Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread #2

[eschereal]

There are a number of YT videos advising the viewer on how to engage with police. The overriding message is to roll up your windows and lock the doors if you are asked to step out of the car and to say nothing. The police are looking to catch you for something, so do not know anything, volunteer nothing, give them nothing to work with or they will figure out a way to pin something on you if at all possible. It is their (at least perceived) job.

In a case like Burrell’s, they found a guy that they could stick a thing on, so they did. Perhaps they were confident that they had the guy. And, of course, when the nice police person tells you they have the guy that murdered your child/sister, you are relieved that the evil dude has been caught, you want to believe the nice police person, and so, in your eyes, that guy is guilty, because the nice police people told you they busted their butts to catch him.

Most importantly, if those officers jumped the gun, so to speak, on the collar and got the wrong guy, so what? It will cost them nothing. They did their job and caught “the” murderer. All these years later, the police people are in the clear. Qualified immunity. They have no consequences for “doing their job”, even if a railroad is involved.

That should probably change.

[crowmanyclouds]

@eschereal

There are a number of YT videos advising the viewer on how to engage with police. The overriding message is to roll up your windows and lock the doors if you are asked to step out of the car {…}

I’ve seen a number of these and they must really warm the hearts of the folks that make money off of vehicle glass replacement.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Columbia, SC:

Police kept Black man naked in yard while looking for teens

A 71-year-old Black man in South Carolina was embarrassed and feared for his life when a police officer looking for teens who might have been breaking in cars held him outside naked and at gunpoint after he peeked out his door to check on the disturbance, the man said in a lawsuit.

Body camera video showed Jethro DeVane tell the officer in June 2019 he lived in the Rock Hill home and the officer cursed at him and told him not to close the door.

The officer ordered DeVane to stand outside his home naked at 4 a.m., facing the wall. DeVane asked what was going on and officer Vincent Mentesana told him “I don’t want to talk to you,” according to the body camera video.

The officer held the gun to DeVane’s head for 90 seconds as other officers looked through his home, then once he got the all clear, asked DeVane his name and told him why police were in the neighborhood, according to the video DeVane and his lawyer obtained through a public records request.

“I did what the man said. He had the weapon. He could have took my life in a minute,” DeVane said.

No one saw teens in DeVane’s yard and police did not have a search warrant for the house, according to the lawsuit which claims gross negligence, emotional distress and false imprisonment. The suit does not ask for a specific dollar amount.

[Euphonious_Polemic]

These stories always make me wonder:

Is there any training whatsoever for police in these areas? Or do they give them a two week course, half of which is watching old episodes of C.O.P.S. and then give them a gun and say “off you go!”??

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Columbus, OH:

Mayor: Body cam not activated in police killing of Black man

Oh; what a surprise and a shock, eh.

[mhendo]

Black man hears screams, rushes to help woman who was the victim of a rape. The rapist flees, and the black man stops to help the victim. Police arrive and shoot the good samaritan three times in the back. Then they plant a gun on him, and charge him with the rape, for which he receives a sentence of 12½ to 25 years. The gun they plant was registered to a Philadelphia police officer, who never reported it stolen.

All of this happened in 2001, and Termaine Joseph Hicks was just released from prison after being exonerated by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit. The two officers are still employed by the City of Philadelphia.

Police shot a Philly man, then accused him of rape. He was exonerated after...

[RitterSport]

Holy shit!

[eschereal]

… That matched other witness statements that the attacker wore a gray hoodie, while Hicks’ coat had no hood. But the surveillance footage was not provided to Hicks or his lawyers until after his trial had concluded.

Fuck. That is just ridiculous. The DA should not be allowed to keep evidence from the defense (and vice versa).

[Euphonious_Polemic]

@eschereal

he DA should not be allowed to keep evidence from the defense (and vice versa).

The DA should go to prison for that.

[k9bfriender]

I’m pretty sure that they are not allowed to keep evidence from the defense.

Whether they get away with it is a different matter, of course.

[Typo_Negative]

When he wins the lawsuit, he should get the DA’s house and the cop’s pension and kids.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

[sigh]

Elmira, New York:

Officer charged in death of man slammed on hospital floor

A police officer in upstate New York has been charged with assault in the death last year of a mental health detainee who went limp and unresponsive after the officer allegedly pressed a foot on the man’s neck area and slammed his head onto a hospital floor.

Elmira Police Officer Eduardo Oropallo was arraigned Wednesday in connection with the August 2019 death of 49-year-old Gary Strobridge. Prosecutors did not seek bail. Elmira Police Chief Joseph Kane said Oropallo is on paid administrative leave.

According to the family’s lawsuit, Oropallo braced himself against a wall or door jamb and violently pressed his foot into Strobridge’s neck or head area, causing him to grunt. The officer then grabbed Strobridge by the hair on the back of his head and slammed his head and face into the floor twice, yelling, “Gary, stop resisting!” the lawsuit said.

Charging documents in the criminal case describe Oropallo’s “striking Mr. Strobridge’s face against the hospital floor,” which is referred to as a “dangerous instrument.”

[eschereal]

If I were to become a police officer, does that mean I could recklessly kill someone and be charged with assault (as opposed to some sort of murder)?

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@Snowboarder_Bo

Columbus, OH:
Mayor: Body cam not activated in police killing of Black man | AP News
Oh; what a surprise and a shock, eh.

…and yet:

Video released in police killing of Black man holding phone

Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he is fatally shot by a Columbus police officer.

About six seconds pass between the time Hill is visible in the video and when the officer fires his weapon early Tuesday. There is no audio because the officer hadn’t activated the body camera; an automatic “look back” feature captured the shooting without audio.

Without audio, it’s unclear whether the officer, identified as Adam Coy, yelled any commands at Hill, whose right hand isn’t visible in the video. Authorities say no weapon was recovered from the scene. The city says Hill was visiting someone at the time.

Hill lay on the garage floor for several minutes without any officer on the scene coming to his aid. That violates policy requiring officers to help the injured, said Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther on Wednesday, calling for Coy to be fired as a result.

Coy also violated departmental policies requiring his camera’s full video and audio functions to have been activated, Ginther said.

After Coy activates the audio, he is heard using an expletive as he yells at Hill, now lying on the garage floor, to put his “hands off to the side! Hands out to the side now!”

A few seconds later, Coy yells at Hill, “Roll to your stomach now,” and then: “Get your hand up from underneath you, now!”

Coy then asks a dispatcher, “We got a medic coming” and yells, “Don’t move, dude!” to Hill as he lies on his side groaning.

Hill died less than an hour later at a hospital.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

What’s going on in Iowa? Nothing much, that’s what.

No officers convicted by Iowa AG in force cases since 2004

[bobot]

OK, here’s one near me that worked out the way it should have. Man punches public transportation security and runs away. Security chases after man. Cops arrive and arrest man in the street. While the man is handcuffed, security guy punches man. Harvey Il. police immediately arrest security guy! (Link is to Twitter.)

https://t.co/kYJd5k2inA

[Snowboarder_Bo]

So far it has worked out the way it should… let’s see what happens now tho.

[mhendo]

I wonder whether they would have done the same thing if the person doing the punching had been another cop, instead of a security guard.

[TokyoBayer]

exactly

[Ike_Witt]

That is probably why the guy was arrested - impersonating a police officer.