Video: NYPD Kicks Door Before Shooting Unarmed Teen

Gothamist

Surveillance video outside the Bronx home of Ramarley Graham shows police struggling to enter the residence and kicking in a door moments before an NYPD officer shot and killed the unarmed 18-year-old in his bathroom. While surveillance footage from a neighboring home showed Graham running down the street with police pursuing, this footage obtained by WPIX 11 shows Graham casually entering his house. Seconds later two NYPD officers with their guns drawn attempt to break down the door.

Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters on Friday that the officer who shot Graham, 30-year-old Richard Haste, shouted "Show me your hands!" and "Gun! Gun!" at the teenager before shooting him in the chest in his bathroom. But the only other person in the apartment at the time, Graham's 58-year-old grandmother Patricia Hartley, told the Times through friend of the family Carlton Berkley that she heard no such thing. Additionally, residents of the apartment dispute the NYPD's assertion that the officers announced themselves when forcibly entering their home.

Also at issue is the manner in which Hartley was treated: Berkley says she was held at the 47th Precinct for seven hours so that she could give police a statement. "She gave it against her will," Berkley, a retired police detective says. "She didn't want to speak to police." Paul Browne, the NYPD's spokesperson, said that Hartley was "naturally upset but cooperative," and said she actually spent five and a half hours speaking with police.

Commissioner Kelly told reporters on Friday that Hartley "certainly should have been shown a sensitivity on that issue. I would hope that she was. If not…we'll certainly investigate." Officer Haste, a three-year veteran, and another Sergeant who was in the stairwell, have both been placed on desk duty.

Despite twice reporting over radio communications that Graham had a gun, police searched Graham's apartment and other residences in the home and found no firearms. Graham was killed in his bathroom, allegedly dumping a small amount of marijuana into the toilet. Police accounts that Graham had struggled proved to be false. Commissioner Kelly told reporters that the case may be handed over to a grand jury to determine whether a crime was committed.

"Why would you break in a house and shoot a young man and kill him?" Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday. "You cannot get to a conclusion without starting with the premise. The premise is wrong. They had no business breaking in the house."

 

Bronx Teen Did Not Struggle With Police Before Being Killed

Gothamist

Commissioner Ray Kelly clarified yesterday that contrary to earlier reports, no struggle occurred between 18-year-old Ramarley Graham and the officer who fatally shot him in the bathroom of his Bronx home on Thursday. The Post reports that the two officers involved have been stripped of their weapons and assigned to desk duty, and the case will be presented to a grand jury to determine whether a crime was committed. "We're still evaluating the actions here," Kelly said. "We see an unarmed person being shot. That always concerns us."

According to Kelly, a narcotics team observing Graham making a drug deal (which we now know was a small amount of marijuana) noted over radio communications twice that it appeared that Graham had a gun because of the way he was adjusting his waistband.

Two officers then followed Graham to his house; unable to enter through the front door, they gained entry through the back, and then broke down the door to Graham's second-story apartment. The Commissioner stated that the 30-year-old officer who shot Graham shouted "Police! Don't move. Show me your hands! Show me your hands! Gun! Gun!" before firing. Graham's 58-year-old grandmother, Patricia Hartley, was in the apartment at the time of the shooting and was allegedly questioned by the police aggressively for seven hours.

"To the mayor of this city, to the police commissioner of this city: we are sick and tired of this shit," a lawyer for the landlord told NY1 in a press conference shortly before a rally to protest the incident. Several hundred people, including neighbors and family members, marched from Graham's home last night to the 47th Precinct to express their outrage.

"They think the badge they carry on their chest is a license to kill people," Delmar Scott, Graham's brother told ABC. A neighbor added, "I think they shoot first and ask questions later."

In a statement lamenting the recent spate of violence in the last week, Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr. said, “I’ve had enough, on all sides. I cannot and will not tolerate incidents of police misconduct. It is especially disturbing that a young man, who did not have a gun and was in his own home, could see his life end in such a sudden manner at the hands of those charged with his protection." Diaz adds, "A full investigation into this incident must occur, and immediately."

And Eric Stevenson, an Assemblyman from the Bronx, will attend a press conference today to address the issue of the brutal beating of Jateik Reed at the hands of the NYPD. " It only makes me wonder if this is an open season for eliminating minority youth," Stevenson says in a statement. "I will look into supporting legislation in creating an independent agency that oversees these police brutality cases. I am sick and tired of seeing this happening under my watch."

Graham is the third suspect this week killed at the hands of the NYPD.

Focus on Police Treatment of Witness After Shooting [of Ramarley Graham]

NY Times

After a police officer fatally shot an 18-year-old man in his Bronx apartment on Thursday, the man’s grandmother, a witness to the shooting, was taken into custody and held against her will for several hours, a friend of the family said on Saturday.

The officer confronted the man, Ramarley Graham, who was in the bathroom, possibly trying to flush marijuana down the toilet. A moment later, a shot rang out, killing the teenager.

While narcotics officers had followed Mr. Graham to the apartment on East 229th Street in Wakefield thinking he was armed, no gun was found, making the grandmother, Patricia Hartley, 58, a crucial witness. The shooting seems to be drawing the sort of close scrutiny that attended the killing of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets in Queens in November 2006.

Little is known of precisely what Ms. Hartley saw and what of that she has told detectives. But her treatment by the police in the hours after her grandson was killed could become a sticking point in the investigation.

After Mr. Graham was killed, Ms. Hartley was taken to the 47th Precinct station house on Laconia Avenue and held for seven hours, said Carlton Berkley, a friend of the family’s who said he had retired from the police force as a detective in the 30th Precinct, in Upper Manhattan. Mr. Berkley added that Ms. Hartley was forced to give a statement about what happened.

“She gave it against her will,” Mr. Berkley said. “She didn’t want to speak to the police.”

Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, provided a timeline of Ms. Hartley’s interviews with detectives and prosecutors. At 7 p.m., he said, she was “naturally upset but cooperative.”

Mr. Browne said Ms. Hartley spent five and a half hours at the station house. After her lawyer arrived, Mr. Browne said, she gave a recorded statement to prosecutors. She left about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Mr. Browne said.

Steven Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, said Ms. Hartley “made no complaint” to an assistant district attorney who was at the station house.

Had she made such a complaint, it would have been relayed to the police, Mr. Reed said.

“If the nature of Mrs. Hartley’s complaint is true, it would be highly insensitive,” Mr. Reed said. “Nobody should be forced to give a statement, let alone someone who had just lost a grandson in the way that Mrs. Hartley did.”

On Friday, Raymond W. Kelly, the police commissioner, said he was unaware of any problems regarding Ms. Hartley’s treatment or if she had faced overly aggressive questioning.

“Obviously, it is a very, very traumatic situation for the grandmother,” Mr. Kelly said. “She was present when this happened, and she certainly should have been shown a sensitivity to that issue. I would hope that she was. If not — I didn’t hear about that complaint — but if that’s the case, we’ll certainly investigate.”

Mr. Kelly said that Ms. Hartley was “right there” when the shooting occurred, standing between the bedroom and bathroom doors, but he did not say whether she had a view of her grandson when he was shot. Also in the apartment at the time was Mr. Graham’s 6-year-old brother.

Civilian witnesses to disputed police shootings are not always at hand for the police and prosecutors, and Ms. Hartley’s account is important not only for what she saw but also for what she heard and for any description she might provide about the officers, their demeanor and what they said, and did, before and after the shooting.

On Thursday, officers kicked open the door to the apartment, on the second floor of a three-story house. The first officer inside was Richard Haste, 30, who has been on the force for three years, according to people with knowledge of the case. He told Mr. Graham to show his hands and then yelled, “Gun! Gun!” before firing, the police have said, citing the account of a second officer who followed him in.

Ms. Hartley, however, did not hear the officer shout “gun,” said Mr. Berkley, who declined to discuss further details of what she saw or heard.

Officer Haste and a supervisor, Sgt. Scott Morris, 36, who was in a stairwell between the first and second floors when the shot was fired, have been stripped of their guns and badges and placed on nonenforcement duty.

Mr. Berkley said he went to the station house after being contacted by Mr. Graham’s father, Franclot Graham, whom he had known for many years. He added that he waited two hours without being able to speak to her.

A colleague of his called Assemblyman Eric A. Stevenson of the Bronx, who also came to the precinct house and asked a man who he believed was an assistant district attorney if Ms. Hartley was being held against her will. The man disappeared, Mr. Stevenson said, and minutes later Ms. Hartley emerged, crying.

Mr. Stevenson said Ms. Hartley’s lawyer, Jeffrey Emdin, had also been unable to speak to her.

The city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio, expressed his concern over the shooting in a statement on Saturday: “Part of the healing process for the Graham family, and for the city as a whole, derives from a fair, speedy and transparent investigation. That work should begin immediately.”

At the National Action Network’s House of Justice in Harlem on Saturday, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others denounced the actions of the Police Department.

“Why would police break in a house and shoot a young man and kill him?” Mr. Sharpton said. “You cannot get to a conclusion without starting with the premise. The premise is wrong. They had no business breaking in the house.”

Police shoot and kill 16-year-old at Homestead [Florida] Chevron

Miami Herald

A Homestead police officer shot and killed a 16-year-old inside a gas station convenience store late Thursday after a clerk pushed an alarm panic button during a run-in with the teen.

Miami-Dade police homicide detectives, who are investigating the shooting, on Friday night identified the teen as Danny Cruz.

Investigators found a .380 handgun in Cruz’s right jacket pocket. According to a police spokesman, the officer repeatedly ordered Cruz to show his hands before firing.

The shooting took place inside a Chevron gas station, 801 N. Roosevelt Blvd. at 10:40 p.m.

Cruz’s family defended the teen Friday, insisting he was not armed or involved in gang activity.

“I’m sure whatever he was doing, he didn’t deserve what was done to him,” mother Sarah Garcia told WFOR-CBS4. “I don’t believe he was out to hurt anyone. I believe he was just there. I don’t believe he pulled out a gun.”

The officer, Elvis Ackerman, 31, has been placed on administrative duty, which is routine in police shootings. Union president John Rivera called the shooting “textbook” and said the officer was in fear for his life when he fired his weapon.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/03/2623698/police-shoot-and-kill-16-year.html#storylink=cpy

Video leads to brutality probe of 4 NYPD officers

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Four New York City police officers have been stripped of their guns and badges after a video surfaced of them striking and kicking a suspect.

The internal affairs department is investigating, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday. The officers are on desk duty in the meantime, he said.

The shaky amateur footage was posted anonymously Saturday on the website WorldStarHipHop and titled "These Cops In The Bronx, NY Are Out Of Control!"

The video shows 19-year-old Jatiek Reed appearing to resist arrest by throwing a couple of kicks and swats at a group of officers. Then it shows him being struck with police batons and kicked. His arms and legs flail. One officer holds him down.

The footage also shows one of the officers turning and pointing chemical spray directly at the videographer, who then flees.

Reed was arrested on assault charges. His mother told the New York Post he required staples in his head and arm.

Kelly called the video is troubling and said the department is fully investigating.

Disturbing Video: California Police Shoot and Kill Man

Monterey Park, California

Police in Southern California shot and killed a man in a fast food parking lot -- an incident that was captured on video.

A man identified as 22-year-old Steve Rodriguez was smashing the windows of a Carl's Jr. restaurant in Monterey Park Monday morning with a three-foot long metal bar, reports the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

When police arrived they attempted to subdue him with a Taser. One of the Taser darts hit him in the face, but he just swatted it off. He then swung the bar at an officer. That's when the cop opened fire, hitting Rodriguez several times.

Somehow he remained on his feet, so another officer emptied his revolver. In all 10 shots were fired. Rodriguez was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. It is not clear what motivated Rodriguez to do any of this.

The video was shot by a teenager who was in a car outside of the restaurant. He started shooting when he saw the man breaking windows.

Here is the video, but be advised -- it is quite disturbing:

Reportback from Jan 14th anti-police demonstration

From PUGETSOUNDANARCHISTS:

On Saturday, January 14th, approximately one hundred people gathered at 23rd Avenue and Union in Seattle's Central District. This corner was once the site of a police substation that was attacked numerous times until it ceased operation in mid 2011. We fondly remembered the last anarchist demonstration that had left from this point in 2010, on the night of the verdict against Oscar Grant's murderer.

This march, however, was called for by members of Occupy Seattle demanding the resignation of SPD Chief John Diaz. Another call-out asked for anarchists to attend the march offering up a critique of police reform.

The anarchist presence was small at this demonstration, but the frustration caused by standing in the square and listening to people talk on the bullhorns of justice and reform for over an hour in the cold had our small group riled up. As the sun started to set and the temperature dropped into the 30s, we were elated to see the rally finally teeter from a platform calling for better-trained cops into shouts of 'get into the fucking street!'

A banner was seen with the words: "Solidarity with Oakland (A) Fuck the Cops," and fliers were handed out calling attention to our friends who had participated in the January 7th 'Fuck OPD' march in Oakland. After Oakland cops were paint-bombed, cruiser windows mashed, a news van attacked and several small fires lit, one person was hit in the head by cops and booked on a number of charges. The arrestee's bail was initially set at $595,000, based on the claim that he had a quarter-stick of dynamite, and then lowered to $250,000 at arraignment.

Much like Amelia Nicol’s case in Denver, this move smacks of an attempt by the courts and the cops to neutralize the embers that have spewn from the Oakland Commune. But instead of relinquishing Oscar Grant Plaza and the momentum that has been building, weekly Saturday demonstrations are now taking place in Oakland against the OPD.

The same forces have tried to quell anti-police sentiment in Seattle, but an eerie memory of the Winter of 2011 was stirred. Days before the march, federal prosecutors announced that they would not charge Ian Birk, the former SPD cop who murdered John T. Williams on August 30, 2010. Four other people were murdered that same week by Washington cops -- many by ‘less lethal’ weapons like tasers -- and anarchists in the Puget Sound came with a scathing critique of police accountability and the justice system that maintains their social control. Though the mainstream media will never be an ally, this Seattle Times article departs from the rhetoric of last winter which sought to prop up the police story of probable cause in Birk's shooting:

"Williams’ shooting resulted in a public outrage and was pivotal in uniting community groups to demand accountability from the department. There had been earlier videotaped incidents — an officer slugging a teenage jaywalker, for instance — but none reverberated in the community like the patrol-car dash-cam video of Williams ambling across the intersection in front of Birk’s car, a pocket knife and board in his hands. Birk was seen crossing in front of the car toward Williams, his weapon drawn, and then a series of shots a few seconds later. Native American and civil rights groups protested the shooting. The department’s credibility was further damaged when it had to withdraw a statement made at the scene that Williams had 'advanced on the officer.'"

Now that the Department of Justice's investigation has concluded and found several cases of excessive force, the media wastes no time in chastising the SPD. In response, the city and police have already organized a community forum to discuss officer training and the City's Race and Social Justice initiative. It is important that this be revealed for exactly what it is: a public relations attempt to assuage the liberal public that frets over the myth of 'racial and social justice'. In 2011, we burnt many bridges but also found many friends.

----

Despite the rumor that cops would force us onto the sidewalk, agitated individuals pushed past those waiting for the cross signal and into the streets. The shivering mass of people followed and marched north up 23rd avenue chanting 'The revolution has begun / They say more cops! We say none!' and 'Cops and bankers, we don’t need em! / All we want is total freedom!'. Bikes and graffiti writers flanked the crowd and media scurried ahead of the banners, trying to take sensational photos of the lit flares and black masks. At a major intersection, a banner reading 'ACAB' backed with 'All your base are belong to no one! (A)' was hoisted above the street. The crowd cheered as it flapped in the cold and surged forward once more.

The march turned southwest onto Madison and trash cans, construction signs and dumpsters were rolled into the street. Unlike the anti-police demos of early 2011, many of the marchers around joined in, kicking over signs and carrying a couch into on-coming traffic lanes. Uniformed police were nowhere to be seen amongst the merriment, but Peace and Safety vultures from Occupy Seattle tried to push dumpsters back into the alleys, decrying the redecoration as 'distracting' from the issue of the police. Others threw fliers into the doors of the co-op and toppled potted trees outside a yuppie furniture store, and yes, even a newspaper box or two was thrown.

A shout rippled through the crowd as one person skateboarded past with a torch; several more were handed out in remembrance of those murdered by the police. While some torchbearers chanted 'Justice for Sean Bell, Justice for John T, Justice for Oscar' others yelled for 'vengeance.' The glow of fire hovered overhead as the march turned down Pine and finally to the police barricades surrounding the East Precinct. Traffic had been diverted for several blocks since 4 p.m., and firetrucks were stationed nearby.

Many people scattered off into the night, while others stayed and argued with the cops lining the barricades. No arrests or injuries were reported but perhaps more important is the giddy feeling that lingers. The first signs of snow in Seattle dominate the news today, but another demonstration has already been called for on Monday, January 16th, leaving the recently evicted Turritopsis Nutricula squat and joining the Seattle MLK march. To the friends we have made in Seattle and our comrades in the Oakland Commune, let's warm by the hearth of another fiery year.