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solarbirdHere's the current end of Greg Doucette's big thread of police violence. It's slowing down a bit, but only because the protests are working. Keep going. This will be a long haul.
Note that there're more later-intimidation tactics being used here against people threatening oversight and control of police violence. We'll see more of that in the coming days and weeks. Don't give in.
----- 1 -----
ALT-immigration
twitter.com/ALT_uscis
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/ALT_uscis/status/1268721317056036866
This fromwbfo
Look at what they did to this guy who did NOTHING, to have his skull smashed on the concrete and start bleeding from his ears.
WARNING GRAPHIC
F*ck you Trump
FUck you BArr
Fuck every single scumbag who supports this.
FUCK YOU
[CW: BLOOD]
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
[SEE ALSO: police say man "tripped" and "fell" in classic bullyspeak:
https://twitter.com/PhillyD/status/1268727223923535872
SEE ALSO: Witnesses begging police to summon medical aid:
https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1268743065927405568
]
----- 2 -----
T. Greg "Credulous Propagandist" Doucette
greg_doucette
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1268709456696795136
More of 281 in NYC above
Notice the tactic: kettle protestors before 8, don't let them leave, so you can then arrest them after 8
A violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments
Lawlessness
[EMBEDDED VIDEO: Police kettling a large protest, with one officer assaulting a woman trying to communicate with the kettled protesters.]
----- 3 -----
The Hill
twitter.com/thehill
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1268719421335494656
NY Gov. Cuomo: "They've treated police officers with such disrespect in New York City -- I am stunned."
[VIDEO: Cuomo also saying in addition to the above that in his time, "you wouldn't _dare_ to be disrespectful to a police officer," and I'm going, "Maybe that's the fucking problem right there, Chet."]
----- 4 -----
Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
The masks, reading “Stop killing Black people,” were meant to quell the spread of the coronavirus, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans.
headshot
By Ryan J. Reilly
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-coronavirus-protest-masks_n_5ed9a69bc5b68bc1a40159b9?k9
[EDITOR: Yes, this is also in the COVID-19 edition. It would also be in the "genocide" and "cartoonish supervillainy" editions, if we had those.]
WASHINGTON ― Law enforcement agents have seized hundreds of cloth masks that read “Stop killing Black people” and “Defund police” that a Black Lives Matter-affiliated organization sent to cities around the country to protect demonstrators against the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has had a disparate impact on Black communities.
The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) spent tens of thousands of dollars on the masks they had planned to send all over the country. The first four boxes, each containing 500 masks, were mailed from Oakland, California, and were destined for Washington, St. Louis, New York City and Minneapolis, where on May 25 a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, setting off a wave of protests across the country.
But the items never left the state. The U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers for the packages indicate they were “Seized by Law Enforcement” and urge the mailer to “contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for further information.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
----- 5 -----
LAPD officers seen striking protesters with batons in Fairfax district confrontation captured on video
Thursday, June 4, 2020
https://abc7.com/6231194/
[EMBEDDED VIDEO at site. VIDEO shows two of several officers approach part of the crowd and attack them with batons. Other police move in and do the same. Some officers spray a fluid, possibly mace.]
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Disturbing videos appear to show Los Angeles Police Department officers striking protesters with batons in the Fairfax district during what had seemed to be a peaceful demonstration.
Several people recorded footage of the Saturday afternoon incident, including Matt McGorry, an actor on the ABC television series "How to Get Away With Murder."
"More police brutality from theblmla webldpwr protest yesterday where cops starting swinging batons and shooting projectiles at people simply standing there with there hands up," McGorry said on Twitter, referring to the organizations Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and BLD PWR.
The officers, wearing riot gear, are seen approaching the crowd of protesters when an inaudible exchange occurs. At least two officers then begin swinging their batons, striking multiple unarmed demonstrators.
Whether anyone was seriously injured or arrested was unclear.
Asked to comment on the matter, the LAPD issued a statement to ABC7 that did not refer to any specific confrontation.
----- 6 -----
David Leavitt
twitter.com/David_Leavitt
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/David_Leavitt/status/1268769465023463429
Police in Austin Texas open fire at protesters less than 20 feet away without using other methods first. #PoliceBrutality
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 7 -----
US Park Police: It was a “mistake” to say no tear gas was used in Lafayette Square
A spokesperson again said that only smoke canisters and pepper balls were used, but acknowledged that saying “tear gas” was not used was seen as misleading.
By Alex Ward
June 5, 2020
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21281604/lafayette-square-white-house-tear-gas-protest
A US Park Police spokesperson said in an interview it was a “mistake” to insist in a statement on Tuesday that it didn’t use tear gas the day before in Lafayette Square to disperse a crowd ahead of President Trump’s photo op, explicitly noting that pepper balls shot by officials irritate the eyes and cause tears.
“The point is we admitted to using what we used,” Sgt. Eduardo Delgado said. “I think the term ‘tear gas’ doesn’t even matter anymore. It was a mistake on our part for using ‘tear gas’ because we just assumed people would think CS or CN,” two common forms of tear gas.
Delgado’s call to me Friday was an attempt to clear up a statement the Park Police released Tuesday, the day after reporters on the scene outside the White House said officers used tear gas on peaceful protesters. The statement from acting Chief Gregory Monahan said that no tear gas was used by any federal force present, but that the Park Police itself “employed smoke canisters and pepper balls.”
----- 8 -----
Labor Council to Seattle Police Guild: Confront racism in the ranks or get out
By Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
June 5, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/labor-council-to-seattle-police-guild-confront-15318774.php
The Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) should commit to become "an anti-racist organization" or face expulsion from the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, a message delivered by a strongly worded Council resolution passed late Thursday afternoon.
The resolution, sponsored by locals of the United Food & Commercial Workers and Service Employees International Union — powers in the labor left — took aim at the Seattle Police Department and SPOG, the union which represents and negotiates labor contracts for uniformed Seattle Police officers. It argued in angry language:
"Systematic racism exists in the Seattle Police Department. This problem must be immediately addressed to protect BPOC individuals in our community from harm.
"In contrast to SPOG's statement, recent events are not the result of a few 'bad actors.' Our police are over armed with weapons but provided no real tools to dismantle the racism in their own Department or provide the services our community needs."
A new acronym, "BPOC" stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
The police union has been part of the Labor Council for the last six years. The Council called a news conference two years ago to urge Seattle City Council members to ratify a new contract with SPOG. But SPOG's leadership changed in a union election earlier this year.
Now, however, the Labor Council Board has given the Police Guild until June 17 to adopt an anti-racism stand, or the labor body's delegates will vote "on the question of whether to remove them from the council."
----- 9 -----
Radley Balko
twitter.com/radleybalko
5 June 2020
https://twitter.com/radleybalko/status/1268930693150781441
[THREAD]
I keep seeing the allegation that the police who raided Breonna Taylor mistakenly raided the wrong house. This is not true. Her name was on the warrant.
But that makes it quite a bit worse. This was not an innocent mistake. The police *meant* to subject Taylor . . . /1
[MORE]
. . . to dangerous, volatile tactics despite (1) scant evidence against her, (2) the purpose of this raid was to *investigate*, not arrest, and (3) these tactics are *designed* to inflict terror and trauma on people who have yet to even be charged, much less convicted. /2
[MORE]
Cops do make mistakes and raid the wrong house. But the bigger problems here are the frequency with which cops use these tactics in the first place; that they use them on people merely suspected of nonviolent, consensual crimes; and how little evidence they need to do so. /3
[THREAD CONTINUES AT TOP LINK]
----- 10 -----
Craig Bro Dude
twitter.com/CraigSJ
5 June 2020
https://twitter.com/CraigSJ/status/1268922817485115392
Brian Lehrer asked the mayor if he supports the idea that the protests against police violence have been met with too much police violence, and the mayor said "No."
[MORE]
The mayor is, again, denying details in the reporting on the protests because when he's on site, things seem peaceful.
----- 11 -----
Angry Staffer
twitter.com/AngrierWHStaff
June 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/AngrierWHStaff/status/1269008388396064770
They shoved an old man — WHO WAS TRYING TO RETURN THEIR RIOT HELMET — to the ground and left him to bleed out.
They’re lucky they only got suspended. Mass resignations speak to a much broader problem with Buffalo PD.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Dave Greber
twitter.com/DaveGreber4
June 5, 2020
#BREAKING: I’m told the entire twitter.com/BPDAlerts Emergency Response Team has resigned from the team, a total of 57 officers, as a show of support for the officers who are suspended without pay after shoving Martin Gugino, 75. They are still employed, but no longer on ERT.news4buffalo
----- 12 -----
California: Vallejo police kill unarmed 22-year-old, who was on his knees with his hands up
An officer mistakenly believed Sean Monterrosa had a gun, but it was a hammer in his pocket
5 June 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/04/vallejo-police-kill-unarmed-man-california
Police in northern California fatally shot an unarmed 22-year-old who was on his knees with his hands up outside a Walgreens store while responding to a call of alleged looting, officials said.
An officer in the city of Vallejo was inside his car when he shot Sean Monterrosa on Monday night amid local and national protests against police brutality. Police said an officer mistakenly believed Monterrosa had a gun, but later determined he had a hammer in his pocket.
The killing of Monterrosa, who was a San Francisco resident, has sparked intense outrage in the Bay Area, particularly in the city of Vallejo, a city with a long history of police violence and high-profile killings and excessive force complaints.
“When confronted by the police, he dropped to his knees and surrendered, and they fired at him,” said Melissa Nold, a Vallejo civil rights attorney representing Monterrosa’s family. “He wasn’t doing anything to warrant it. They shot him from inside their car. What opportunity did they give him to survive that situation? … It’s egregiously bad.”
----- 13 -----
Aᴀʀᴏɴ Cᴀʟᴠɪɴ
twitter.com/aaronpcalvin
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/aaronpcalvin/status/1268667848043438082
Wow, The Blazing Saddle, a gay bar in Des Moines' East Village, was violently raided by police on Monday, the same night peaceful protesters were kettled on the Capitol steps. This account is really harrowing.
https://facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1182620968746799&id=100009967212544
[MORE]
The bar has released their own security footage of the sudden raid by twitter.com/DMPolice. The raid starts at about the 3:20 mark in this video. https://facebook.com/theblazingsaddle/videos/1040620769732375/
[NEXT]
Here's a clearer edit of the video showing the twitter.com/DMPolice raid of the Blazing Saddle in Des Moines on Monday night.
----- 14 -----
Hours After Conrad James Told the Raleigh City Council He Planned to Sue, the Cops Arrested Him
by Thomasi McDonald, Jeffrey C. Billman
Jun. 05, 2020
https://indyweek.com/news/wake/conrad-james-raleigh-city-council-arrest/
A little before 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, one hour and 47 minutes into the Raleigh City Council’s special virtual meeting on the weekend’s protests, community organizer Conrad James got his one minute to speak.
“My name is Conrad James,” he began. “I’m the founder of Living Ultra-Violet. We’re a nonprofit think tank based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, that stands up for underserved communities. Right now, what we’re doing is forcing demands that need to be met in order to meet the same type of demands that happened at the Geneva Convention.”
His voice, shaky at first, gained confidence: “You guys committed an act of war, a war crime. A bunch of journalists out in California also had acts of war placed upon them, and they filed a class-action lawsuit. So this is the first time that we are going to notify you guys of the class-action lawsuit that all the protesters will have at your door tomorrow. Because the city attorney needs to defend the war crimes that were voted upon by the city.”
Earlier this week, the ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit on behalf of journalists who were allegedly attacked by law enforcement in that state, not California, while covering the George Floyd protests—specifically, a freelance journalist named Jared Goyette who says he was shot in the face with a rubber bullet. The civil liberties group is seeking class-action status.
When James concluded, council member Saige Martin smiled, thanked him, and moved on to the next of the more than 100 callers the council heard from.
Five hours later, at 2:15 a.m., according to police records, Wake County Sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door of James’s mother’s home in Willow Spring, arrested him, and took him to jail.
----- 15 -----
Police Board President: Officers Struck Me 5 Times With Their Batons During Protest
Heather Cherone | June 5, 2020
https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/05/police-board-president-officers-struck-me-5-Chicago officers struck Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman five times on his legs with their batons during a protest on Sunday in Hyde Park that turned violent, Foreman told WTTW News.
Foreman filed a complaint with the Citizens Office of Police Accountability alleging that he was struck by at least one officer during a protest sparked by the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, said Ephraim Eaddy, a spokesperson for the agency.
Foreman’s complaint, which identifies the officer Foreman said struck him, is one of 344 complaints of police misconduct filed with COPA between midnight May 29 and 7 a.m. Friday, Eaddy said. The complaint itself is confidential.
Foreman said he had two bruises on his legs where he was struck while protesting police brutality on 47th Street, not far from his Hyde Park home.
...
Hours before he said he was struck by at least one officer, Foreman joined Lightfoot and Brown at a news conference Sunday morning where he grew emotional and praised the “professionalism” of officers the previous night.
“Being the president of the police board, the buck stops with me when it comes to police accountability, and I take that very seriously,” Foreman said.
Foreman said he understood the frustration of the community, but also said he would not have been as restrained as he saw officers being when confronted by protesters.
Foreman has been a member of the Police Board since 2010. In May 2018, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed him to replace Lightfoot as president of the board after she resigned to run for mayor.
Note that there're more later-intimidation tactics being used here against people threatening oversight and control of police violence. We'll see more of that in the coming days and weeks. Don't give in.
- [BUFFALO, NY] Police shove 75-year-old man backwards, crack open his skull on concrete [CW: BLOOD]
- [NEW YORK CITY] New police tactic: kettle protesters until curfew passes, then arrest for violating curfew
- Cuomo: "They've treated police officers with such disrespect in New York City -- I am stunned."
- Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
- [LOS ANGELES] LAPD officers seen striking protesters with batons in Fairfax district confrontation captured on video
- [AUSTIN, TX] Police in Austin Texas open fire at protesters less than 20 feet away without using other methods first.
- US Park Police: It was a “mistake” to say no tear gas was used in Lafayette Square
- Labor Council to Seattle Police Guild: Confront racism in the ranks or get out
- Breonna Taylor's name was on the warrant. But that makes it quite a bit worse.
- New York mayor denies police response involved excessive force
- [BUFFALO] The entire Emergency Response Team has resigned from the team, a total of 57 officers, as a show of support for the officers who are suspended without pay after shoving Martin Gugino, 75. [EDITOR: See first story above]
- [VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA] California: Vallejo police kill unarmed 22-year-old, who was on his knees with his hands up
- [DES MOINES, IOWA] The Blazing Saddle, a gay bar in Des Moines' East Village, was violently raided by police on Monday
- [RALEIGH, NC] Hours After Conrad James Told the Raleigh City Council He Planned to Sue, the Cops Arrested Him
- [CHICAGO] [NOT THE ONION] Police Board President: Officers Struck Me 5 Times With Their Batons During Protest (after he praised them for restraint several hours before)
----- 1 -----
ALT-immigration
twitter.com/ALT_uscis
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/ALT_uscis/status/1268721317056036866
This from
wbfoLook at what they did to this guy who did NOTHING, to have his skull smashed on the concrete and start bleeding from his ears.
WARNING GRAPHIC
F*ck you Trump
FUck you BArr
Fuck every single scumbag who supports this.
FUCK YOU
[CW: BLOOD]
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
[SEE ALSO: police say man "tripped" and "fell" in classic bullyspeak:
https://twitter.com/PhillyD/status/1268727223923535872
SEE ALSO: Witnesses begging police to summon medical aid:
https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1268743065927405568
]
----- 2 -----
T. Greg "Credulous Propagandist" Doucette
greg_doucette4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1268709456696795136
More of 281 in NYC above
Notice the tactic: kettle protestors before 8, don't let them leave, so you can then arrest them after 8
A violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments
Lawlessness
[EMBEDDED VIDEO: Police kettling a large protest, with one officer assaulting a woman trying to communicate with the kettled protesters.]
----- 3 -----
The Hill
twitter.com/thehill
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1268719421335494656
NY Gov. Cuomo: "They've treated police officers with such disrespect in New York City -- I am stunned."
[VIDEO: Cuomo also saying in addition to the above that in his time, "you wouldn't _dare_ to be disrespectful to a police officer," and I'm going, "Maybe that's the fucking problem right there, Chet."]
----- 4 -----
Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
The masks, reading “Stop killing Black people,” were meant to quell the spread of the coronavirus, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans.
headshot
By Ryan J. Reilly
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-coronavirus-protest-masks_n_5ed9a69bc5b68bc1a40159b9?k9
[EDITOR: Yes, this is also in the COVID-19 edition. It would also be in the "genocide" and "cartoonish supervillainy" editions, if we had those.]
WASHINGTON ― Law enforcement agents have seized hundreds of cloth masks that read “Stop killing Black people” and “Defund police” that a Black Lives Matter-affiliated organization sent to cities around the country to protect demonstrators against the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has had a disparate impact on Black communities.
The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) spent tens of thousands of dollars on the masks they had planned to send all over the country. The first four boxes, each containing 500 masks, were mailed from Oakland, California, and were destined for Washington, St. Louis, New York City and Minneapolis, where on May 25 a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, setting off a wave of protests across the country.
But the items never left the state. The U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers for the packages indicate they were “Seized by Law Enforcement” and urge the mailer to “contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for further information.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
----- 5 -----
LAPD officers seen striking protesters with batons in Fairfax district confrontation captured on video
Thursday, June 4, 2020
https://abc7.com/6231194/
[EMBEDDED VIDEO at site. VIDEO shows two of several officers approach part of the crowd and attack them with batons. Other police move in and do the same. Some officers spray a fluid, possibly mace.]
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Disturbing videos appear to show Los Angeles Police Department officers striking protesters with batons in the Fairfax district during what had seemed to be a peaceful demonstration.
Several people recorded footage of the Saturday afternoon incident, including Matt McGorry, an actor on the ABC television series "How to Get Away With Murder."
"More police brutality from the
blmla webldpwr protest yesterday where cops starting swinging batons and shooting projectiles at people simply standing there with there hands up," McGorry said on Twitter, referring to the organizations Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and BLD PWR.The officers, wearing riot gear, are seen approaching the crowd of protesters when an inaudible exchange occurs. At least two officers then begin swinging their batons, striking multiple unarmed demonstrators.
Whether anyone was seriously injured or arrested was unclear.
Asked to comment on the matter, the LAPD issued a statement to ABC7 that did not refer to any specific confrontation.
----- 6 -----
David Leavitt
twitter.com/David_Leavitt
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/David_Leavitt/status/1268769465023463429
Police in Austin Texas open fire at protesters less than 20 feet away without using other methods first. #PoliceBrutality
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 7 -----
US Park Police: It was a “mistake” to say no tear gas was used in Lafayette Square
A spokesperson again said that only smoke canisters and pepper balls were used, but acknowledged that saying “tear gas” was not used was seen as misleading.
By Alex Ward
June 5, 2020
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21281604/lafayette-square-white-house-tear-gas-protest
A US Park Police spokesperson said in an interview it was a “mistake” to insist in a statement on Tuesday that it didn’t use tear gas the day before in Lafayette Square to disperse a crowd ahead of President Trump’s photo op, explicitly noting that pepper balls shot by officials irritate the eyes and cause tears.
“The point is we admitted to using what we used,” Sgt. Eduardo Delgado said. “I think the term ‘tear gas’ doesn’t even matter anymore. It was a mistake on our part for using ‘tear gas’ because we just assumed people would think CS or CN,” two common forms of tear gas.
Delgado’s call to me Friday was an attempt to clear up a statement the Park Police released Tuesday, the day after reporters on the scene outside the White House said officers used tear gas on peaceful protesters. The statement from acting Chief Gregory Monahan said that no tear gas was used by any federal force present, but that the Park Police itself “employed smoke canisters and pepper balls.”
----- 8 -----
Labor Council to Seattle Police Guild: Confront racism in the ranks or get out
By Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
June 5, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/labor-council-to-seattle-police-guild-confront-15318774.php
The Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) should commit to become "an anti-racist organization" or face expulsion from the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, a message delivered by a strongly worded Council resolution passed late Thursday afternoon.
The resolution, sponsored by locals of the United Food & Commercial Workers and Service Employees International Union — powers in the labor left — took aim at the Seattle Police Department and SPOG, the union which represents and negotiates labor contracts for uniformed Seattle Police officers. It argued in angry language:
"Systematic racism exists in the Seattle Police Department. This problem must be immediately addressed to protect BPOC individuals in our community from harm.
"In contrast to SPOG's statement, recent events are not the result of a few 'bad actors.' Our police are over armed with weapons but provided no real tools to dismantle the racism in their own Department or provide the services our community needs."
A new acronym, "BPOC" stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
The police union has been part of the Labor Council for the last six years. The Council called a news conference two years ago to urge Seattle City Council members to ratify a new contract with SPOG. But SPOG's leadership changed in a union election earlier this year.
Now, however, the Labor Council Board has given the Police Guild until June 17 to adopt an anti-racism stand, or the labor body's delegates will vote "on the question of whether to remove them from the council."
----- 9 -----
Radley Balko
twitter.com/radleybalko
5 June 2020
https://twitter.com/radleybalko/status/1268930693150781441
[THREAD]
I keep seeing the allegation that the police who raided Breonna Taylor mistakenly raided the wrong house. This is not true. Her name was on the warrant.
But that makes it quite a bit worse. This was not an innocent mistake. The police *meant* to subject Taylor . . . /1
[MORE]
. . . to dangerous, volatile tactics despite (1) scant evidence against her, (2) the purpose of this raid was to *investigate*, not arrest, and (3) these tactics are *designed* to inflict terror and trauma on people who have yet to even be charged, much less convicted. /2
[MORE]
Cops do make mistakes and raid the wrong house. But the bigger problems here are the frequency with which cops use these tactics in the first place; that they use them on people merely suspected of nonviolent, consensual crimes; and how little evidence they need to do so. /3
[THREAD CONTINUES AT TOP LINK]
----- 10 -----
Craig Bro Dude
twitter.com/CraigSJ
5 June 2020
https://twitter.com/CraigSJ/status/1268922817485115392
Brian Lehrer asked the mayor if he supports the idea that the protests against police violence have been met with too much police violence, and the mayor said "No."
[MORE]
The mayor is, again, denying details in the reporting on the protests because when he's on site, things seem peaceful.
----- 11 -----
Angry Staffer
twitter.com/AngrierWHStaff
June 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/AngrierWHStaff/status/1269008388396064770
They shoved an old man — WHO WAS TRYING TO RETURN THEIR RIOT HELMET — to the ground and left him to bleed out.
They’re lucky they only got suspended. Mass resignations speak to a much broader problem with Buffalo PD.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Dave Greber
twitter.com/DaveGreber4
June 5, 2020
#BREAKING: I’m told the entire twitter.com/BPDAlerts Emergency Response Team has resigned from the team, a total of 57 officers, as a show of support for the officers who are suspended without pay after shoving Martin Gugino, 75. They are still employed, but no longer on ERT.
news4buffalo----- 12 -----
California: Vallejo police kill unarmed 22-year-old, who was on his knees with his hands up
An officer mistakenly believed Sean Monterrosa had a gun, but it was a hammer in his pocket
5 June 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/04/vallejo-police-kill-unarmed-man-california
Police in northern California fatally shot an unarmed 22-year-old who was on his knees with his hands up outside a Walgreens store while responding to a call of alleged looting, officials said.
An officer in the city of Vallejo was inside his car when he shot Sean Monterrosa on Monday night amid local and national protests against police brutality. Police said an officer mistakenly believed Monterrosa had a gun, but later determined he had a hammer in his pocket.
The killing of Monterrosa, who was a San Francisco resident, has sparked intense outrage in the Bay Area, particularly in the city of Vallejo, a city with a long history of police violence and high-profile killings and excessive force complaints.
“When confronted by the police, he dropped to his knees and surrendered, and they fired at him,” said Melissa Nold, a Vallejo civil rights attorney representing Monterrosa’s family. “He wasn’t doing anything to warrant it. They shot him from inside their car. What opportunity did they give him to survive that situation? … It’s egregiously bad.”
----- 13 -----
Aᴀʀᴏɴ Cᴀʟᴠɪɴ
twitter.com/aaronpcalvin
4 June 2020
https://twitter.com/aaronpcalvin/status/1268667848043438082
Wow, The Blazing Saddle, a gay bar in Des Moines' East Village, was violently raided by police on Monday, the same night peaceful protesters were kettled on the Capitol steps. This account is really harrowing.
https://facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1182620968746799&id=100009967212544
[MORE]
The bar has released their own security footage of the sudden raid by twitter.com/DMPolice. The raid starts at about the 3:20 mark in this video. https://facebook.com/theblazingsaddle/videos/1040620769732375/
[NEXT]
Here's a clearer edit of the video showing the twitter.com/DMPolice raid of the Blazing Saddle in Des Moines on Monday night.
----- 14 -----
Hours After Conrad James Told the Raleigh City Council He Planned to Sue, the Cops Arrested Him
by Thomasi McDonald, Jeffrey C. Billman
Jun. 05, 2020
https://indyweek.com/news/wake/conrad-james-raleigh-city-council-arrest/
A little before 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, one hour and 47 minutes into the Raleigh City Council’s special virtual meeting on the weekend’s protests, community organizer Conrad James got his one minute to speak.
“My name is Conrad James,” he began. “I’m the founder of Living Ultra-Violet. We’re a nonprofit think tank based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, that stands up for underserved communities. Right now, what we’re doing is forcing demands that need to be met in order to meet the same type of demands that happened at the Geneva Convention.”
His voice, shaky at first, gained confidence: “You guys committed an act of war, a war crime. A bunch of journalists out in California also had acts of war placed upon them, and they filed a class-action lawsuit. So this is the first time that we are going to notify you guys of the class-action lawsuit that all the protesters will have at your door tomorrow. Because the city attorney needs to defend the war crimes that were voted upon by the city.”
Earlier this week, the ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit on behalf of journalists who were allegedly attacked by law enforcement in that state, not California, while covering the George Floyd protests—specifically, a freelance journalist named Jared Goyette who says he was shot in the face with a rubber bullet. The civil liberties group is seeking class-action status.
When James concluded, council member Saige Martin smiled, thanked him, and moved on to the next of the more than 100 callers the council heard from.
Five hours later, at 2:15 a.m., according to police records, Wake County Sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door of James’s mother’s home in Willow Spring, arrested him, and took him to jail.
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Police Board President: Officers Struck Me 5 Times With Their Batons During Protest
Heather Cherone | June 5, 2020
https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/05/police-board-president-officers-struck-me-5-Chicago officers struck Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman five times on his legs with their batons during a protest on Sunday in Hyde Park that turned violent, Foreman told WTTW News.
Foreman filed a complaint with the Citizens Office of Police Accountability alleging that he was struck by at least one officer during a protest sparked by the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, said Ephraim Eaddy, a spokesperson for the agency.
Foreman’s complaint, which identifies the officer Foreman said struck him, is one of 344 complaints of police misconduct filed with COPA between midnight May 29 and 7 a.m. Friday, Eaddy said. The complaint itself is confidential.
Foreman said he had two bruises on his legs where he was struck while protesting police brutality on 47th Street, not far from his Hyde Park home.
...
Hours before he said he was struck by at least one officer, Foreman joined Lightfoot and Brown at a news conference Sunday morning where he grew emotional and praised the “professionalism” of officers the previous night.
“Being the president of the police board, the buck stops with me when it comes to police accountability, and I take that very seriously,” Foreman said.
Foreman said he understood the frustration of the community, but also said he would not have been as restrained as he saw officers being when confronted by protesters.
Foreman has been a member of the Police Board since 2010. In May 2018, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed him to replace Lightfoot as president of the board after she resigned to run for mayor.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-06 02:16 pm (UTC)9) Local news is saying that police had the right address and the renter's name (Breonna Taylor) on the warrant, but they were looking for an ex-boyfriend of hers who hadn't lived there for some time. A few reports are saying the man they sought was already in police custody when the warrant was executed.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-06 07:24 pm (UTC)