Vegas police kill disabled veteran

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas police say a patrol officer fired seven shots with a military-style AR-15 assault rifle into a car during a fatal standoff with an unarmed veteran.

.

Police released a summary Friday of the events leading up to the shooting just before 1 a.m. Monday that killed 43-year-old Stanley Lavon Gibson at a northwest Las Vegas apartment complex. The shooting has led to calls for a federal investigation of police department practices.

One officer fired the fatal shots "almost immediately" after another officer fired a beanbag shotgun at the window of Gibson's vehicle.

Police say they wanted to break the window so another officer could use pepper spray to get Gibson out of the car, which was pinned with its tires spinning between patrol cruisers.

In a lengthy press release, the Las Vegas police department did not explicitly say the officers shooting was a mistake, and key questions remain unanswered.

Police did not say why an officer felt he needed to shoot into the vehicle, who devised the plan or whether officers knew that Gibson was lost, confused and unarmed. The department's statement said that, Jesus Arevalo -- the officer who shot the rounds -- and another officer have not spoken to department homicide investigators and that "many facts are yet to be discovered."

Gibson was shot in the back of the head and died at the scene.

County police kill driver who rammed patrol car

December 3, 2011

Miami-Dade police on Saturday shot and killed a man who fled the scene of an accident, then intentionally reversed and crashed his truck into an occupied patrol car.

The man was driving a Toyota Tundra that collided with a Kia Optima at Northwest 37th Avenue and 17th Street around 4 p.m., police said. The Tundra driver drove away from the scene, and was pulled over by an officer after running a stop sign. The driver of the Kia then told the officer the driver of the Tundra hit him, and the driver of the Tundra sped off, police said. A chase ensued. At 36th Street and 27th Avenue, the Tundra reversed into the pursuing police car, totaling it, although the officer who was driving was unhurt.

The chase culminated at Northwest 47th Street and 32nd Avenue. Witnesses said they heard screeching tires and saw a police car bump the Tundra off the road, spinning it around, and a second squad police car hitting it as well. Several other police cars swarmed and blocked the Tundra in.

“I was standing about six feet away, and I heard a big crash,” said Horace Washington, 59, who lives on 47th Street. “At least 10 cops. Five seconds after the crash they all had guns drawn.”

Washington said the cops quickly formed a half ring around the back of the truck, but one officer, the one who originally bumped the Tundra, stepped forward.

“He didn’t tell him to get up, didn’t tell him to put his hands up or nothing.”

Washington said the officer stepped up to the drivers side window of the car and fired five or six shots in quick succession into the vehicle, from two feet away.

“He didn’t say get out or anything he just started shooting,” said Willette Washington, 64, who was on her porch when the shooting happened.

After the incident police blocked off the surrounding area. According to them, there was no indication the suspect had a gun.

“I’m not aware of a gun,” county police spokesman Detective Roy Rutland said. “The only weapon I’m aware of is a 4,000-pound vehicle.”

Police shoot and kill man in Farrell

FARRELL, PA.

State police are continuing to investigate the Thanksgiving Day altercation that ended in police shooting and killing a man.

Two Southwest Regional Police officers went to a home on Dream Boulevard around 3:15 p.m. because of a domestic dispute, Southwest Police Chief Riley Smoot confirmed Friday.

But Smoot said he cannot discuss what may have happened that resulted in the death of Donteau Napier, 27. He also said he will not name the officers involved, adding that by early next week, he expects the department to make a statement. They’re both on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation.

State Police in Mercer are handling the investigation. They also said there will be no more information until Monday.

Smoot said that it is his department’s policy to ask state police to investigate such circumstances.

“We turned it over to them immediately,” he said.

He said that after the shooting, more Southwest officers along with Sharon police responded.

Napier was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. The Mercer County District Attorney’s Office also is investigating the shooting.

Napier had been involved in several thefts in the past few years and was sentenced to prison in 2009 for terroristic threats, simple assault and retail theft. Napier was formerly of Youngstown.

SBI probing use of stun gun on Halifax County man who died

SCOTLAND NECK, N.C. — The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a Halifax County man who died after a Scotland Neck police officer shocked him with a stun gun, while his family mulls filing a lawsuit.

Roger Anthony, 61, died Tuesday, one day after an officer used a stun gun on him while he was riding a bicycle. The state Office of the Medical Examiner hasn't yet determined a cause of death.

Officers were responding to a 911 call Monday night about a man who had fallen off his bicycle in the parking lot of BB&T Bank. The caller told dispatchers that the man appeared drunk and that it looked like he had hurt himself.

Officers said they repeatedly told Anthony to get off his bike, but when he didn't respond, they shocked him. Family members say Anthony had hearing problems and suffered from seizures.

Now they're considering whether to file a lawsuit against the town.

"What did they tase him for? It's hurting me. It's really hurting me," said Anthony's brother, Michael.

Scotland Neck Mayor James Mills said Wednesday that he wouldn't blame the family for suing.

"There has been no information that this man was a threat to anybody," he said. "If I was a family member, I'm sure I'd be thinking the same way."

Mills said he has tried to get information from the police department about what happened to Anthony, but they have turned him away.

Police Chief Joe Williams says the officer is on administrative leave while the SBI conducts its investigation. He declined to comment further.

Anthony's family said they hope the case is resolved soon.

"I'm sad. I lost an uncle," Anthony's niece, Porsha Anthony, said. "Hopefully it will be (rectified) so that not another family in Scotland Neck has to go through this."

Machine Gun Used in Deadly Downey Police Shooting

From KTLA:

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that a Downey police officer used a sub-machine gun to shoot and kill Michael Nida.

The Power Of The Blog: Local Blog In Fullerton CA Broke A Story Leading To Police Murder Charges

From Reason.tv



The pretrial hearing for excessive force and murder charges filed against Officer Manuel Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli in the death of Kelly Thomas begins November 4, 2011. Thomas was a 37 year old schizophrenic drifter who was beaten to death by officers at a Fullerton, California, bus depot in July 2011.

The charges came down after multiple headlines were made, not by local media, but by a local small-government blog in Fullerton called Friends for Fullerton’s Future . The blog was the first to publish a horrific picture of Thomas in the hospital and a chilling video of the incident captured by a cell phone video camera.

“The picture was so horrific that the local news channels wouldn’t show it and a lot of times they don’t think there is much of a story there because they get the police version of the story,” says Travis Kiger, a blogger at Friends for Fullerton’s Future.

Kiger and Chris Thompson, also a blogger, sat down with Reason TV in the video above to talk about how the blog broke the story and what they think contributed to the international media attention.”

Two men killed by Huntington Beach police

From LA Times blog:

Two men were shot and killed by Huntington Beach police officers after they stopped a vehicle in Westminster and said they heard a gunshot, a Police Department spokesman said Tuesday night.

The two officers who made the stop fired multiple rounds after they heard a gunshot coming from inside the vehicle, said Lt. Russell Reinhart of the Huntington Beach Police Department. It was unclear whether a shot had been fired toward the officers.

"I'm not sure if it was aimed at the officers, or who it was aimed at," Reinhart told The Times. He said at least one firearm was recovered from the vehicle.

He said the shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. near Hammon Place and Westminster Boulevard, just outside the Huntington Beach city limits.

An adult female was inside the car with the two men who were killed. She was not injured, police said.

Reinhart said the shooting was being investigated by the Orange County Sheriff's Department. No additional details were immediately available.