Ivory Webb, the San Bernardino police officer who shot an Iraq war veteran three times at point blank range, has been acquitted on all charges. You may remember that Webb said after the shooting that he inadvertently told the victim to “get up!” when he meant “don’t get up!” and thus shot when the victim obeyed him, and got up. It’s the first time a police officer in San Bernardino has ever even been charged with a crime. So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that he was acquitted. Here’s amateur video of the shooting, in case you missed it the first time:
In Pittsburgh, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has announced that he won’t revoke the promotions of three police officers accused of domestic violence. One apparently broke his wife’s nose with a head butt. Another assaulted his daughter. The mayor says the chief of police didn’t tell him about the incidents while he was considering the promotions and now that they’ve been made, he fears revoking them will provoke a lawsuit from the police union.
Police in Vancouver, Washington attempted to serve a warrant in the middle of the night on Erik James Paulsen. Instead, they shot and killed Paulsen’s roommate, 24-year-old Sean Makarowsky when, holding a gun for self protection, he peered out the window to see what was causing the commotion. Makarowski had no criminal record, though he does appear to have had some personal problems. Police Makarowski he should have known they were law enforcement. Witnesses say there was no announcement. They also shot and killed Makarowski’s dog.
Here’s an infuriating story from California. Mistaken eyewitnesses wrongly identify a man in a carjacking. After hearing the judge threaten to throw the book at him if he fights the charges and is convicted, the guy takes a plea offered by prosecutors, and wrongly admits guilt. Nearly a year later, he’s exonerated by DNA evidence. Prosecutors concede he’s innocent. But they refuse to compensate him for his wrongful conviction because they say his guilty plea was “voluntary.” When you’re looking at ten years for a crime you didn’t commit, and you take two because you’ve just heard two eyewitnesses ID you, I’d hardly call that choice “voluntary.”
The really aggravating thing here is when suspects maintain their innocence, don’t plea, and insist on their constitutional right to a trial, they typically get harsher sentences for being so “stubborn.” See Richard Paey.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, July 1st, 2007 at 3:00 pm by Radley Balko
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