Police abuses

[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).

[Crazed Rabbit]

The officer was acquitted of aggravated assault. It's a fact that the victim was shot, but not charged with anything. Given how bad cops are likely to charge you for resisting arrest if their fist hurts after they punch you in the face, it's a sign of how in the wrong the cop was that the victim didn't get charged.

Another abuse-in-waiting, though not as bad as many listed here, as a police chief tries to quash online anti-police comments:

Police ready to 'take on' commenters, chief says
People who misrepresent themselves as officials in online comments could face civil, criminal penalties, Acevedo says.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says he and some of his officers have been harassed, lied about and had their identities falsely used in online blogs and in reader comment sections on local media Internet sites.

They've had enough.

In a meeting this month with department brass, Acevedo and the group discussed how they think such posts erode public trust in the department and how they have been wrongly maligned.

They have since researched their legal options and decided that from now on, they might launch formal investigations into such posts, Acevedo said. He said investigators might seek search warrants or subpoenas from judges to learn the identities of the authors — he thinks some could be department employees — and possibly sue them for libel or file charges if investigators think a crime was committed.

"A lot of my people feel it is time to take these people on," Acevedo said. "They understand the damage to the organization, and quite frankly, when people are willfully misleading and lying, they are pretty much cowards anyway because they are doing so under the cloak of anonymity."

The effort to crack down on potentially illegal statements or comments that are possibly libelous — those published with the goal of defaming a person — is the second time in recent months that the department has confronted new social media.

It's the comments that are priceless, though;

i think the police should taser and gas every person who does not bow down and submit to their will. i mean just tear gas them into submission. the scum do not deserve an opinion. all heil the great Art Avacado. May he control Austin first, then Texas..soon all of america shall worship him. Avacado! Avacado! I can hear the chants now. You could become..a god

I didn't really mean any of that stuff up there in the article. I was just a little worked up. After I went and got my daily oil massage down at the gay bath house, I felt a lot better. Now I realize that people have a 1st Amendment right to criticize public figures and that satire is a protected form of speech. My lawyer also told me that if I ever attempted to prosecute someone for libel I would be hard pressed to find any damages since I have no reputation to ruin. He said if I would be laughed out of court for filing a claim against satirists. (Kind of like Tina Fey posing as Sarah Palin isn't something that Palin can sue for).

And even one for Lemur:

Why isn't Art Acevedo denying the rumor that he likes to attend a gay bath house and get oil massages by other men? Also, why won't he deny the claim I've heard that he helped Glenn Beck avoid being charged for the rape and murder of a young woman back in 1990? I mean at first I didn't believe those claims, but since Art won't deny them, it is really starting to look bad for him and likely rapist Glenn Beck. What is Art trying to hide?

CR