{"article":{"id":99601,"heading":"guardian Uk report on mitchell crooks","author":"Duncan Campbell","created":"2004-01-07 12:52:32","modified":"2004-01-16 18:02:59","last_modified":"Sat, 17 Jan 2004 01:02:59","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>City gears up for police trial <br><br> Man who filmed arrest tells of his own jail ordeal <br><br> Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles <br>  <br> Monday January 5, 2004 <br>  <br> The Guardian <br><br> The retrial starts today of a former police officer accused of assaulting a black teenager by slamming him on to the boot of a police car, an encounter caught on video and broadcast around the world. <br><br> But 18 months after the alleged attack in Inglewood, at the edge of Los Angeles, the only person involved who has been sent to jail is the man who shot the video, who has been accused of being a \"race traitor\" for exposing what took place. <br><br> Mitchell Crooks, a 29-year-old actor, DJ and video-maker, was staying at a backpackers' hostel in Inglewood on July 6 2002 when he heard someone shouting \"stop hurting him\". He ran outside and started filming. <br><br> The images in the car park of a petrol station he captured of Donovan Jackson, 16 at the time, led to a charge of assault against Jeremy Morse, who is to appear in court today. A jury was unable to reach a decision at the officer's first trial in July. <br><br> \"I don't regret doing what I did,\" Mr Crooks told the Guardian. \"You have to do the right thing regardless of what the consequences.\" <br><br> Mr Crooks, who is from Sacramento and had lived in Los Angeles for four years, saw footage from his two-minute video broadcast on every US news network. <br><br> The alleged assault has been likened to the beating of Rodney King by four LA police officers, which was captured on video and led to the prosecution of the officers. Their acquittal in 1992 led to the LA riots in which 55 people died. <br><br> Inglewood police were aware someone had shot a video and searched the hotel for it. Mr Crooks said Australian and New Zealander backpackers staying there knew he had the footage but did not reveal his identity, so he was able to get it out to the media. He was arrested outside the CNN offices in LA. <br><br> \"There was a warrant out for my arrest in connection with drunk driving, hit and run, and petty theft,\" Mr Crooks said. \"I'm not making excuses but it was a fender-bender type of accident and I had pawned a VCR that belonged to me, but they made me look like I was the next worst person to Osama bin Laden. <br><br> \"I had just arranged by phone with a friend to meet me there with the video so they must have tapped the phones.\" <br><br> Mr Crooks, a slim white man who says his experience has made him more politically involved, said: \"I was flown by private jet to Placer county. For my sins, I was put in an all-white jail in an all-white county. It turned ugly real quick for me. I did six months in jail - that's what I owed them - and it was a rough six months. <br><br> \"I was under lockdown 22 hours a day. There were no minorities in jail and some of the other inmates were saying I was a race traitor and throwing it in my face an awful lot.\" <br><br> After his arrest, he said, interest in the actions of Mr Morse, then 25, dwindled. \"The media stop paying attention after they're told that you're a criminal.\" <br><br> After the jury failed to reach a verdict on Mr Morse Mr Crooks joined Inglewood community groups to appeal for calm, as prosecutors were accused of mounting a weak case. One of their witnesses, Commander Charles Heal of the LA county sheriff's department, had told the court he did not think a criminal charge was justified. Another police officer, charged with a lesser offence, was acquitted. <br><br> Mr Morse and the other officer are suing the city of Inglewood, claiming they were victims of racial discrimination, having been treated more harshly than a black officer also at the scene, who was suspended for four days. <br><br> Mr Crooks, meanwhile, is looking forward to the retrial. \"Rodney King was not an isolated incident,\" he said. \"Cops are very afraid of cameras - for good reason. Sometimes I think the situation is a little heavy but that goes with the territory.\" He speaks more in depth on his website www.freecrooks.com <br><br> Because of his incarceration, he did not meet Donovan Jackson until the last trial. \"I got to meet the family a bit later. They have been real sweet.\" Mr Jackson, who has learning difficulties, is being represented by the high-profile lawyer Johnny Cochran in a civil action against the police. <br><br> The selection of the jury starts today. In last year's trial there was only one black juror, from what is a 50% black neighbourhood.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/international\/story\/0,3604,1115996,00.html","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Report on Inglewood amatuer videographer mitchell crooks from the guardian Uk papers.","numcomment":9,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/01\/99601.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":100316,"heading":"the real me is ignorant.","article":"Still harping on me? A year after I seveed my time? Wow you are really stupid.\r\n\r\nThe blame belongs to a drunk driver, drug taking, child abusing ex police officer who is on trial.\r\n\r\nYou've ran out of gas real me.","author":"MC","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-16 17:34:22","modified":"2004-01-16 17:34:22","fileurl":""},{"id":100326,"heading":"strike a deal?","article":"To the real me:\r\n\r\nAnd the other officers who beat up donovan did'nt ask for immunity  Either huh? You are not informed well enough to be commenting on this issue real me. The police never strike deals do they. So what if mitch tried to get out of his charges, I would too!  The officers who beat up donovan before the tape started rolling, also asked for immunity. Quit deflecting the blame on how angry you are at mitchell mking. You come off like a dumbshit.","author":"nonrepublican","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-16 17:58:38","modified":"2004-01-16 17:58:38","fileurl":""},{"id":100327,"heading":"strike a deal?","article":"To the real me:\r\n\r\nAnd the other officers who beat up donovan did'nt ask for immunity  Either huh? You are not informed well enough to be commenting on this issue real me. The police never strike deals do they. So what if mitch tried to get out of his charges, I would too!  The officers who beat up donovan before the tape started rolling, also asked for immunity. Quit deflecting the blame on how angry you are at mitchell mking. You come off like a dumbshit.","author":"nonrepublican","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-16 18:02:59","modified":"2004-01-16 18:02:59","fileurl":""},{"id":99608,"heading":"To ADD,","article":"\r\n\r\nWhen you get the white man over here in America and he says he's white he means he's boss. -Malcolm X\r\n\r\nWhite Abolitionism as a Strategy for Revolution\r\n\r\nWhen Donovan Jackson, a Black youth, was brutally beaten by a\r\nwhite police officer in Inglewood, California last summer, the\r\nincident was caught on videotape by Mitchell Crooks, who is\r\nwhite. A revealing twist to this incident lies in the fact that the\r\nfirst two people arrested in connection with this incident were\r\nJackson, the Black victim, and Crooks, the white man whose\r\nvideotape exposed the police brutality. In this moment we see\r\nenforcement of the color line by the state twice: first in the all too\r\ncommon form of police abuse in the Black community and secondly\r\nin the form of the harsh retribution against the person who exposed\r\none instance of that abuse. Crookss act was an instance of\r\nrace treasonwhen a white person violated an unspoken rule of\r\nwhiteness by actively opposing the states attempt to enforce\r\nthe color line, a transgression of the norms of whiteness that the\r\nstate took so seriously that Crooks was promptly incarcerated.\r\nWhy are such acts of race treason so threatening? Because the\r\nenforcement of the color line is predicated on the belief that the\r\nstate can determine who is a friend and who is an enemy by the\r\ncolor of their skin. By attacking the institutions of white supremacy\r\nand flagrantly violating the norms of whiteness, the state would no\r\nlonger be able use white skin as reliable determiner of who is a\r\nfriend and who is a foe to the existing society, undermining the\r\nseparate deal that the white working class struck with capital.","author":"nonrightwingcristianwarmongerliar","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-07 16:19:25","modified":"2004-01-07 16:19:25","fileurl":""},{"id":99754,"heading":"Stick with the issue at hand","article":"This isn't about a cop slapping a black kid, it's about MITCHELL CROOKS.  What else matters!  Listen to some insightful words from Mr. Crooks: \r\n\r\n&quot;You are truly a dipshit motherfucker. You think I made money off that tape? Well I guess you will be really dissapointed to know I am a dj and support myself by selling x to your mindless kids you dipshit cockmaster. You cop lovin peice of shit assholes are full of stupid lame excuses. I hope one day a relative or your kids gets shot and killed by a police officer and THEN you might wake up and quit living in that DREAM World you have created in your mind. I make a living just the way I want you prick and to tell you the truth fuckface, It's all for social justice and I am having a fuckin blast. You are the minority. Just cause you troll indymedia and post your \r\nfucked up right wing nonsense, does not make you some kind of expert on how people should be you miserable fuckin retard. You are pissed because your \r\n&quot;control&quot; is no more. You ain't done shit for nobody and you are jealous. People are waking up to the police violence committed by pigs in uniform you miserable fuckin loser. Your losing the battle on all fronts dickwad. \r\nYou will not like the america to come cause your old and fuckin dying. WE are young and in OUR lifetime cops will answer to the people and do what we tell them. I am glad I did my part you fuckin sleaze. \r\n\r\nSincerely mitchell crooks &quot;\r\n\r\nMitchell Crooks knew he had a five year old warrent out for his arrest. If it really was all for social justice why didn't he just anonymously turn over the tape to the media? He was trying to broker a deal with the Los Angeles DA to take care of his &quot;little problem.&quot; Then make a buck. \r\n\r\nMitchell Crooks is a self-serving zealot. \r\n \r\n \r\n ","author":"the real me","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-09 09:49:27","modified":"2004-01-09 09:49:27","fileurl":""},{"id":99767,"heading":"the real me is this guy mking","article":"Mking is from indymedia in cleveland\r\nWhen I flew to cleveland to support cincinnati\r\nThis psycho started following my\r\nposts around and determined\r\nto silence me with his psy ops\r\nbullshit. Your not welcome here\r\nMking_usa@yahoo.com\r\nThe same thing he puts his name\r\non apears here but not there?\r\nCleveland indymedia supports this guy\r\nthey have censored my responses.\r\n\r\nSo now we know who cleveland IMC supports?\r\nPropolice psychopaths who threaten me.\r\nLAindymedia is not the same as yours, various white male\r\nSuckered you now.\r\nI mean mking_usa@yahoo.com\r\n\r\nCheck this out:\r\n\r\n\r\nMking brought this on himself,\r\nwith his &quot;Ilove police brutality&quot;\r\nand hate niggers speech.\r\nI came here (clevelandIMC) to spread awareness\r\nover the case before a court now.\r\nAt some point, several emails from\r\nmking_usa@yahoo.com\r\ncame threatening me to\r\n&quot;Shut up or die&quot; and that\r\n&quot;if I am to continue to speak out\r\nagainst police I will suffer\r\nunimaginably at the hands of crist&quot;. ect. ect. ect.\r\n\r\nI came to Clevland\/cincinnati\r\nto work with the community there\r\nabout what to do in cases of\r\npolice brutality. Spoke to the people\r\ninvolved and posted my case on indymedia.\r\nThis Mking starts to go all over the net\r\nand post lies and hate nonsense\r\non all my articles all over the web.\r\nSeveral emails from Mking were\r\n&quot;PINGed&quot; back to the same IP number.???????\r\nAs my debate with this nuckleheaded,\r\nloser, chickenhawk, racist began,\r\nHe continued sponging off my celebrity?\r\na mysterious letter shows up at my\r\nlawyers offices (the only ones with\r\ncontact addresses available on the net,\r\nsince I blocked the ip from Mkings\r\ndial up modem) with powder in it.\r\nA threat? A coincidence?\r\nI have gone to other articles on the\r\nnet about these vicious rumors and hate\r\nMKing has spread. When told of the\r\naddress by investigators that the\r\nenvelope comes from central ohio\r\nI told them of this guy who has an\r\ninfatuation towards me and expressed\r\nhis hatred for the community work I did\r\nover the recent beating in cincinnati\r\nand in inglewood.\r\n\r\nI then find that this fuckin psycho\r\nmotherfucker has broke into my server\r\nand email accounts. All coming from\r\nthe same IP. The last threatening\r\nemail I got at another email account\r\nmatched servers and IP# back to the\r\nsame as the Yahoo email miking uses.\r\nKeep tabs on him la imc.\r\n\r\nThis man has serious issues.\r\nI think he is the type to go bomb\r\nchurches and synagoges mosques and abortion clinics.\r\nSome of the hate he spreads is ridiculous.\r\n\r\nOver a videotaping of a 16 year old\r\nhandicapped black innocent child.??????\r\n\r\nI would think the guy would be happy\r\nenough that I went to jail over the issue\r\nbut apparently NOT! Then he has\r\ndedicated his time and resources\r\ntowards defaming, threatening and\r\nsponging off me and the fame\r\nI have created in my personel\r\nand social causes. Tell you the\r\ntruth I don't read anything he says\r\ncause I know its a lie.\r\nJust like his leader hitler,\r\nI mean dubya. (lol)\r\n\r\nMOVEON.org\r\n\r\nWE are taking this issue very\r\nseriously and I have had my friends\r\ncome to cleveland IMC to post up\r\nabout the donovan jackson beating\r\nand others just to show that intimidation\r\nand lies and defamation of a character\r\nis not going to win. mr mking is a\r\npsychopathic nutcase.\r\nI am going to defend what I have done.\r\nLike I should.\r\n\r\nWhat he does not realize,\r\nis he is only helping my case\r\nby pointing out how much he\r\nhates blacks and liberal activists\r\nthat he would threaten violence\r\nand take it upon himself to comb\r\nthe net sponging off my good deed.\r\nShit HE is doing the work for me.\r\nA smart opposition to myself or\r\nposition would to be ignore it\r\nor, don't read my posts or respond and feed in\r\nbut, this hate filled &quot;skitzo psychopath&quot;\r\ncop loving dipshit can't see that.\r\nShit even the people on la imc figured that out.\r\nThey don't read my posts anymore.\r\n\r\nI figure between lookin at Nekkid pics\r\nof transexuals on the net he finds an\r\narticle I have written and posts his\r\ndisgust for how I have made money off the tape.\r\nThats what the news does dipshit.\r\nThey buy news. I invested the money right back into\r\nthe cause but he fails to understand that.\r\n\r\nHey man the people I am trying\r\nto reach see &quot;RIGHT&quot; thru that\r\nmentality and bullshit. Eventually bush\r\nwill end up in prison for LYING about\r\nsending the troops to fight a bogus war\r\nkilling innocents. He is allready caught.\r\nHe is lying his way out of it now. like mking_usa@yahoo.com\r\n\r\nI agree the issue is about justice\r\nfor donovan jackson and should\r\nbe that but this dipshit cant and\r\nwon't let it go. He is that stupid\r\nthat he can't even realize that?\r\nThis guy had to have been so\r\nangry about my posts on\r\n&quot;his supposed website&quot; .\r\nYeah IMC was created for\r\nnazi right wing liar trolls\r\ntrying their PSY-OPS techniques\r\non the opposition. Whatever man?\r\nWhy don't you go away MKing.\r\n\r\nYou will never silence the voice of the voiceless.\r\n\r\nI think he is the sole opposition in this case.\r\nWould'nt it be funny if he was morse?\r\nKeep diggin the hole. Your not welcome here.\r\n\r\nAnd I think indymedia needs to do something about\r\npeople like mking.\r\n\r\nFACE IT. NO SUCH THING AS BAD PUBLICITY.\r\n\r\nThis guy reeks of insanity and jealousy.\r\n\r\nI want justice for donovan jackson.\r\n\r\nOh back on topic,\r\n\r\n150 jurors were sent home cause\r\nactivists outside the courtroom\r\n&quot;tainted&quot; the jurors. Defense argued.\r\nJohn barnett also argued that no blacks\r\nshould be on the jury. (morses attorney)\r\nThe new pool of jurors will begin soon.\r\nSo thats how it works? Have a backbone\r\ncooley fuck! How many more delays?\r\nWe have videotape of a crime!\r\nThis whole thing stinks.\r\nI am not getting my hopes up.\r\nJeremy Morse Due back in court\r\njan 20 for his driving under the\r\ninfluence of drugs or alchohol charge.\r\n\r\nShare my website. \r\n\r\nDEFLECT THE BLAME NOW CREEP.\r\n\r\nDO AS I TELL YOU!","author":"mitchell crooks","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-09 13:42:03","modified":"2004-01-09 13:42:03","fileurl":""},{"id":99768,"heading":"Deflecting the blame off morse","article":"(>If it really was all for social justice why didn't he just anonymously turn over the tape to the media?<)\r\n\r\nThis person is truly stupid and should prolly not be posting on indymedia with lame comments such as this.\r\n\r\nHey, in justice you are &quot;supposed&quot; to tell the truth. So how could he just turn the tape in anonymously? Are you fuckin retarded?\r\n\r\nAt some point don't you think somebody (namely the investigators) would have wanted to know who turned it in? Is'nt that why they are called investigators? Geez, quit tryin to place the blame on mitchell. he did his time a year ago. \r\n\r\nAll your doing is harping on history you can't change.  \r\n\r\n\r\nFrom what I can tell, mitch seems to push for the real issue of justice for donovan. Are you saying he has no right to speak? Quit wasting indymedia bandwith by posting your personal hatreds.\r\n\r\nThe issue is Jeremy Morse is a thug who has a history of police abuse.\r\n\r\nAkkilah Artiga Jan, 1, 2002\r\nwas hit by morse with baton while pregnant\r\n\r\nLance Eaton beat by morse & darvish  Complained Jan. 11 2002\r\n\r\nRoberto Willis complained Jan. 2002\r\nknocked out front teeth\r\n\r\nPatricia Surjue complained Oct 20 2001\r\nassaulted in front of children when officers stormed home\r\n\r\nJ. Mitchell Strienbrecher complained april 26 2001\r\n\r\nNelson Williams June 26 2002 filed formal use of force complaint\r\nwas beaten nearly to death and put in coma for a week.\r\n\r\nMorse is on trial. For 2 crimes now. Lets see, Mitch 0, morse 2.\r\n\r\n","author":"ANON","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-09 13:57:34","modified":"2004-01-09 13:57:34","fileurl":""},{"id":99771,"heading":"Mkings Ip Number","article":"mdcrack -a -s 0123456789 -M D5 3d1cb767fe4087bf4011b1780dce0407\r\n\r\nMDCrack version 1.2\r\n( Bruteforce your hashes )\r\n\r\nUsage: MDCrack [-h] [-r] [-d] [-W file -R file -F] [-t secs] [-v | -V] [-b string] [-e string] [-a] [-S size] [-s charset] [-M MD4\/MD5\/NTLM1] [digest]\r\n-h : (h)elp, this text.\r\n-r : give (r)elease number.\r\n-d : (d)elete any resume-file.\r\n-W : file where to (W)rite all computed hashes.\r\n-R : file where to (R)ead precomputed hashes from.\r\n-F : (F)ast write (Hashes file is no longer human readable).\r\n-t : set benchmark mode (t)imer to secs seconds.\r\n-v : set (v)erbose mode.\r\n-V : more (V)erbose.\r\n-b : passwords (b)egin with string.\r\n-e : passwords (e)nd with string.\r\n-a : find (a)ll collisions (won't stop to the first found).\r\n-S : minimal passwords (S)ize to start with.\r\n-s : feed a custom charset (s)tring for passwords.\r\n-M : choose (M)D5, MD4 or NTLM1 algorithm.\r\n\r\nVery fast cracker for MD4\/MD5 and NTLM1 hashes\r\n\r\nMDcrack is designed as a proof of concept to show how weak\r\nare MD* hashed passwords while yet widely used in many\r\nauthentication schemes ","author":"various","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-09 14:16:41","modified":"2004-01-09 14:16:41","fileurl":""},{"id":99788,"heading":"RE: Deflecting the blame off morse  ANON","article":"This &quot;news&quot; story and thread ARE about Mitchell Crooks.  Who's deflecting?  No one is &quot;blaming&quot; Crooks for anything .  The fact is that it is obvious he was using his video to get his Placer County warrant cleared up through the L.A.'s DA office, yet he is described as a victim and it's assumed that he was arrested as retribution for his actions.  This is bullshit.  He deserved to serve the time he owed. And regarding the cop in Morse's video, you have already convicted him, shouldn't that be done in a court of law?","author":"The real me","parent_id":99601,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-01-09 18:11:55","modified":"2004-01-09 18:11:55","fileurl":""}]}