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Title: More Pig Murder and Mayhem
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Published: Feb 3, 2009
Author: .
Post Date: 2009-02-03 08:25:51 by PSUSA
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U.S. investigates LAPD officers accused of perjury www.latimes.com/news/loca...-2009feb02,0,815271.story The civil rights probe involves a drug possession case in which charges were thrown out after a videotape appeared to contradict police testimony. By Jack Leonard February 2, 2009 Federal authorities have launched a civil rights investigation into several Los Angeles police officers accused of lying under oath in a drug possession case that was dismissed last year when a videotape sharply contradicted their testimony. An FBI agent and a federal prosecutor last week surveyed a Hollywood apartment complex where a security camera documented the 2007 arrest of Guillermo Alarcon Jr. by LAPD officers, according to an attorney who represents Alarcon in a civil claim against the Police Department. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed the existence of the probe and said that Department of Justice officials in Washington, D.C., would ultimately weigh in on whether federal charges would be filed against the officers. "We're investigating allegations that the defendant's civil rights may have been violated," said spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. She declined to provide further details. Deputy Public Defender Victor Acevedo, Alarcon's defense attorney during last year's trial, said the FBI interviewed him about the case in December. He said that his client had been framed and that the officers deserved to face criminal charges. "They have no business being police officers," Acevedo said. "Because they were willing to send an innocent man to prison, for what they did they should go to prison." The officers have denied wrongdoing. The federal investigation is but one of several probes into accusations that the officers committed perjury. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has launched its own criminal investigation and the LAPD is conducting an internal affairs review of the case. Luis Carrillo, Alarcon's civil attorney, said the FBI had yet to interview his client but that two district attorney's investigators and a prosecutor interviewed Alarcon about the case in August. At Alarcon's trial in June, Officers Richard Amio and Evan Samuel testified that they were on patrol in Los Angeles when they chased Alarcon, 29, into his Hollywood apartment building. The officers told jurors that they saw him throw away a black object. They testified that Samuel quickly picked up the object and found about $260 worth of powder and crack cocaine inside. But footage from a security camera at the apartment building, which is managed by Alarcon's mother, showed that officers searched for more than 20 minutes before an object allegedly containing cocaine was found. They were aided by other officers, including Manuel Ortiz, who testified about the case at a preliminary hearing in January. The quality of the tape, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, is poor and it is difficult to clearly hear what is being said. But at one point, soon after the drugs were found, an officer seems to make a reference to the arrest report that needed to be filled out. "Be creative in your writing," the officer appears to tell another after the discovery. Acevedo argued at trial that his client was innocent and that the officers had planted evidence and then lied about it. After viewing the videotape, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Monica Bachner dismissed the charges at the request of prosecutors. The judge also declared Alarcon factually innocent. Ira Salzman, an attorney representing Samuel and Ortiz, said his clients testified truthfully in the case. He said prosecutors had concluded that the tape was edited in two places to remove about 13 seconds of sound. Salzman cautioned that he had yet to view a complete version of the video but said that he believed that the officers did pick up an object containing drugs but continued to search for more. "They testified truthfully to the best of their ability," he said. "I believe that they're good officers and good men." The video begins after Alarcon already had been taken into custody. But in the police report and during their testimony, the officers mentioned finding only one object containing drugs. LAPD Cmdr. Rick Webb, who oversees the department's internal affairs group, said the agency's probe is continuing. He declined to comment further, citing state laws that protect the privacy of police officers accused of misconduct. Samuel, who left the LAPD and joined the Chino Police Department in February, was fired while on probation in Chino two weeks after The Times reported on Alarcon's case, a Chino spokeswoman said. Dashboard Video at Center of Alleged Police Brutality Case www.nbcphiladelphia.com/n...olice-Brutality-Case.html By TED GREENBERG Millville Police car dashboard cameras caught this confrontation between police and the plaintiff Sheila Stevenson. From the video captured by two Millville Police car dashboard cameras, emerge two very different versions of what happened in the pre-dawn hours of February 3, 2008. The just-released video (see left) is at the center of a lawsuit in which Sheila Stevenson, 42, claims she became the victim of excessive force, after then-Millville Police Officer Carlo Drogo pulled her over for illegally riding her bicycle on a sidewalk. In the course of trying to handcuff Stevenson, the video shows Drogo as he sprays himself in the face with pepper spray and she appears to push him. Drogo then appears to knock Stevenson to the ground to subdue her. Drogo is seen, seemingly doubled over in pain, as other officers arrive. “I am not doing nothing,” Stevenson screamed on the video. “Put your hands behind your back,” one of the other officers ordered. “Can you not do this? I’m not doing nothing! I’m not doing nothing,” she wailed. Seconds later, Drogo approaches Stevenson again and appears to punch her four times. “Why are you hitting me? You’re hitting me! Why are you hitting me?” Stevenson cried out. “Why did you hit me and I’m handcuffed?” Stevenson was eventually led away by officers and put into a police cruiser. She was later convicted of resisting arrest. Watch Video RAW VIDEO: This raw video from the dashboard of a Millville police cruiser captures the entire confrontation. RAW VIDEO: Police Dashboard Cameras Capture Alleged Assault close Watch Video From the video captured by two Millville Police car dashboard cameras, emerge two very different versions of what happened in the pre-dawn hours of February... Dashboard Video at Center of Alleged Police Brutality Case close Stevenson’s civil suit, filed in Cumberland County Superior Court in December, names Drogo, other Millville Police officers and the city of Millville as defendants. READ: Stevenson’s Civil Suit Complaint Stevenson’s lawyer would not comment on the case, nor would Millville’s Police chief, citing pending litigation. Drogo resigned from the police department in October for undisclosed reasons. He would not talk with NBC 10 News on-camera, but issued a statement in which he stood by his actions and called Stevenson’s allegations a distortion of the facts. READ: Drogo’s Statement to NBC10 Drogo also insisted the arrest was lawful and described Stevenson’s lawsuit as frivolous. Meanwhile, there’s now a warrant out for Stevenson’s arrest on drug possession charges, stemming from her encounter with police that was caught on camera. Killer Cop Gets Bail, People Take to Streets: “We Can’t Rely On This System For Justice" www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/02/02/18567809.php OAKLAND—On January 30, people packed the courtroom to demand that Johannes Mehserle, the cop who shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant in the back on New Year’s Day, be kept in jail. The judge, Morris Jacobson, admitted that Mehserle, who had been apprehended in Nevada (where he fled during the initial investigation), was a flight risk. And Jacobson was openly skeptical of Mehserle’s inconsistent story about the shooting of Oscar Grant, saying, “He has a willingness to add to the story, to change the story, to make up something that’s not true to avoid consequences.” But the judge still set a bail of $3 million dollars. People were demonstrating outside the courthouse and an overflow crowd filled the halls of the building chanting, “We Are Oscar Grant!” After it was announced that Mehserle would get bail, a march of about 50 people grew to several hundred as people joined in. They blocked traffic at a major intersection downtown. “He would still be in jail if he was black. This is an injustice,” a young woman yelled. Others chanted, “Murderers! Murderers! Murderers!” and “The Whole System Is Guilty!” The authorities responded with a massive police assault on the demonstration. They brought out an armored vehicle and fired tear gas and “less than lethal” munitions at the protesters. Groups of cops grabbed people from the crowd, throwing them to the ground and beating them. At least eight people were arrested. Police shoved people with nightsticks and dispersed the demonstration. While unleashing this vicious and violent assault on protesters, the authorities told people to let the system take its course. “The important thing to remember is that the wheels of justice are now in motion,” said Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. “Johannes Mehserle was charged with murder. He will receive due process under the law, and this process will run its course. In the meantime, I am calling for peace in our streets.” WE’VE SEEN WHERE THIS ROAD LEADS. WE’VE SEEN THE COPS THAT SHOT SEAN BELL GO FREE. WE’VE SEEN “THE RIDERS”—A GANG IN THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT WHO TERRORIZED THE PEOPLE IN WEST OAKLAND—GO FREE. WE’VE SEEN THE VAST MAJORITY OF COPS WHO BRUTALIZE AND KILL NOT EVEN CHARGED WITH ANY CRIME. When people are righteously outraged by yet another police murder, they are told over and over to rely on the legal system, to let due process take its course. But let’s look briefly at how this legal system—a system that operates within the larger system of capitalism—really works and think about whether we should rely on it—or rely on the struggle of the people. Investigation or Cover-Up? This system responded to Oscar Grant’s murder at the hands of BART police by promising an immediate and full investigation. An “investigation”—not an arrest—on the basis of eyewitness video. But what happened in reality? BART, known for its constant surveillance of passengers through a network of cameras, said their videos captured “nothing of importance.” BART police tried to confiscate witnesses’ videos seconds after the shooting—even chasing a young woman who had been on the platform filming the police detaining Oscar and other young men that night. The chief of BART police went on TV to say that the videos that people made on their cell phones were “inconclusive” despite the fact that people everywhere were shocked when they saw the videos showing Officer Mehserle shooting Oscar Grant in the back as he lay face down on the train platform. Three weeks after the murder another video was aired on KTVU which showed a second cop punching Oscar Grant in the head, moments before the shooting. A week later BART Police had not even opened an investigation into the incident. This video had been available on the TV station’s website since January 7. The BART police chief’s comment was, “Until we get an original copy of the KTVU video and we can send it to a forensic lab we cannot have any degree of certainty as to what happened in that confrontation.” BART police and BART did not try to interview witnesses despite the fact there were scores and perhaps hundreds of witnesses on a BART train, packed with people coming back from New Year’s celebrations. Instead BART police pushed people back on the train after they witnessed the shooting, even pointing tasers at people who were outraged by what they were doing to Oscar and the other young men who were yanked off the train. Police ordered the train to pull out. The cops never even reported the shooting over their radios. And these people are supposedly going to “investigate”? Is this a system we should rely on for justice? The BART police have maintained a blue wall of silence about the killing. When the BART police gave their internal investigation over to the Alameda County DA, they did not even recommend that Mehserle be prosecuted. The Alameda District Attorney Tom Orloff—who prosecuted Huey Newton and other members of the Black Panther Party in the 1970s—waited two weeks before arresting Mehserle, until the struggle of people in Oakland forced him to do so. During the time when Orloff was conducting his “investigation” over 100 people were arrested for demanding justice for Oscar Grant. Weeks after the murder BART Chief of Police Gary Gee issued a letter to his force. He did not command them to cooperate with the investigation, or to come forward with what they knew. He did not express concern that one officer had shot an unarmed man, or that another had punched him in the head. He did not mention the need for sensitivity for the community’s feelings or for Oscar Grant’s grieving family. Instead it was a letter of commendation, saying to the troops, “you have our full support.” He cautioned them “to maintain your professionalism and integrity, despite being exposed to public abuse and the media’s reporting.” And far from expressing concern for the feelings of the community and Oscar Grant’s relatives, he instructed the force on how to support one of their own by sending food and money to Mehserle in jail. THIS IS NOT AN INVESTIGATION. IT IS A COVER-UP. Why would anyone who is serious about justice believe this farce? THE POWERS THAT BE DON’T WANT THE TRUTH. THEY WANT TO PROTECT THEIR SYSTEM AND PACIFY THE PEOPLE. They intimidate with overwhelming force those who take independent political action. They try to instill fear in others so they will distance themselves from the protesters and instead rely on the very police who have committed the murders and the courts that protect them. Relying on this system will not mean justice for Oscar Grant or anyone else brutalized by the police. It is a dead-end for the people and only strengthens the system. Those who truly want justice and are willing to fight for it must instead build a defiant movement of resistance. ***** The weeks since Oscar Grant’s murder have shined a spotlight on police terror, and have been a case study in criminal cover-up—a vivid reminder of how this system really works. We only saw the videos after people who made them went to the press. Even with this damning evidence, only after people took to the streets was the cop even arrested. All along, all we hear from the mayor, the courts and the police is “have faith in the process.” But if the events of the last month have shown anything, this is the one thing we cannot do. Because the whole system is guilty. Police brutality and murder is rewarded by this system because it is part of the state-sanctioned violence the system uses to keep people down. Only through exposing the lies, the cover-up, and by building determined resistance and struggle can there be any hope for justice for Oscar Grant. Former Officer's Arrest Doesn't Surprise Neighbors Mead Woman Accused Of Stealing War Vet's Pain Medication Pump www.thedenverchannel.com/news/18626570/detail.html By Lance Hernandez, 7NEWS Reporter POSTED: 10:31 pm MST February 2, 2009 UPDATED: 11:54 pm MST February 2, 2009 MEAD, Colo. -- Neighbors of a former Longmont police officer accused of stealing a pain medication pump from the hospital room of an Iraq war vet said they're not surprised. They said officers have been called to the woman's house several times. None of those neighbors wanted to talk on camera because of fear of retribution from the suspect's sons. But several told 7NEWS that Linda Coulimore is a single mom with two teenage boys who have been accused of causing problems in the neighborhood. When asked what kinds of problems, one neighbor responded, "Car vandalism and just torment. I know they've tormented other children." Another neighbor said Coulimore was setting a bad example for her children. Coulimore is accused of walking into a patient's room at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver and taking a pain medication pump that was being used by an Iraq war vet who had just undergone surgery. Denver police distributed photographs of the alleged thief which were captured by the hospital's security camera system. Police department spokesman Sonny Jackson said that after Coulimore was identified as a possible suspect, authorities issued an arrest warrant. Weld County deputies executed the warrant and arrested Coulimore at her home in Mead on Friday. "We've seen police cars at that house numerous times," said one neighbor. "The only surprise is that it was for her this time and not her sons." Coulimore has since bonded out of jail. A spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney said formal charges will likely be filed against the suspect later this week. An individual inside Coulimore's house declined to answer the door when I rang the doorbell seeking comment. One of the woman's sons told 7NEWS, Saturday, that the image of a woman captured by the hospital's security camera was not his mom's. Long time Mead resident Gerald Boos told 7NEWS, "I think it's terrible," that someone stole much needed pain medication from a veteran. Boos said it's hard to understand that a former police officer is accused. "That makes it even worse in my estimation," Boos said. Coulimore was an officer at the Longmont police department from 1981 to 1995.
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#1. To: All (#0)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_re_us/chino_shootout CHINO, Calif. – A 21-year-old bystander who police mistakenly believed was a robbery suspect was killed by officers during a shootout at a pizza parlor, authorities said Monday. Officers and two armed robbers exchanged gunfire at a Papa John's Pizza outlet on Sunday night in Chino, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, police said. Daniel Baledran, of Rubidoux, died after he was shot by officers. He was ruled out as a suspect Monday based on the statements of witnesses and officers, said Chino police spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden. The two suspects exchanged several rounds with police and both were hospitalized with critical injuries, police said. A Chino police officer also suffered gunshot wounds but was in stable condition Monday, officials said. Shots were fired both inside and outside the restaurant, and shell casings and drops of blood were scattered about the scene, according to Van Der Linden.
Click for Privacy and Preparedness files Nobody cares. I'm not sure exactly why, but I do know that they don't care.
I think I know why. It's because it always happens to Someone Else. Which is why I dont care about those that dont care. They just need to keep the fuck out of the way, or go merrily to the FEMA camps, or else.
Click for Privacy and Preparedness files
#2. To: PSUSA (#0)
WE’VE SEEN WHERE THIS ROAD LEADS. WE’VE SEEN THE COPS THAT SHOT SEAN BELL GO FREE. WE’VE SEEN “THE RIDERS”—A GANG IN THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT WHO TERRORIZED THE PEOPLE IN WEST OAKLAND—GO FREE. WE’VE SEEN THE VAST MAJORITY OF COPS WHO BRUTALIZE AND KILL NOT EVEN CHARGED WITH ANY CRIME.
#3. To: winston_smith (#2)
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