Police abuses

[Crazed Rabbit]

Earlier in this thread, a video was posted of a cop interrogating a woman. The cop proceeded to turn the camera off, and when it came back on, the woman was lying on the floor with a pool of blood around her face. (Disturbing picture!)

The cop was fired, for not administering first aid, but not prosecuted. And guess what?

He's back on the job!
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/artic...WS03/908130319

A Shreveport police officer who was fired for violating departmental policy while arresting Angela Garbarino on Nov. 17, 2007, has been reinstated.
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The Shreveport Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board's seven members made the ruling Wednesday in the case known nationally for video footage of the handcuffed woman lying in a pool of her blood in a police interrogation room.

The ruling means Wiley Willis can return to duty once his in-service and firearm requirements are met.

"He'll get a year and a half of back pay, benefits, retirement, everything," said Michael Carter, president of the Shreveport police officers union. And as far as he knows, Carter added, Willis intends to continue working for the Shreveport Police Department.

The Civil Service Board ruled that Willis' rights, under the Police Officer Bill of Rights, were violated because an expert failed to record a polygraph examination Willis took as part of the Police Department's investigation into Garbarino's injuries, including a broken nose.

CR

[Zim]

That's some disturbing stuff CR, and pretty disheartening from where I stand. I can't say anything about the pastor, except that maybe the plain clothes cops didn't know he was a likely innocent and for some reason chose to stop him without a uniformed officer present (with a marked car),. That said, once he ran one over I can see why the others shot at him, despite the fact that they may have created the unfortunate incident by not having a uniformed officer do the stop (not required but often a good idea).

The Jericho Police Department was disbanded over that incident if I recall correctly. Creepy stuff but you do see weird things in very small departments in little towns. I don't like it but local government often allows for things you wouldn't see in big cities (not an excuse, just a suggestion that this may be an isolated occurrence. If anything in most cities I'd see giving too much leeway to other department of public safety employees as the problem rather than shooting at them..).

I have nothing to say to the last post. I can see where it may be overblown, and also where such an incident may be a miscarriage of justice. The polygraph thing seems weird, since most police officers think they're worthless (and the Supreme Court has decided they aren't reliable enough to be used as evidence).

[Major Robert Dump]

All I can say about the cops, the pastor and the gas station is...bravo, bravo

Drug War Fail, Jack Boot Thugs for Teh Win

[Crazed Rabbit]

A Pittsburgh cop got drunk, then assaulted and shot a random passerby after he left a bar. And he's now back on the job!

According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Kaleb Miller was walking on Sidney Street on the South Side about 2:10 a.m. on June 28, 2008, when he saw Officer Abel, an off-duty Zone 3 police officer. He had a gun in his hand and was "yelling unintelligibly and was visibly intoxicated."

The officer, who testified at his trial that he had been assaulted at a stop light when he left a bar that morning, believed Mr. Miller was the person who struck him.

According to the lawsuit, Officer Abel got into a car, did a U-turn onto 20th Street and stopped 10 feet in front of Mr. Miller. Officer Abel then grabbed Mr. Miller by the shirt and ordered him to the ground, it continued.

"Defendant Abel then pushed the barrel of his pistol into the left eye and face cheek of plaintiff, at which point plaintiff began to go to the ground as ordered by defendant Abel," the lawsuit said.

Mr. Abel then began to hit Mr. Miller in the back of the head with the gun, the suit continued. Trying to protect himself, Mr. Miller put his right hand over the back of his head and was shot in the hand.

"After plaintiff suffered the right hand gunshot wound, he fell to the ground on his right side, at which point plaintiff viewed defendant Abel seated on the sidewalk, twirling his pistol," the complaint said.

Two uniformed officers arrived and said that Mr. Miller was under arrest. Later, however, after they realized he had not assaulted Officer Abel, he was released and taken to the hospital for treatment.

Officer Paul G. Abel Jr. was found not guilty of criminal charges -- including aggravated assault -- by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning in June. He was reinstated to his position through arbitration last week.

Gee, I wonder what would happen if I got really drunk and hit and shot the first person I saw in the street? And ain't it great to know what kind of men they let stay on the police force?

CR

[Banquo's Ghost]

It's difficult to see the rights or wrongs of that story CR, because there isn't much information in the article. Firstly, however, the officer was acquitted. That means he is innocent, and an innocent man should not be punished.

The judge's reported comments however, indicate that there may have been something to the allegations - although Mr Miller also appears to have a history of complaints.

But the fact remains, the policeman was acquitted of charges which on first reading, if true, should have had him convicted.

[Major Robert Dump]

It's difficult to see the rights or wrongs of that story CR, because there isn't much information in the article. Firstly, however, the office was acquitted. That means he is innocent, and an innocent man should not be punished.

The judge's reported comments however, indicate that there may have been something to the allegations - although Mr Miller also appears to have a history of complaints.

But the fact remains, the policeman was acquitted of charges which on first reading, if true, should have had him convicted.

Regardless of the facts involved and the specifics of his acquittal on the specific charges.....he was drunk with a gun. That alone should be enough to make him not a cop anymore. You don't take guns into bars.....not anyone, not me not cops not anyone

[Major Robert Dump]

Your tax dollars at work:

Drug raid lasts nine hours, due in part to cops playing Wii

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_sc...drug-raid.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_294405.html

[Banquo's Ghost]

Regardless of the facts involved and the specifics of his acquittal on the specific charges.....he was drunk with a gun. That alone should be enough to make him not a cop anymore. You don't take guns into bars.....not anyone, not me not cops not anyone

You may have better sources, or I may not have read the article properly, but it is the plaintiff's lawsuit that alleges he was drunk with a gun. It appears the officer was acquitted of this.

I would agree that if this policeman was in fact drunk with a gun, he should be fired and imprisoned. But not on the basis of a lawsuit - on the basis of a conviction in a court of law because a man is innocent until proven guilty. (Not a concept very popular these days, I'm aware, but still the foundation of Anglo-Saxon law).