police use of force
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Report Suggests Police Use of Deadly Force Is on the Decline in California
According to a new report, police incidents involving the use of deadly force are on the decline in California. The Associated Press reports that in 2018, 146 civilians died during encounters with law enforcement. This tally includes unarmed shooting victim Stephon Clark and denotes a significant decline in comparison to 172 civilians in 2017 and…
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Florida Cop Accused of Racism, Brutality and Sexual Assault Named Officer of the Year
A Florida police chief said he will review his department’s process of handing out its annual Officer of the Year award after its most recent recipient was also named in two excessive force lawsuits and a citizen review board called his conduct “unprofessional and racist.” In February, the Orlando Police Department named Jonathan Mills its…
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Jay-Z's Roc Nation Offers Legal Counsel to Phoenix Family Held at Gunpoint By Police, Calls Incident 'Absolutely Sickening'
If Clark Kent had a real-life alter ego, it might be Jay-Z. The 49-year-old billionaire has been using his immense fortune and influence to save artists like Lil Wayne from the IRS, to pour $50 million into criminal justice reform and to otherwise balance the scales for people of color who have faced prejudice or…
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'Expert' Says It Was 'Reasonable' for Cops to Fire 55 Bullets at a Man Sleeping in His Car
An extensive report by a former police apologist officer has surprisingly absolved California police officers of any wrongdoing in a police shooting, concluding that it was reasonable for multiple officers to open fire on a man who fell asleep in his car. On Feb. 9, a Vallejo, Calif., Taco Bell employee called 911 and informed…
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California Assembly Passes Bill Policing When Cops Can Use Deadly Force
The California Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday to change rules governing when cops in the state can use lethal force, despite last-minute opposition from some families of victims of police shootings who said compromises in the bill’s language watered down the legislation. Assembly Bill 392: The California Act to Save Lives changes the use-of-force standard…
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#StephonClark: Bill Policing When Cops Can Use Lethal Force Advances in California
A little more than a year after Sacramento, Calif., police gunned down an unarmed Stephon Clark as the 22-year-old father of two stood in his grandparents’ backyard, California may be on the cusp of passing the nation’s strictest law governing when police can use deadly force. Under the proposed legislation headed to the state Assembly…
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Unarmed Black Woman Yells ‘I’m Pregnant!’ Before Being Shot, Killed by Police
A police officer in Baytown, Texas, fatally shot and killed a black woman while attempting to arrest her at her apartment complex on Monday night. KHOU 11 reports that the shooting occurred after an officer identified a woman with whom he had prior encounters while patrolling her apartment complex. Believing she had outstanding warrants, he…
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Family of Sandra Bland Demands Answers After New Footage of Her Arrest Surfaces
On Monday night, Dallas news station WFAA released new cellphone footage from the 2015 arrest of Sandra Bland that confirms what we all already knew: that the life of Texas state trooper Brian Encinia was never in danger and that Texas officials have withheld evidence of not only her controversial arrest, but very likely her…
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Police Confront Robbery Suspect in Texas, Shoot Three Children
Three children, aged five, four and one years old, were taken to a Tulsa, Okla.-area hospital after a police officer fired at a robbery suspect in a pickup truck. Their injuries are considered non-life-threatening, according to WKRG. Though authorities did not immediately release the ages or conditions of the children, Olivia Hill told Texas news…