police use of force
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Texas High School Football Team Mourns Loss of Jordan Edwards, 15-Year-Old Killed by Police
Monday morning was meant to be the first day of spring football practice at Mesquite (Texas) High School. Instead, a group of grieving high school athletes gathered in the hour before classes were scheduled to begin, mourning the loss of one of their very own, who lost his life in a police shooting. According to…
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Los Angeles Police Commission Votes to Require Cops to Try De-Escalation Before Firing Guns
The Los Angeles Police Commission voted on a policy Tuesday that would require all LAPD officers to try to defuse situations whenever possible before firing their guns, with the specific aim of decreasing the number of officer-involved shootings. From the Los Angeles Times: The new rules formally incorporate a decades-old concept called “de-escalation” into the…
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Calif. Cop Put on Leave After Throwing Jaywalker to Ground, Hitting Him in Face
A California resident was tossed to the ground by a police officer and then struck in the face multiple times by the officer … apparently for jaywalking. According to the Associated Press, authorities say the Sacramento officer was trying to stop the man he saw illegally crossing a street Monday afternoon. The officer got out…
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Disturbing Video Shows NYPD Cop Using Taser on Pregnant 17-Year-Old
New York City police are looking into an incident in which an officer deployed a stun gun on a pregnant 17-year-old in the Bronx during a chaotic scene that was caught on camera. WABC reports that officers were called to an apartment building in the Wakefield section of the Bronx on a separate issue when…
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Minn. Cop Charged With Assault After Punching Handcuffed 14-Year-Old Girl in the Face Because She Spat on Him
A St. Paul, Minn., police officer is attempting to claim self-defense after punching an unarmed, mentally distressed 14-year-old girl in the face. But let’s start at the beginning. According to the Washington Post, back in December, there was a 14-year-girl who needed psychiatric help and was possibly suicidal. She was clearly distressed, according to court…
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Former Ga. Police Officer Sentenced to Life in Prison for Taser Death
A former Georgia police officer was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being found guilty of felony murder earlier this month in the Taser death of 24-year-old Gregory Towns in 2014, 11Alive reports. Former East Point Police Sgt. Marcus Eberhart was found guilty of all counts, which included felony murder and aggravated assault. His…
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Study: Black Men Nearly 3 Times as Likely to Be Killed by Police Use of Force
A new study from the American Journal of Public Health, published Tuesday, reveals that black men are nearly three times as likely as white men to be killed by police use of force, CNN reports. The report may come as little surprise to many, given the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the…
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Chicago Police Department Proposes New Use-of-Force Policy
Details of a new policy requiring Chicago police officers to use the least amount of force necessary and emphasizing “the sanctity of life” were released Friday by Chicago’s top cop. ABC News reports that Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters at a news conference that the draft aims to “clarify response options to officers during…
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ProPublica Releases Video Showing in-Custody Death of Vachel Howard
ProPublica has released the video of the in-custody death of Vachel Howard that, it says, the Los Angeles Police Department didn’t want released. Howard died June 4, 2012, while in the custody of the LAPD’s 77th Street Station jail. The 56-year-old grandfather of seven had been taken into custody for driving while intoxicated and had…