Horrific accounts which stand as
inescapable indictments of the system

1. "America is guilty of systematically turning a blind eye to police brutality in big cities, a report by human rights activists said yesterday."

The Electronic Telegraph, 9-8-98


2. Cops walk after invading home without warrant, killing resident
   "Oregon was shot a dozen times, including nine times in the back. According to police, the officers thought Oregon had fired at them, when in fact a shot from one officer hit another's bulletproof vest."

   "A gun the officers said Oregon had pointed at them never was fired. Additionally, no drugs were found in the apartment and a subsequent investigation determined the officers had no warrant and their informant was not registered with police as required by the department."


The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 10-20-98


3. America's Shame: 5% of world's population, 25% of world's inmates
   
   
4. Cops walk after killing unarmed man: fire 41 shots, hit victim 19 times
   "...standard procedure -- not premeditated brutality by rogue officers -- is the real crime in Diallo's death. *** Given the officers' hairtrigger training and their highpowered 16-round weapons, Diallo's death was "an accident waiting to happen.*** Around the country, it is not rogue officers but standard operating procedure which has turned police brutality into the civil rights issue of the decade."

Salon.com, 2-26-2000

RELATED STORY
5. Cops walk after killing unarmed man: fire 41 shots, hit victim 19 times

"First and foremost, officers in plainclothes cannot assume that in a high-crime area, an innocent citizen will believe that four armed men who approach him aggressively are police officers. To an innocent civilian not looking for trouble, these four men could look like four thugs looking for trouble. Why not take out your wallet and just give it to them? Is it hard to imagine that an innocent citizen would react to four armed men with an abject fear that could easily be mistaken for noncompliance with police commands?"
The Seattle P-I, 3-1-2000


6. The perspective from abroad...
   "So many people are dying in police custody in America that researchers have given the phenomenon a name: custody death syndrome."

The Electronic Telegraph, 4-10-96


7. NICE SHOOTING, TEX: Cop walks after killing a 13 year old boy who was "armed" with a 5 inch knife
   "When police arrived, they heard shouting inside the house and could not get anyone to open the door. Officers kicked in the door a few minutes later and encountered De La Rosa in a hallway. He held a kitchen knife with a 5-inch blade to his wrist, and the officers drew their weapons, Morgan said."

   ''He threatened to kill himself; he threatened to kill officers,'' Morgan said. ''He said he wanted them to kill himself; he said that he wanted to die.'' *** Officers repeatedly told De La Rosa to drop the knife, but he refused and said he wanted them to shoot him. After 11 minutes, Taylor tried to end the standoff by kicking the weapon from the teen-ager's hand, Morgan said."

   ''It did momentarily stun the suspect, but he almost immediately recovered and advanced at the officer,'' Morgan said. Officers said the teen raised the knife and lunged at Taylor, who fired three shots from his .40-caliber, semiautomatic handgun into the boy's torso."


Lubbock Avalanch-Journal, 4-1-99, (Courtesy of JT, one of our vigilant allies from Texas)


8. Suspect chokes to death after being wrestled to ground by the cops: would suspect have died if cops had not attacked him?

"...a law-enforcement source noted that witnesses who reported seeing cops beat Donaldo Delano Maloney could have mistaken their actions."

"According to the official, Maloney had popped small glassine bags - apparently of cocaine, police say - into his mouth. The cops wrestled with him, trying to keep him from swallowing the evidence. Fire-rescue personnel later suctioned the bags from deep inside the throat of a choking Maloney, sources said."
New York Post, 7-27-99, (Props to MB, one of our brothers from New York City)

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