police use of force
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Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Tases Black Man Who Witnesses Say Flagged Officers Down for Help
It’s hard to imagine a situation where perfectly professional police officers responding to a reported car accident end up tasing one Black man and arresting another. That situation looks even more suspect when witnesses say the tased man was trying to flag the cops down to alert them to the accident, and the man arrested…
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Judge Finds Portland, Ore., Violated Order Restricting Police Use of ‘Less-Lethal’ Munitions Against Protesters
During the wave of anti-police-violence protests and civil unrest that took place over the summer, Portland, Ore. took center stage as one of three cities that saw so much chaos that the Department of Justice declared it an “anarchist jurisdiction.” But as activists, media outlets and even some officials have pointed out, protesters weren’t the…
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4 Paris Police Officers Charged in Recorded Beating of Black Man as France Moves to Make Recording Police Illegal
The Black Lives Matter movement may have started in the U.S., but anyone who thinks police brutality and systemic racism in policing are uniquely American phenomena need only look to France to dispel that notion. On Monday, four Paris police officers were charged with beating a Black music producer on Nov. 21. From the Washington…
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Officials Release Video Footage of Texas Officers' Violent Arrest of Black Teen Who Drove to Parents' House Instead of Pulling Over
For people who damn near use, “I was in fear for my life” as a catchphrase whenever they need to justify deadly use of force, cops don’t seem to understand that citizens—especially Black people—can be afraid and act out of fear, too. Earlier this month, 18-year-old Zekee Rayford was arrested in Schertz, Texas, after police…
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Former San Francisco Cop Who Fatally Shot Unarmed Black Man Charged With On-Duty Homicide, a First for the City, District Attorney Says
It’s incredibly sad to me that a cop being charged for on-duty homicide is a first in 2020, yet that’s exactly what happened in the case of a San Francisco cop who shot an unarmed Black man almost three years ago. According to CNN, the office of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin charged former…
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Protests Erupt in Omaha After Fatal Shooting of a Black Man by Police During Traffic Stop
A Black man was fatally shot during an altercation with two police officers who were conducting a traffic stop in Omaha, Neb., Thursday night, causing protests to erupt in the city over the weekend. NBC News reports that 35-year-old Kenneth Jones died at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was taken after the…
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Police Who Pepper Sprayed Rally to the Polls in Alamance County, N.C. to File Felony Assault Charges Against Reverend Organizer
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. After officers from the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in Graham, North Carolina deployed pepper spray on men, women, and children marching to the polls during early voting last month, the sheriff’s office now says it will be charging the organizer of the march with felony assault and…
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Dashcam Video Shows Fatal Shooting of 2 Black Teens in a Moving Vehicle by Florida Deputies
Dashcam video depicting what led up to two Black teens being fatally shot by two Florida deputies last Friday has been released. According to CBS News, the video was posted to Facebook by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office along with a lengthy description of what occurs in the video. The sheriff’s office said that Deputies…
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Milwaukee Cop Who Shot 17-Year-Old Alvin Cole Earlier This Year Resigns
A Milwaukee cop responsible for fatally shooting three people over the last five years while on duty has resigned. The Associated Press reports that Joseph Mensah has signed a separation agreement with the Wauwatosa Common Council on Tuesday night. As a result of that agreement, Mensah’s last day with the department will be Nov. 30.…
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Family of Atatiana Jefferson Files Lawsuit Against Fort Worth, Texas, and the Ex-Officer Who Shot and Killed Her
Family members of Atatiana Jefferson—the 28-year-old Black woman who was fatally shot by a Fort Worth, Texas, police officer on Oct. 12, 2019, while she was watching her 8-year-old nephew at her mother’s house after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report an open door—have filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the…