Mercury News on the case in San Jose

Read it here [LINK].

It seems like they're performing a valuable role by revealing such trends.

Taser trigger happy

Mercury News - In a span of 10 weeks last year, the officer seen on video shocking a San Jose State student with his taser gun used force in four separate incidents as he took people into custody for resisting arrest, a Mercury News investigation reveals. In one of the incidents, Steven Payne Jr. repeatedly used his taser and knee on a resident he said became belligerent when Payne stopped his car in front of the man's house to assist another officer issuing a citation to a passing motorist. ... Roger Clark, a registered use-of-force force expert and a former lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said, "If this is allowed to continue, then he becomes dangerous to himself and to others.'' ... [LINK]

See also the related post at Excited-Delirium.com. [LINK] Reportedly the cell phone video indicates that the student was not resisting.

NJ cop: "I can do whatever I want."

NJ police officer demands that CBS stop video taping. Then he starts arresting people. All for no apparent reason. [LINK]

My favorite quote is in the post title.

San Jose: Arrested (and beaten) for Resisting Arrest

An investigative article in today’s San Jose Mercury News [LINK] details how San Jose policing of street crimes has led to allegations of excessive force, false arrests and racial profiling. Specifically, the paper examined what it calls the high number of cases in which police charge people with resisting arrest, without a more serious charge. It found two things: these cases often involve force and frequently start with something innocuous, like police stopping a bicyclist traveling at night without a light. [LINK]

Around the nation, many departments closely monitor cases of resisting arrest because of a concern that the loosely defined crime is a "cover charge" used by errant cops to justify unnecessary force. San Jose police officials last month said, in response to Mercury News questions, that they were instituting a policy to begin tracking such arrests.

San Jose police officers caught on video...

Phuong Ho, a 20-year-old math major, abused by Sam Jose police. They're in so much trouble, but only because of the video. See [LINK].

I see a six-figure settlement coming.

"Tuck in your shirt", or die...

Young special needs student fails to tuck in his shirt. School "resource" officer goes insane... [LINK]

Police in schools to "protect the children". So who protects the students from insane School Resource Officers?

If you're a right-leaning law-and-order sort, especially if you're of that mindset, then logically you should be seeking this officer's skull on a pike at the city gates.

UPDATE: See also http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?p=1083

Send in the Feds - now!

Ericho, Arkansas [LINK]

Fire Chief Don Payne went to court for a second time in one day to complain about the police use of abusive speed traps in the small town. An argument erupted in front of Judge Tonya Alexander and Payne was shot from behind by one of the officers. It appears that there is widespread complaints against the local police who are accused of doing little else but ticketing citizens for driving a couple miles over the speed limit to sustain their small department.

Payne had just been to court to pay a prior ticket when the police stopped him and his son to give them another ticket. When Payne went to complain to the court, he found seven officers in the courtroom. One of them shot him with a .40 caliber handgun in the hip from behind.

...

Police chief Willie Frazier has announced that he is disbanding the police force “until things calm down.” He has not responded to the torrent of criticism that his department was terrorizing the town. Moreover, no one appears to be able to confirm where the money from the tickets has gone.

Mayor Helen Adams has also declined to answer questions.

'Plummer the Plumber' has a nice ring...

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati's police chief said Monday that when Officer Anthony Plummer shocked Celeste Thomas, 26, the daughter of a city councilman with a Taser gun early Sunday, it was an excessive use of force. ... Plummer was fired by the police department previously, but rehired about a year ago after mediation. Streicher told radio host Lincoln Ware that the last time he recalled an officer being involved in an excessive force use of a Taser also involved Plummer. Prior to 2004, the Citizens Complaint Authority heard allegations from 10 people against Plummer. Six of those were for excessive force. [LINK]

Time for Plummet to find a new line of employment.

Maybe local authorities should take a few minutes to review the taser training too. Hey, I'm judging by results.

Deputy (ret'd) Michael Gaskill indicted

Hyde County, NC - A deputy in the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office has been indicted on charges related to excessive use of a Taser on two people. Michael Tristan Gaskill was charged with one count of felonious restraint and one count of simple assault in each of two separate bills of indictment the grand jury handed down Monday in Hyde County Superior Court, Brandy Pugh, deputy court clerk, said today. Hyde County Sheriff David Mason said Gaskill was fired on Monday. [LINK]

According to the indictments, it is alleged that Roland S. Cooper was assaulted on April 8 by Gaskill “repeatedly” using a Taser on him. ...on June 20, 2008, Tyree Shanta Bond was alledgedly assaulted “using a Taser on him for 24 seconds.”

The winds of change?

Constable Mike Wasylyshen

"...the review board says Edmonton Police Services Constable Mike Wasylyshen had no reason to pull the trigger of his Taser eight times against Randy Fryingpan back in 2002. It also found the officer possibly inflicted a serious blow to Fryingpan's head and failure to read him his rights, along with failing to collect evidence." [LINK]

Former acting police chief Daryl Da Costa had decided the allegations against Constable Mike Wasylyshen were unfounded.

There really should be an administrative penalty for that decision.

The Audra Harmon incident

The Audra Harmon incident (included a good soild tasering, right in front of her kids). [LINK]


MS-NBC has a good review of the whole ugly incident. [LINK]

If you raise this example with pro-taser folks, they will change the subject. They have no answer. They have no response. They'll change the subject.

Harmon’s attorney said that bigger issues are involved. "The issue here really is much broader than Audra’s case. The reason why we’re here is because Tasering has become a problem not only locally. I found out a man in Onondaga County was killed by a Taser within the last year."

I love how that phrase is slowly gaining traction in the USA.

New blog - "Feral Cops"

Most police officers are highly professional and are very nice people. Sometimes they're even heroic.

But there are some that have "gone feral".

Wiki: "A feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to a wild state."

The good police should arrest their feral brothers.