Freed Australian man sues for malicious prosecution

A YOUNG man who was held in jail for 14 months over the murder of his former girlfriend, before a judge threw the case out due to lack of evidence, is suing the state for malicious prosecution.

Richard Broeder said he suffered from severe depression, alcoholism and gambling addiction since being jailed over the 2006 murder of Amanda O'Dell at the age of 21.

The decomposing remains of Ms O'Dell, 20, were found in the Tamban State Forest, north of Kempsey.

Mr Broeder's statement of claim to the NSW District Court asserted that Kempsey detectives, and prosecutors from the Department of Public Prosecutions, had little evidence about where Ms O'Dell died and what motive Mr Broeder had for killing her. Police were motivated by "ill will or spite", Mr Broeder's statement said.

Mr Broeder said the entire saga had left him humiliated and with permanent damage to his reputation.

Lawyers representing the state of NSW declined to provide the Herald with any of their submissions yesterday.

Original report here




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Evil Australian cops hit the taxpayer for $300,000

A squad led by a dickless Tracy

THE NSW Government has been ordered to pay $300,000 in damages to a Sydney man after police wrongfully arrested him and continued with a malicious prosecution that included keeping him in jail for nearly two months without trial.

In 2006, heavily armed police forcefully arrested Haysam Zreika at his car glazing business in Artarmon, pushing him to the ground, pointing a gun at him and treading on his head. They charged Mr Zreika, 32, with shooting a man in the scrotum at a unit in Parramatta.

But the detectives from Rosehill police had scant evidence that Mr Zreika had any involvement in the crime and effectively ignored strong evidence that he was not guilty, a judge has found. They relied almost entirely on a statement from a man working at a nearby service station who witnessed Mr Zreika come into his store and say aloud, that he had just killed, or felt like killing, "some c----", and that he had "had enough".

The attendant reported this to police, along with a description of Mr Zreika.

The description did not match a description of the shooter given to police by witnesses at the crime scene itself.

The shooter was described as being short, stocky, and wearing blue jeans and an orange hoodie. Mr Zreika is tall, skinny, and had been wearing khaki pants and a red hoodie.

The detective in charge of the investigation, Detective Constable Jacqueline Ryder, elected not to interview several key witnesses who were closely connected to the victim of the crime until after the arrest, NSW District Court Judge Stephen Walmsley said in his judgment in the civil case last month.

"That there were … obvious differences between the description of the shooter … and that of the plaintiff, should, I consider, have been obvious to the average astute police investigator," Judge Walmsley said.

The police opposed Mr Zreika's requests for bail on two occasions, and he was kept in prison for nearly two months until the charges were eventually dropped.

Judge Walmsley found that in opposing bail "important information suggestive of the plaintiff's innocence of the charges was not given to the court or to the plaintiff's solicitor" and that the police's statement of facts "contained serious, and highly prejudicial misstatements".

Police left out the fact that in a police line-up undertaken after his arrest all eye witnesses had excluded Mr Zreika as the assailant.

Yesterday, the Herald asked NSW Police whether it is investigating Constable Ryder and other officers involved in the investigation but is awaiting a response.

SOURCE
Original report here




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NYPD Pepper Sprays Man To Death

There was no need to pepper spray him when he was down and no justification for ignoring what he said

The death of a Bronx man who suffered a fatal asthma attack after cops pepper-sprayed him has been ruled a homicide by the city medical examiner.

An autopsy found that Kemp Yarborough cause of death was by “acute bronchial asthma attack during a physical altercation including pepper spray,” the city medical examiner told the New York Daily News.

Prosecutors are now thinking about filing charges against the NYPD officers who sprayed Yarborough on March 8 of this year.

The incident happened when police officers responded to reports of a street fight. Yarborough, 36 at the time, was questioned by the officers for his involvement in the fight.

Yarborough, who had done eight years in jail for a 1990 murder conviction, denied any involvement with the fight and soon began having trouble breathing. According to witness, Yarborough reached for his inhaler while being questioned by the officers. Yarborough’s action caused the police to tackle him to the ground and pepper spray him.

"He went down like timber," William Martin told the New York Daily News. Martin, Yarborough’s attorney and an eye-witness to the incident, says the police ignored his client’s wishes as he begged for his inhaler. "He told them he couldn't breathe. After five to 10 minutes, he started foaming at the mouth and eventually died," Martin explained. The officers performed CPR but could not revive him.

Police claim Yarborough was in possession of illegal substances when he died, but the NYPD hasn’t provided a full report of the incident. The NYPD has yet to respond on the matter.

In 2005, records show Yarborough was arrested for being in possession of a weapon and a controlled substance. His wife said he had changed his ways since then and has been working as a security guard.

"I want justice for my husband," his widow, Erica Coleman-Yarborough, told the media. "He was having an asthma attack, but instead of helping him, these officers pepper sprayed him."

Original report here




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CA: Dad of fatally-beaten homeless man rejects 'insulting $900,000 compensation offer from city'

A man whose homeless and schizophrenic son died from injuries in police custody says he has rejected compensation of almost $1million. Ron Thomas says he will instead sue the city of Fullerton in California after Kelly Thomas, 37, died after he was allegedly beaten up by police. He slammed the city’s offer of $900,000 as ‘a huge insult’ after his son was allegedly shocked with a stun gun, beaten with flashlights and kicked.

Mr Thomas told CNN he had originally avoided hiring a lawyer because he wanted to be a ‘voice for my son’ but has since changed his mind. ‘I do need an attorney for this, and I've been talking to some,’ he said, following the death of his son almost a month ago on July 10.

Witnesses described a shocking attack on his son five days before, in which a person in distress can be heard calling out for their father.

Police attended a scene where a man was allegedly trying to break into cars near a bus station and found suspect Kelly Thomas there. There was an altercation which resulted in Kelly Thomas suffering serious injuries and being taken to hospital, police said.

Mr Thomas claimed the police were ‘rogue cops that were thinking they're above the law’ and ‘brutally beat my son to death’. He told CNN that fighting for his son’s justice has ‘taken a heavy toll on me’ but he has no plans to stop as he needs to ‘prevail’.

Mr Thomas said he has a printed document of the $900,000 offer although the city is now denying they came forward with the settlement. The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Six police officers have been put on administrative leave as the FBI and Orange County's district attorney investigate what happened. ‘Any sort of termination, suspension or exoneration for the matter will occur at the end of the investigation,’ a police spokesman told CNN.

The revelations of what happened have caused growing outrage in the quiet college town. More than 70 people spoke at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, and a city councilwoman called for the resignation of the police chief.

Kelly Thomas's father and others were planning a protest outside the police station this weekend, the second in as many weeks. ‘My son needs a voice,’ he said. ‘Now, the people have become Kelly's voice and, yeah, I'm leading the charge.’

Original report here




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FL: A third Boynton Beach police officer arrested this week

A third Boynton Beach police officer was arrested this week, this time for allegedly planting a gun on a suspect, the State Attorney's Office said. Officer Alex Lindsey, 28, was arrested Friday, charged with official misconduct and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Lindsey arrested Jeffrey Pugh, 42, of Boynton Beach, in December on drug and gun charges and the case was adopted by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

During trial preparation a copy of the booking video was requested and Lindsey admitted he lied about the gun, his arrest report shows.

"The arrest today of Officer Lindsey, and the arrests of Officer Michael Mulcahy and former Officer Michael Arco earlier this week, are not indicative of the consistently dedicated service and integrity of the men and women of the Boynton Beach Police Department," Police Chief Matthew Immler said in a statement.

"The case against Lindsey, along with the other recently filed cases against [Boynton Beach police] officers, illustrates our commitment to the profession and the community."

Michael Mulcahy, 29, and former officer Michael Arco, 26, turned themselves in at the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday.

Their arrests stem from an internal police investigation claiming they lied about the details of an arrest they made at the Golden Sands Inn on Southeast 21st Avenue. Mulcahy and Arco wrote in their reports that they knocked on the door of an armed robbery suspect's motel room and arrested him as he tried to back away.

Their supervising sergeant, who was suspicious of their story, talked to the motel manager, who said he unlocked the motel room door for the pair at their request, according to a report from the State Attorney's Public Integrity Unit. The two did not have the right to enter the room the way they did without a search warrant, their sergeant later said in the report.

In early July, Boynton Beach police suffered a blow as its 2010 Officer of the Year was indicted on federal meth trafficking charges. David Britto, 28, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was ordered to live under curfew and with an ankle monitor at his mother's house in Coral Springs pending court proceedings.

Original report here



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Police convicted in post-Katrina shootings

A US federal jury has convicted five current or former police officers in the deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

Former officer Robert Faulcon, sergeants Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen, officer Anthony Villavaso and retired sergeant Arthur Kaufman were convicted overnight of charges stemming from the cover-up of the shootings.

All but Kaufman were convicted of civil rights violations stemming from the shootings. Kaufman, who investigated the shootings, was charged only in the cover-up. However, the jury didn't find that the shootings amounted to murder.

The mother of 17-year-old James Brissette, one of the people killed on the bridge, said she was relieved by the verdict after "a long, hard six years". But she was puzzled that the jury could conclude her son wasn't murdered. "How are you able to empty a shotgun in the person and it's not murder?" Sherrel Johnson said.

Prosecutors had argued during trial that Faulcon fired the "kill shot" from a shotgun, striking Brissette in the head.

Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for December 14.

Kaufman remains free on bond until he is sentenced. The other four officers already are jailed and face possible life prison sentences.

The trial was a high-profile test of the Justice Department's effort to clean up a police department marred by a reputation for corruption and brutality. A total of 20 current or former New Orleans police officers were charged last year in a series of federal probes.

Most of the cases centre on actions during the aftermath of the August 29, 2005, storm, which plunged the flooded city into a state of lawlessness and desperation.

"This was a critical verdict. I cannot overstate the importance of this verdict. The power, the message it sends to the community, the healing power it has," US Attorney Jim Letten said after the verdict.

Prosecutors contended during the five-week federal trial that officers shot unarmed people without justification and without warning, killing two and wounding four others on September 4, 2005, then embarked on a cover-up involving made-up witnesses, falsified reports and a planted gun.

Defence lawyers countered that the officers were returning fire and reasonably believed their lives were in danger as they rushed to respond to another officer's distress call less than a week after Katrina struck.

Original report here




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Parole bungles let rapist hold victim for 18 years, says report

In a blistering assessment of how badly officials bungled their oversight of rapist-kidnapper Phillip Garrido, El Dorado County prosecutors have compiled a list of dozens of instances for which his parole should have been revoked, many of which would have saved Jaycee Lee Dugard from being abducted.

The 162-page report from the office of the El Dorado County District Attorney, Vern Pierson, includes numerous federal and state documents that have previously surfaced since Ms Dugard was rescued in August 2009 after 18 years of captivity.

But it includes new details of Garrido's parole violations that should have returned him to prison, including:

- efforts he made while working at a nursing home to get co-workers to help him buy drugs;

- positive tests for drugs such as methamphetamine;

- submitting watered down urine samples during drug testing;

- and wearing a fake penis and using Mountain Dew to fool drug counsellor during testing.

The unsparing report lashes out at parole agents who failed to discover Ms Dugard, who was abducted as an 11-year-old and held until she was 29. It labels one federal parole agent "utterly incompetent" and blasts a litany of failures to rescue Ms Dugard.

It provides new evidence of other Garrido crimes, including 10 to 20 instances in which young girls were lured into the back of a van while his wife, Nancy, videotaped the children stretching and bending over to later provide her husband with sexually gratifying images.

And it explores details of Garrido's visit to one of his earlier victims, Katie Callaway Hall, after he was released from a 50-year sentence for raping and kidnapping her in 1976.

"It is beyond dispute that the criminal justice system failed Jaycee Lee Dugard, it failed Katie Callaway Hall, and assuredly failed many of the other countless unknown victims of Phillip Garrido," the report concludes.

Mr Pierson said he hoped to help win approval of legislation that will allow parole boards to give as much weight to an inmate's original crime as to psychiatric reports that purport to show the criminal no longer poses a threat to society.

Nancy and Phillip Garrido pleaded guilty in April to kidnapping Ms Dugard. Phillip Garrido is serving a 431 year sentence and will never win release. His wife was sentenced to 36 years to life.

The Pierson report lists the top five failings his office identified as they prepared for a trial that was avoided when the Garridos agreed to plead guilty. They are:

- federal authorities allowing Garrido's release after 11 years of a 50-year sentence;

- the inexplicable failure to look at Garrido as a suspect in the 1991 kidnap of Ms Dugard. By then, he was known to authorities as a serial kidnapper-rapist who had victims in the South Lake Tahoe area from which Dugard was taken;

- the failure of parole agents supervising Garrido to detect Ms Dugard in his backyard and home in Antioch, California;

- the lack of supervision by federal parole agents, starting on May 15, 1991, when an agent noted the presence of a soundproof recording studio in Garrido's backyard. Three weeks later Ms Dugard was abducted and kept inside, where she was assaulted by Garrido. For the next four years, a parole agent visited the home only one brief time;

- failure of federal parole agents to investigate Ms Calloway Hall's complaint in 1988 that Garrido approached her at a casino where she worked after he had been released from jail.

Original report here




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A British Chief Constable and his deputy are both suspended after being arrested in corruption probe

One of Britain’s most senior police officers was arrested on suspicion of corruption yesterday. Cleveland Chief Constable Sean Price, 53, and his deputy Derek Bonnard, 45, are being quizzed by detectives investigating allegations of misconduct, abuse of position and corrupt practice.

A chief constable has not been arrested and charged with an offence since 1958.

Mr Price, who is one of the most highly paid officers in Britain thanks to a gold-plated perks package which takes his salary to £191,905, was suspended from duty along with his deputy yesterday.

The force’s former solicitor Caroline Llewellyn, who left last month after 36 years with a £213,000 redundancy payoff, was also held yesterday.

The shock arrests came after Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary asked Warwickshire Police to investigate allegations of corruption regarding business practices at the force in May this year.

The inquiry, headed by Warwickshire Chief Constable Keith Bristow, was set up to probe ‘a number of people with current or past associations with Cleveland Police Authority’.

The investigation is understood to focus on a series of contracts awarded to businesses. The decision to award a PFI maintenance contract worth £87,000 to a firm which employed the chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, Dave McLuckie, as a consultant has come under scrutiny.

In 2009, local heating and plumbing firm Combi UK won a contract to carry out maintenance work at police buildings. It is unclear who signed off the contract. Mr McLuckie, who openly acknowledged that he was paid £900 a month to advise the company about health and safety and employment issues, has denied any wrongdoing and says he took no part in the contract negotiations.

He resigned just days after the probe was launched, saying he had been subject to a ‘character assassination’. The Redcar and Cleveland councillor has also been suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of the probe.

In the same month, Mr Price became the subject of an unconnected investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Authority into claims he used undue influence to get a job for Mr McLuckie’s daughter in 2008 – a claim that he has strenuously denied. The officer also hit the headlines in October last year when he left his wife to set up home with his former staff officer, 39-year-old Detective Chief Inspector Heather Eastwood.

Last year Mr Price’s bumper £20,000 bonus – one of the highest awarded to any officer in the UK – provoked fury among rank-and-file officers at a time when forces faced huge cutbacks.

In 2009, it was revealed the officer, who earns a salary of £130,000, had received a ‘retention package’ worth £50,000 a year since 2006 to prevent him being poached by other forces. The father of one also received an ‘honorarium’ of £24,000 – a bonus for cutting crime by 17 per cent – £4,000 a year towards private school fees, a £32,000 car allowance and £1,000 towards private health insurance.

A spokesman for Cleveland Police Authority said the matter had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A spokesman for Warwickshire Police said: ‘Two men and a woman were arrested and have been taken to a police station in North Yorkshire.’

Original report here




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Woman who filmed cops acquitted

Charges against the Rochester, New York woman that was arrested after filming police outside her home last month have been dropped, a month after she was detained by cops for recording from her front lawn.

Emily Good made national headlines when the iPhone footage she made went viral after it was posted to YouTube. In the clip, Good is chastised by a Rochester police officer for filming a routine traffic stop outside of her home. Good claims that she is allowed to film from her own front yard, but the arresting officer, Mario Masic, insists she retreats to her home or face arrest.

Good refused, and her arrest is then caught on tape.

After the incident made waves, Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard said he had “researched the incident and determined that the case is currently proceeding through the adjudication process.” Now all charges against Good have been dropped.

On Monday, Sheppard and the district attorney’s office and Rochester Mayor Thomas S. Richards all agreed that charges should be dismissed.

Sheppard now says he supports the initiative of Officer Masic, but adds, "nonetheless, we must conduct ourselves with the appropriate respect for those involved as well as those observing our behavior."

Good says she plans on opening a civil suit against the Rochester PD for violating her civil rights.

"People recognize me going down the street and they say 'wow, thank you for standing up to this,'" Good tells Rochester network YNN, "because this is happening everyday and people just don't pay attention."

Original report here




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Las Vegas cops again: Officer facing probe after beating up videographer as the camera kept rolling

A police officer is being investigated after being caught on tape beating a videographer outside of his home in March. A Las Vegas police department review found that Officer Derek Colling violated police policies when he used 'excessive force' on Mitchell Crooks.

The incident happened on the night of March 20 when Mr Crooks, 36, was in his driveway videotaping police as they investigated a burglary report across the street.

Mr Crooks said that when he refused to stop filming, Mr Colling arrested and beat him, with the sounds of the altercation recorded by the camera. In the video, Mr Crooks can be heard yelling in pain while Colling can be heard telling him to 'shut up.' At one point the officer tells him that his decision not to turn off the camera put him in 'a world of hurt.'

Mr Colling has been on paid suspension since April 1 and could lose his job pending the outcome of a review by the officer's supervisors, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.

Mr Crooks received a letter from the Internal Affairs Bureau notifying him of the findings earlier this week. He said he was pleasantly surprised. 'It seems like they're saying he was guilty, which is what I've been saying,' Mr Crooks said. 'I really hope he gets fired.'

Multiple supervisors in Colling's chain of command will review the internal affairs report and decide his punishment, if any. If Colling's supervisors recommend his firing, he will go before a pre-termination board for a final appeal. The harshest punishment short of firing is a 40-hour unpaid suspension.

Mr Crooks' lawyer, David Otto, intends to sue Colling and the Police Department. Mr Otto said he wrote a letter in April to Sheriff Douglas Gillespie demanding $500,000 to cover Crooks' medical care, pain and suffering. The Police Department has not paid anything, he said.

He intends to send another letter to Mr Gillespie. 'Mr Sheriff, show us the difference between what the officers did to Mitchell Crooks that night and kidnapping, beating and robbery,' Mr Otto said.

The video went viral on the Internet, and local activists and national "cop watch" blogs scrutiznized Colling's actions.

Local American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Allen Lichtenstein reviewed the video and found clear policy violations. 'It raises serious questions about whether the officer used good judgment and whether he was properly trained,' Mr Lichtenstein said. 'Those questions require answers.'

Mr Colling has been involved in two fatal shootings in his five and-a-half years as a Las Vegas police officer. In 2006, he and four other officers shot Shawn Jacob Collins after the 43-year-old man pulled a gun at a gas station. In 2009, Mr Colling shot and killed Tanner Chamberlain, a mentally ill 15-year-old who was holding a knife at his mother's neck and waving it at officers. Both shootings were ruled justified by Clark County coroner's juries.

Chamberlain's mother, Evie Oquendo, sued Colling and the Police Department in May. When the lawsuit was filed, Mrs Oquendo's lawyer asked why Colling was still working as an officer. 'He's killed two people in 5½ years and beaten one guy up that we know of,' Brent Bryson said.

Mr Crooks has lived in Las Vegas since 2003 and works as a freelance videographer.

Original report here




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Family sues Cleveland police officers, claims teen son with Down syndrome was attacked

Juan Ortiz was 16 when Cleveland police officers mistook him for a neighborhood robber. In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday, Juan and his parents accuse Patrolman Brian Kazimer of using excessive force on the teen and Patrolman Dan Crisan of allowing it to happen.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In recent months, Cleveland police officers have been accused of attacking a state prison guard, using a stun gun on a suspect who had surrendered peacefully and beating a mentally ill man after a high-speed car chase. Now they're being accused of roughing up a teenager with Down syndrome.

In a civil rights lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Ramon Ortiz and Alma Perez say Patrolman Brian Kazimer used excessive force on their son, Juan Ortiz, after mistaking him last summer for a neighborhood robber. Also named in the suit is Patrolman Dan Crisan, whom Juan's parents say observed Kazimer's "unconstitutional" actions but failed to intervene.

"There's simply no conceivable excuse for brutalizing a child with Down syndrome," said attorney Subodh Chandra, who is representing Juan and his parents in the lawsuit. "The family is very distressed. They watched their sweet child, who is as innocent can be, viciously attacked by police officers even as they were trying to explain that their child has Down syndrome."

Neither officer could be reached Monday, and a lawyer for the union representing them did not return a telephone call. Andrea Taylor, the press secretary for Mayor Frank Jackson, said that city officials needed time to fully review the complaint and would not comment on it.

Kazimer and Crisan encountered Juan, then 16, while on a robbery call last August near Lorain Avenue and West 143rd Street. A man had reported his wallet stolen, and one of the suspects was described as wearing a red T-shirt and jeans, according to city records Chandra obtained.

At a nearby apartment complex, Crisan and Kazimer spotted Juan, who was wearing a red T-shirt and jeans. The officers reported that Juan fled when he saw their cruiser approach.

"After a brief foot pursuit, male was caught and detained briefly until it was determined that he had no involvement," Kazimer noted in an initial field report he submitted after the incident. The report did not indicate a struggle with Juan.

In the lawsuit, Juan's parents contend their son looked nothing like the suspects. They say Juan, of Puerto Rican descent, was 4-foot-11 and weighed 118 pounds at the time. The two men ultimately arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery were white, records show. One was 5-foot-10, the other 6 foot, and both were several years older and much heavier than Juan.

Ortiz and Perez assert that Crisan and Kazimer pulled into the family's apartment complex and began shouting at Juan, "who neither understands nor speaks English well." Ortiz and Perez say their son was scared and ran toward his parents, with the two officers in pursuit.

"Catching up with the fleeing child, Defendant Kazimer tackled and slammed Juan into his father's car," the suit states. "Defendant Kazimer used his weight to pin Juan against the car."

Ortiz told the officers his son has Down syndrome and pleaded that they let Juan go, according to the suit. And when Perez tried to intervene, Kazimer shoved her away. Juan's parents also say that after they continued to explain their son's mental disability, Kazimer responded with: "You're lucky we didn't shoot him," then ordered Ortiz to "shut the f--- up."

Juan suffered severe anxiety, chest pain and bruising after the incident. He also was treated for an abscess near his groin that his parents blame on his being pinned against a hot car.

Emotional problems linger for Juan. "If he sees a police officer, he has particular trouble sleeping that night," according to the suit, which seeks unspecified compensation.

A day after the incident, Ortiz filed a complaint with the city's Office of Professional Standards, which investigates police misconduct. Kazimer and Crisan both denied wrongdoing in written statements they were ordered to submit to the agency. Crisan said Ortiz was belligerent.

"I never heard anyone tell Mr. Ortiz to shut the f--- up," Crisan wrote. "I never heard anyone tell Mr. Ortiz, 'You're lucky we didn't shoot him.' Mr. Ortiz and his son were treated professionally at all times and not like an animal as Mr. Ortiz states in his complaint."

Both officers said Ortiz refused to seek emergency medical care for Juan.

After a subsequent review of the case, the Police Review Board "sustained" Ortiz' complaint and recommended that Chief Michael McGrath order discipline, records show. Sgt. Sammy Morris, a police spokesman, said the matter is pending.

The lawsuit from Ortiz and Perez is the latest brutality claim against Cleveland police. Civil-rights advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, have repeatedly called for the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a full review of police practices here.

Federal investigators already are looking at a New Year's Day incident involving Edward Henderson of Cleveland Heights. Police say Henderson led them on a high-speed chase after nearly striking two officers who had stopped another motorist for a traffic offense. Henderson, who suffers from mental illness, says officers beat and injured him after they arrested him following a crash.

Four officers had been charged with felonious assault in the case, but the charges were dismissed from Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to allow time for the federal probe.

Original report here




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Justice delayed shouldn't be justice denied

Exoneration of the innocent is a paramount act of conscience

Last week, the mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (exonerate.org) hosted a lunch to honor two very different men. One is black. The other is white. One has served 27 years in Virginia prisons for crimes he didn't commit. The other is Virginia's chief law enforcement official.

Their story began one evening in 1984, when 18-year-old Thomas Haynesworth went to a Richmond store to buy sweet potatoes for his mother. He'd never been in trouble, but as he left the store, a rape victim spotted him, called the police and mistakenly identified him as her attacker. Mr. Haynesworth was quickly arrested, jailed, tried, convicted of raping three women, sentenced to 84 years, hustled off to a state penitentiary and promptly forgotten.

Cops and prosecutors alike rolled their eyes at his protestations of innocence. Mr. Haynesworth said that although few people can imagine what it's like to serve time in prison, it is impossible to imagine what it's like for someone like him who finds himself facing life behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.

Years later, the staff of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project took a fresh look at his case and became convinced that he might be innocent. They sought DNA tests of evidence still in police files, and the tests proved another man already serving time for serial rape was the perpetrator in one of the cases in which Mr. Haynesworth had been convicted.

This led to the likelihood that his other two convictions resulted from mistaken identity as well. There was, however, no DNA evidence to test in the other two cases. Still, under 2004 Virginia law, Mr. Haynesworth had a chance to be cleared and win his freedom by seeking a "writ of actual innocence for non-biological evidence" and convincing a state appeals court that newly discovered non-DNA evidence would have made it impossible for a "rational trier" to have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt had it been available at his original trial.

Until last March, it seemed Mr. Haynesworth would remain in prison unless his lawyers could persuade an appeals court to grant such a writ, even though law enforcement officials and prosecutors familiar with his case already were persuaded that he was a victim rather than a criminal.

At that point, Virginia's attorney general, a fire-breathing conservative best known for filing the first constitutional challenge to the individual mandate in President Obama's health care law, got involved. As a state senator, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli had been a key supporter of the 2004 legislation that would give Mr. Haynesworth a chance at exoneration. After reviewing the evidence, he signed on as Mr. Haynesworth's most important supporter.

When he discovered in March that in spite of all that had happened, Mr. Haynesworth had been denied parole, Mr. Cuccinelli persuaded Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell to revisit an earlier parole denial so that on his 46th birthday, Thomas Haynesworth walked out of prison. He's still a convicted felon and has to register as a sex offender, but he's free, and Mr. Cuccinelli swears he will do everything in his power to clear Mr. Haynesworth's name.ress on the need to allow post-conviction DNA testing in death-penalty cases when there was any possibility that such tests might prove that a prisoner facing execution might, in fact, be innocent. I just couldn't understand how a prosecutor or anyone involved in such a case wouldn't want to be sure before taking a human life, but members of the prosecutorial community almost unanimously opposed such tests.

They said they did so in the name of certainty, finality and respect for the juries that decide questions of guilt or innocence, but I couldn't help thinking it had as much to do with ambition, ego and the prosecutorial batting average, combined with government's knee-jerk unwillingness under virtually any circumstances to acknowledge a mistake.

Mr. Cuccinelli agrees. He told those gathered to recognize him for his efforts on Mr. Haynesworth's behalf that his "somewhat idealistic view is that `justice' is still a part of our criminal justice system."

Fortunately for Mr. Haynesworth, Mr. Cuccinelli is one attorney general who believes that while our criminal justice system works pretty well most of the time, it isn't perfect. "We have to remember" he told his audience last week, "it was designed by human beings and is staffed by human beings, who sometimes make mistakes." This simple and obvious fact, he argues, means those working within the system have an obligation to keep in mind the possibility that mistakes might be made and do all they can to rectify them when they occur.

Mr. Cuccinelli was on that stage last week with the man he helped free because those interested in such issues know that too many in his position would, like those who put Mr. Haynesworth away almost three decades ago, simply have rolled their eyes, rejected the accused's protestations of innocence and gone on to other things.

Because Mr. Cuccinelli didn't look the other way, Thomas Haynesworth is free after 27 years in prison, looking forward to complete exoneration and reporting to work five days a week - in the office of Virginia's attorney general. It seems that idealism and justice are still compatible.

Original report here




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Disgrace of stormtrooper cop lingers in Ohio

Founded in 1999, Ohioans for Concealed Carry is one of the largest civil rights organizations in Ohio, serving the state's 210,000 concealed carry licensees. We have worked successfully with Ohio's legislators and governors for more than 10 years to ensure that all Ohioans are able to safely and lawfully protect themselves and their families.

Today, OFCC calls on Allen Schulman and Daniel Harless to immediately resign from their positions as president of the Canton City Council, and member of the Canton Police Department, respectively. Their recent conduct demonstrates that they are no longer worthy of the public trust.

* Schulman recently refused to denounce the unlawful behavior of police officer Daniel Harless, who threatened an unarmed, handcuffed citizen with execution (video here). Harless also threatened to "blast [the citizen] in the mouth," "cave in [the citizen's] head," and "step back and put 10 rounds in [the citizen]." By remaining silent during one of the worst cases of police abuse in recent U.S. history, Schulman has given the unmistakable impression of protecting – and even condoning – his employee's behavior. Moreover, Schulman's arrogant silence during this tragedy has set off a chaotic loss of public confidence in Canton's police force – a dangerous scenario and threat to public safety.

* In remarks to WHLO News (audio here), Schulman announced his contempt for Ohio state law that guarantees the basic human right of self-defense. Firearm laws that allow licensed, law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families in dangerous locations are "not acceptable in our society," he said. We believe that his contempt for the right of self-defense is morally identical to a hatred of the free practice of religion, or an attack on the right of journalists to report news and opinion at will. All these activities are Constitutionally enumerated rights; an elected official who discloses their contempt of a basic human right is unfit for public office in the United States and should be removed forthwith.

Over the past several days, the behavior of Harless has been roundly condemned by civil rights leaders, attorneys, law enforcement officers and administrators, law professors, news commentators, and ordinary citizens across the country; Schulman, too, has frequently been named. We are dismayed that City of Canton leaders have not responded to this crisis with the urgency it demands, and that organizations like ours have to call for decisions to be made.

Schulman and Harless should resign immediately. We hope that these changes will at once bring renewed stability, and accountability, to the City of Canton.

Original report here




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CA: Boy Shot By Off-Duty cop gets payout

A young boy shot by an off-duty San Diego police officer in March 2008 spoke to 10News about his ordeal. 10News talked to 12-year-old Johnny Silva on Wednesday, one day after the city of San Diego settled a lawsuit over the shooting for $500,000.

"I didn't actually believe I got shot," Johnny said. "I thought it was just a dream." Johnny described the incident that happened when he was 8 years old: "The cop cut my mom off and then we went to the parking lot and he pulled his gun out, shot and we tried to go in reverse and he just kept shooting. And at the end he finally said he was a cop when he could have said that in the beginning instead of shooting."

White claimed he fired his gun five times into Silva's windshield in self defense. He said Johnny's mother, Rachel Silva, turned her car toward him, revved the engine and hit the gas after she had sideswiped him on the road.

White was acquitted of all criminal charges, and authorities said Silva was drunk during the incident.

When asked what he would say to White, he said, "I don't know. I'd just ask him why did you shoot me?"

Johnny told 10News he would use the money for college and try to become a doctor. After legal expenses, Johnny will end up with a little more than $300,000. The money will go into a trust until his 18th birthday.

Original report here




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Caught on tape: CA Police beat and taser 'gentle' mentally-ill homeless man to death

A shocking video has been released allegedly showing police officers tasering and beating a homeless man to death who they claim was resisting arrest. Though the video is not clear, eye witnesses say the homeless man - Kelly Thomas, 37 - was unable to put up any resistance and was lying on the ground on his front when the attack took place on July 5.

His screams and cries for his father can be heard amid the tasering noises.

The video was shot by a student in Fullerton, California. Kelly Thomas was beaten so badly he died in hospital several days later.

According to Gawker, Thomas - who suffered from schizophrenia - caught the attention of the police after someone reported that a burglar was breaking into cars parked near a Fullerton bus station. When officers approached Thomas in the depot parking lot and tried to arrest him, he resisted.

After that reports diverge.

Police will not issue a statement saying the issue is under investigation but they did say that six officers were involved and two 'suffered broken bones in the fight'. However, they recently retracted that statement saying that it was only 'soft tissue damage'.

Eye witnesses at the scene claim the six officers tasered him five times and beat him beyond recognition, which the disturbing photo of him in hospital shows.



Mark Turgeon, who was there, said: 'They kept beating him and tasering him. I could hear zapping, and he wasn't even moving. 'He had one arm in front of him like this, he wasn't resisting. And they kept telling him, "He's resisting, quit resisting", and he wasn't resisting.'

Many members of the Fullerton community described Thomas as a passive, peaceful person. On the website Fullerton Stories, several people have shared their experiences interacting with Thomas, describing him as 'very quiet and polite', 'gentle and childlike', 'sweet', and 'never a threat'.

Thomas has a previous conviction for assault with a deadly weapon 16 years ago, according to Gawker, which has been attributed to the onset of his illness.

Since his death, his family and members of the community have held protests outside the police department headquarters, looking for answers. Two officers were suspended shortly after the attack but police will not confirm if it was related to the 37-year-old's death.

Speaking about his son's death, Thomas's dad, Ron Thomas, a former sheriff's deputy, said: 'His death was gang-involved, the way I see it. A gang of rogue officers who brutally beat my son to death.' He said he now feels ashamed for having ever been a law enforcement officer.

He has been in the area his son was attacked handing out flyers and asking people for help. He said: 'The only thing we have left of our son is the blood in the gutter, that's all we have left.'

Local city council member Bruce Whitaker has called for a 'clear, factual and complete explanation of events which led to the death of Kelly J. Thomas.' He also wants the D.A. to release a police video that apparently shows the actual beating taking place.

Fullerton police Sgt Andrew Goodrich said that Thomas began to fight officers as they tried to search him. He said: 'We don't know why he was so combative and resistant to the officers, but it took upwards of five to six officers to subdue him. 'Sometimes when we take people into custody who don't want to go into custody, we have to use force. It is never the preferred way of doing things.'

He said police are conducting an internal investigation into the officers' actions and the District Attorney's Office is conducting a criminal investigation. The DA's office said they cannot comment on details of cases until they are completed.

Original report here




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MD: Mount Rainier police officer, indicted



The slime should not still have been in the police after his previous behavior. No doubt his skin color protected him

A grand jury indicted a Mount Rainier police officer on multiple charges, including attempted murder and sexual offense, in connection with a July shooting in Capitol Heights.

27-year-old Gene Gillette, a 3 and ½ year veteran with the police, faces 12 counts of attempted second-degree murder, attempted voluntary manslaughter and multiple counts of assault and sexual offenses. He is expected to appear in court Wednesday for a bond hearing.

"We don't take lightly our responsibility to enforce the law - even against a law enforcer," Angela Alsobrooks, the State's Attorney for Prince George's County, said in a statement. "No one is above the law."

Sources tell ABC7 that on July 2, the victim in the shooting, a 20-year-old male, was lured over to Gillete's residence when he was told there would be girls there to shoot a pornographic film.

Once the victim arrived, he found no girls at the residence. Instead, sources say, Gillette wanted him to perform sexual acts with him. When the victim tried to flee in Gillette's personal car, the officer opened fire, hitting him in the torso.

"I woke up hearing some screaming," Bryien Gray, Gillette's neighbor, said. "Another gunshot...and the guy hits the ground."

Gillette originally said that he had shot the victim in self-defense while he was being carjacked.

He faces life in prison if convicted on all counts.

Mt. Rainier Police Chief Mike Scott says that Gillette was a two-time Officer of the Year, earning the honor in 2009 and 2010. He called him a "very proactive" cop and said he was very disappointed.

However, a Northeast D.C. resident says she was harassed two years ago when Gillette arrested her. She took video of the incident with her cell phone.

Charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest against her were later dropped.

Gillette has been suspended without pay.

Original report here




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The Missing Lesson From Norway: Never Trust a Man in Uniform

According to the narrative provided by Norwegian investigators, Breivik detonated a remote-controlled bomb in downtown Oslo before traveling to Utoya, an island resort that was hosting a retreat for young activists affiliated with the Labour Party, many of whom had parents or relatives who had been employed at the government offices targeted in the bombing. When he arrived a few hours after the blast, Breivik was disguised as a policeman. This allowed him to gain access to the facility, and the confidence of his victims: Trained to defer reflexively to someone wearing the insignia of "authority," the young campers were psychologically disarmed when the assassin told them he had been sent to check on their "security."

By the time a SWAT team managed to arrive an hour and a half later, Breivik had mowed down scores of innocent youngsters.

"It was a slaughter of young children," one witness said following the massacre. They were sheep who had fallen prey to a wolf wearing what the victims had been taught to perceive as the attire of a "sheepdog."

The uncomfortable but irrepressible fact is that every state-licensed "sheepdog" is a potential murderer, and should be treated as such. We have this on the unimpeachable authority of "Jack Dunphy," an active-duty officer in the employ of the Los Angeles Police Department.

In every encounter between a police officer and a "civilian," Dunphy writes, the officer is "concerned with protecting his mortal hide from having holes placed in it where God did not intend. And you, if in asserting your constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure fail to do as the officer asks, run the risk of having such holes placed in your own." What this means is that a Mundane who displays anything other than abject servility is perceived as a threat to "officer safety" – and, by Dunphy’s calculation, a suitable subject for immediate termination.

As is demonstrated by the actions of Patrolman Daniel Harless of the Canton, Ohio Police Department, that assessment is not hyperbole. In a June 8 traffic stop that was captured on video, Harless repeatedly threatened to murder the driver, William E. Bartlett, for carrying a concealed handgun for which he had obtained a the appropriate license. At the time, Bartlett was attempting to comply with the state ordinance by notifying Harless that he was carrying a weapon, and displaying his concealed carry license. Bartlett was composed and deferential; Harless’s behavior was that of a borderline psychotic eagerly seeking an excuse to kill somebody.

"As soon as I felt your gun I should have took [sic] two steps back, pulled my Glock 40 and just put 10 bullets in your ass and let you drop," snarled Harless. "And I wouldn’t have lost any sleep." Thus did Harless slay the diligently propagated fiction that police officers are burdened with a bone-deep dread of pulling their firearms.

After threatening to "put lumps on" a witness to the incident, Harless told Bartlett, "I’m so close to caving in your f*****g head…. You’re just a stupid human being…. F*****g talking to me with a f*****g gun. You want me to pull mine and stick it to your head?" He later threatened to stop Bartlett every time he saw him, towing – that is, stealing – his car and taking him to jail.

After the video was made public by the civil liberties group Ohioans for Concealed Carry, Harless was put on paid vacation.

"Obviously, whatever transpired on that video was an isolated incident," sniffed Bill Adams, commissar of the local police union. The "whatever" Adams blithely dismissed was aggravated assault with a deadly weapon: Rather than continuing to receive a paycheck for sitting at home swilling beer and consuming internet porn, Harless should be in jail awaiting trial. Furthermore, this incident was an "isolated" one only as that term applies to those individuals and that particular location; it is anything but atypical of the behavior of the State’s thuggish enforcer caste.

Harless merely threatened to pull his gun and stick it to William Bartlett’s head. According to the eyewitness testimony of his former partner, Officer Sergio Vergillo, that’s what Phoenix Police Officer Richard Chrisman did to 29-year-old Danny Rodriguez just seconds before he gunned down the family’s dog and murdered the unarmed man.

Chrisman and Vergillo had responded to a call from Rodriguez’s mother, who was upset with her son’s behavior. Rodriguez demanded that Chrisman present a warrant. Drawing on the same lexicon of public service used by Patrolman Harless, Chrisman shoved a gun against Rodriguez’s temple and sneered, "I don’t need no warrant, mother****r." Within minutes, Chrisman had shot the dog, which – according to his partner – exhibited no threatening behavior. This left Rodriguez understandably upset.

"Hey, why did you shoot my dog?" Rodriguez bellowed at the intruder. Five seconds later, he was dead – thereby validating Officer "Jack Dunphy"’s warning that summary execution is considered condign punishment for any Mundane who annoys a member of the Exalted Brotherhood of Coercion by asserting his rights.

Chrisman, who had previously been captured on video planting drug paraphernalia on a homeless woman, was fired and charged with second-degree murder. Significantly, the local police union, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), held a barbecue at its headquarters to raise money on behalf of Chrisman. Following Chrisman’s arrest, PLEA commissar Mark Spencer, commissioned a fishing expedition in Vergillo’s background in the hope of impeaching his credibility as a witness. Even after the net came up empty, Spencer publicly denigrated the character of Officer Vergillo, who had violated the most important canon of police conduct by telling the truth about a fellow officer’s criminal conduct – in this case, aggravated murder.

In New Orleans, the trial continues of five police officers accused of murdering two people, and grievously injuring four others at the Danziger Bridge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The victims were unarmed refugees seeking to flee to higher ground. The police officers responsible for this atrocity concocted a cover story – complete with planted weapons and fabricated "witnesses" – in which the victims supposedly opened fire on the police and were killed in self-defense. One of the victims, a 40-year-old disabled man named Ronald Madison, received a shotgun blast to the back of his head, and then was shot at least three more times while he was face-down on the ground. Lance Madison, an eyewitness to the murder of his brother by the police, was arrested and charged with "attempted murder of police officers" – a charge that was eventually dismissed.

While the murders at Danziger Bridge differed in scale from the bloodletting in Norway, it was also a fatal ambush in which the perpetrators were attired in a costume signifying "authority" -- and they behaved with the same pathological ruthlessness displayed the perpetrator of massacre on Utoya.

Whenever an innocent person is confronted by an armed stranger in what appears to be a government-issued costume, one danger is that he is an imposter. An even more dangerous possibility is that he isn’t.

Original report here




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The Policeman is Not Your Friend

After writing so many columns on police issues, I suppose I should make the disclaimer that my dad was a cop. I’m morally certain he was a good man, and that — however much we might differ on politics were he still alive — he was scrupulously just by his standards.

But when I see a cop in my rearview mirror, I don’t like having to hope it’s a decent person. And there’s good reason to assume any cop you see is a bad person.

The town where my dad worked as a cop topped out at under 20,000 people when he retired in the 1970s. The kinds of people who chose to work in small towns, policing their neighbors in communities where everyone knew everyone else, were a lot different from those who find police work appealing today.

Urban police forces are disproportionately attractive to people who get off on wearing black uniforms and making displays of force to terrorize the local population into submission (er, “compliance”). They appeal to people who enjoy stomping around in loud boots and kicking in doors at 3AM, terrorizing children and shooting pets.

They appeal, in short, to sociopaths.

Here’s a quote from a Cato study on police militarization: “We send out two, two-to-four-men cars, we look for minor violations and do jump-outs. … After we jump-out the second car provides periphery cover with an ostentatious display of weaponry. We’re sending a clear message: if the shootings don’t stop, we’ll shoot someone.”

In 2009 Homer, Louisiana’s police chief stated: “If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names. I want them to be afraid every time they see the police …”

In that context consider the recent arrest of Emily Good, in Rochester, NY — while standing in her own front yard — for filming cops making a bust. The arresting officer claimed she was “interfering” with the arrest and he “didn’t feel safe” with her back there. He initially told her it wasn’t legal to film him from the sidewalk, but he escalated matters after she stepped back onto the grass.

Now, in most jurisdictions, there is — as civil liberties advocates have made themselves hoarse repeating — no law against filming public servants in a public place performing their official duties. They have, in the phrase so dear to police statists, “no reasonable expectation of privacy.” The police chief, after the fact, claimed the arrest wasn’t about filming the officer as such. He was lying.

Ms. Good was arrested, quite simply, because she didn’t properly cower and abase herself, didn’t show proper deference and submission (er, “compliance”) before an Alpha Male. So like a Rottweiler with his adrenaline up, Officer Friendly went off on her. You’ve got to expect that sort of thing — it’s in the breed.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter what the “law” is about recording cops. If you’re spotted doing it, be prepared to have your face smashed into the concrete and your phone stomped to pieces.

What was the local police reaction to the controversy? Did they respect Ms. Good’s legal right to challenge the arrest, to speak her mind on public policy? Did they agree, as public servants subject to civilian authority, to abide by the outcome of any official inquiry? Does the Pope in Rome run a madrasa?

During a public meeting in support of Ms. Good, police carefully used a ruler to determine which cars were parked more than a food away from the curb. Do you think they enforce deviations from the parking regulations so scrupulously when ticketing random cars downtown?

This was retaliation, pure and simple. One of the sheep defied a beast of prey, and his pack turned on her. Likewise, in other cases where cops are recorded in the commission of similar wrongdoing — like public drunkenness and urination, abusive behavior toward the public, etc., during Police Week celebrations — members of the Brotherhood react by leaving threatening messages on websites where the footage is posted.

On occasion, some cop’s instincts toward decency cause him to violate the code of silence and report misconduct by another member of the Brotherhood. This is the unpardonable sin for which there is no forgiveness, either in this world or in the next.

So next time you interact with a cop, don’t stand on your rights. If you film him, make sure it’s as unobtrusive as possible. Say “yes, sir,” smile an ingratiating smile, and act properly intimidated. By all means, make an example of him — memorize his badge number — but do it after the fact. Otherwise, you may wind up explaining your “legal rights” to Saint Peter.

Original report here




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Pete Eyre & Ademo Freeman: NOT GUILTY

What did they do? They filmed police in Greenfield, MA. That's all

Justice is so rare today. Here we have two Davids who made Goliath stumble, however slightly. Pete Eyre and Ademo Freeman were found NOT GUILTY of the 3 charges that Greenfield, Mass prosecutor Jeffrey Banks tried them on. NOT GUILTY of wiretapping, NOT GUILTY of resisting arrest.

Real justice requires that Todd M. Dodge and cohorts never would have harassed, kidnapped or caged them. Real justice would not have required a night’s stay in a cold cage. One year of fighting these ridiculous charges tooth and nail – real justice laughs at that. The monstrous crime of putting these fine gentleman in jeopardy of a felony conviction and possibly years in jail? Unspeakable. Real justice won’t hear of it.

This is not justice. This is a landmark on the way towards healing injustice.

There is a great value in the learning experience Pete and Ademo have undertaken. Maybe now they can help other victims of the police state. But there is also great risk. We could easily be talking about how to get money into their prison commissary accounts, instead of celebrating.

Celebrate. Congratulate Pete and Ademo. Learn from them. I salute them. I doff my hat to them. Congratulations, gentleman. You have taken chains and turned them into gold.

But take great pains before engaging in the same risks they take. There are other, less risky ways to advance the cause of liberty and dignity.

Original report here




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More on the Ohio goon -- update from yesterday

He has lots of form but has always got off so far. Only the fact of the video seems to have trapped him this time. Even his fellow cops are not defending him. Seems they knew he is a bad 'un

Yesterday, we brought you the video of an irate Canton, OH police officer threatening to kill a concealed carry gun owner. It went viral. Today, we learn that the officer involved has been placed on leave. But we’re also learning a lot more about the officer himself, including his reported history of being the focus of internal affairs investigations.

WJW-TV reports Officer Daniel Harless was placed on leave after the June 8 incident, although it doesn’t note how soon after the incident the action took place.

However, a report by the Canton Repository reveals more details. According to its story, Harless was placed on leave on June 20 pending the completion of an internal investigation. And according to the paper, Harless has a history of complaints against him — he has faced 16 internal affairs investigations since 2000 and been reprimanded in the past:

Harless, 45, an Ohio native and former Marine worked as a police officer in Virginia for four years before coming to Canton in 1996.

During his career he has earned several commendations. One was from a Virginia judge, who praised the way Harless handled a situation involving a man with a gun, according to records in his city personnel file.

Canton’s internal affairs unit has investigated 16 complaints involving Harless dating back to 2000. He was reprimanded in one 2003 case. Harless and another officer were exonerated of using excessive force, but were given a letter of reprimand for not activating the in-car video camera at the scene per department policy.

Once the investigation into Harless is completed he will face a disciplinary hearing, Police Chief Dean McKimm told WJW.

“I think it’s important for citizens to understand that the behavior demonstrated on the video is wholly unacceptable, and it violates many of our rules, our regulations and standards we demand of our officers,” the chief told the Repository.

“The city administration, in conjunction with the police department, recognizes the seriousness of this matter,” he added.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Repository reports the police union head — Bill Adams — is not throwing his support, at least publicly, behind Harless:

“Obviously whatever transpired on that video is an isolated incident,” Adams said. “It happened and it’s being handled properly right now and the chief is doing what he feels is necessary.”

Adams said calls involving guns can be emotional and dangerous situations, but he wasn’t condoning anything that might have happened on the recording.

“We’re a very well-trained and well-rounded police department that has solid officers that can make good, solid decisions every day,” he said. “You can’t (take) one incident like this and make it like every (officer) is out of control.”

The gun owner’s full name has also been revealed. He is 52-year-old William E. Bartlett, of Brewster, OH.

The story has quickly become a staple on the internet. Ohioans For Concealed Carry, which first posted the video and is raising money for Bartlett’s defense, says that the response was so large it shut down the group’s website temporarily.

“Shortly after 7:00pm Thursday our website could no longer handle the volume of visitors we were receiving,” the group says on its website. “We promptly quadrupled the resources behind OhioCCW.org in light of the popularity of this story.”

“The video and story has gone both viral and national crossing over to websites not typically affiliated with the pro-gun movement,” it added.

Original report here




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