

Hoeppner appealed, but lost in a March ruling. So by Oct. 2, he owed the town about $80,000, according to court records, and the Town of Stettin obtained a writ of execution to collect — without notice to Hoeppner or his attorneys, they say.
Threats alleged

Town Chairman Matt Wasmundt said neither he nor other town officials and their attorneys could comment about Hoeppner or the serving of the writ, citing pending litigation and "threats."

Hoeppner, retired from a job at a paper factory, and Lister deny Hoeppner ever engaged in threats of any kind against Wasmundt or other town officials.

In a federal civil rights suit, Hoeppner contends that Wasmundt infringed on his free speech rights by calling deputies to town board meetings where Hoeppner wished to address the board during public comment periods, and for later eliminating public comment entirely from meeting agendas.

Once, Hoeppner said, he was arrested by the deputies at Wasmundt's direction, only to later be released without charge.
Town called unfair

In an interview, he said he wanted to address what he felt was the town's unfair focus on his property, when there are dozens of others arguably in violation of the town's zoning, which is all agricultural-residential.

He said he felt Wasmundt has a "vendetta" against him and a "my way or the highway" style of running the town.

He described deputies with guns drawn walking around his garage.

Asked if he was, as the sheriff's captain described him, argumentative, Hoeppner admitted he was probably "hostile," though not threatening when confronted with a writ.

"The $86,000 figure is enough to shock most men," he said. "And they wanted it now, today." He said the town later agreed to $6,000 less because it wouldn't have to pay for hauling away his other equipment to sell.

Hoeppner estimates that, in all, his battle with the town has cost him about $200,000, a retirement fund he "worked very hard to accumulate." In addition, he said, his arrest the day the armored truck appeared upset his wife so much, he had to take her to a hospital for a few hours.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/ ... 27872.html

[Highlord Laan]

"People may not always understand why, but an armored vehicle is almost a necessity now," Bean said

Not if you're actually doing your fucking job, you dipshit Rambo wannabe

[Dominus Atheos]

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- A former Franklin County police officer accused of attacking a handcuffed suspect will serve jail time. On Thursday, former Buckner officer Bill McKinney agreed to a plea deal at the Franklin County Courthouse.

In July of 2013, investigators say McKinney arrested 62-year-old Roy Barnhart and punched him in the head while he was handcuffed and on the ground. The incident led to Barnhart's death days later.

"I'm glad that he admitted to the role that he played," explained the victim's wife, Sue Barnhart. "It's been a very long 16 months but now that's it's over maybe now we can get on and heal."

McKinney was charged with aggravated battery, involuntary manslaughter and official misconduct. His attorney says McKinney agreed to plead guilty to the official misconduct charge, under the condition the others would be dropped.

"I think he felt very strongly in this case moving forward but plea agreements come about for a lot of different reasons," said attorney Bryan Drew. "One reason is to not have to go through the trial. That's what he chose to do for his family."

McKinney was sentenced to 18 months, but he'll only report to the county jail on weekends. During the week he'll be under house arrest.

"It's somewhat unusual, but not completely unheard of," explained Drew. "It's been done before. It's a periodic imprisonment. There's a statute as it relates to that. It allows a person who doesn't need to be going to prison and gives them an alternative means."

http://www.wsiltv.com/news/local/Former ... 50751.html

1. The events in the article should have been charged as murder, not involuntary manslaughter.

2. Why was he allowed to plead down to "official misconduct" after killing someone?

3. House arrest? Really?

[Dominus Atheos]

So if you are involved in a police encounter and you have a smartphone, it is in your best interest to record it. The problem with that plan is that police can and will happily seize your phone an delete the video if they notice that you are recording their abuse.

The solution to this problem is streaming to the internet (or "cloud" if you're a terrible person). One app that can do this is Bambuser. That will create a public video that anyone can watch and download, ensuring that no matter what happens to the data on your phone the video will still be available.

[Kamakazie Sith]

1. The events in the article should have been charged as murder, not involuntary manslaughter.

Would you want them to easily lose? In order to prove murder you must show that he had intent to kill when he punched the guy. It's very very difficult to prove intent to kill from a punch.

2. Why was he allowed to plead down to "official misconduct" after killing someone?

3. House arrest? Really?

2 - 3 are both very valid questions.

[Kamakazie Sith]

So if you are involved in a police encounter and you have a smartphone, it is in your best interest to record it. The problem with that plan is that police can and will happily seize your phone an delete the video if they notice that you are recording their abuse.

The solution to this problem is streaming to the internet (or "cloud" if you're a terrible person). One app that can do this is Bambuser. That will create a public video that anyone can watch and download, ensuring that no matter what happens to the data on your phone the video will still be available.

The law enforcement officer involved in that video was investigated and charged.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article ... 883183.php

[Dominus Atheos]

1. The events in the article should have been charged as murder, not involuntary manslaughter.

Would you want them to easily lose? In order to prove murder you must show that he had intent to kill when he punched the guy. It's very very difficult to prove intent to kill from a punch.

Maybe I'm just used to overcharging, but I was under the impression that assault leading to death was considered murder. Here is an example.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/crime/dp ... story.html

[Dominus Atheos]

Utah officer who shot Darrien Hunt wore body cam, but it was turned off.

The attorney representing the family of 22-year-old Darrien Hunt — who was shot and killed in Sept. 10 by two Saratoga Springs police officers — on Friday released new police reports indicating that one of the officers was wearing a body camera. But the camera apparently was not turned on at the time.
Deputy Utah County Attorney Tim Taylor said in September that he was not aware of any body camera footage submitted to his office as part of the investigation into the shooting.

And Police Chief Andrew Burton said at the time he did not know whether either of the officers was wearing one of the few cameras that the department has been experimenting with this year.

Burton was not immediately available for comment on Friday. But city spokesman Owen Jackson said it was his "understanding" that the camera was not turned on at the time of the shooting.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/1824152-155/ ... hauerhamer

[Dominus Atheos]

Blind Man: Cops Arrested & Ditched Me By Side Of The Road

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — On August 27th at approximately 8:30 pm, four plain clothes Miami Dade Police officers pulled onto a dead end street in South Dade and arrested three young black men. The scene was captured on video camera.
According to the police report, the three men were arrested because officers claimed to see them passing what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette. When the officers approached, they said they found a marijuana cigarette on the ground near where the men were standing.
Click here to watch Jim DeFede’s report.
They arrested the men for possession of marijuana – a misdemeanor.
Two of the men were released on the spot after signing tickets promising to appear in court.
The third man, Tannie “T-Man” Burke wasn’t given that option. Instead police officers handcuffed him and led him to the back of an unmarked car where he appeared to have trouble finding the door.
“He’s blind dumb***,” the man videotaping the incident is heard saying. “If you don’t tell him he’s walking to the car how the (expletive) is he going to know?”
“T-Man what are they taking you for?” a woman shouts.
“I don’t know,” Burke replies.
Blind since birth, the 21-year-old Burke can’t see anything out of his right eye, and is only able to make out general shapes and lights with his left.
He’s able to navigate around his block in the daytime but is afraid to wander too far at night.
“I’ve got to be with somebody, or I’ve got to call somebody and have them meet me at this spot and I’ll walk with them,” Burke told CBS4’s Jim DeFede.
For 20 minutes Burke estimates the officers drove him around before finally releasing him in a dark and desolate section of South Dade nearly a mile from his home.
“They put me off somewhere in Goulds. There were no street lights and no houses,” he said. “It was just dark.”
CBS4′s Jim DeFede asked, “Did you tell the officers you were blind?”
“Yes I told them in the car I was blind and I couldn’t see,” Burke said.
DeFede then asked, “Did they seem to care?”
“Not that I know of,” he answered. “They put me out somewhere where they aren’t no street lights and no houses.”
Out on the edge of some vacant farm land, they made him sign an arrest form he couldn’t read.
Burke said he asked them to drop him off closer to his house, but they refused.
He had no cell phone. The police had taken it.
DeFede asked, “Were you mad or angry?”
“I was trying to get home. That’s all it was. I was just trying to find my way home,” he said.
Unsure of where to go, Burke started walking. He kept his right foot on the road and his left foot in the weeds to prevent him from wandering into the middle of the street where he might get hit by a car.
“I went down the street until I found some light and I stayed on the same street going back and forth until somebody came,” he said.
Eventually, he came upon a stranger who helped him get home.
“Forty-five minutes to an hour later he comes walking through the door all sweaty up,” said his stepfather, Marvin Armstrong.
“I was like, `How’d you get out?’ He said they released me way in the back,” Armstrong recalled.
Armstrong is Burke’s stepfather and the man behind the camera filming Burke’s arrest and heaping insults on officers.
Burke believes the police took him away as payback for Armstrong’s actions. He said the cops complained about him after they put him in the car.
“They said, `Your stepfather got a lot of mouth. You know we don’t like that,’” he said.
Burke, who has never been convicted of a crime, has been arrested twice and detained by police on more than a dozen other occasions. Being stopped and handcuffed in his neighborhood, he said, is nothing new.
“I feel they stop me because they see a black man walking down the street,” he said. “I don’t know what to say about it. I just feel bad about it. That’s it.”
Last month the misdemeanor marijuana charges were dismissed by prosecutors.
Burke’s family filed a complaint with the Miami Dade Police Department.
A Miami Dade Police spokesman declined to comment on the way its officers treated Tannie Burke, saying the case was now being investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs unit.

[Dominus Atheos]

Evans detective accused of covering up evidence to hide murder as suicide

April 9, 2014

EVANS, Colo. – The Evans Police Department has reopened an investigation into the death of a 28-year-old woman after FOX31 Denver found evidence an Evans police detective misstated or omitted key evidence to disguise a murder as a suicide.

The detective, Michael Yates, was investigating the death of Ashley Fallis who died after a New Years’ party in 2012 at her home in Weld County.

The Evans Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation ruled her death a suicide.

Her husband, Tom Fallis, was home when Ashley died and made the 911 call. He told police that Ashley shot herself and always maintained his innocence.

Tom Fallis now lives in Indiana with the couple’s three children.

However, Ashley Fallis’ relatives did not believe she committed suicide. They reached out to FOX31 Denver reporter Justin Joseph who discovered new clues in the case including statements from witnesses suggesting Ashley was murdered and that a police detective omitted and changed key witnesses statements, including one in which Tom Fallis allegedly confessed to the crime.

Friday, we presented the evidence to Evans Police Chief Rick Brandt, who Tuesday announced the case had been reopened.

“This new information includes alleged eye and ear witness accounts that we were previously unaware of and are of a serious enough nature to warrant further investigation in this case,” Brandt said.

“I extend my sincere sympathy to the family of Ashely Fallis for their loss and the revisited grief that can accompany the reopening of a case such as this one,” Brandt said.

Brandt said the Fort Collins Police Department will take the lead in reexamining Ashley Fallis’ death.

“It is my desire that an unbiased, professional third-party review of this case be conducted,” he said.

Additionally, the Loveland Police Department will examine accusations against detective Yates, who is accused of omitting material statements from witnesses and changing a statement from one witness to “support a conclusion of suicide,” Brandt said.

Brandt said Yates was still on active duty.

“Right now all I’ve got is third-hand information from a reporter who says, ‘I heard this from these people,’” Brandt said. “Till we get more information, I’m not going to make any change to the duty status.

Tom Fallis was the only person home when his wife died. He also made the 911 call for help.

The following morning, he was interviewed about the shooting repeatedly told investigators “I did not kill my wife.”

We obtained a copy of the police interrogation, in which Tom Fallis gets visibly angry when asked if he had anything to do with his wife’s death.

“That wound on the back of her head, isn’t what she could do by herself Tom,” interrogator Rita Wolfe told Tom Fallis.

“Bull sh**,” Tom Fallis repeatedly yelled while slamming a water bottle on a table.

Relatives of Ashley Fallis said they saw similar anger the night of her death after Tom Fallis found out someone at the party had marijuana.

“He was irate and explosive,” said Ashley’s mother, Jenna Fox. “He was abusive with his words and he was telling us he hated us, and to ‘F everybody’ and then he went into the room and slammed the door.”

We reviewed photos of the crime scene showing a bedroom in disarray including photos knocked off the walls. Tom Fallis told investigators he and his wife never physically fought that night. However, a witness in the home behind the Fallis’ contradicted that statement.

One police report quotes a witness named Chelsea Arrigo, who said she heard Ashley Fallis scream, “Get off me. Get off me,” before the gunshot.

Tom denied he had touched Ashley, but evidence photos taken during his interview showed Tom had scratch marks on his chest.

In our year-long investigation, we obtained all of the evidence in the case under an open records request. We interviewed key witnesses and found some troubling omissions in the evidence.

Nick Glover, who lived next to the Fallis’, said that the night of the shooting he, his sister and a friend hid in his home.

“I heard Fallis saying ‘What did I do?’ ‘What did I do?’” Glover said.

Glover also said he heard Tom Fallis saying, “I shot her.”

Glover said he repeated this to Evans Police Detective Michael Yates. Glover’s mother said she was present during that admission.

However, Glover’s statement never appeared in police reports.

Kathy Glover also told us that on the night of the shooting, a neighbor called her saying “call police you neighbor just shot his wife.”

That statement contradicts the report prepared by Yates, which quoted Glover as saying “call police, your neighbor just shot herself.”

Both Nick and Kathy Glover prepared sworn affidavits describing their accounts of the night. The Glovers said they were shocked to learn of the omissions and misstatements in the reports prepared by Yates.

We asked Yates about the allegations. Yates did not deny the claims and referred us to his boss, Chief Brandt.

We also interviewed Tom Fallis. He continues to maintain his innocence.

The last piece of evidence regards a statement made by one of the Fallis’ children.

The six-year-old child told police she “saw daddy getting the gun ready” and said she “saw daddy shoot mommy.”

Police discounted the testimony because the child said she witnessed three gunshots, but Ashley Fallis was only shot once.

We hired nationally renowned forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht to review the evidence in the case.

Wecht said he believes the Evans Police Department botched the investigation, and that he does maintain there was sufficient evidence to charge Fallis for his wife’s murder.

http://kdvr.com/2014/04/08/evans-detect ... s-suicide/

The husband was arrested Tuesday, but the cop who took the report and changed statements was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the summer:

Detective won’t face charges on accusations he hid evidence in young mom’s death

EVANS, Colo. — Prosecutors in Weld County told Ashley Fallis’ family Wednesday that they did not believe they could win a criminal prosecution against an Evans police detective who investigated Ashley’s 2012 death.

“I’m disappointed but I’m not surprised,” said Ashley’s mother Jenna Fox.

Fox said in the hour-long meeting, prosecutors said they could reveal little since the criminal investigation against Ashley’s husband Tom Fallis is still underway. Fox said prosecutors have turned the case against Detective Michael Yates back over to Evans police for internal proceedings.

In April, as a result of a Fox 31 Denver investigation, Ashley Fallis’ death investigation was reopened. Fox 31 Denver uncovered police reports containing material omissions in Detective Michael Yates’ reports. The omissions were statements allegedly made by Tom Fallis the night of his wife’s death.

“I heard him say ‘I shot her,’” said neighbor Nick Glover. He says he told those statements to Detective Yates, but Yates’ reports did not contain them.

On Wednesday, prosecutors declined to charge Yates criminally for omitting the statements.

Chief Rick Brandt issued a statement Thursday stating that he will now request an internal affairs investigation to determine if Yates violated department policies.

A criminal case is very hard to prove against an officer,” said Fox’s attorney Dan Recht. “This does not mean that he won’t be suspended or fired as a result of an internal investigation,” which Recht says he expects.

http://kdvr.com/2014/08/27/detective-wo ... oms-death/

Compare this outcome to Robel Phillipos:

Federal prosecutors convinced a jury that Phillipos, at the time 19, lied to the FBI about his presence in Tsarnaev’s dorm room three days after the April 2013 attack. He reportedly told agents he wasn’t there when Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev removed potential evidence, but later acknowledged that he had been in the room with them. (“Bombing suspect’s friend convicted.”)

Though not accused of setting out to impede the investigation, Phillipos now faces—at least theoretically—up to 16 years in prison. The relevant statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1001, applies where one “makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” in a matter concerning the federal government.

[Kamakazie Sith]

1. The events in the article should have been charged as murder, not involuntary manslaughter.

Would you want them to easily lose? In order to prove murder you must show that he had intent to kill when he punched the guy. It's very very difficult to prove intent to kill from a punch.

Maybe I'm just used to overcharging, but I was under the impression that assault leading to death was considered murder. Here is an example.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/crime/dp ... story.html

It can but the prosecution needs to show that you intended on killing someone. Basically, would a reasonable person conclude that this course of action will cause the death of another. In your example it said the officer "punched" this restrained individual. A single punch or even a series of punches can kill but isn't likely to kill so you'd have an impossible task proving intent to kill.

[PKRudeBoy]

Well, yes, that is how it is technically supposed to work, but I think the point was more along the lines of how in many cases, prosecutors will charge someone with every even vaguely possibly plausible charge to pressure a guilty plea out of the defendant, while this almost never seems to happen to police officers.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Well, yes, that is how it is technically supposed to work, but I think the point was more along the lines of how in many cases, prosecutors will charge someone with every even vaguely possibly plausible charge to pressure a guilty plea out of the defendant, while this almost never seems to happen to police officers.

It depends on the prosecutor. Some are very aggressive. Others do the opposite and offer a lower charge in a plea deal so they get easy convictions. That's what tends to happen with police officers because cops usually win if it goes to trial so the prosecutor will often offer a deal...if charges even get filed.

Besides most cops are informed enough in the law that a bluff charge will not work. I agree it is unethical for prosecutors to overcharge others to pressure a guilty plea.

[PKRudeBoy]

Well, yes, that is how it is technically supposed to work, but I think the point was more along the lines of how in many cases, prosecutors will charge someone with every even vaguely possibly plausible charge to pressure a guilty plea out of the defendant, while this almost never seems to happen to police officers.

It depends on the prosecutor. Some are very aggressive. Others do the opposite and offer a lower charge in a plea deal so they get easy convictions. That's what tends to happen with police officers because cops usually win if it goes to trial so the prosecutor will often offer a deal...if charges even get filed.

Besides most cops are informed enough in the law that a bluff charge will not work. I agree it is unethical for prosecutors to overcharge others to pressure a guilty plea.

I suspect the fact that cops are also far more likely to have pre-existing relationships with prosecutors than the average citizen also comes into play, which is why I think cases involving police misconduct should be handled federally.

[Highlord Laan]

Valliant blue shields of the people gun down twelve year old

Police shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice seconds after arriving at a Cleveland park last Saturday where the boy was waving around a toy “airsoft” gun, surveillance video released Wednesday showed.

The grainy footage, made public by authorities after the Rice family requested the tapes be released, shows a 911 caller sitting at a picnic table under a gazebo while a boy, later identified as Rice, walks back and forth along a sidewalk near the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland. At times, Rice points his “airsoft” gun and also speaks on his cell phone. The caller leaves the area, and Rice appears to sit at a picnic table at the gazebo. By the time a police car pulls up in front of the gazebo, Rice is standing near the edge of the gazebo. Both officers exit the vehicle and draw their firearms.

The gunshots struck Rice in his torso. He died early Sunday from his wounds.

At a press conference Wednesday, authorities presented the 911 call, conversations between police dispatch and the two responding officers, and the surveillance video. They showed two versions of the tape, one in real time and another in slow motion with annotations from Police Deputy Chief Edward Tomba.

The officers drove onto the grass with their windows down, and gave three commands to “show your hands,” Tomba said. He wouldn’t elaborate on additional dialogue between the officers and the boy because of an ongoing investigation into the incident.


, 11/26/14, 3:46 PM ET
Cleveland police release 911 call

Both officers were placed on administrative leave, which follows standard practice within the division. Tomba on Wednesday identified the driver of the vehicle as Frank Garmback, 46, who joined the force in February 2008, and his passenger, Timothy Loehman, 26, who was hired eight months ago in March. Police confirmed they had interviewed the officers by Wednesday morning, but wouldn’t comment on their conversations.

The parents, Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner, asked officials this week to make public the surveillance footage of the incident. Authorities originally declined to release the footage, citing the recorded evidence was part of their investigation and their wish to be sensitive to the family, community, and officers. But at a community meeting on Tuesday night, law enforcement officials said they would release the footage and audio files.

“We feel the actions of the patrol officer who took our son’s life must be made public,” the boy’s parents said Tuesday in a written statement. The family’s attorneys viewed the video earlier this week, but the family initially declined to watch. But after hearing feedback from their representatives and reviewing the footage, the family on Tuesday asked officials to release the complete video to the public.


, 11/26/14, 4:53 PM ET
Cleveland police: Time between car arrival and shooting ‘1.5 to 2 seconds’

“It is our belief that this situation could have been avoided and that Tamir should still be here with us,” the family said in a written statement on Wednesday. “The video shows one thing distinctly: the police officers reacted quickly.” They called for a thorough investigation from the prosecutor’s office and for calm from the community.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said authorities in the past typically haven’t released audio files and video recordings used as evidence in investigations. But, he added, the force accepted the wishes of Rice’s parents.

“The release of this video, in no means was an effort to try to explain the actions of the division of police or of the young man. We are honoring the wishes of the family in releasing this, and also in the spirit of being open and fair with our community,” Tomba said at the news conference.

The 911 call, a transcript of which was released Monday, detailed the observations of a man who was sitting outside of the recreation center and described seeing “a guy in here with a pistol.” He continued, saying the person kept pulling the gun in and out of his pants. “It’s probably fake. But you know what? It’s scaring the shit out of people,” the caller said.

All evidence, including the video, will be handed over to a grand jury once an internal investigation is complete, Williams said Monday.

In their statement, Rice’s parents said they have faith in the U.S. justice system, and urged their community to remain calm, amid continued outrage across the country over the outcome of the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri. A St. Louis County grand jury on Monday decided not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Brown.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of people marched down a freeway exit ramp in Cleveland to block rush-hour traffic in protest against both the decision in Ferguson and the fatal shooting of Rice.

I find myself not caring about the lives of cops anymore. They obviously feel that they're at war with the rest of the populace, so I see noting wrong with returning the favor.