Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House

LEBANON, TENNESSEE - A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house.

Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door.

The two officers, 25-year-old Kyle Shedran and 24-year-old Greg Day, were placed on administrative leave with pay.

“They need to get rid of those men, boys with toys,” said Adams’ 70-year-old widow, Loraine.
John Adams was watching television when his wife heard pounding on the door. Police claim they identified themselves and wore police jackets. Loraine Adams said she had no indication the men were police.

“I thought it was a home invasion. I said ‘Baby, get your gun!,” she said, sitting amid friends and relatives gathered at her home to cook and prepare for Sunday’s funeral.

Resident Fired First

Police say her husband fired first with a sawed-off shotgun and they responded. He was shot at least three times and died later at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

Loraine Adams said she was handcuffed and thrown to her knees in another room when the shooting began.

“I said, ‘Y’all have got the wrong person, you’ve got the wrong place. What are you looking for?“‘

“We did the best surveillance we could do, and a mistake was made,” Lebanon Police Chief Billy Weeks said. “It’s a very severe mistake, a costly mistake. It makes us look at our own policies and procedures to make sure this never occurs again.” He said, however, the two policemen were not at fault.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating. NAACP officials said they are monitoring the case. Adams was black. The two policemen are white.

Family members did not consider race a factor and Weeks agreed, but said the shooting will be “a major setback” for police relations with the black community.

“We know that, we hope to do everything we can to heal it,” Weeks said.

Johnny Crudup, a local NAACP official, said the organization wanted to make sure and would investigate on its own.

Weeks said he has turned the search warrant and all other evidence over to the bureau of investigation and District Attorney General Tommy Thompson. A command officer must now review all search warrants.

Free KteeO Olejnik: another grand jury resister jailed today

From Committee Against Political Repression
 
Katherine “KteeO” Olejnik was taken into federal custody today for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury. She is the second subpeanut to be jailed for refusing to testify.

Please write to KteeO!! She is specifically interested in news and information about the Basque region, and reading material related to linguistics and social anthropology.

Katherine Olejnik #42592-086
FDC SeaTac,
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198

This is the statement she wrote explaining why she is refusing to cooperate:

For me choosing to resist a grand jury is about humanity – I cannot and will not say something that could greatly harm a person’s life, and providing information that could lead to long term incarceration would be doing that.

For me choosing to resist a grand jury is about freedom of speech and association – I cannot and will not be a party to a McCarthyist policy that is asking individuals to condemn each other based on political beliefs.

The reasons above are why I am choosing to not comply. I apologize to those in my life on whom my incarceration is going to be a burden, and I thank you for understanding my decision.

For those unaware the folks being subpoenaed are being incarcerated for refusing to answer questions about others’ political beliefs.

In Solidarity With All Those Resisting the Grand Jury,
Kteeo Olejnik

Texas cops destroy video evidence of colleague killing unarmed man

DALLAS, TEXAS -- A Texas cop is on restricted duty after killing an unarmed man, while other officers are on the hook for trying to destroy documentary evidence of the event.

A police officer in Texas shot an unarmed man before colleagues confiscated and deleted video and mobile phone evidence of the event, which is now under criminal investigation.

The victim, Michael Vincent Allen, was chased by police in the Mesquite area of Dallas, Texas for 30 minutes at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour in a pursuit that involved police forces from multiple counties.

Allen eventually pulled into a cul-de-sac, when cops say he tried to ram his way past two patrol cars that had boxed in his pickup truck.

The officer who fired the shots, Patrick Tuter, said that it was at this point that he feared for his life, leaving him with no choice but to open fire on Allen.

Allen was shot 41 times, which means Tuter would have to had reload his gun at least once.

Mitchell Wallace, who saw the altercation from his house, was asleep when the gunshots began, but quickly woke up in time to see Allen’s female passenger, who miraculously was uninjured, being pulled from the truck and a police dog jumping into the cab, which then bit Allen in the neck and jaw before dragging him to the pavement.

Police then flipped Allen onto his front and checked his pulse, the witness said.

Autopsy results have yet to show whether it was the bullets or the German Shepherd that killed him.

Wallace took pictures and shot video of what he saw of the incident on his mobile phone, which was confiscated by police at the scene and returned three days later with the pictures deleted.

Mesquite police are now conducting a criminal investigation into Officer Tuter’s actions, and will determine whether or not he broke the law. Police are also conducting an internal investigation into the destruction of photographic evidence.

Texas law states that police need a court order to confiscate a camera unless it was used to commit a crime.

It was reported in the Dallas Morning News that local journalist Avi Adelman believes the confiscation and destruction of Wallace’s photographic evidence were illegal, and violated Wallace’s First and Fourth Amendment rights (which provides for freedom of speech and the press, and prohibits searches or seizures without a warrant, respectively).

According to Adelman, it's not the first time Texas police have acted outside the law with regards to photographic and video evidence.

In this latest incident, a dashboard camera from a squad car proved that Officer Tuter’s statement that he acted in self-defense when rammed by Allen was a lie.

The camera revealed that Tuter himself had crashed his patrol car into Allen’s truck before opening fire.

Mesquite city councilor Rick Williams issued a statement to the Dallas Morning News, saying, “Some of the allegations regarding this incident do raise questions that need to be carefully examined.”

Caught on tape: Alleged police brutality in Washington

WASHINGTON -- A Washington state police department is investigating a report of police abuse after the beating of two brothers was caught on camera.

The DashCam recorded police beating and arresting the men in Tukwila, Washington.
Officers claim the men resisted arrest, but the video seems to show them raising their hands before officers approached.

The two brothers, Charles Chappelle and Jahmez Amili, say it all happened so fast.
"I was thrown to the ground," Amili said. "I didn't have no idea what was going on. I was like, I can't believe he just started punching me."

The incident happened at 2:43 a.m. on Saturday, May 12.

"Once I was on the ground, I was pinned to the ground by several people," Chapelle said. "People's hands and knees were on my hands and back, and I was getting hit continually in the face."

The officers reportedly pepper-sprayed them, too.

According to the police report, officers were responding to a fight near the Southcenter Mall when they spotted the two brothers walking near the edge of the road.

"The pair was intoxicated, showing erratic behavior and were refusing orders," the report read.

The brothers admit they'd been drinking, but they say they were not arguing with the officers.

"I had my hands raised in the air," Amili said. "I was complying with the officer's demands."

The video shows Chappelle holding his hands up. And with the video slowed down, you can even see him start to go to the ground before the officer gets to him.

Once handcuffed, the two were walked to the patrol cars, where you can clearly see Amili's bloodied face.

"I was just trying to make sure I stay alive, because I was really like feeling like I was about to die," Chapelle said. "I couldn't breathe at all."

The two brothers were arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice and resisting arrest. Police say they also assaulted the officers during the struggle.

But when the two men were taken to jail, the guards turned them away and told police they needed to be taken to the hospital instead. That was at 3:47 a.m.

According to Chappelle and Amili, they never got treatment at Highline Hospital, like it said in the police report.

They say the officers washed off their faces in a garage at the Tukwila Police Department, then drove them around with the windows down.

Finally, at 5:47 a.m., three hours after they were first approached by police, Chappelle and Amili were taken to the jail and booked.

Both of the men have previous criminal convictions for drugs and assault.

The charges against Amili in this case were recently dismissed by a judge, but they are still pending against Chappelle.

Recent police brutality and shootings leave citizens angry and fearful

‘BodyMore’ is the newest label citizens have placed on a city that experienced historic lows in homicides and violent crimes just last year

 
Rally for Anthony Anderson

BALTIMORE, MD -- While a Texas inmate was being executed yesterday thousands of miles away, angry protestors took to the streets of East Baltimore to protest the suspected officer-related killing of Anthony Anderson last week, which has left an entire family mourning and residents calling for answers.

As family members, community residents and witnesses of last week’s fatal incident gathered in the vacant lot that was the place Mr. Anderson took his last breath, leaders of yesterday’s organized rally and press conference stepped up their criticisms of what they describe as a ‘police department gone wild’. Cortly ‘C.D.’ Witherspoon, President of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said that it seems as if Baltimore is slowly becoming more and more like the Wild, Wild West; and described the multiple officer-related shootings and police brutality cases his group has been investigating as pathetic. “These people are sworn to ‘protect and serve’ the interests of residents, not to over-aggressively take the lives of individuals who are no threat to them whatsoever,” said the 30-year old pastor and activist.

Calling for answers into a case that has police backpedalling from their initial statement as to what happened, Witherspoon and All People’s Congress leader Sharon Black, are fed up with the constant calls they receive about police brutality throughout the city. Family members of Anderson’s - who was initially said to have ingested an unknown quantity of narcotics in which he choked on causing his death during a ‘routine drug arrest’ on Friday evening - are now awaiting a full autopsy report on his death after an initial medical evaluation determined that he had in fact not choked off of any related substance. Examiners of Anderson have said that he had suffered multiple injuries, including at least one broken bone; which speaks to witnesses accounts that Anderson was beaten and slammed by the plain-clothes Baltimore City Police officers known as ‘knockers’.

“He was no angel but ‘Ant’ [Anthony Anderson] was not doing nothing but minding his own business when these officers came up on him from behind, after jumping out their vehicles; slammed him to the ground and forcibly searched his pockets,” says one eyewitness, who declined to give their name based on fear of backlash. “They claimed that they saw him swallow something, and ordered him to spit it out; yet, when he didn’t – because he had nothing to spit out – they preceded to semi-choke him in a heimlich maneuver attempt to have him throw up his contents. Which ain’t nothing new, as they do that [explicit] all the time in the hood?”

And while questions remain to linger regarding this case, shootings, especially officer-related shootings, continue to increase around the city. Speaking with two ‘Mother’s on the Move’ Monday evening, Chris Brown and Darlene Cain, who both lost their son’s lives at the hands of Baltimore area police officers; issues were addressed that speaks to the core problems many area residents are facing when dealing with the police department. Even as Delegate Jill Carter offered some insightful and progressive legislative policies she plans to introduce in January during the next General Assembly session, the concerns of the majority of blacks in Baltimore have escalated from timid to fearful, leaving Carter’s office flooded with calls and emails calling for answers.

“I think that we’ve become numb to life and death issues in our community, and to police brutality which seems to have become a regular occurrence in many neighborhoods; even police misconduct happens so frequently in Baltimore - from the car towing scandal, dope dealing officer and others – that we almost see it as a norm which is crazy,” said the 41st district delegate during a television appearance on the Reporters’ Roundtable. “To have your child taken from you at the hands of a police officer is inexcusable and should not be tolerated by any means! And while we came in droves to lift up Trayvon Martin, we witness incidents like this right here at home on a regular basis and we need to start doing more to uplift our own communities.”

And while the president of the city’s police union remains ‘confident that the investigation into the Anderson case will show that the officers did not violate any criminal statutes’, as he does with almost every case involving one of his own, regardless of the evidence against them; Delegate Carter feels elected officials need to take a harder look at the practices used by the police department, and the psychological evaluations of each officer on an ongoing and regular basis. “These young men could have been the next Ray Rice or the next Ray Lewis, and contrary to popular belief amongst many of these officers, their life had value; and there should never be a shoot first mentality, as the authorization of deadly force should only be used when the officers life is in imminent danger” – and clearly that is not the case these days?

Baltimore’s homicide rate has spiked over the past few weeks, starting with the deadly Labor Day weekend when sixteen reported shootings resulted in six homicides, and officer-related shootings have surpassed last year’s number already with at least 12-shootings and nine fatalities; and the question on everyone’s mind is – when is enough, enough? When will the Mayor and the members of the City Council and City Delegation step up and call on added resources or criminal investigations into these matters? With the new police commissioner being sworn in yesterday, with two of his top four commanders absent based on retirement and ‘indefinite medical leave’; what will this outsider do to quell the fear amongst area residents who are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and want to reclaim their neighborhoods?

We have yet to hear almost any city ‘elected leader’ speak out against this recent rash of violence or the rising police-related homicides, as they seem to be too busy frolicking in North Carolina for a party convention and more concerned about getting people out to vote for President Obama this fall? Well, we can’t vote if we’re not alive on November 6th?

Police Kill Disturbed Man Who Refused To Drop Huge Knife, Slashed Cops' Bulletproof Vests

NEW YORK, NY -- Last night, the police fatally shot a Harlem man who allegedly refused to drop a foot-long knife and even slashed cops' bulletproof vests after they Tasered him twice. But Mohamed Bah's mother, who contacted police over son's behavior, says, "I'm disappointed in the police. I just called for help."

Bah's mother, Hawa Bah, called police because her 28-year-old son (she's in town from Guinea for his birthday this week) refused to open his door at 113 Morningside Avenue. Bah, a cabbie, opened the door for responding officers, but the Post reports that he was "naked with the blade in his hand. He slammed it shut and hostage negotiators were called."

Then the ESU officers "put a fiber-optic camera underneath the door, and Bah reached for it, rushed outside and charged at them with the weapon." Here's the NYPD's account:

ESU officers entered the apartment building and confronted the man as he emerged from the apartment and confronted officers armed with a foot-long kitchen knife. As the man advanced, refusing to comply with orders to drop the knife, ESU officers fired a Taser to no effect, followed by the firing of a rubber projectile, also to no effect. Then another Taser was fired a second time to no effect. The subject continued to advance on the officers to the point he was able to slash the vest of one officer, and to puncture a first aid kit attached to the vest of another officer. ESU officers then discharged their duty weapons striking the armed man in the torso.

Bah was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital.
Bah's brother told the Daily News, "He was a working man. He drove a taxi, he went to school. He was sick and he needed help. They called for help and they killed him.”

83-year-old grandmother calls 911, police arrive and shoot her three times, dead

VIRGINIA -- Police in Altavista, Virginia say they had no choice but to shoot an 83-year-old Christian grandmother because she would not drop her gun during a standoff.

Delma Towler, 83, grandmother and active participant in her local church was gunned down by police after she called 911. Records indicate that Towler called 911 and hung up the phone without making a report.

The call trigged an automatic dispatch of police to Towler's residence. Upon arriving police claim to have heard gunshots from inside the home. There was no indication that Towler was attempting to shoot at the police.

When law enforcement came to the front door, Towler ran out the back door apparently in fear that the police were actually criminals. At this time she was still armed.

It was locally reported by WDBJ7.com that the Virginia State Police (VSP) issued the following statement:

Altavista Police Officers made several attempts to determine if anyone was inside Delma Towler's home and then heard shots fired from inside.

Officers took cover and watched her leave the house with a gun in her hand. They followed her as she walked up to another home.

They approached Towler, and commanded her repeatedly to put down her gun. Officers say she refused and pointed her weapon at them. She was then shot and died at the scene.

Allegedly shots were fired from inside the home, but forensic evidence has not been made public yet to confirm this. Towler's son, Robert Barbour, says that if his mother did discharge her weapon it would only have been to scare away an intruder. He says, "Mom ain't gonna hurt no police officer or nobody else. She was a good Christian woman and she wouldn't hurt a soul."

In analyzing the official statement by the VSP, their reasoning is curious. They claim Towler was walking up to another home, but that home was owned by her sister. Robert Barbour claims, "My aunt was holding the door open for her to come in and my aunt said she heard three shots like bang, bang, bang and she went down."

Police claim they commanded Towler to put down her weapon, and that she refused. They claim that she then pointed her weapon at the officers, and they had no choice but to open fire on the senior citizen to protect their own lives.

For this statement to be true several things also have to be true. The police's statement implies a conversation between Towler and officers in that backyard. For Towler to point the weapon at officers, this means it was not pointed at them when they demanded she drop the weapon.

Therefore the police claim they accosted an armed elderly Delma Towler, and after identifying themselves as police officers and telling her to drop her weapon she instead, while being surrounded, raised her weapon? This is the official rationale offered by police.

Draw your own conclusions.

NYPD footage of Zuccotti Park raid leaked

Anonymous releases secret police film from the Zuccotti raid 

By Natasha Lennard
 
The presence of NYPD TARU (Technical Assistance Response Unit) officers at Occupy protests has long been a source of contention among occupiers and legal observers. The precise role and remit of the camera-wielding officers is ill-defined; the end product of their constant filming usually goes unseen by those featured in it.

However, on Sunday a group claiming Anonymous affiliation released 60 hours of TARU footage from the night of the Zuccotti Park eviction on Nov. 15. The footage is considered particularly relevant in fleshing out the NYPD versus Occupy narrative, since both mainstream and citizen journalists and videographers were forcibly kept away from the park as officers dismantled the encampment and rounded up protesters that night.

A release introducing the footage dump notes, “The NYPD denied freedom of the press the night of the Zuccotti raid by kicking out media and keeping them two blocks away … Much of the video being released is edited by the NYPD, and at times edits are quite blatant, probably trying to cover up their brutality.”

The release urges that readers share the TARU footage and take note of any glitches or time stamp changes, which might suggest selective editing. “We ask for an unedited version of the tapes,” it notes.

A YouTube trailer teasing the footage (introduced, of course, by a trademark Anonymous Guy Fawkes masked man) highlights instances of aggressive arrests and police treatment of the encampment structures.

This is not the first instance of TARU footage of Occupy going public. Just last month, Brooklyn’s Spectacle Theatre screened three-plus hours of TARU footage captured before, during and after the arrest of 700-plus people on the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1, 2011. The footage, obtained through legal discovery in a class action suit against the NYPD, then leaked to the guerrilla filmmakers, was playfully advertised to Occupy participants: “Come see you and yours ecstatic, then confused, then in fake handcuffs! Find out the myriad ways it’s possible to misuse video equipment! And witness yourself morph from polite millennial liberal to anarchist, just like that.”

It’s not clear how the Zuccotti eviction footage in the latest leak was obtained. Check out the teaser clip:

In Case You Missed It: Outcomes of police-involved shootings raise concerns

The aunt of De'Eric Bailey who was gunned down by police last month, Jimmerlyn Glover (right) and Carla Bailey gather at the Caddo Parish Courthouse to protest his and other SPD officer involved shootings. 

SHREVEPORT, LA - Gunshots from police. A 22-year-old dead inside of his vehicle. No weapon found.

That’s the scenario that helped spark the outrage and demands for answers and explanations in Shreveport over the past month.

It’s also the scenario that left Tremendous Davis, 24, dead in 2008 along with Kashiwa Pineset, 34, in 2007— two cases that offer a glimpse at Shreveport police investigations into officer-involved fatal shootings over the years.

Looking back 10 years, as many people, at least, have lost their lives at the hands of Shreveport police officers. The actions of the officers were picked apart by in-house investigators, who check for violations of departmental policies on the use of force, and by prosecutors, who determine whether criminal charges will be filed.

And in each case, an internal affairs investigation ruled the officers’ actions were justified, as did the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office.

Jimmerlyn Glover says a fair and unbiased investigation into last month’s death of her nephew will break the pattern.

“Something needs to be done about Shreveport police killing unarmed men,” she said. “This is happening way too often — people getting shot in the back and while driving. We need some justice for De’Eric and all the people they have killed that were not justified.

“Something needs to be done.”

De’Eric Bailey was shot Aug. 18 after a brief police chase on Interstate 20. Officer Jennifer Monereau tried to stop Bailey's vehicle on a traffic violation near Cotton at Common streets. Police say Bailey sped off and eventually was westbound on I-20 just west of the Linwood Avenue exit.

At some point, he lost control of the vehicle, causing it to strike a concrete barrier alongside the interstate, then ignored further commands to surrender.

Police say Bailey nearly ran down a passenger who had jumped out of the vehicle.

That’s when Officer Hai Phan fired multiple shots, hitting Bailey, who later died. Shreveport Police Department completed its investigation into the shooting last week and turned it over to the district attorney’s office.

Glover said police have yet to provide the family details of the events. However, two witnesses — one of whom has gone public — say Bailey was defenseless as officers opened fire on him.

“We need these police and the DA to do the right thing and hold the officers accountable,” Glover said.

Authorities stress that answers and explanations do not come quickly when it comes to officer-involved shootings. That reality engenders in some a sense of mistrust and a belief that the process is skewed to law enforcement, which leads to layers of scrutiny from the media and the community.

Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the process of investigating officer-involved shootings could turn out to be a long one involving careful and disciplined work.

“Just because a law enforcement agency doesn’t immediately respond doesn’t mean that the incident isn’t being taken seriously or that there’s a coverup,” Levenson said. “I know people want answers now, but it’s impossible.”

Levenson said such shootings and incidents have undergone extreme scrutiny over the past two decades.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that officers can use deadly force only when they believe that a suspect poses a “significant threat” of death or serious injury to them or others. But that must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, the court found, “rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.”

“There’s a misunderstanding among the public that it’s just the police investigating the police, when in fact there are often four investigations happening at once — one by the police, another by the DA, another by the FBI and yet another by civil attorneys,” Levenson said.

To get a conviction, however, a prosecutor would have to prove that no legal justification existed for the officer’s action.

It’s unknown when the investigation into Bailey’s death will be complete, but Caddo District Attorney Charles Scott maintains that his office takes the investigation into all officer-involved shootings seriously.

“The officers and the citizens involved deserve our very best efforts,” Scott said.

File materials received from the law enforcement agency are reviewed by chief of the homicide screening division and assigned to an investigator, most of whom are retired homicide investigators, Scott said.

Additional witnesses are contacted as necessary, as well as any additional materials from the original investigating agency and other agencies, such as the coroner’s office.

“The persons or the family of the persons involved with the police shooting are contacted for informational purposes and to determine if they have any information that would be helpful to the investigation,” Scott said.

The results are discussed with the DA and a decision is made whether there are facts sufficient to support proof of a criminal charge against the officer beyond a reasonable doubt. Once that determination is made, the person or the person’s family is contacted and advised of the results.

The original agency is also advised of the results, Scott said.

The investigation process and outcome has its critics. Lester Smith, founder of Faces of Injustice, calls it a pattern of injustice. He said the process needs to be looked at more closely. Smith organized Faces of Injustice to not only address police shootings, but all shootings of black men.

“I think there is a problem across the board when black men are killed,” Smith said. “I don’t think the system treats these cases fairly. Sometimes there is justice when one black man kills another, but as we all see, there is a pattern of police officers being exonerated when they kill our black men.

“They fail to realize those people had rights that our civil rights leaders fought hard for. They are violating those rights by killing them and then the system is letting them go free. This just isn’t right.”

Statistics from Shreveport Police Department show that not all people killed by police in the past 10 years were African-American.

Bill Goodin, assistant to the Shreveport police chief, echoes the DA regarding the seriousness of the department’s use-of-force incidents and investigations. Police officials understand the importance of having the public’s trust to effectively serve and protect the residents of Shreveport.

Shreveport Police Department works at being translucent and proactive when releasing information within the confines of the revised statutes. State law delineates what records law enforcement agencies may and may not release, Goodin said.

“No police officer wants to come to work and hurt someone … it goes against our very grain,” Goodin said. “We became public servants to help, not to hurt, and when an officer is put in a position where he or she must use deadly force, there are no winners.

“As Chief Willie Shaw has said in the past, these events are a tragedy for all involved. But at the end of the day, we know the issue of accountability is of paramount import and we will continue to uphold our obligation to the citizens we have sworn to serve and protect.”

Police shootings account for one of every 10 shooting deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Houston officer kills double amputee in wheelchair

HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said.

She said the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.

"Fearing for his partner's safety and his own safety, he discharged his weapon," Silva told The Associated Press.

Police did not immediately release the name of the man who was killed. They had been called to the home after a caretaker there called and reported that the man in wheelchair was causing a disturbance.

The owner of the group home, John Garcia, told the Houston Chronicle that the man had a history of mental illness and had been living at the house about 18 months. Garcia said the man had told him that he lost a leg above the knee and all of one arm when he was hit by a train.

"He sometimes would go off a bit, but you just ignore it," Garcia told the newspaper.
Silva identified the officer as Matthew Jacob Marin, a five-year veteran of the department. He was immediately placed on three-day administrative leave, which is standard in all shootings involving officers.

Houston police records indicate that Marin also fatally shot a suspect in 2009. Investigators at the time said Marin came upon a man stabbing his neighbor to death at an apartment complex and opened fired when the suspect refused to drop the knife.

On Saturday, Marin and his partner arrived at the group home around 2:30 a.m. Silva said there were several people at the house at the time. The caretaker who called police waited on the porch while the officers went inside, she said.

"It was close quarters in the area of the house," Silva said. "The officer was forced into an area where he had no way to get out."

Roseville police kill suspect who they say fought with officer during arrest

ROSEVILLE, CA - A Roseville police officer last night shot and killed a suspect who was resisting arrest and fighting with a fellow officer, the department said in a news release today.

According to police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther, the incident began shortly before 11 p.m. Sautrday in the 1600 block of Sierra Gardens Drive.

Officers were investigating reports that a "very intoxicated" man who was armed with a baseball bat had pushed a woman in a domestic disturbance. The suspect ran off when police arrived.

A resident reported seeing a man running and brandishing a gun, Gunther reported.

Roseville officers confronted him in the 1700 block of Tanglewood Lane, and attempted to place the suspect in custoday.

Gunther reported that the suspect resisted arrest and got in a fight with one of the officers.

Fearing for the safety of the officer, his companion shot the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene, the department reported.

Gunther said the suspect's identity is being withheld until the Placer County Coroner's Office notifies his relatives.

The death is being investigated by the Roseville Police Investigations Unit, and monitored by the Placer County District Attorney's Office.

The two officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave, according to department protocol, Gunther reported.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/09/roseville-police-kill-suspect-who-they-say-fought-with-officer-during-arres.html#storylink=cpy

Azusa police shoot and kill man suspected of robbing adult store

AZUSA, CA--An Azusa police officer shot and killed a man Monday after he tried to rob a 24-hour store that sells adult videos and other sex-themed merchandise, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The victim was identified only as a male Hispanic in his 20s.

The release of additional information was withheld pending verification of his identity and notification of family, according to Lt. Joe Bale of the L.A. County Department of Coroner.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is investigating the fatal officer-involved shooting.

The incident began shortly before 12:30 a.m. Monday when an Azusa police officer was flagged down by the store clerk and a customer at Red Panty's Lingerie on Citrus Avenue, just south of Gladstone Street in Azusa who said the store had just been robbed, according to a statement from the Sheriff's Department.

They pointed out the suspect to the officer, who then attempted to detain the suspect at gunpoint.

However, the suspect was uncooperative and ran across the street, the statement said.

According to the statement, the Azusa officer followed the suspect, saw the suspect reach into his waistband, then shot him.

The man was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The officer, who was not identified, was not hurt.

Prior to the shooting, the suspect allegedly tried to rob the store by "simulating" a weapon and demanding cash, according to the sheriff's statement. It did not say whether any weapon was recovered.

The suspect fled without any money when he saw the officer pull into the parking lot, the statement said.

Vallejo police kill man, 23, they say brandished replica gun

VALLEJO, CA--Neighbors on North Vallejo's Pepper Drive were awakened early Sunday when they heard multiple gunshots.

"I didn't hear any siren or anything before that, all I heard was shots," a neighbor said. "I didn't know it was the police."

In the incident, Vallejo police officers had mortally wounded a 23-year-old man allegedly holding what turned out to be a replica handgun, and wounded another. It was the seventh officer-involved shooting this year, and the second fatal one involving a replica gun.

Police say the man, Mario Romero, died from his wounds shortly after he allegedly brandished what was an air gun at two officers near Lofas Place and Pepper Drive. Another man, 21-year-old Joseph Johnson, was shot once through the hip.

However, friends of the dead suspect at the scene later Sunday said the fatally wounded man's name is Mario Romero.

At a Vallejo police headquarters news conference and in a press release, officials said the incident began in a North Vallejo neighborhood that has been experiencing a recent rise in gang-related violent crime.

Police described the chain of events as follows:

A two-man patrol was near Pepper Drive and Lofas Place at about 4:35 a.m. when the officers spotted a vehicle with two occupants parked in the 100 block of Pepper Drive. Police said there had been five gang-related shootings in the area since early August, and the officers decided to see what the occupants were doing inside the car.
 
Using the patrol car's spotlight, the officers illuminated the front of the suspect's car as they walked toward it. Romero then opened the car door, and stood partially behind it.
Officers said later they could see the butt of a handgun in Romero's waistband, and that he first crouched and turned away from police. When he turned around again toward the officers, he was holding the handgun.

The officers then drew their weapons and began repeatedly firing, but did not know if the suspect had been hit because he had once again crouched behind the car door. At this point, the officers ceased firing and ordered the suspect to show his hands.

The suspect initially complied and put his hands up, but then reentered the car and appeared to move toward the center console.

At this point, the two officers began firing again, at first using their patrol car doors as protection, but soon one moved forward and jumped on the car hood to see what was happening inside. They stopped firing only when the driver slumped in the seat. The passenger was found lying on the floor of the car.

Police said at least 30 rounds were fired.

Officers then arrested the driver, called for medical aid and the suspect was pronounced dead a short time later at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Vallejo.

The passenger, meanwhile, was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek with non life-threatening wounds. Police said they did not know if the passenger was wounded by gunfire or by flying shrapnel.

After the shooting, police said they found in the car an "Air-soft" replica handgun and more than 50 Ecstasy pills and packaging materials, indicating the pills were being sold.

Police said both the driver and passenger were on felony probation for weapons charges.

At about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, police were wrapping up the scene but tension still ran high in the area.
A group of about six men stood across the street from the yellow tape on B.W. Williams Drive, yelling at the police who were cleaning the scene.

"What happened to (the police's) motto 'To Serve and Protect,'" Damondrae Johnson said. "Who are they serving and protecting? They don't work with us."

Johnson said Ramiro, who he regards as his own brother, is known as "Papaya" by friends.

"Because he's a sweet man, you know?" Johnson said.

It was the second fatal police shooting involving a replica handgun this year, and also the city's 12th homicide. It also was the seventh officer-involved shooting since May, and the fifth homicide.

On May 25, Peter Mestler, 53, of Vallejo was killed by police in the 2000 block of Sonoma Boulevard after he had allegedly pointed a replica handgun at officers, and refused when they ordered him to drop it.

This latest shooting, like previous ones, is being investigated by the Solano County District Attorney's office and the Vallejo Police Department. The two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.

Baltimore anti-police brutality fighters refuse plea deal

Baltimore — Two representatives of the Baltimore Peoples Assembly, the Rev. Cortly “CD” Witherspoon of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Sharon Black, an organizer for the All Peoples Congress, have refused a plea deal to do 10 hours of community service. The two activists were arrested for trespass on Aug. 6 at the Unity March to Stop Police Terror and for Jobs and Recreation Centers. Their trial is now set for Oct. 4.

Witherspoon and Black marched with about 100 other people at the Aug. 6 march from East Baltimore to City Hall. Participants included victims and families of police abuse and killings, community activists advocating for jobs and recreation centers, and other groups, including the Occupy movement.

At City Hall, the two activists, acting on behalf of the Baltimore Peoples Assembly, entered the building to present Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake a letter outlining what was voted on by the 142 representatives who attended the June 30 Peoples Assembly. The letter detailed a call for community control of police; the firing and adequate charging of police who have shot, killed or brutalized community members; and other key issues, including providing jobs and keeping recreation centers and fire stations open.

Black and Witherspoon requested a meeting with the mayor and asked for someone from her office to meet with them regarding these emergency issues or to agree to an expedited meeting date, considering that recreation centers were to close at the end of the week and that the problem of police terror is acute.

As a result, both organizers were charged with trespass, taken to Central Booking and jailed until they saw a court commissioner the following day. Supporters meanwhile continued to rally outside City Hall.

Both Witherspoon and Black assert that they are innocent, which is why they refused to plead guilty or to accept a plea deal. Their charging documents state that they were on the property of the mayor and City Council. Both see it as ironic since “City Hall is the property of the people.”

Black and Witherspoon’s refusal to take a plea deal was met with cheers from the group that had gathered in their support for this preliminary court appearance.