Supreme Court orders release of LVMPD body cam footage, 911 call audio, from 1 October massacre

Supreme Court orders LVMPD to start the release of police camera footage and 911 audio tapes from the night of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival Massacre

LAS VEGAS (INTELLIHUB) — The Nevada Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department must release body camera footage, and 911 call audio recordings from the night of the 1 October massacre which may offer insight into what authorities have been hiding from day one, i.e. the helicopter air assault and multiple shooters.

The order comes after the LVMPD stalled for over 2-months to release the evidence after citing that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take too long for the release.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “In March, District Judge Richard Scotti gave Metro a total of six months to fulfill the request, but ordered the department to immediately begin releasing the records on a “rolling basis.” Scotti also ruled that Metro could not charge for production of the records.”

“It is my personal hope that every other Southern Nevada government entity that is flagrantly violating the Nevada Public Records Act will see this decision — and so many others that have preceded it — and finally understand the futility of their embrace of secrecy,” the Executive Editor of the Review-Journal said on Friday.

Featured Image: LAS VEGAS — A view from inside the venue which hosted the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Music Festival where 57 people lost their lives on Oct. 1. (Joe Ward/Street View)

©2018. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Read more from Shep’s World. Follow Shep on Facebook. Subscribe to Shep’s YouTube channel.

Follow @ShepardAmbellas

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WATCH: Cop Shoots Fleeing Teenager In The Back Multiple Times, Then Turn Off Body Cams

While a police officer claimed that a teenager was pointing a gun at him before he opened fire and shot the boy in the back, the body camera footage tells a different story.

The post WATCH: Cop Shoots Fleeing Teenager In The Back Multiple Times, Then Turn Off Body Cams appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

“Thieving Idiot” Cop Gets No Jail In Spite of His Own Body Cam Catching Him Rob a Man

This cop"s actions were so egregious that his own sheriff called him a "thieving idiot," however, he will not spend a single day in jail in spite of being caught on his own body cam robbing a man.

The post “Thieving Idiot” Cop Gets No Jail In Spite of His Own Body Cam Catching Him Rob a Man appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

Sheriff Says Graphic Video of K9 Attacking Mentally Ill Man for No Reason Shows Proper Procedure

A graphic video was just released showing deputies torture a non-violent mentally ill inmate with their K9 and the sheriff says it"s by the book.

Body Cam Shows Moments that Got a Senator Charged With Sex Trafficking Underage Boy

Body camera footage was just released showing the moment police caught an Oklahoma senator red-handed trafficking an underage boy in a motel room.

WATCH: Cops ‘Help’ Innocent Epileptic Man After His Seizure By Macing & Beating Him

Glassboro, NJ — In September of 2015, Taharqa Dean, who suffers from debilitating seizures as he copes with his epilepsy, had a seizure. Dean fell unconscious during this seizure and a passerby called 911 for help. While officers were originally helpful during the initial approach, when Dead got up to walk away, things took a violent turn for the worse.

Dean’s subsequent treatment by police, after he’d suffered a seizure is now the subject of a $2 million lawsuit against the Glassboro police department.

According to the report, Patrolman Kyle Snyder arrived and was calmly talking to Dean as he lays in the grass. “Just focus on your breathing, alright?” he said. “Just breathe, help is on the way.”

Another officer says “I’ve actually talked to him before, he told me he has seizures.”

Eventually, paramedics arrive and get Dean into the ambulance where he tries to get up and stumble away. After he’d experienced the seizure, Dean was completely disoriented and did not know where he was. This is a common symptom of epileptics following a seizure.

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However, that disoriented state, according to the Epilepsy Foundation, can be exacerbated into aggression if not handled properly. So, the aggression from police—which Dean was met with when he got up and tried to walk out of the ambulance—was certainly not the proper way to deal with his seizure.

The officers were equipped with body cameras that captured the resultant assault unfold.

“I was troubled by what I saw,” Lawyer Stanley King, who filed the federal suit last month said. “I don’t know how in good conscience any law enforcement officer could conduct themselves in that matter.”

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As NJ.com reports:

A piece of the footage obtained from King shows Dean speaking incoherently and kicking as he stumbles out of the vehicle. Much of the ambulance encounter provided by the borough, including this section, was redacted.

Two officers then take Dean to the ground, holding his face to the asphalt as they try to pull out handcuffs. Dean then bites one of the officers before they get him into the handcuffs.

“What’re you gonna bite me for?” one officer says. “I’m talking to you like a person, treating you normal.”

The incident report says Dean was reaching for an officer’s weapon before they handcuffed him, but this is not shown on the video.

“In my view, I don’t see an excessive use of force,” said Maria Haberfeld, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. “They are constantly telling him to calm down … he’s screaming at the top of his lungs and is noncompliant.”

However, Dean was incoherent and unable to control his actions. So, when the officers mandated that he stay in the ambulance and then attempted to use force, this caused a chain reaction and Dean’s subconscious took over.

“Officers might react to a person’s dazed behavior, inability to obey directives, and combative response to restraint as actions that the person can control,” the website for the law enforcement accreditor CALEA reads. “In fact, when a person with epilepsy has a seizure, he or she is physically unable to control their actions.”

Unfortunately, these officers, who appeared to be well-meaning, apparently didn’t receive the training from the above-mentioned accreditor. Not realizing that Dean couldn’t control himself, the officers reacted with the only tool they have, violent escalation.

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If someone who had a complex partial seizure was “told to stop walking or freeze, they might not understand,” Andrea Racioppi, associate director of the Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey, told NJ.com.

“When he comes out of an epileptic seizure, he has no recollection whatsoever of the event,” his brother Kwsind Dean said in 2015. “He was starting to come out of it, and so all he knew was that someone had him in a vehicle taking him somewhere. It takes him at least 20 minutes to get his bearings back.”

During the attack, Dean was pepper sprayed and injured and eventually did end up in the hospital—where he lay unconscious for several days.

As NJ.com points out, this is no isolated incident, others have had similar stories across the country. In Reno last year, James O’Doan was arrested after he had a seizure and charged with resisting arrest. Andrea Nicole Hansen says she was arrested in Pismo Beach, California, for resisting arrest and public intoxication after having an epileptic seizure.

Sadly, this is not even the first time this has happened to Dean. Before the incident in 2015, in 2011, Dean says he was assaulted by officers in Deptford Township after having a seizure in a parking lot and getting mistaken for a car thief.

What the video below illustrates is that when your only tool is a hammer, everything, including epileptics, begins to look like nails.

Cop Who Killed Unarmed Dad Begging for His Life Claims Showing Jury Body Cam is “Unfair”

Phoenix, AZ —  In March of 2016, Mesa Police Officer Philip Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder for gunning down Daniel Shaver, an innocent husband, and father of two. The shooting was captured on his body cam, part of which was released the following May.

Now, however, Brailsford’s defense is claiming that the prosecution showing the jury the body cam during opening statements would be unfair to the killer cop. 

According to AZ Central, Brailsford, 26, is scheduled to stand trial starting Oct. 23 on a charge of second-degree murder. The trial is expected to last 16 days. In a memorandum filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday, attorney Michael Piccarreta says prosecutor Susie Charbel plans to show an 18-minute police body- camera recording during her opening statement, scheduled for Oct. 25.

Piccarreta says in the memo “that it is extremely unfair to the defense” to show the video during the opening statement because that wouldn’t allow the defense lawyer to immediately cross-examine any witnesses about the footage.

However, the playing of the video is in line with standards of opening statements allowing the prosecution to establish their credibility in this case. The video of Brailsford killing Shaver will undoubtedly be at the very center of the case so the defense’s claim of not being allowed to cross-examine any witness about the footage is unfounded.

Regardless of when the body camera video is shown, it will be the first time the full, unedited version will be played.

Last year, an Arizona judge announced that they would be releasing the body camera footage showing Brailsford murder Shaver. When they did release it, however, the city released two videos, both of which were clearly edited and portions redacted.

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Police said Shaver, a 26-year-old from Texas staying at the La Quinta Inn & Suites on a business trip on Jan. 18, 2016, had invited a couple he met to his room for drinks. No one was in any danger and the entire incident was a misunderstanding. For the majority of the video, police appear to be in a standoff with people who simply can’t hear them.

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“Occupants of room 5-0-2, this is the Mesa Police,” the officer is heard yelling on the video, to which he receives no response.

“Listen to my instructions or it’s going to become very uncomfortable for you,” the officer said. “The female is to step outside the room.”

When ‘the female’ does step out the room, she is escorted away by an officer as she tells him how scared she is.

“I’m so scared,” she told the officer, clearly in shock with the multiple officers in the hallway responding to a hotel in which no crime had been committed and innocent people were simply sharing drinks.

Below are the redacted versions of the police body cameras.

The videos above clearly illustrate the intentions behind only releasing a portion of the body camera footage. It is made to look like it was an intense standoff as well as make the police look like heroes as they comforted the woman.

However, as we pointed out, it was likely that there was no standoff and they simply did not hear the officers. Also, the woman was most likely not scared of the man who she voluntarily consented to have drinks with — she was scared of the multiple armed men pointing AR-15s at them. This will likely come out when the defense is allowed to cross-examine her.

When Laney Sweet, Shaver’s wife originally asked to see the footage, she was told that if she watched it, she would be forced to remain completely silent about its contents.

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During an interview with Maricopa County attorney, Bill Montgomery, Sweet was given the ultimatum — watch the disturbing video and never speak of it, or don’t. The widow of an innocent man, killed by the government, was told that the video proves her husband did not deserve to die. However, Sweet will now have to wait until the city decides to release the unedited version of the video to get closure—this would have been over a year.

In a statement to the press, the county stated that Daniel Shaver was complying with officers, crawling on his hands and knees and begged not to be shot, just before Brailsford opened fire.

“Please don’t shoot me,” Shaver is quoted in the police report.

However, last year, Brailsford’s attorney denied Shaver begged not to shoot him while at the same time thanking Superior Court Judge Sam Myers for not releasing the entire video.

On January 18, Brailsford, along with several other officers, responded to a call about a suspect with a rifle in a hotel room. The ‘rifle’ was nothing more than a pellet gun that was used in Shaver’s business of pest control, and Shaver was not in possession of the pellet gun when he was murdered in cold blood by officer Brailsford.

According to KTAR, Brailsford told investigators that Shaver was ordered to crawl toward officers with his hands on the ground, but the officer believed Shaver’s move forward was an attempt to get “a better firing position on us.”

The officer said he could no longer see Shaver’s right hand and worried that Shaver could have easily drawn on officers, who were just feet away in a hallway outside his room. However, none of the other officers fired, illustrating the lack of danger.

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“So that’s when I assessed the threat. I fired my weapon, uh, five times,” Brailsford said, adding that it was terrifying the first time Shaver reached back.

Charging an officer with murder in Arizona is an exceptionally rare incident, which speaks to the severity of what must be shown on the body camera. It also means that this coward officer was in no danger when he decided to pull the trigger — 5 times.

Brailsford was fired from the department in March of 2016 for multiple policy violations not associated with the murder of Shaver. After he was fired, we learned that he should have never had a badge that night he killed an innocent man.

Aside from his unsatisfactory performance, records released by Mesa Police revealed that Brailsford was accused of beating three people a few months before he killed Shaver. He also etched “You’re Fucked” into his AR-15 police rifle — illustrating his disregard for human life.

Two children and a wife will now live the rest of their lives without their loving father because of the actions of this public servant. The one thing that could help get this family closure is to see the man who stole the life of their dad and husband put behind bars. Hopefully, this case ends differently than the countless cases before which ended with killer cops walking free for needlessly killing other human beings.

The Free Thought Project will continue to cover the trial as it unfolds next week.

New Video Emerges Clearly Capturing Overlapping Gunfire at Las Vegas Concert

Las Vegas, NV — A new video has emerged from the night of the Las Vegas shooting that appears to show overlapping gunfire coming from multiple locations, which clearly contradicts the mainstream narrative of what occurred on the night 59 people were killed and over 500 were injured.

The video is under 3 minutes long and was filmed by an individual who appears to be hiding near a gate during the shooting. While crowds of people can be seen running from the area, the person filming the video is staying low to the ground with a group of people who are encouraging others to take cover, instead of running out into the open.

“No, we are NOT moving. Just stay down,” one girl says. “Don’t leave, just stay down!”

The first burst of gunfire can be heard at the 0:15 mark, followed almost immediately by a second burst of gunfire that sounds distinctly different. The same thing happens again at the 2:01 mark, with secondary gunfire beginning at the 2:06 mark.

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It is important to note that while this video does appear to confirm multiple shooters, there are a number of varying scenarios that could’ve produced these effects. The acoustics in a massive concrete city like Las Vegas can certainly play tricks on even the most astute audiophiles.

While this is not exactly a smoking gun, this video certainly warrants further investigation and should not be overlooked. However, it appears that the mainstream media and police, at least publicly, have no concern with this evidence.

This is not the first evidence of the massacre being carried out by multiple shooters. In fact, video surfaced on Tuesday from a taxi driver who distinctly heard gunfire from two different locations.

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While sitting in the taxi line at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Cori Langdon began recording as soon she heard gunshots ring out. Her video begins with the sounds of distant shooting and within seconds, the shooting the gunfire sounds as if it is coming from a different, closer location.

As The Free Thought Project reported, “While there were two windows busted out of Paddock’s dual room suite, the distance between them does not seem far enough away from each other to produce the sounds we hear in the video below. Also, it would have been quite the feat to run between both windows as fast as the firing is heard. Some of the exchanges happen almost instantly.”

One week after the Las Vegas shooting, there remain a number of glaring inconsistencies that contradict the official narrative. In addition to refusing to acknowledge the growing number of witness accounts that have claimed there were multiple shooters, it took the FBI less than 24 hours to pin the entire shooting on one suspect.

This suspect, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, apparently defied the odds by carrying out what is being called the “deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. History” with incredible proficiency, using advanced weapons, even though he has no military background, and he did not have a reputation as a “gun guy.” The idea that the FBI would not be asking the obvious questions about whether other shooters were involved, is completely absurd.

While some body camera footage has been released from the night of the shooting that gives insight into the chaotic scene from the firsthand perspective of the police officers involved, there is one incredibly important piece of video evidence that has yet to be released.

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According to the FBI’s official narrative, Paddock acted alone, which means that he was responsible for transporting dozens of rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition and various other supplies up to his hotel room in the days before the shooting. Luckily, he was in one of the most popular hotels in Las Vegas, which means that there should be plenty of security camera footage showing him with his luggage—yet none of it has been released.

In fact, less than 24 hours after the shooting occurred, NBC News published a story featuring various photos from security cameras that appeared to show Stephen Paddock at a casino in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and then in an Emergency room after he fell in 2011. It took just hours to find security footage of Paddock from 6 years ago, but it has been over a week, and the footage from 2 days before the shooting still has not been released?

The latest video evidence makes it hard to deny that there were, in fact, multiple shooters. The idea that the FBI refuses to acknowledge the witness testimonies—even with increasing evidence—raises serious questions about the possibility of their agents’ contribution to the massacre.

LVMPD releases officer-worn body camera footage of music festival massacre

(INTELLIHUB) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released officer-worn body camera footage showing a brief montage of the carnage that officers and others endured during Route 91 music festival massacre at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino where 59 people lost their lives.

The footage was released around 6:20 p.m. local time.

It is rumored on 4chan.org that the LVPD will be “dropping breadcrumbs” for reporters in upcoming press conferences.

©2017. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

Family Seeks Justice After Body Cam Shows Cops Publicly Execute Unarmed Son for No Reason

Two claims remain. The family still contends Officer Bron Cruz used excessive force when he shot and killed Taylor on Aug. 11, 2014, outside a convenience store near 2100 South and State Street. There also remains an excessive force claim against Salt Lake City itself.

To show just how slow the city is reacting to the lawsuit, both Jerrail Taylor, Dillon’s brother, and Adam Thayne, Dillon’s cousin, have settled at least a portion of their lawsuits against the city over a year ago. Because the young men had done nothing wrong, Jerrail and Thayne sued for being unlawfully detained after Cruz killed Dillon.

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Despite having done nothing wrong, the pair was handcuffed and detained for over five hours after the killing in a likely attempt at justifying Dillon’s murder.

As the Free Thought Project reported at the time of the shooting, the confrontation happened, according to the lawsuit, because, a person who refused to identify herself called 911 making a confused, incoherent, and convoluted report about some kids the caller viewed as maybe suspicious. The caller told the 911 operator that she did not feel threatened and that no one was in danger. The caller later admitted to drinking Vodka earlier that evening.

Taylor, his brother, and his cousin were exiting a 7-Eleven when they were unlawfully profiled by officers Bron Cruz, Uppsen Downes, and Andrew Sylelloglou.

When the three men exited the convenience store they were surrounded by officers and ordered to show their hands.  Two of the men stopped and complied, Dillon Taylor, listening to music, kept walking.

Barely 40 seconds go by from the time Dillon is approached until he is shot by Cruz.

The body cam footage was released in September of 2014, however, it stopped just after the shots were fired. Apparently, the department did not want you to see what happened after as the full video was not released until the following June. It shows the disturbing moments before and after this young man was gunned down by police.

“He couldn’t hear them, so he just kept walking. Then … they had guns pointed at his face. That’s when he turned off the music,” Taylor’s brother Jerrail Taylor told the SLC Tribune. “I saw them point guns at my brother’s face, and I knew what was going to happen.”

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One officer told Taylor to get on the ground, while another told him to put his hands on his head.

“He got confused, he went to pull up his pants to get on the ground, and they shot him,” Jerrail Taylor said.

According to the lawsuit, Defendant Cruz and each of the Defendant Officers named in the Complaint were improperly trained and groomed through a vicious culture and cycle of shoot-to-kill-first, avoid questions and accountability later, beginning at the start of their careers and reinforced throughout.

This entrenched departmental detachment from human life and the consequences of excessive deadly force is evident through the shocking, despicable explanation told by Defendant Cruz to investigators after killing Dillon, according to the suit. Defendant Cruz stated he shot-to-kill because when he briefly made eye contact with Dillon, Defendant Cruz interpreted Dillon’s eyes as having a “defiant look.” Defendant Cruz stated:

Um, and his eyes were just complete 100% defiance. He had this, this look on his face like, you know, like I, ah, hate? Um, like he was, he was not going to do anything that I said. Um, and it was just a horrible feeling, um, looking at him. Having him, you know, just the, it was horrible. Just hate, defiance, that he had in his eyes.

During questioning, Cruz was able to convince his fellow cops, who were conducting the “investigation,” that he knew, without a doubt, that Dillon Taylor was going to kill him.

“I was 100 percent, 100 percent convinced when I saw him turn around it was gonna be a gunfight. I knew he had that gun, that he’d be trying to kill us,” said Officer Cruz.

But he had no such gun.

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Despite Taylor being unarmed, not advancing toward Cruz, and not given a chance to comply with the officer’s commands due to his headphones, the thin blue investigation was substantiated with that one erroneous and completely false claim.

As TFTP reported in 2014, the state of Utah had an epidemic of officer-involved shootings. Deadly force by police surpassed even violence between spouses and dating partners. Dillon was killed at the height of this problem.

However, after massive backlash from the community, police took proactive measures to train police in de-escalation, and it is showing. To date, there have not been any fatal officer-involved shootings in Salt Lake City since 2015.

VIDEO: Cop Tackles, Cuffs Innocent 13yo Autistic Boy Who Was Out Walking His Hamster

Duchesne, UT — Parents of a 13-year-old boy with autism filed a lawsuit against the Duchesne Sheriff’s Department this month after they say Sgt. Carl Reilley attacked him for no reason. The boy had committed no crime and was out walking his hamster when he was violently taken down by Reilley, handcuffed, and thrown in the back of the patrol car.

The incident happened in April as the boy, who’s unidentified for privacy reasons, took his pet hamster for a walk like he does all the time.

As the boy walked by the library, he looked inside because he wanted to ‘see the giraffes.’ However, a child’s interest in animals raised enough suspicion from Sgt. Reilley, who was driving by, to detain him.

According to Reilley, when he attempted to detain the boy — without any reasonable articulable suspicion — he ran. However, we never see the young man run on camera and the family’s attorney doesn’t believe it even happened.

As the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

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Body camera footage obtained by The Tribune through a public records request begins with the teen facing the officer and holding up his hands.

The footage doesn’t show any of the interaction before Reilley got out of his car.
Then teen’s arms drooped, and the officer told him to put his hands up, which he did.

As the officer turned the teen around to handcuff his arms behind his back, the teen cried out for help. He then lunged away, at which point Reilley threw the teen to the ground amid his pleas to not be taken to jail.

There, the footage ends, because the officer turned his body camera off.

Reilley claimed he accidentally turned the camera off. As the body cam goes off, a responding Utah State Trooper’s dash cam picks up.

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Even if the boy ran, the stop was not justified from the beginning, according to the lawsuit.

The teen was stopped without “reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed,” which therefore constituted an unreasonable search and seizure, the lawsuit states. In addition, Reilley’s use of force was “excessive, unlawful, and caused physical and emotional harm” to the boy, the suit stated, according to the Tribune.

“I would certainly hope that they would get additional training” in regard to identifying and approaching people with disabilities, said Tyler Ayres, the teen’s attorney.

“He didn`t run away from that officer and any assertion that he did I think is an outright falsehood,” says Ayres.

“He was terrified. He was terrified not only because he was taken out of his routine but he was violently taken out of his routine,” says Ayres.

The trooper who responded to the incident was not so aggressive and actually showed compassion toward the boy.

According to UHP Trooper Nate Mikulich’s report of the teen’s arrest, he “was visibly shaken up by the incident, and I told [him] he was a good boy and to not be afraid of officers.”

“I told [him] not to run next time an officer tries to speak with him,” the trooper wrote. “I said, ‘Next time give us a high five.’ [The teen] asked for a hug. I was emotionally shaken by the altercation and asked him for a second hug and gave him knuckles.”

Knowing that the boy was at the library to try to see the giraffes, the trooper tried to repair the child’s trust in police by arranging for the sheriff’s department to take him to the zoo.

READ MORE:  This is What Autism Feels Like

According to the trooper’s report, Sheriff David L. Boren allegedly responded: “If the boy can’t be trusted on his own we’ll make sure he is not allowed to be out in public unsupervised.”

Boren denies saying it.

It is also not likely that this young man will trust police anytime soon as the department says that their officer, who tackled a 13-year-old boy with autism, acted accordingly.

In response to the lawsuit, Duchesne County Sheriff David Boren released the following statement Tuesday:

“My office conducted a full and fair review of the April 14 encounter between Sgt. Carl Reilley and Ms. Vallejo’s teenage son. The members of our After Action Review Panel found that Sgt. Reilley was reasonable in his use of force and acted appropriately during the interaction, except for the instance where he mistakenly and briefly switched off his body camera. I support the panel’s findings that the use of force was reasonable and their recommendation that Sgt. Reilley receive a verbal warning for mistakenly turning off his body camera.

When police claim this type of treatment of a child with special needs is justified, something needs to change. The good news is, that this lawsuit is seeking that change and the sheriff’s department has already begun training on how to deal with people who have special needs. It can’t come soon enough.

WATCH: Cops Do Nothing as Fellow Cop Snaps, Pulls Gun, Threatens to Kill Innocent Woman

West Baton Rouge, LA — A Brusly Police Officer has resigned after body cam footage leaked on LiveLeak has surfaced revealing just how angry some police officers can become when police affairs involve personal relationships.

Cpl. Shellie Maranto can be seen flying like a bat out of hell into a gravel parking lot in her unmarked SUV police cruiser. She jumps out of the vehicle and begins her verbal tirade which also involved deadly threats.

No less than five times did Maranto declare she was going to kill another woman. She even took her service pistol out of its holster and pointed it at her. “I’m going to f__ing kill that whore,” she kept repeating. “I’m going to f__ing beat her ass,” she would also say. Clearly, the corporal had lost all sense of control, but what’s the real story behind her manic rage?

The woman, whom the officer promised to kill, was actually a family member, her sister-in-law, who was apparently stepping out on her brother. The out-in-the-open supposed philandering of her sister-in-law was enough to throw the veteran police officer into a violent rage, the consequences of which are still being played out for all to see.

Maranto has resigned after evidence of her violent outbursts, death promises, and gun waiving were released to the general public. The woman, who initially wanted to press charges, changed her mind after she reportedly said nothing would happen with any internal investigation. Apparently, the victim was right too — as Maranto, even though she resigned — has yet to receive so much as slap on the wrist for assault with a deadly weapon, felonious threats, and official oppression, all of which were caught on video.

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It is also important to point out that while Maranto was committing all of these crimes, the cops who surrounded her did nothing to stop it. In fact, one officer can be heard laughing as Maranto brandishes her service pistol and aims it at her sister-in-law. Had Maranto not been wearing a badge, those officers would’ve likely killed her.

The incident took place on March 31, and was released to the public this week. Brusly Police Chief Jonathan Lefeaux said Maranto resigned instead of waiting for the firing party as the town was prepared to end her employment. Lefeaux said he had no idea what had transpired until after he watched the body camera footage. “She just lost her cool. It’s a shame…She essentially, ruined her career,” he said. He told reporters:

Unfortunately, incidents such as this are going to happen in any profession, no matter what type of controls are instituted to prevent them…We as police officers must honor today’s society’s calls for these matters to be handled swiftly and with 100 percent clarity to work toward bridging the gap of mistrust between police and the community.

The old adage states “blood is thicker than water” and such appears to the be the case of the angry sister-in-law cop who chose to threaten her brother’s wife rather than quietly deal with personal family matters.

Marano was a 15-year-veteran of policing and had been at the Brusly Police Department for four years. It’s unclear if she will pursue a career in law enforcement following the scandal. However, because she resigned and wasn’t fired, she can still return to law enforcement as a career. It’s unclear which police chief or department would take her on the force with the knowledge she’s threatened one of her own family members with death.

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As for our work at TFTP, we see certain patterns of behavior among police officers. First, they seem to bully the public into 100 percent compliance with their demands. Sometimes, officers like Maranto cease being demanding and cross the lines of behavior into criminal actions. We hope she never returns to law enforcement, and, instead, gets help for her emotional issues.

WATCH: Body Cam Shows Raging Cop Berate Citizens and Choke Out EMT

Portsmouth, OH — As the Free Thought Project previously reported, an intense video uploaded to Facebook this week is beginning to go viral as it shows a Portsmouth police officer choking an EMT. However, on Friday, body camera footage from an officer on scene was also released.

The original video, which was taken Saturday night outside of a Portsmouth bar, shows what happens when a police officer has his authority questioned. Originally, the police department claimed that the video doesn’t show everything that happened. However, multiple eye-witnesses have come forward and have told their versions — they are all the same. And now, we have the body camera footage to back it up as well.

According to police and witnesses, a fight had broken out in front of a bar in downtown Portsmouth last Saturday night. Police and EMS responded and the EMT began treating a man who’d been bleeding and knocked unconscious.

As the newly released body camera footage shows, the victim of the alleged fight was laid out on the curb, unconscious and bleeding from the head.

While the EMT and firefighters were prepping the man for a trip in the ambulance, the man regained consciousness and was naturally startled.

“He just woke up from being knocked out, and he’s got guys all around him grabbing a hold of him,” Trevor Conley, one of many witnesses said. “You’re going to freak out.”

Instead of calming the man down, as the EMT and other first responders were trying to do, Portsmouth Police Sergeant Joel Robinson rushed over and began tasering the man. At this point, acting out of concern for the man’s life, the EMT questioned Robinson’s choice to taser a man who was bleeding and unconscious and tried to prevent it. However, he was swiftly met with police violence of his own for daring to touch the officer on the shoulder.

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The EMT told Robinson that he cannot taser the guy as he has a massive wound to the back of his head.

Josh Journey, another witness, explained,  “Then after that, he grabbed the EMT, took him across the street, and I saw him have his hand on his throat all the way across the road and had him up against that cruiser.”

“When the EMT was telling him ‘you can’t do that, you can’t do that, he’s got head trauma,’ he grabbed him up here,” Chad Bennett said, who also witnessed the incident first hand, as he gestured around his neck.

At this point, Journey says that’s when he started recording. Journey’s video is clear and shows the officer holding the EMT by his throat against the police cruiser — allegedly for the act of questioning his authority.

But this cop’s anger wasn’t over yet. After he attacked the EMT, he turned his attention to the people who just documented the attack.

“He saw us with our phones out,” Journey said. “That’s when he came across the street at us and was pretty hostile.”

In an apparent fit of rage, the officer verbally berates the witnesses, threatens them all with jail, and attempted to confiscate their phones. However, he was unsuccessful.

“I think they realized that they’d messed up,” Journey said.

“He could’ve handled it a little better,” Conley said. “I know the situation was crazy.”

In a press conference on Thursday, Portsmouth Police Chief Robert Ware noted that the officer’s actions were justified and Robinson would not receive any punishment.

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“Oftentimes we look at video in a vacuum,” Ware said. “We take what we see in one angle and we form an opinion based on that angle. Sometimes, subconsciously we add our own filler to figure out what happened.”

Police claim that Robinson only grabbed the paramedic under the arm and never put his hand around his throat. However, it is entirely clear, even from far away, on the body camera footage, that Robinson had his hand around the EMT’s neck.

On Friday, the Portsmouth Daily-Times put out a ridiculous cover piece for the police almost making it seem like Robinson was some hero.

Robinson, who knew the crowd was closing in on him, did not know who touched him and responded by hooking his arm and pushing him back. Robinson eventually guided the paramedic across the street and, according to Ware, pushed the paramedic’s clavicle. It was that action that appeared on the short video to be grabbing of the throat, but that does not appear in the full video.

However, as you can clearly see in the video above, that is a lie.

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit

Disturbing Video Shows Cops Shoot Unarmed Schizophrenic Man for No Reason

On Wednesday, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office released officer body camera footage of a shooting incident on January 6 involving the San Francisco Police Department. The shooting put Sean Moore, a black man diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in the hospital. In Fontana, California, the family of James Hall, a legally blind man with schizoaffective disorder, released surveillance footage showing several Fontana police officers cornering Hall at a convenience store in November 2015 before shooting him dead.

In both incidents, police claimed the men advanced on them before officers fired, yet both videos depict heavily-armed cops escalating incidents with distressed men and then firing at them.

‘This was an execution’

In the case of Hall’s shooting, police were called by a convenience store clerk who reported a possible burglary in process, according to the Los Angeles Times. In a police report, Fontana officers said Hall was “armed with a knife,” though it is difficult to determine if Hall was carrying a knife based on the muted, grainy surveillance video.

Several Fontana cops and a police dog arrived on the scene. Many of the cops walked into the store with firearms and stun guns drawn. Police soon fired in Hall’s direction and released the dog, according to a state civil rights and wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Hall’s family.

The officers eventually cornered Hall in the back of the store and fatally shot him as he shuffled along a store shelf. Fontana police have said the officers only fired when Hall advanced on them.

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The lawsuit, filed more than a month ago in San Bernardino County Superior Court, alleged that police unnecessarily escalated the situation, acting “in reckless and callous disregard for the constitutional rights” of Hall, the LA Times reported.

“It’s a disturbing video indictment of the officers,” said Mark Geragos, an attorney whose firm is working with Hall’s family, according to the LA Times.

“The video puts the lie to the obviously falsified police account of what happened. In fact, this was an execution,” he said.

Hall was known in the community as a peaceful person and that others were “fully aware of his disabilities,” Hall’s family said in the lawsuit against the city and its police department. The suit names 12 Fontana police officers involved in the shooting.

‘Officers … essentially escalated the situation’

Marking the first instance that San Francisco police body camera footage was released to the public, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has called for felony charges against Sean Moore, the unarmed man shot by San Francisco police, to be dropped. The footage was released by Adachi on Wednesday after his office received it from the District Attorney’s Office.

On January 6, San Francisco police officers Kenneth Cha and Colin Patino attempted to address Moore for a violation of a restraining order filed by his neighbor. A tense back-and-forth ensued between an agitated Moore and the officers, who eventually retreated to the bottom of a staircase leading to the door of Moore’s residence. At this moment, Adachi said, the officers could have effectively de-escalated the situation.

“Clearly, once the officers had gone back to the bottom of the stairs, that was a point, for example, when a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) could have and should have been called,” Adachi said, according to KQED. “Instead the officers went back up the stairs and essentially escalated the situation.”

Moore – a diagnosed schizophrenic, according to his family and the public defender’s office – eventually opened the gate to his door to grab the document. Cha then pepper sprayed Moore, who then kicked Cha and hit Patino amid a brief scuffle before retreating to his door. The officers, in turn, went back down the stairs. When Moore again emerged from the door, both officers closed in on him, as Patino hit Moore with a baton. Moore then punched Patino in the face as Cha fired two shots that hit Moore in the groin and abdomen.

Brian Pearlman of the Public Defender’s Office, said Wednesday.

Moore then crawled back into his residence to call 911, KQED reported. Barricaded inside, he waited more than an hour before officers entered the home. Moore is being held on $2 million bond and faces felony charges including assault of an officer and resisting arrest.

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The officers did not know of Moore’s poor psychiatric health, and while they had gone through basic crisis training, they had not received more specialized CIT training to deal with the mentally ill, according to Toney Chaplin, acting chief of the San Francisco Police Department.

“The officers are taught to kind of try to play through it and work out and resolve it on their own,” Chaplin said, according to KQED. “They talked this guy down. They did what they could to try to calm him down, they were doing the best they can to explain why they were there. We watched the same video. They explained over and over. To me they kept a neutral voice even in the face of ethnic and racial slurs and everything that came with it.”

The department recently enacted rules guiding the CIT. Those rules call for non-CIT officers to ask for a CIT member if possible: “When non-CIT officers are dispatched to or on-view a person in crisis incident, the non-CIT officer shall request a CIT officer, as soon as possible.”

Moore’s mother said police had been to Moore’s residence before, and they knew of his psychiatric issues, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Police disputed that assertion.

The encounter “didn’t have to happen this way if the officers had been trained” to handle individuals with mental health problems, Cleo Moore said.

Police and Adachi’s office are also at odds over whether the officers were allowed to view their body camera footage before giving official statements to department investigators. Department rules state: “Following any (1) officer-involved shooting; (2) in-custody death; or (3) criminal matter, any subject officer shall be required to provide an initial statement before he or she reviews any audio or video recording.”

Pearlman, of the Public Defender’s Office, said the officers were allowed to watch the footage prior to offering an initial statement on the shooting, KQED reported, while Chaplin claimed the “officers involved provided a statement before they viewed the footage.”

Persons with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during police encounters than other civilians, according to a study released in December 2015. An investigation by the Washington Post released halfway through 2015 found that 123 of the 461 fatal police shootings that had occurred by that point in the year involved mentally or emotionally unstable individuals.

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EXCLUSIVE: Good Cop Speaks Out Against Drug War, Blows Whistle on Chief — So Now He’s Being Fired

What do a wrongfully convicted baby killer, the mysterious death of a police officer, and the resignation of nearly 20 cops all have in common? Answer: Round Lake, Illinois Police Chief George Filenko.

Saturday’s airing of CBS’ 48 Hours, documented the plight of Melissa Calusinski. She was a daycare worker convicted in 2011 of killing toddler Ben Kingan who died in 2009 after suffering a fatal brain hemorrhage while at the daycare. Filenko interrogated Calusinski for a reported 9 hours before she says she gave up, gave in, and offered a false confession, recanting her previous 70 claims of innocence.

She’s been fighting for her freedom ever since. She told 48 Hours she only made up the confession so the whole ordeal would be over and the aggressive man (Filenko) would leave her alone. “They were just continuously not believing me,” she said adding, “I was just ready to get away from these men.”

Despite the fact that little Ben had fallen a few months prior, that his head began to swell from average size to an encephalic above average size over the course of just a few weeks (indicating brain swelling), and that he had a habit of sleeping irregularly and banging his own head, Calusinski was considered the prime suspect in his death. Three pathologists, including the one whose report helped get Calusinski convicted, all concluded, upon further review, there had indeed been a significant previous brain injury prior to the days leading up to his death. The acknowledgment of a previous injury was overlooked in Calusinski’s murder trial. Nonetheless, to date, Calusinski, whom many believe to be an innocent victim of a brutal interrogation leading up to a false confession, sits behind bars, unable to get a new trial. Hers may be yet another instance in Lake County of a wrongful conviction which has led an innocent woman behind bars.

Her attorney Kathleen Zelner addressed the phenomena. “They do not want to admit error and they’ve got a half-dozen examples that have cost them millions and millions of dollars,” she said of Lake County’s wrongful conviction cases.

But, what 48 Hours didn’t do, The Free Thought Project will do, discuss the qualifications of the police interrogator to conduct Calusinski’s interview. Officer Dominick Izzo is a police officer with the Round Lake Police Department. He’s also the president of the local police officers union. Izzo approached The Free Thought Project with the reason he believes Calusinski is still behind bars. The police union president says her interrogator, Izzo’s boss and Chief of Round Lake Police Department, George Filenko, is incompetent.

Dominck Izzo: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/izzodominick

Izzo says Filenko never served as a beat cop before becoming Chief of Police, and should never have been allowed to be in the interview room with Calusinski in the first place. Izzo says Filenko is a bully and operates his police department by threat and intimidation, blackballing, and steamrolling anyone who questions his authority, including Izzo, who used to be a welcomed member of Filenko’s inner circle.

Izzo’s problems with Chief Filenko were only intensified when he discovered that all of the police-issued body cameras in the department were set to record without stopping, even after the officers believed they had turned off the devices. The body cameras allegedly recorded officers going to the restroom, revealing their genitalia, and in compromising and intimate situations. According to the Chicago Tribune, Izzo “said he discovered while reviewing video from his camera in May that it had continued to record even when it was ‘off’ or in sleep mode.” As a result, on 06/23/16, He and 9 other officers filed a lawsuit against their own police department. “The suit claims that the cameras recorded thousands of ‘highly offensive and voyeuristic intrusions,’ including video that exposed officers’ genitals and showed them engaging in ‘private and personal acts,’ including using the bathroom and changing their clothes,” the Chicago newspaper writes.

“The only two people with full administrative access to the video review system were Filenko and Deputy Chief Daniel Burch, who therefore knew about the unauthorized video, asserts the suit,” the Tribune stated.

Knowing the department was facing another potentially embarrassing situation Izzo contended Burch began to delete any and all incriminating evidence. “After the discovery, another officer said he witnessed Burch delete all the unauthorized video, despite a state law that requires body camera recordings be saved for at least 90 days, according to the suit,” writes the Tribune. Chief Filenko then began to meet with the plaintiffs one on one, Izzo alleges, and convinced a number of his subordinate officers to withdraw themselves from the lawsuit. Such potentially illegal actions led Izzo to speak out against Chief Filenko on social media. He sent a letter to Round Lake Mayor Linda Lucassen and then posted the correspondence on his Facebook page.

The police union president turned whistleblower made his case against Filenko to the mayor. “As I have stated in written documents, there have been illegal activities, unethical and immoral behavior, bullying and threatening behavior within your department,” he stated in the opening paragraph of his letter to Lucassen. He then laid out a number of accusations against Chief Filenko;

1. Hostile work environment including threatening behavior: Izzo said Filenko routinely cusses out his officers in violation of the department’s written code of conduct.


2. Retaliation and Suspension of officers involved in the federal lawsuit: Commander Tony Colon was suspended two days after the lawsuit on allegedly trumped up charges. Officers John Shepard and Walter Rodrigues removed themselves from the lawsuit after meeting with Chief Filenko out of fear that their involvement with the lawsuit would “hinder their lateral hires” as they were attempting to get hired at other police departments. Christopher Valle also “removed his name from the lawsuit after a private meeting with Chief Filenko due to his fear as a probationary officer for losing his job.” Commander Hector Lepe also removed himself from the federal lawsuit “after he had been the recipient of threatening behavior and intimidation by Chief George Filenko on an ongoing basis”. Izzo also alleges the chief used disciplinary action to go after Lepe, charging him with looking at pornography on his police issued cell phone, but wasn’t charged after he dropped out of the lawsuit. Lepe then was supposedly pressured to go after Izzo and get him to drop the lawsuit. Lepe allegedly told Izzo, “its in your best interest to drop out of the lawsuit…I don’t know what they (Chief Filenko and Deputy Chief Burch) are going to do to you…I am going to do what I have to do to keep my job.”


3. Implied death threat: Izzo said the chief threatened to have him investigated by the FBI, and threatened him privately by implying an officer could easily be shot through a weak point in the police issued bullet-proof vests. Izzo wrote, “Chief Filenko while at the rear portion of 215 E Main St, placed his left hand on my right shoulder and stated to me, ‘you know, it’s just a matter of time before a cop gets shot here’ as he shook my shoulder and smiled at me. I believe this to have been an indirect threatening statement towards myself or other officers for entering the federal lawsuit.”


4. Evidence tampering: Izzo contended the chief ordered the removal of the body cameras and the server which housed the footage from the body cameras.


5. Mentally unstable: Izzo claimed the chief has “mental health issues which must be addressed”.


6. Openly discussing sexual conduct and misconduct involving officers: The union president told TFTP that the Deputy Chief and a rookie officer were engaged in an affair which Chief Filenko discussed openly using foul language.


7. Age discrimination: Izzo stated the department, under the direction of Filenko, went after a senior officer because he was considered too old to be on the force.


8. National origin discrimination: Izzo stated the chief routinely made fun of another officer’s Latino heritage.


9. Religious persecution: Izzo, a devout Christian, said he the chief once told him, “I agree with your writings (in regard to Facebook political posts) but I don’t agree with your Jesus bullshit” and mocked his Christian tattoos, pointing at them and saying, “what the fuck are those?”


10. History of double dipping: Izzo told the mayor that Chief Filenko was once working for two police departments at the same time. “While working for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Filenko was also employed as Chief of Police in Hainesville, Illinois,” an action Izzo believes reveals his character of being unethical. After fellow Lake County officer E Tjarksen blew the whistle on the double dipping, he too became the subject of increased scrutiny, and disciplinary action, which led to his termination from the force in 2002. Izzo says such retaliatory actions reveal Filenko had a history of going after anyone who dared to question his ethics.


11. Filenko was appointed as the Chief of Police, even though he had only served as a police dispatcher and administrator, never a patrolman. Izzo wrote, “To date, there is no credible history of Chief Filenko having any direct patrol experience as that of a police officer,” and was appointed to chief, “after being only a dispatcher and administrative commander.”

That last accusation is especially troublesome to Izzo. Traditionally, a police officer can only become a detective after serving several years on the police force as a patrolman, a beat cop. Many officers work a decade or more, receiving advanced training in police interrogations, and before being given the title of “detective.” Filenko’s involvement in Calusinski’s interrogation deeply concerns Izzo who wrote to the mayor, “I implore the village board to sit and fully review the Calusinski case regardless of the current jury verdict and recognize that an inexperienced Chief Filenko’s involvement in her conviction, and future overturning of her conviction, is bringing negative national attention to the village.” Critics charge the interrogation lasted way too long and should have concluded after Calusinski’s repeated denial of any involvement in Ben Kingan’s death.

He further charged the board to look closer into other cases. “I submit to the mayor and the village board to review the involvement of Chief Filenko in both the Melissa Calusinski investigation, the suicide and FBI involvement for the Gliniewicz case and the relationship to Chief Filenko.” The “Gliniewicz” case drew national attention after the Fox Lake, Illinois, police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz was found dead on September 1^st, 2015. Gliniewicz radioed for backup, saying he was pursuing two white men and one black man. When officers arrived they found the lieutenant dead, apparently shot with his own service pistol. Initially, the coroner could not rule the cause of death as either an accident, a homicide, or a suicide. Finally, after an exhaustive search for the alleged suspects, an investigation into his business dealings, and a review of his personnel records, it was concluded by Filenko that Gliniewicz had killed himself. He did so apparently to spare he and his family the embarrassment of having been found guilty of embezzling thousands of dollars in funds from a teen police officer training program, Fox Lake Police Explorer Post, which was aimed at mentoring youth to become officers.

Gliniewicz’ personnel file was found to have included an anonymous letter alleging all sorts of impropriety. Izzo called Filenko’s involvement into question and urged the mayor and the village board to dig deeper into Filenko’s involvement in the case. Gliniewicz’ murder, subsequently ruled a suicide, also led to his wife’s arrest, charged with money laundering and using Fox Lake Police Explorer Post funds to pay for personal expenses. She is awaiting trial.

Izzo charges Filenko’s leadership habits have led to the firing or resignations of nearly two dozen Lake County police officers, and has now led to an investigation of Izzo himself. The sitting police union president, is currently suspended with pay, while an internal investigation is taking place. Filenko suspended Izzo on trumped up charges he says are a result of the body cam federal civil rights lawsuit against the police department. He wrote, “Since issuing this letter, George Filenko has charged Izzo with FIFITY SIX items of department violations ranging from being visible on facebook in his police uniform to bringing up an affair between the department deputy chief and a female officer. These charges were written as vague and without supporting evidence, as to read to be as damning as possible to ending Izzo’s career.”

After 48 Hours aired its report on Calusinski’s fight for freedom, Izzo posted the following Facebook post:

After watching The Fight for Melissa on 48 Hours last night, I truly hope some of you can now see why I am fighting with all of my heart to expose the corruption in law enforcement and am risking not only my career, but my reputation.

I cried in anger and empathy for her and her family, knowing what being alone in a room with him for hours is like. Only she couldn’t stand up for herself. She was his prey.

I have been saddened and sick in my heart since first learning of her story, knowing that the main interrogator, who visibly bullied her into a false confession, was my own chief.

My opinion is of her innocence, my facts are that I have had a long and personal relationship with him and have been subject to his same bullying tactics while in his office, as have so many other officers who have been terrified to come out against him. I have received private support form countless former police who served under him, former and CURRENT village trustees who know the truth but are so fearful for what could happen to them.

I refuse to live in fear.

I was once his bull dog and golden boy. He recognized me publicly with awards and in our department where I was untouchable. It was not until our falling out that I began to be a target, having him now challenging my character and integrity as well as falsely charging me with lies of countless policy violations to terminate me for speaking out against him.

Offering limited knowledge only, what 48 Hours did not touch is astonishing and a huge factor in her confession, is then investigator George Filenko was NEVER a police officer.

He was a dispatcher who was appointed to the position of chief of police after being an administrative commander, all after being involved in a scandal where he was accused of “double dipping” from two full time positions.

It is said that he went to a 2 week police academy in his fifties and was also giving lectures and presentations while he was a student.

He later was appointed to the head of Lake County Major Crimes Task Force and where he was responsible for the vindication of suspected police involved shootings, the G.I. Joe Gliniewicz suicide and more high profile investigations. All, having NO true history or experience as a police officer.

His close and personal relationship with countless subjects in the Lake County State’s Attorneys office have made it IMPOSSIBLE for Melissa to have her innocence proven.

I have lived with this burden in my heart for too long. My faith in Christ demands that I must say something since I know something.

The truth must come out and the residents of every town must know who their government is run by.

And if all of that is allowed to go on in one investigation, imagine what is going on in my own department on a daily basis while he commands it.

Police Officers are so unfairly used as fall guys and the true corruption lies behind the desks of titled command.

We as police, involved as a whole in the law enforcement system, failed when Melissa Calusinski was arrested and convicted.

I am saddened, outraged and shamed to see how few, who know this to be true, say nothing.

#freemelissa

It’s not every day that a police officer blows the whistle on his own police chief, especially when that police officer is the local police union president. We salute officers like Dominick Izzo, who can no longer stand idly by while laws and rules are broken by the very same individuals who are supposed to uphold the law.

But Dominick Izzo is no ordinary cop. Another likely reason he’s been targeted by his superiors is that he is outspoken against the war on drugs and revenue generation by cops.

Izzo understands that the war on drugs creates criminals by making their personal choices illegal. According to Izzo, his courageous posts about the truth of the drug war on social media have led to numerous threats against him. Unfortunately, some officers cannot handle the truth.

Izzo is also outspoken against certain police tactics that lead to the unnecessary deaths of so many unarmed people in America. But this cop not only talks the talk, he walks the walk. Last year, Izzo was awarded Round Lake Park’s Exceptional Duty medal for the way he handled an extremely dangerous situation.

On April 19, 2015, Izzo was confronted by an aggressive and distraught man armed with a knife — a situation in which other cops would almost instantly resort to deadly force. But not Izzo.

When Izzo attempted to calm the man down, the man pulled a knife and approached him in a threatening manner. Instead of killing him, Izzo courageously disarmed the man without injury to either of them. A true hero indeed.

Below is one of these videos in which Izzo blows the war on drugs and revenue collection wide open. Please share this story with other so that they can see what an actual good cop looks like.

VIDEO: Cop Snaps Mother’s Arm Like a Twig While Checking on Her Daughters

Radcliff, KY — For those who are seeking to reform how police take people into custody, to evaluate the events of the following story, one must remain objective.

Patricia Karsner lost custody of her two children to her common law husband. They were never married and it is unclear why she lost custody of her children.

According to court documents obtained by The Free Thought Project, Warren Tooley, the father of the two children was awarded custody of his two children he had with Karsner. The girls, ages 14, and 16, had been living with their mother, and her fiancé. It’s unclear if Child Protective Services had concluded their investigation and found the mother to be unfit, but the Jefferson Circuit Court, Family Division 10 awarded immediate custody to Tooley on September 10^th, 2015.

When Tooley attempted to take custody of his daughters, the two teenagers ran away because they wanted to stay with their mother.

Karsner, possibly thinking that if she filed a missing persons report, stating the children ran away, that somehow she could retain custody of her girls. That’s what she did, according to officers who arrived at her home to check on the welfare of the children.

Upon arrival, on the 23^rd of September, 2015, Karsner stated her children had “been home less than an hour.” The officers stated they had to check on the welfare of her children, an action Karsner said would be permissible, but only through the glass front door of their home. “You’re not welcome in my house. You can look at them. But you’re not coming in my house,” she said rather politely.

It wasn’t until this police refusal did police mention anything about an arrest warrant and seemingly used it as a means of retaliation.

Little did Karsner know it, but Tooley, her ex, had filed a criminal complaint against Karsner for interfering with his ability and obligation to take custody of the children. The complaint alleged that she had “feloniously interfered” with the custody of his children.

That’s when things quickly took a turn for the worse. Officers then informed Karsner she was under arrest and that they had a warrant to place her in custody. But it’s what happened next which has caused a great deal of pain to Karsner, and has reopened the conversation that needs to take place nationally, about how police officers make arrests.

When Radcliff, KY police officer, Sgt. Booker, put a wrist lock on her, and rotated his lock and her arm behind her back, he applied so much pressure moving upward, that Karsner’s arm was severely broken. This break required surgically implanted pins to stabilize, two surgeries to repair, and left her scarred for life.

The surgery wasn’t successful, according to Karsner, who told the Free Thought Project she’s been left with permanent nerve damage, and the loss of many functions in her arm, hand, and wrist.

From the body cam footage sent to us by Karsner, she can be seen trying to keep her children from being taken into custody and returned to their father. The officers attempted to reason with her long enough to establish the welfare of the children, and then placed her under arrest, breaking her arm in the process. “I think I just broke her arm. I just broke her arm,” an officer can be heard saying.

Karsner’s story is a common theme at The Free Thought Project, where, all too often, citizens are repeatedly abused, humiliated, insulted, beaten, tased, and mistreated by the police.

By all accounts, the police were just doing their jobs, ensuring the safety of the two innocents caught in the middle of two adults who could no longer live under the same roof. And that’s a problem within our society that no public official or officer of the peace can fix.

But what can be changed are the failed arrest policies which demand 100 percent compliance at all times. Whether it is a traffic stop, or a welfare check, when officers place their hands on subjects who are already emotionally unwell, the outcome can be disastrous, and the consequences, lifelong, something Karsner had to learn the hard way.

She told us in her own words that she’s lost everything as a result. “I’ve literally lost everything…my children, my home and everything I worked all my life for because of what happened…I lost my fiance and my two cats, one blind cat and one deaf cat…that I raised since they were kittens…all because of the financial crisis that event has put me in…I was in a 4 bedroom home with a fiance and 3 children, now I’m alone in a tiny studio apartment that I can’t even afford,” she said lamenting the events of that fateful day. She said she’ll, “never be able to use (her arm) to any decent level.”

WATCH: Father Goes Off on Cops After they Respond to Wrong Home and Kill the Family Dog

East Knox County, TN — Kenny Bailey had committed no crime and had done nothing wrong when multiple Knox County Sheriff’s deputies walked onto his private property and killed one of his three dogs.

The dogs were not on a leash, however, they all had on shock collars which would not allow them to go past a certain perimeter. The officers somehow managed to miss the 14, yes, 14 highly visible signs on Bailey’s property — warning visitors about his dogs.

Police say they were responding to a 911 hang up call in the 10000 block of Thorngrove Pike near Bailey’s home. However, Bailey’s family did not make the call and police trespassed and killed his dog for no reason.

“They panicked and they know they panicked and they shot an innocent dog and I’m mad,” Bailey said.

As the body camera footage begins, the officers are knocking on the door to Bailey’s residence when three dogs begin barking and walk around from the side of the house.

“For safety reasons, the officers parked away from the mobile home and knocked on the side of the residence. Three unrestrained dogs ran from back of the property with one pit bull charging the officers,” the sheriff’s department news release stated.

One officer then began to fire, killing one of the pit bulls.

“Those dogs were protecting those kids and this house. If I had been home it wouldn’t have happened,” said Bailey as he noted the officer shot his dog as it ran away.

The department is remaining steadfast in their decision to enter the property and kill the dog. According to WBIR 10, Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones said the shooting was “clean.”

“It was legit,” he told WBIR 10News. “They were rushing them. They were very aggressive. (The deputies) had to protect themselves.”

Although they claim an investigation is underway, the officer who killed the dog remains on regular duty.

According to an unofficial count done by Ozymandias Media, an independent research group, a dog is shot by law enforcement every 98 minutes.

In an investigative report, it was discovered that a single police department in Buffalo, NY, shot 92 dogs in less than three years. In Southwest Florida, the News-Press discovered 111 instances of dog shootings among multiple agencies between 2009 and 2012, representing about 37 per year. According to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Police shot approximately 90 dogs per year between 2008 and 2013.

It is an undisputed fact that cops frequently kill dogs. But they don’t have to.

Officer David Gomez from Idaho, learned to use his intelligence when faced with dogs — instead of his pistol.

The result was nothing short of heartwarming and astonishing as this officer, who’d been trained not to kill dogs, was able to successfully bring in two vicious dogs roaming the neighborhood with no violence.

Last August, officer Randall Frederick illustrated the positive effects of his training on how not to kill dogs when he was responding to a call out where a 4-year-old boy answered the door. As the 4-year-old opened the door, his overprotective Australian Shepherd darted out of the house and tore into Frederick’s leg.

Instead of shooting the dog, which would have been justified by the department, Frederick reached out with compassion to show the dog that he was not a threat to the boy. As simple as that, the incident was de-escalated.

Had Frederick not received this training, it is very likely that he would still have been bitten and Jillaroo, the family’s dog, like Bailey’s pitbull, would have been killed.

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit