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Most TV media only showed the right half of this picture

Photo by Alan Diaz

Elian Gonzales, 4/23/2000

Government Murders Innocent Men, Women and Children^*

I.   Murders — Cold Blooded Killings that would get an ordinary citizen convicted of first or second degree murder.

1. Ruby Ridge, Idaho: In 1992, the FBI and four hundred armed federal agents conducted a siege of Randy Weaver’s mountain home because of his failure to appear in court to face weapons charges. First the federal agents killed Weaver’s dog, then his 14-year-old son Sammy, and then his wife Vicki as she stood in the doorway, holding their 10-month-old baby. In a 1993 trial, Randy Weaver was found innocent of weapons and murder charges, but was found guilty of not appearing in court on the original charges. The Justice Department’s own report recommended criminal prosecution of federal agents; the surviving Weavers won $3.1 million in civil damages, and the federal government also paid $380,000 in September 2000 to Kevin Harris. A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed state criminal charges against Lon Horiuchi, the FBI sniper who killed Vicki Weaver and wounded Harris.

    

2. Malibu, California: Early on the morning of Oct. 2, 1992, thirty-one officers from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol, National Guard and Park Service came roaring down the narrow dirt road to Donald Scott’s rustic 200-acre ranch in an alleged attempt to arrest him for running a 4,000-plant marijuana plantation. When deputies broke down the door to Scott’s house, Scott’s wife screamed, ‘‘Don’t shoot me. Don’t kill me.’’ That brought Scott staggering out of the bedroom, hung-over and bleary-eyed – he’d just had a cataract operation – holding a .38 caliber Colt snub-nosed revolver over his head. As Scott began to lower his arm, one deputy later said, he ‘‘kinda’’ pointed his gun – which he initially was holding by the cylinder, not the handle grip – at deputy Spencer who, in fear for his life, killed him.
          Despite a subsequent search of Scott’s ranch using helicopters, dogs, searchers on foot, and a high-tech Jet Propulsion Laboratory device for detecting trace amounts of sinsemilla, no marijuana –or any other illegal drug – was ever found. According to Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury, the purpose of the raid was to seize Scott’s ranch under asset forfeiture laws and then divide the proceeds with participating agencies, such as the National Park Service, which had put Scott’s ranch on a list of property it would one day like to acquire, and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which heavily relied on assets seized in drug raids to supplement its otherwise inadequate budget.
          Scott’s widow subsequently filed a $100 million wrongful death suit against the county and federal government. For eight years the case dragged on, until attorneys for Los Angeles County and the federal government finally agreed to settle with Scott’s heirs and estate.

    

3. Detroit, Michigan: On November 5, 1992, Police officers Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn approached a parked car and asked the occupant, Malice Green, for his drivers license and registration. As Green reached into the car’s glove compartment, he held an object clenched in his hand that Budzyn suspected was crack cocaine. Even though Budzyn did not have a search warrant he asked Green to open his hand. When Green refused, officer Budzyn tried to force Green to open his hand by hitting it with a flashlight, and then began to straddle Green. Officer Nevers went to help his partner and began to strike Green on the head with his flashlight. Nevers claimed that he struck Green because he was grabbing for his gun. Robert Lessnau, a third officer who arrived at the scene, pulled Green out of the car. Budzyn and Nevers later testified that they had kicked and punched the 150 pound Green while he was being handcuffed and laid face down in the street before paramedics arrived.
         Green did open his hands while he was being arrested — and he didn't have crack. He was holding his car keys and a piece of paper.
         A state medical expert testified that Green died because of blunt trauma to the head, and four EMS technicians at the scene saw Nevers strike Green with a flashlight even though the victim did not appear to resist. Prosecutors believe Green was beaten to death by the officers. When EMS officials tended to Green, his head was covered in blood — his scalp had almost been ripped apart by repeated blows. Despite efforts to save him, Green suffered a seizure and died on his way to the hospital.
         Nevers and Budzyn were both convicted of second degree murder in August 1993. Lessnau, however, was acquitted of assault. Budzyn was sentenced to 8 to 18 years in prison while Nevers received a 12 to 25-year sentence. Both have since been granted new trials, at which Budzyn was convicted of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to time served in prison. Nevers trial was still pending the last I heard.
   Note: There is substantial disagreement as to the fairness and objectivity of the CourtTV.com account of this incident that I summarized. Please read an e-mail exchange between myself and Mrs. Lynne Krueger who seems to be very knowledgeable about this case, and make up your own mind. The Nevers and Budzyn version of the story can be found at The Nevers and Budzyn Website

    

4. Waco, Texas: Between February 28, 1993 and April 19th, 1993, approximately 86 men, women, and children living peacefully in their home near Waco, Texas, were killed by the combined efforts of the US Defense Department and other government paramilitary units: the US Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Most of them were incinerated in a fiery holocaust. None of the survivors were found guilty of murder of the four federal agents who also died, but five of them were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges for defending themselves. Nine federal court lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages were filed by the survivors.

    

5. Dinuba, California: In 1997, a SWAT team wearing black masks and camouflage burst into a small house and surprised a 64-year-old farm worker Ramon Gallardo and his wife, who were asleep in bed. The man jumped up and grabbed a folding knife. Invading officers, armed with MP-5 submachine guns, shot him 15 times, killing him. The gun they sought, allegedly belonging to the farm worker’s son, was never found. In May 1999, a federal jury in Fresno awarded the family $12.5 million in damages in a brutality suit filed against the city of Dinuba, population 15,269. The damages are more than twice Dinuba’s annual budget; the city’s insurance policy covers only $9.5 million.

    

6. Texas: In July 1998 six Houston police officers broke into the wrong apartment during a drug raid and fatally shot and killed Pedro Oregon, an unarmed Mexican national. He reportedly died in his bedroom with six gunshot wounds to the back, two to the head and another in his hand. Only one officer was indicted, on a criminal trespass charge. However, after an outcry from the Hispanic community, a police internal inquiry found the officers guilty of ‘‘egregious misconduct’’ and they were fired. See also the Amnesty International web page for more information.

    

7. Santa Ana, California: On Sept. 7, 1998, Santa Ana police officer James F. Tavenner fired a .45-caliber round through an open car window that hit Jose Campos in the head. Campos and his girlfriend were sitting inside a parked car reported stolen when they were approached by Tavenner, who was on foot. According to Tavenner, Campos began driving away, and Tavenner was brushed by the left side of the ar. Lucia Margarita Torres, Campos’ girlfriend, disputed Tavenner’s version of the shooting. Campos’ family filed a $10-million wrongful death lawsuit against Tavenner and the city. On February 11, 2000, the city of Santa Ana paid $205,000 to Campos’ family. Tavenner had also been named in two previous allegations of using excessive force on Latino suspects. He was cleared in one, in which the suspect died after being hogtied by officers. In the other case, Santa Ana paid $200,000 in 1993 to Cresencio Ruiz, who said he was beaten by Tavenner after a hit-and-run accident.

    

8. Philadelphia: In October 1998, 19-year-old Donta Dawson, an unarmed African American youth, was shot dead by a police officer who approached him after seeing him sitting in a stationary car with the engine running. The officer opened fire, shooting Dawson in the eye, after he said Dawson leaned forward and raised his arm. The officer was twice charged with manslaughter (voluntary and involuntary) but city judges dismissed the charges each time. He was fired from the force but is currently seeking to get his job back through arbitration. In July 1999 the city agreed to pay Donta’s family $712,500 in settlement of a civil action.

    

9. Sallisaw, Oklahoma: On October 23, 1998, a drug raid took place and a private residence was swarmed by a team of police to ‘‘serve’’ a drug related arrest warrant. Inside the residence was a 13 year old teenage girl, a 5 year old girl, a 4 month old infant, their mother, dad and another couple that had stopped by for a cup of coffee on their way to a fishing trip. Armed agents poured in screaming and waving guns at people. The mother reached for her 5 year old to keep her from running in terror and as she did her shoulder was blown off by one of the SWAT team members. No firearms were in the house and the mother was in the kitchen several feet away from the armed and dangerous gestapho goons. The 13 year old passed out at the sight of seeing her mother shot down in her own home and the 5 year old went into total hysteria. The mother, Pat Eymer, was sent to the Sparks hospital in Ft Smith, Arizona. The dad, Steve Eymer, and the couple that thought they were going to go fishing were sent to jail. The children were held by the state. Note: The father says there were no drugs in the house, and I don’t think it matters in any case. This story was reported to me by E. Barnett, and can be found on the WorldNetDaily website.

    

10. Kansas City: In November 1998 a 13-year old black child, Timothy L. Wilson, driving a friend’s pick-up truck, was shot dead after a brief chase. Six officers had pursued the truck for several minutes after seeing Timothy driving erratically. All six surrounded the truck when it came to a halt in mud. Four white officers opened fire after, they said, he tried to reverse then drove towards them, a version disputed by an attorney for the Wilson family. The officers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a local grand jury. A report is available from the News Library archives of the Kansas City Star. See also Jurors work on wrongful-death lawsuit from police shooting

     

11. Riverside, CA: On December 28, 1998, Tyisha Miller, a 19 year-old black woman, was fatally shot and killed by three white and one hispanic police officers. Early Monday morning, Tyisha Miller was in her car waiting for relatives to come help her change a flat tire. When the relatives arrived at the Riverside gas station shortly after 2 a.m., the two cousins were unable to wake Miller in her locked car and called 911. Officers responding to the call found the white Nissan Sentra locked and the engine running. According to The Associated Press, police said Miller was unconscious and foaming at the mouth, presumably as the result of an epileptic seizure, and appeared to be unconscious. Officers then saw a handgun in Miller’s lap, which according to later police reports, belonged to a friend, and was inoperative. Relatives said she probably had the gun to scare off would-be muggers because it was late at night and in a dangerous part of town. The officers decided that paramedics would not be allowed on the scene until Miller’s gun was retrieved. Police attempted to rouse Miller by ‘‘screaming and hollering’’ and pushing and banging on the car. Police say Miller reached for the gun and that was when they opened fire. District Attorney Grover Trask told a news conference that of the twenty-three shots fired by the police, Miller was hit 12 times. Four of the bullets struck her in the head. A coroner’s report indicated all the bullets entered her body from the back. The officers were subsequently fired and Police Chief Jerry Carroll later stepped down from his position. Attorney Johnnie Cochran said he will file a wrongful death lawsuit and civil rights action on behalf of the family. Reporta are available about the killing at CNN.com and GlobalVillageNetwork.com.
           Follow up: Incredibly, the city of Riverside claims in a lawsuit filed 4/06/00 that the police murder of Tyisha Miller is the fault of the manufacturer of the handgun! The city's attorney said that ‘‘This whole thing would not have occurred but for the presence of this loaded Lorcin L380.’’ The lawsuit claims that by failing to educate users, ‘‘Lorcin proximately caused any and all harm sustained by Miller and her parents resulting from her tragic death’’ in spite of the fact that Tyisha Miller was not the owner of the handgun. This kind of pathetic excuse is tantamount to ‘‘The dog ate my homework’’ or ‘‘The Devil made me do it.’’ Whenever city government officials begin trying to use outrageously lame excuses like this for their own evil actions, you begin to suspect that something is seriously wrong with our government officials. If they win the case in court on that basis, it's time to start rounding up the militia.

     

12. Claremont, California: On January 11, 1999 during the course of a traffic stop, Claremont police officers Hany Hanna and Kent Jacks shot and killed Irvin Landrum, Jr. They fired 14 shots at Mr. Landrum hitting him 3 times. Although the officers claimed to have seen a muzzle flash and the sound of a gunshot from a handgun they alleged Mr. Landrum pointed at them, the gun found near Mr. Landrum's body had never been fired, his fingerprints weren't on it (or any of the bullets in it), had never been reported stolen, and the last registered owner of the revolver was a former chief of the Ontario Police Department. Hanna and Jacks were named Claremont's Employees of the Year and each received checks for $1,000. Mr. Landrum's surviving relatives later filed a lawsuit against the City of Claremont suggesting the police shot the kid in cold blood and planted a gun on him, and received a settlement in the amount of $450,000.

     

13. New York City: On February 4, 1999, Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Guinean-born street vendor, was killed by six members of the NYPD’s Special Crime Unit. The NYPD officers said they ‘‘accidentally’’ fired 41 bullets, hitting Diallo 19 times. Police said they thought he was pulling out a weapon, but actually he was unarmed and was pulling out his wallet. The six policemen were acquitted of all charges.

     

14. Kansas City: On February 13, 1999, at 1:30 a.m. early Saturday morning, police shot and killed Willie Heard in his bedroom during a late night ‘‘no-knock’’ raid. Mr. Heard would have been 47 the next day. Willie and Linda Heard were asleep in their bedroom. Their 16-year-old daughter, Ashley, was sleeping on the living room couch. Shortly before 1:30 a.m., officers burst through both doors to the house. Ashley jumped off the couch and called for her father. Police pinned her and her mother, who had rushed into the living room to assist her daughter, to the floor. Then the officers burst into the bedroom, and when Willie Heard grabbed his rifle the officers shot and killed him. Ashley Heard said later that she believed her father was reacting to her cry for help and that he probably assumed someone was breaking into the house. The police searched the house twice for drugs but didn’t find any. Kansas Bureau of Investigation spokesman William Delaney claimed he did not know whether or not the police had gone to the wrong house, whether or not Heard had a criminal background, or whether or not officers had identified themselves as police before entering the house. A report is available from the News Library archives of the Kansas City Star.

     

15. Cincinnati, Ohio: On March 19, 1999, police shot 30-year-old Michael Carpenter after stopping him for driving with an expired license tag in Northside. Although Carpenter was unarmed, the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office found the shooting ‘‘legally justifiable’’ and noted that Mr. Carpenter had a lengthy criminal history. The city’s civilian Office of Municipal Investigations called for Officer Brent McCurley - who fired nine of ten shots at Mr. Carpenter - to be disciplined for tactical errors, but it noted no criminal wrongdoing. Only two of the shots hit Mr. Carpenter - one in the left arm, and one in the back of the head.

     

16. Las Vegas, Nevada: On April 12, 1999, John Perrin, 32, was accosted by Las Vegas Metro Police Officer Bruce Gentner as Mr. Perrin crossed Rainbow Boulevard in suburban southwest Las Vegas at 11:30 that Monday night. Officer Gentner says he stopped and questioned Perrin – who was armed only with a basketball – because he looked ‘‘suspicious.’’ The officer says Mr. Perrin then ‘‘made a gesture with his hand inside his jacket,’’ at which point the officer – from behind the shelter of his cruiser door – emptied the magazine of his service pistol at the suspect, striking him six times, including three times in the back. There was no known evidence Mr. Perrin was wanted for any crime. Based on the recent record of the Las Vegas police department in such matters, the chances of criminal charges being recommended against the officer are virtually nil.

     

17. Connecticut: In April 1999, a 14-year old unarmed African American Aquan Salmon, a suspect in an attempted street robbery, was fatally shot in the back by Hartford, Connecticut, police officers during a foot chase. The officer was cleared of criminal wrongdoing but a separate investigation by the state attorney was pending at the beginning of September 1999.

     

18. Los Angeles, California: On May 21, 1999, after radioing for back-up, police officers shot and killed Margaret Mitchell, a frail 55-year-old, 5-foot-1, 102-pound, mentally ill homeless woman because she threatened them with a screwdriver during an attempt to detain her for questioning about whether she was pushing a stolen shopping cart. Two eye-witnesses flatly contradicted the police version of events. After months of deliberation, the Los Angeles Police Commission held in a close 3-2 vote that the killing was ‘‘out of policy.’’ The commission’s ruling comes at a time when the department is dealing with the ever-expanding Rampart corruption scandal, in which more than 70 LAPD officers are under investigation for either committing crimes or knowing about them and helping to cover them up.

     

19. Chicago: In June 1999, La Tanya Haggerty, a 19-year-old passenger in a car pulled over by Chicago police after a short chase, was shot dead when officers mistook the cell-phone in her hand for a gun. In September 1999, the Chicago Police Board (a police adjudicatory body) opened a hearing to decide on a recommendation by the police chief that the officers should be dismissed from the force. A day after the Haggerty shooting, Chicago police officers shot dead Robert Russ, a former college football player, after he refused to get out of his car after a pursuit. He was shot when an officer smashed the car window and pointed his gun directly into the car. The case was still under investigation at the time of writing. Both Haggerty and Russ were black.

     

20. New Jersey: In June 1999, Stanton Crew, an unarmed African American, was shot dead in New Jersey, after he tried to manoevre his car out of the way of two police cars which had boxed him in after a car chase. The officers fired 27 shots at his vehicle, as he tried to drive back and forth. A female passenger in the car suffered police gunshot wounds to her leg. The case (which remained under investigaton in September 1999) is the latest in a series of questionable police shootings of unarmed motorists in New Jersey.

     

21. Wilburton, Oklahoma: On July 31, 1999, Floyd Wayne Houston, age 22, was shot twice by Officer Tom Mosely after a 10:30 a.m. traffic stop. Mosely told investigators that he smelled marijuana and ordered Houston out of the car. At that point, Houston ran into a wooded area. The officer chased Houston and said he found him holding a brick as if to throw it and ordered him to drop it. Mosely told investigators he fired when Houston acted as if he was going to hurl the brick. At a public protest following the shooting, Houston's mother and 4-year-old daughter both carried signs. ‘‘Justice for my daddy,’’ the little girl’s placard read

     

22. California: In August 1999, in an early morning narcotics raid, a SWAT team from the El Monte police department burst into the home of a Mexican immigrant family and shot the unarmed and elderly Mario Paz, while his was in his bedroom. An autopsy revealed that he had been shot twice in the back. No drugs were found in the raid. In fact, the police had raided the wrong house because a different name than that of the residents was on the search warrant.

     

23. Denver, Colorado: September 1999, during an intended ‘‘crack house’’ raid, police officers broke into the wrong house and shot to death Northwest Denver resident Ismael Mena, age 45, leaving behind a widow in Mexico and nine kids. Denver paid Mena's survivors $400,000 to settle a lawsuit. The only officer charged was Joseph Bini, age 31, who pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge that may allow him to keep his badge. The official misconduct charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but his plea agreement does not require jail time. Followup: Officer Bini was placed on administrative leave on September 29, 1999. In January 2001, he was taken off administrative leave and given his job back, as well as receiving nine-months back pay for part of the time he was on administrative leave. In effect then, his ‘‘punishment’’ for murder was a one year paid vacation. See RockyMountainNews.com for the full story.

     

24. Dallas, Texas: In December 1999, Troy James Davis, 25, was shot after several North Richland Hills tactical officers broke into the Davises’ one-story brick home in the 8200 block of Ulster Drive as the result of a ‘‘confidential informant’s tip.’’ Officer Allen Hill, 37, shot Mr. Davis twice, and he died at a hospital. Mr. Davis was innocent.

     

25. Providence, Rhode Island: On January 28, 2000, Providence police officers Carlos A. Saraiva and Michael Solitro III, shot and killed pistol-wielding suspect Cornel Young Jr when he did not heed their demands to drop his gun. So what's wrong with officers shooting someone who is holding a pistol? Well, the catch here is that Young was an off duty police officer who was trying to subdue his own pistol-wielding suspect. Young Jr was also the son of Providence Police Major Cornel Young Senior. Officer Young junior, was 29 years of age, and had worked for three years on the job as a Providence police officer. He was off duty and had stopped by Fidas diner for a late-night snack, then drew his weapon and ran outside when a fight broke out and was holding his gun on Aldrin Diaz, age 33. Officers Solitro and Saraiva said Young ignored their commands and did not identify himself as a police officer when they arrived and ordered him to drop his weapon. Obviously it was all a tragic mistake, but the reason this incident is listed here is that if the police are so trigger happy that they shoot first and ask questions later, even to the extent of killing their own, what chance does a normal citizen have against them?

     

26. New York City: March 16, 2000, Patrick Dorismond, an unarmed security guard, was confronted early Thursday by undercover police officers who asked if he had marijuana for sale. Exactly what followed is unclear, except that Detective Anthony Vasquez, 29, fired one shot from his service weapon, killing the victim. Dorismond, age 26, was an African-American father of two daughters ages 1 and 5. Detective Vasquez was placed on desk duty pending the outcome of a grand jury investigation. This was the third fatal shooting by plainclothes officers in the city in the past 13 months, noted Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.

     

27. Gulfport, Mississippi: On April 8, 2000, A Gulfport police officer shot and killed a man who was visiting the Coast on Saturday for Black Springbreak 2000. Mitchell L. Virgil Jr., 20, of Columbia, was shot three times in the chest, according to witnesses and one family member. Virgil was the passenger in a black Chevrolet pickup that police stopped near the intersection of U.S 49 at 27th Street about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Eyewitness accounts of the shooting varied as did reports from witnesses as to whether Virgil had a gun. Police put the driver of the vehicle in handcuffs, said Scott Maccio, who is white. When Virgil got out of the vehicle, he was met on both sides by two police officers. ‘‘They looked like they were struggling for a few seconds. All three of them separated, then one of the officers pointed his weapon at him’’ for a few seconds, Maccio said. ‘‘Then he fired three shots, point blank into his chest,’’ he said. Virgil was shot while running and reaching for something, Maccio said. The Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and the District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting.

     

28. Orange County, Florida: On July 23, 2000, Christopher J. Savard, 34, an 8-year police veteran who had been a certified SWAT team sniper for more than two years, shot and killed 40-year-old Andrea Hall who had been taken hostage by Jamie Dean Petron. Although this killing was accidental, the victim is nonetheless dead, and would probably be alive today had it not been for the ‘‘help’’ of the government’s SWAT team.

     

29. Bloomington, Illinois: On July 26, 2000, police officers shot mentally retarded Shannon L. Smith, age 27 but with the mental age of an 11 or 12-year-old child, in the back five times over $15 worth of gasoline. Authorities refuse to give any details of the murder. Follow-up: On August 2, 2000, Illinois State Attorney Charles Reynard charged police officer Jeffrey Gabor, 23, with first- and second-degree murder in this slaying.

     

30. Albuquerque, New Mexico: On July 31, 2000, police officers let Kevin Eugene Boyer, age 25 and who suffered from asthma and had been Maced by the police, suffocate to death while lying in the gutter of a city street handcuffed and leg-shackled. Boyer was an ex-convict and had attempted to evade the police by running away when they stopped him in his pickup truck for questioning. He shouldn't have ran, but does that make it Ok for the police to let him lay handcuffed and leg-shackled in the gutter for more than an hour while ignoring his plea's for help and gasps and screams that he couldn't breathe?

31. Fairfax, Virginia: On September 7, 2000, two police officers from the West Springfield police station arrived at the home of Ji Young Yoo and his wife, located in a quiet neighborhood at 5223 Stonington Drive in the Kings Park West development of Burke, about 6:20 a.m. to investigate a report of a domestic disturbance. The officers fired pepper spray at Yoo and then shot him in the chest, killing him. Police declined to say whether the man was armed or not, so you can bet he wasn’t. In an unrelated incident the previous week, a Prince George’s County police detective trailed a man from Maryland into Fairfax before shooting him. That incident is under investigation by local and federal authorities.

     

32. Modesto, California: On September 16, 2000, at 6:21 a.m., Modesto SWAT officers, speaking in English and Spanish, demanded entry into the home of 33-year-old Moises Sepulveda at 2524 McAdoo Avenue, to serve a search warrant and arrest him on a drug charge. Twenty seconds after demanding entry, the officers saw movement inside the house near a front window. Ten seconds later, the SWAT team members forced their way inside the front door. Officer David Hawn, an 18-year SWAT team veteran, was the second SWAT officer to enter the home. Moments after entering the house, SWAT officers tossed a smoke bomb into the living room, and it exploded near a couch. The officers found Moises Sepulveda standing near the front door. He did not resist arrest. He was ordered to lie on the floor, and was handcuffed. Officer David Hawn then found 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda in a bedroom, and ordered him to get face down on the floor. Alberto immediately complied. Hawn trained his shotgun on the boy on the floor, illuminating him with the shotgun’s light. A few seconds later, within 30 seconds of the SWAT team’s entry into the Sepulveda home, Officer Hawn shot the boy in the back with his shotgun, while the boy was still lying face down on the floor. Police Captain Ron Sale said the boy was killed instantly by the shotgun slug which entered the boy’s body behind the right shoulder and ended up almost exiting the body near the boy’s left nipple. Hawn was placed on paid leave, which is the usual procedure when an officer is involved in a shooting, and is expected to return to duty in about a week.

     

33. Manatee County, Florida: On October 2, 2000, the last of a long string of former sheriff’s deputies from Manatee County’s elite ‘‘Delta unit,’’ who were implicated in a major corruption case, admitted to planting evidence, theft, and civil rights violations. During the period of 1997-1998, Manatee County sheriffs deputies Christopher Wilson, Lance Carpenter, Paul Maass, Thomas Wooten, Sgt. Wayne Wyckoff, former road Deputy Christopher L. Moore, and other agents have all pled guilty to several felony charges in a deal with federal prosecutors. The investigation has gone on for roughly two years, but it’s not over yet. ‘‘The investigation is ongoing,’’ said Florida Department of Law Enforcement supervisor Charles Guthrie. Among the charges the deputies have pled guilty to are conspiracy to distribute and possess crack cocaine as well as other drug violations, theft, and civil rights crimes. Wilson was also charged with aggravated assault and battery by the state of Florida but was acquitted. He has since admitted to evidence planting, theft and civil rights violations as the result of the Federal investigation. According to Wilson’s plea agreement, Wilson and former Delta agent Paul Maass framed Scott Shepard by falsely planting crack cocaine, and then arrested him because they wanted his car for their personal use. Maass, Wilson, Carpenter and other agents planted evidence on then Bradenton resident Sarah Smith in a scheme similar to the one used on Shepard. Ms. Smith served house arrest and more than 30 days in jail, and lost custody of her 1-year-old daughter because of the false charges. She has since had the arrest expunged from her criminal record and received a $270,000 settlement from the Sheriff’s Office. Former road deputy Christopher Moore admitted to stopping motorists and stealing their money. Another former Delta agent, Lance Carpenter, will be sentenced on charges related to falsifying reports and planting evidence. In all, prosecutors dropped about 100 Delta drug cases involving 67 defendants after the corruption scandal broke. Lance Carpenter received a sentence of 41 months in federal prison, a fine of $2,765 in restitution, and three years of supervised release. I’m not sure what sentences the other ‘‘Sheriffs Officers’’ received, but if this is an example of our ‘‘drug warriors’’ in action, they are far more harmful to society than the illicit drugs they are supposed to be fighting. For more details, please see the Herald-Tribune Newscoast for 8/15/00.

     

34. Lebanon, Tennessee: On October 4, 2000, five plain clothed police officers broke down the front door at 70 Joseph Street shortly after 10 p.m. to serve a search warrant for drugs and fatally shot John Adams, who police say fired at them with a shotgun. Adams was 62 years old, disabled, and had poor eyesight. Friends and relatives said John Adams believed it was a home invasion when police kicked in the door after refusing to identify themselves. ‘‘They made a mistake, and he was trying to defend his home, and they shot him,’’ said Edward Bell, Adams’ nephew. It was the wrong house, police had mistakenly shot and killed an innocent man. The officers raided the correct address according to the search warrant, but the warrant should have been for the home next door. Lebanon’s Police Chief Billy Weeks said it was simply a mistake by officers who didn’t know they were at the wrong house. The two officers directly involved in the murder, Greg Day and Kyle Shedron, were temporarily placed on administrative leave. See also NewsChannel5.
    Follow up Tuesday, December 19, 2000: The Tennessean.com reports that ‘‘Lebanon officials, including Police Chief Billy Weeks and Mayor Don Fox, had admitted publicly that there was no defense for the incident in which Adams, 64, was shot by police after they said he fired a shotgun at them,’’ that former Police Lt. Steve Nokes was fired shortly after the incident and that Nokes ‘‘... was indicted last month on charges of criminal responsibility for reckless homicide, aggravated perjury and tampering with or fabricating evidence. He goes to trial April 10.’’

     

35. Los Angeles, California: On October 28, 2000, shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday, a police officer at a Halloween costume party shot and killed 39-year-old actor Anthony Dwain Lee, after the man pointed a fake gun at him, police said. Lee had appeared in small TV and film roles, including the character Fred in the 1997 Jim Carrey movie, ‘‘Liar Liar.’’ Police said several hundred people, many of them in costume, were at the party. Officer Tarriel Hopper and his partner went there in response to a noise complaint, and were looking for the mansion's owner as they walked along an outside walkway, when the officers looked through a window and saw Lee and two other people in a room. Lee looked up toward Hopper and allegedly pointed a gun that looked authentic in his direction, police Officer Charlotte Broughton said. Hopper responded by firing several rounds from his weapon through the window. Investigators later determined Lee's gun was fake. ‘‘It does not appear that (the officer) did anything wrong,’’ Broughton said. See also deseretnew.com.   Note: Normally, I would not put what was apparently an accidental shooting in this category, particularly since pointing even a toy gun at someone is stupid. Under most circumstances, this shooting might be justified; however, in the context of this particular case, Lee had good reason to believe the officers were merely guests dressed in costume at the Halloween costume party, because according to an LA Times article, some of the other invited guests were also dressed as police officers. The two real police officers were walking around outside the house unannounced and uninvited, without a search warrant, and if they had the brains they were born with would have realized that people with toy weapons of all sorts (plastic scythes, rubber knives, and toy guns) would likely be at a Halloween costume party. Officer Hopper shined a flashlight into the home through an outside window, and fired at Lee when Lee pointed his fake gun at the light. The police should have made their presence as authentic police officers known to the crowd in no uncertain terms before mowing down the guests. Did they think the witches, ghosts, devils, and other costumes were real for christs sake? If you think this murder was justified, would it also have been justified if the shooter had been a civilian? When the police can ignore the laws that govern the rest of us, we are living in a totalitarian police state.
    Follow up Tuesday, December 5, 2000: In an article titled Officer's Bullets Hit Actor in Back, Autopsy Finds, the Los Angeles Times reports that according to the coroner's report signed by Deputy Medical Examiner Jeffrey P. Gutstadt, the victim (Anthony Dwain Lee) was shot once in the back of the head and three times in the back. Cameron Stewart, an attorney retained by Lee's family, says ‘‘He could not have withdrawn a gun from his waist and pointed a gun at the officer and then have been shot four times in the back. It's impossible.’’

     

36. Upper Marlboro, Maryland: On November 2, 2000 The Department of Justice has decided to launch a civil rights investigation of the Prince George's County Police Department, officials said. The full-scale probe comes amid growing complaints about police brutality and other misconduct in the fast-growing suburban county north of Washington. Among other things, investigators will try to determine whether officers routinely use excessive force or engage in racial discrimination. Over the past year and a half, the FBI has reviewed more than 20 shootings by Prince George's police and numerous reports of abuse, including police dogs being used to terrorize citizens. In the last 15 months, Prince George's officers have shot 12 people, killing five. In two of those cases, officers were indicted. The latest controversial shooting came in Fairfax, Virginia, in September 2000, when an undercover officer fatally shot a college student in the back after trailing his vehicle from Prince George's County into Virginia. Prosecutors say the victim was mistaken for a man being sought by police. For more details, see Feds Launch Probe of Md. Police in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinnel.

     

37. Conway, Arkansas: On January 12, 2001, Carl Ray Wilson, age 60, was murdered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, with assistance from the Conway SWAT team and Faulkner County Special Response Team. The gestapo squad entered at dawn, unannounced, dressed in dark clothes and black masks. When an alarm clock went off, the SWAT team started firing. The police had a search warrant for Mr. Wilson's home so they could look for a rifle, and they claim to have heard shots prior to entering the house. The family is adamant that Carl would not have drawn or fired a weapon at any police officer, but like many, he would have defended his family against intruders, and for that he was gunned down in his own bedroom, and bled to death on his own bed. Was the Faulkner County Police Department and the SWAT team possibly mislead, perhaps used as pawns, to satisfy a personal vendetta? A lot of questions are left unanswered. Carl Wilson has been painted out to be an explosives and weapons outlaw, instead he was, in fact, a retired construction worker, father, and grandfather on disability. His favorite pastime was playing dominos. Mr. Wilson had testified for the prosecution in the infamous Mary Lee Orsini case, in which Mr. (Bill) Buford, of the ATF, was an investigator. Mr. Buford was heard saying to Carl Wilson after the Orsini case, ‘‘I'll get you.’’ During the last two months Carl sold Christmas trees and pecans to the public along the roadside. Why couldn't the police have just arrested him there, if they had a surveillance team investigating him? See ‘‘Victim's family at odds with law’’ at TheCabin.net

     

38. San Antonio, Texas: On February 12, 2003, Ashley Villarreal, age 14, pulled out of her own driveway with a friend in the car's passenger seat, and was pursued by two unmarked vehicles. The unidentified occupants of the unmarked vehicles chased Ashley down and shot her in the head, killing her because she had tried to escape. The occupants of the unmarked vehicles turned out to be DEA agents investigating Ashley's father (who was not in the car at the time). They didn't identify themselves until after they had killed Ashley.

     

II.   Manslaughter — Killings in which the victim protested, tried to escape, or threatened the government agents in a non-lethal manner, but that would nonetheless get an ordinary citizen convicted of either murder or manslaughter.

1. Boston, Massachusetts: On March 24, 1994, during a raid on the wrong house, officers chased seventy-five-year-old Reverend Accelyne Williams into a bedroom and handcuffed him; he then had a heart attack and died.

    

2. Albuquerque, New Mexico: On December 16, 1996, Ralph Garrison, 69, awakened to hear the sounds of someone breaking into his rental property next door. Garrison went outside to ask who these people were and what they were doing. The men – dressed in black with no visible identifying marks, wearing black ‘‘balaclava’’ hoods which may have been pulled down to conceal their faces, shined lights in his eyes, brandished rifles and yelled at him to get back in his house. Ralph Garrison called 911. When Garrison come to his back door with a gun in one hand, and cellular phone in the other with the 911 operator on the line, three of the intruders opened fire with their AR-15 assault rifles, discharging at least 12 rounds. They also shot and killed Garrison’s Chow dog, when the animal tried to protect his master after he was down. The intruders turned out to be Albuquerque Police Officer H. Neal Terry and county deputies James Monteith and Erik Little – displaying no badges, dressed in unmarked dark SWAT gear and possibly wearing their black hoods pulled down over their faces. Police Chief Joe Polisar said it isn’t department policy to notify 911 dispatchers before serving a warrant. Garrison was not suspected in connection with any crime and no one was arrested that day.
          Albuquerque police officer Howard Neal Terry, one of the three ‘‘lawmen’’ involved, has been a defendant in three federal excessive-force lawsuits in the past six years, the local daily reports. The city of Albuquerque has paid more than $375,000 to settle the three lawsuits. In one case, Terry kicked an unarmed man in the head, causing permanent brain damage, and then contended the 64-year-old Mexican man ‘‘resisted arrest.’’ In another case, the city argued (before paying up) that another Mexican man, whose home Officer Terry has invaded, was responsible for his own injuries since he failed to obey the officer’s orders. In March 1993, Terry was one of two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Randy Libby, a 30-year-old man who supposedly threatened them with a locomotive-shaped cologne bottle. The city paid off the Libby family to the tune of $100,000. Note: The full article from which this was excerpted was written by Vin Suprynowicz.
          Followup: April 23, 2001, The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal over a lawsuit stemming from a controversial 1996 police shooting in Albuquerque. The court, in a one-sentence order filed April 23, declined to review and overturn a federal appeals court ruling that said officers and deputies with the Albuquerque Police and Bernalillo County Sheriff's departments were within legal bounds to fire at Ralph Garrison, who was shot and killed when he pointed a gun at officers.
          Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver sided with U.S. District Judge C. LeRoy Hansen, who had granted qualified immunity to the officers, including a 911 operator listed as a defendant. Qualified immunity shields public officials from liability for civil damages if their conduct doesn't violate clearly established constitutional rights.
          Attorneys for the Garrison family argued that police caused the situation that created a need for deadly force, that officers used excessive force when they entered Garrison's home and placed him in handcuffs and that once inside his home, the officers unlawfully detained his ailing 72-year-old wife, Molly. She died while the lawsuit was pending in the courts

    

3. Tucson, Arizona: On January 10, 1997, a few days after residents of the neighborhood had been informed by law officers that a convicted sex offender was moving into the area, David Aguilar, 44, noticed a man was sitting in a car parked alongside the road bordering Aguilar’s property, just sitting and watching. After the man refused to leave or to identify himself, Mr. Aguilar returned with a handgun, with which Aguilar’s children later said he was simply trying to scare the man away. When the stranger saw Mr. Aguilar returning, he opened fire with his own weapon and fired multiple rounds through his own windshield, killing Mr. Aguilar. The shooter later turned out to be undercover agent of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Although David Aguilar and his family were not the target of any drug investigation, the unnamed agent was staking out their neighborhood. Note1: Although there is no indication David Aguilar ever fired, the shooting could conceivably be construed as self defense. However, ask yourself this: If you were sitting in a parked automobile and were approached by someone with a gun (perhaps by a policeman), and you opened fire and killed him, would you be charged with a crime?
   Note2: Please read the Counterpoint on the David Aguilar Case by a retired Law Enforcement Officer

    

4. Kansas City: On January 12, 1998, a police officer shot and killed an unarmed pregnant woman during a routine traffic stop. Carol A. Kerns, age 37, had been pulled over for running a red light. When the officer asked Ms. Kerns to step out of the car, she tried to drive away from the officer who then fired a shot at the front left tire, and then into Ms. Kerns abdomen. There were several witnesses. Kerns had a record of minor offenses. Dennis Hoyle, Kerns’ boyfriend, said Kerns was determined not to return to jail after her release from the Johnson County Jail on May 5, 1998. ‘‘She was petrified of jail, of being locked up again,’’ Hoyle said.   ‘‘... She was so scared. If she had the choice of going back to jail or dying - well, that’s what she chose.’’ A report is available from the News Library archives of the Kansas City Star for $2.

    

5. Austin, Texas: On March 2, 1999, officer Troy Brown shot Herbert Vences, 33, in the chest and stomach because he said that Vences had attacked him with a tree branch. Vences’ shooting is the third in the past two months involving city patrolmen.

    

6. New York City: In May 1999 unarmed 16-year old Dante Johnson (black) was shot and critically injured after running away from three police officers who had stopped to question him and a friend while they were standing in the street. The officers were from the same street crime unit which had shot and killed Amadou Diallo om February 4, 1999 (see above). Johnson’s case was under investigation by the Bronx District Attorney at the time of writing.

    

7. Chicago, Illinois: On May 3, 2000, in fear for their lives, police officers shot and killed Joseph Zagar, age 39, after he pointed a battery pack at them. It was the same 8-inch-long, 2-inch wide, portable battery pack that he had threatened officers with five months earlier, except that in the previous incident they were able to persuade him to drop the weapon. Chicago police in Zagar’s neighborhood were familiar with him, as they had responded to numerous 911 calls placed by Zagar and by his neighbors because of his behavior, police said. In this instance, Zagar had called the police to report an intruder and said he was going to get his .45-caliber handgun. In fairness to the police, I should point out that Zagar was mentally ill and that although the killing took place at 9:45 a.m when there should have been plenty of light, the report at APBnews.com doesn’t say what the lighting conditions were. Also, Zagar had prior convictions of impersonating a police officer, phone harassment, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and criminal damage to property. It seems to me however, that if the police officers could see well enough to shoot him, they should also have been able to see that the ‘‘weapon’’ he was holding wasn’t a gun.        This is the second time in two months that Chicago police have shot and killed someone who was holding an object they mistook for a deadly weapon. In March, an officer killed a homeless man who lunged at another police officer with a fork. The officer mistook the fork for a knife because the man was holding it with the tines concealed in his hand, according to Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department. An internal investigation found the officer complied with state and city law and with department regulations in his use of deadly force against the fork.

    

8. Fresno, California: On September 27, 2000, a Tulare County Sheriff’s Deputy shot an unarmed Selma man during a traffic stop near Avenue 384 and Highway 99 in Kingsburg late Wednesday night. Brian Hugh Lane, 36, was shot twice in the stomach when he tried to run away, then stopped and turned around. Officials said the deputy shot Lane because he had some concerns that Lane was not complying with his orders and felt threatened. The shooting is under investigation. Lane underwent surgery at University Medical Center in Fresno and was listed in fair condition.

    

III.   Assault and Robbery — Violations of the Fourth Amendment and other laws, that would get an ordinary citizen a lengthy prison sentence.

1. Austin, Texas: On March 1, 1990, agents of the US Secret Service invaded the offices of Steve Jackson Games, in what became a landmark case for the rights of computer users. The agents seized several computers, including the company’s BBS, and hundreds of computer disks. Among the files taken were several uncompleted books. The raid was carried out under a sealed warrant. It was eventually revealed that the Secret Service was investigating an imaginary ‘‘conspiracy’’ based on false information, and knew it had no grounds to suspect SJ Games of any crime, but had never even considered asking the company for its cooperation while planning the raid!
          On March 12, 1993, a federal judge ruled for Steve Jackson Games and his co-plaintiffs - Steve Jackson himself and three users of the Illuminati Bulletin Board - on two separate counts. Judge Sam Sparks ruled for SJ Games on the PPA (Privacy Protection Act), saying that the publisher’s work product was unlawfully seized and held. Under the ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act), he ruled that the Secret Service had unlawfully read, disclosed and erased the computer messages on the BBS - despite their repeated denials that they had done any such thing. On a separate ECPA count, he ruled for the defendants, saying that taking the computer out the door was not an ‘‘interception’’ of the messages on it within the meaning of the law.
          Judge Sparks’ opinion was harshly critical of the Secret Service’s behavior before, during and after their raid, calling the affidavit and warrant preparation ‘‘simply sloppy and not carefully done.’’ For more information, please visit the Steve Jackson Games v. Secret Service archive at the Electronic Frontier Foundation web site.

    

2. Los Angeles, California: On March 3, 1991, four Los Angeles police officers arrested and mercilessly beat Rodney Glen King while some twenty others stood by and did nothing. George Holiday captured the beating on videotape from his apartment house across the street and delivered the tape to a local television station on March 4. The tape was broadcast around the world, galvanizing international attention on police brutality in Los Angeles.
   The Los Angeles County District Attorney dismissed all charges against King four days later. On March 15, four Los Angeles police officers -- Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno -- were charged in state court with felony assault and related charges arising from the King beating. The four remained free on bail pending trial. Police chief Daryl Gates fired probationary officer Timothy Wind and suspended without pay the other three officers who were criminally charged in the King beating. A grand jury refused to indict seventeen other officers who stood by.
   In response to the King beating, Mayor Tom Bradley appointed Warren Christopher to head the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (the ‘‘Christopher Commission’’) to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department. The Commission issued its Report three months later, documenting the systematic use of excessive force and racial harassment in the LAPD. Police abuse reflected not just a problem with individual deputies, but management problems caused by the lack of supervision, discipline and accountability. The Report also condemned the organizational culture of the LAPD, which emphasized crime control over crime prevention and created a siege mentality that isolated the police from the people.
   Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered the trial of the four officers charged in the King beating moved to conservative and predominantly Anglo Simi Valley in November 1991. On April 29, 1992, the Simi Valley jury found the four police officers not guilty of committing any crimes against Rodney King, except that the jury hung on one count of excessive force against Officer Laurence Powell. The judge declared a mistrial on that count. Riots and rebellion engulfed Los Angeles when the verdict was announced.

    

3. Seattle, Washington: In 1996, the FBI framed John Pitner for illegally selling an Uzi. The FBI’s informant, upon whose testimony Pitner was arrested, failed a polygraph three times then confessed that he had lied. The owner of the Uzi in question, Gary Kuehnoel, confessed in open court that he had in fact sold the Uzi to the FBI informant instead of Pitner, and stated that Pitner had nothing to do with it. Kuehnoel was sentenced, served his time and was released. Solely on the basis of the admitted perjured testimony of which the presiding Judge John C. Cougenhour had full knowledge, John Pitner was convicted. Judge Cougenhour declined to sentence Pitner, so Pitner has been imprisoned in a federal detention center since 1996 awaiting a sentence Judge Cougenhour refuses to hand down. Attempts have been made to appeal, but no appeals are allowed until after sentencing. Meanwhile, Judge Cougenhour and the prosecutor tried to blackmail Pitner into confessing by threatening to add an additional charge of conspiracy. Pitner refused. His ‘‘conspiracy’’ trial is scheduled for November 27th, 2000.

    

4. Bradenton, Florida: Since May 1997, Palestinian researcher (and 15-year U.S. resident) Mazen Al-Najjar has been held prisoner by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) without ever having been charged with a crime or told of the evidence against him. Based on ‘‘secret evidence’’ provided by federal agents, an INS judge decided to keep Mr. Al-Najjar under federal custody without bond for possible threat to U.S. national security. In February 2000, the FBI’s General Counsel told a House immigration subcommittee that four other men are similarly incarcerated with no chance to present favorable evidence or to cross-examine witnesses against them. These exceptions to fundamental American rights are permitted under a 1996 anti-terrorism law even though the ‘‘terrorism’’ evidence is known only to a few people in the U.S. government. Al-Najjar’s attorney, Luis Coton said: ‘‘I did not believe this is the way America works. Perhaps I would expect it to occur in communist China, East Germany or the West Bank. Not here...’’
          Note: This post is not meant as a defense of Mr. Al-Najjar. If he and the others are guilty of treason or spying they should be hanged forthwith; however, three of them hold U.S. citizenship. If the Constitution can be ignored in their case, how much longer before it is ignored in all cases?

    

5. Redding, California: On February 18, 1999, in willful ignorance of the state law and malicious prosecution and abuse of authority, heavily armed officers from a raft of California law enforcement agencies with media in tow, simultaneously raided the practice of Dr. Frank Fisher and the Shasta Pharmacy, ransacking the facilities, seizing records and assets, and arresting Dr. Fisher and pharmacy owners Steven and Madeline Miller on totally baseless charges of murder. Dr. Fisher and the Millers remained in jail unable to raise bail -- an outlandish $15,000,000 in Fisher’s case -- for five months, until a judge at a preliminary hearing threw out the murder charges as totally lacking support. At last report, prosecutors have been reduced to offering plea bargains to a misdemeanor offense, which Fisher and the Millers confidently refused. The Fisher/Miller case grew out of Fisher’s efforts to treat patients suffering from chronic pain with opiates, and the Millers’ willingness to work with and advocate for MediCal patients trying to get their treatments covered by Medical in accordance with California law. A year and a half later, questions of police and prosecutorial misconduct linger, and hundreds of patients remain un- or under-treated for severe, chronic pain. The law is clearly on the side of Dr. Fisher and the Millers, and I hope they sue the bejesus out of the scum bag District Attorney. Their only ‘‘crime’’ was trying to relieve the intractable severe chronic pain and suffering of their patients. The government prosecutors are sadists. The full story is available at DRCNet.org and more details can be found at Update on Fisher/Miller Case.

6. Los Angeles, California: On September 15, 1999, the worst scandal in Los Angeles Police Department history was unveiled when former officer Rafael Perez, of the Ramparts Division, testified as part of a plea bargain for drug charges involving theft of cocaine from a police locker last year, that he had shot and framed an innocent man. Perez implicated other Ramparts Division officers in a variety of abuses ranging from police beatings, to unjustified shootings, evidence planting, falsifying arrest reports and framing innocent people. As of May 2000, ninety criminal convictions had been reversed. At least 30 officers have been relieved of duty, fired or forced to resign as a result of the corruption investigation, and at least 70 more officers are under investigation. Even though Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks refused to cooperate with the LA District Attorney’s office in the investigation, three policemen face criminal charges with many more indictments expected as thousands of potentially false convictions are investigated.
         In a further demonstration of corruption at the highest levels of city government, Los Angeles Major Richard Riordan plans to misappropriate $100 million dollars of Los Angeles’ share of the money awarded as punitive damages against the tobacco companies for selling a legal product to willing consumers. The money was designated to reimburse states for the Medicaid funds they spent on treating smoking-related illnesses.

    

7. San Gabriel, California: On January, 5 2000, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) broke down the front door of Ruben and Denise Gonzalez’ home and took their computer, which Denise Gonzalez used in her desktop publishing business, and several lawfully owned firearms. No one was arrested, and no charges were filed, but the transit authority kept the seized items.

    

8. Hallandale Beach, Florida: In February 2000, on the strength of a ‘‘confidential informant’’, heavily armed police tore down the door of Ms. Tracey Bell’s duplex apartment, chased her children and forced Ms. Bell, who was nine-months pregnant, to the floor and handcuffed her while police made a fruitless search for cocaine. A year earlier, the same city police also raided the wrong address, rousted a sleeping couple and then arrested the husband for resisting the search. That couple sued the city, charging that police were brutal and then tried to cover up their mistake.

    

9. Alamosa, Colorado: On February 14, 2000, Scott Maleug, accompanied by his seven-months pregnant wife Lorraine, their five young children, and the family dog were stopped by Alamosa, Colorado law enforcement officers for a non-functional tail-light on the family van. Because Scott’s drivers license had expired, seven squad cars quickly converged on the scene, and with guns drawn the officers dragged Scott out of the van, threw him to the ground and smashed his head and face into the asphalt until his blood covered the pavement.

    

10. Las Vegas, Nevada: On May 7, 2000, Las Vegas police officer Darren Hecker was in the Alexander Villas Park, 722 N. Royal Crest Circle, when he attempted to approach a motorist in a car in the parking lot. The motorist then started to drive his vehicle in Hecker’s direction. As the vehicle passed Hecker, he fired several shots at the vehicle. A 23-year-old man who was a passenger in the car suffered a minor gunshot wound to the leg. Hecker violated department policy when he shot at the vehicle, authorities said. Police Sgt. Christopher Darcy said officer Hecker, 29, will be subject to a reprimand and retraining as a result of the shooting. Darcy said a Police Use of Force board determined Hecker violated department policy regarding the use of deadly force. Deadly force can be used only in circumstances when a suspect poses a realistic threat of danger to officers or members of the public.

     

11. Woodland Hills, California: On August 24, 2000 according to CNN, 41 current and former Los Angeles police officers charged in a $100 million lawsuit that they had been punished for reporting police misconduct to their supervisors. The class-action suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, is aimed primarily at LAPD management, including Police Chief Bernard Parks, and accuses him, the city, three captains and two lieutenants of   ‘‘enforcing a code of silence by harassing and retaliating against those officers who reported misconduct, so that officers knew they had to keep their mouth shut if someone in management (administration) did something wrong.’’ Plaintiff attorney Bradley Gage expects the class action to eventually include ‘‘300 to 400 plaintiffs.’’ The scope of the corruption unveiled in the Rampart scandal of one year ago, seems to be getting worse.

     

12. Spokane, Washington: On August 11, 2000, Spokane Assistant Police Chief Al Odenthal convinced on-the-scene police officers to release his daughter, whose drivers license had been suspending for previous traffic law violations, instead of hauling her into jail for speeding. In this case, an internal investigation caught up with Odenthal and he was suspended for five days (equivalent to a salary loss of $2000). Another example of police believing they are a privileged class to whom the law doesn’t apply, that was in this instance, thwarted.

     

13. Faulkner County, Arkansas: On August 22, 2000 sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a naked felon in possession of a firearm. It turns out that although the man was naked, he was in his own home and was not a felon. No firearms were found in his home, but he was taken into custody anyway and transported to the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office for being drunk in his own home. Unbelievable.

     

14. Ventura, California: In January 2000, a man was having a loud argument with his sister. A neighbor heard some of the ‘‘loud’’ and called 911. The man’s sister left the house. When police arrived, even though they didn’t arrest him, they did steal $2800 worth of guns he owned legally, and forcibly took him to a mental health care facility for a ‘‘72 hour evaluation.’’ The gentleman had worked for the same employer for 19 years and had no trouble with the law. After the police turned him over to the facility, he was there less than 24 hours when a mental health professional released him, saying ‘‘You don’t belong here.’’ After spending $1500 for an attorney and losing $520 in wages because of the legal battle, the court ordered that the guns be kept by the thieves themselves (i.e., the police) for their own use, and that he cannot possess or be in the presence of a firearm for five years or he will be guilty of a felony. See the KeepAndBearArms News Archives for the full story.

     

15. Oakland, California: On November 2, 2000, the Alameda County district attorney filed 60 charges against four Oakland police officers accused of a pattern of misconduct ranging from beating suspects to planting drugs on them. ‘‘This is a sad day,’’ District Attorney Tom Orloff said as he announced the charges against officers Matthew Hornung, 28, Frank Vazquez, 43, Clarence Mabanag, 35, and Jude Siapno, 32. In total, the officers face 48 felony and 12 misdemeanor charges that include conspiracy to obstruct justice, kidnapping, assault, filing false police reports, filing false documents which were later used in court, and arresting without legal authority. The defendants made arrangements with authorities to turn themselves in, Orloff said. hey were scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The investigation began several weeks ago after a rookie officer blew the whistle on four officers who worked the graveyard shift in West Oakland. The rookie officer, who has not been named by authorities, has since left the department. The alleged incidents span from June 13 to July 2, involving seven to eight victims, Orloff said. Those events happened during unsupervised informal drug operations, a police source said. During that time, at least one of the officers was involved in falsely arresting people, illegally detaining people and even taking one of the alleged suspects to a separate location to beat him, according to the prosecutor’s complaint. On June 15, Mabanag told his trainee officer ‘‘not to be a ‘snitch’ and that what occurred within the police car stayed within the police car,’’ according to the complaint. Four days later, Mabanag also told the same trainee officer to ‘‘disregard all police training learned in the police academy, disregard probable cause and arrest suspects on contact without lawful reason,’’ the document said. The arrest cases involving alleged illegal actions by the four officers have been either dropped or dismissed, Orloff said. Investigators are continuing to look at dozens of other cases the officers were involved with in the months prior to this summer, he said. The officers’ suspensions caused police officials to clamp down on narcotics-related arrest operations that would involve more than a couple of officers. Word has begun requiring supervisor approval of written operation strategies before any such action is taken. The police department will continue with its own internal investigation on the officers, police spokesman George Phillips said. A hearing is scheduled next week before a panel, which includes a deputy chief, captain, lieutenant and sergeant, he said. The panel will decide what punishments, if any, the department would enforce on the officers, which would include up to termination and possible additional criminal charges, Phillips said. The police department, which has already been pressured by Mayor Jerry Brown to cut crime, has seen added pressure this year mainly due to increased homicides. At one point during the summer, the city reported a string of a dozen unrelated slayings in two weeks, prompting Word to crack down on street-level crimes like drug dealing and prostitution. Phillips said the allegations against the four officers are isolated incidents. ‘‘It’s not widespread,’’ he said. ‘‘But the allegations are still pretty serious, and the effect that it has on our public image, I think that’s most damaging. We had built up a certain level of trust from the community.’’ See also the article in the San Francisco Examiner.

     

16. Lakewood, Colorado: On November 30, 2000, a SWAT team accidentally burned down the rental house of Tom Perumean at 5885 W. Ohio Ave, during a no-knock drug raid on the tenant, Douglas Ray Middleton. The blaze was extinguished, but the house had more than $90,000 in damages. Perumean had bought the house planning to rent it out so he could build a nest egg for his retirement. The city refuses to pay damages. ‘‘We've taken the position that this was a legitimate raid. We made an arrest,’’ said city spokeswoman Joni Inman. ‘‘It was unfortunate there was a fire, but it was not intentional.’’ Details on the RockyMountainNews.com site at City won't take blame in house fire. So the next time a person burns down someone else's home, or causes other damage to their property, they can just say it was an accident and get off scott-free, right?

     

17. Albuquerque, New Mexico: In January 2001, a gang of jack-booted-thugs from the Albuquerque Police Department invaded Alex Gonzales's home, terrorized his wife and two children - ages 5 and 7, ransacked his house and stole hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of his possessions, all without charging him with a crime. Same old story. At least this time they had a warrant, although the evidence justifying the warrant was almost certainly planted, and as I said - he was not charged with a crime. The police kept his property nontheless. Read all about it in the SierraTimes archives report for January 2001, titled ‘‘New Mexico Bus Driver - Latest Victim of Gun War Speaks Out’’.

     

18. San Antonio, Texas: On November 22, 2002, cousins Salvador Huerta and Marcos Huerta were watching television when a SWAT team blasted out a sliding glass rear patio door with their guns, tossed in a concussion grenade, and then burst into the home flinging punches, kicks and profanities. The cousins said they thought they were being robbed. Marcos Huerta, 19, was later taken to a hospital where doctors stitched a wound above a puffy eye. Salvador Huerta, 20, was left with a chipped front tooth and a bruised face. Both said they fell to the floor without resistance and covered their heads as officers hit them at least 20 times. Even though the incompetent jack booted government thugs had staked out a nearby duplex which had been the intended target for two days, they nonetheless stormed the wrong home. Shortly afterwards, Officer Darron Lyn Phillips and other officers went to the correct address two doors down, knocked on the door and arrested the correct suspect without incident. Deputy Police Chief Rudy Gonzales said the team of  ‘‘officers’’ who mistakenly crashed through the wrong door and terrorized the innocent residents will remain on duty while the incident is reviewed. Source: San Antonio Express-News. Click here for a copy of their report.

     

19. Omak, Washingon: On September 11, 2003, Okanogan County sheriff's deputies seeking a person on outstanding warrants broke down the door to the wrong home and then jolted a man with a Taser in front of his wife and child. Sheriff Frank Rogers says the bottom line is officers messed up. The heavily armed officers apparently burst into the wrong trailer at the Homestead Trailer Park in Omak.
    
    

1. Wrongfully Accused: Help From Beyond
2. The New American: Government on the Take
3. Shielded from Justice Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
4. Cato Policy Briefing, Warrior Cops: The Ominous Growth of Paramilitarism in American Police Departments
5. Amnesty USA, United States of America: Race, Rights, and Police Brutality
6. Refining Colorado’s Criminal Code by David B. Kopel
7. America Held Prisoner
8. Victims of U.S. Drug Policy Citizens meet violent death at hands of Government
9. In Memory of Civilian Casualties of the Drug War
10. Death by Government. This site has many more instances of renegade government agents out of control, including a Philadelphia police bombing!
11. Democide: Murder by Government by R.J. Rummel
12. The Police Complaint Center

 

‘‘...once the individual and his rights become subservient to the state’s collectively imposed goals, society takes the first step down the slippery slope that leads towards the secret police, the Gestapo, the Gulag, and the concentration camp.

— James P. Hogan (1990)

 

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