Mass Arrests After Bottles Hurled at Cops From Bronx Building

CONCOURSE VILLAGE — A wild melee broke out in the Bronx Saturday after scores of police officers stormed a six-story building where glass bottles had been hurled from a roof at cops below.





As police surrounded the building at 355 E. 163rd St., some 50 people gathered outside, sparking fights with officers that left one cop with an injured hand and at least 10 people — including four who are younger than 16 — under arrest on charges ranging from rioting and disorderly conduct to assault, according to police.

Criminal complaints charge that those arrested were "pushing, grabbing, and kicking" officers as they tried to find and capture the people who had thrown the bottles, and that members of the crowd refused to disperse.

But witnesses and people named in the complaints say they were merely bystanders who police indiscriminately arrested, including an eighth-grade boy who said he was pepper-sprayed and punched soon after returning from Saturday school and a mother who said she was pepper-sprayed and arrested while trying to stop her sons from joining the fray.

"We don’t assume all cops are bad, so how can they assume all of us are bad?" asked the mother, Trina Stephenson, whose charges include disorderly conduct, rioting and resisting arrest.

The police department’s press office did not respond to questions about the incident or allegations by people involved. The Bronx District Attorney's office provided criminal complaints for the six adults arrested, but not the juveniles.

According to witnesses as well as people who were arrested, on Saturday evening some building residents and a few police patrol officers were standing near the corner of 163rd Street and Teller Avenue, where a mobile police surveillance tower was installed about two weeks earlier due to gang activity in the area.

Sometime before 6 p.m., the first bottles began to fall and shatter on the pavement, sending residents scurrying and officers calling for backup. One officer from the 44th precinct who asked not to be named said objects had been thrown at cops from rooftops in that area before.

As officers arrived, they began to round up young people who were standing around the intersection or in the courtyard of the complex that includes the building from where the bottles were tossed, according to witnesses.

A police van soon carted away several suspects, most of them young people, witnesses said. But more bottles continued to fall, prompting more officers to arrive.

A YouTube video containing explicit language taken from one of the buildings in the complex shows dozens of marked and unmarked police cars filling multiple blocks around the intersection.

While officers flooded the building and courtyard, residents of the complex began to gather outside to see what was happening and to check if anyone they knew had been arrested.

Stephenson, 33, who was outside when the bottles landed, said that when she saw the first wave of officers arrive, she rushed to grab her two teenage sons. She was shielding one son and clutching the other when cops began to pull the three apart, then pepper spray and handcuff her, she said.

Stephenson, who lives in Middletown, N.Y., but was visiting relatives in the neighborhood where she grew up, said she and others were careful not to fight officers during the incident.

"We’re not stupid," she said. "We know what’s going to happen if we hit them back."

Alshante Baker, 14, an eighth grader at nearby Bronx Early College Academy, had just returned from classes he takes at the school on Saturdays to prepare for the high school entrance exams.

After he dropped his backpack in his aunt’s apartment inside the complex, he went back to the courtyard to find out what was happening.

As soon as he stepped outside, police officers yelled at, shoved and handcuffed him, and he was hit with pepper spray in his left eye, he said. He was then arrested.

Baker’s father, Jermaine Brown, 40, said his son is a straight-A student who spends most afternoons inside to avoid trouble.

"They arrested a model kid for no reason," Brown said Monday afternoon, before taking his son to the hospital to have his eye examined.

"I’ve lived in this area for 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like this," Brown added.

Other witnesses said they saw other young people punched and pepper sprayed, including a girl with asthma, Shanic Williams, 14, who said she had trouble breathing after being sprayed.

Officer Julian Martinez "suffered substantial pain and a sprained hand" when a 19-year-old man kicked Martinez while he was trying to make an arrest, according to the complaint.

 Maria Lazo, the superintendent of a building that faces the one where the incident occurred, witnessed part of the skirmish. She said cops in the area are sometimes too aggressive, but mainly, "They’re here trying to protect the rest of us."

Most of the blame for Saturday’s uproar, she said, belonged to whoever threw the bottles. "It bothers me when people do stuff like that," said Lazo, "because the whole community gets messed up."

2 Cops Get Handled On Train! (Man Runs Off)

From World Star Hip Hop:

US police kill African-American woman in Chicago

(Press TV)

The 22-year-old Reekie Aboid succumbed to her wounds at Mount Sinai hospital in Lawndale nearly one week ago.

The police officer was reportedly investigating a disturbance near his home while off-duty.

A black man, who was also injured in the attack, explained that the officer shot him after mistaking his cell phone for a weapon.

He said that he was speaking when he was attacked and had no gun on him, adding that phone records as well as the man he was talking to will back him up.

The black man noted that he sustained serious injuries to his thumb as he wrapped his hand around his face to avoid being shot in the head.

The shooting has failed to get media coverage in the United States as attacks involving black Americans face media blackout.

Last month, watch guard George Zimmerman shot unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin dead near his house in Florida.

Sanford police did not charge Zimmerman after he said he shot Martin in self-defense. A grand jury, however, will decide whether to charge Zimmerman with murder on April 10.

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators march to protest against police violence

From The Guardian (UK)

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched to protest against police violence and demand the resignation of New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly on Saturday afternoon.
Protesters marched from the movement's original base of operations, Zuccotti Park, in lower Manhattan to Union Square, where occupiers and police have been facing off for the past week.

The mood varied from playful to confrontational throughout the afternoon. A handful of occupiers had fashioned their bicycles to look like police scooters, wore mock police uniforms and barked familiar orders at protesters as they passed.

Throughout the march protesters repeated anti-police chants. A chant of "hey-hey, ho-ho, Ray Kelly has got to go," steadily morphed into "Hey-hey, ho-ho, every cop has got to go". "Fuck the police" was also a popular refrain.

Early on, at least two young women and a man were arrested after the women laid on their backs in a busy intersection. "I don't respect your authority," one yelled as she was led away by police.

Tensions escalated as the march moved into the SoHo and Chinatown districts, where streets are narrow and ill-equipped to accommodate scores of energetic protesters. Approximately a half dozen more people were arrested or detained in a brief period of intense confrontations in the area.

Participants in the march had made repeated attempts to move into roadways and the police responded by sending in helmeted officers carrying batons and bundles of zip-tie handcuffs.

One protester appeared to suffer an injured ankle and a plainclothes officer was seen blocking the camera of a New York Times photographer as he attempted to document an arrest.

As protesters carried on into more spacious areas, the intensity died down. The march arrived to Union Square amid chants of "stop, stop, stop police brutality" and "One, we are the people, Two, we are united, Three, this occupation is not leaving."

Occupy Wall Street called for the demonstration following last weekend's mass arrest of at least 73 protesters, a crackdown most Occupiers described as excessively violent. Organisers framed Saturday's action as a critique of an array of NYPD tactics that tend to disproportionately target low-income communities and people of colour. Protesters repeatedly pointed to the department's widespread use of street-level stop and frisks and the surveillance of Muslim communities as examples of failed NYPD policy.

By early evening, there had been 14 arrests. City councilman Jumaane Williams, a supporter of the Occupy movement, was on hand for the march and attempted to de-escalate confrontations between police and the protesters.

"My primary job is to make sure everybody's rights are protected and nobody is harmed," Williams said.

"I think we're seeing the frustration and anger raised on both sides, the protesters and the police and I blame that squarely on the mayor and the commissioner," he added. "They refuse to address the issues that we're trying to discuss. They refuse to acknowledge there's a problem with the culture within the NYPD."

"I don't blame the rank and file NYPD. I blame the leadership of the NYPD and the city," Williams went on to say. "When you try to suppress people's speech, they do tend to get angry. What I saw last week was people using Zuccotti park in the way that it was supposed to be, they way that they were told that they could legally use it and they still got beat up and they still got arrested."

The focus of Saturday's action, however, left some protesters worried.

"I'm a little concerned about our message getting watered down," Occupy protester Aaron Black told the Guardian. Black argues that while protesters have suffered aggressive treatment by the police, the movement should remain focused on economic issues.

"We started the conversation in September," Black said. "What we're upset about is that they keep interrupting the conversation."

"We keep getting our heads kicked," he explained. "That's not constitutional."

Black said he fears continued clashes with the police could obfuscate Occupy's opposition to things like corporate personhood and the influence of money in politics, "I hope it's not a constant showdown with police."

Protester Liesbeth Rapp said the issue of police violence is impossible for Occupy to ignore. Rapp said she has witnessed "an insane amount of police brutality" against Occupy protesters over the past six months.

"We didn't target police brutality. Police brutality targeted us," she said. "We have to make people aware of what the state is doing, but it's a complex issue.

"We have to make them aware that their tax dollars are being misused to suppress people exercising their first amendment rights and any form of dissent. That's very important for people to know," Rapp added. "I feel it's a vital thing to call attention to."

Antioch police kill parolee after car chase

From SFGate:

A man wanted for an alleged parole violation led Antioch, [California] officers on a car chase Thursday before crashing into a police cruiser and being shot to death, authorities said.

David John Lopez, 26, who was on parole for possession of stolen property, refused to stop when detectives tried to pull him over for the unspecified parole violation about 4 p.m., police said.

He led officers on a chase that ended at East 13th Street and Hillcrest Avenue when he crashed into a cruiser.

The crash led to a confrontation that resulted in Lopez being shot, said acting police Capt. Leonard Orman. Police have not said whether Lopez was armed.

The names of the officers involved have not been released. The shooting is being investigated by police and the Contra Costa County district attorney.

Lopez died at a hospital. He had no fixed address, the coroner said.

A 25-year-old woman who was in the car with Lopez was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant. Police did not specify the crime, and her name has not been released.

Police kill gunman

LAGUNA – A pursuit that began in Albuquerque with gunshots, ended in an officer killing a man just off I-40 at Laguna, 21 miles west of Grants.

The man’s name has not been released. I-40 was closed for hours as officials investigated the scene.

The incident began at approximately 1 p.m., KRQE News 13 reported, near Golf Course Road in Albuquerque. Police reported that two women had been shot at but the shots missed.

Albuquerque Police Department (APD) chased the man onto I-40 up to Rio Puerco where New Mexico State Police took over the pursuit, according to the News 13 online report.

The hot pursuit ended near mile marker 108 at Laguna Pueblo, where the driver attempted to pass a vehicle on the shoulder and hit a semi-truck, according to Cibola County Undersheriff Tony Mace. The Mustang stopped in the median lane with a dual-trailer FedEx truck jammed against its rear bumper.

The pursuit reached speeds up to 130 miles per hour, said one truck driver witness.

"I was running about 76, 77 mile an hour," truck driver Hollis Gifford told KRQE News 13. "So, he come around us, I'd say anywhere from 110-130."

After the crash, the suspect with a gun ran north across the BNSF Railway tracks into a field where he was ultimately shot by an officer.

“As I was driving up I heard a bang,” said Mace. The Cibola County Sheriff Department assisted the state police with securing the scene of the accident and with traffic control. Sheriff Johnny Valdez was on his way to Albuquerque for a doctor’s appointment and noticed the chase near nine-mile hill. “He immediately called me and suggested that we be on standby,” said Mace. “We had the exits secured near Grants shortly after dispatch notified us. We didn’t want the chase to lead into the town.”

Mace noted that a handgun was lying next to the suspect.

The crash and investigation shut down ten miles of westbound I-40 from about 2 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.

According to KRQE 13, a statement from APD said numerous people at Lovelace Westside Hospital witnessed the initial shooting, and that the woman was treated there for a broken ankle and cuts to her head.

It is not clear whether that woman was the target of the gunfire that started the incident.

Police kill NJ man who allegedly brandished knife

BAYONNE, N.J. (AP) - Police in Bayonne have shot and killed a man who allegedly lunged at them with a kitchen knife.

The shooting occurred at a mobile home community Wednesday evening.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office says 62-year-old Mariano Vargas was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers were called to the residence about an hour earlier by Vargas' niece, a Bayonne police officer.

County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio says Vargas barricaded an entrance but officers gained access through a rear door. They tried to disarm Vargas, but he lunged at them. Two officers fired five shots, at least 1 of which hit Vargas in the chest. An autopsy report is pending.

DeFazio says Vargas had a history of psychiatric issues and had been acting erratically recently.

The prosecutor's office is investigating the shooting.

Ontario police shoot and kill knife-wielding man during confrontation in parking lot

AP

ONTARIO, Calif. — Police in Ontario have shot and killed a local man they say lunged at them with a knife in the parking lot of a convenience store.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (http://bit.ly/GEkLG8 ) says the 42-year-old man died at the scene Monday night. His name hasn't been released.

Police say the confrontation began when someone flagged down a patrol officer at around 11:30 p.m. to report seeing a man with a knife.

Four officers spotted the man in the parking lot of an AM/PM market and ordered him to drop the knife. Police say instead, he lunged at the officers and was shot.

Anger, tears at Montreal anti-police brutality march

MONTREAL - Mia Laberge and Naomie Décarie could hardly withhold their angry tears after Montreal police charged toward demonstrators Thursday and, seemingly unprovoked, fired tear gas into the crowd.

“They are operating on a strategy of fear,” said Laberge, a law student at the Université du Québec a Montréal. “We have the right to demonstrate, but as a woman, I felt threatened by them.

“These are the people who are supposed to protect us, but we’re not safe at all.”

A joint demonstration by students protesting rising tuition fees and people against police brutality began at about rush hour at Berri and Ste Catherine Sts. About 2,000 protesters headed north, then west along Sherbrooke St., but no police were visible along the route, although they were positioned on adjacent streets and in the métro.

When about six officers did appear, a few protesters started throwing rocks at them. At Aylmer and Sherbrooke Sts., police fired off two loud sound grenades, sending a panic through the crowd. Protesters ran in all directions, but riot police formed a line, and banging on their shields with their batons, marched forward, shoving demonstrators north.

Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafrenière said police had to stop the march for the safety of motorists on Sherbrooke.

“(Demonstrators) have rights but so do others,” he said, adding that police hadn’t been informed of the march’s route.

One man, trying to stop some young men from throwing rocks, was hit in the forehead with a tear-gas canister and it exploded.

Scott Weinstein, a nurse in the crowd who was providing first aid when needed, poured water over the man’s eyes, as the man screamed in anger.

“If he hadn’t been wearing ski goggles, he could have been blinded,” Weinstein said. “His hair was singed and his goggles covered in chemicals.

“I’ve never been in a demonstration ever where police threw explosives into the crowd,” said Weinstein, who says he’s been in dozens of demos. “It’s a terrible path to take because these people will lose their eyes.”

The man, who said he had a 20-month-old child, sat on the steps of an apartment building and tried to comprehend what had just happened.

“I was being peaceful and this is what they do to me?” he yelled.

The crowd then broke up into different groups, with some demonstrators, like Décarie and Laberge, deciding to leave the march.

“I feel totally traumatized by this,” Décarie said. “They’re treating us like terrorists and no one is even armed.”

Police reported more than 150 arrests, two injured police officers and a few vandalized store fronts. One police car was flipped over and smashed. Police said a second one was damaged as well.

They also reported looting at Future Shop.

On Ste. Catherine St., Tina Tsimiklis, in town from Halifax for her children’s March break, was taking photos of her sons in front of a smashed store window.

“This is pretty fricking awesome,” said 16-year-old Dimitri Tsimiklis. “Nothing ever happens like this in Halifax.”

Tina Tsimiklis said they saw protesters and police in riot gear coming along the street and, not knowing what was going on, they convinced a reluctant security guard at the Eaton’s Centre to let them in.

A young woman, who didn’t want to give her name, held a bag of ice to her right eye after a police officer whacked her with his baton.

“(Riot police) were coming towards us and my friend dropped his cellphone so I bent down to pick it up with my arms raised in the air, so one hit me in the face and my back,” she said.

Lafrenière defended the police force’s tactics, saying they had warned people ahead of time that pepper spray and tear gas would be used if necessary.

Police made the majority of the evening’s arrests in front of the Bibliothèque Nationale, on Berri St.

Weinstein said those arrested were just standing still, arms locked, in front of the library chanting.

“They were the least provocative of the whole march,” he said. “They were catchable.”

Lafrenière claimed the demonstrators “wanted to put on a show.”

“They were chasing us all night long because they wanted to get arrested,” he said.