Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Two Bronx men serve two and five days in jail, respectively, after police arrest them for possession of a substance that turns out to be coconut candy. Police refused to conduct field tests on the candy.
Cops beat Pittsburgh student nearly to death, then arrest him for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. They apparently stopped him for a bulge in his coat that turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Due.
Witnesses come forward to corroborate story of Pennsylvania man who claims police broke into his house, arrested him for confronting an off-duty cop parking in a fire lane. They say they followed him home, kicked down his door, and arrested him for drunk driving.
Former Fulton County, Georgia deputy convicted of filing a false report after other deputies beat an inmate to death in 2008.
Defense attorney claims he possesses audio showing cops lied about physically threatening a suspect, as well as threatening to fabricate evidence against him. Judge refuses to listen to the audio.
Kern County, California deputies serving time after beating an inmate to death.
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on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 2:07 pm by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
The Pittsburgh student was an 18 yo violin honor student studing at the creative arts academy who fought because he thought he was being abducted, and the men didnt identify themselves as police. Three thoughts for the police:
1. Are 18yo violin students usually the sort to get into fights for no apparent reason, or to habitually disregard the police?
2. Why did 3 men need to start with violence rather than start by asking to see what was in his coat?
3. Why did 3 men continue to beat this guy with a branches, taser etc? Are they incapable of subduing an 18-yo violin student?
Of course, Agitator readers know the answers to these questions. I would just like to hear the reasons articulated by the police.
The best part of the story about the guys arrested for possession of candy is the comments thread:
“Chris8168
01/23/2010 1:17 AM
why should the cops be suspended???? if it looks like crack and is in a plastic bag they should be arrested regardless, if they didnt arrest them and it was crack and they sold it to one of your kids you liberals would be going nuts on the cops, and as for tasting it?? wtf if some1 asked me to taste crack and risk my life with all the chemicals its cut down with i’d tell them to screw themselves its my life or thiers, this is a no brainer, both men arrested and have the alleged drugs sent to the lab for testing.”
The police are always right. They arrested someone foe having candy? A pat on the back! Our streets are safer!
In the Kern county case, the beating was already ruled a homicide, and the police department were “still investigating” and some time later, the officers were still on “administrative leave.” Sounds like SOP for the police dept
Fuck you, Pittsburgh. Not just Pittsburgh cops, but every asshole with a craven knee-jerk deference to the cops and their righteousness. There are way too many of you in my city.
It happened with G-20, it’ll probably happen with this as well.
Remember kids, never fight back, because it might just be the cops who are trying to abduct or beat you! Then it’s not self-defense, it’s attacking an officer of the law.
Cops: It’s a wonder more of them aren’t killed out of hand.
btw, Jordan Miles says that the Mountain Dew was planted, and that he had none.
Perhaps they were ex-TSA, confiscating liquids, or NYC food police, out to stop fattening foods.
In the officer audio case, it was in a preliminary hearing not an actual trial or a pretrial hearing on the admissibility of the confession. The state’s burden is extremely low, so the judge’s actions aren’t as reprehensible as they might have been otherwise. All the state had to prove was probable cause to proceed with the case, not guilt or innocence right there.
This the sad part from the comments section on the coconut candy bust link.
“Just because they didn’t find drugs on these two this time doesn’t mean that they’re not guilty…”
So I guess that cops should just round people up, because we are all guilty of some crime. I personally would like for them to kick in this asses door, because he was guilty of something.
From Moscow, via Andrew Sullivan: “Russia’s cops: psychopaths or alcoholics”
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/01/russias-cops-psychopaths-or-alcoholics.html
guards are slime. I’ve never seen a heroic guard story- not one that stands up to scrutiny. people in custody are at great risk- if they assert their rights, they’re likely to get a pounding for ‘insubordination’.
The medical staff and the guards are equally adept at covering their tracks. google ‘CMS prison death’ to see how universal this problem is in this country.
Bradley Jardis, an active duty police officer who has bravely risked his career to speak up about the drug war, has been canned by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
I have withdrawn my membership and support of LEAP.
http://freekeene.com/2010/01/24/the-heroic-brad-jardis-kicked-out-of-leap/
Regarding the drugs/candy story… considering what we know about drug field tests, does it really make a difference that the cops didn’t test it? Anyone who’s read this blog for a while knows it’s highly likely, if not definite, that the field test would’ve been positive for drugs.
Here’s another charming story out of Vancouver. Professionalism known no borders. Plainclothes cops handling a domestic violence call. What could ever go wrong?
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/initial+erroneous+Vancouver+police+statement/2474104/story.html
Followup headline:
19 Year Old Pittsburg Man Buys Mom A New Home
Mt Dew is a known gateway drink. It may lead to Scotch and Soda.
And of course, after a lengthy internal affairs investigation, the NYPD Chief will declare that the officers acted properly in their arrest of two men for felony coconut possession with intent to distribute.
@14 At least they apologized. The only way you get a police officer to apologize in the USA is while they’re bent over the defendant’s table in a court of law. And even that’s no guarantee.
@16
“after a lengthy internal affairs investigation, the NYPD Chief will declare that the officers acted properly in their arrest of two men for felony coconut possession with intent to distribute.”
And the truck will only be returned to the owner if he can prove on a preponderance of the evidence that the truck is not subject to forfeiture.
[...] the New York Post: Two Bronx men free after ‘drugs’ turn out to be candy via Drug WarRant via The Agitator Two Bronx men were locked up and left to rot in a filthy jail cell for nearly a week after a pair [...]
Re: coconut candy case – I agree with some other posters (such as Andrew S.) that it’s probably better that the cops *didn’t* field test the candy; if they *had* field-tested it, we’d probably have to wait a few years to discover that their “crack” was really just candy.
Re: Kern County – frankly (as a Bakersfield resident), I was shocked…SHOCKED!!!…that the deputies are actually serving time; honestly, I’m shocked that charges were ever filed.
Hey Radley: Thanks for the followup on the OC story!!! The part where the judge refused to listen to the tape just floored me.
Re: the two guys in the Bronx. Great example of why you should NEVER, EVER consent to a vehicle search. The guy let the cops into his vehicle. Should have refused consent and went on his way. I’ve gone toe to toe on more than one occasion with cops over searching my vehicle. They don’t like it when you say no. Fuck ‘em all.
PinandPuller you need to be tasered and beaten with branches for that! Soda with scotch? Maybe a spalsh of water but soda…next thing you’ll tell me is you put ice in you scotch and soda!
Release the hounds!!!!
[For those who have had their sense of humor excised I'm joking]
Here’s another one… videotape anything and BAM! you’re under arrest.
http://www.ohio.com/news/82574547.html
[...] From the annals of officer brutality: Two California sheriff’s deputies recently began serving prison sentences for beating an inmate to death; in Georgia, a former sheriff’s deputy will be sentenced later this year for obstructing a federal investigation of an inmate death. (h/t: The Agitator) [...]