Piggy Fortress

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Hey Heidi, did you stay up all night thinking of those phrases? by the way I heard those big mean police made a huge total of ONE arrest for this event...so where was the brutality? you probably cried yourself to sleep....all dressed up and you didnt get wacked with a stick......

John,

You know, I realize you are just an ignorant wittle piggy, so I'm going to help you out. Unlike most, I still have hope that you can be a human being like the rest of us.

May your life be filled with peace and may you never have to endure the anguish of losing a child, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, or a friend to police murder.

Read on, maybe you'll learn something...


Selected Stories of Police Brutality, Repression and Criminalization of a Generation from around the country

The following are a small representative sample of stories from around the country of the variety of ways in which police brutality, repression and the criminalization of a generation comes down on the people. These are just a few of the stories which have been collected by the Stolen Lives Project since the publication in 1999 of the 2nd edition of Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement, which documented over 2000 cases nationwide during the decade of the 1990’s.

The October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation is currently working on preparing a 3rd volume of the Stolen Lives book. We welcome volunteers of all kinds for this major endeavor – researchers, writers, editors, artists, computer programmers. This research needs to be done, and these stories collected, so that they can be TOLD.

On October 22, 2003, the 8th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, these stories and many more will be told to expose and oppose the nationwide epidemic of brutality and murder by law enforcement agents. Thousands of people will participate in rallies and demonstrations, meetings, workshops, forums, concerts, artshows, speakouts, vigils and other forms of protest in locations all over the country.

The stories documented in the Stolen Lives Project (2nd edition and current research) reveal a gruesome pattern of law enforcement agents acting as judge, jury and executioner. Statistics based on this research, which unfortunately we know uncovers only the tip of the iceberg of the problem, shows that on average, every day somewhere in the U.S., the death penalty will be given out for “looking suspicious”, being in the “wrong” place, needing medical attention, carrying any item that cops can claim was a weapon, missing a court appearance, being young, being old, being in your own apartment when the cops mistakenly bust in, being married to a cop, driving in a car, or whatever.

Since 9/11, 2001, we have witnessed and documented an alarming leap in the number of cases of police brutality and murder, and have also seen the extension of policing into racial profiling of Arab and Muslim people. Since law enforcement agents have been handed a carte blanche by Homeland Security and the USA PATRIOT Act to stop, frisk, and arrest people at will, the results have been more brutality and murder.

We encourage people to get these photos and stories out as broadly as possible. We request that the Stolen Lives Project is credited or referenced if they are used, so that other people will know who to contact to make sure that their loved one’s story can be included.

Send photos, stories, offers to volunteer, and donations to:
Stolen Lives Project c/o The October 22nd Coalition, P.O. Box 2627,
New York, New York 10009
1-888-NoBrutality
www.october22.org


Gilbert Alexander Barber
High Point, North Carolina, May 2001




On May 18, 2001 a Guilford County Deputy shot and killed Gilbert during an alleged struggle for the deputy’s gun. Near 4:00 am, Gilbert was naked and yelling at passing cars, and someone called 911. He was bleeding from various cuts and abrasions over a large part of his body. He had a baseball sized, raised bruise protruding from the center of his forehead, clearly visible. Clearly this young man needed medical help, not to be pepper-sprayed, arrested nor shot. The deputy, who had less than 1 year patrolling experience, arrived and chose to make an arrest. The deputy said he approached Gilbert and ordered him to the ground, but he admitted that Gilbert didn’t seem to understand what he was saying. Then, from the deputy’s own testimony, he ordered Gilbert to “get the fuck on the ground, get the fuck on the ground”. To make the arrest, the deputy pepper-sprayed Gilbert’s open wounds. Then the deputy alleges that a struggle occurred over the deputy’s gun. Several shots were fired, the gun jammed, the deputy cleared the jam, located another clip, loaded it and fired several more shots, three of them striking Gilbert and killing him. It took only 113 seconds from the time the deputy arrived until he called and said that he was shot. There were two witnesses to the incident. The first said that Gil never touched the deputy, nor had his hands on the deputy’s gun. According to this witness, the deputy stumbled and fell, with the gun firing, shooting him in the leg. The statement from the other witness was almost exactly word for word the same as the deputy’s statement, which wasn’t taken until 5 days later, after all of the witnesses were questioned..

It was found that Gilbert had a fractured skull, and this may have been part of the reason he was naked and acting strangely. Gilbert was accused of breaking into a nearby church, but he didn’t steal anything. He was supposed to have bitten into a collection plate and pulled out 5 teeth out by the roots in this church. Their so-called investigation proved that it was impossible to pull out the teeth. The dentist said that they were knocked out and that Gilbert couldn’t do it himself. That put some one else there that the Sheriff and the DA aren’t interested in. Their only interest is in clearing the deputy.

The sheriff referred to Gilbert as “A Raging Bull”, never as a human. He also made the statement to the media that he must be on drugs or alcohol to act like this. The autopsy report revealed that he wasn’t under the influence of any substance. The Sheriff was so convinced that all young black men use drugs that he had the medical examiners office run toxicology tests three different times. Each time the results came back negative. The Sheriff’s remarks to the media about this young man were designed to influence the public, and to portray this man as a horrible, vicious criminal that deserved to be slain under any circumstances.


Bay View Hunters Point of San Francisco

A string of increased brutalization perpetrated by SFPD has ravaged the extremely poor community of the African American Bay View Hunters Point of San Francisco. This district actually has the best weather and views of the city and is a closely knit community. It is, however, plagued by devastating pollution due to a landfill and power plant that has brought birth defects, asthma, breast cancer and lymphoma to a sweeping level. District 10 is now gentrified, and there is a concerted effort from the city to push the poor, black population out of Hunters Point, to be relocated to Treasure Island and Oakland.

On MLK Day 2002, SFPD raided Kiska Road and beat up a 17 yr. teenager, Jerome Brown, who sustained multiple lacerations, a dislocated shoulder and concussion. Girls, ages 12 to 14, were held at gun point by SFPD and fondled and called "little bitches". When Sue McAllister, mother of one of the girls, tried to intervene, SFPD threated to shoot her. Jerome's father asked why all of this was happening and was told : "As long as YOU PEOPLE are here, we will continue doing this".

A year later in the same area, Thurgood Marshall High School was raided by police following a brawl between students. Police then proceeded to brutalize many students repeatedly. A teacher who attempted to videotape the police assault was arrested. Parents and the community were outraged at these police behaviors.

On August 25, 2003, on Middle Point Road, "Baby Finsta", 22, was beaten unconscious and thrown in an ambulance where he remained without medical attention, while Marcus Law, 14, was beaten for wearing a family reunion T-shirt that the officers assumed to harbor a gang label. Children as young as 7 years old were held at gun point, while a mother was told, again, "Back off, black bitch, or I'll shoot you".

Bay View Hunters Point community is fighting back, demanding that SFPD stop racial profiling and criminalization of their neighborhood. The Police Commission has refused twice to set up a hearing, and the families of the victims are in the process of filing a class action suit against the City. A "SHAPE UP, SFPD!" march is being organized for Nov. lst, 2003, by The Idriss Stelley Foundation to mobilize the community.

LaJuanzo Brooks
Chicago, September 2001

Police say that LaJuanzo Brooks tried to rob off-duty cop Robert Haile and a friend of Haile’s outside a bar on the South Side. Haile pulled his gun and police say he shot LaJuanzo several times after LaJuanzo refused to drop his gun. Brooks’ family contends that Brooks was unarmed and shot when his back was turned. A Cook County medical examiner’s report stated that the three bullets that killed Brooks entered through the back of his neck or his back. Brooks’ family has filed suit against Haile and the Chicago Police Department.





Deandre Brunston
Los Angeles, August 2003
Cops Shoot Man and Dog-- Rush Dog to the Hospital

Deandre Brunston, whose nickname was Trey, was a 24 year old African-American. On Sunday, August 24, 2003, a gang of LA County Sheriffs shot him to death on the front stoop of a tiny apartment in a dirt-poor section of Los Angeles called Willowbrook.

Earlier this year, Trey enrolled in a drug treatment program. He went for a couple of weeks but he couldn't hang with it and soon dropped out. The Sheriffs claimed that Trey "had an outstanding arrest warrant for narcotics." Nicole said that if the Sheriffs had arrested Trey, he would have been referred back to the treatment program and not sent to prison.

On the day he was killed, Trey was unusually angry about something. Around 7 pm, he argued with both Nicole and his girlfriend Fonda. The conflict escalated and got physical. He punched Nicole who called the Sheriff to report the assault. Ninety minutes passed and the cops had not shown up. Nicole, eight months pregnant, started feeling sick. Nicole had forgotten about calling the cops by then and called the paramedics instead. When an ambulance arrived, so did the Sheriffs. The Sheriffs went to an apartment across the way where Trey's aunt lives. Nicole's daughter told the cops that he had gone over there after leaving Nicole's place. Trey must have seen the cops coming because he jumped out of an upstairs window and ran down the street. A grip of Sheriffs with their guns drawn were close behind.
Trey ran down a driveway toward some tiny apartments down the block. Latino immigrants stayed in all of these places. Trey stopped on the porch in front of one apartment and witnesses said they thought he tried to talk to the people inside. But they spoke Spanish and Trey spoke English. All the while, more and more Sheriffs kept showing up. A helicopter overhead ordered people in Spanish to go back into their homes. The cops said that Trey "barricaded himself on the porch of a nearby home" and "told the deputies that he had a gun and threatened to kill them." But the porch in front of the tiny apartment was barren. There was no railing, no furniture, no items of any kind that could be used in a desperate attempt to shield oneself from guns of the police. Trey was surrounded and completely exposed to the cops.

Meanwhile, a Sheriff interviewed Nicole at a nearby hospital. He asked Nicole if she knew someone named Deandre Brunston. He said that Deandre had two guns and they had already taken one away from him. Nicole told the cop that there was no way that her friend had a gun. She heard cops talking on the radio about a man on a porch. She told the cop again and again, "he has no gun." Then Nicole heard a voice on the radio say a "man was down." One cop had a dog. The cops used the dog to attack Trey and then shot Trey many, many times. In this hail of police bullets, the cops also shot their own dog. The front of tiny apartment was left pockmarked with bullet holes.

Neighbors saw the cops dragging Trey down the dirt driveway. One man offered to help the cops carry him, but they told everyone to get back in the house. All of this has weighed heavily on neighbors who speak fearfully about what they had seen. Then the Sheriffs added further outrage to this cruel act of police brutality: a medivac helicopter landed nearby and the Sheriffs carried the dog to the helicopter and rushed it to a veterinarian hospital. They left Trey to lie in the dirt by that tiny apartment until 5 am the next day.



Patrick Dorismond,
New York, March, 2000
Killed for refusing to sell drugs to an undercover cop

Patrick Dorismond, a son of Haitian immigrants, was shot and killed by undercover cop Anthony Vasquez during a "buy and bust" operation, in the immediate aftermath of the acquittal of the killer cops in the Amadou Diallo case. A security officer for the Grand Central Partnership, a local business improvement district which covers the midtown area, Dorismond was himself an aspiring police officer.

This case exemplified the vicious extent the Guiliani administration would go to justify police killings. Dorismond rebuffed an undercover officer's inquiry for marijuana, a scuffle ensued during which the cop’s gun “accidentally” went off. Dorismond was the fourth unarmed black man shot by New York City police in just over a year. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani expressed immediate support for the police and demonized the dead man for an alleged violent criminal record. Hours after the shooting, Giuliani released Dorismond's court-sealed juvenile records in an effort to further dehumanize him to justify the police killing. The juvenile records reveal only minor charges imposed when Dorismond was a teenager. This action by Giuliani contributed to greater public outcry, especially within the Haitian community. At his funeral, the NYPD deliberately attacked the large mass of people who were outside of the church and protesting the killing. Several arrests were made, and many more people were beaten and brutalized. It was later uncovered that the mayor neglected to reveal that Det. Vasquez also had a blemished record as an officer. And it would be at least another year later before the last defendant arrested at the Dorismond funeral would have their names and records cleared.

Malcom Ferguson,
New York, March 2000
Killed in the same neighborhood as Amadou Diallo

Malcolm Ferguson, a 23-year-old Black man, who participated in a large neighborhood protest against the Diallo acquittal, was himself murdered by police in the Soundview section of the Bronx just two blocks away from where Amadou Diallo was killed a year earlier. Malcolm was shot in the back of the head as he lay face-down, unarmed, on a second-floor landing after he fled from officers who attempted to stop him. Undercover cop Louis Rivera claimed he shot because he felt his life was in danger, but there is no explaining away the fact that Malcolm was shot point blank in the head. No charges were brought against the cop who murdered Malcolm despite contradictory and conflicting accounts put out by Rivera himself.

Ferguson was only arrested and convicted once. However this didn’t stop Mayor Guiliani from immediately demonizing Ferguson’s character in order to justify the shooting by calling him a repeated drug offender. Over 100 people immediately rallied in response to this police killing which happened one week after the acquittal verdict for the cops who killed Amadou Diallo. Ferguson’s mother, Juanita Young, quickly contested the shooting and the premise by which the police justified it, and also began to wage a determined struggle to uncover the truth. Consequently, Juanita Young herself, and her family, has been targeted by the police for harassment and retaliation. Juanita Young, an active member of the New York October 22nd Coalition, has vigorously continued to expose police brutality. She was widely televised for her role in speaking out against the New Jersey cops who killed Santiago “Chago” Villaneuva.

Joseph Pearly Finley, Jr.
Cleveland, Ohio, June 2002
Killed for being in a cop’s backyard

Off-duty police officer James Toomey and his wife were sleeping when they thought they heard noises coming from their rear yard. Officer Toomey got his gun and went to investigate. He saw Joseph Finley Jr. lying on the ground. Officer Toomey ordered Finley to stay down. When Finley stood up instead, Toomey fired 14 times into his head and body.


Phil Hayes
Chicago, January 2002

Hayes was beaten to death by Chicago police. Police claimed that Hayes died after choking on drugs. However, many witnesses saw the police brutalize Hayes, and when his significant other opened the ambulance door, she saw that he was covered in blood. Three weeks earlier the police had thrown Hayes down a flight of stairs and threatened him.

Kendra Sarie James
Portland, Oregon May , 2003
Killed for missing a court appearance

Ms. James was shot to death during a traffic stop of a car in which she was a passenger by Portland police Officer Scott McCollister. The car was stopped at 3AM for "failing to come to a complete stop" by Officer Rick Bean after following it for several blocks.

According to Darnell White, Ms. James’ boyfriend, who was also a passenger in the car, Officer Bean never told them why they were stopped. They had been carefully obeying traffic laws because they noticed the police car behind them. He said that some of Officer Bean's first words after the stop were, "I know you, Kendra, I know your name". The driver was immediately moved to the back of a police car. Backup police arrived on the scene. A few minutes later, 3 officers gathered around the car to arrest Ms. James, telling her that she had a warrant and not to struggle, "like last time". Ms. James protested that she did not have a warrant and refused to open the car door. The police then threatened to mace her. Ms. James attempted to get into the front seat and start the car. Officers Kenneth Reynolds III and Rick Bean reached in the open driver's side door and sprayed her with mace while attempting to pull her from the car (the official story is that they also attempted to subdue her with a Taser - apparently both the Taser and the mace malfunctioned). Ms. James was able to start the car and it pulled forward slightly. The two officers jumped back from the car. Officer Scott McCollister then pointed his gun from a range of 4 or 5 feet and shot Ms. James one time in the left hip. The car rolled a short distance and then shut off. Ms. James was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center and pronounced dead on arrival. It was later revealed that Ms. James had an outstanding warrant for missing a misdemeanor court date.

Police initially claimed that the two officers were trapped in the open car door, causing a risk to their lives. They also said that the car had run over Officer McCollister's foot, or "almost run over his foot". He apparently had no injuries and the fatal wound was from the side. Police refused to reveal the reason for the traffic stop. The officer was not interviewed until four days after the stop. In contrast, Darnell White was interviewed by police the same day while being held in jail and immediately after being given a subpoena to testify in front of a grand jury. Initial reports said that Officer McCollister was outside the car and was not one of the officers trying to drag Ms. James out. Later the official version was changed to say that Officer McCollister was trapped in the door jam and shot Ms. James because he feared being dragged by the car.

The shooting galvanized the community. Many protests followed, including a gathering of several hundred at the shooting site on Mother's Day a week later. Pastor LeRoy Haynes Jr. said, "We will no longer accept our sons and daughters being shot down in the name of justice". Hundreds
overflowed the church at Kendra James' funeral on May 13th. The funeral was very political as many denounced the police and the Grand Jury system.

The FBI announced that it would investigate the killing on 5/13/03. A secret Grand Jury cleared the officer on 5/20/03. A protest rally was held that same night. Another rally of over 1000 people was held on 5/24/03 attended by two state senators. On 7/1/03, a community forum was attended by over 400, who listened impatiently to police version of events. Members of the Black and Latino community united in these protests. Many linked the killing of Ms. James to the killing of Jose Santos Victor Mejia Poot in 2001. Mr. Poot, who was Mexican, was shot to death by Portland police inside a psychiatric hospital.

In the wake of the shooting and protests, the City Council released a report on over 30 Portland shootings in 3 years and announced emergency changes to the police "Citizens Review Committee". On 8/19/03, 5 of the Committee's 8 members publicly resigned, calling the review process "a
joke" and "a deliberate lie to convince the public that someone impartial is listening to them." Ironically, this committee later found the shooting unjustified. The officer was suspended for 5 and a half months on 8/28/03. Changes to police use of force procedures were announced.

Kendra James was a life-long resident of Portland, known for her loud voice and humor. Friends and family have actively protested her killing, including speaking at functions of October 22nd Coalition. She is survived by her sons, Melvin and Marques; mother, Shirley Isadore; father, Kenneth; and sister, Karisa.

Crystal Judson*
Tacoma, Washington
Killed for being married to a police officer
* The surviving family refuses to have anything to do with the name of Brame.

Crystal Judson* happened across her estranged husband while driving. Both then parked in the lot of a Gig Harbor mall on a Saturday afternoon, he with their two young children – ages 5 and 8 – in his car. Ms. Judson's husband – off-duty Tacoma Police Chief David Brame - then entered her car and shot her in the head with his police-issue .45 caliber Glock handgun. He then shot himself in the head. The couple's children ran from the father's car to their mother – now lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Horrified onlookers tried to help. Chief Brame died later that day. Crystal Judson died a week later in the hospital. Crystal Judson had filed for divorce and been separated from her husband before the shooting; her abuse allegations from the divorce had first been publicized the previous day.
According to authorities, just before the shooting David Brame had been driving with the children and "happened across" Crystal Judson. David Brame was carrying his service weapon, which he apparently rarely did. The alleged "chance meeting" in the parking lot was the first time the couple had been together without another adult present since Crystal Judson had moved out with the kids and filed for divorce on February 21st. Crystal Judson had been talking with her mother Patty Judson on her cell phone when she spotted David Brame driving a few cars away from her and abruptly ended the call. Her mother tried in vain to call her back. She was shot three minutes later.

In the publicized divorce papers, Crystal Judson alleged that her husband had violently abused and threatened to kill her on numerous occasions, including in the year since he had become chief -- trying to choke her on four occasions, threatening to "snap her neck", and holding a loaded gun to her head. Relatives feared for her safety. She sought a restraining order against her husband on March 26, 2003. During the divorce process, she alleged that her husband and other Tacoma police officers had been intimidating her. For example, several uniformed officers attended a divorce hearing 20 miles outside Tacoma, and the assistant chief Catherine Woodard accompanied the chief on visits to Crystal Judson's parents' Gig Harbor home to pick up their kids. During one such visit on April 11th, the assistant chief ridiculed Crystal Judson, while David Brame stood silently behind her. After the visit, Crystal Judson called police, demanding that this cease.

The killing created a large ongoing (as of 9/14/03) scandal in Tacoma and the region. Tacoma is a city of 198,000 (one of the 100 largest cities in the US), 30 miles south of Seattle. Tacoma leaders, including Mayor Bill Baarsma and City Manager Ray Corpuz, held a press conference 3 days after the shooting in which they denied knowledge of Brame's violent nature, maintaining the event could not have been predicted. Assistant Chief Woodard, acting police chief after the shooting, said, "All of us together didn't see any warning signs. There just were none. We were just shocked." Investigation later revealed that the assistant chief had personally talked to Ms. Judson on numerous occasions and was well aware of her concern about her husband's death threats. In a March 31st phone call she made to Crystal Judson, the assistant chief responded to Crystal Judson's request that she not intervene in her divorce by allegedly telling her, "No, I'm going to be very involved in your divorce…. You had better be careful about what you say and what you do."

The day after the shooting, the president of the Tacoma police union, Patrick Frantz, referring to the divorce publicity, said, "I blame the news media for driving this over the edge above and beyond what you needed in a tabloid fashion." He said Brame was "a dynamite chief" but, "I'm very disappointed in what he's done…. He's let the community down." He was later placed on administrative leave after he sent an email to a news web site that read, in part, "If you want to throw stones, you had better live in a bullet-proof glass house."

In the aftermath of the killing and suicide, it was revealed that David Brame had a very dubious history and questions were raised about the decision to hire him at all, let alone promote him all the way to chief. Before he was hired in 1981, he was deemed unfit for duty in required psychological tests. His father, older brother, and cousin were already Tacoma police officers, and David Brame was hired despite the tests. In 1988, he allegedly raped a woman. Although the then chief declined to forward the case to the prosecutor, allegedly Brame apologized to the woman, admitted his guilt to a fellow officer, and police internal investigators later said her account was credible.

Five days after the shooting, as the scandal continued to unfold, Assistant Chief Woodard (who was made acting chief immediately after the incident) was placed on administrative leave pending results of investigation of her participation in and cover-up of harassment and intimidation of Crystal Judson.. On July 1st, Tacoma City Manager Ray Corpuz was fired - for allegedly ignoring warnings about Brame's violent past, including the rape allegation, when promoting him to chief in January 2002, and for suppressing an investigation into abuse allegations less than two weeks before Crystal Judson was killed. The day before the shooting, as revelations about Chief Brame's extreme behavior toward his wife were made public, Corpuz vetoed a recommendation from Tacoma Human Resources that his gun be taken away.

Wives of several other Tacoma officers came forward to allege domestic violence. At least one officer was arrested. A women's group proposed a law they called the "Crystal Clear Act" that would create an independent agency to investigate domestic violence cases involving spouses of police and public officials. The lawyer behind the proposal said she has been "swamped with requests" to take such abuse cases, since the publicity surrounding Ms. Judson's death.

Crystal Judson is survived by her parents – Lane and Patty Judson; sister - Julie Ahrens; 8-year old daughter Haley and 5-year old son David, Jr. She was described by her sister as "the most loving and devoted mother in the world". Her father said, "We're going to have a tough day every day. What do I miss most about my daughter? Everything."


Hector Leyva
Chicago, September 2002

Police claim that Leyva hit a police officer with his car and pulled a gun on them. Police shot him four times in the side. Leyva’s widow disputes the police version, saying that he didn’t own a gun and wasn’t drunk.


Georgy Louisgene,
NY January, 2002

Georgy Louisgene, a 23 Haitian immigrant, was shot five times by two 67th Precinct cops responding to a 911 call. While the circumstances of this case are complex, this is definitely known. Georgy had been victimized by a gang of people who had chased and beaten him. He sought refuge by banging on the third floor apartment door of Janet McQuillar. As reported by the Village Voice, McQuillar said, "Soon as I opened it, he started crying and saying, 'Shut the door! Shut the door!' " she wailed, imitating him. An instant later he grabbed the stick, and a 12-inch serrated kitchen knife that was lying nearby...."Mind you," explained McQuillar, "He did not take the weapons to hurt anybody. He took [them] to protect himself, because he was scared to go out there." (Village Voice)

When the police arrived, Louisgene ran to receive them. However, he was still holding on to the stick and serrated kitchen knife he had picked up. Witnesses reported that he was gesturing with the police toward the area where he had been attacked. This is contrary to the police reports that they had been "backed up against the gate." In actuality he was begging the police for help. Residents of the apartment complex have summed up that this is another case of white cops shooting first and asking questions later, especially as it relates to criminalizing person of color.

The Brooklyn DA has refused to prosecute the police officers in this case, and several residents and witnesses from the apartment have since moved out from their former residences fearing police retaliation stemming from this police killing.

Ricardo Mason
Cleveland Ohio August 2002

On August 27, 2002, Ricardo Mason, l6 years old, and two friends, were cruising in the West side neighborhood of Cleveland. They were riding in a car his friend, Malcolm Hoyle, had borrowed and was driving. The three youth had just turned l6 years old. Then a chase began and the police went after them. The police ran into the youths’ car, hitting it repeatedly with the huge, metal-ramming bumper of the police cruiser. Then the youth cut through an empty lot to get away from the police. At this point, according to a witness, the cops rammed the car again and again, jolting the youth forward towards the windshield and then back. The car was rammed into a pole. At that point the car could go nowhere. A cop came up to the driver’s window and shot Malcolm in the face. As Ricardo held Malcolm and told the police to stop shooting, a cop shot and killed Malcolm. Some people said the police were so cruel that they pulled Ricardo out of the car and beat him even after they knew he was dead, that Ricardo was thrown into the EMS truck, never even put on a gurney. Within a day or two, before Ricardo was even buried, Malcolm was charged with his best friend’s death, charged with involuntary manslaughter. He was later charged with murder of his friend. The police claimed Malcolm backed the car up, pinned a cop between two cars and a fence and nearly ran him over. But according to eyewitnesses, the police car had pushed the youths’ car into the pole, there was no room to back it up, and at that point, it wasn’t even running.

Luther Mitchell, Jr,
Chicago, May 2003

Mitchell was shot in the head by two police. Police claimed that he was armed, but eyewitnesses said that he was unarmed. Neighbors reported that he was the sort of guy you felt safe having around, and that he would help older and disabled people up the steps to his building. After killing Mitchell, the police handcuffed his hands behind his back and let him lie on the ground for a couple hours before they took his body away in a paddy wagon. A few days later police lined up about 20 cop cars on the block where Mitchell was killed in an effort to intimidate outraged neighbors.

Aaron Roberts
Seattle May, 2001

Late in the evening of May 31, 2001 Aaron Roberts, a 37-year-old Black man, was pulled over by Seattle Police Officers Greg Neubert and Craig Price for "erratic driving". Within minutes, he was shot dead by Officer Price. Officer Neubert initially claimed he had asked Aaron for his license and "other paperwork", then reached into Aaron's car for the papers when Aaron suddenly drove off, dragging Officer Neubert with him. (Officer Neubert was admitting his violation of Seattle Police Department procedures to not reach inside cars during traffic stops). Officer Neubert later claimed Aaron had grabbed his arm and pinned him inside the car as Aaron drove off. Both officers claim Aaron drove up to a nearby intersection before shifting the car into reverse. Officer Price claimed he then entered the car from the passenger side as it was moving, and that Aaron then grabbed at his gun while still pinning Officer Neubert inside his car AND driving it, forcing him to shoot Aaron to save Officer Neubert's life.

However, at least two independent eyewitnesses to the killing claim neither officer was ever inside Aaron's car. Also, Aaron was known to Officer Neubert, and had previously been beaten by him. After the shooting, Aaron's 16-year-old son was arrested and charged with third-degree assault for trying to push through police tape around the scene to be nearer his wounded father, and spent the night in juvenile detention.

Thousands of people protested Aaron's killing, and at one tense meeting with public officials attended by hundreds, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske admitted his police officers "are trained to shoot to kill". In response to the protests, Seattle police claimed they had begun "de-policing" to avoid "false" claims of racism. At the time, local October 22nd Coalition activists knew the "de-policing" claim to be false because some of their members had witnessed, and interviewed victims of, raids by Seattle police in June 2001 on the homes of people who had spoken out about Aaron's killing. The August 2nd, 2001 headlines of the Seattle Times set the record (semi-)straight: "Stats contradict 'de-policing' claims".

On June 29, 2003 the consequences of Aaron's killing took another life, as his now 18-year-old son committed suicide. At the funeral, Aaron's brother Eric (a member of the October 22nd Coalition) said "I knew Cos like the back of my glasses ... I think he just wanted to be with his dad." The latest insult came in mid-August 2003, when Officer Neubert filed a lawsuit against Aaron's mother for negligence in allowing Aaron to drive the car in which he was killed and causing Officer Neubert's alleged injuries (a sore back).

Court documents from cases involving Officer Neubert show his long history of misconduct. In 1995, Officer Neubert slammed an unarmed 15-year-old against a stone wall, kicked him, and shoved dirt in his mouth for running away when he saw a police car. The youth, who had no criminal record, stopped after Officer Neubert drew his gun and yelled "Stop or I'll shoot!". Earlier in 1995, Officer Neubert shot and partially paralyzed a Black man suspected of drug dealing after a "buy-bust" operation in which the man sold Officer Neubert a tissue containing no drugs. In 1996, Officer Neubert arrested everyone in a car for suspicion of drug dealing, slamming each of them on the car. Officer Neubert later testified he was working alone that night, but another officer testified Officer Neubert was his partner that night until Officer Neubert ran off and could not be found. In 1999, drug charges against a Black defendant were dropped after a handwriting expert testified the signature on a traffic citation issued to the defendant by Officer Neubert to justify a search was not that of the defendant.


Terrance Shurn
Benton Harbor, Michigan June 2003

On June 16th, 2003, police chased motorcyclist Terrance "T-Shirt" Shurn through the streets of Benton Harbor, Michigan, leading to his fatal crash into an abandoned home. Shurn was left bleeding for two hours before medical care arrived, and died while friends looked on helplessly. Benton Harbor youth, tired of repeated incidents of police brutality, racism and an overall climate of class and race segregation and economic despair, began an uprising. By June 18th, day, at least 200 Michigan State Police were called in and Benton Harbor became an occupied zone.

Alberta Spruill,
New York, May 2003

The outrageous incident that killed Alberta Spruill galvanized public opinion that racist police practices continued to go unchecked in the Black community even after 9/11. Alberta Spruill, a NYC civil servant for 29 years, union activist, and churchgoer who ministered to the homeless and AIDS patients, was getting ready to go to work that day. As described by the North Star Network website, "The 57-year-old Harlem resident and grandmother was on the receiving end of an errant police raid prompted by the finger pointing of an informant. The police, acting on a "tip", forced their way into Spruill’s home, setting off flash grenades, and reigning terror upon the unsuspecting apartment dwellers."

The cops quickly searched the apartment. They found no drugs or guns or dog as they claimed they thought was in the apartment. By then it was too late. Ms. Alberta, as she was affectionately called by her neighbors, went into cardiac arrest after they uncuffed her. Alberta Spruill was literally "scared to death." As award winning Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin succinct put it, "No cops ever crash into the apartment of a white."

Robert Lee Thomas, Sr.
Seattle, April 2002
Killed for being in the wrong neigborhood


On the morning of April 7, 2002 Robert Lee Thomas Sr., a 60-year-old Black man, was driving his son, Robert Jr., and his son's fiance to a housewarming party for a friend who lived in an unincorporated area of King County just south of Seattle. They stopped at the side of a road not far from the house so they could orient themselves in the unfamiliar neighborhood. A resident of the neighborhood called King County Deputy Mel Miller, who also lived in the neighborhood but was off-duty at the time, and told him there was a "suspicious" truck with a black man in it blocking a private road.

Deputy Miller, who is white and was in plain clothes, went outside with his service revolver and approached the truck from the passenger side - an apparent violation of department policy in that deputies are not to engage in police work in their neighborhood while off-duty. Deputy Miller claimed Robert Sr. then aimed a semiautomatic pistol at him, forcing him to fire 3 shots into the pickup truck. However, Robert Jr., who was shot in the hand by Deputy Miller, claimed Deputy Miller shot Robert Sr. while his hands were in the air and he was begging the deputy not to shoot. Initial media reports claimed a pistol was "found in the pickup truck"; curiously, one media report noted that a gun was clutched in Robert Sr.'s hand when a photographer arrived - although weapons are typically kicked away as soon as possible after an incident. Even a Sheriff's Department spokesperson admitted the gun Robert Sr. allegedly wielded was not fired during the incident.

Almost immediately after the incident, King County Sheriff Dave Reichert claimed Robert Sr. was part of a "motorcycle gang" and that his "judgment may have been clouded by taking drugs during an all-night party", but later apologized when community leaders pointed out that Robert Sr. was a member of an organized motorcycle enthusiasts' club and that no drugs or paraphernalia had been found in his truck. An autopsy showed no drugs were in his system.
Inquest testimony showed that the entire incident - from the time Deputy Miller approached the truck to the time he shot Robert Sr. - took 15 seconds, and even Deputy Miller admitted he did not identify himself until after he shot. One juror, a Black former campus police officer, was removed from the inquest for showing "bias" after stating that the many uniformed officers in the courtroom where there "to intimidate us". A majority of the jurors found the shooting justified.

After the April 16th funeral for Robert Sr., about 200-300 people marched about a mile from the church onto the Interstate 5 freeway in downtown Seattle, blocking rush-hour traffic for a few hours and backing it up for many miles. A few dozen onlookers were cheering for them when they finally walked off the freeway. For a few weeks after the inquest, 30-60 people staged daily marches around the King County courthouse to highlight demands by the Seattle NAACP chapter that Deputy Miller be prosecuted for clear violation of King County Sheriff's Department policies, and that a federal investigation be initiated. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng declined to prosecute Deputy Miller, stating it was up to the Sheriff's Department to determine if Deputy Miller had violated department policies.

Cau Thi Bich Tran
Bay Area, July 2003
Killed for holding a vegetable peeler


On July 13, 2003 Vietnamese immigrant Cau Thi Bich Tran, a 25-year-old mother of two pre-schoolers, was shot dead in her kitchen by a San Jose policeman. Police were responding to a 911 call that an unsupervised toddler was roaming the street. Police say the petite mother (4'10" 90 lb) yelled at police to get out and then threatened the police with an Asian vegetable peeler. But the only witness, the father of Ms. Tran's children, says she never ordered the police out and police never ordered her to drop the peeler. In less than a minute after the police arrived, she lay dead with a bullet through the chest.

The police and the Assistant District Attorney (D.A.), before launching an investigation, immediately went to the press and implied that the victim was a violently crazed attacker with a deadly weapon, and that the policeman correctly protected himself from the lethal threat. But when the Vietnamese community rose up united in outrage, the Assistant D.A. was taken off the case, the D.A. promised open grand jury hearings, and the police expressed "condolences" via Vietnamese radio and newspapers. Still, despite the public relations efforts, the authorities have made clear their conclusion and what outcome to expect.

Nonetheless, Vietnamese and Asian groups are using the unusual community unity to address deeper issues than the police's lack of language skills and cultural sensitivity. They are working together with representatives from Hispanic and Muslim/Arab groups to establish the link between state terror and unrestrained violent police repression, and to join forces in the common struggle.


David John Walker
Seattle, April 2000

On April 12, 2000 David John Walker, a 40-year-old Black man, was
skipping down a sidewalk while being followed by numerous Seattle Police officers who were pointing guns at him. David was mentally ill and holding a small knife in his right hand. At one point, he stopped and made a throwing motion with his left hand, which was clearly empty. Officer Tommie Doran then fired a single shot that hit David in the heart, killing him. Officer Doran was the only officer to fire.

Police later claimed David had fired shots in the direction of security guards outside a nearby grocery store. A local affiliate of a major TV network broadcast their interview of a person they claimed was a witness to the shots being fired. However, a local public access TV producer interviewed the same witness, who stated he had told the network affiliate what someone else had told him about shots being fired - meaning the network affiliate edited his interview to make him appear to be a first-hand witness instead of the second-hand witness that he was. David's killing was caught on camera and later aired by a local affiliate of another major TV network.

A number of community groups staged protests outside a Seattle Police precinct building in the months after, as well as on the 1-year anniversary of, David's death to demand more reliance on non-lethal means of apprehension. His family has been very vocal in protesting the needless killing of David. To add insult to injury, in August 2000 the Seattle Police Guild named Officer Doran its "Officer of the Month" for his "professionalism" in "enduring" the protests.

It was later revealed that Officer Doran had been slightly disciplined for non-fatally shooting an unarmed drunk driving suspect in 1988, a shooting that that at the time was declared unjustified by Seattle Police. In that incident, a witness described how he stopped his car and intervened to prevent Officer Doran from killing the suspect. In another incident, the city of Seattle was sued
by a man whose leg was broken by Officer Doran on September 9, 1999. The victim, who was Black, alleged he was sleeping in a tent when he awoke to a crushing sound and excruciating pain, and realized Officer Doran was clubbing him in the ankle. When asked by the victim why he was hitting him, Doran replied "I hollered, you didn't hear me. I thought I would give you a reason to hear me." In extreme pain, the victim asked Officer Doran for a ride to the hospital, but Officer Doran told him he could walk.

Carlos Martez Antonio Williams
Dec. 2001, Birmingham Alabama
Killed for missing a court appearance

When Carlos Williams failed to appear in court over a minor charge of breaking and entering a vehicle, he was declared a “fugitive” by the city of Birmingham. When Birmingham police officer Lorenzo Hughes unexpectedly ran into Carlos Williams in the course of doing investigation on another situation, he told Williams he was under arrest.

Carlos argued, saying that he hadn’t done anything wrong, and went into a bedroom and closed the door. When Carlos opened the door, he was shot seven times in the head, and four times in the abdomen. The officer claimed that he thought Carlos had a gun, but no gun was ever found at the scene, and neighbors and family testify that Carlos had no weapon. Carlos was killed in full view of his aunt, his sister, and his baby cousin.


Police attacks at the Oakland Docks

The New York Times called the it the most violent suppression of antiwar dissent during the Iraq war: On April 7, 2003, between 500-750 anti-war demonstrators, longshore workers, and passersby were brutally attacked by the Oakland Police Dept. while picketing at the Oakland docks.

The protesters were picketing against APL (AmericanPresidents Lines) and SSA (Stevedoring Services of America) because of the 3 year contract made between these corporations and the U.S. government that gave these corporations the power to occupy and manage Umm Qasr, Iraq's major port. The protesters were taking advantage of their constitutional rights of free speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to protest against war profiteering, when police attacked them with "less than lethal" weapons, including wooden bullets, bean-bag projectiles, and concussion grenades, seriously injuring many people. Nine longshore workers were injured by OPD while waiting for the picket lines to disperse so they could get to work. When Jack Heyman, business agent for the ILWU (Int'l Longshoreman and Warehouseman Union) realized that union workers were being attacked along with the demonstrators, he tried to explain to the OPD that the workers were not picketing, and he was dragged from his car and arrested with 39 other folks and detained for 19 hours. The OPD was responsible for violating our constitutional rights that day as well as responsible for the misuse of these so called less than lethal weapons, shooting people in the face and so on. A number of longshoremen and protesters were injured.
--
Local 10 business agents, Jack Heyman, and 25 protesters at April 7th antiwar demonstration in the
port of Oakland face various charges. The orders directing police to fire wooden dowells,
concussion grenades against the anti war demonstration at the Oakland Docks, came from the state of California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC). CATIC spied on protesters and union officials before the police attack. In an Orwellian twist Mike Van Winkle, a spokesman for CATIC who has since been removed from that job, explained, "You can almost argue that a protest (against a war ... against ... international terrorism) is a terrorist act."

Santiago “Chago” Villaneuva
New Jersey, April 2002
Killed for being an epileptic and speaking Spanish

Santiago "Chago" Villanueva was a 35 year old Dominican folk dancer and musician prominent in the Washington Heights community of Manhattan. On April 16, 2002, while at work in Bloomfield, NJ, he suffered an epileptic seizure. The responding police "treated him like a criminal, using excessive force instead of giving him medical attention." The family attorney stated, "The officers were screaming at him, telling him to speak English and asking whether he was using drugs." They threw him on the floor, handcuffed and sat on him. Chago died by asphyxiation.

The medical examiner ruled that Chago died by "mechanical asphyxiation," they were never suspended and continued to work the streets for another year. In fact the police claimed that they should’ve been credited for attempting to "save" Villaneuva. Even after they were indicted for manslaughter in April 2003, the pro-police forces were still on the offensive, and organized support of the indicted cops – rallies where off-duty cops and their supporters gleefully and physically threatened Chago supporters, and chanted anti-immigrant, pro-America slogans.


SEND STORIES, PHOTOS, DONATIONS AND OFFERS TO VOLUNTEER TO:
Stolen Lives Project c/o October 22nd Coalition, P.O. Box 2627, New York, New York 10009
1-888-NoBrutality
www.october22.org
email: office@october22.org

"May your life be filled with peace and may you never have to endure the anguish of losing a child, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, or a friend to police murder. "

Virtually NO ONE will have to endure that. It's EXTREMELY rare. We are all in more danger of a ketchup bottle exploding in our faces.

Sleep easy little fool.

Hypothetical situation:

Suppose you get robbed. You know the perp; you have his name, address, and place of work.

You gonna call the "widdle piggies"?

Fresca, why don't you go down to South Central LA, or East LA and ask how "rare" it is to know someone who was killed by the police, or at the least, been a victim of police brutality or harassment? They have to deal with this shit day in and day out. Or go ask someone in the Muslim, South Asian, or Middle Eastern community how "rare" it is to know someone who has been brutalized, harassed, or illegally detained by law enforcement or the INS. And if you are right, and it is "rare", does that make even one murder, or one incident of harassment or brutality okay?

And nonanarchist, of course I'd call wittle piggies, and I would expect them to do their job in a humane manner, only using the amout of force neccessary to arrest the person.

What we were protesting about is the EXCESSIVE use of force, the ILLEGAL detention of immigrants, and the CRIMINALIZATION of an entire generation of young people, comprende?

Here, go educate yourselves, and then we can have this conversation...

http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/

http://www.amnestyusa.org/rightsforall/police/

http://www.october22.org/

http://www.copcrimes.com/

http://www.refuseandresist.org/

http://www.stoppolicebrutality.org/

http://www.copwatch.com/

...excessive, illegal, and criminal?

Those to whom the force is directed?

Well, their answer is pretty obvious, don't you think?

Prisons are FULL of innocent people.

Just ask 'em.

"Fresca, why don't you go down to South Central LA, or East LA and ask how "rare" it is to know someone who was killed by the police, or at the least, been a victim of police brutality or harassment? They have to deal with this shit day in and day out. Or go ask someone in the Muslim, South Asian, or Middle Eastern community how "rare" it is to know someone who has been brutalized, harassed, or illegally detained by law enforcement or the INS. And if you are right, and it is "rare", does that make even one murder, or one incident of harassment or brutality okay? "

Nope, police brutality is very bad. When it honestly occurs (aside from every simple arrest which you would classify as ALL police brutality) it should be dealt with swiftly and harshly.

Now these police murders which is what I was responding to are in fact VERY RARE. Of course I'm sure that you would label every death at the hands of the LAPD a "murder" regardless of circumstances. That's your error.

Actual "murders" where the police knowingly kill an innocent person are incredibly rare. If you want to argue it post some statistics, and not anecdotal shit from your group.

Get rid of the bad cops but stop your incessant whining and marching condeming all cops. No one's listening anyway except to show you where you're wrong.

Getting rid of "bad cops" is easier said than done. The courts tend to favor the police, so, it's hard to get convictions against them. There are usually no civilian review boards where representatives are elected, and where the board actually has any power to suspend a police officer.

Police forces like the LAPD also encourage an internal paranoia that they have no community support. Believing their only support is internal, there's peer pressure to never rat out a bad cop. Every decade, another "gang" is found in the LAPD that's an embarrasment to all cops. Maybe it's the CRASH anti-gang unit, staffed with drug abusers who slept with the prostitutes. Maybe it's a neo-nazi "viking" gang that records how many minorities they've beated. Perhaps, next year, they'll figure out that sadistic batterers are volunteering for riot squad.

Cops work for the people. We give them more rights than everyone else. We pay them well. In exchange, we must demand higher standards of behavior. Anything less encourages an abuse of pwer.

I was interested in seeing the rantings of cop-haters online, so I've seen many of the websites you listed already, and now I've come to yours. Those sites, much like yours, give horribly written reports that only an idiot or an a person that already hates cops would believe, by not reading in between the HUGE lines.

To give several of those listed sites credit, however- at least they're clever and mix generalizations with unrelated details to imply bad things against cops, whereas your site is mostly generalized rambling with no direction, combined with immature comments.

You know nothing about the stories you talk about or how the police operate. It is a whole world that you do not know. If a family member of yours was killed by a cop that made a poor decision, then the cop WAS punished for it, it would NOT be career ending *ONLY* if it was what a **reasonable person** would do under the same circumstances (ie a toy gun in the night or something to that effect). But cops only use deadly force when they feel they have to, period. Maybe on rare occasions cops have done wrong, but none that they've gotten away with- and no, Rodney King was actually not a wrong decision.

It seems that you have been disgruntled somehow, and I assume something serious involving your family is how, because yeah it sucks to lose a family member. Do everyoen a favor and keep the facts straight, though. If you're ranting and spreading lies so much just because you got a speeding ticket and have a lot of free time, well, that's not only sad but pathetic as well.

Misc. facts:
1)Tasers have -zero- possibility of injury by the taser alone. any heart failure, etc., was due to other circumstances such as drugs. The only time people get injured from them is when running and tased, in some cases people have fallen and received a head injury. That's pretty rare, most people go down slow. And if you're runnign form the police after doing an act that constitutes a taze, well then you get what you ask for, running form the cops shouldn't give people free money in law suites.

There have been reports of people being tased in the eye, pace-maker, temple, you name it and it's been hit with a taser prong. It hasn't ever caused long-term damage.

Yes I have been tased 3 times, all voluntary. It hurts, yes. The prongs: you don't even feel them enter or get pulled out. Once the cop stops pulling the trigger, you are completely back to normal, no pain, no after-effects.

2) Side-held batons: those nifty little batons with a stick and a handle on the side, like the ones used to beat Rodney King with. It looks like they pack a helluva lot more punch than they actually do. Most ASPs and straight batons, yeah, they hurt like hell- but when you hear about someone getting hit 40 times with a side-handle baton, think a little bit.

The cop holds the smooth handle. When he swings the baton forward, he stops the swinging motion infront of the suspect. The straight part of the baton continues forward, and bounces off the suspect, allowing the officer to quickly regain his position of "offensive ready," ready to strike again if need be. This doesn't have a fraction of the pain as it would if there was no handle and the officer used a "hit and stick" swipe.

Also, if the police fighting Rodney King had used MORE force, than all the riots would have been avoided. They were actually stupid by only hitting meaty areas to begin with. Rodney King had a huge history of fighting the police, and he did just that enourmously that time. Instead of tapping him 50 times, giving him tiny bruises everywhere that look bad, the police SHOULD HAVE used their training: hit him ONCE in a joint such as the elbow or knee, and the fight would be done in seconds. Instead they tapped him, someone aired the video tape of only the last part of the struggle, and, well everyone knows the rest.


If you fight the police, you have to lose, sorry. If the police made a wrong decision, then take them to court. Courts do NOT favor police at all, they attack them. An average hiring session for a average sized local department looking for 5 positions to be filled will have 50-300 applications sent in. Most from former cops that were fired for stupid, but mostly harmless stuff. Believe me being a police officer is the single most stressful job in the U.S. today.