Police Brutality
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California Police Officer Fired for Using ‘Excessive Force,’ Caught on Camera Kicking Suspect in Head
Elk Grove, California police officer Bryan Schmidt has been fired for using “excessive force” on a suspect last June while responding to a 911 call. The Sacramento-area’s police department released camera footage of the officer kicking robbery suspect — identified as Juan Mendoza— in the head while he was complying with the officer’s orders at…
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Prince George's County Police Officer Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Handcuffed Man
A grand jury has indicted Prince George’s County police officer Michael A. Owen Jr. on second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault charges in the fatal shooting of a man in police custody. WUSA-9 reports that Owen was also indicted on charges of misconduct in office and using a handgun, according to an announcement from County State’s…
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A Chicago Man Was Shot Twice by Police. His Crime Was Walking Between Train Cars
For a group that is meant to de-escalate situations, the police seem to be straight up terrible at it. Unfortunately, their failings often result in someone getting hurt if not flat out killed. NBC News reports that the two officers responsible for shooting 33-year-old Ariel Roman have had their police powers stripped. Last Friday, Roman…
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NYPD Officers Caught on Video Brutally Taking Down Young Black Man Who Is Not Resisting for Allegedly Smoking a Joint in Public
Another day, another video of police inflicting violence on the very people who pay the salaries they earn to protect and serve the public. “Velvet” (her stage name, and the only name by which she wishes to be identified) told The Root she had just gotten off the L train and was on her way…
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NYPD ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Numbers Up 22 Percent in 2019
The controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy of the New York Police Department has spent a great deal time in the news lately as former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg—who is currently running for president—has been repeatedly called to task for the policy he supported up until recently. Bloomberg did an about-face on the policy back in November, as…
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Can Vallejo Police Be Trusted to Investigate an Officer-Involved Shooting?
When an officer shoots and kills someone, whether on-duty or off, there is usually an investigation into the shooting to determine whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of the officer involved. History has shown us that police officers are rarely held accountable for their actions when it comes to the use of deadly…
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Here’s How Many People Police Killed in 2019…We Think
On Oct. 14, 2019, 12-year-old Akeelah Jackson was returning to her St. Louis home from a Family Dollar store. As she crossed the street, an unidentified St. Louis County police officer was pursuing a traffic violation at 59 mph on a street zoned for 30 mph, according to the St. Louis American. When the car…
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Forth Worth Officer Indicted on Murder Charge for Fatal Shooting of Atatiana Jefferson
On Friday, a grand jury in Texas indicted a former Fort Worth police officer on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson. NBC News reports that the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Aaron Dean, the 35-year-old former officer responsible for the shooting, had been indicted. Jefferson was a 28-year-old pre-med graduate…
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Kansas Man Claims He Woke Up to a Cop Assaulting Him in His Own Bed—For No Reason at All
Joseph Harter says he was beaten so badly by a police officer last year that, for a moment, he was blinded by his own blood in his eyes. But as brutal as that detail is, it isn’t what makes Harter’s case unique. It’s that Harter was allegedly assaulted in the dead of night in his…