Showing posts with label taser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taser. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Arrest and Mysterious Death of #SandraBland

photo SandraBland1.png

Behold the mysterious case of Sandra Bland, a woman driving alone who was pulled over in Waller County, Texas for relatively minor infractions: she blew through a stop sign on what seems to be a deserted highway except for the police car. According to the cop's dashcam, he sped up and did a quick u-turn in order to follow Ms. Bland. When she changed lanes to the right, possibly to allow the speeding officer to pass her, she didn't use her turn signal and the same cop pulled her over.

From there, it just gets worse and worse. Yes, she argued with cop Brian Encinia, asking why she was being pulled over. This apparently outraged Encinia, who kept asking Bland to get out of her car and threatened her with a taser is she didn't comply. When she finally got out of the car, he carefully led her out of camera view and there ensued an altercation in which Ms. Bland was screaming about having her head slammed into the ground. Then she was arrested.

That was last Friday.

By Monday morning she was dead in the Waller County Jail. Of suicide.







From the Texas Tribune
Late Tuesday, DPS released dashboard camera video of the stop, which showed in graphic detail Trooper Brian Encinia losing his temper, threatening to Taser Bland and ultimately arresting her after she refused to put out a cigarette and come out of her vehicle.
"Get out of the car, now!" Encinia is seen yelling. "I will light you up." Bland is combative during much of the encounter, demanding answers from Encinia, calling him names and disobeying his instructions.
Three days later, Bland was found hanged to death inside the Waller County Jail. Her death was ruled a suicide by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences and the autopsy report, which has not been released, was forwarded to Waller County authorities who plan to take Bland's case to a grand jury.








More from the Texas Tribune
According to the mental health questionnaire filled out by the Waller County Sheriff's office during her booking, a deputy marked "yes" to the question: "Have you ever attempted suicide?"
The deputy also wrote "Lost Baby" and "2015" in the boxes next to that answer.
Bland also indicated to the jailers that she had suffered a loss with the death of a godmother, and that she had been diagnosed with epilepsy and was taking an anti-seizure medication.
However, she was not placed on monitoring as a suicide risk during her three days in in jail, according to the sheriff and district attorney's offices. Using a standardized grid of risk factors, jailers classified Bland as a "medium" risk of assault or escape.

Now people are questioning whether Sandra was already deceased in her mugshot photo, pointing out that she looks lifeless and appears to be lying down, plus she is already wearing an orange jumpsuit. However, we know that she spoke to a local friend from her cell this weekend, and possibly family members. So it's unlikely the photo was taken of an already-deceased woman, but so far this case is so strange that anything is actually possible.






















To make matters even worse, when the state of Texas released the video of the arrest and altercation, the video had clearly been edited in a strange way, while the audio is never cut. So far they are just claiming technical "uploading difficulties." Then they released a video that was 3 minutes shorter...

Original Dashcam Video Released
Longer, With Anomalies and Cuts



2nd Version Released the Next Day
Without Cuts, Shorter









~~~~~~~~~~~~

















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, April 20, 2015

"Oops, I'm Sorry" - The Tale of Wannabe Cop Bob Bates

photo 3b49d09d-51e7-4903-94ac-39b9993a750d.png

In a shocking video from Tulsa, Oklahome you can see Bob Bates, a 73-year-old reserve cop, shoot a black suspect named Eric Harris, who had already been tackled to the ground by another cop. Then Bob says "Oops, I'm sorry, I thought it was my taser."

New excuse - His taser made him do it. Even though the taser was inside his vest and the gun was on his hip. Oops.

Again, Harris was on the ground and nearly subdued. Other cops were standing around him, so there was no need for Bates to shoot, and indeed, dangerous to do so because he might have hit another cop!But good old boy Bob Bates just had to do something, so he shot Eric Harris.



Then as the dying man lay on the ground saying "I can't breathe," you see another cop press his full body weight onto Harris's head while snarling "F--- Your Breath," possibly referring back to the death of Eric Garner in New York City, the man who was tackled to the ground and grabbed around the neck while begging for air.

Seems like cops have had enough of this "freedom of breath" nonsense. The only thing you can do is just kill people. Totally understandable. After all the jails are too crowded, right? Killing suspects for petty crimes clears more space for the real bad guys - the killers, etc. You know, just like Bob Bates.

Bob Bates didn't even have the proper training records, according to Tulsa World
In a statement that the 73-year-old reserve deputy gave the sheriff's office following the fatal shooting of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2, Bates noted he had taken "active shooter training" from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Lisa Allen, chief media relations office for the sheriff's office there, said they had no record of Bates attending their training.
. . . "We don't allow out-of-state people to take the class," she said. "I'm only surmising, and I can't confirm this because this would not have been our class, but our active shooter instructor did travel to Dallas once to teach a class.
. . . Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.
At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.





Even beyond the nonexistent certification is the fact that Bob Bates had supplied the Tulsa police department with gifts of money and equipment. So did he bribe his way onto the force?

KRMG in Tulsa published a list of donations from Bob Bates, ending with this important piece of information:
Bates also served as Chairman for the re-election campaign of Sheriff Stanley Glanz in 2012, and contributed money to the campaign.

From the Today interview with Matt Lauer via Crooks and Liars:

“First and foremost, let me apologize to the family of Eric Harris,” Tulsa reserve deputy Robert Bates said of the 44-year-old black man he fatally wounded. “This is the second-worst thing that’s ever happened to me or the first that ever happened to me in my life. I had cancer a number of years ago. I didn’t think I was going to get there… I’d rate this as number one on my list of things in my life that I regret.”

Asked by Matt Lauer how he could make the fundamental mistake of grabbing his gun instead of the taser, Bates replied, “This has happened a number of times around the country. I have read about it in the past. I thought to myself after reading several cases, I don’t understand how this can happen.”

He added: “You must believe me, it can happen to anyone.”

The remorseful deputy, who was surrounded by his family and lawyer, told Lauer that “I have no desire to ever take anyone’s life,” and recalled the state of shock he was in the moment he realized he had shot Harris.


photo EricHarris.png





~~~~~~~~~~

"This is my taser, this is my gun. This one's for killing and this one's . . . oh look, a black guy!"
~ Arfer on Crooks and Liars

An old geezer with no training playing cop, what could go wrong?
~ lardheppus on Crooks and Liars

As ever... conservatives love to TALK about responsibility... but when it comes to TAKING responsibility... we have folks like this guy. "I pulled my gun instead of my taser, but that's okay, because it's happened before to others, and I killed a guy but I right away said I was sorry, so I am NOT GUILTY!"
~ Willem on Mediaite

Literally unbelievable. "The second-worst thing that's ever happened to me." And "it can happen to anyone."
Well excuse me, Deputy Dawg, but I believe this is the first-worst thing that ever happened to Eric Harris, and the second worst is that you're still drawing breath.
"Remorseful" my foot. Bates is mildly inconvenienced because of all the attention he's getting because of his little oopsie and he wouldn't mind if you all just went on with your business and left him alone.
This guy needs a room with no view next to Alex Hernandez, and should be let out on the same day.
~ expatpatiot on Mediaite







Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Murder of Walter Scott in Charleston SC



Walter Scott was murdered by police officer Michael Slager in Charleston, South Carolina. Like so many sad killings we've had this year, this is another white cop shooting a black man.

And he might have gotten away with it "Scott Free" if not for one brave soul, a young man named Feidin Santana, originally from the Dominican Republic, who stood filming with his camera while the policeman first tazed Scott on the ground, then shot him multiple times in the back as he fled.

In an interview Santana said he had considered deleting the video, fearful for his own life, then he decided to take it to the police. But when he got there and the police told him to wait while he went to get more officers, he got nervous and left to find a lawyer. After that, the video was released to the family and the media.

There are gruesome details gleaned from the video - the original police report said that CPR was given to Scott after the shooting, but the video showed none given by Slager or the assisting officer who arrives moments later. The taser was moved by Slager from where it was originally used and then thrown down beside the body, probably to justify the shooting. And the worst - Slager put handcuffs on Scott as he lay on the ground, probably after he died. Why do cops do that? I call that abuse of a dead body!

(Note: Cops in St. Louis also put cuffs on the dead body of Kajieme Powell.)

The only good thing out of this is that local Charleston officials immediately arrested Slager, then fired him. His own lawyer quit in the middle of the day. Good and good. Then tonight, the website GoFundMe shut down Slager's defense fund. Good for them too!

From the New York Times
The shooting unfolded after Officer Slager stopped the driver of a Mercedes-Benz with a broken taillight, according to police reports. Mr. Scott ran away, and Officer Slager chased him into a grassy lot that abuts a muffler shop. He fired his Taser, an electronic stun gun, but it did not stop Mr. Scott, according to police reports.

Moments after the struggle, Officer Slager reported on his radio: “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser,” according to police reports.

But the video, which was taken by a bystander and provided to The New York Times by the Scott family’s lawyer, presents a different account. The video begins in the vacant lot, apparently moments after Officer Slager fired his Taser. Wires, which carry the electrical current from the stun gun, appear to be extending from Mr. Scott’s body as the two men tussle and Mr. Scott turns to run.

Something — it is not clear whether it is the stun gun — is either tossed or knocked to the ground behind the two men, and Officer Slager draws his gun, the video shows. When the officer fires, Mr. Scott appears to be 15 to 20 feet away and fleeing. He falls after the last of eight shots.

The officer then runs back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picks something up off the ground. Moments later, he drops an object near Mr. Scott’s body, the video shows.




















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)