Protesters Demand Improved Police Accountability at Downtown Demonstration

Approximately 150 protesters rallied in downtown St. Louis Tuesday afternoon to protest police brutality and announce a set of demands they want enacted by officials at the local and national level.

The demands announced by protesters centered largely on police reform and accountability. But they also included several direct demands related to the investigation of the Michael Brown shooting, including the "immediate arrest" of Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot the 18-year-old August 9.

"We are going to bring that gunman to justice, and I mean that," said rapper Tef Poe, a Riverfront Times contributor and a constant presence at the Ferguson protests since they began the day after the Brown shooting.

Other demands related to the investigation include St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch to stand down and allow a special prosecutor to handle the investigation into the Brown shooting, as well as the firing of Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson."

* The protesters also demanded broad reform measures to be taken into how police shootings are investigated, including civilian review of those shootings, and a rapid de-escalation of militarized policing during protests."

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/08/demands_for_improved_police_accountability_measures_made_at_downtown_protest.php

Philly cop files brutality suit against police department

Scores of brutality lawsuits are filed against the Philadelphia Police Department every year. But it’s unusual for an officer, a sergeant no less, to make those charges.

In a suit filed Monday, Sgt. Brandon Ruff did just that.

Ruff claims he was roughed up by seven officers from the 35th District when he attempted to anonymously turn in three handguns at the precinct. Ruff, who says he suffered two sprained wrists and two sprained shoulders in the fracas, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Ruff, an eight-year veteran assigned to the 16th precinct, said the acts of the 35th District officers “were committed willfully, wantonly, maliciously, intentionally, outrageously, deliberately and/or by conduct so egregious as to shock the conscience."

*After being held for six hours, Ruff was released. On Aug. 4, he went to Chestnut Hill Hospital, where he was treated for injuries he said he received during his arrest and detention. The same day, Ruff was placed on desk duty, according to the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Brutality_suit_filed_against_police_department_by_Phila_officer_.html

"That's when I expected to be shot"

DENVER -- The parents of Michael Brown told CBS News' Mark Strassmann they'd had a conversation with their son about how to deal w"ith police. They say they told him to respect and obey police officers.

Many parents of black children have had the same talk. But it is not one that Alex Landau's parents thought they needed to have with him.

Landau vividly recalls the night five years ago when a traffic stop on a Denver street ended with an officer's gun at his head.

"I could see the metal. I could see the officer's hand gripping the back strap. And that's when I expected to be shot," said Landau, adding it was "really emotional" to return to the scene of the incident.

Police found marijuana on his passenger, who is white. They began searching the car. Landau said when he asked if they had a warrant, three white officers - one of whom was female - started beating him."
When asked if he did something to threaten the police officers, he responded, "No, actually I was pinned to a position where I couldn't even move. ... I hear an officer shout, 'He's reaching for her gun. He's reaching for her gun.' All I could do was say, 'No, I'm not. I'm not reaching for anything.'"

He expected to die that night.

The beating required 45 stitches, left him with a concussion and a traumatic brain injury."

http://news.yahoo.com/thats-expected-shot-034912029.html

Michael Brown called 'little kid in big body'

They've portrayed Brown as "a gentle giant," who liked to post photos on his Facebook page of himself with young relatives, a kid who tried football his sophomore year but abandoned the idea before his first game, fearing he might hurt someone.

"He was funny, silly," his father, Michael Brown Sr., recently said. "Any problems that were going on or any situation — there wasn't nothing he couldn't solve. He'd bring people together."

Tim Sneed, a 23-year-old neighbor of Brown's grandmother, says the young man was so low-key he seemed almost invisible. "When he came to my house you wouldn't even notice he was there," "That's how quiet he was."

Brown had been staying at the apartment of his grandmother, Desuirea Harris, this summer. She said Brown was excited about his future.

"My grandson never even got into a fight," she says. "He was just looking forward to getting on with his life. He was on his way."

*Brown's great uncle, pastor Charles Ewing, who will deliver the eulogy, remembers a conversation he had with his nephew.

"He said, 'One day the whole world is going to know my name.' Isn't that something? Not knowing that this was going to happen, and that's what touched me — 'the whole world will know my name.' "

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Michael-Brown-called-little-kid-in-big-body-5708910.php#page-2

Police Violence Has Been Going On Forever. No Wonder People Are Fed Up With It

Protests continue following the Aug. 9 shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The marchers, though, are not just protesting Brown's slaying. They are also voicing pent-up anger at an old problem: police violence, often directed at black and brown people.

The horrific beating of Rodney King by five police officers in Los Angeles in 1991 -- and the subsequent acquittal of his assailants -- sparked the L.A. riots of 1992, leading to 53 deaths, some at the hands of police. It was also a video introduction to police brutality for those in America who may have doubted its severity.

Twenty years later, a police beating or shooting has a decent chance of getting caught on camera -- either the one on the phone in everybody's hand or the surveillance camera pointing down at the street. The latter captured Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic homeless man, being beaten to death by authorities in Fullerton, California, after being mistaken for a suspect in a series of car break-ins in the area. They, too, were acquitted. "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/23/police-brutality-michael-brown_n_5700970.html

Video at link

Polls: Police Brutality – What The Police Have To Say

What Law Enforcement Needs to Understand about Ferguson

The images from Ferguson, Missouri are disturbing and disappointing to those who recognize their role in law enforcement as servants of the public as opposed to strict enforcers of the law, maintainers of order or members of a paramilitary organization. While enforcing the law is a primary function and order maintenance is a part of that job, they are but components of the larger public servant role. Additionally, while police agencies are paramilitary in nature, law enforcement leaders now, more than ever, need to guard against the increase of militarization currently underway.

I’m disheartened that police unions and associations across the country are concerned about citizens photographing police while in public and have no qualms about speaking out against it. This adds to the concern of the public that we are moving more towards a police state and slowly eroding the freedoms we should cherish in this great nation."

*We are only beginning to consider the implications of the flood of former military personnel joining the ranks of civilian policing. I submit that more study into this phenomenon is needed. The issue of militarization of American policing is not just the acquisition of military equipment; it is the infusion of so many former soldiers into the ranks of the civilian police.

For American police, retention of the “servant” mindset is more critical than that of the “warrior” mindset."

————————————————–

Max Geron is a senior executive in a major urban police department"

http://www.hlswatch.com/2014/08/19/what-law-enforcement-needs-to-understand-about-ferguson/

Witness records aftermath of Michael Brown's shooting

Kevin Seltzer sat on the carpet in his Ferguson apartment on Friday replaying videos of what he witnessed after his friend Michael Brown was shot.

Seltzer, 30, lives at the Canfield Green apartments. He had seen Brown briefly before the 18-year-old left for a quick trip to the neighborhood mini-mart."

****As a video played, two white workers could be seen standing by a truck outside the apartments, gazing toward Brown’s body in the street, saying, “He had his hands up.”*****

*Seltzer eventually approached the police cordon around Brown’s body, by then draped with a white sheet.



Ferguson and St. Louis County police can be seen in his later videos. Seltzer said Ferguson police tried to stop him from filming, saying, “You better get back, or you could be next.” He said one officer had his hand on his gun."

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ferguson-michael-brown-shooting-witness-video-20140815-story.html

Police shooting data

Twitter co-founder joins social media chorus from Ferguson

Washington (AFP) - Twitter co-founder and St. Louis native Jack Dorsey was in Ferguson Saturday sending tweets about the protests stemming from the police killing of an unarmed black teenager.

"Feels good to be home. I'll be standing with everyone in Ferguson all weekend #HandsUpDontShoot" the billionaire posted late Friday, before unleashing dozens of Tweets and Vine video posts from protests in the Missouri town."

http://news.yahoo.com/twitter-co-founder-joins-social-media-chorus-ferguson-033543317.html