Tagged with:false arrest, law abuse, police beating teen, police brutality on women, usa police
A 15-year-old Idalia Morgutia-Johnson is preparing a lawsuit against Fresno Police after a cell phone video clip proved her innocent of charges for trespassing, resisting arrest and battery on an officer and showed she was the real victim who was manhandled and arrested for no reason.
Idalia was hanging out with friends in front of Big Mama’s Grill just across the street from the Hoover High School where her school day was over, when she was approached by two police officers who accused her of loitering. Although she tried to explain she was waiting on an order she placed at the grill, they didn’t listen and one of the cops twisted her arm and threw her on the table she was seated at. one of Idalia’s friends started shooting the incident with his cell phone a few minutes later, and caught her getting slammed on the ground, picked up and hauled to the patrol car. You can see Idalia kicking her feet in the air trying to breathe as the officer holding her is choking her, which was interpreted as battery on an officer.
She was arrested and charged which nearly got her expelled from high school. Thanks to this piece of evidence, all charges were dropped and Idalia now has proof she can base her lawsuit on. one thing they can’t make up to her is the constant back pain she’s been experiencing since the arrest that the doctors say will never go away, which prevents the former freshmen basketball captain from enjoying her favorite sport.
Tagged with:law enforcement misconduct, police murder, police rapist, santa maria police, usa police
A police officer charged for a sexual misconduct with a minor girl was shot dead after an attempted arrest by his fellow officers. While he was operating on a DIU checkpoint around 1 a.m. on the territory of Santa Maria, CA, the officer got surrounded by his colleagues who were ordered to take immediate action.
After the case concerning a 17-year-old minor got supported with more incriminating evidence, the order came to arrest the accused officer immediately. Unfortunately, he put up a fight trying to resist the arrest, and at one point he took out his gun and fired once, but hit no one.
One of the police officers on the team responded with shooting him in the chest, which turned out to be a lethal shot.
The name of the killed police officer still can’t be revealed due to the sensitivity of the whole case, and Santa Maria police chief Danny Macagni was rather brief in his official statement. he pointed out that it was necessary to take such extreme measures against a fellow police officer, and that the incident could have been avoided if he hadn’t acted so impulsively at the time of the arrest.
The officer who fired the shot is currently under investigation about the whole case, Macagni stated.
Tagged with:law enforcement misconduct, police murder, police rapist, santa maria police, usa police
A police officer charged for a sexual misconduct with a minor girl was shot dead after an attempted arrest by his fellow officers. While he was operating on a DIU checkpoint around 1 a.m. on the territory of Santa Maria, CA, the officer got surrounded by his colleagues who were ordered to take immediate action.
After the case concerning a 17-year-old minor got supported with more incriminating evidence, the order came to arrest the accused officer immediately. Unfortunately, he put up a fight trying to resist the arrest, and at one point he took out his gun and fired once, but hit no one.
One of the police officers on the team responded with shooting him in the chest, which turned out to be a lethal shot.
The name of the killed police officer still can’t be revealed due to the sensitivity of the whole case, and Santa Maria police chief Danny Macagni was rather brief in his official statement. he pointed out that it was necessary to take such extreme measures against a fellow police officer, and that the incident could have been avoided if he hadn’t acted so impulsively at the time of the arrest.
The officer who fired the shot is currently under investigation about the whole case, Macagni stated.
Both Sides of the Law
How the system allows Milwaukee Police officers to keep their jobs despite run-ins with the law
A jury on Wednesday found fired Milwaukee police officer Ladmarald Cates guilty of violating a woman’s civil rights by raping her after he responded to her 911 call in July 2010.
Despite being acquitted on a second count, Cates, 44, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced April 11. He will likely serve far less time under federal sentencing guidelines.
The victim in the case cried as the verdict was announced. Afterward, she said she was glad her ordeal had ended.
“I really appreciate the federal government helping me,” she said. “It means a whole lot to me that I don’t have to deal with it anymore, and no other women will have to deal with it. I’m happy he won’t hurt anybody else.”
The jury deliberated for just three hours. In their split verdict, they found Cates not guilty of using a firearm in a crime of violence. They also found that although Cates committed a rape that qualified as aggravated sexual abuse, it did not result in bodily injury to the victim.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson said he was pleased with the outcome.
“We feel like we won the heart of the case,” he said. “Of course, we want to win everything, but it was a difficult case.”
Defense attorney Bridget Boyle said she and her client accepted the result of the trial process.
“They made a decision that he violated her civil rights, and we accept that,” she said. “They obviously didn’t believe some of her testimony in regards to the gun and decided there was no bodily injury.”
Now, Boyle said, she and Cates would shift their focus to keeping him out of prison.
The trial, which began Monday, came down to who was more credible: Cates or the victim. both testified, and they gave vastly different accounts.
Cates said the woman had sex with him willingly after he arrived at her north side home in response to her 911 call about neighbors throwing bricks and rocks through the windows. The two had met previously, during a traffic stop, and they started flirting and talking, he said. when he told her he was becoming aroused, she performed a sex act, which led to intercourse, he said.
In stark contrast, the woman testified that Cates assaulted her. As he did, she feared he could kill her and she would never see her two young children again. She didn’t try to fight him, but did not want to have sex with him and did not consent, said the woman, then 19. She felt threatened by his police firearm, which was on his belt during the assault, she said.
During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, both the prosecution and the defense focused on the issue of whose version was more credible.
Saeed A. Mody, a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, told jurors Cates “went from police officer to predator when he preyed upon a young woman he saw as powerless, vulnerable and voiceless.”
“He picked someone he thought would never say what happened, and if she did, no one would believe her,” Mody said.
The jury should believe her, Mody said, because her consistency in relating the details of the assault, her actions afterward and the medical evidence in the case make her credible.
He reminded jurors that Cates had told an internal affairs detective three different stories. First, Cates denied having sexual contact with the woman in July, but said the two had previously had sex in his car while on a date after a traffic stop. then, he said that although they did not have sex in July, she grabbed him and touched herself sexually. In a third statement, he said he and the woman engaged in two sex acts that were consensual. during the third statement, he also said they had not really had sex previously.
Boyle, the defense attorney, conceded in closing arguments that Cates had initially lied to the detective but contended that his third account, which he repeated on the witness stand, was the truth.
Boyle pointed out several inconsistencies in the details of the woman’s statements, such as who took her children out of the house and whether Cates responded when she asked him to use a condom.
Boyle also emphasized that a medical examination of the victim after the incident showed no injuries to her vaginal area.
The U.S. attorney’s office and FBI began investigating Cates in late 2010 after the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office declined to charge him.
Cates was fired from the Police Department in December 2010 for lying and for “idling and loafing” because having sex on duty is against department rules.
Last year, a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed Cates had been accused of breaking the law five times before. Three of the previous allegations involved sexual misconduct – two with female prisoners and one with a 16-year-old girl. The alleged incidents date to 2000, three years after he was hired by the department.
Internal investigators referred Cates to the district attorney’s office for possible charges in two of the previous cases.
The first was a domestic violence battery in 2000. Cates’ then-girlfriend said he shoved and choked her. Prosecutors offered Cates a diversion agreement, which allowed him to avoid charges by refraining from criminal activity, avoiding violent contact with the victim and undergoing counseling.
A conviction on a domestic violence charge would have prevented Cates from carrying a gun under federal law and resulted in his removal from the force.
Police also referred Cates to the district attorney’s office on allegations of having sex with the 16-year-old in 2007. Prosecutors declined to charge him.
Due to the rules of evidence, the jury was not allowed to hear testimony about any of the previous allegations.
Attorney Robin Shellow, who was retained by the victim to help her bring the case to prosecutors, said she was proud her client had not given up.
“It’s humbling to have a client who went out and actively attempted to save the lives of other women,” Shellow said. “It was a crime against her civil rights, and it was violence against women. . . . She has achieved justice on behalf of women in Milwaukee, and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Examining the Factors Associated with Taser Use
- Matthew S. Crow1
- Brittany Adrion1
- 1University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA
- Matthew S. Crow, School of Justice Studies & Social Work, University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL 32514, USA Email: mcrow{at}uwf.edu
Abstract
The use of force by police officers is a regular source of interest among the public, media, scholars, and criminal justice professionals. Tasers have emerged as an important and increasingly popular technology for police departments. Despite the increasing adoption and use of Tasers and the controversy surrounding their use, relatively little prior research examines the factors associated with Taser use by police officers. Guided by the focal concerns theoretical perspective, the current study uses data from a medium-size police department to analyze the factors that influence Taser use. Logistic regression models provide evidence that Taser use is influenced by suspect resistance as well as the race and gender of the suspect involved. Implications for policy and research are discussed.
Article Notes
Matthew S. Crow is associate professor in the School of Justice Studies & Social Work at the University of West Florida. he received his PhD from Florida State University. his primary research interests include sentencing, criminal justice theory, conservation policing, and police use of force. his recent publications appear in the Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Organization & Environment, Women & Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Criminal Justice Review, and American Journal of Criminal Justice.
Brittany Adrion is a recent graduate from the School of Justice Studies & Social Work at the University of West Florida. She received both her BA and MS in criminal justice from UWF. her primary research interests include criminal justice theory, policing, and the judicial process.
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Four suspects, including two juveniles, were arrested early Saturday on burglary and related charges after their car slammed into a house near 46th St. and Scranton place in Milwaukee, police said.
According to police, officers were dispatched around 5 a.m. to a clothing store near N. 47th and W. Burleigh Ave. where they found several young men burglarizing the business. The suspects fled in their vehicle, nearly striking an officer. Police chased them but lost sight of the vehicle.
Minutes later, police said, a call came in reporting a vehicle hitting a house. Police said it was the same vehicle seen at the scene of the burglary, and a search yielded property stolen in that heist.
The suspects, ages 15, 16, 18, and 19, were being held Saturday on charges of burglary, fleeing, auto theft, and recklessly endangering safety. Three of the suspects were injured during the crash and one of the suspects is still hospitalized with a broken hip.
Residents of the home were asleep at the time of the crash, but no one there was injured.
© 2011, Journal Sentinel Inc. all rights reserved.
Tagged with:california police, law abuse, law enforcement misconduct, police misconduct, police murder, police shoots, usa police
A 31 year old unarmed man, the father of four, was killed by mistake during the police search for an ATM robber.
The incident happened in Downey, California, where an ATM had been robbed at gunpoint. several minutes later, two police officers spotted a man they said was matching the suspect’s description.
That man was Michael Nida, who was jaywalking across the street to buy cigarettes as his wife bought gas. The police detained him, but allegedly he managed to run away. he was found a short distance away where he was detained for the second time, but he broke loose again and started running. That’s when he got shot, and later died on the way to the hospital.
The question is why didn’t the police check him for weapons or handcuff him while he was detained twice, and why there wasn’t a non-lethal way to stop the suspect.
Examining the Factors associated with Taser Use
- Matthew S. Crow1
- Brittany Adrion1
- 1University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA
- Matthew S. Crow, School of Justice Studies & Social Work, University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL 32514, USA Email: mcrow{at}uwf.edu
Abstract
The use of force by police officers is a regular source of interest among the public, media, scholars, and criminal justice professionals. Tasers have emerged as an important and increasingly popular technology for police departments. Despite the increasing adoption and use of Tasers and the controversy surrounding their use, relatively little prior research examines the factors associated with Taser use by police officers. Guided by the focal concerns theoretical perspective, the current study uses data from a medium-size police department to analyze the factors that influence Taser use. Logistic regression models provide evidence that Taser use is influenced by suspect resistance as well as the race and gender of the suspect involved. Implications for policy and research are discussed.
Article Notes
Matthew S. Crow is associate professor in the School of Justice Studies & Social Work at the University of West Florida. he received his PhD from Florida State University. his primary research interests include sentencing, criminal justice theory, conservation policing, and police use of force. his recent publications appear in the Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Organization & Environment, Women & Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Criminal Justice Review, and American Journal of Criminal Justice.
Brittany Adrion is a recent graduate from the School of Justice Studies & Social Work at the University of West Florida. She received both her BA and MS in criminal justice from UWF. her primary research interests include criminal justice theory, policing, and the judicial process.
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Tagged with:law abuse, police brutality at sports, police brutality on children, police brutality on women, police use paper spray, roosevelt police, usa police
What started as a small town football game ended with tears and chaos when the police used pepper spray on both spectators and players.
It was a game between two long time rival schools, Uintah High and Union High, played in Duchesne County on the Union High Cougars’ home turf. the Cougars lost the game, and as the players were leaving the field, a group of Polynesian supporters tried to cheer them up by doing the Haka, a traditional war chant that is often performed at football games throughout the state.
While doing it, a group of about 15 men and boys had blocked the exit from the field, so the police ordered them to move. One eyewitness who identified herself just as Breana, said that two police officers were yelling “Make a hole! make a hole!” while the coaches and players assured them there was nothing to worry about, saying “It’s OK! let them do it!” Instead of listening to them, the police started spraying everyone around, including the players and even little kids.
Breana said that her husband and 4-year old son were both exposed to spraying. Other witness said his young son, daughter and mother-in-law were also pepper-sprayed. he confirmed that Haka didn’t pose a threat, and that the police overreacted.
Roosevelt police didn’t want to give any statements.
Developing–A disgruntled ex employee with Exxon is armed and has holed himself up in a New Jersey office building, creating a tense stand-off with police.
Two SWAT teams have surrounded the building in Paramus, about ten miles northwest of New York City, while the unidentified suspect barricaded himself on the first floor offices of the Oil Company just before 11 a.m. Tuesday.
A employee with Prudential, which also has offices in the building, said another worker ran into his office and warned him of the gunman.
“I was sitting at my desk minding my own business. a women says, ‘get out of the building.There’s a man with a weapon.,’” Employee Bob Fortsch told the Record of Bergen County.
The building has been evacuated while authorities continue to expand a permitter around the complex.
It is believed that the gunman has no hostages while as many as 100 police officers have responded to the standoff, according to the Record.
