Reed MidekeTurns out, NYPD doesn't just cover up evidence when they accidentally kill civilians, they also do it when they accidentally kill their own officers. Hurrah for equal treatment under the law!
https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-mulkeen-friendly-fire-body-cam-footage
NYPD “Friendly Fire” Killed an Officer. Investigators Seemed to Ignore Video of Police Being Commanded to “Stop Shooting.”
After pledging a “thorough” investigation, the NYPD cleared the officers involved in the 2019 shooting. But new records show that investigators allowed police misstatements to stand, despite having body-camera video to disprove them.
https://openvallejo.org/2023/08/24/vallejo-police-concealed-violent-deaths-for-years-open-vallejo-lawsuit-reveals/
A Chicago Cop Is Accused of Lying Under Oath 44 Times. Now Prosecutors Are Dropping Cases That Relied on His Testimony.
Former Chicago officer Jeffrey Kriv faces charges for perjury and forgery after getting out of dozens of traffic violations by claiming his girlfriend had stolen his car. Now, cases that stem from arrests Kriv made are in jeopardy.
The earlier story is… a lot "At the ticket hearings, Kriv often provided what he said were legitimate police incident reports as evidence of the car thefts; they had officer names and badge numbers, and he explained that he got the reports at police headquarters.
But Kriv did not let on that he, himself, was a Chicago cop."
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-chicago-cop-got-out-of-44-traffic-tickets
This Cop Got Out of 44 Tickets by Saying Over and Over That His Girlfriend Stole His Car
Chicago police officer Jeffrey Kriv used the same alibi to contest dozens of traffic tickets over the years. A deeper look at his career sheds light on Chicago’s troubled history of police accountability.
Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial charged with murdering Eddie Irizarry. Once again, body cam contradicted cops initial story: "Police said investigators are working to determine how the false account of the incident emerged."
🤔 🤔 🤔
"no charges will be filed against a Rocky River police officer for his relationship with a female student while serving as a school resource officer at the high school"
I'm sure the people spreading panic about "groomers" will weigh in any minute now!
Capitol Police officer Thomas Smith pleaded guilty in relation to an incident where he engaged in an illegal pursuit, hit a cyclist he was pursuing, fled the scene, and falsified records to cover the incident up
Fired former Maricopa County prosecutor April Sponsel, questioned in a State Bar discipline proceeding about charging a bystander at a protest "testified that she still believes that [the bystander] may be part of a gang that she and Phoenix police invented to charge protesters as members"
The bystander, who was charged as a member of a completely made up gang for a protest he watched from a distance: "I’m very conservative. I’ve always been pro-police. Still am. It just kind of shook my trust in law enforcement … As much as I support the cops, I’m afraid to talk to them"
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"A Brooklyn man who repeatedly filed complaints about police officers parked on the sidewalk outside his local precinct station house – prompting a menacing call from an NYPD cop posing as a 311 operator – has received a $25,000 settlement"
NYPD officer John Madera was fined $500, ordered to pay $500 toward the settlement and docked 15 days vacation. NYPD officer Samantha Sturman was also order to pay $500 for a separate call
The fact that NYPD cops hand out "get out jail free" cards to their friends and family should be a major scandal that ends with everyone involved being fired and/or prosecuted. Instead, it's a long-standing practice and cops who ticket card holders are punished
Florida Man, cop edition: "A Florida law enforcement officer [Jesse Hernandez] shot at an unarmed and handcuffed man after mistaking the sound of a falling acorn for a gunshot … he and a sergeant who shot at unarmed suspect Marquis Jackson were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, according to Sheriff Eric Aden" (they didn't hit him) https://wapo.st/3wfYTFp
Mississippi "goon squad" cop Hunter Elward (previously seen in https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/110828889999813387) gets 20 years 🥳
TBH seems kinda light for an incident that included a botched mock-execution where he (non-fatally) shot the victim in the mouth but least he'll be off the streets for while
Dozens of deaths reveal risks of sedating people restrained by police
An investigation led by The Associated Press has found that the practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police has spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts. The injections are given by medical personnel during police encounters. The investigation shows how a strategy intended to reduce violence and save lives has resulted in some avoidable deaths. While sedatives were mentioned as a cause or contributing factor in a dozen official death rulings, authorities often didn’t even investigate whether injections were appropriate in the 94 deaths identified by the AP over a decade. About half of the 94 who died were Black.
Small town Missouri cop Myron Woodson shoots non-aggressive stray pet dog, claiming he thought it was an "injured stray that needed to be put down", with his department later claiming "Believing the dog to be severely injured or infected with rabies, and as the officer feared being bitten and being infected with rabies, the SPD officer felt that his only option was to put the animal down"
https://wapo.st/3wCURYg
Fontana, CA cops torture man into falsely confessing to murdering his dad. They might have got away with it if the dad hadn't turned up alive, but he did so six years later city has to pay $900k compensation. Not reported whether cops face any consequences
Above case is Thomas Anthony Perez v. City of Fontana (5:19-cv-01623) and the cops primarily responsible were apparently Jeremy Hale, David Janusz and Robert Miller, who failed to get summary judgement on some allegations back in June 2023
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16115756/thomas-anthony-perez-v-city-of-fontana/#entry-94
WaPo with a grim story on cops charged with assaulting minors. Would have been better if they compared the stats and sentencing outcomes with other populations, but pretty clear the cop impunity complex extends here too, like the story of Alec Veatch getting 14 days despite confessing and having his crimes recorded on video
JFC. Nothing to add here except ex-South Bend Indiana cop Timothy Barber and Judge Jeffrey Sanford are pieces of shit
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/franklin-politics/al-gore-youre-a-piece-of-sh-t-meet-millersvilles-conspiracy-cop
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ex-law-enforcement-and-former-military-officers-charged-alleged-sham-raid-extort-oc
Ex-Law Enforcement and Former Military Officers Charged in Alleged Sham Raid to Extort O.C. Man at Behest of Chinese National
Four ex-law enforcement and military officers are scheduled to be arraigned today on a four-count superseding indictment that alleges they acted as a sham law enforcement team that entered an Irvine man’s home and threatened him and his family with violence and deportation unless he turned over nearly $37 million and signed away his rights in a business – worth tens of millions of dollars – that he shared with a wealthy Chinese national who secretly financed the bogus raid.
Alaska state troopers Jason Woodruff and Joseph Miller charged with misdemeanor assault for pepper spraying, tasing, siccing a dog on and beating (to the point of fracturing bones) a man because they mistook him for a cousin who had an outstanding warrant. After they realized they had the wrong guy, they also tried to charge him with assault, which the DA declined to prosecute
2 Alaska State Troopers charged with violently assaulting the wrong man in case of mistaken identity
The two troopers pepper-sprayed, beat, stunned and used a police dog on the wrong man, authorities said.
WaPo continues their grim series on cops sexually abusing kids, this time featuring former Richland County SC school resource officer Jamel Bradley, who after years of complaints involving over a dozen victims appears on the verge of getting an incredibly lenient plea deal of probation and no time on the sex offender registry
Former Richland County SC school resource officer Jamel Bradley got the probation deal but Judge Daniel Coble did order him to register as a sex offender… while characterizing Bradley's behavior (over nearly a decade, involving more than a dozen students, including a guilty plea for assault and battery and sexual battery involving two of them) as "a mistake" 😬
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/2024/08/13/california-jewelry-business-sues-indiana-over-seized-cash-fedex-henry-minh-inc/74788610007/
NYPD cop Mathew Bianchi, who was retaliated against for ticketing people (including a friend of chief Jeffrey Maddrey) who showed police union issued get-out-of-jail-free cards gets at $175K settlement, with no one admitting wrongdoing https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/nyregion/matthew-bianchi-nypd-tickets-settlement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Jk4.8w3r.kIAylXO37Po1&smid=url-share
(previously https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/111767739058456263)
1) Slow walk giving evidence to the Civilian Complaint Review Board
2) When CCRB finally finishes their investigation refers it back to NYPD for disciplinary action, close the case because there's "not enough time for NYPD to investigate before the statute of limitations expires"
https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-tossed-out-police-misconduct-discipline-cases-edward-caban
The NYPD Is Tossing Out Hundreds of Misconduct Cases — Including Stop-and-Frisks — Without Even Looking at Them
The department has killed more than 400 cases of alleged misconduct this year that an oversight board had investigated and substantiated. It’s part of a lax attitude toward discipline under the current police commissioner, Edward Caban, critics say.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/09/13/caban-watered-down-nypd-punishments-as-final-act/
Former Houston narc Gerald Goines found guilty of murder, after he lied to get a no-knock warrant for a raid that ended in the cops killing the subjects
Goines lawyers claimed it was the victims own fault they they got into a gun fight with people who broke into their house and shot their dog https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-houston-officer-found-guilty-murder-deaths-couple-drug-raid-rcna172748
"The probe into the drug raid also uncovered allegations of systemic corruption.
A dozen officers tied to the narcotics squad that carried out the raid, including Goines, were later indicted on other charges following a corruption probe. A judge in June dismissed charges against some of them"
I for one am *shocked* to find out there was systemic corruption in the narcotics squad!
"OFFICER FRANCO, therefore, concluded that the TARGET PREMISES was cultivating cannabis, disregarding the fact that it is a diagnostic facility utilizing an MRI machine, X-ray machine, and other heavy medical equipment—unlike the surrounding businesses selling flowers, chocolates, and childrens’ merchandise, none of which would require significant power usage"
Docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69172475/noho-diagnostic-center-inc-v-city-of-los-angeles/
Also, WTF is happening with LASD deputies 1-3?
LA times says:
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on whether the deputies … will be charged.
Several deputies, including a detective on the department’s notorious anti-gang unit, were recently relieved of duty in connection with a federal investigation, authorities said earlier this week. The Sheriff’s Department confirmed the move was linked to a probe “involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
“I don’t think he did anything criminal,” Yu said"
Uh, I know you're paid to say that (at this point in the proceedings, at least), but good luck with, dude
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/los-angeles-county-sheriffs-deputy-charged-federal-civil-rights-violation-violent
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Charged with Federal Civil Rights Violation for Violent Altercation with Woman
Today a federal grand jury returned an indictment against a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy alleging that he used excessive force when he assaulted and pepper-sprayed a woman during a shoplifting investigation outside a WinCo Foods in Lancaster last year.
QAnon-loving Millersville, TN assistant police chief Shawn Taylor makes another appearance*, with election-denying, failed AZ Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem bragging Taylor (illegally) provided him FinCEN data https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/qanon-comes-to-main-street/we-already-have-the-receipts-election-denier-says-his-group-gained-access-to-u-s-banking-data
* previously https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/112958201730428269
'We already have the receipts.' Election denier says his group gained access to U.S. banking data
An election denier says his group — working through the assistant police chief in tiny Millersville — gained access to a confidential federal database that tracks Americans’ banking transactions.
"Trenton [NJ] officers slammed a 64-year-old man face-first onto his own front porch and pepper-sprayed him after he refused to let them search his house without a warrant … The police searched the residence anyway and did not find any illicit drugs or weapons … the man died at a hospital 18 days later of respiratory failure caused by the confrontation"
Leaving aside SMUD sharing data without a warrant, one plaintiff writes "…two deputies from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department arrived at about 9:00 pm. They didn’t have a warrant, so I said they couldn’t come in. One pushed open the door and pushed my wheelchair aside so that he could enter and search my home"
https://www.eff.org/cases/asian-american-liberation-network-v-smud-et-al
Asian American Liberation Network v. SMUD, et al.
Sacramento’s public-owned utility and police are searching entire zip codes’ worth of people’s private data without any legal authorization or a specific investigation, creating a mass surveillance program that invades the privacy of entire communities.The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (...
Also, some good old fashioned racism "In fulfilling Sacramento Police’s requests for data, SMUD has sometimes omitted homes in a predominantly white area. A Sacramento Police officer, in passing along a list of names provided by SMUD, removed non-Asian names from the list, leaving only Asian-sounding names for further attention"
https://www.eff.org/cases/asian-american-liberation-network-v-smud-et-al
Asian American Liberation Network v. SMUD, et al.
Sacramento’s public-owned utility and police are searching entire zip codes’ worth of people’s private data without any legal authorization or a specific investigation, creating a mass surveillance program that invades the privacy of entire communities.The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (...
Former South Bend cop Timothy Barber decertified in Indiana two years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 16 year old. No doubt a coincidence the decertification process started shortly after WaPo's original reporting on the case
https://wapo.st/49IFV9N
Indiana decertifies ex-cop who sexually abused a teen. It took two years and a Post investigation.
The state took action against former South Bend officer Timothy Barber after a Post story about his abuse of a 16-year-old girl. He’d kept his certification, despite pleading guilty in 2022 and registering as a sex offender.
WaPo with a look back on two years of reporting cops sexually abusing minors: "on average, a law enforcement officer has been charged with a crime involving child sexual abuse twice a week, every week, for 18 years… Nearly 40 percent of convicted officers identified by The Post avoided prison sentences"
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/no-warrant-or-crimes-but-oregon-womans-nudes-were-shared-after-illegal-phone-search/
This Texas Observer piece outing ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James J. Rodden as the person behind racist twitter account starts out with a lot of "yeah, that's a heck of a coincidence" stuff, and then… "During the January court hearing the Observer attended, Rodden repeatedly used his phone at moments that corresponded to times GlomarResponder made posts"
https://www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecutor-dallas-white-supremacist-x-account/
ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account
The Observer has identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.
Cullman County, Alabama grand jury finds the Hanceville PD should be "immediately abolished" because it's a "particular and ongoing threat to public safety," has a "rampant culture of corruption" and has "recently operated as more of a criminal enterprise than a law enforcement agency"
Details not entirely clear, but it seems among other things they were using the evidence room as a drug stash and one of their dispatchers died after OD'd on said stash
https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/investigations/2-investigates/erie-county-sheriffs-chief-hit-seven-cars-but-wasnt-charged-crime-buffalo-wny-charges/71-7ce720f6-f122-4bee-89c8-db00e4c07e77
Play Ball and Fight FascistsOK, did not expect that out of Alabama of all places.