Gangsters in Blue

Man shot by police officers identified 9NEWS.com 9NEWS spoke with two witnesses on Sunday who say they are concerned this case involves police brutality, because they say officers used force after Alvarez ... and more »

There's a new blog that's following the police pre-trail, extrajudicial shocking and electrocution deaths of Latinos, called Tasered While Latino. Although the scientific word for death by electrical shock is "electrocution", the blog uses the name "Tasered" because Taser International is the largest supplier of these portable waist-holstered electric chairs to police departments and others.

Today, Tasered While Latino reports:

Luis Ramirez - Beat To Death While Latino - By Shenandoah Police Department

Washington (CNN) -- Six people, including four police officers, were indicted in the fatal race-related beating of a Latino man in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The three indictments include federal hate crime charges, as well as obstruction of justice, conspiracy, official misconduct and extortion charges, authorities said. A federal grand jury handed up the indictments last week, and they were unsealed Tuesday.

Luis Ramirez was in a coma on life support before he died two days after he was beaten

Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky are charged with a hate crime for beating Luis Ramirez in July 2008 while shouting racial epithets at him, prosecutors said. Ramirez died two days later.

"Following the beating, Donchak, Piekarsky and others, including members of the Shenandoah Police Department, participated in a scheme to obstruct the investigation of the fatal assault," the Justice Department said.

Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor is charged in two separate indictments with conspiring to obstruct justice, multiple counts of extortion and civil rights violations, authorities said. Tasered While Latino

This is but one example of the lawlessness of some police officers in all of the police departments of the United States of America. In this case, it seems as though the US Justice Department may try to bring a measure of justice to the dead, as well as retribution and deterrence to the living police officers.

All-too-often, when the initial shock and outrage wears off, police plead murder charges down to disorderly conduct and are allowed to resign with pensions from one police department, only to begin working for another, like the pedophile priests who were shuffled from abusing children in one congregation to abusing different children in another.

With the advent of the Tasered While Latino blog, the pre-trial, extra-judicial attempted murders and executions of Latinos may receive the attention that the same lawless police behavior has received when it is directed toward Blacks.

There's a new blog that's following the police pre-trail, extrajudicial shocking and electrocution deaths of Latinos, called Tasered While Latino. Although the scientific word for death by electrical shock is "electrocution", the blog uses the name "Tasered" because Taser International is the largest supplier of these portable waist-holstered electric chairs to police departments and others.

Today, Tasered While Latino reports:

Luis Ramirez - Beat To Death While Latino - By Shenandoah Police Department

Washington (CNN) -- Six people, including four police officers, were indicted in the fatal race-related beating of a Latino man in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The three indictments include federal hate crime charges, as well as obstruction of justice, conspiracy, official misconduct and extortion charges, authorities said. A federal grand jury handed up the indictments last week, and they were unsealed Tuesday.

Luis Ramirez was in a coma on life support before he died two days after he was beaten

Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky are charged with a hate crime for beating Luis Ramirez in July 2008 while shouting racial epithets at him, prosecutors said. Ramirez died two days later.

"Following the beating, Donchak, Piekarsky and others, including members of the Shenandoah Police Department, participated in a scheme to obstruct the investigation of the fatal assault," the Justice Department said.

Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor is charged in two separate indictments with conspiring to obstruct justice, multiple counts of extortion and civil rights violations, authorities said.

This is but one example of the lawlessness of some police officers in all of the police departments of the United States of America. In this case, it seems as though the US Justice Department may try to bring a measure of justice to the dead, as well as retribution and deterrence to the living police officers.

All-too-often, when the initial shock and outrage wears off, police plead murder charges down to disorderly conduct and are allowed to resign with pensions from one police department, only to begin working for another, like the pedophile priests who were shuffled from abusing children in one congregation to abusing different children in another.

With the advent of the Tasered While Latino blog, the pre-trial, extra-judicial attempted murders and executions of Latinos may receive the attention that the same lawless police behavior has received when it is directed toward Blacks.

This comes from our Allies at Arizona Prison Watch, who do a good job in creating consciousness in the Prison Industrial Complex. They also supply a creative and clear voice to protest the killing of AZ inmate Marcia Powell in an outdoor cage, on May 20th, 2009.

Protest on 12-18 at AZ DOC by SWOP and others. Open Letter from the Sex Workers Outreach Project and allies to Charles L. Ryan, Director of the Arizona DOC

When: Friday December 18th, 2009 NOON

Where: AZ Department of Corrections
1601 West Jefferson St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Sex Workers and allies are coming together in front of the AZ Department of Corrections on December 18th, as part of International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers, an annual event to call attention to violence committed against sex workers all over the globe. Marcia Powell was a prisoner of the State of Arizona who collapsed and died from heatstroke last May after being locked in an outdoor cage and ignored for four hours in 107 degree heat.

What: Protest Rally: Marcia Powell's death, AZ Department of Corrections.

You are invited to join us in Tucson, Arizona on December 17, 2009 (performance art/public installation and a candelight vigil) and in Phoenix, Arizona on December 18, 2009 (protest rally on the steps of the Arizona Department of Corrections).

Bring red umbrellas, to stand in solidarity! Signs are welcome.

Sex Worker Rights are Human Rights!

--------------------

Open Letter from the Sex Workers Outreach Project and allies to Charles L. Ryan, Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. Posted and delivered December 11, 2009.
­
December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. This event was created by Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP-USA), a national social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of sex workers, focusing on ending violence and stigma through education and advocacy.
In 2009, sex workers from around the globe met gruesome deaths and endured unspeakable violence. Some died at the hands of a solitary perpetrator; others were victims of serial “prostitute killers.” While some of these horrific stories received international media attention (Boston, Grand Rapids, Albuquerque, Tijuana, Hong Kong, Moscow, Great Britain, Cape Town, New Zealand), other cases received little more than a perfunctory investigation. Many cases remain unsolved, sometimes forever.

Today we are here for Marcia Powell, who was incarcerated for solicitation of oral sex and sentenced to over two years in prison - despite being found so mentally impaired at the time of sentencing that she had just been appointed a legal guardian. On May 19, 2009, after informing prison staff that she was suicidal, Marcia was placed in an uncovered outdoor cage at Arizona's Perryville prison for women, where she would presumably be "observed" until she was transferred to a more appropriate location. Reportedly, that's what they did with women who caused problems there: they put them in a cage and "waited them out". The same cages were used for "recreation" and as waiting rooms for those needing medical attention: the prisons filled up so cages were erected in the yards to add more space. Putting someone in there was routine; women were left in there all the time beyond policy, so no one thought much about Marcia complaining - except the other prisoners. Four hours later - after her pleas for water were ignored or mocked by guard after guard - she was found, collapsed, in 107-degree heat, and died on May 20th in the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Marcia was the victim of dual forms of injustice, as a sex worker and as a prisoner. Sex Workers Outreach Project and other organizations are fundamentally opposed to criminalization of sex work. The prohibition of this work results in selective prosecution that puts some of the most vulnerable in our society at the mercy of a system that robs them of their basic respect and dignity. For decades efforts to curb sex work have not only failed to reduce incidences of prostitution, but they have corrupted our justice system resulting in selective enforcement, racial profiling and inhumane treatment of those who don't have the financial resources to fight back. Violence against sex workers is epidemic and rarely taken seriously. The criminalization of prostitution legitimizes this abuse so that sex workers are the targets of violent crime with little recourse. Marcia was referred to - after her death - as a "biological serial killer" in an employee blog (The Lumley Vampire). That suggests that her degraded social status as a "criminalized" sex worker had a considerable effect on the way she was treated at the hands of ADC staff the day she was left to die. It also raises the question of her abuse being the result of bias against her for a disability she may have also had.

Women prisoners are also the victims of an unjust system, facing extreme medical neglect, sexual harassment and abuse. The women's prison population in the United States has grown 800% in the past three decades, twice the rate of the male prison population. 2/3 of women in prison were incarcerated for non-violent offenses. (Institute on Women and Criminal Justice). As the death of Marcia Powell in the care of the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) shows, prison sentences can include the most extreme form of neglect and abuse.

We are here for Marcia and other prisoners, and sex workers, as we call for respect for human rights. As a result of an internal investigation, 16 people were disciplined. An investigation is currently underway to determine whether or not criminal charges should be filed in her death.

"It's not enough to change a few people and policies. There is a culture embedded in the ADC that is pervasive throughout the prison system that reflects a disregard for the fundamental human rights of prisoners. There are exceptions to that, and the prisoners know who they are," says Peggy Plews of Arizona Prison Watch.

No critical analysis of the institutional culture that contributed to this abuse has been made public, but that analysis is essential to ending state violence.

In response to the death of Marcia Powell while in the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections, we expect the following:

1. The Arizona Department of Corrections has an influential role in shaping policy. We ask that leadership be provided by the ADC in exploring models of restorative justice and addressing strategies such as criminal code and sentencing reform, early release programs for low-risk prisoners, community support through harm reduction, and re-entry programs to stop the revolving door syndrome that traps so many people.

2. An analysis of violence against sex workers (both inside and outside the Arizona prison system) should be conducted and a plan should be developed for reducing violence against sex workers in Arizona.

- An analysis of violence against sex workers (including male and transgendered workers) should include victimization while in state custody, police brutality, and domestic and occupational violence.

- Efforts to reform the prisons must go deeper than investigations into individual responsibility for Marcia's Powell's death. An analysis of how the culture of the correctional system employees/officers contributes to violence against prisoners is crucial.

3. A community-organized process for oversight in the prisons should be recognized which includes the voices of prisoners and their families.

4. Grievance policies should be reviewed and strengthened.

5. Cages should never be used to hold prisoners or to address overcrowding, which is the current practice. Overcrowding must be addressed through reducing incarceration and recidivism rates.

6. Allocate sufficient resources to address the special needs of prisoners with psychiatric and physical disabilities, including education about complications of medications.

7. May 20th should be observed each year in memory of Marcia Powell and other prisoners who died in state custody. On that day ADC should prepare a report addressed to prisoners, families and community-based oversight groups on human rights violations that have occurred over the past year and actions ADC has taken in response. The report should also include the Department's plan for the upcoming year to improve respect for human rights.

Sex workers around the United States are shocked to see this criminalization result in a death sentence for a prostitution crime. This is one of many cases in which we observe conditions that are abusive, degrading and dangerous ranging from rape and other violence, to extreme medical neglect. These conditions violate the human rights of all persons deprived of their liberty to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The UN Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) should be applied to all individuals.

In the wealthiest country in the world, where taxpayers spend billions on the prison system, it is horrific that this justice system has led to a death sentence for someone arrested for prostitution. It's been over 60 years since the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has been adopted. The Arizona Department of Corrections has been woefully negligent, in following the human rights protocol, which Eleanor Roosevelt, along with so many others, have developed. In less than a decade we've almost doubled the amount spent on our prisons in Arizona, and the Arizona Department of Corrections fails even the most basic requirement, to keep prisoners safe.

We ask that the Arizona Department of Corrections look at the 30 articles in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and review the treatment of individuals in the prison system in the light of these principles. Every ADC employee/correctional officer should have training in human and prisoners' rights principles and practices. ADC should provide leadership that demonstrates a respect for human rights.

We look forward to the day when prisons are no longer used to address our most pressing social problems. As social justice activists we challenge the discrimination that leads to criminalization and incarcerations. We promote human rights for all, as well as specific law reform. Recently enacted by the Arizona legislature, felony charges should be rescinded for prostitutioni charges. Although the ADC does not have jurisdiction over many aspects of these injustices, ADC does have great deal of influence in many of these matters and ADC is also directly responsible for how prisoners are treated within this system. Sex Worker Outreach Project, in tandem with Arizona Prison Watch and Friends of Marcia Powell expects that the ADC establish real justice in the death of Marcia Powell.

Sincerely,

Tara Sawyer
Board Chair
Sex Workers Outreach Project

Peggy Plews
Arizona Prison Watch
Friends of Marcia Powell

Penelope Saunders
Best Practices Policy Project

Carol Leigh
BAYSWAN

Solidarity with Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth--from the RNC 8 Defense Committee Bay Area Indymedia Meanwhile, the only known alleged “evidence” against DeMuth in his AETA case is said to have come from the raid on the Food Not Bombs house in Minneapolis ... and more »

My crime column for Reason this week look at the Chicago Police Department, which despite accumulating misconduct scandals continues to push for policies that make its officers less accountable to the public.

Eliot Spitzer’s call girl now has an advice column with the NY Post. First question: How can I turn a life turning tricks into an advice column gig with the NY Post?

Dozens of DUI cases in question after Colorado crime lab fails independent blood test audit. Exactly why audits like these are a good idea.

So the Max Baucus nominating his paramour to be a U.S. Attorney scandal is getting pretty interesting. Turns out she at one point was also sleeping with a forensic pathologist who had a history of questionable diagnoses in infant death cases. Oh, and he was a state medical examiner for the state of Mississippi in the 1980s. Why am I not surprised?

Last week, I linked to a Huffington Post entry that accused Rush Limbaugh of some racially-charged chatter concerning the Tiger Woods scandal. Limbaugh says he was misquoted. I link, you decide.

The L.A. Times rounds up the many incidences in which Joe Arpaio has launched investigations into people who have dared to question his tactics. Scariest line from the story: “Though he has said he’s not interested in running for governor, a recent poll showed him crushing the presumptive Democratic nominee, state Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard, 51% to 39%.”

Yahoo, Verizon refuse to release information related to their capability of and cooperation with the government for the purposes of spying on their customers. Their reasoning? Releasing the info would “shock” and “confuse” their customers.

This comes from Rippa, who has a keen sense of injustice and absurdity, at the Intersection of Madness and Reality Blog. Although this blog focuses on police brutality (and atrocity), it's really about manifestly unequal justice in the United States of America. A black person would be burned at the stake (charged with assault and battery and spend three or four years in jail) for cutting off a white child's blond locks, but the teacher in this case was merely given a ticket for "disorderly conduct," says Rippa. That's unequal justice in the law enforcement system and that concerns the Police Brutality Blog.

The worst thing in the world is the possible loss of innocence of a child at the hand of an adult. I just read the story of 7 year-old Lamya Cammon in Milwaukee, WI and now I'm left to wonder just how this would impact her life as she moves forward from this incident:





OK, first off, I watched another video on the story and Lamya said the teacher told her to come to her desk to get some candy and then cut her braid. I'm sorry, but that negates the whole "I'm sorry, but I was stressed out," bullshit claim. Sure she may have been bothered by what this kid was doing with her hair. But it's quite apparent that she put some thought into just how she was going to "punish" Lamaya, so miss me with that bullshit teacher lady. Yes I understand that the teaching profession is a thankless job. But damn maybe this woman needs to re-evaluate her career choice and go to barber school instead.




Secondly, what the fuck is up with the District Attorney not filing charges on this teacher? Yep, why did it take the police the department to hold her accountable via a ticket for disorderly conduct? And further, why in the hell does this teacher still employed? Why not at least paid administrative leave? What's next? Does she have to put a gun to a students head before someone decides to take action or lord forbid hold her accountable for her actions? I don't know what in the world is going on in Milwaukee and these District Attorneys. Apparently this is no big deal to them as is being a state social worker and tricking your client into having sex just so that she can keep her kids. Intersection of Madness and Reality Blog.

As I said over the The Intersection of Madness and Reality

If this were my child, I'd circulate a petition demanding the teacher's dismissal to get the community involved.

Legally, I'd file civil claims against the teacher for assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, not only on behalf of my child, but joining all of the willing Black and white children in the class as plaintiffs, and with the school principal, the superintendent and the city as defendants.

It seems to me that this teacher also may have committed the crime of false imprisonment, since she had to hold the child against her will, with no legal authority or justification for doing so, while the teacher was cutting off the child's braid. This is also assault with a deadly weapon, since a foot, a boot and a pair of scissors can all constitute deadly weapons in some US jurisdictions.

I agree (without knowing) that this was most likely a white teacher; cutting of one of her braids was an act of color-aroused violence. Even if the teacher had brown skin, cutting of the child's braid could be an act of color-aroused violence, since no Black teacher would ever, ever, dare to cut off a white child's blond hair. The teacher engaged in this behavior with a Black child because she thought she could get away with it with little or no punishment. She might ultimately prove to be right, depending on the determination of the parents and the community, as well as the police, district attorney, judges and others.

To put pressure on the city, the school system, the principal and the teacher, I would request that police pursue assault and battery charges. Did the teacher take the braid from the child? If so, then she also may have committed the crime of robbery, taking a belonging from the child by force without the intention of returning it to her. In fact, this could easily be characterized as "assault with a deadly weapon" (the scissors) and armed robbery, since the teacher was armed with scissors when she took the child's braid.

So, even if the teacher was Black the crime may have been motivated, at least in part, by the knowledge that the teacher could act this way with impunity when dealing with a Black child. Even if the skin colors of the teacher and child were similar, that might not necessarily preclude a discrimination claim, since Black people can discriminate against other Blacks.

I would file a police report about an armed (the scissors) assault and battery and robbery (the braid cut off) with my child as the victim, and I would include the names of all of the children in the class as potential witnesses.

The police must at least accept and process the request that charges be filed, even if the DA does not ultimately seek charges.

When the principal, the superintendent and the city fail to fire the teacher and allow her to potentially continue such behavior, they become complicit in and ratify, in my opinion, the color-aroused treatment of Black children in this school.

I would also be willing to bet that there is statistical evidence that Black children in this teacher's classroom don't do as well as whites. That's not an argument that federal courts have been interested in over the past twenty years, but nonetheless such evidence would put added pressure on the school system.

It seems to me that the parents of this child would have to exhaust their administrative remedies before filing a discrimination and assault and battery case in federal court, so they should immediately file formal complaints with the school system, the city and/or Human Relations/Equal Opportunity commission, otherwise the doors to federal court may be closed to them. Nonetheless, they might get a quick and symbolic win in Federal Court by requesting a restraining order requiring that the child be placed in a different class, receive child psychological intervention, and new braids that would rectify, to the extent possible, the damage done to the child's hairstyle and her self-esteem.

Is this an example of the USA's antagonism toward Black people's natural hair styles? Would the teacher have cut off this girl's hair if it were long and straight? Was the teacher antagonistically color-aroused by the beads in the child's hair, in the way that whites reacted negatively at first to Venus and Serena Williams' braids and beads?

Even if the teacher was Black, I would be interested to know if she had cut off the long straight hair of white students in the past.

Since seeing a child brutalized in this way by a teacher who has control over ALL of the children is an inherently emotionally distressful event.

I'm not a practicing lawyer, but this question could easily appear on a law school torts final exam (bad, unlawful acts). The exam would ask law students what the various causes of action were, who the potential plaintiffs were and who the potential defendants were. In Civil Procedure, they would ask where the potential causes of action should be filed (what the forum court would be, whether state, federal, or both, and against whom, and what filings would be required within the next months in order to maintain the child plaintiff's right to file.

The parents are also potential plaintiffs with intentional infliction of emotional distress claims, since it was certainly foreseeable that the child would return home, tell her account to her parents, and her parents would become sick to their stomachs.

I would advise that the child be taken immediately to a child psychiatrist (psychiatrists are doctors with more training than psychologists, so they serve as better expert witnesses) and the psychiatrist would provide treatment for the child as necessary and write an analysis for the courts of the psychological effect(s) this has had, is having, and will have on this child in the future.

In order to have a chance at success with intentional infliction of emotional distress claims with the parents as the victims, the parents should also immediately see psychiatrists and continue to do so as this case works it way through courts, since their visits to a psychiatrist are an indication of the seriousness of the psychiatric harm and also prepare for expert testimony by their psychiatrist.

I'm not practicing law anymore, but this is what I would do if it were my child.

To put additional pressure on the school system, I would seek to depose every child in the class as a potential witness. That would get parents involved and furious at the school system.

Phillip McDuffy Agrees to settlement after 2008 Columbia, MO police pre-trial, extra-judicial death penalty attempt.

In July of 2008, a suicidal Black man, Phillip McDuffy, was out on the ledge of a bridge threatening to jump off. Little did he know, it was not necessary to jump, since the police were more than happy to push him with two or more electrical shocks from a 50,000 volt pre-trial, extra-judicial death penalty electrocution and execution gun. At the time, the Police Brutality Blog called it a "death penalty attempt" by the Columbia, MO police.

Now, according to the Columbia Tribune, the city has made a rare admission that police were wrong to shock the Mr. McDuffy under the circumstances:

City Finance Director Lori Fleming said that avoiding a potentially lengthy and expensive jury trial merited the outlay of taxpayer dollars.

“We obviously believe it is in the best interest of the city in the long run,” Fleming said.

“Given the courts and what can happen, it was best to just get this issue behind us, ” the finance director said.

Hopefully, this settlement will show other cities the financial risks involved with electrically shocking members of the public under circumstances that would also shock a jury. The Columbia Tribune reports:

Claim is settled in ’08 incident.

By T.J. Greaney, Thursday, December 10, 2009.

The man injured after falling 15 feet from a highway overpass when police shocked him with two Tasers has reached a cash settlement with the city of Columbia.

The city Finance Department agreed last month to pay $300,000 to 46-year-old Phillip McDuffy to settle a claim he made out of court. About $66,450 of that settlement will go to the Family Support Payment Center to cover back child support that McDuffy owes.

McDuffy’s attorney, Todd Johnson of Kansas City, had proposed a $500,000 settlement to close the matter, indicating in a December 2008 letter to the city that Johnson would receive 40 percent of the settlement for his work. Neither Johnson nor McDuffy could be reached this morning for comment.

City Finance Director Lori Fleming said that avoiding a potentially lengthy and expensive jury trial merited the outlay of taxpayer dollars.

“We obviously believe it is in the best interest of the city in the long run,” Fleming said.

“Given the courts and what can happen, it was best to just get this issue behind us, ” the finance director said.

On July 25, 2008, McDuffy walked along the outside ledge of a pedestrian overpass on Providence Road and threatened suicide by jumping to the Interstate 70 pavement below.

Standing outside the fenced-in walkway, McDuffy refused to leave his perch during a 90-minute confrontation with police. The episode brought traffic on Providence Road and I-70 to a halt in both directions, drawing a large crowd of onlookers.

In an attempt to end the incident, two Columbia police officers fired Taser devices at McDuffy, who was shocked and fell limply to the ground. McDuffy spent eight days in intensive care at University Hospital and had three surgeries, including two that required pins to repair broken bones.

Last year, Johnson said, McDuffy’s medical bills totaled about $167,000, but the lawyer said that total did not include physical therapy. Johnson also claimed McDuffy was experiencing stress headaches and double vision.

An internal investigation by Columbia police found the Taser use was proper.

However, the incident and others in the region prompted Columbia police to adopt new, more restrictive guidelines for Taser use. Still, critics say, the settlement should be a warning that the devices are more trouble than they are worth.

“How much more money is the taxpayer going to have to pay before they realize that when we weigh the pros and cons of this weapon, it’s just not worth it,” said Mary Hussman of Grass Roots Organizing, which has been critical of Columbia police Taser use. “We’re accepting a tremendous liability when we allow these weapons in the hands of our police officers.”

Hussman said McDuffy is disabled and unable to work. He previously held a job at a fast-food restaurant.

Reach T.J. Greaney at 573-815-1719 or e-mail tjgreaney@columbiatribune.com.

This article was published on page A1 of the Thursday, December 10, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily.