Miami cops have shot six people since Friday — but only recovered a gun in one case Police in the Miami area shot five people over the weekend and one on Tuesday. But so far, officers have claimed that only one of the suspects had a weapon. The Miami Herald reported that two officers two from Miami-Dade and one from South Miami shot five suspects between Friday night and Sunday night. A sixth suspect was shot on Tuesday. In at least five of the cases, officers said that they were forced to open fire because they feared for their lives. On Friday, a Miami-Dade police officer said that he spotted five teenagers steal a case of Heineken beer and then speed off in a stolen police truck. The officer opened fire after the truck allegedly accelerated in his direction. Jorge Cruz, one of the teen’s fathers, told The Miami Herald that the officer had used excessive force. “I’m not saying these kids are saints. Miami-Dade police shot a teen on Sunday afternoon after an officer said that he fled from a stolen vehicle carrying a weapon.
Texas cops respond to suicide attempt, shoot Hispanic man — and then find out he’s a deputy The mother of a Texas deputy said this week that Laredo police officers did not have a good reason to shoot and kill her son after they showed up at his apartment to respond to an attempted suicide. The Laredo Morning Times reported on Monday that two female officers responded to a suicide attempt at around 11 a.m. The department said that the officers opened fire after “repeated commands to the individual who was armed with a handgun.” The man was identified as 25-year-old Cesar Cuellar, a Webb County sheriff’s deputy. Cuellar’s mother later told KGNS that officers overreacted. “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, don’t shoot, please, please, please. “They shot him, they shot him once and then it took a while and after another boom again. The woman said that her son would not have justice until the Laredo officers had their “guns and badges taken away.” In a statement, Laredo Police Chief Raymond Garner promised that there would be a full investigation into the case.
Unarmed marijuana dealer shot in face and killed by cop who won’t face charges Derek Cruice was a kind and loving young man who was murdered in cold blood by state agents because he allegedly sold a plant that is legal in five states. In March, a heavily militarized police SWAT team, knowing that Cruice had never been convicted of a crime, descended on his home on Maybrook Drive in Deltona. Police did not knock. Instead, they used a battering ram to bust down the door, sending multiple heavily armed storm troopers into the house. Friends who were inside the home explained that police fired their weapons without hesitation. Cruice was shot in his face and died on scene. The friends were also quick to point out that there were no weapons. The entire assault on private property and subsequent murder was carried out to “protect” society from a person who had harmed no one, and, in fact, provided a beneficial and life-saving product to the community. Police, however, were unapologetic in regards to the trespass and the murder.
Why Did A Cop Shoot Robert Chambers In The Head? An Unarmed Teen Flashed His Brights At A Cop And Ended Up Dead Reports claim shooting of unarmed 12-year-old Tamir Rice was justified Don't miss stories. Follow Raw Story! Two reports have said Timothy Loehmann, a white Cleveland police officer, was justified in shooting Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy wielding a toy gun, in Cleveland last November. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office released the reports Saturday night but said they were simply part of evidence-gathering, ahead of a grand jury that will decide how… Police fatally shoot nearly 1,000 people in 2016 | The Washington Post ‘Shots fired’ Officer Lisa Mearkle has chased Kassick, first by car, then on foot. Now she’s zapped him with her Taser and he’s writhing on the ground, on snow, jammed up against a line of trees. Viewed through the camera attached to the officer’s Taser, Kassick reacts to each of three shocks from the stun gun. Mearkle, screaming, orders Kassick, who is already involuntarily on the ground, to “Get on the ground! “Okay, okay,” he responds. As the officer stands over Kassick, repeatedly ordering him to “Lie down” and “Show your hands,” the 59-year-old does just that. But three times during the video, Kassick also does other things with his hands. At the 1:39 mark, there’s a pop and Mearkle says, “Shots fired.” Within seconds, Kassick is flat on his stomach. The video ends. He was unarmed. Mearkle had given chase after Kassick fled from her attempt to pull him over for having an expired inspection sticker on his car.
huffingtonpost Study: Suspects shocked by Taser “more likely” to waive Miranda Rights A new study says the obvious: suspects' brains are briefly scrambled when they are on the receiving end of a Taser stun gun and its 50,000-volt delivery. But the study, "TASER Exposure and Cognitive Impairment: Implications for Valid Miranda Waivers and the Timing of Police Custodial Interrogations," (PDF) questions whether suspects who were just shocked have the mental capacity to validly waive their Miranda rights and submit to police questioning. "TASER-exposed participants resembled patients with mild cognitive impairment, which suggests that not only might our participants be more likely to waive their Miranda rights directly after TASER exposure, but also they would be more likely to give inaccurate information to investigators," reads the study, which appears in the journal Criminology & Public Policy. Researchers said they recruited 142 participants randomly placed in four groups. A control group of 37 participants did nothing. The study said:
huffingtonpost Widow Seeks Justice for Husband Killed By Police - Daniel Shaver Pleaded For His Life Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Daniel Shaver, a 26-year-old husband and father of two from Texas, was on a business trip to Arizona on January 18, when a police officer shot and killed him in a La Quinta Inn & Suites — as he begged for his life. Now, according to The Arizona Republic, the officer, Philip "Mitch" Brailsford, is charged with second-degree murder and fired from the Mesa, Arizona police force. The story of Shaver's death and the aftermath is heartbreaking, angering and, in part, confusing. A report that includes eye-witness accounts, audio and video of the incident reveals that Shaver was on the ground, crying and crawling towards Brailsford while he pleaded for his life. Shaver's wife, Laney Sweet, has spent the last several months seeking justice for her husband's death and now that Brailsford is facing charges, she's trying to ensure he doesn't strike a plea deal. "Unfortunately, I did finally find him when calling the local coroner.
The Fifteen Most Outrageous Responses by Police After Killing Unarmed People Police kill a lot of unarmed people. So far in 2015, as many as 100 unarmed people have been killed by police. Here are fifteen of the most outrageous reasons given by police to justify killing unarmed people in the last twelve months. First, a bit of background. So far in 2015, there have been around 400 fatal police shootings already; one in six of those killings, 16 percent, were of unarmed people, 49 had no weapon at all and 13 had toys, according to the Washington Post. Of the police killings this year less than 1 percent have resulted in the officer being charged with a crime. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. These are the responses of police authorities who face less than one chance in a hundred of being charged when they kill people, even unarmed people. Bill Quigley teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com.
Girl who watched Wichita cops gun down her dad grows up to see cops gun down her war veteran son When Beverly Alford-Allen’s son suffered a mental breakdown last summer, she was afraid to call 911 out of fear that it would mean a death sentence for the Iraq War veteran. But the desperate woman called police, anyway — and her worst fears were realized. As a child, Alford-Allen had watched a Wichita police officer shoot her father to death, and she did not want the same thing to happen to her 26-year-old son, Icarus Randolph – who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from three tours in combat, reported The Wichita Eagle. Family members sought help July 4 from the Veterans Administration and local mental health associations after Randolph withdrew into himself and picked up a folding knife after being awoken by fireworks, but those caregivers all directed relatives to call police. Relatives said one officer was helpful at first, but they said the second officer was surly and impatient upon arrival, the newspaper reported.
Police Killed An Unarmed White Man In Iowa And His Community Didn't Seem To Notice A few minutes before Des Moines police killed Ryan Keith Bolinger Tuesday night, the 28-year-old white man was dancing in the street, according to an officer. Police didn't find the display funny. In a news conference Wednesday, Des Moines Police Sgt. Jason Halifax said Bolinger had earlier pulled up beside the squad car of an officer who was conducting an unrelated traffic stop, parking his 2000 Lincoln sedan so close that he blocked the police cruiser's driver's side door. Bolinger then left his vehicle and danced around before getting back in and driving away. Officer Vanessa Miller, a seven-year veteran of the force, gave pursuit, following Bolinger in a low-speed chase that hovered around the 35 miles-per-hour limit, officials said. About two minutes into the chase, Miller cut Bolinger off as he attempted to make a U-turn, forcing his car to a stop. Halifax has said Bolinger was unarmed, and the Register reports that he had no criminal record.