SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Defense lawyers say a former Spokane police officer should not spend any time in prison for using excessive force against a mentally disabled janitor who died after being arrested on suspicion of stealing money from an ATM. Public humiliation and the loss of his career are punishment enough for Karl F. […]
Volte-face. It’s a French term, one that comes from the Italian word “voltafaccia.” The definition, according to the Web site www.thefreedictionary.com, means “a reversal, as in opinion or policy.” Or in situation. Twenty-one years ago, Rodney King, a black resident of Los Angeles, got the most famous beat down ever administered by members […]
“Isn’t there any respect for the dead?” That’s the head-scratching question John Torrence now grapples with after his nephew was struck and killed by a NYPD patrol car only for family members to later receive notice demanding payment for vehicle repairs. Tamon Robinson, 27, was struck and later died of blunt head injuries last April […]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia's mayor is apologizing to a woman shown on video being punched by a police lieutenant at a parade last weekend. Mayor Michael Nutter said Thursday he has seen the video about 20 times and is "sickened" and "ashamed" by what happened. His apology comes a day after the police commissioner announced […]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police have launched an internal investigation after a video was posted online that shows an officer striking a woman twice in the face at a neighborhood party associated with Philadelphia's annual Puerto Rican Day parade. The 36-second video uploaded to YouTube and titled "Philadelphia Police Brutality" shows the woman crumpling to the […]
Trayvon Martin family attorney and noted civil rights activist Benjamin Crump has signed on as lead counsel in a boiling probe of the Los Angeles Police Department charging officers with gross misconduct and the routine use of excessive force involving minorities. This is a pattern of which has been symbolized by a trio of violent […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — At least five police officers are under investigation after a woman died during a violent arrest in which an officer kicked her genitals, police officials said. "I take all in-custody death investigations very seriously," Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "I am confident we […]
A Georgia mother has filed federal suit against the city of Pelham police department alleging wrongful death and gross civil rights violations in the death of her 17-year-old son. Fabian Avery died while in solitary confinement after prison guards placed him there as a means of ignoring his repeated pleas for medical assistance. Fabian Avery […]
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A man whose hands were cuffed behind him in the back seat of an Arkansas patrol car shot himself in the right temple with a handgun he apparently concealed from arresting officers, according to an autopsy report released Monday that listed the death as a suicide. The state crime lab […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Police shot and killed a man they say lunged at them with a knife in a confrontation that began in Times Square and drew officers and spectators on a chase that ended with shots fired near one of New York's most crowded tourist areas. The encounter played out Saturday around 3 […]
Investigators in Jonesboro, Arkansas say they are awaiting the results of an autopsy and toxicology reports to help determine what happened in a police cruiser where a young black man whose hands were cuffed behind his back was shot in the head. An incident report obtained by BlackAmericaWeb.com lists the cause of 21-year-old Chavis Chacobie […]
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Police maintained a heavy presence on the streets of Anaheim to guard against further violent protests in the wake of the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by officers. The mother of Manuel Diaz condemned the unrest that has roiled the city, saying she did not want them to become her […]
