Canary in the mine: The square dance
The injunction filed by the Riverside County District Attorney's office will be heading back to Riverside County Superior Court.
(excerpt)
The injunction would apply to the entire gang - more than 500 documented members, many of whom are juveniles.
"Our hope is that by getting the most active people early on, the people on the periphery will just give up and say, 'I don't want any part of this gang,'" Lucky said.
If the judge approves the order, Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach plans to meet with the Eastside community to explain each provision and how police officers and district attorney investigators will enforce it. The department also will educate officers on what the injunction allows them to do, how to apply it and the appropriate circumstances for using it, spokesman Steven Frasher said.
"It's a tool for us to use in conjunction with other investigations," Frasher said.
A person convicted of violating the injunction could be sentenced to up to six months in jail. Another 180 days can be added if the violation benefited a criminal street gang, Lucky said.
Lucky and other prosecutors provided more than 1,000 pages of documentation to support the claim that each of the 114 men and women are gang members. Such efforts are necessary because someone cannot be convicted of violating the injunction unless the prosecution can prove the defendant was an active gang member at the time of the violation and that they knew about the injunction, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
And at 9:30 a.m., Judge Edward D. Webster granted the preliminary injunction. The trial for the permanent injunction is currently set for Jan. 24, 2008.
It will be enforced against the Eastside Riva gang as the police department and District Attorney's office defines it, minus several individuals who have 30 days to contest in writing their inclusion on the list.
The police department plans to hold a meeting with community members in the Eastside to discuss the preliminary injunction and how the department's officers will enforce it. Without needing to say it, it's very doubtful that the Riverside County District Attorney's office will send a representative to answer questions asked by community members. Even when offered the opportunity to answer questions via speaker phone, the office has said, no thanks.
The Community Police Review Commission met on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at City Hall but not for very long. The commission and its audience had to vacate the premises because a construction crew was going to x-ray City Hall and that might create a safety hazard. It's the latest foible to hit the beleaguered commission which apparently has been intensely micromanaged by City Hall since not long after the passage of Measure II in late 2004 and the CPRC's sustained finding on the Summer Marie Lane shooting reached in in November 2006.
Chair Brian Pearcy told the commission he had been notified about the necessary work and had considered moving the meeting to a boardroom in the Public Utilities building but had decided that would be too confusing for people attending the meeting. And so at 7 p.m. promptly, the meeting adjorned until next month, because the CPRC will be going dark the fourth Wednesday this month due to the NACOLE conference.
Leslie Braden, whose brother was Joseph Hill, came to speak on the fatal officer-involved shooting of her brother that is approaching its first anniversary next month. Hill, who was Black, was shot to death by Officer Jeffrey Adcox after allegedly grabbing another officer's taser during a struggle. If litigation is filed in this case as expected, it would be one of three law suits filed against the department and the city, each one for a different reason.
The officer-involved death investigations for both Hill and Douglas Steven Cloud have been forwarded to the CPRC with at least one of them already attracting attention as a particularly difficult case in several circles. Both investigations took about nearly 11 months to reach the CPRC. They will be handled in chronological order, with Cloud first and Hill second.
The Cloud case is as anticipated by community members as has been the Lee Deante Brown case was late last year. But given that it's probably been adjudicated by the police department and the Riverside County District Attorney's office by now, the findings will likely have little to no impact in either case.
As City Manager Brad Hudson stated in his declaration in the case, Ryan Wilson vs the City of Riverside, his office essentially ignored the finding in that case reached by the CPRC, pretending it didn't exist. In fact, the finding itself was never really mentioned. What Hudson referred to instead, was the non-binding public report and that was only to say that information from it wouldn't be included in Wilson's personnel file.
Commissioners were also told that questions submitted by them, or more accurately, Commissioner Jim Ward, could not be completely answered in a public forum because answers to some of them could only be found in the department's own administrative investigation on the Brown shooting.
That response from the department wasn't entirely unexpected when viewed in light of all the events that have taken place involving the CPRC since Officer Terry Ellefson shot Brown on April 3, 2006 at the Welcome Inn of America. Given that questions were being asked involving investigative material provided by the department's General Investigations Division, not the department's Internal Affairs division, some of the commissioners seemed confused by the rationale provided.
The community members who attended weren't nearly as confused or even surprised by the news. From the first day, many have felt that this investigation into this particular shooting has opened up more questions than provided answers. This is one reason why seven months after the CPRC's discussion process has begun and 16 months after the shooting itself, there has been no closure to it.
Former Commissioner Steve Simpson reappeared at this meeting to finish the comments he had raised at the last meeting before being cut off by Pearcy. He brought up the issues that many people have brought up before, including the issue of the CPRC having an independent attorney. There's been so much drama around this issue at City Hall lately, it deserves its own post.
What was interesting is that Commissioner John Brandriff asked for a response from City Attorney Gregory Priamos who was sitting in the audience because after all, he was in the building. Before Priamos could make his customary walk to the podium to respond, Pearcy cut him off and diverted the topic to commissioners' comments which of course, the CPRC never got to before its members had to vacate the premises to make way for the menacing x-ray device.
This all came about because Simpson said at the meeting that when he tried to put an item on a meeting agenda for the commissioners to discuss the hiring of independent counsel, Priamos had stated that the agenda item could not be put on the agenda because it wasn't "germane".
How quickly they forget. In 2004, the CPRC actually retained an independent attorney to represent it during two appearances made by former Riverside Police Department officer, Tina Banfill Gould after the commission issued a subpoena for her to appear before the body to answer questions on the Volne Lamont Stokes shooting.
What was allowed and even believed to be germane back then, is not even allowed to come up for discussion now. However, back then was a different era.
Don't blame Priamos for putting up the latest roadblock to the CPRC, because after all Priamos is an employee who serves at will of the city council which evaluates him on at least an annual basis.
Who exactly he is serving as an "at will" employee to in this situation is an interesting question and one that deserves an answer considering that the commission is perfectly within its rights to discuss this issue. Priamos, the lawyer, knows this. Priamos, the city attorney, apparently can't allow this because clearly, he has been given orders to follow and has at least one master in this situation to report back to, mission accomplished. That's what city attorneys often do in many cities on a daily basis, after all.
The ouster of Simpson given that his resignation doesn't appear to be much more voluntary than was former Executive Director Pedro Payne's continues to elicit questions, most particularly in terms of who or what is actually running the CPRC. The questions surrounding this fundamental issue will be addressed in the posting of the CPRC's report card as it pertains to city employees coming soon.
Though what appears to be emerging from the murky layers of city government is truly disturbing, but it's also part of the fabric of River City.
Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione said in a Press Enterprise article that he's expecting civility at meetings next week beginning on Monday to select a new county sheriff from the following list of candidates. Resumes are available in pdf files at the above link.
County Assistant Sheriff John Boyd
Riverside County Assistant Sheriff Valerie Hill
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Craig Herron
Riverside County Undersheriff Neil Lingle
Former Riverside County Assistant Sheriff Stanley Sniff
Tavaglione said he wished there could be a special election but state law doesn't allow it. Fortunately for accountability purposes, the state also requires the process to take place in public, hence the hearing being held next week.
Public Hearing
Monday, Sept. 17
9:30 a.m.
Riverside County Administrative Building
The public will be given three minutes to speak
.
When police cross the line, they must be investigated stated an editorial in a recent edition of the News-Record.
This editorial stemmed from several incidents this week involving officers from several agencies in North Carolina who got busted either for embezzling money from a youth program, for mistreating a canine officer or harassing and soliciting sex from women during traffic stops.
In some of these incidents, other officers reported the suspected misconduct, but the blue wall still seems solid in many departments.
(excerpt)
The buddy system has merits, but it can't be tolerated when it means crossing that thin blue line. If there was a cover-up, those responsible must be held accountable. Jones' alleged misbehavior deserves additional scrutiny since mistreating law-enforcement animals is a felony.
Patrol supervisors must have the time, resources and desire to conscientiously monitor on-the-job performance of subordinates. Often, too much of their time is spent back at headquarters doing paperwork rather than on the roads.
And although the Greensboro case continues, the answers need to come soon on why so much time elapsed before department officials realized the numbers didn't add up.
The situation with Seattle's Office of Professional Accountability which has been at loggerheads with the chief of the police department is ongoing, according to this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Clayton, Ohio wants a civilian review board and residents of this city are circulating a petition to present to their local government, according to the Clayton News-Star.
(excerpt)
The petition, addressed to the mayor and Town Council, states: “We, the undersigned, call for the establishment of an elected, independent, civilian complaint review board to hear all complaints of abuse and misconduct by the City of Clayton Police Department. The board will conduct public hearings, recommend policy changes, disciplinary action, training procedures, have subpoena power and will disclose hearing outcomes publicly.”
Clayton resident Timothy Hodges submitted the petition, which he said had over 250 signatures, at the Sept. 4 Town Council meeting. Town staff have not yet verified the signatures.
Hodges said the petition was timed to the fall elections.
“I want this to be a part of the debate in the upcoming municipal elections,” he said.
Mayor Jody McLeod said that the city council would examine the petition after it was submitted to the body. The city manager and police chief in that city said that legislation would first have to be passed at the state level to "enable" the creation of civilian review mechanism.
Tell that to other cities like Toledo, Ohio that already have created civilian review boards. Community residents hope that the creation of a board will improve relations between themselves and the police department in hopes that community members will be more likely to trust police officers enough to work with them to address crime.
Did a Santa Ana Police Department officer intentionally hit an individual who was fleeing police? That question is being asked and a video tape of the incident has surfaced, according to the Los Angeles Times.
(excerpt)
Police got a report shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday that a man had threatened two people at knifepoint, bragged that he had a gun and struck a third person in the head with a full can of beer, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Jose Gonzalez.
The man ran into a restaurant parking lot. An arriving officer was flagged down by a victim who directed him to the attacker, Gonzalez said.
A murky videotape made by a photographer for the online magazine Celebrity Babylon shows a dark figure running through the lot. A moment later, a police car driving toward him from a considerable distance runs into a wall with an audible crunch.
"His vehicle struck the suspect," Gonzalez said.
On the video, an officer gets out, leans down by the car's front wheel and asks: "Hey, you OK, buddy?"
The reply is inaudible.
The video is too dark to determine who is lying on the ground or the person's condition. However, the officer does not immediately call paramedics.
Instead, he notices the videographer and says: "Get that outta here, dude."
The officer repeatedly tells the photographer to leave but the man, who is off-camera, replies: "I can't."
Finally, the officer asks to see the video.
Last year, a Portland Police Bureau officer kicked a man while he was on the ground in front of many witnesses. This week, Officer Jason Lobaugh was exonerated by the department's internal affairs captain, according to the Portland Mercury.
Last year, a Portland Police Bureau officer kicked a man while he was on the ground in front of many witnesses. This week, Officer Jason Lobaugh was exonerated by the department's internal affairs captain, according to the Portland Mercury.
(excerpt)
The officer, Jason Lobaugh, was seen by a group of people at a bus stop Tasering a young African American suspect, then kicking him once after he was down, on the corner of NW Broadway and Glisan last October 11. Once the suspect was handcuffed, one of the witnesses, ezeji muYesu, says he asked Lobaugh why he had kicked the suspect. Lobaugh allegedly responded by threatening to "slam [muYesu] to the ground."
Along with another witness, who declined to be named in the press, muYesu complained to the city's Independent Police Review (IPR) last November. Then, on August 20, muYesu's attorney, Greg Kafoury, got a letter from the IPR saying there was insufficient evidence to prove Lobaugh had used excessive force in the incident, and exonerating Lobaugh for threatening to slam muYesu to the ground.
"Officer Lobaugh wanted to make it perfectly clear that your actions at that instant were unacceptable, and that you needed to immediately step back," wrote John Tellis, captain of the cops' Internal Affairs Division (IAD), in a letter to muYesu dated August 7, to explain Lobaugh's "slam" threat
Lobaugh is no stranger to the department's internal affairs division having been investigated for possible steroid abuse in 2000 and having about 14 complaints filed against him either with the department or through civil litigation.
The police chief in St. George, Missouri received over 400 phone calls after a video was aired involving an incident where one of his sergeants was taunting a motorist, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Naturally, Chief Scott Uhrig was a tad bit upset especially since the profanity and threats apparently uttered by one of his sergeants were being listened to around the world.
(excerpt)
"I was very displeased when I saw the actions on the video," Uhrig said. "My officers are not trained and taught to act like that."
He put Sgt. James Kuehnlein on unpaid suspension pending further investigation.
But then maybe Uhrig's not one to judge because an administrative review of him in 2000 determined that as an officer, he had pulled over a 17-year-old woman, to ask her for "a quickie" while touching her and mentioning jail during the incident. The law suit filed against him by this woman was ultimately settled in mediation.
It turns out that Kuehnlein is no stranger to trouble either. He's been convicted of assault and stealing in 1988 and 1990 but had the convictions expunged nearly 10 years ago. Then there was an acquittal in a DUI case not to mention another assault case in which charges were never filed.
Brett Darrow wants the sergeant fired. Right now, he's suspended.
Darrow also met with Uhrig and one of the things he asked for was a video recording taken by the sergeant's squad car, but alas, it had mysteriously become unaccounted for, a setback which apparently baffled Uhrig as well.
Here you can find a link to what's being called the infamous St. George video and attached to it, is a warning that explicit language is being used by the officer.
In Athletics news,
The All-Blacks are proceeding nicely through the early rounds of the World Cup in Rugby and are favored to meet up with the Springboks in the finals. However, at least three other teams are set to rain on that parade.
Does the CPRC has its very own Mr. Big pulling the strings? For every thing, there's a season and for every man, a kingdom.
"You are the puppet, I am the puppeteer. Do try to get it right this time."
---Lost in Space(1998)
"Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!"
---Sir Walter Scott
"I am leaving on a Jet Plane; do not know when I will be back again."
---John Denver
"I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then."
---Lewis Carroll
(excerpt)
The injunction would apply to the entire gang - more than 500 documented members, many of whom are juveniles.
"Our hope is that by getting the most active people early on, the people on the periphery will just give up and say, 'I don't want any part of this gang,'" Lucky said.
If the judge approves the order, Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach plans to meet with the Eastside community to explain each provision and how police officers and district attorney investigators will enforce it. The department also will educate officers on what the injunction allows them to do, how to apply it and the appropriate circumstances for using it, spokesman Steven Frasher said.
"It's a tool for us to use in conjunction with other investigations," Frasher said.
A person convicted of violating the injunction could be sentenced to up to six months in jail. Another 180 days can be added if the violation benefited a criminal street gang, Lucky said.
Lucky and other prosecutors provided more than 1,000 pages of documentation to support the claim that each of the 114 men and women are gang members. Such efforts are necessary because someone cannot be convicted of violating the injunction unless the prosecution can prove the defendant was an active gang member at the time of the violation and that they knew about the injunction, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
And at 9:30 a.m., Judge Edward D. Webster granted the preliminary injunction. The trial for the permanent injunction is currently set for Jan. 24, 2008.
It will be enforced against the Eastside Riva gang as the police department and District Attorney's office defines it, minus several individuals who have 30 days to contest in writing their inclusion on the list.
The police department plans to hold a meeting with community members in the Eastside to discuss the preliminary injunction and how the department's officers will enforce it. Without needing to say it, it's very doubtful that the Riverside County District Attorney's office will send a representative to answer questions asked by community members. Even when offered the opportunity to answer questions via speaker phone, the office has said, no thanks.
The Community Police Review Commission met on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at City Hall but not for very long. The commission and its audience had to vacate the premises because a construction crew was going to x-ray City Hall and that might create a safety hazard. It's the latest foible to hit the beleaguered commission which apparently has been intensely micromanaged by City Hall since not long after the passage of Measure II in late 2004 and the CPRC's sustained finding on the Summer Marie Lane shooting reached in in November 2006.
Chair Brian Pearcy told the commission he had been notified about the necessary work and had considered moving the meeting to a boardroom in the Public Utilities building but had decided that would be too confusing for people attending the meeting. And so at 7 p.m. promptly, the meeting adjorned until next month, because the CPRC will be going dark the fourth Wednesday this month due to the NACOLE conference.
Leslie Braden, whose brother was Joseph Hill, came to speak on the fatal officer-involved shooting of her brother that is approaching its first anniversary next month. Hill, who was Black, was shot to death by Officer Jeffrey Adcox after allegedly grabbing another officer's taser during a struggle. If litigation is filed in this case as expected, it would be one of three law suits filed against the department and the city, each one for a different reason.
The officer-involved death investigations for both Hill and Douglas Steven Cloud have been forwarded to the CPRC with at least one of them already attracting attention as a particularly difficult case in several circles. Both investigations took about nearly 11 months to reach the CPRC. They will be handled in chronological order, with Cloud first and Hill second.
The Cloud case is as anticipated by community members as has been the Lee Deante Brown case was late last year. But given that it's probably been adjudicated by the police department and the Riverside County District Attorney's office by now, the findings will likely have little to no impact in either case.
As City Manager Brad Hudson stated in his declaration in the case, Ryan Wilson vs the City of Riverside, his office essentially ignored the finding in that case reached by the CPRC, pretending it didn't exist. In fact, the finding itself was never really mentioned. What Hudson referred to instead, was the non-binding public report and that was only to say that information from it wouldn't be included in Wilson's personnel file.
Commissioners were also told that questions submitted by them, or more accurately, Commissioner Jim Ward, could not be completely answered in a public forum because answers to some of them could only be found in the department's own administrative investigation on the Brown shooting.
That response from the department wasn't entirely unexpected when viewed in light of all the events that have taken place involving the CPRC since Officer Terry Ellefson shot Brown on April 3, 2006 at the Welcome Inn of America. Given that questions were being asked involving investigative material provided by the department's General Investigations Division, not the department's Internal Affairs division, some of the commissioners seemed confused by the rationale provided.
The community members who attended weren't nearly as confused or even surprised by the news. From the first day, many have felt that this investigation into this particular shooting has opened up more questions than provided answers. This is one reason why seven months after the CPRC's discussion process has begun and 16 months after the shooting itself, there has been no closure to it.
Former Commissioner Steve Simpson reappeared at this meeting to finish the comments he had raised at the last meeting before being cut off by Pearcy. He brought up the issues that many people have brought up before, including the issue of the CPRC having an independent attorney. There's been so much drama around this issue at City Hall lately, it deserves its own post.
What was interesting is that Commissioner John Brandriff asked for a response from City Attorney Gregory Priamos who was sitting in the audience because after all, he was in the building. Before Priamos could make his customary walk to the podium to respond, Pearcy cut him off and diverted the topic to commissioners' comments which of course, the CPRC never got to before its members had to vacate the premises to make way for the menacing x-ray device.
This all came about because Simpson said at the meeting that when he tried to put an item on a meeting agenda for the commissioners to discuss the hiring of independent counsel, Priamos had stated that the agenda item could not be put on the agenda because it wasn't "germane".
How quickly they forget. In 2004, the CPRC actually retained an independent attorney to represent it during two appearances made by former Riverside Police Department officer, Tina Banfill Gould after the commission issued a subpoena for her to appear before the body to answer questions on the Volne Lamont Stokes shooting.
What was allowed and even believed to be germane back then, is not even allowed to come up for discussion now. However, back then was a different era.
Don't blame Priamos for putting up the latest roadblock to the CPRC, because after all Priamos is an employee who serves at will of the city council which evaluates him on at least an annual basis.
Who exactly he is serving as an "at will" employee to in this situation is an interesting question and one that deserves an answer considering that the commission is perfectly within its rights to discuss this issue. Priamos, the lawyer, knows this. Priamos, the city attorney, apparently can't allow this because clearly, he has been given orders to follow and has at least one master in this situation to report back to, mission accomplished. That's what city attorneys often do in many cities on a daily basis, after all.
The ouster of Simpson given that his resignation doesn't appear to be much more voluntary than was former Executive Director Pedro Payne's continues to elicit questions, most particularly in terms of who or what is actually running the CPRC. The questions surrounding this fundamental issue will be addressed in the posting of the CPRC's report card as it pertains to city employees coming soon.
Though what appears to be emerging from the murky layers of city government is truly disturbing, but it's also part of the fabric of River City.
Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione said in a Press Enterprise article that he's expecting civility at meetings next week beginning on Monday to select a new county sheriff from the following list of candidates. Resumes are available in pdf files at the above link.
County Assistant Sheriff John Boyd
Riverside County Assistant Sheriff Valerie Hill
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Craig Herron
Riverside County Undersheriff Neil Lingle
Former Riverside County Assistant Sheriff Stanley Sniff
Tavaglione said he wished there could be a special election but state law doesn't allow it. Fortunately for accountability purposes, the state also requires the process to take place in public, hence the hearing being held next week.
Public Hearing
Monday, Sept. 17
9:30 a.m.
Riverside County Administrative Building
The public will be given three minutes to speak
.
When police cross the line, they must be investigated stated an editorial in a recent edition of the News-Record.
This editorial stemmed from several incidents this week involving officers from several agencies in North Carolina who got busted either for embezzling money from a youth program, for mistreating a canine officer or harassing and soliciting sex from women during traffic stops.
In some of these incidents, other officers reported the suspected misconduct, but the blue wall still seems solid in many departments.
(excerpt)
The buddy system has merits, but it can't be tolerated when it means crossing that thin blue line. If there was a cover-up, those responsible must be held accountable. Jones' alleged misbehavior deserves additional scrutiny since mistreating law-enforcement animals is a felony.
Patrol supervisors must have the time, resources and desire to conscientiously monitor on-the-job performance of subordinates. Often, too much of their time is spent back at headquarters doing paperwork rather than on the roads.
And although the Greensboro case continues, the answers need to come soon on why so much time elapsed before department officials realized the numbers didn't add up.
The situation with Seattle's Office of Professional Accountability which has been at loggerheads with the chief of the police department is ongoing, according to this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Clayton, Ohio wants a civilian review board and residents of this city are circulating a petition to present to their local government, according to the Clayton News-Star.
(excerpt)
The petition, addressed to the mayor and Town Council, states: “We, the undersigned, call for the establishment of an elected, independent, civilian complaint review board to hear all complaints of abuse and misconduct by the City of Clayton Police Department. The board will conduct public hearings, recommend policy changes, disciplinary action, training procedures, have subpoena power and will disclose hearing outcomes publicly.”
Clayton resident Timothy Hodges submitted the petition, which he said had over 250 signatures, at the Sept. 4 Town Council meeting. Town staff have not yet verified the signatures.
Hodges said the petition was timed to the fall elections.
“I want this to be a part of the debate in the upcoming municipal elections,” he said.
Mayor Jody McLeod said that the city council would examine the petition after it was submitted to the body. The city manager and police chief in that city said that legislation would first have to be passed at the state level to "enable" the creation of civilian review mechanism.
Tell that to other cities like Toledo, Ohio that already have created civilian review boards. Community residents hope that the creation of a board will improve relations between themselves and the police department in hopes that community members will be more likely to trust police officers enough to work with them to address crime.
Did a Santa Ana Police Department officer intentionally hit an individual who was fleeing police? That question is being asked and a video tape of the incident has surfaced, according to the Los Angeles Times.
(excerpt)
Police got a report shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday that a man had threatened two people at knifepoint, bragged that he had a gun and struck a third person in the head with a full can of beer, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Jose Gonzalez.
The man ran into a restaurant parking lot. An arriving officer was flagged down by a victim who directed him to the attacker, Gonzalez said.
A murky videotape made by a photographer for the online magazine Celebrity Babylon shows a dark figure running through the lot. A moment later, a police car driving toward him from a considerable distance runs into a wall with an audible crunch.
"His vehicle struck the suspect," Gonzalez said.
On the video, an officer gets out, leans down by the car's front wheel and asks: "Hey, you OK, buddy?"
The reply is inaudible.
The video is too dark to determine who is lying on the ground or the person's condition. However, the officer does not immediately call paramedics.
Instead, he notices the videographer and says: "Get that outta here, dude."
The officer repeatedly tells the photographer to leave but the man, who is off-camera, replies: "I can't."
Finally, the officer asks to see the video.
Last year, a Portland Police Bureau officer kicked a man while he was on the ground in front of many witnesses. This week, Officer Jason Lobaugh was exonerated by the department's internal affairs captain, according to the Portland Mercury.
Last year, a Portland Police Bureau officer kicked a man while he was on the ground in front of many witnesses. This week, Officer Jason Lobaugh was exonerated by the department's internal affairs captain, according to the Portland Mercury.
(excerpt)
The officer, Jason Lobaugh, was seen by a group of people at a bus stop Tasering a young African American suspect, then kicking him once after he was down, on the corner of NW Broadway and Glisan last October 11. Once the suspect was handcuffed, one of the witnesses, ezeji muYesu, says he asked Lobaugh why he had kicked the suspect. Lobaugh allegedly responded by threatening to "slam [muYesu] to the ground."
Along with another witness, who declined to be named in the press, muYesu complained to the city's Independent Police Review (IPR) last November. Then, on August 20, muYesu's attorney, Greg Kafoury, got a letter from the IPR saying there was insufficient evidence to prove Lobaugh had used excessive force in the incident, and exonerating Lobaugh for threatening to slam muYesu to the ground.
"Officer Lobaugh wanted to make it perfectly clear that your actions at that instant were unacceptable, and that you needed to immediately step back," wrote John Tellis, captain of the cops' Internal Affairs Division (IAD), in a letter to muYesu dated August 7, to explain Lobaugh's "slam" threat
Lobaugh is no stranger to the department's internal affairs division having been investigated for possible steroid abuse in 2000 and having about 14 complaints filed against him either with the department or through civil litigation.
The police chief in St. George, Missouri received over 400 phone calls after a video was aired involving an incident where one of his sergeants was taunting a motorist, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Naturally, Chief Scott Uhrig was a tad bit upset especially since the profanity and threats apparently uttered by one of his sergeants were being listened to around the world.
(excerpt)
"I was very displeased when I saw the actions on the video," Uhrig said. "My officers are not trained and taught to act like that."
He put Sgt. James Kuehnlein on unpaid suspension pending further investigation.
But then maybe Uhrig's not one to judge because an administrative review of him in 2000 determined that as an officer, he had pulled over a 17-year-old woman, to ask her for "a quickie" while touching her and mentioning jail during the incident. The law suit filed against him by this woman was ultimately settled in mediation.
It turns out that Kuehnlein is no stranger to trouble either. He's been convicted of assault and stealing in 1988 and 1990 but had the convictions expunged nearly 10 years ago. Then there was an acquittal in a DUI case not to mention another assault case in which charges were never filed.
Brett Darrow wants the sergeant fired. Right now, he's suspended.
Darrow also met with Uhrig and one of the things he asked for was a video recording taken by the sergeant's squad car, but alas, it had mysteriously become unaccounted for, a setback which apparently baffled Uhrig as well.
Here you can find a link to what's being called the infamous St. George video and attached to it, is a warning that explicit language is being used by the officer.
In Athletics news,
The All-Blacks are proceeding nicely through the early rounds of the World Cup in Rugby and are favored to meet up with the Springboks in the finals. However, at least three other teams are set to rain on that parade.
Does the CPRC has its very own Mr. Big pulling the strings? For every thing, there's a season and for every man, a kingdom.
"You are the puppet, I am the puppeteer. Do try to get it right this time."
---Lost in Space(1998)
"Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!"
---Sir Walter Scott
"I am leaving on a Jet Plane; do not know when I will be back again."
---John Denver
"I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then."
---Lewis Carroll
Labels: civilian review spreads, lian review spreads, officer-involved shootings, public forums in all places
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