maywood_police_brutality1.jpg, image/jpeg, 500x361
Residents of Maywood present hours of testimony against the city's rogue police force.
maywood_police_brutality1.jpg, image/jpeg, 500x361
One resident described how her young son was traumatized as he was forced to watch a relative savagely beaten before his eyes. His mother, trembling still with fear, told of how Maywood Police barged into her home, beat her young relative, and then arrested her husband when he protested.
The National Lawyer's Guild had representatives speak about a client who was savagely attacked after several officers stopped his car at gunpoint for no apparent reason. He and his friends were then roughed up, choked, and threatened as "cop killers." They were let go, only after having the contents of their car thrown into the street and told never to come back.
One Maywood resident trembled with rage as she described how Maywood Police officers sexually fondled her teenage daughter during a spontaneous "frisking" session. The mother described how an officer (whom she named) allegedly told her that if she spoke up, something even worse would be committed upon her daughter.
Another officer was said to have bragged that he was a "trigger happy mother f**cker", a direct threat against a resident who had already suffered abuse under him.
The horror continues
They continued to come forward and speak.
They spoke of verbal abuse. Physical abuse. They spoke of a towing scam perpetrated by Maywood PD which provided kickbacks, Las Vegas trips, and prostitutes -- all at the expense of Maywood residents who had their vehicles impounded for the slightest of infractions.
Another man, a member of the Mexica Movement, described how Maywood Police threw him to the ground during a Minuteman counter-protest in November 2006, and arrested him as he tried to ask why the Maywood Police were allowing the Minutemen to walk freely through police barricades.
Other members of the Mexica Movement described how Maywood Police pointed tear gas launchers at face level into crowds of citizens protesting the Minutemen. One described the Maywood Police as "terrorist cops."
One police officer in the room was pointed out as he snickered and sneered during the citizen testimonies.
Still more testimony
Even more came forward.
More harrowing stories of abuse. More stories of police brutality. More stories of sexual assault and children "caught in the crossfire" of a rogue police department.
At one point, the forum took a dramatic turn when it was revealed that the Chief of Police had authorized an undercover officer to stealthily videotape the faces of all those in attending the meeting. The meeting erupted in voices of outrage and anger. The undercover officer quickly fled the hall and was followed, until he made a speedy departure out of the City parking lot. The Chief of Police, who sat in attendance, became visibly agitated, careful to say nothing on the matter.
Finally, after a two hour-long parade of horror stories, the City of Maywood voted on an "emergency resolution" to reign in the corrupt police regime. It was established that an outside judicial agency would be brought in to intervene, wresting control of the Maywood Police Department from the exposed Chief of Police, until such time as the department was "cleansed" of its dirty cops.
The Mayor of Maywood, apparently overwhelmed, said, " I had no idea the problem was this bad."
The following Maywood City Council meeting will continue to address the police brutality problem and proceed further with the newly-adopted "emergency resolution."
One speaker stated what everyone knew: there are many more who would have testified against the Maywood Police that night, but were terrorized into silence for fear of their very safety.
Major media were in attendance at the meeting.